67 B: Stark Raving Mad

Marie

     I sit next to the tidal pool and stare down into the water while Jesse has run off to get something. We decided that my knee couldn't take even a small hike to the waterfall he wanted to show me due to the uneven terrain.

     My mind goes back to our shower earlier. I'd never showered with anyone else before, much less a man. I blush as I remember how I let him wash me and the lovingly tender way he did it. I think he was trying to make up for his previous actions. Hm. Either that, or he simply felt like being that way.

     I have never felt so loved, and it's impossible not to love him back. I wish I could figure out how to tell him. I'm not like him; I can't just blurt it out in a drunken phone call.

     I've never been real good with deep emotions or the idea that someone could love me. My dad was the first one I ever felt really loved me, and I lost him for a while when Mom divorced him. He wasn't himself, and although I could tell he tried to remain my 'dad,' he still emotionally curled into himself after the divorce. My mom never loved me. I don't know why the hell she adopted me in the first place if the first thing she wanted to do was send me off to boarding school. Before she married Dad, I never even had my own room. Dad had to teach her how to be a good parent. All of that contributed to me building a tough shell around myself. The only one I let get emotionally close to me was Dawson. Armand? forget it. Andy got almost as close, but not as much as Dawson. Then, Dawson betrayed me.

      I believe him when Jesse tells me he loves me. I can see it in his eyes. I think Jesse was simply ready to fall in love, and I'm the lucky girl that he chose. How else can I explain how it happened so fast?

     I glance in the direction he disappeared, and I smile when I see that he's on his way back to me.

     He's. So. Gorgeous. I want to makeout. Right now. Hurry up, Jesse.

     Wait. It'll just happen again. We'll makeout, and I'll be too afraid to let it go further.

     Jesse doesn't want simple anymore. I'm the one that has to slow him down. I bite my lip as my insides quiver in apprehension when I think about that.

      He looks up and smiles at me from where he walks towards me. I like how I immediately feel a little better. That's what I need: his smile.

     "I couldn't find it. I guess I left it at home," he says.

     "What was it?"

     "A beach umbrella. It's really getting hot out here."

     "Then why don't we swim a little?" I ask while I sneak glances at his gloriously-bare chest when he sits in the sand next to me. I don't know why I feel like I have to sneak them, but I do.

      "That water's probably hotter than the air temperature. And besides, your knee isn't fully healed, and you seem determined to hurt yourself again."

      "You're the one that got the bright idea to take me to see a waterfall," I tease.

      "Well, I thought about carrying you some of the way, but you're right. That was a crazy idea."

      "I bet your swimming pool would cool us off," I mention suggestively.

      "Yeah, but if we do that, the tour of the island is over," he says.

      I shrug. "That's okay. Maybe someday when it's not so very hot."

      He scoots closer to me, and I hold my ground as he leans in and says quietly, "You look so hot saying the word 'hot.' " Then he smiles before slowly kissing me, lingering over my lips like he has all day. I guess that's because he does. When he pulls back, he says, "I'm not listening to any arguments about me carrying you back to Martha."

      I roll my eyes, but he keeps talking anyway.

      "There are too many little holes for you to trip in," he finishes.

      "I made it up here just fine," I retort.

      True to his word, he ignores me and leans over to pick me up. He doesn't listen as I berate him about possibly hurting his back with the way he lifted me.

     "Jesse, this is ridiculous," I complain before he gently, and finally, places me on my own two feet right next to his car.

     "No, it's not. It's romantic."

     "You're a romantic," I playfully accuse.

     He grins a little and replies, "I try... when I'm not going stark raving mad with lust."

