Finding Wicked Read online

  Dear mother of all saints.

  That man made all the air whoosh out of my lungs, made me forget my own name.

  As we walked along the narrow path leading to the camp, he stayed in front, holding branches back to keep them from hitting me. The entire way, my eyes were treated to a perfect view of his glorious backside.

  When we reached the shore, the afternoon sun had started setting. He kneeled at the edge of the pit where he’d stacked some wood and lit a fire. Raising a box of matches, he said, “We can make these last for a while if we keep the coals hot enough to self-start. Let me get my bags and you can use the back of the plane to get ready.”

  I licked my lips. “Um…Garrett, that’s not really necessary. I can help you cook the fish and we can—”

  “I need to get my suit. I’m taking you on a date, and it’s a black-tie occasion.” He strolled over to the plane, retrieving his suitcase.

  In the back of the cabin, the breeze brushed my bare skin as I did my best to roll my hair into a simple but classy updo. Having only a small compact mirror created limitations, but I managed to pull together a chic messy bun.

  A date.

  Lost in the middle of the ocean with nothing but water and uninhabited land in sight, it still felt as though I were getting ready for a night at the finest restaurant and theatre.

  I applied smoky grey eye shadow and a coat of mascara then traced around my eyes with a charcoal liner before swiping my lips with a nude gloss. Standing, I slipped into the most beautiful black dress I owned, loving the low neckline and satin spaghetti straps. Forgoing the battle of heels against sand, I opted for black ballerina flats, and I longed for a full-length mirror.

  Breathing in the aroma of savory fish, I almost laughed. It had been almost twenty-four hours since my last real meal, and yet it was Garrett I craved. He made my heart race and ignited a flame in every cell of my being.

  As I stepped into the dusky evening air, a swarm of butterflies came alive in my stomach as if they were competing in an Olympic event.

  Garrett.

  He strolled forward, drawing closer with each step, wearing a sharp black-on-black suit and a sexy-as-hell grin. His brilliant eyes twinkled, and I felt as though mine sparkled brighter than the stars in a pitch-black sky.

  “You look beautiful.” His gaze traveled over me.

  “You do too…I mean, you look handsome.”

  He held out his arm and I looped mine through it as he led me to edge of the water. My eyes widened, and my jaw dropped. He’d arranged fanned palm leaves to form a picnic blanket next to a large piece of driftwood.

  “I don’t know how long the batteries will last.” He held up an iPod and a portable speaker. “I left them in my bag from when I went to Port Bolivar a few weeks ago.”

  He pressed a button and the tune “Feel Again” by OneRepublic filled the air.

  “Make yourself comfortable. I’ll be right back with the fish.”

  Watching him saunter toward the firepit, I felt the electricity of the moment. It zipped through me with a force I’d never felt for anything or anyone. My stomach clenched, and my heart hammered in my chest.

  Seconds later he returned carrying a tray of steamy fish and wearing a lopsided grin. “I used a piece of the wing. It was barely holding together so I managed to rip it off for a homemade griddle.”

  “Well, well, well, I see you do have skills.”

  “I’ve been told that on more than one occasion.” He lowered himself onto the padded ground and eased a bottle of wine from underneath his arm. “I picked this up for George, but I’m sure he’ll understand. No glasses though.”

  “Smells delicious.”

  “No seasoning, but it’s food.”

  I sampled a piece of the filet and closed my eyes, savoring the heavenly taste.

  “It’s soooo good.” I moaned with delight.

  He let out a husky groan, almost too quiet to hear over the soft music and waves lapping at the shore, and it made me freeze, my second bite halfway to my mouth. His jaw twitched, and he looked intense as he picked up a piece of the fish and ate it. He watched me with an intense stare, opening the bottle of wine with the tiniest corkscrew on a ring.

  “You carry that thing around with you just in case you’re in the middle of nowhere and happen to want to impress your date?”

  “Souvenir for Greta.”

