Juicy. Noelle Mack
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older man picked up Vi’s hand and kissed her fingertips one by one. “Cara mia.”
Bliss’s eyes widened and her toes curled in her flip-flops. In her seven years at Lentone Fitch & Garibaldi, she had never heard Viola mention having a lover, let alone a lover who was a house painter. Vi had said only that she would never marry again, and Bliss assumed that it was a sensitive subject. But Rocco Camp was a stud for his age, a towering, well-built guy with a devil-may-care smile.
The older couple moved to the impromptu bar set up on the deck, and Rocco replenished Vi’s drink, adding six maraschino cherries and feeding her the seventh. Vi giggled. They whispered sweet nothings to each other, evidently forgetting that Jaz and Bliss were still there.
“He’s an artist,” Jaz whispered out of the side of his mouth. “His paintings sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars. But he’s as eccentric as hell and it’s only getting worse. He and my dad used to ride around Pine Island on bicycles, serenading women at night and raising hell, before my dad met my mom.”
“Oh.” Bliss watched Rocco kiss the fingertips of Vi’s other hand.
“Rocco never married. But I think he slept with every woman on Pine Island once upon a time. I didn’t know he hooked up with Vi. She was flying solo last year.”
Bliss heard her boss sigh with pleasure and decided to get going. She called out a good-bye and caught Jaz by the hand, giving him a second or two to pick up their beach chairs.
Vi hadn’t seemed surprised or angry at all to see the two of them. Of course, the older woman prided herself on working long hours, so Vi might be feeling a tad guilty herself about being out here. But Bliss kept her voice low even when they were well out of earshot. “I hope we didn’t come out on the same ferry. That’s why I had on my disguise.”
Jaz chuckled. “I almost didn’t recognize you at first.”
“Jaz, I looked but I didn’t see her. There were a lot of people, though.”
Jaz shook his head. “Rocco has his own boat. He probably picked her up at the Havertown dock. Can’t miss it that tub—it’s painted purple.”
“Oh. I guess that’s it. But I would have noticed a purple boat.”
“People do. I told you, he’s eccentric. It’s just a big old motorboat, but he’d hire bare-breasted galley slaves to row it if he could.”
Bliss nodded, bemused to find out that her boss considered someone like that her soul mate. Maybe Vi wouldn’t disapprove of Bliss seeing Jaz once they were all back in the city. But maybe she would. There might be hell to pay on Monday morning. Vi was not exactly predictable.
Bliss walked hand in hand with Jaz, her nervousness eased by the warm pressure of his hand. She was still eager to get to the beach, and not just to avoid Vi. She had gotten only a glimpse of it from his deck after he’d given her a fast tour of his house. It was built in a clean-lined open plan with distinctive woodwork—she realized now that he must have directed the custom-building process. Then she’d changed into her bikini and he’d changed into his trunks, and off they went.
She could hear the waves crashing softly as they came to the high stairs built over the top of the first dunes, well back from the water. The dunes were topped with spiky beach grass that waved in the shore breeze and pink-flowered vines that twined through it.
Bliss took the stairs two at a time. The ocean stretched to an infinite horizon, shimmering in the pale aqua light of early evening. The crests of the waves were bright white, curling neatly under as each rolled in, collapsed upon itself, and spread outward into ankle-deep foam.
She ran down the steps on the other side, heedless with joy, straight to the water. She kicked up the foam as she galloped into it, chasing its receding edge and jumping in again, getting wet all over.
Jaz laughed and she turned to see him drop the folded chairs and run too.
“No lifeguard! Is it okay to go in?” she called.
“I’ll save you!” he called back. He bounded through the wet sand and into the water, scooping her up in his arms. He licked the salt water off her neck. “So how do you like Pine Island?”
“So far, so good,” she murmured. Bliss twined her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss that kept on going, even when he had to let her down, sliding her over the front of his body until her feet sank in the compressed sand and swirling water.
Her bikini bottom caught on the stainless steel button on his baggy trunks. “Hang on. We’re hooked.” Jaz looked around to make sure no kids were watching, or adults, for that matter. Then he pulled on her bikini bottom and cast a lascivious glance into it, admiring the dripping curls. “Can’t wait to taste you again, Miss Bliss. Want to go back to the house and fool around?”
“Sex fiend.”
“Damn right.” But he unhooked her.
“Later, okay? We have all night.”
He nodded and slapped her wet ass, giving her a big grin. “I like the way you think. Want to swim out?”
“You go first.”
That was all it took to persuade him. He waded out to deeper water and waited for the right wave. With a powerful spring, he dived into the curl just before the wave broke over his head and came up on the other side, laughing and spitting out water. He rode the wave in, sleek and strong as a seal, and paddled over to her. “Want to try it?”
“I’m not that confident in the ocean,” she confessed.
“The water’s pretty calm. I’ll teach you.”
Bliss shook her head. “Not ready. Besides, I like watching you.”
Jaz rolled on his back and floated. “I try to put on a good show.” The water, changing color with the setting sun, gilded his skin and tightened his nipples. Bliss didn’t think she’d ever seen a man look so happy or so much in his element.
A small wave moved diagonally across the current and broke, sluicing foam across his body and face. Jaz spouted water through pursed lips, then rolled over and dived again, disappearing under the surf.
Bliss didn’t see him come up but she wasn’t worried. He was obviously an expert swimmer. But she shrieked when he got her by the knees and toppled her in, laughing and spluttering. Then he rose to his full height, dripping and magnificent, his soaked trunks clinging to his cock and balls, which were hanging in there despite the cold water. He squeezed the water out of his hair with both big hands before he reached down again and hauled her up.
“Told you I’d save you.” Step by step, he waded with her in his arms back to shore, scattering the sandpipers at the water’s edge.
“Yeah, from yourself.” Bliss kissed his gritty cheek—he must have been swimming along the bottom—and let him carry her to the dry sand. He bundled her in the huge, brightly patterned towel, and wrapped a corner of it around her hair, mopping up the rivulets that flowed down her back. He took another corner and cleaned her ears.
“I’m not six years old, you know. I can clean my own ears.”
Jaz dropped the corner of the towel and tweaked her nose. “Glad to hear it, princess.” A shiver ran over his skin and he brushed away the water and sand on his chest.
“What about you?” she asked. “There’s only one towel.”
Jaz shrugged. “I’ll live.”
Bliss rolled her eyes. “Tough guy.” She unwrapped the towel and dried him off with vigorous strokes.
“Woo hoo! Feels good. Thanks, Bliss.”
“You’re welcome.” She wrapped the towel around herself again, catching a smile from a couple about their age walking by.
Holy freaking cow, she thought. We’re a couple too. How and when that had happened, she