Just Try Me... Read online

  “I could kiss you all night,” he whispered. “Tell me you feel the same.”

  “Jared Skye, what does shh mean? No talking, that’s what!” With a huff of impatience, she sat up, pulled off her shirt and tossed it aside. There. She looked up at him, figuring that would finally get her message across.

  His gaze took in her white lace bra, his eyes on fire. Rising up to his knees, he pulled off his shirt, too.

  Finally. In reward, she ran her hands down his torso, but he backed away.

  Huh?

  Smiling, he stood up, then kicked off his shoes.

  Okay, she liked where this was going. A lot.

  And then he shucked his pants. Yeah, she really liked where this was going…

  There he was standing beneath the meager starlight naked as the day he was born.

  She licked her suddenly dry lips. “Okay, that works. Now—”

  But she was talking to herself because he’d turned, and without a single word—which was just as she’d asked so what could she say?—he dived into the water in one clean, cat-like movement.

  Sitting up, she stared in disbelief at the black ripples on the lake until he re-emerged and tossed the water from his wet hair.

  Without a moon for light, she couldn’t be sure, but she thought maybe he was grinning.

  “Come on,” he said, and lifted a hand.

  “Skinny-dipping?”

  “Why not?”

  “Because…” Because I’d thought you’d be inside me by now. “It’s juvenile.”

  “Actually…” He stood up so that the water lapped at his shins. His body gleamed by the meager starlight as water sluiced off him, down his shoulders, his arms, his chest, his belly…

  Lower, and, oh yes, she looked. He was aroused, hugely so, and her mouth went dry. God, he was a beautiful man, so beautiful she wanted to lap him up one sip at a time.

  “I don’t feel so juvenile,” he said very silkily.

  Oh boy.

  “You coming in?”

  “I don’t know,” she murmured, still staring at him. She’d wanted mindless, wild, animal sex. Him inside, her wild, no thoughts allowed.

  And yet everything he did, every time he touched her, or spoke, or even just looked at her, her thoughts raced. She was yearning and burning, all of her, not just her body but her heart and soul, and that scared her deep.

  Damn it, she’d just wanted to have some mutually satisfying sex, that’s all. Why couldn’t he oblige?

  As if reading her mind, he let out a slow, daring smile. “What’s wrong? Someone else took charge of the moment, and you lost your place?”

  She opened her mouth. Then carefully closed it again. “No.”

  But he laughed. “Yeah.”

  “You’re pissing me off.”

  “I know it.” He splashed her, just scooped his hand into the water and splashed her, wetting her from her roots to her toes and all the places in between, including her bra. Water dripped off her nose as she looked at him. “That was juvenile, as well.”

  “Yeah? What are you going to do about it?”

  “I’m sitting here without my shirt on, and you want to play?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “You’re crazy.” But she toed off her shoes.

  He smiled.

  “I don’t want any strings between us,” she said, pointing at him. “Just this.” She unzipped her jeans. “Got it?”

  “This being…”

  “Us. Naked.” She unhooked her bra. “Can you handle that?”

  He was still smiling. “What if you decide you want more?”

  “I won’t.” She let her bra fall. “Can you handle it?” she asked again.

  “I can sure as hell try.”

  And then she slid her jeans and panties down in one fell swoop. His smile faltered, replaced by a fiery look of desire that stole her breath.

  “Come here,” he said very softly, and held out his hand.

  A light breeze blew over her and she shivered as she stepped into the water, reaching out for him. He pulled her in, tight, close, and just like that, at the feel of his wet, warm body against hers, he banished the chill.

  He kissed her as he pulled them both down into the water, and as the water closed around their shoulders, lapping at their bodies, she tasted the inside of his mouth and found unbelievable comfort in the familiarity of him.

  Comfort, even as she wanted him to make her explode. So, so unbelievable. But at least she wasn’t alone in this odd phenomenon. She could hear his ragged breathing, as well, feel the pounding of his heart as he nudged her even closer, wrapping one arm around her lower back, the other sliding into her hair to tug her face up to his. He felt it, too, whatever “it” was, and a little stunned, a little overwhelmed at it all, she touched his jaw.

  “Lily,” he whispered, his longing making his voice thick and husky.

  She was a strong swimmer, and yet he held her up in the water. It felt incredible, leaning on him, letting him do the work, knowing he wouldn’t let go. Her toes bumped his shins, their bare thighs slid together. His hard abs pressed into her softer ones, and without conscious thought she ran her hands up his chest and around his neck, pressing her mouth to his for more of his achingly slow, melting kisses.

  She hoped like hell no one else decided to go for a late-night naked swim, but then he slid a hand down her spine, stopping to squeeze her butt before stroking further, down the back of her leg, urging it around his waist, which opened her up for him, and oh God, he arched his hips into hers so that she could feel exactly what she did to him.

  He was hard, gloriously so, and boldly nudging at her opening, and she forgot all about the others.

  He was a stranger, and yet she’d never felt closer to anyone in her life. Pressed even closer, she made a sound of intense need, and he met her more than halfway, his mouth welcoming hers, harder and deeper this time, as if he’d pulled the plug on any hesitancy, on the leash of his control. His hands roamed wildly over her, and hers did the same, and when she wrapped her fingers around his glorious erection, he swore and staggered unsteadily, and they both fell.

  Water closed over their heads, and laughing breathlessly, they crawled to the shore. Lily lay back on the sand, her head and torso out of the water, looking up at Jared as he towered over her, his eyes glittering.

  “God, you’re beautiful,” he whispered, lowering his body to hers as the water lapped at their calves. “So damned beautiful you take my breath.” He buried his face in her hair, then her neck, breathing her in as if he meant to inhale her, his hands skimming up and down her body, spreading the heat within her.

  When she opened her legs for him, he groaned, low and raw, and made himself at home between them, cupping her face for another soul-wrenching kiss. Then he took that kiss on a cruise down her throat to her breasts, and she couldn’t help it, she cried out.

  “Shh,” he murmured, and sucked her hard into his mouth.

  It turned out it was hard to “shh.” She tried, she really did, she just couldn’t, so he put his fingers over her lips and slid further down her body, kissing each rib, her belly button.

  Lower.

  Oh. God.

  Slipping his hands beneath her, he lifted her high enough that he could kiss her.

  There.

  And with the water lapping at her legs and Jared lapping at her center, he took her right out of herself and back again, leaving her gripping wet sand in her fists, staring blindly up at the stars, shuddering, stunned.

  “Again,” he commanded, and though she’d just exploded so hard she thought she couldn’t come again, he proved her wrong.

  Twice.

  Good lord. He might have been a classic workaholic, a self-described ordinary working stiff, but there was nothing ordinary about what he did to her there on the shore. Whatever his experience had or hadn’t been, he was earthy, giving, a masterful lover, and even when she had him in her hands, making him tremble and swear as she slowly stroked, he took car