  “While I’m shocked you actually bought gifts for anyone, I’m wondering when in the hell you had time to shop. You barely gave me time to get dressed, let alone take a trip to the ladies room.” I deepened my voice, mimicking him, “This is a business trip, not personal.”

  “I scouted the gift shop when you went back to the room to change.” He took a sip, exposing glittery cufflinks that sparkled in the light of the flickering flames a few feet away. He passed me the bottle and I pressed my lips to the rim, taking a drink of the sweet red liquid, and I swore I tasted him over the wine.

  “Dance with me.” He pulled himself to his feet, shrugged out of his jacket, and tossed it over the log, completely carefree.

  Not waiting for my response, he grasped my hand, tugging me to a standing position. Otis Redding’s “These Arms of Mine” filled the air as his hands wrapped around my waist and I circled my hands around his neck, blood pumping fiercely through my veins. Our eyes met, and under the full glowing moon, I melted into him.

  Garrett’s hands lowered past the small of my back, inching down and stopping at the curve of my ass as we swayed to the music. He pressed intimately against me, making thinking impossible. I tilted my head upward and his mouth dipped down, pausing and hovering so closely his breath seemed to hypnotize me.

  “You’re all I think about.” His lips brushed mine in a feathery kiss. Unable to resist another second, I opened my mouth, inviting his tongue inside. He slanted his head, deepening the scorching connection. My fingers locked into his thick silky hair and I melted in his arms.

  In one swoop, he cupped my ass and hauled me up against his body, the hem of my dress riding up around my hips as I wrapped my legs around him. He eased us down onto the blanket of palm leaves, and I straddled him while his fingers lowered my zipper.

  Chapter 10

  “This is the time to tell me to stop.” His lips forged a path down my neck, licking my skin while inching the zipper of my dress down one metal tooth at a time. His fingers skimmed the length of my spine, and a slight shudder shook me.

  “Oh God, don’t stop—I need this more than you can know.” I drew his mouth back to mine, my voice lost in his throaty growl. Eagerly, I loosened the knot in his tie, feverishly tossing it aside before attacking the black glass buttons of his shirt.

  He eased the spaghetti straps down my shoulders, caressing my skin and igniting flames of desire. In a haze, I thought I may come apart with need as he sucked on my bottom lip, nipping and tenderly biting. The feel of him made me experience things like never before.

  With one quick flick, my black bra lay somewhere in the sand, along with his shirt. A wicked glint flickered in his eyes before he trailed his mouth along my collarbone to my chest. His tongue licked over my pebbled nipple and I shivered violently, aching for more. Slowly his hand moved inside my dress, which was still bunched between us.

  “Raise up.” He roughly pulled the dress down my legs and let out a breathy groan as he gazed at my lacy thong. When he slipped his fingers inside them, my body jerked, and I nearly came apart at the slightest brush of his touch.

  Desperate to feel skin to skin, I reached for the button on his trousers, but he stopped me, covering my hand with his and pulling it away. “Slow. I’m going to fuck you slow and easy until you come apart, then I’m going to fuck you hard and fast until you scream my name.”

  In a quick whirl I was on my back, him on top, dragging his mouth and licking his way down to circle my navel. His fingers tugged the skimpy lace undergarment down my legs until I lay completely bare. One hand stroking the inside of my thigh, the other cuppe
d my breast.

  “God, you’re beautiful.”

  Arching my body upward, I squirmed. “Please, Garrett, I need…”

  “This what you need?” His mouth covered my sex, sweeping his tongue through the folds, licking deep into my burning flesh. Tilting my hips, I grabbed his hair, whimpering into the night.

  He pushed a finger inside, working it in and out while swirling his tongue, sucking and lapping before driving another finger inside. The slow thrust and magic sweeps in an almost torturous rhythm sent me exploding into millions of pieces of bliss.

  My body quivered, lost in passion as he slowed his movements, riding me through the pleasure until the waves subsided.

  “Christ, I could watch you come over and over again.”

  His hooded eyes dragged over my face and down my body. The way he looked at me as if I were a drug he couldn’t resist turned me on even more. He rolled onto his back, pulling me onto him before pushing my hair behind my ears and framing my face with his hands.

