Текст книги "When the Stars Align"

Автор книги: Jeanette Grey

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Текущая страница: 12 (всего у книги 22 страниц)

Chapter Sixteen

Jo was scarcely listening as Adam made their excuses. All she could hear was the buzzing in her ears, the rush of blood through her veins overriding the hum of the surf. The sounds of the people around her faded into white noise.

She’d just… Fuck, what had she done? She’d kissed this man, this boy who stripped her of so many of her defenses, in front of her boss and her colleagues and the world. She’d let him lead her out beyond her comfort zone in every possible sense of the words.

She’d put her feet in the ocean. And she hadn’t even come close to drifting away.

Now, with the memory of his head between her legs, his shoulders strong and firm beneath her thighs, she took his hand. Leaving yet more chatter behind them, they traversed the tricky layer of shells beaten into the sand, emerging out to a point where they were scarcely wading. The tide pulled at the sand beneath her toes with every lap of the waves. And yet she remained on solid ground.

Only after they’d gotten a decent ways off did she find her voice again, the noises of the world filtering back in.

“What did you even say to them?”

He cast her an uncertain look but didn’t question her. Maybe he was just as far gone as she was. Driven by lust, if not by the tangled exhilaration of letting go. Of not keeping her distance anymore.

“Just that we were going to walk along the beach a little. Maybe see if we can find something to eat.”

It was a flimsy excuse at best. There were carts all over the place peddling empanadillas and ice cream. They really didn’t need to go very far to find one of them.

She felt a little light-headed as she asked, “Do you even have your wallet?”

“No. But they don’t need to know that.”

She considered that for a second, alarm bells sounding. “Wait. Do you have anything?”

She’d told him that very first night she always kept a condom on her, but without her pack or her boots or real pants—

His voice took a low tone that told her he knew exactly what she was asking him. “I promise. I have everything we need.”

A heady tension thrummed through her, and she shifted closer, letting him slip his arm around her. The hot, wet press of his skin made her heart go into overdrive, tingles flowing inward from every place they touched.

The beach hadn’t exactly been crowded even over on the prime real estate they’d staked out for their umbrellas and blankets. As they neared the pier, the shore got rockier, the waves choppier. The place more deserted.

Perfect.

She cast a glance over her shoulder as they fell beneath the shadow of the structure. The rest of their group was far enough off that she couldn’t tell if they were looking or not, but even if they were, she doubted they could see. None of the strangers on the beach paid them any mind.

And it was a good thing, too. They’d barely passed the first pylon before Adam was tugging her along behind it, slamming her back against the wood.

“Don’t you want—” She gestured farther into the cover the pier provided.

“You. I just want you.” With that, he captured her lips and stole her breath.

She’d thought their kisses out in the water had been building toward something, but she’d had no idea they were building toward this. Those embraces had been all slow sensuality and the warmth of contact, out where anyone could see.

They were still only barely hidden, but these were kisses of a different kind, harsh and impatient. He must’ve been keyed up as hell for the dam to break so spectacularly, now they were alone.

It didn’t take her long to catch up.

His hands seemed to be everywhere, tugging at the sodden fabric of her top, kneading her breasts through the cotton and plucking at her nipple ring, coaxing the peaks into stiff, aching points. She groaned aloud as he hoisted her up. He pinned her with his hips and kissed his way down her throat, probably leaving marks. All she could do was wrap her legs around his hips and hold on.

“Jesus.” She got her hands into his hair and thumped her head against the wooden post behind her.

“You have no idea.” His teeth bit into her collarbone. “Seeing you out there, getting to kiss you in front of everyone. Showing you off.”

It was male pride at its worst, and damn, fuck, she loved it in a way she’d never thought she ever would.

She closed her eyes. “Yeah, because I’m such a prize.”

“You are.” His fingers fumbled with the drawstring of her trunks, the ridiculous, shapeless things she’d worn because she was too stubborn to let her colleagues see her bikini line.

“I look like a lesbian.” She raked her nails across the nape of his neck as he snuck a hand between them, a sudden pressure exactly where she needed it, almost too intense. She sucked in a gasp before biting out, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”

He lifted his head, gaze fierce. “You look so fucking sexy I wanted to take you on the beach and in the water. In front of all our friends.”

She hadn’t doubted his sincerity before. But the way he said it now, his voice rasping, hands clutching, the evidence of just how hard he was for her pressed against the hollow of her hip…

Something that had been coiled so tightly inside of her unfurled. Blossoming.

How long had she said she didn’t care what anybody thought of her? It hadn’t been a lie, but the acceptance in his voice cracked her open. Made that lack of caring into something new.

