“You can’t believe that I’ve figured it out? Is that it? Just how stupid do you think I am?”
“Jacob, that’s not fair,” she hissed.
“Do you have a specific objection to us having medical tests to make sure we’re healthy for sex, other than the fact that you think I do this as a routine with women?”
“No. And I didn’t mean—”
“Then you have no grounds for concern. I’ve never done this before. I’ve used protection without fail in the past. I just have this . . . this . . .” Her eyes widened when he looked a little wild for a few seconds. “Compulsion to have you completely.”
She absorbed his frown. “You don’t look very happy about it.” She’d said out loud a thought she’d been having increasingly. Her heart jumped when he leaned down and claimed her mouth in a deep, hot kiss. He squeezed her arms, bringing her closer to him.
“I’m not happy about it at times, to be honest . . . usually when I’m not in your presence. Because when I’m with you, all I can think of is having you full throttle, no holds barred. Nothing between us. Nothing,” he snarled next to her lips. “Do you want to do this or not, Harper?”
“Yes,” she whispered irritably. “Because apparently, I’m every bit as compelled as you.”
He sunk his head again, but this time, she was ready for him. Their kiss was hot and wholesale.
And because of that tense, charged interaction between them in that hallway, Dr. Amorantz was forced to wait even longer than he already had.
• • •
The exam and blood test weren’t the most comfortable things in the world for Harper to do, given the fact that she didn’t even know Amorantz. Jacob had chosen well as far as a private physician, however. Amorantz was friendly, professional, and seemed very competent. The process was over relatively quickly and painlessly, at any rate, leaving Jacob and her to focus on the promise of spending the rest of the holiday weekend together.
Harper found her sense of vacation excitement mounting later that afternoon as they walked together onto Jacob’s dock, Jacob wearing swim trunks and a T-shirt, Harper a bathing suit, flip-flops, and a beach cover-up. Jim had just been sent ahead of them on a Jet Ski, his instructions to deliver a large picnic basket that Lisa had packed for them along with some other supplies to Jacob’s moored yacht. Harper got onto the Jet Ski behind Jacob.
“I’ve never been on one of these things before,” she told him, her voice brimming with excitement as she hugged his waist and pressed tight against his back.
“I’d ask if you wanted to drive it, but it feels too good having you as a passenger,” he said with his chin over his shoulder, his mouth tilted in amusement. She just pressed her smile against his sun-warmed T-shirt, all too happy to have him in the driver’s seat at that moment, as well.
When they reached his yacht, Jim was just getting on his tied-up Jet Ski, his errand complete.
“The ramp is down,” Jim yelled. The two men exchanged a wave, and Jacob circled the Jet Ski to the back of the yacht. He took them out a distance. Looking back over her shoulder, Harper saw what Jim had been referring to, a fiberglass ramp that descended from the bottom deck of the yacht into the water.
“Hang on tight,” Jacob said as he circled in the water, turning them back in the direction of the yacht.
“What?” Harper asked in confusion. Her eyes widened when he gunned the engine on the Jet Ski, and suddenly they were racing straight at the yacht. She tightened her arms around him, staring wide-eyed over his broad back. They were about to collide with the yacht any second. What was Jacob doing?
They hit the ramp and jumped out of the air suddenly, flying forward. Her stomach leapt into her throat. Her yell of surprise was cut off when they landed and slid to an abrupt, startling halt. Jacob had cut the engine. He stood, clambering off the craft onto his yacht as if jumping out of the water onto a boat was the most mundane of tasks. He noticed her stunned expression.
“You could have warned me,” she told him, half-amused, half-beleaguered as she stood on rubbery legs and took his hand.
“It was a lot more fun not to,” he said, and even though he wore sunglasses, she knew that behind the opaque lenses, his eyes were warm and gleaming with humor.
• • •
There was a lovely breeze coming across the wide expanse of brilliant blue water, but the sun was intense. Harper opted to lounge on the sectional outdoor sofa on the top deck, enjoying the warm sun while Jacob drove. She could see him piloting the yacht from where she reclined, her head propped up on several pillows. She languidly applied some sunscreen to her bikini-clad body, all too satisfied to watch his skillful handling of the craft from a distance.
After she’d finished applying the lotion, she took another sip of the delicious drink Jacob had made her when they came on board. He’d said he didn’t know if it had an official name, but he called it rum therapy. She started to get what he meant, lying there in the sun, her muscles growing heavy and warm and her mind going increasingly blank in regard to everyday concerns. . .
And about the increasing anxiety and the strange thoughts she’d been having about Jacob.
After a while, the engine cut and the boat slowed and came to a standstill in the glistening, serene waters.
Jacob approached a moment later, shrugging off his T-shirt. He slouched comfortably near her feet, one arm draped on the back of the sofa. He grabbed her foot and squeezed gently, kneading the muscles. It felt divine. She smiled, soaking up the image of his bronzed, muscular torso and casual posture. Jacob was always magnetically sexy, but she found him the most compelling when he was like this: relaxed, yet still emanating what she could only call potent amounts of sexual magnetism without appearing to even be aware of his power.
“It’s nice, isn’t it?” she asked contently.
She sensed his stare moving over her body behind his sunglasses. There it was, she thought, a thrill going through her. His simmering sexuality and possessive aura were never far off. Having grown used to his checkouts, she didn’t need to see his eyes to feel the heat in his gaze.