McCarthys of Gansett Island Boxed Set Books 1-3 (47 page)

He reached for her and fell backward, bringing her with him. “Deal.”

The hair she’d let down from the ponytail made a curtain around them, sealing them off from the world as she lowered her head and captured his mouth in a soft, sensual kiss.
 

Even though he wanted to devour her, Joe cupped her face and let her take the lead. She seemed freer tonight, less concerned about where all this might be leading and more interested in seizing the moment—
their
moment. Her tongue traced a trail from bottom lip to top before dipping inside to flirt with his.

Joe couldn’t seem to draw a breath as he responded to her gentle strokes. And then she was gone, shifting her attention to his jaw before rolling his earlobe between her teeth. He sucked in a sharp deep breath as the sensation traveled from his ear straight to his cock. “
Janey
.”

“Hmm?” Now she was at his neck on her way to his chest. She worked his shirt up and over his head without missing a beat in her game of sensual torture. “You’re so tense. Relax, Joe. Let me take care of you for a change.”

Would he survive her brand of caretaking? Her lips were soft and smooth on his chest, and he had to remind himself to keep breathing. She shifted lower, pressing her belly against his straining erection.

“Baby, you’re driving me crazy,” he whispered, running his fingers through fine strands of golden hair.

Massaging his shoulders, she licked his nipple. The sensation zipped through him like an electrical charge he felt in every cell. Then she was at his belly, teasing and tempting him with her tongue and lips.
 

Joe hadn’t been this close to an embarrassing accident since high school—and that was before he felt his zipper travel down over his straining shaft. He bit his lip—hard—hoping to regain some control.
 

“You smell so good,” she whispered against his belly, causing an outbreak of goose bumps on his overly sensitive skin.

“What do I smell like?”

“The sea and fresh air and sexy man.”

“All that?”

“Mmm hmm.” This she muttered against the head of his penis, which had somehow found its way to her mouth.

“Janey, honey, wait. . .”

She looked up at him with innocent blue eyes that were mocking him. “Why?”

“You’re a vixen, aren’t you?” he asked, laughing softly. “You know exactly what you’re doing to me.”

The gentle strokes of her hand quickly had him on the verge of explosion.
 

“Are you complaining?”

Joe released a ragged breath. “No.” He broke out in a sweat when she took him deep into her mouth while using her tongue and hand to caress him. “Janey. . . honey. . .
God
.”
 

She laughed, and the vibration almost finished him off.
 

“Baby, come up here. Let’s do this together.”

Joe got a second lease on life when she released him to shimmy out of her skirt and panties. Watching her pull her top over her head and remove her bra, however, had him right back at the brink. He reached for her, certain he’d never been more turned on in his life.

With her hand on his chest, she eased him back, letting him know she was still in charge. She straddled him and rubbed her moist heat over him.
 

He grabbed her hips, desperate to be inside her, but she wasn’t done playing with him.

Apparently, she didn’t care that she was making him crazy, because she tossed her head back and laughed. Sliding his hands from her hips to her ribs, he cupped her breasts and ran his thumbs over her nipples. That finally seemed to get her attention. She stopped tormenting him and took him in.

“Ahhh,” she sighed, gazing down at him through half-lidded eyes. “That feels
so
good.”

Joe linked their fingers and held on tight, expecting her to ride him hard. But once again she surprised him by stilling the movement of her hips. He groaned. “
Janey!
”

“Tell me something about you that I don’t know.”

He stared up at her, incredulous. “
Now?
”

She bit her lip and nodded. “You know me so well. You know how I take my coffee and that I’m a vegetarian. You even remember my injured pet squirrel and the Strawberry Shortcake overalls. I need to catch up.”

His fingers traveled over her back to cup her bottom, bringing her in tighter against him. “And we have to play get-to-know-you right this minute?”

Tilting her hips ever so provocatively, she nodded again. “Just
one thing
, Joe. That’s all I’m asking for.”

“I can’t believe you expect me to think right now.”

She squeezed his shoulders. “You can do it, and when you do, you’ll be
richly
rewarded.”

“Well, when you put it that way. . .” He squirmed beneath her, needing more and needing it now. Somehow, he managed to say, “I like to paint.”

“Walls?”

“Canvas.” He gasped when she rolled her hips and bent to drag her breasts over his chest. “Landscapes.”

“Oh! You mean paint
paint
.”

“Right. Can we have sex now?”

“We
are
having sex.”

“Can we do it my way?”

Her lip came out in a pretty pout. “You don’t like my way?”

“I love your way.” He sat up and curled her legs around his hips. “But I’m about to explode. You wanna come with me?”

“Will you show me your paintings? After we explode?”

He bit back a smile. Had she ever been more adorable? “
Yes!
”

She wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her breasts against him. “Then I wanna go with you. Take me with you, Joe.”

“Gladly, my love.”

Chapter 14

Whoa
, Janey thought. When he said explode, he meant
explode
. The aftershocks tingled through her body, reminding her of the amazing moment of intense connection and utter harmony. Not once, in all the years she’d spent with David, had they ever come even close to achieving such a moment.
 

Lying on top of Joe, feeling him throb between her legs as he caressed her back, Janey couldn’t have moved if she had to. In the back of her mind, however, were nagging questions that refused to be quieted in the aftermath of amazing sex. What was happening between them? Why did it feel so important? Did she really want to go from something long-term and serious to something even more serious?
 