     I should've expected it from the way he's holding me, but his lips crashing into mine still takes me by surprise. His fingers splay out on my back so that he touches both the top and bottom of my swimsuit at once. I feel him grow a bit harder as he presses himself against my hip, and I shyly push him away, pissing myself off a little as I do it.
     He lets me go, and I hear his almost silent sigh of frustration as he opens the passenger side door for me before motioning me inside. I get in and immediately roll down the window. It's as hot as hell in here, and Jesse either has no A/C or it doesn't work.
    "When my cousin was little, she used to say 'It's as hot as a chicken on a daisy!' " Jesse says and laughs before starting the car.
     I pull my head back a little in surprise. This is the first time Jesse has ever mentioned his family in any way to me. Of course, I realize he has to have a family somewhere, but I still picture him as a solitary entity because he never mentions them.
    "I guess that applies for today," I say with a small smile as we pull out of the parking lot, and I feel grateful for the small breeze the moving car makes. "I have no idea why a chicken on a daisy would be hot though."
     "Neither do I," he tells me and laughs again.

    We take a dip in his pool. I don't do much swimming to not overwork my knee even if swimming is probably the best exercise for it since it's zero impact. It still aches, so I happily float on the water for a long period of time.
    "Are you gonna do nothing but lay there all day?" Jesse asks after he swims up to me. He'd gone inside to do goodness knows what for a while. I have no idea what he was up to.
     I lazily look over at my boyfriend, and I don't trust his expression. "Yes, and if you flip this thing over, you'll regret it. I'm resting."
     "You make it so tempting," he replies with a wicked grin. Still grinning, he rotates my float to where he's got my feet in his face.
     He starts sucking my toes.
     I gasp and sit straight up. "Jesse!"
     We've reached the shallow end, and he suddenly stands up while moving the raft and grabs me around my waist to drag me off it.
    "I didn't flip you out of it," he claims with that silly grin still on his face before he kisses me.
    "I was comfortable," I retort when he moves to my jawline.
    "You were too hot... for me to leave you alone," he says into my neck as he lowers us into the water. He feels magnificent up on me the way he is in the pool with his hands traveling all over me. I let him hold me up in the water because I realize he's probably worrying about my stupid knee.
     The water is cold even though the sun blares down upon us, and that only makes me want to cling to him more. I love the warm feel of his sun-kissed shoulders before my hands slip back down into the cool water to move over his back only to reach down and grab his derriere. He groans into my mouth, and I can tell he's really getting turned on.
     The sound of someone crying gets carried over to us on the wind, and we both pause in confusion for a second before we realize it's not the other one of us.
     "Who?" he asks before turning his head in the direction of the fence that blocks my boss's house from view. He gets up and lifts me up to sit at the edge of the pool before hopping out of it himself and going over to see what's going on. "Erin," he says in confused concern.
     "What's going on?" I ask as I start to carefully stand up. When I make it over to him, I can just barely see over the fence that Erin sits in a lounge chair, crying hard. Bryce walks outside, and Erin folds herself in half where she sits as she keeps crying. "We shouldn't spy on them," I state when I see Bryce comforting her.

     "Wouldn't be the first time," Jesse admits with a slow smile spreading across his face. "Not those two, but..."
      "You've watched?" I ask, appalled.
      He turns to me and clarifies, "With his permission."
      Jesse looks like he's really entertained by my mouth dropping wide open in shock.
      "Sometimes, one of us would tell the others what to do," he tells me, probably to shock me more.
     My mind is reeling with this information about my boss and boyfriend.
     "You let him tell you what to do."
     "Gave me a few pointers. I did the same for him as well," he answers me with a smirk.
     "I think you're enjoying telling me this too much," I state, starting to get mad.
     "Not too much, just right. Your expression is precious."
     I get mad at what he said, and I want to punch him. The only problem is that I'd need a good stance, and I can't do that with a hurt knee. I start fighting him to get out of his embrace.
     "What's wrong?"
     "I'm not precious," I growl.
     "To me, you are," he says a little too seriously, somehow blocking all my attempts to get free. Without my feet like I need them to be, I have no strength! "Stop, Marie. You're going to hurt yourself."
     "Let go of me," I snarl. I, again, feel too ignorant, and it makes me mad.
     "No," he tells me firmly. "Stop," he now whispers like he's in pain.
     With a frustrated cry, I pound once on his chest and wilt into him.
     He does nothing but hold me for a minute before he says in quiet observation, "You fight me hardest when you're uncomfortable or embarrassed. I'm sorry. I was having a little fun, and I didn't think how you'd take it." I say nothing, and I feel him turn his head before he says, "Looks like Bryce and Erin have made up. Let's go inside." He irritates me when he picks me up and carries me into the house.
    "You carry me around like I'm a child," I say once we're inside.
    "I carry you because your knee is still hurt no matter what you think, and I like to. You're no child," he points out succinctly as he places me on his couch and lays down on top of me. Without pausing, his lips claim mine again. I happily thread my fingers into his hair until he pulls them out of it to hold them above my head.

