The Widows of Sea Trail-Tessa of Crooked Gulley Read online

  “How is it that you’re here, by helicopter no less?”

  “Pilots know pilots. One favor begets another. I’ll be bringing you back by plane to your next port,” then he bent to my ear and added in a husky whisper, “that is if I bring you back at all.”

  A shiver went up my spine, and even though it was over ninety degrees, I felt a flash of goose bumps shoot up my arms.

  He helped me into the helicopter, showed me how to strap in and signaled the pilot with a circling finger to take us up.

  I was introduced to his friend, Paul, who was our pilot as I took in the impressive gadgetry on the dashboard and the view out the immense glass bubble. It was hard to talk as it was so noisy but Paul and Roman seemed used to it and conversed easily. I looked out at the vast expanse of sea and yelped in delight when Roman pointed out a school of dolphins. We flew low and followed them for a few minutes before sharply veering off to the left. Up ahead I could see the shape of an island, and as we came closer, it grew to gigantic proportions. We’d been up in the air about forty minutes when we crossed the tip of the island, and then we soared, going up at a steep angle. Five minutes later we landed on a paved road at the top of a mountain.

  Roman shook Paul’s hand as he exited and then he helped me down. We ran in a crouched position until we’d cleared the blades and then the chopper took off, tilting, the tail high in the air as it headed back toward the ocean.

  I looked around and saw nothing but green fields. “Where are we?”

  He took my hand and led me to the top of the rise and then down the crest. As we made our way down I saw a house, a pretty building with yellow stucco sides and a terra cotta tiled roof. It sprawled over several levels and ended with a terraced drop to a sparkling aquamarine pool. I thought it was a hotel, possibly a bed and breakfast.

  “Oh it’s lovely. I bet they do an amazing business with this incredible view.”

  “Business? This is my home.”

  “What? You live here?”

  “I know it’s crass to bring you to my house on what could technically be called our first date, but I wanted to be alone with you. You haven’t left my mind for a single minute, not since I met you.”

  His words took my breath away; I didn’t know what to say. After a moment of taking it all in, I murmured, “Well it seems I’ve traded a crowded pool for a deserted one. Any chance there’s poolside service and I can get a pina colada, I had to leave my last one behind.”

  He squeezed my hand tight and grinned. “Coming right up.”

  He led me down the hill to a series of steps that wound around the house and to the pool. I threw my bag on a lounger and took off my cover-up. As I tossed it aside I saw his appreciative eyes sweep over me. But I didn’t hesitate, I dove right in. I needed cooling off and the water looked so clean, sparkling like a tourmaline in the afternoon sun. I swam several laps and then ducked under to swim along the bottom.

  When I surfaced he was sitting in a chair by the edge of the pool, hands tented between his knees, watching me.

  “You actually frolic, I can see you’re enjoying this.”

  “Yes, I am. And you know what would make it even more enjoyable?”

  He stood. “I know, I know, a pina colada. I’m getting it.”

  “Well that would be nice, but I meant you, in here with me.”

  “I’ll change and get the drinks. Don’t go anywhere.”

  Where would I go, I thought. This is the scenario every woman runs toward not away from. When it’s time to live out your fairytale, you don’t go run and hide. As far as I was concerned Roman was way out of my league, but if he was interested and intrigued by me, who was I to question it? I made up my mind right then that I was going to make the most of his acquaintance.

  Shipboard romances, while not something I’d ever had any experience with, were known to be passionate and intense, but not sustaining. Was I actually in for an afternoon of fun and games with no thoughts of tomorrow? I lolled around in the water swaying this way and that. The water felt silky running though my fingers. Then I looked up and saw Roman come through the sliding patios doors in his swimsuit, a drink in each hand. Yes, I was definitely ready for something with this man. Who wouldn’t be? Both Cat and Viv would bean me on the head if I didn’t enjoy this man in every way that I could.

  He brought the drink to the side of the pool and handed it to me. I raised it in salute and sipped, then I smiled up at him, “It doesn’t get any better than this does it?”

