Marin
Oh, my word. It’s so hot here. The kind of hot you get when you bite into a tamale with the extra-hot jalapeño peppers that makes your eyes water.
Sadly, I’m well aware my body temp hasn’t climbed solely due to my new latitude and longitude.
It’s because of the way Nathaniel looks in that damn T-shirt.
When I turned in my seat as he removed his jacket, I was mesmerized by the way his biceps strained against the tight cotton fabric of his shirt. It was then that I felt like a blazing inferno had just erupted inside my body. I had no earthly idea that he was so freaking muscular under the shirt and tie. He’s been hiding those guns under his Professor Grumpy exterior.
During the car ride, the three of us spoke about the schedule and the agenda for the next two weeks. Tonight, we’d be spending the night in a hotel in San Jose and tomorrow morning we’d head out to La Selva Biological Station, where we’d be spending most of our time during the trip when not doing fieldwork. According to Jose, Nathaniel had done some teaching in the past with the Organization of Tropical Studies and everyone there was all atwitter over his return. Since I am wholly unfamiliar with the who’s who in the field of scientific research, I have no idea who Nathaniel is, but it seems like he’s a pretty big deal.
I can barely keep up over dinner as Jose and Nathaniel chat about various findings and new species they’ve discovered, and the mutations they are seeing in tropical ecology due to the effects of climate change. So, while they talk, I continue to drink the fabulous wine they keep ordering, nodding my head at their comments and joining in the laughter at their lame science jokes. By the end of dinner, I’m feeling more than a little tipsy and terribly jet lagged.
So much so, that as we walk outside into the humid night sky toward the hotel next door, I weave a little bit, stumbling to keep my balance. Out of the clear blue, Nathaniel’s arm finds its way around my waist to hold me up, pulling me into his side. His warm, lean side.
“You okay, Marin?” he asks, staring down at me with an expression I can’t quite read.
“Mmm, yeah. Totally fine. I’m just really hot and turned on…I mean, tuned into what you were saying tonight.”
A warmth coils low in my belly as I suck in a lungful of Nathaniel’s spicy, masculine scent. That heat spreads down my spine and then between my legs when his fingers splay across my low back, sensually and possessively.
He chuckles, the low reverb of the sound sending flutters of butterfly wings inside my tummy.
“Glad you found it so fascinating and such a turn on.”
One moment I’m at his side and the next I’m standing in front of him, as he towers over me, both of his hands now at my waist, as my head falls back to look up at him. His mouth lowers, inch-by-inch, and I can feel his breath, warm and tropical, until our lips are so close only the night air can slip between us. My heart pounds loudly in my chest, my nipples hardening against his torso. And it’s not the only thing hard between us.
I lick my lips and swallow.
And then in an instant, Nathaniel’s mouth covers mine and he kisses me. I part my lips and open for him, his tongue raiding me with a claiming stroke. A wave of desire ripples through me and I feel breathless and weak, like I’m falling into the deepest ravine in the world. But with his hand lassoed around my waist to hold me, I’m not going anywhere without him.
I lift my arms to sling around his neck, digging my fingers into his scalp and pulling him into me. The masculine rumble from inside his chest hits me straight in my womb and my belly clenches in response.
I know I shouldn’t be kissing my boss. It’s wrong. But at the moment, I don’t care.
Maybe it’s the wine. Or my jet lag. Or the fact that the tropical heat of Central America has confiscated my good sense, but I have the urge to jump him this second. I’m needy, I’m horny and I’m wet for him. I don’t care that he’s my boss and this is my first night on the job. His kiss robs me of all rational thought.
Just as I feel the nudge of his hard length against my center and I’m about to throw caution to the wind, and say, “Take me, I’m yours,” Nathaniel drops his hands from my waist and ends our kiss, leaving me to rock on my tiptoes to seek balance from my internal discord.
Nathaniel clears his throat and he takes a gigantic step away with a pained look in his eyes.
“If I don’t stop now, you’re going to end up naked in my bed and I’ll be balls deep inside you before your buzz even wears off.”
I’m a little dazed right not, but Nathaniel’s egotistical statement makes him sound like he’s God’s gift to women and I can’t control myself over his sexual prowess.
I’m suddenly a pissed off drunk girl who is embarrassed by being turned down and being treated like I don’t have a choice in this matter.
Stepping a few inches closer to him, I shove him hard in the middle of the chest.
“Well aren’t you all high and mighty with your extraordinary restraint, professor. How dare you insult me like that. As if I don’t know my own mind and am in need of your chivalry to know what’s good for me. As if I’d have no choice in this matter and would just fall into bed with you at the snap of your fingers.”
I try snapping my fingers and fail miserably, so I stamp my foot like an insolent child, instead. I have no idea why I’m acting like this. Just earlier today I didn’t even like Nathaniel.
And now look at me. I’m spitting mad because he’s stopped me from wanting to sleep with my boss. Good grief, what is wrong with me?
“Marin,” he says in the voice of reason, putting his hands on top my shoulders. “You know I want you. But I won’t fuck you when you’ve been drinking so heavily that you were nodding off at dinner.”
I cross my arms over my chest and notice his eyes flash to my breasts. Just for the hell of it, to make him realize what he’s missing, I intentionally pull my shoulders back and push my breasts forward, knowing my hardened nipples poke through my blouse.
“That was due to the jet lag, thank you very much. And the boring science talk over dinner. But fine, you’ve made your point. However, please know that in the future I can decide for myself if I want to fuck you or not.”
I swing my hips around and teeter off to the door of my room, looking over my shoulder as I place the keycard in the slot.
“And you don’t know what you’re missing.” I add for good measure.
I know for a fact he’s staring at my ass as the door closes behind me with a swish, and I hear him curse and mumble.
“Fuck me, I do know what I’m missing.”