Chapter Ten

We Go There Together

The sounds of faint bells and whistles woke Jordan the next morning.

That and the sound of a something thudding beneath her ear. For a moment she was confused, and couldn't remember exactly how she had gotten here…and why she was in bed with her chemise and garters and stockings on and nothing else.

Or why her pillow was beating beneath her head.

Or why it was so hard.

Then she remembered. The gambling debt. Woody. He had chose to spend his one night with her just cuddled next to his side, sleeping. At some point during the night, she had rolled over and made his body her mattress. Her head was pillowed on his chest and the rest of her body was sprawled over his, with one of her legs very possessively thrown over his thigh.

She glanced up at his face. He was still asleep and looked endearingly boyish with his hair mussed in a half a dozen directions and the lines on his face relaxed. Jordan fought the desire to run her fingers through his messy hair.

And deliberately tried to quell the tingling in her body that was arising due to her precarious position. She now knew that it wasn't Woody she hadn't trusted from the first time she had seen him…it was her reaction to him that had had her rankled.

More specifically her body's reaction to him that bothered her. After her fiasco with JD, she had vowed to never let another man affect her so.

She needed to move. To get off of him now.

But something in her sleep-lazed mind didn't prompt her to move despite the fact her conscience was prodding her to do that very thing. It was still very early…not even light outside yet. She figured, if she ignored that little voice in her head long enough, it would go away. She clamped her eyes shut and unconsciously tightened her hold on him.

"Mmmnnth." That action caused him to begin to rouse from his sleep. She froze, holding her breath and praying he'd doze back off…allowing her to get up and get her morning gown on, if nothing else.

Like she really wanted to…no…staying here in his arms sounded much better. Felt better too. Felt better than anything else she had experienced in a long…

"Good morning." His voice rumbled over the top of her head.

"Good morning," she echoed back, hoping her voice just sounded like she just woke up, instead of the breathlessness she detected.

"Did you sleep well?" His hand began to do lazy sweeps down her back.

"Yes. Did you?"

"Very." He chanced a glance down at her only to find her looking back up at him. Her eyes were wary, but they weren't cold. It looked like they were waiting for her to breathe. "Thank you," he murmured.

"For what?"

"For letting me have my one night with you."

She chuckled, the sound reverberating through her and him both. "If that was what you chose…just to sleep with me, then you're welcome."

He raised one eyebrow. "I should have chosen something else?" It was a question, not a statement.

"Let's just say, it wasn't what I was expecting."

He laughed then, a sound that nearly grated her. Indignant, she tried to sit up, but got no further than just propping on her elbow, his arm fastening tight around her waist. "You wanted something more?"

"I was expecting that you wanted something more."

Woody stopped laughing then. "Who says I didn't? You're a beautiful woman, Jordan Cavanaugh…and so much more than anyone thinks…but the fact is, I'm not going to have sex with you because of a gambling debt. If you chose to give yourself to me, it will be because you want to…not because you owe it to me. And not because you feel you have to." He held her brown eyes in a steady gaze with his blue.

"But you wanted it…you wanted me…" she said in a small voice.

"I never denied that."

"But I don't understand…"

"Jordan, if anything happens between us, it will be because we both want it. Not because of anything else." His eyes echoed what she had read in them last light at the poker tournament. If we go there, we're going there together.

She gulped. Technically, she had paid her debt to him. He had the option of having her for one night and one night only…anything he wanted…as many times as he chose. Instead of taking advantage of her, he had simply held her close and slept with her in his arms all night.

Her debt had been paid. Now, if she wanted something more from Woody, it would be cause she wanted it. She chose it.

For the first time, it would be because it was her decision. The sex wouldn't be forced and it wouldn't be used to try to coerce or trick her into doing something she didn't want to do.

It would, in every sense, be different.

It would, in every sense, be making love. And that was something Jordan didn't think she had ever done before. She looked deep in his eyes once again, his blue eyes still holding her brown ones in a steady gaze. He was waiting on her to make up her mind.

He was waiting on her to make the first move.

Tentatively she leaned down and brushed her lips against his, lightly caressing them, then teasing them with the tip of her tongue until he opened his mouth for her. Hesitantly, she pulled her body over his again, angling her mouth to explore his better…tracing the outline of his mouth with her tongue, then teasing his into play.

It was then that Woody took action. The hand that had been behind his head while they were talking came down and gently cradled her head, and the other one tightened around her waist even more, pulling her closer, but not so close that she couldn't roll off him if she changed her mind.

But from the way she was holding on to him, that wasn't likely to happen. Woody chanced to open his eyes and roll them towards the window of her stateroom. No light out yet. Plenty of time before she had to be up and at her duties…and he …he…

Damn.