  He jumped in beside me, took me in his arms and just before he kissed me, he said, “No, it doesn’t. It sure doesn’t.”

  As he kissed me I noticed his fragrance, citrus with spicy overtones. As a shopaholic who knew the cosmetic counters well, I knew it to be the exclusive fragrance known as James Gent of London. When combined with his unique male scent it was enough all on its own to jumpstart desire in me. I have always been a very tactile person, but aromas— heady, musky essences of maleness have always turned me on, sometimes even more than touching.

  As his lips took mine and molded them for his pleasure, my hands went to his shoulders and gripped tight. When his tongue slid inside and jousted with mine, I moaned and slid my hand down his chest to delight in the thick furring I found there. He moaned when my fingertips found his nipple. We were well on our way and I hadn’t needed but a sip to become intoxicated.

  We stood in the shallow end wrapped in each other’s arms, kissing frantically and daring to mesh our lower bodies together. I felt his erection rubbing back and forth going from one hip to the other. “I want you Tessa, I have since the moment I saw you on that balcony in that towel. There was even a big X showing me where I could put my body inside yours.” His lips moved to my throat and I gasped at the pleasure that evoked.

  “I thought you were seeing right through it.”

  “Believe me, I wanted to.”

  “Is it kismet that we met in the jewelry shop then?” I kissed the corners of his mouth.

  He gave a heartfelt sigh and set me away from him. “As nice as that sounds, I can’t have you believing that. I knew that sooner or later you’d probably come off the ship so I waited by the window of a pub until I saw you walk by. Then I followed you until you went into the jewelry store so I would have the opportunity to talk to you.”

  “So, no kismet, you were the hunter, I was the hunted.”

  He laughed at my turned-down smile and I idly stroked his shoulders.

  “Well there is a pool of ten harbor pilots so it was the luck of the draw that it was me who climbed aboard your ship and then afterward, garnered your attention.”

  “I saw you jump onto the ship that morning. It was the oddest thing. I remember I trembled when you were at the controls.”

  “Well then, there’s good news for me, as I intend to cause many such tremblings in you this very day.” His head lowered and his lips crushed mine. I don’t know when I had ever been kissed so thoroughly. He took his time, slanting his head first this way and then that, keeping my lips directly under his while his tongue explored and delighted, learning every nuance he could about my mouth.

  His hands captured my head and held me as his lips took and took, his tongue sometimes delving deep, his teeth nipping, but always he was tasting and teasing and sending me to new heights. Our tongues battled for territory, separated to rim the inside of lips, then met again to clash with intensity over and over again.

  It was wild, it was innervating. It was making me slick in places that were already deep in the water and wet. His hands slid to my shoulders and with gentle fingers he slid my straps down my arms until my breasts were exposed. His hands at my waist he looked down at me and moaned. “Mmmm, you are beautiful, simply lovely. So, give me a primer on these puppies, what can I do to them?”

  This was all so new to me, yet I could feel the old tingling of my nipples beading and drawing tight under his gaze. “You are the first man to look at me, you’ll be the first man to touch me. My reconstruction
was done four years ago, and my husband died as I was recovering. He didn’t have a chance to enjoy the ‘new version’ of me. So, I guess you could say I have virgin breasts.”

  “Well, that’s intriguing to say the least.” I watched as his hand stole up to timidly caress my right breast.

  “So I guess we’ll be learning together,” I said with a whimper as he lightly tweaked the nipple.

  “Mmmm, virgin breasts, I like the idea of that. Let’s try this one out shall we?” And with that, he lowered his head and took one pebbled nipple between his lips. I threw my head back and sighed with pleasure. He looked up at me, my nipple still in his mouth, and he sucked harder. It was such a heady feeling, I could feel my nether region plumping, filling with heated energy and coming to life. I needed more, much more.

  “Mmm, that seems to be a winner,” he murmured as he left one breast and kissed his way over to the other.

