Slow Hand by Bonnie Edwards Page B

men did. You know, all that stuff about a way to a man’s heart.”
    “Let’s just say I haven’t had reason to bake for a long time.”
    “Fair enough.”
    “This little cove is beautiful,” she said, shading her eyes to take her first look around their private destination. A short stretch of beach beckoned but she could see even from here that the drop off immediately off shore was deep. “But the swimming looks treacherous.”
    “Better to swim off the swim grid in the stern.”
    She turned and looked to where she expected open sea. But there was none. Just more land and beach.
    “Where are we?”
    “Seclusion Cove. Not very original, but the name says it all. You can’t see the entrance to the cove until you’re on top of it. Most large boats pass by, as do the charters.”
    “Would you have brought us here if Philip was here?”
    “No. I want this to be a place you remember as ours. Just ours.” He stood behind her and looped his arms across her chest in a light hug. His broad back protected hers from the sun while he pointed out some of the flowers and plants.
    “There’s sea grape,” he said, pointing out a tall, dense tree with broad leaves. “I’ve got some jam made from the grapes.”
    “Can we pick some?” They didn’t look much like the grape vines she’d seen in vineyards.
    “They’re too tart to eat fresh. They grow high here because the cove’s sheltered from the wind.”
    The flora and fauna was interesting, but the large, rather insistent erection she felt pressing into her back was by far more enthralling. She reached behind her and cupped him, giving him a light, firm squeeze from root to tip. He bit her earlobe in response.
    Shivers of anticipation ran from her ear to her loins where they settled into a burn. Jared continually surprised her with his appetite for sex. She matched him in every way, and that shocked her even more.
    “I want to eat you,” he murmured against her ear.
    “Me? Or my brownies?” she murmured back, feeling his hot finger explore her curls. She leaned forward and stepped wide for him, unable to quench her rising fire without his deep touch.
    “Can’t I have both?”
    She laughed. “The brownies should be cool enough now, but I’m getting hotter,” she said.
    “You’re confusing me.” His hands went palm up as if weighing his decision. “Brownies.” His left hand moved. “Or Teri.” His right hand moved.
    She laughed. “Once the brownies are gone, they’re gone. But I’ll be here for a while longer.”
    He growled into her ear. “Brownies it is.”
    He pulled away and she felt bereft at the change in temperature. But when she turned she had to laugh again at his silent demand for the knife she’d lain on top of the pan of brownies.
    She presented the knife to him like an operating room nurse. A quick slap into his hand and a precision slice later and he had a quarter of the brownies in his hand.
    “I offered you one brownie as I recall.”
    “This is one.”
    She rolled her eyes.
    “Would you like me to cut you a piece, too?” he asked.
    “A small one please. By your standards, minuscule.”
    “I remember how brownies are supposed to look,” he said, cutting a much smaller square for her. “It’s just been years since I’ve had a homemade one, so I’m not going to apologize for being greedy. You make me that way.”
    She thought of the great sexual appetite he’d aroused in her and she understood. “Deprivation can release the inner glutton for many things. Sex included.”
    She accepted the brownie he offered and tasted it. “Oh, this is good, I thought I’d forgotten the recipe, but I guess it’s like riding a bike.”
    He gathered her into his arms again and resumed the position they’d taken at the deck railing. Quiet and secluded, the cove was a paradise where there was no evidence that man existed.
    The heat of Jared at her back comforted her more than it should. The man himself comforted her more than she should