Chapter Five

Why the fuck did he say that? He wanted her. God, did he want her. Plus, this would only help him in the long game.

Yet some misguided sense of humanity stopped him. He was taking advantage. But hell, that was what he did. How he’d been trained. Look for an opening. Seize it. Why stop now when he could have it all? Ivy, her invention, and with it the chance to find the missing equipment.

But that might just be the problem. He could have Ivy now, but tomorrow, she’d hate him.

Well, tomorrow she’d hate him no matter what. Might as well take the hot screw while he could.

But.

Fuck. He kept coming up against that damn but. Using people pushed him deeper into the pit of self-loathing. It wasn’t who he wanted to be.

But it was exactly who he was.

He turned off the shower. He didn’t have to be that man.

“Please? I need this. Need you.” Her breath hitched. “I—I…” She shook her head even as she held his gaze. “This just feels right. Like the prefect prescription to escape a truly awful night.” Her voice was breathy, her lips wet from the shower spray.

He wanted her mouth, her touch, her tongue. Her wet heat. He wanted all that she offered and so much more.

“I don’t want you to regret this in the morning.” It was as close as he could get to warning her off.

“I won’t. Listen, I know the deal. It’s a hookup. One-time thing. I’m good with that. In fact, I prefer it.”

Hours ago, he’d approached her at the party, hoping to end up in exactly this position. But there’d been a sharp detour on the way, and if he had sex with her now, she’d find it hard to believe he didn’t have a role in the reroute once she learned the truth.

Her hand stroked the crotch of his wet slacks, and logic evaporated in the wake of her touch.

“Escape with me, Jack. We both need this.”

She pulled his mouth to hers again. Her kiss was fierce. Hot. Hard. He slid his tongue against hers, drinking her in as he rubbed his erection against her scant satin panties. It was a good thing he still wore both slacks and boxer briefs. He was hard enough to go off on contact.

He’d tried to stop. He’d been a good guy. Sort of. It wasn’t his fault she’d begged. He’d point that out to her right after she slapped him across the face when she learned the truth.

He buried his face in her neck, pressing hot openmouthed kisses to pale skin that matched the peach-colored orchids that grew in the marina garden, being careful to avoid the dark purple bruises that had developed lower on her throat. The bruises he’d failed to protect her from.

His eyes closed, and his mind filled with trampled flowers. He’d allowed that to happen. His fault. His failure. He ran his lips along her peach skin, across the line of her jaw, returning to her lips. The word “orchid” slipped out right before he delved into her mouth.

She sucked on his offering, causing him to groan. Her laugh came soft and low. “What does that mean?”

He pulled back and gave her a wry smile. “I’m not really sure. Just that you remind me of the peach moth orchids that are ubiquitous around here.”

“I never knew hearing the word ubiquitous during foreplay could be such a turn-on.”

He laughed. This moment of enjoying being with her, it was as pure as any he’d ever experienced.

“Condoms?” she asked. “Please tell me you have condoms.”

He shoved the curtain aside and slid open the door to the storage cabinet mounted under the mirror. “I stock everything for my charter clients. Take your pick.”

“I don’t care, just hurry.”

He chuckled and set her down, but instead of reaching for the condoms, he unhooked her bra. If they were going to do this, they’d do it right. He’d give her exactly what she wanted.

He licked a nipple, then sucked it into his mouth. She threaded her fingers through his hair and groaned. His fingers played with her other nipple as he slipped his right hand into her panties and stroked her wet clit.

She bucked against him. “Holy fuck, yes,” she said with a pant. “Now do that with your cock. Or your tongue.”

He smiled as he licked her nipple again. “Your language surprises me, Ivy MacLeod.”

“Does it bother you?”

He dropped to his knees and pulled her panties off, then took in the scent of her wet arousal. He stroked her clit with his tongue. Her back hit the shower wall as she groaned.

“Total. Fucking. Turn-on,” he said. He sampled her clit again and she let out another satisfying moan.

“Good.” She gasped as he slipped a finger inside her. “It turns”—another gasp as he stroked deep—“me on too.”