  My body was a jumble of sensations, but mostly I was aware that I was topless in this man’s pool, my breasts straining to be in his mouth so that his lips and teeth could tug on my nipples. When his large hand slid beneath my suit and his long middle finger entered me, I tried to climb up his hand. He chuckled, then stripped me of my suit and lifted me out of the water in one smooth movement. Cradled against his chest, I hadn’t noticed that he’d stepped out of his suit until I saw our reflection in the glass doors. I was naked in his arms and below me was an erection of sizeable proportions, leaping toward me with each step he took.

  Did I know where we were going? Did I care? Yes, I knew and yes, I cared. But at that moment I wanted to be made love to by this man more than I had ever wanted anything in my life. I was fifty-four, I couldn’t get pregnant and if he had anything I didn’t want, I couldn’t see it. I wanted anything this man would give me. I was that gone with desire. Never in my life had I considered the consequences and simply not cared. But I saw this as my last chance to be a woman, a very desired woman because this man clearly wanted me in a way that was palpable.

  He carried me through a family room and dining room, down a hallway and into a huge master bedroom that over looked the village and the ocean beyond. I was placed on the bed with great care, and then covered by his warm, heavy body.

  And if I’d thought the kissing had been thorough before, it now began in earnest. Every part of my breasts was touched, kissed, licked and suckled. I arched my hips and searched between our bodies for his manhood so I could put it where I longed for it to be, but he was having no part of that, he kept himself well away from my wandering hands. I had to settle for scraping my nails over his nipples and pinching them to the sounds of mournful moans and delightful gasps. I felt his lips trailing lower. He kissed my belly and dabbed his tongue inside my navel and was soon between my legs, kissing my thighs and lifting my ankles to his shoulders before I realized his intention.

  This had never been something I was comfortable with. But before I could open my mouth, his was clamped on me and my reaction had me lifting my hips to the ceiling. I could feel him chuckle against me as his tongue delved and his lips caressed. Then fingers were inside me, first one then two. He was holding them like a gun as he shoved them into me and then he jumped them up and down like a leaping fish inside me while his mouth searched and found my clit. His fingers worked their magic and his tongue, relentless in its quest, alternately flicked and suckled on my engorged little nub. I bucked uncontrollably as my orgasm began to build. He was uncannily hitting all the right places. I came in heaving convulsions against his hand and mouth, shattering into a million pieces. Thousands of silver shards fanned out from behind my closed eyes, leaving from one central point until they diminished to nothingness and darkness pervaded.

  To say I had seen stars was an understatement. I had seen whole galaxies of stars and then a blackness so dark it wrapped around me like night in a cave.

  I finally opened my eyes to a set of light green ones hovering over me. The smile on Roman’s face was one of smug satisfaction but I didn’t have time to comment on it as he was now intently focused on something else. I watched his eyes drop to my chest, then lower. Then I felt the head of his manhood probing between my thighs, and with one thrust of his hips he was inside me, seated to the hilt. Had I not been gushing like Niagara down there, it might have been difficult getting so large a masthead so far inside me, as I had been untried for quite a few years. But my body had instantly stretched to accommodate and now I even arched off the bed as if to say “more.”

  He laughed, grabbed my hips and pumped into me while holding me flat against the bed so that the angle rubbed the top ridge of his cock against the now overly sensitive bony crest of my vulva. I wouldn’t have thought it could happen, that I could come again like that so soon after having just come, but come again I did. Shaking violently through my core and sending spasms to my legs, I clenched him inside me. I saw him grit his teeth as his arms locked and he pressed me firmly into the mattress. I watched as his face hardened, his eyes darkened, and his jaw clenched. Then his eyes were squeezed tightly shut and he threw his head back. Lilting Irish words tumbled out of his mouth. It was a most amazing and powerful thing to watch. I closed my own eyes in silent prayer that this wouldn’t be the last time that this man deemed it necessary to place my body under his.

  After a few shudders that wracked his frame, he bent an elbow and fell to one side. He gathered me up beside him, the flat of his palm, protective and possessive on my stomach. Then his fingers slid to my hip and he gripped it to draw me closer. He tucked me into his body and both arms went around me.