Joe was so free with the “L” word. Did it hurt him that she didn’t say it back? How had Joe become so vital to her in just a few days? And, most important of all, she had been so terribly wrong about David. How could she trust herself and her judgment in the wake of that spectacular failure?

“There’s an awful lot going on in that pretty little head of yours,” he muttered.

How did he know? How did he
always
know?
 

“Want to talk about it?”

“No.”

“All righty, then, want to see my etchings?”

Janey laughed. “Mmm hmmm.”

“Then you’ll have to get your big old self off me.”

But rather than move, she burrowed in closer.

Joe’s arms tightened around her. “Or we could just stay right here all night.”

“I do want to see your paintings.”

“They’ll keep.”

Janey rested on top of him, reveling in his scent, in the tender way he held her, in the certainty that he loved her. But always, under the surface of her contentment, were those blasted questions with no answers.
 

“I wish you would tell me what has you so worried.”

“I should be worried about how well you know me,” she said with a nervous laugh.

“Is that a bad thing?”

“It’s unnerving at times.”

“Want to talk unnerving? How about when you suddenly decide, in the middle of having sex, that you don’t know me as well as I know you?”

She winced. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. It was cute.” Joe turned them so he could look down at her. “I’m a pretty simple guy, Janey. What you see is more or less what you get.”

“That is
so
not true! That’s what you want people to think.”

He raised a questioning eyebrow. “Why do you say that?”

“You have all kinds of talents besides steering a hundred-foot ferry through pea-soup fog.”

“Such as?”

“Look at this awesome house you built with your own hands or how you whip up your own salmon marinade. And now I find out you’re also an artist!”

He laughed. “I wouldn’t say
that
.”

“I’ll be the judge.” She flashed a coy smile. “Of course, there’s also that thing you do with your tongue. Mmm. That’s
quite
a talent.”

His face lifted into the smile she was growing to love in ways she never could’ve imagined a few days ago. He bent to kiss her. “You know me, Janey. You know all the important stuff.”

She reached up to push the hair off his forehead. “I’m only just beginning to figure out the important stuff.”

“I hope you see yourself at the top of the what’s-important-to-Joe list.”

Even though she knew it was cowardly, Janey looked away from the intensity and the longing she saw on his face.

“You don’t like being at the top of my list?”

“It scares me.”

With his finger on her chin, he forced her to look at him. “Why?”

“I’m so afraid I’m going to hurt you, Joe. I don’t want to, but I’m afraid I will anyway.”

“You’re not responsible for me, honey. I’d never want you to feel that way. I knew what I was getting into. I knew the timing sucked, and I let it happen anyway.”

“If this doesn’t work out, if
we
don’t work out, will you be okay?”

“I won’t lie to you. I really want it to work out.”

“But if it doesn’t? I need to know you’d be okay. I
need
that.”

“I have a great life. I get to do what I love every day. I have awesome friends and a home I like returning to every night. Is it perfect? No, but it works for me. If you were waiting for me when I got home every night? Now
that
would be perfect.”

Janey rolled her lip between her teeth. “You really think so?”

He nudged at her until she yielded her abused lip to him. “I know so. But the only way I want you with me is if it’s where
you
want to be. No questions, no doubts, no reservations.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“Yes, Janey,” he said. “I’ll be okay.”

“Promise?”

“Yeah.” The single word was full of sadness, but then she watched him try to rally. “So you like that tongue trick, huh?”

“Oh,
yeah
.”

He kissed his way down the front of her. “They say practice makes perfect.”

“Is that what they say?”

“Uh-huh.”

Steeped in the incredible pleasure, Janey decided the worries would have to wait. They had this night together, and she didn’t want to spoil it. Tomorrow would have to take care of itself.

By the time they got around to looking at his paintings, it was nearly three in the morning. Kneeling on the floor of his studio, Janey wore a T-shirt of his that showed off her shapely legs. He’d pulled on boxers when she insisted on dragging him into the studio. Watching her flip through canvases that few people had ever seen made Joe feel vulnerable and exposed—an uncomfortable feeling he was becoming accustomed to lately.
 

“These are
amazing
! Why haven’t you ever done anything with them?”

Embarrassed by her effusiveness, he ran his fingers through his hair. “It’s just something I do for fun.”

She turned those potent blue eyes on him. “You’re incredibly talented, Joe.”

God, she just
tore him up
when she looked at him that way. “Thanks.”

Standing, she reached for the canvas that depicted the island’s Northeast Light. “Look at this! It’s exquisite. The colors and the passion! How do you get the water to look like it’s moving?”

“I don’t know,” he said, laughing. “I just paint what I see.”

“I’m astounded that you’ve kept such a huge talent hidden for so long.”

“It’s a
hobby
, Janey.”

“It’s amazing.”

“You can have that one if you like it so much.”

“I couldn’t! You could get good money for it!”

“I don’t want good money. If you love it, you can have it.”

“I can’t possibly take it. You need to show them and sell them and make tons of money!”

He smiled at her foolishness. “That’s not me, hon. I’m a ferryboat captain, not an artist.”

“Why couldn’t you be both? Aren’t you the one trying to convince me I need to go to vet school?”

Damn, the girl could argue! He’d always admired the way she more than held her own with four older brothers. “That’s different.”