His tongue followed his finger, and he let out his own groan at her tangy taste.

He could do this all night and not get enough.

“Bring me to the edge,” she commanded. “But don’t let me come. Not until your penis is inside my vagina.”

He grinned at her switch to proper anatomical terms. That was what he’d expected from brainy, scientific Ivy MacLeod. That she was comfortable with both raunchy and grammatical somehow made him even harder. And he was still fully clothed.

He released her and stood so he could strip.

She helped him, working his fly while he doffed his shirt. She nudged him back toward the head in the tiny space. She dropped to her knees while pushing his pants and briefs over his hips, past his knees, until they ended in a puddle on the shower floor and her mouth was level with his bare and ready erection.

She grinned and licked the tip, then swirled her tongue over the head, tasting his precum before she opened her mouth and took him deep.

He bucked at the sensation, caught off guard by how insanely good it felt to be in Ivy’s mouth as her hand stroked his balls.

“Let’s move this to my bed,” he said as he slid his fingers through her long, wet dark hair.

She tightened her throat around the head, then released him with a slow suck along the shaft. She licked the tip again, then said, “No. I want you to fuck me against the shower wall.”

Again her language surprised him and turned him on.

He tugged her to her feet. “Fine. My cock is yours to command.” He kissed her and pushed her back against the wall, kicking aside his clothes as his hand groped for a box of condoms.

Condom acquired, he ripped open the packet. She took it from him and stroked his cock several times before rolling it down his hard length.

Sheathed and ready, he picked Ivy up and braced her against the wall. “Are you ready to get fucked, Ivy?”

“Yessss.” The word came out as both answer and approval as he thrust into her before she uttered the consonant.

“Is this what you want?” he asked. “A hard cock deep in your pussy?”

His words were fierce, coarse. Sexy. Exactly what she’d expect from the man who fought with such brutal grace. He drove into her again and again.

“Yes,” she repeated. “This.”

“God, you are so hot.”

“And you are so fucking thick. You feel amazing.” She kissed him, her tongue sliding along his in a delicious dance. His cock felt so glorious, slick and hot as she took him deep. This was her first sex in two years, and she wondered how she’d ever given it up. How could her libido die when sex felt this incredible? How did she manage to forget?

Pleasure built like a wave, with her riding the top.

“Come for me, Ivy.”

“No. I want to savor…” She gasped when he braced one arm under her ass so he could slip a hand between their bodies and stroke her clit. She gripped his shoulders and tightened her thighs around his hips, practically dizzy with the sensation. “That’s cheating.”

“Come. I’ll make you come again with my tongue. You can savor that orgasm. But this one is going to be fast, and it’s going to be hard.”

With the pressure of his thumb, she had no choice. He stroked her inside and out, and she crashed over the edge, tumbling into a hot sultry sea that left her breathless.

Orgasm achieved, Jack shifted his hands and gripped her ass. He thrust into her with all the rough heat she’d wanted from the start.

She kissed him as he came with a hard groan. They kept kissing long after he stopped thrusting. The ultimate make-out session as their heartbeats slowed.

He lifted his head even as he rocked his hips into her one more time, sending shivers of pleasure shooting through her.

“God, you’re beautiful, Poison,” he said, his voice reverent.

She laughed. “Beautiful poison, or beautiful, comma, Poison as in a name?”

He slipped his tongue into her mouth again, as if he couldn’t get enough of tasting her. “Both,” he said against her lips. “Many poisons are safe at low doses, but I have a feeling if I keep tasting, I’ll be a goner.”

She grinned and stroked his cheeks, still smooth from his pre-party shave, and she wondered if she’d get a chance to feel his stubble against her skin.

She barely knew this man. A meeting at a party followed by a vicious assault, and now he was deep inside her as they came down from what had to be one of the hottest screws of her life.

“Well, I may be poison, but you’re Death Valley hot. And only a fool ventures into Death Valley unprepared.”

“Sweetheart, right now, Death Valley is in you.” He ground into her again with his hips.