  “Did you feel that?” he asked, obviously in complete amazement. His breathing was harsh and uneven. “I can’t remember a time when I was ever in tune to woman’s body like that. What was it you were saying about kismet earlier?”

  “You said it wasn’t kismet.”

  “Well it certainly was bloody something, it’s never been quite like that for me! And you, you’re delightful and damned easy to please.”

  I was thrilled beyond saying. I’m a sensuous soul, but I have never been known to curl a man’s toes like this before!

  We enjoyed the peacefulness of lying in each other’s arms and then lulled by the breezes coming through the jalousie windows, we both fell asleep. I could not remember a time when I felt so content. And that was highly unusual. The fact that I had not a single regret after such an irresponsible act was so unlike me. I slept the sleep of the dead and did not awaken until I felt Roman behind me, caressing my tummy and lingeringly fondling the underside of a breast.

  I sighed softly and turned into his arms. We looked into each other’s eyes, his twinkling, and mine, I hoped sultry and alluring. He smiled at me and kissed the tip of my nose.

  “After all these years, it’s nice to know that I definitely made the right decision,” I said.

  “Regarding what if I might ask?”

  “The size of my new breasts. I opted for small ones, much smaller than my real ones, even though Tom had argued for a bustier version.”

  “So, why did you? Not that there are any complaints from me. I think you’re perfect.”

  “Well, thank you. I wanted to keep as much nipple sensitivity as I could. Nerves that have to stretch from the nipple to the chest wall get thinner as they have to stretch further, so hence less sensitivity. Fleshy mounds to grasp, squeeze and knead are a tactile sensation for men, not so much for most women. It’s generally the nipple that brings on the heady desire. Although I wanted Tom to be happy, after all I’d been through; I thought I was justified in being a little selfish. Then he died just after my surgery so we never had a chance to . . . well, you know, try them out.”

  “ ‘Tis a shame as they are very fine breasts indeed.”

  “Finest money can buy,” I said with a chuckle. “They were a good twenty thousand after all was said and done.”

  “Money well spent I’d say. And I am honored to have taken them on their maiden journey.”

  I reached up a
nd moved a lock of hair off his forehead. “Why are you here?” I asked in a soft whisper.

  “This my house, I live here.”

  “No, I mean why are you here, in my life? You, such an extraordinary man, what are you doing with such an ordinary, plain Jane of a widow?”

  “You are crazy if you think you are plain Jane. You are incredibly attractive with a to-die-for body. And as for ordinary, crazy women are not on my list any longer. You get to an age when it’s just too hard to keep up, or to give them all that they want.”

  “Sexy, commanding harbor pilot—young women with voluptuous, toned bodies must fall at your feet all the time.”

  “Well, who wants that?” he said with a grin.

  I slapped him on his shoulder.

  “Seriously, your job, plus the fact that you live on this vacation wonderland must put you in contact with a lot of beautiful women, why me?”

  “I don’t know exactly. But let’s play it out and see, shall we?”

  He rolled over on top of me and I felt him slide right in. “Hmmm, you are a wet little thing aren’t you?” “What can I say, you bring it out in me.”

  His lips crushed mine and from that moment on I don’t think they were separated until he moaned my name along with a series of Gaelic words strung between healthy gasps.

  Afterward, we broke apart for a long shower in his oversized master bath. We each had our own series of showerheads on opposite sides of the huge tiled shower. He watched me as I showered and I watched him. I liked what I saw and clearly so did he. He wrapped his hand around his cock, gave it a few hearty pulls that turned flaccid into flagpole, and sauntered over to my side, all confident and cocky—definitely cocky—and took me up against the wall.

  We were setting records, at least on my part. I had never had so many orgasms, and none of the magnitude he coaxed out of me. Wrapped in his robe, we went out to a patio on the other side of the house to eat. He made spinach and cheese omelets and while we laughingly fed each other pieces of fruit, we got to know one another. The sunset was breathtaking and as I sipped a mimosa, he asked if I would rather spend the night on board ship or with him.