“Hit me with your brilliance.”
“That big donation. You should purchase a boat for the fire department and name it after Tyler. It would make a great story for the tourist brochures.”
“Love the boat idea. We need one. But Caldwell doesn’t want any extra publicity.” He dipped a fry in Alvin’s homemade ketchup. “How’s this? I’ll run a contest for the best name.”
“Now you’re talking.” She blessed him with one of her knee-weakening smiles. “See, you’re a natural at this. I knew you’d be a great fire chief.”
One of the servers called her name and she rushed away to deal with an unhappy customer. As he finished his burger, Jason watched her in action, handling the disgruntled tourist like a pro. Always decisive, always authoritative. Within moments, she had him bustling out the door, a coupon in hand.
“Nicely done,” he told her when she finally made her way back to him.
“One thing about this job, I’m improving my people skills. Dominic used to handle the front-facing aspects of Explastica, but I’m getting pretty good at it.”
“Front-facing? Why does that sound dirty?”
“Because you’re a sex maniac.”
“Only with you, superstar. And that’s on you.”
She smiled at him and plopped another basket of fries in front of him. “You always know how to get extra fries out of me.”
“I feel like that sounds dirty too?” He squinted into the air. “But I don’t really want to visualize it.”
They laughed together, the way they did whenever they managed to find time to hang out together. Along with the laughter, there was lots of sex, but none of the pressure he’d felt with Gretchen. No silent pushing—what are we doing? Why aren’t we planning for the future?
He knew now that Gretchen had done the right thing when she dumped him. Jason could see clearly now that they’d been each other’s safety blanket. They’d kept each other from growing and expanding.
With Kendra, it wasn’t like that at all. She never hid her thoughts or her opinions, and he always learned something from them. Often it was that he’d missed something, or been an idiot. But that didn’t bother him. Better to know than not to know, right? He’d learned that lesson a long time ago—from his learning disability, ironically.
As the summer season got into full swing, both of them got crazy busy. At the beginning of August, Alvin’s Burgers and Blues got a writeup in a national travel magazine that brought a constant flood of customers. Kendra had to add several staff members, including an assistant chef for Alvin. The challenge of finding someone Alvin could accept nearly wiped her out.
“Why is he so damn hard to please?” she moaned to Jason one evening as she quick-stripped her clothes off. They had exactly half an hour before he was due to attend his first town meeting. She had to close the restaurant that night, so they couldn’t see each other later.
But quick sex was better than no sex, they figured. He was busy unbuttoning his shirt because she always found his bare chest a turn-on.
“Because he has high standards. Just like the rest of his family. I mean…” Joking, he gestured at himself as proof.
“I’m not asking him to fuck the new assistant. Just allow someone to chop a few veggies for him.” Kicking off her black pants, she got one foot stuck in a leg and hopped in place.
“I love it when you say ‘fuck.’ It makes me so hot. Then again, so does ‘veggies.’”
“Veggies make you hot?”
“No, hearing you say it does. You could say almost anything and I’d get turned on. Don’t you know that by now?”
“Oh really?” She finally got her pants all the way off. Her legs were so long, her ass so firm and curvy, he loved filling his hands with those gorgeous twin cheeks. “Let me ask you something, then.”
Her voice turned serious. Shit. He didn’t want to be serious right now, not when they only had a few minutes. To fend off the change in topic, he strode toward her and crowded her against the wall. She liked it when he played the macho man, so long as he listened to her in case she changed her mind.
“Later,” he growled as he dove into the crook of her neck for a nibble.
She tilted her head back to give him space, and he feasted on the sweat-salt taste of her skin. He put his hands under her ass and groaned from the pleasure of touching her again. “I missed you.”
“Mmmm.” She ground her sex against him, all that heat and wetness hidden behind her panties. His cock thickened inside his pants. He’d barely managed to get them unzipped before pinning her against the wall.
In a moment, they were both panting for breath. Incredible how that fire flared up between them so quickly. All he had to do was touch her, or even see her across a room, and he started craving their next time together. She reached down between them, into his unzipped pants, and stroked his penis. Ah God.
He swore softly as she fondled him into full arousal. His cock swelled against her hand as if it had met its true master.
Not that he would tell her that, he thought with a silent laugh. She didn’t necessarily like hearing his wild compliments. He understood why. This wasn’t serious. This was just fucking, and being friends, and supporting each other’s dreams, and if that seemed kind of like a relationship, well, think again. Rebound, not relationship.
“You go somewhere?” She tilted her head back down to match his gaze. “You’re supposed to be fucking me, not drifting off somewhere.”
“I’m not drifting. I’m planning.”
“Planning what?”
“You’re about to find out.”
He let her slip to the floor so he could retrieve a condom from his pocket. Once he had it in his hand, she snatched it from him and tore it open with her teeth. “You’re always so slow,” she said impatiently.
“They’re slippery,” he complained. “I’m thinking of writing a letter of complaint. It’s like they make them that way on purpose so you think twice before having sex.”
She shook her head at his complaining tone. “You’re such a goofball, how the hell are you a functioning member of Lake Bittersweet society?”
“Am I though? I feel like I’m faking it.”
She kneeled down to slide the condom onto his cock, but before she did so, she put her own mouth on it first. Her lips closed over the tip. He ate up the sight of her working his cock into her mouth. Sweet Jesus, the way she suckled him made him feel like a god.
When he knew he couldn’t handle any more, he pulled away so she could roll on the condom. He wanted to get back to that same position, the one that had gotten them so hot and bothered a minute ago, but somehow this time they ended up on the floor. Which would never do, so he picked her up and tossed her onto his loveseat. Face down, over the arm. Legs spread, her wet sex beckoning, the most sexy and erotic sight he’d ever seen.
“Jason,” she moaned when he slid inside her, not bothering to take it gentle, because he knew just how turned on she was. So juicy, so hot, her flesh trembling with each deep thrust of his hips.
He reached around to her front, found her slick nub plump and swelling, and fingered her in a fast rhythm guaranteed to drive her over the edge. As soon as she tipped over, crying out in her throaty voice, he let himself loose. He nearly blacked out from the pleasure as he exploded deep inside her channel. When his vision cleared, he was still inside, pulsing with the aftershocks, one hand still clamped on her pussy.