  Reaching down, I began unbuttoning his trousers, desperate for more of him. He twisted his hands in my hair, drawing my mouth to his. Tasting myself for the first time ramped me up for round two, and this time I wanted him buried deep inside me.

  “This too much for you?” he whispered.

  “God no. This is amazing,” I said, my voice breathy and needy. “I…uh…should probably tell you something before we go any further.”

  He drew back, his brow knit with concern. “What?”

  “I don’t want you to be disappointed or anything, and I should have already told you, but I don’t have orgasms with sex, only oral, and only once. I love how you make me feel and what you’re doing to me feels amazing, like I’m going to explode, but it’s not enough. I know I won’t orgasm again—it’s just the way I am.”

  His hand tightened in my hair, and the ache between my legs intensified. He made me feel like every cell in my body screamed to be filled. The pads of his thumbs ran over my firm nipples, making circles, and I moaned into the night air as his teeth grazed, gently biting down.

  “You will come, Brooke. I’ll take you there.” He rolled me into the sand and an easy wave of salty water nipped at my feet as he brutally clashed his lips to mine, his tongue thrusting deep inside my mouth.

  I knew what it felt like to be alive, to feel passion, desire, and wantonness.

  His thumb brushed against the sensitive bud between my legs as he thrust in two fingers. I let out a long moan, arching and meeting his deep strokes. Rolling my head back, I squeezed my eyes closed.

  “Open your eyes,” he commanded, tearing open a foil packet I hadn’t even realized he had.

  Panting, I forced my lids open, and our gazes locked while he slipped the condom on. I was burning from the inside out.

  With a slow thrust, he slid inside me, taking his time. My nails dug deep into his back, holding on to him as he withdrew in an easy move. Inch by inch, he filled me again, all the way to the hilt, and then he held himself in place.

  I needed the friction.

  Wrapping my legs around his back, I arched, rocking into him for more, tension climbing and building.

  Instead of thrusting forward, he ground into me, hitting all the right spots, and I dug my nails into his skin

  “Oooh my God.” I closed my eyes again.

  “Keep them open—I want you looking at me when you come.”

  He moved harder, faster, sliding in and out, grinding, circling, and driving me to the point of no return. He bit down on my nipple, sucking the beaded nub into his mouth and sending me over the edge.

  “Garrett!” Clenching around him, I shuddered into wave after wave, screaming his name as I came harder than I ever had before.

  “Fuck…you…are…hot…fucking perfect.” He growled and trembled through his own release.

  Shifting his weight to the side, he draped his arm across me, holding me possessively. Minutes passed without a word spoken. I felt as though I was floating, and I never wanted to come down off the high.

  He removed the condom, tossing it close to the fire and making reality slap me hard across the face.

  Truth set in, alarm bells ringing in my ears.

  A one-night stand had just cost me everything.

  “Oh. My. God.” Shoving his arm to the side, I sat up, looking around for my dress. “What have we done?”

  He grasped my arm, hauling me on top of him. “We had amazing sex and I made you come. Don’t pretend you didn’t know this was going to happen.”

  I had known; I’d felt the tug of desire, probably long before he had.

  He stared at me for the longest time before raising his eyebrows.

  “It was amazing, Garrett—better than amazing—but it was wrong.”

  “I call bullshit.”

  “I work for you. We’ve breached all the rules.”

  He smiled that God’s-gift-to-all-women smile, the one that turned my insides upside down. “I fired you so I could fuck you—no lines crossed.”

  “That bump on your head has altered your mental status.” I paused. “I’m trying to be serious.”

  He chuckled, drawing the lobe of my ear between his teeth before biting down with just the right amount of tension to drive me crazy. “I want to do bad things to you, Brooke Sheridan, things that will make you come again and again. That’s pretty fucking serious.”

  “Garrett, we need to talk about this—”

  “Talk is overrated.” He wrapped his arms around me, waves lapping midway up my lower legs. “The tide is coming in.”

