Over and over again into the woman I think is the one.
I give her all I’ve got while taking exactly what I need. When I feel her pussy starting to tighten around me, I’m not the slightest bit surprised when my body reacts accordingly. She’s coming… therefore, I simply must come, too.
I slam in deep, hold there, and lose myself completely.
CHAPTER 17
Barrett
“I feel guilty,” I tell Cruce as my feet swing back and forth. “Just… doing nothing.”
We’re sitting side by side on the end of the dock. Despite Cruce’s best efforts to get me to walk around naked, I’m dressed, but scantily so. I’m wearing my laciest, most miniscule bra and panty set in a translucent white lace. I might as well be naked.
Dressed in nothing but shorts, Cruce holds a fishing pole. We’re waiting to hear back from Kynan on what the game plan is. Because I essentially have no more work to do on my formula, I did not say no to a late morning on the dock to soak up some vitamin D in the form of sunlight.
I feel guilty for other reasons, which I cannot divulge to Cruce. He’d kill me, and I’m still not sure they wouldn’t cause total panic within him over my transgressions.
Yesterday, I did something Cruce, Kynan, and Bebe had hammered into me not to do before we left.
Stay offline, they had said.
For my safety.
For Cruce’s safety.
But I’d made my breakthrough yesterday afternoon. While Cruce was out walking the island and doing his duty to protect me from the bad guys, I suddenly had one of those moments of clarity where not only did a light bulb go off, but I also felt like the scientific heavens had opened up and poured divine light down onto me.
I’d realized the elements that had been missing to get the lighter atomic nuclei to combine to the heavier nucleus, thus creating the beautiful process of nuclear fusion.
Of course, it’s all theoretical and I was calling on a dusty memory I had of something I’d read in an old periodical I did not have digital access to.
So, my guilt comes from the fact I could not resist the temptation to confirm what I was ninety-nine percent sure about, and I logged onto the satellite Wi-Fi Bebe had given Cruce to use only in an emergency.
To try make myself feel better, I justified that everything was encrypted and protected by the powers of Bebe, but since she’d been the most vocal in explaining there’s nothing in the digital world that’s absolutely safe and foolproof, I knew I was taking a risk.
I’d emailed my research assistant, taking no more than probably thirty seconds to do so. I immediately logged off after stating I needed the response as soon as possible.
I waited an hour, logged back on, and saw his response. It confirmed exactly what I needed to know.
I started to log back off, eager to return to work and do some theoretical hole punching to test the validity of my findings. But then one last thought occurred to me, and I let my excitement over the fact the end might be near get the better of me.
I sent a quick email to my uncle. Keeping it short, I’d been offline within mere seconds.
Dear Uncle Jon,
I’m close. Really close. Love you and thank you for all your support. See you soon.
Barrie
Yeah, I feel guilty as hell about sneaking to do those things. I’m suffering extreme remorse. However, I have to look at the positive. I woke up this morning, re-testing all my theories by working in reverse order. I did it four times until I realized… there was nothing else I could do. It had to go to testing.
Cruce had called Kynan and gave him the news. We were both told to sit tight and be patient while Kynan figured out the next steps as it could take a few days. He wanted to talk with my lab to figure out how to transfer my data securely from the island to their servers. He also intends to talk to my uncle to see if he has any other safety concerns. As Kynan pointed out to Cruce, my formula being finished doesn’t mean I’m safe. Even if others take my work and start actual reactor testing, it still doesn’t mean someone won’t want to pick my brain apart.
Right now, we are in the safest spot possible—although Cruce hypothesized it was probably going to be safe to go home soon, after adding some modified protection at my home.
Makes me sad this is all going to be over.
My time here with Cruce, I mean.
We’ve been here almost a week and a half. While stress has been high, and we’ve been socially isolated, I have to say some of my happiest moments ever have been here. Granted, it’s the nights or the early morning hours when I’m in his arms or he’s inside of me. It’s the conversations we share over meals. The way he moves. How he looks at me.
It’s how my body reacts to him. How sometimes when I just look at him while I’m up in the main house working and he’s on the beach, standing guard, I get almost giddy with emotion.
I don’t want this to be over. Yet, I don’t know what awaits us back in the normal world.
“Have you ever just sat around and done nothing?” Cruce asks, jolting me out of my reverie. He reels in his line, pulls it all the way out of the water, then sits the pole on the dock beside him.
“Huh?”
“You said you feel guilty,” he reminds me, compounding said guilt not only for sitting here doing nothing, but also for disobeying the rules that were put in place to keep me safe. “Have you never truly just relaxed?”
Putting my hands on the dock slightly behind me, I lean back, lifting my face to the sun for a moment. I tip my head to the right, settling my gaze on him before I answer.
He’s so handsome. So good and attentive and sexy and genuine. I owe my life to him, as well as all the ways in which I’ve changed over our time together.
Slowly, I shake my head. “No. I’ve never just done this, and I need to thank you.”
“Why?” he asks as he rolls to lay fully on the deck.
I follow suit, sliding my hand over to find his and turning my face back to the sun as I close my eyes against the brightness. Our fingers link. “Thank you for making me see the pleasure in just laying here on a hot wooden dock on a sunny day while doing nothing. Thank you for making me slow down sometimes.”
He rubs his thumb over the back of my hand. “Promise me you’ll continue to do this back in the real world.”
“Won’t be as fun without you,” I reply, internally wincing when I realize saying that may be way too forward.
Too clingy? Needy? Girlie? Desperate?
His hand jumps in mine slightly before he locks onto me with a tight squeeze. It’s enough to make me turn my head, the hard wood of the dock hurting my skull, as I open my eyes.
He stares straight at me. “Wouldn’t want to deprive you of fun.”
Hope swells within me, and my lips curve upward. “Really?”
Cruce gives a careless shrug. “I mean… you’re all right to hang out with.”
I pull my hand free of his, only to use it to pop him in the stomach. He curls up, grabbing onto his stomach, and looks pained. Smiling, I only roll my eyes. I hadn’t hit him hard.
Grinning, he leans over and puts a palm on the nape of my neck, pulling me up into a sitting position. His mouth touches mine, and I can’t help but sigh into the kiss.
If feels so damn right.