She groaned at the joke. “I set you up for that.”

He flashed a grin. “And I appreciate it.”

She nibbled at his jaw. She’d never really gone for blonds, but he was an exception. Strong jawline. Prominent nose. The scarred brow. She’d guess his age around her own, mid-thirties.

Good Lord, she’d just had sex with the man and she didn’t even know his age. “How old are you, Jack Keaton?”

He slipped from inside her and set her feet on the ground. “Let’s get comfortable before we get to know each other.” He slipped off the condom and dropped it in the trash, then turned on the shower again and rinsed the residue of semen and spermicide from his cock before taking the wand and rinsing her intimately.

The hot spray caused a quick, hard jolt of pleasure, which intensified when his fingers joined the water. She rocked on her feet and would have fallen if not for the wall at her back.

He chuckled and shut off the shower and reached for a towel from a cupboard above the head.

He wrapped the towel around her back and used it to pull her against his chest. He kissed her long and deep before saying, “I’m thirty-four.”

He lifted her with an arm under her butt and one around her back and carried her out of the shower, then he boosted her over his shoulder and crossed through the galley and salon, finally reaching the captain’s stateroom in the stern, where he dropped her on the bed.

She loved everything about the way he’d taken charge. She scooted back on the bed, and he followed, pinning her. “I’m a Pisces,” he murmured before he sucked her nipple into his mouth. “Not that I believe in that crap.” He sucked on her other nipple. “I was born in Montana. Moved to California when I was fifteen. Joined the Air Force after college when I was twenty-one. I was a pilot and retired a major.”

He slipped a hand between her legs and stroked her, and she twitched with pleasure. “Anything else you want to know?”

She touched the scar that bisected his eyebrow. “How did you get this?”

“Jumping out of a plane in a hurry. A strap wasn’t secure, and when I pulled the chute, it sliced me.” He widened her thighs so he could play with her clit and slip two fingers inside her. “My turn. What turns you on, Ivy?”

“Right now, you.”

He grinned. “No. I mean what are your fantasies? Have you ever done this, sex with a stranger before?”

“In my early twenties. Not since—” But she wouldn’t mention her marriage. Not now. Not with Jack.

“It’s empowering, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” She breathed more than said the word as he moved and stroked her clit with his tongue. And she realized that was part of why she wanted this tonight. She couldn’t control what happened in the swamp, but right this moment, she owned her body and was doing as she pleased with it.

Or rather, letting Jack do as he pleased, which pleased her very much.

She was reclaiming herself, which she’d given up in pieces during her marriage. Plus, she’d gotten lost in the empowering oblivion of sex, escaping the shock and horror of the mangrove swamp. “Thank you for fucking my brains out, Jack.”

“I’m not done yet.”

He slipped his tongue inside her, causing her to purr.

“That sound right there.” He moved to lavish attention on her clitoris. “Drives me wild.”

She made the sound again, first as a joke, then for real. He’d earned it with his clever tongue. “You’re good at this.”

“Thank you. Too bad it’s not the sort of reference I can put on the charter website.”

She laughed. “Five stars. Captain Jack fights and fucks like a champion.”

How did she forget that sex could be so much fun? Not just that it felt good. She felt his laughter against her inner thighs as his body shook with it.

Then he got serious about his task, and she held her breath as another orgasm built. As promised, he held her on the edge, letting her savor it forever before he added his fingers to the task and pushed her over the precipice.

Afterward, she was drowsy and sated, but she felt like she should show him the same courtesy. He stopped her from scooting down on the bed and kissed her temple. “Get under the covers. You’re beat and need to sleep.”

They lay spooned together. She enjoyed the feel of his hard, muscular body against hers. Muscles he’d earned in the Air Force. He’d served in the one branch of the military she knew the least about. She knew plenty of men in the Navy and Marines through her work both at the institute and now for NHHC, and when her cousin Alec had been in the Army she’d met her share of soldiers, but she didn’t think she’d ever spent time with an Air Force pilot.

“How long were you in the Air Force?” she asked.