Made her free.

With a sharp tug at his hair, she hauled him up to her. His mouth was hotter than the day or the air or even the sun, his tongue a soft, slick caress between her lips, probing inside the way she wanted him inside. With his hand in her trunks, he slipped his fingers up and down her slit, nudging at her clit only to slide back to her opening, blunt pressure there to spread her wetness around.

“God, stop teasing me.”

“It’s called foreplay.”

“Overrated.” It was such a lie, but she didn’t care. “Come on.” She bit her way to his ear. “Don’t you want to fuck me?” She looked around them at the ocean just past their feet. Listened to the sounds of people walking above them on the pier. “Here? Where anyone could see?”

He made a noise that sounded like it’d been punched out of his chest. He tapped her thigh in warning so she could get her feet underneath her before he set her down. Then it was a mad scramble, her getting the trunks the rest of the way unfastened and shoved off her hips. For the first time, she regretted not wearing a normal bathing suit, the skimpy kinds of bottoms a girl could push to the side.

Adam took a more optimistic view. “Not that I don’t love your boots…” He’d fished a condom from wherever it’d been hidden in his suit and tore it open with his teeth. “But damn it’s nice not having to stop to get you out of them.”

“Don’t get used to it.”

The trunks landed on the sand with a damp splat, and that was all the time she got before he had her up against the beam again. He pulled himself out of his own suit, giving his length a couple of rough, quick strokes before rolling the condom on.

And then he was lifting her, pressing her spine to the wood. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hooked her ankles at his ass. With one hand, he held her up, while with the other he guided himself, putting the head of his cock right against her cunt, gliding it through her liquid. Still being so goddamn careful.

She kicked him, trying to force him to move.

His gaze met hers and he asked, “You sure?”

“I swear to God—”

Whatever threat she’d been about to pull out died in her lungs as he finally, finally thrust forward. Her eyes rolled back in her head at the sudden stretch. The rough pleasure of being filled the way she needed to.

He buried his forehead against her shoulder, his big body tremoring. She was just this side of wet enough and open enough, but that made it all the better. The rough, tight fit that felt like it had brought him to his knees. Stroking her hands up and down his spine, she murmured encouragement against his ear. Little filthy things about how good he felt inside her, how strong his hands were on her flesh as he held her up, supported her. Fucked her. “Come on, baby,” she breathed. “Doesn’t it feel nice?”

He gave another shiver before lifting his head. The dampness on his skin was his sweat and the sea, and his eyes burned. “You feel incredible.”

He drew back only to slide right in again, the whole movement easier this time, slicker, and she moaned. A half dozen or so strokes, and a slight shift of his hips shot sparks up and down her spine, grinding his pubic bone against her clit.

She arched forward to meet his thrust, chasing that pleasure, raking her nails over his flesh. “Fuck. Do that again.”

“This?” He pressed into her harder, and the sparks turned into flames.

“Yeah, God.” She squeezed the nape of his neck, rocking into the shallow movements of his body into hers, riding the tide as they sped and lengthened. She tightened her thighs around his waist. “Come on,” she urged. No foreplay, and she was already spinning out of control; she just needed a little more, a little harder. She whined and tugged at his hair.

He made a grunting sound that went straight to her clit. The hand that wasn’t on her ass slammed into the wood above her head. He shifted his stance.

And with that, he started to fuck her in earnest.

It was exactly what she had been waiting for. Sure, she liked to be the one on top in general, but his strength intoxicated her, and she’d already given up so much. What was a little more? She was at his mercy like this, pinned by his hips and held in place. Taken.

Safe.

He dropped his head, pressing his brow to hers. He was watching every movement, every expression that flickered across her face, and she let him have them all.

He lowered his arm to brush her jaw. “Come on, beautiful.”

And it was too intimate, too much for any situation, much less for having sex up against a wall. But it was that echoing beautiful in the hot ocean air, the quiet, claiming kiss he laid upon her mouth while his thrusts met just the perfect place inside her—

Her vision whited out when she came, and he followed right after, spilling out a groan that was only her name.

Through it all, through the shudders of pleasure and the sudden slackness that came after climax, he never relaxed his grip. He took her weight and held her up.

And what was more, she let him.

Absently running his fingers through Jo’s hair, Adam stared out the window of the van at the dim silhouettes of palm trees passing by. He was surrounded by faint strains of music and hushed laughter, all muted by the rushing of cool, wet air flowing in through the open windows. Above the tree line, the stars were just beginning to rise.

It had been a good day. Maybe one of the best.