  “Garrett…”

  “It wasn’t you.”

  “What?”

  He dipped his fingers into the wetness between my folds, making me writhe at his touch. “You’re so wet, made to come under my mouth, on my fingers, and clenching my cock. Jason and all the rest of the men you’ve been with robbed you of the orgasms you deserved. Fucking fools.”

  Bringing his glistening fingers to his mouth, he slid them inside and closed his eyes as if tasting the sweetest candy the world had to offer.

  A hot blush crept into my skin.

  Nothing was as it seemed. I’d spent years believing there was something wrong with me. I’d believed I had found true love and I was the one with the problem. Jason had made sure I came and had always made it good, but it had never been mind-blowing, out-of-this-world, bursting-into-zillions-of-pieces heaven.

  “I always thought there was something wrong with me. My gynecologist once told me some women can’t achieve one with intercourse.”

  “Maybe, but you’re not one of them.”

  “Jason is the only person I’ve ever been with.” I didn’t know why I felt like I needed to tell him that, but I did.

  I rolled onto my side, resting my head in the crook of his arm while he traced small circles on my shoulder with his thumb.

  “How is that possible?”

  “I dated in high school, made it to second base a couple of times, but there weren’t any guys I wanted to give my V card to. I actually met Jason for the first time in a coffee shop while studying for my business law final. He asked if he could kill some time, and then somehow we ended up dating for a year. I never told anyone except my mom…I was too ashamed.”

  “It wasn’t your fault.”

  A larger wave washed over our legs, stopping at our hips, neither of us moving. “What about you? Hundreds of women?”

  He laughed. “A few.”

  “Rumor says more than a few.”

  “Don’t listen to gossip about me. If you want to know something, ask.”

  “Ha! I’ve kicked myself several times for not listening to the breakroom warnings.”

  “Give me an example.”

  “Heart of ice, Tin Man—there are plenty more nicknames, but somehow I think you’ve already heard them.”

  “And now? Do you still feel that way?”

  “Ask me in a few days and I’ll let you know.” I pushed up and stood over him. Ill
uminated by the moonlit sky, he was jaw-dropping gorgeous, making my center twist into knots. “Thank you for the date. Dinner and dancing with you was nice.”

  He stood, strolled over, picked up my ruined dress, and handed it to me. “Dessert was my favorite part of the night.”

  “It was incredible.”

  “I have a shirt if you want to sleep in something loose.” He slipped into his dark-colored boxers and reached down, turning off the music.

  High voltage zapped me at the thought of wearing his scent, how it would tease and stoke a growing fire.

  “I’d like that.”

  “Grab one from my bag. I’ll rinse the pan and clean up the mess before the waves wash our stuff away.”

  Inside the lean-to, I slipped into one of his undershirts and a fresh pair of red boy shorts. Eyeing Garrett, I watched as he hauled the makeshift blanket up to the tree line before stepping into the plane. I heard him rustle around as I checked the fire pit, where small flames still flickered.

  He hopped from the exit onto the sand, dragging a couple of seat cushions with him. “Hoping we can use these for cots and pillows. It’s cool with the breeze, so we shouldn’t need cover.”

  “Maybe they’ll find us tomorrow.”

  “They won’t stop looking. As soon as they announced our plane was missing, my family would have been contacted. Stone, Chad, and most likely my dad are probably already on their way to St. Thomas, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Gammy were with them.”

  He took my hand in his, intertwining our fingers and escorting me inside the small shelter. I thought of my mom and hoped she hadn’t been told. The longer, the better, and I prayed we’d be found before she was called.

  Garrett pushed two of the cushions together on the sandy floor then tossed in the smaller one. “You first. Lie on your back, and hopefully this will work the way it’s supposed to.”

  I followed his instructions, wondering what he was up to. Sprawling out, I looked upward at the laced palm fronds, listening to his footsteps through the thin wall of branches. After a few seconds, a rectangular piece lifted away from the ceiling, and I gasped at the exposed starry sky.