     He groans, and his hand reaches up under my swimsuit top to fondle my breast, his thumb dragging across my nipple. That simple act makes me squirm underneath him.
      "Be still," he says against my lips, and I feel a little surprised at how seriously he says it.
      "I can if you don't do that," I respond while he kisses my neck, his thumb never stopping. I swallow back a whine.
      "Be still anyway," he suggests as he mercifully leaves my breast to work on undoing my top. I happily return my freed fingers to his hair. "It's always harder to do after it gets wet," he says cryptically. "Dammit."
     "What?"
     "Square knots," he replies. Then he lets out a relieved sigh as he undoes the knot around my neck. He reaches back behind me and undoes that simple tie in one second before quickly tossing aside my top. Without wasting any time, he claims a nipple in his mouth for a while. When he moves back up to my lips, his hips settle between my thighs there, and we groan simultaneously before he swoops down on my mouth to kiss me hard while his hips start moving.
     A strange shaking takes control of me as Jesse applies a lot of force behind his movements. The small amount of fabric between us doesn't hide his aroused state one bit while he moves in small circles.
     I let out a small cry from the intensity.
     Jesse groans again. "Please, Marie."
     Oh shit. Well, this explains the intensity.
     "Simple," I say in a small voice.
     "I very simply want to make love to you," he counters.
     "On the couch?" I ask incredulously to hopefully distract him.
     "No, upstairs," he quickly answers before suddenly getting up and lifting me off the couch.
     "Jesse! No!" I cry out and try to wiggle free.

      "You don't want to go upstairs?" he asks facetiously.
      "Put me down," I beg.
      "Okay," he says and walks to the stairs.
      "What are you doing?!"
      "I'm going to put you down," he answers simply.
      "No!" I say, guessing he means on his bed. "On the floor!"
      "Well now, that wouldn't be very comfortable. And you just said put you down. You didn't say where."
     By this time, we've made it to his bed, and he -puts me down- on it. He doesn't give me a second to even growl at him angrily before he's all over me. My bikini bottoms disappear. I barely feel them scrape by my knees before he throws them across the room behind him.
    "Mmm!" I yell in panic as my heart races along, and I push futilely against him while his lips still possess my mouth.
    "I won't," he says in little breaks of his kissing me, "...do anything... you don't want me to do. ...But please want me to do it."

    "Jesse, please stop!" I yell, and he stills on top of me.
    Then he exhales and pushes his forehead into the mattress next to my head. He relaxes a tiny bit on top of me, and I feel pressed more into the mattress. It's strangely not unpleasant.
    After taking a deep breath, Jesse says, "I'm going too fast."
    "Yes," I agree quietly, and it dawns on me that I probably won't be a virgin by the time I get home tonight... or whenever I get home. All Jesse has to do is find the right angle, and what he just did wasn't it. I imagine him mentally checking them all as he goes down some list in his head.
    Surprised with myself, I find I don't mind. I only hope that he can find some way without scaring the shit out of me.
    So much for simple.


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By the way, 'It's as hot as a chicken on a daisy!' comes from my 5 year old daughter who said it one day out of the blue, and I remembered it. :)