He glanced down at Jo. The edges of her face were cast in the glow from her book light, and sure, maybe she was spending the trip with her nose buried in her work, but she was choosing to do it with her shoulder tucked under his arm, her whole side pressed against him.

It was a stark contrast to the distance she’d kept from him earlier in the day, refusing to even sit near him with their advisors watching on. He didn’t know what had changed her mind. Only that Heather had sat down beside her on the beach, and after that, she’d stood with this intentness to her gaze. She’d let him kiss her in front of everyone, had practically asked him to take her down the beach and then to take her. His sex life in the past had been fulfilling enough, but he’d never been so overcome like that, so wanton.

God. His heart squeezed, just thinking about the way they’d connected there beneath the pier. She’d been so gorgeous and unselfconscious, wet suit stuck to her breasts, her arms and legs wrapped around him, consuming him as he’d lost his mind, staring into her eyes and pressing into her, deep inside where she was warm and perfect and accepting. Holding on to him exactly the way he wanted to be held, making him feel strong and wanted and… well.

She might not love him yet. She might not ever. But he wasn’t going to kid himself about the warm rush he felt every time he looked at her, the cracking feeling in his ribs with every step she made to meet him in the middle. Every additional inch she let him in.

And she’d let him get so far today. Not just the kissing and the hand-holding and the sex. Even after they’d reassembled themselves, she’d stayed more or less by his side the rest of the afternoon. At dinner, she’d gone so far as to laugh a little, talking to their friends. With her cheeks flushed from the sun and the better part of a margarita, she’d looked so open. Still fierce as anything, but looser somehow. Less hidden within a suit of armor and more letting people see behind the plates.

If the smirk Jared had shot him as they’d piled into the van was anything to go by, Adam wasn’t the only one seeing the change. Wasn’t the only one who thought it was a good thing.

He glanced back down at her, expecting to see that little wrinkle in her brow she got when she was particularly absorbed. But instead… His breath caught in his throat. Her head, which had already been resting against his arm for the better part of the ride, had lolled to the side. Her mouth was slack, her eyes closed.

It was the first time he’d ever seen her asleep.

The warmth behind his ribs grew and grew.

Taking care not to jostle her, he reached over and shut off her reading light. He wrapped his arms around her more securely.

He wasn’t inclined to count his chickens, but he resolved it there and then. Tonight would be the night he’d get her to stay with him. Clearly, the cat was out of the bag. There was no more reason to hide. She’d sleep in his bed, maybe after another slower, quieter round, and in the morning he’d kiss her awake. Bring her coffee and make her breakfast and simply… care for her.

Love her.

It ached, just thinking the words. But if he wasn’t fooling himself about the other things, there wasn’t any point denying this one. It was stupid, probably the most idiotic thing he’d ever done. At the end of the summer, it was going to hurt like nothing else.

Unless he could convince her to love him back. To keep this fire they’d kindled alive, this summer spark that could grow into a warmth that could last them all winter long. Even apart.

The whole rest of the drive, Jo slept peacefully against his side. It wasn’t until the van came to a stop outside their houses and the lights came on that she stirred. She jerked away from his shoulder, twitching a hand up to swipe at the corner of her mouth and then at her eyes. As everyone else started to clamber out, she looked around, confused. “Are we here already?”

Her eyes were wide, her mouth sleep-soft, and her voice hoarse. And it struck him square in the chest. This is what she would look and sound like, every morning, waking up in his bed.

And in that moment, he loved her so fiercely it burned.

“Yeah,” he said. His voice hitched on the word, and she looked at him strangely. A lick of panic curled inside him. What if she saw? She wasn’t ready yet, and she’d…

She’d end it, wouldn’t she? If she knew?

“Oh.” She glanced away, toward the front of the van, as if he hadn’t said anything at all. She’d missed the feelings he had written all over him. It was a relief, and at the same time, it almost made him feel worse. Raking her fingers through her hair, she called out, “Are you taking the van back to the observatory?”

In the driver’s seat, Heather tipped her head to look at them in the rearview mirror. “Yeah. Why?”

“Can you drop me off there?” Jo asked.

Heather scrunched up her brow. “Now?” Adam was thinking the same thing.

Jo nodded. “I just need to check some things real quick.”

Shrugging, Heather said, “Sure, I guess.”

“Awesome.” Jo turned to Adam and shifted as if to move out of his way so he could get out.

Nope. No chance. He had less than zero interest in stopping at the office now, at eight o’clock on a Saturday night after a day at the beach, but if he let Jo go, his chances of coaxing her to his room declined exponentially. He cleared his throat. “I’ll go with you.”