“I thought it was my turn to ask questions.”

“If you’ve read or watched the news in the last nine months, you probably know everything about me.”

She felt him shrug. “I know a bit. Your grandfather and father were cartographers. You followed in their footsteps. You have a cousin, Alec Ravissant, who is a senator in Maryland.”

He probably knew about Alec because of the damage control necessary when Patrick was arrested. Patrick had campaigned for Alec, and everyone close to Patrick was suspect. She’d made several statements pointing out that she was the connection between Patrick and the campaign. She’d actually left Patrick months before the election but hadn’t told Alec because she didn’t want to disrupt things when his campaign had other, far bigger problems.

“Like the senator, you came from money, but your branch of the family poured their money into the institute, which was a nonprofit, and with the dissolution of the institute, the money is gone now.”

She nodded and rolled to face him. “My father brought Patrick aboard because he had money and a philanthropic bent. Or so we thought.” She brushed her lips over Jack’s. “But that’s all we’re going to say about Patrick, okay?”

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine. I’m just—I’m happy right now. I want to keep that.” How crazy was it that she could feel happy after the night she’d had? Jack was good medicine.

“Deal. Okay…what else do I know? You’re fluent in Spanish and English—and, apparently, Japanese.”

“Less fluent in Japanese, but getting there.”

“Basically, you’re smart as hell. You work for NHHC—which was in the news a lot last fall.”

“You’re referring to the thing that happened on the ferry in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.”

He smiled. “Yeah. The thing. You know anything about that?”

“Not really. I’ve only met Undine Gray—the NHHC archaeologist who was involved—a few times when she was still working for the Underwater Archaeology Branch.”

“She doesn’t work there anymore?”

“She quit so she could stay in Washington. She fell in love with Luke Sevick—the guy from NOAA who”—she raised her fingers in air quotes—“single-handedly saved the world that night.” She didn’t bother to hide the sarcasm in her voice.

Jack laughed. “You don’t believe the story?”

She shrugged. “The news helicopter footage from that night clearly shows two people set out on the Interceptor. There is only one logical explanation for why the Coast Guard and Navy won’t reveal the identity of the second man. He must’ve been one of the Ukrainians. A terrorist who was then let go. Or given amnesty. Or some other bullshit deal.”

“So you’re one of the conspiracy theorists. What about the idea that the Coastie preferred to remain anonymous? You’ve seen what happened to Sevick.”

“Fair point. And it’s clear Sevick didn’t have a choice in the matter—he was outside on the boat and reporters identified him before the Interceptor had even gone a mile.” She ran her hands over the hard planes of Jack’s chest, loving the smell and feel of him. Loving talking in bed. “But still, why remain anonymous when everyone in the US wanted to kiss the guy’s ass?” She slipped her hands around to his butt to punctuate her words.

She’d been lonely these last few years and hadn’t even realized it. Too obsessed with her work to notice she was missing human interaction. Sex. This.

“So you think the other guy on the boat with Sevick was Ukrainian,” Jack said.

“How else would Sevick have gotten the information he needed? It sickens me that they let the guy go.”

“Even if he helped save the world?”

“He had to be some sort of spy or terrorist. He should have been arrested along with the others.” She had some experience dealing with traitors and wouldn’t mind seeing them all punished. Severely.

“I take it you haven’t asked Luke Sevick what happened that night?”

“We’ve never met. But he and Undine will be in DC over Memorial Day for the ceremony at Arlington. Everyone from NHHC will be there.”

“I suggest not using air quotes when talking about that night. Former SEALs can be touchy.”

Her laugh turned into a yawn.

He stroked her hair. “You should sleep, Ivy.”

She nodded. “Thank you. For fighting the Avengers. Coming for me in the swamp. Bringing me here…and rocking my world.”

He nuzzled her neck. “Thank you for rocking mine.”

She rolled to her side, presenting her back to him. “And now, I think I’ll pass out.”

He held her snug against him and tucked his knees behind hers. She felt secure. Cared for.

“Sweet dreams, Poison.”

“Good night, Death Valley.”