He knew he had to leave the Marker today. His case was closed and Allan would be calling him back into the office.

But meanwhile, he was enjoying the series of long, slow, wet kisses that were growing increasingly more passionate by the minute. Especially that last one when she nipped his lower lip and was now feathering kisses around his mouth, teasing him…taunting him to find her lips once again.

With one swift motion he did, and rolled her beneath him at the same time. He pulled back from her then, carefully scrutinizing her face. Her eyes were smoky, pupils dilated. He lowered his mouth to hers and with one hand gently untied the tiny ribbon that held her chemise up and pushed it down and out of the way. "You're beautiful," he murmured in her ear, softly kissing below her lobe and along her jaw line, down the column of her throat, to that hollow between her breasts.

"Thank you." A breathless response.

He swallowed a chuckle and turned his attention to a taunt, pink nipple, gently running his tongue around it before he drew it into his mouth. Her low moan and the feel of her hands in his hair, keeping his head close, let him know that was the right move. After awhile, he turned his attention to the other one.

Another low moan was his reward. And the feel of her squirming beneath him. He drew back then, sitting back on his heels.

And caught his breath. With that long chestnut hair spread out on the pillows and her in nothing but her stockings, Jordan Cavanaugh had just made every fantasy that had rocked his Midwest values come true. He untied her garters and slowly, seductively slid each silk stocking off her hopelessly long legs. Then he gently caressed her center with his thumb.

Her hiss of pleasure echoed around the room. Smiling to himself, he just as leisurely slipped on finger into her. A gasp and she bucked against him. Satisfied he was pleasuring her in a way no one else had, he slid another finger inside with the first and bent over her again, finding her nipple one more time with his mouth.

God….was the last coherent thing Jordan thought as the sensations Woody was producing in her body took over. She writhed against the sheets, her hands searching for something to hold onto to hold her steady in her rapidly shifting world. She gasped again when he angled his fingers into a curve.

That was the last thing she remembered for several long moments as her body shuddered repeatedly and from behind her closed eyes she saw stars and felt the blood pounding in her veins. But the feel of his lips on hers brought her back to the present. No man had done that for her…to her. She opened her eyes languidly, searching for his blue ones. "Woody…" she said on a sigh.

His response was to lace the fingers of both of her hands with his, holding them on both sides of her head. Then nudging her knees a bit further apart, he slid into her, capturing her mouth in another long, wet kiss at the same time.

Her body responded on its own. What he was doing to her…she didn't want to stop. She'd give her boat and everything on it, if time could just stand still and they could just go on like this forever.

But of course, forever could only last until the sun's rays found their way through the window of her stateroom.


Three

He had taken her to three mind-blowing climaxes before he had his own. Jordan had clung to him and let her body respond, vaguely aware of calling his name out during the last one, and his lips having to cover hers before someone heard.

Now he was simply holding her, his fingers trailing through her long, chestnut curls as they both were willing the sun to move a little slower.

But it wasn't happening. "I have to go," he murmured.

"I know," she answered just as softly.

Woody reluctantly left her arms and put on his pants before he held a hand out to her to help her from the bed. While he fussed with the buttons on his shirt, Jordan put back on her chemise and stockings and found a day gown. Woody once again stilled her fingers as they reached for the buttons on the back of her dress. He buttoned her up, all the while laying soft kisses around the back of her neck. When he was finished, he turned her around. "I have to get off at the next stop…"

Jordan nodded. She assumed as much. Last night was just….last night. A treasured memory she would pull out to remember when she was lonely. She never expected it to be anything more. "I know. And I have duties I have to attend to…"

"It's still early. I can slip out now before anyone notices that we were together last night."

She looked him square in the eyes. "I'm not ashamed of what happened." She cast an eye at the rumpled bed linens, that now smelled of both of them. "I don't want you slinking out of my cabin like what we did last night was wrong. It wasn't. It was…wonderful."

His dimpled smile in response to her comment made her knees melt and Jordan thought for a split second that if Woody asked her to leave the boat with him, she would gladly turn her back on the Marker and go with him.

But he wouldn't do that. He couldn't. Just like last night…where she made the decision to give herself to him…she would have to make the decision to change her life in other areas, too. Without influence from him or anyone else.

"I'm glad you think so…because so do I," he whispered before he pulled her into one last long, wet kiss and opened the door to leave. With a tip of hat, he continued. "I hope to see you again, Jordan Cavanaugh."

And he was gone. He was off the boat and on shore before she had a chance to finish her morning duties and see him again. The only thing she had left to remember him by was that one night and his handkerchief he had left behind on her stateroom floor.