Heather’s mouth twisted up into a too-knowing smile, but Adam wasn’t focused on that. Jo turned to him. “Really?”

“Sure.” He didn’t have to explain what he’d be doing there. Chances were he’d mostly be following her around, trying to keep her from staying too late. “Why not?”

“I can only think of about a million reasons.”

So could he. He kept them to himself.

Once everyone else had cleared out, more than a couple of them shaking their heads at him, he and Jo hopped up to sit closer to the front for the quick drive to the observatory. Heather and Lisa were nice enough to drop them in front of the office building instead of making them hike in from the back lot where the van usually got parked.

“Have fun,” Lisa told them as they got out.

Heather winked. “But not too much fun.”

“Ha-ha,” Jo said, desert dry, and Adam marveled again that she was having such an easy time joking about it now.

He kept his peace, walking alongside her halfway down the empty hall. Until finally he couldn’t contain it anymore. “What happened?”

“Hmm?”

“You were so worried about everybody finding out, or thinking less of you. Then today, you suddenly decide you don’t care?”

“Why? Do you care?”

Of course he cared, only not in the way she was implying. “I told you. I’ve been wanting to show you off since day one.”

She rolled her eyes at that but didn’t actively call bullshit.

And maybe he was pressing. He grabbed her arm, stopping her before they could go any farther. Pulling her around until she was facing him. “Seriously, though. What changed?”

She hesitated, her gaze going to the side before returning to him. Even then, it focused somewhere to the right of his ear. “I don’t know. I just…” She shrugged, no affectation to it at all. Her defenses were so low he could hardly see how they were continuing to fall, but they were. For him. Standing straighter, she looked him in the eye. “I didn’t want to be afraid anymore.”

His beautiful, brave girl.

He leaned in, cupping a hand around her cheek. Laughing. “I’ve never met anybody less afraid than you.”

He wanted to prove to her just how courageous, how amazing he thought she was, but before he could take that last step forward to catch her lips with his, a voice sounded out from the other end of the hall.

“Ms. Kramer! There you are.”

They turned as one to find P.J. peeking out of the doorway that led toward the telescope control room. Her expression was oddly expectant. Like she’d been waiting for Jo to drop by.

Jo curled her hand around Adam’s and drew it down, away from her face without letting it go. “Dr. Galloway?”

“Oh, and you’ve brought Mr. McCay with you. Lovely. Come along. We’re in here.” P.J. waved them to follow her. Adam looked to Jo questioningly, but she seemed as mystified as he was. P.J. held the door to the control room open for them, saying, “I wasn’t sure if you’d get my message, but we were able to squeeze in some observation time, and I was sure you’d want to see—”

P.J. cut off as Jo froze. Her palm went clammy in Adam’s, and when he turned, it was to find her suddenly, shockingly pale.

“Jo?”

Jo’s throat worked convulsively before she choked out, “What’s he doing here?”

Adam frowned, following her gaze to the bank of monitors. To the same chairs where he and Jo had sat together just a handful of nights before. A woman Adam had never met sat scrolling through the data, while to the side, near the racks of servers, stood a man. He was a little shorter than Adam, dressed in a black collared shirt and khakis, his hair going gray at the temples.

At the sound of their voices, he looked over his shoulder at them, eyes sharp and dark. His chin lifted, his shoulders drawing back. He was staring right at Jo.

P.J. faltered, and a sinking feeling crept into Adam’s gut.

“Jo?” he repeated. “What’s going on?”

“The hell if I know.”

The man at the other end of the room took a single step forward. “Josephine.” He looked her up and down. “What on earth are you wearing?”

Jo flinched, and Adam did, too. Gripping her tighter, Adam asked, “Jo? Who is that?”

She pulled her hand from his.

Voice wavering, speaking only loud enough for Adam to hear, she said, “My dad.”

Oh, of course, her—

“Wait, what?” For a second, all Adam could do was stand there, gawking between the two of them, absorbing all the things he’d missed the first time around. The shape of the man’s nose and the set of his eyes. The way he carried himself.

A low, sudden burst of rage rolled through him.

In this very room, Jo had told him about this man. Adam didn’t pretend to know the half of it, but he knew that this was the guy who’d made Jo feel like crap about herself for most of her life. The guy who’d made her feel like she wasn’t enough.

It took everything he had in him not to walk right up to him and punch him in the face.

But while he’d been wrapping his head around it all, Jo had taken a step away. And then another. She turned on her heels. Adam made to reach for her and pull her back, calling her name, but she shrugged him off and shouldered her way through the door.

It felt like he’d been slapped.

By the time he came to his senses, the door was slamming closed.

And Jo was gone.