Page 40 of Buck (Diver Downeast #2)

Bobbie would be stretching like a satisfied cat if it were possible, but there was no room on this small bed with Buck taking up so much space.

Not that she was complaining. After being under him again and again for more orgasms than she could count, she’d eventually taken the lead position and ridden him into oblivion.

Yup. He was passed out cold, and Bobbie was draped all over his large, warm body.

The boat was still rocking, but the storm had definitely subsided, both inside and out.

And what a storm it had been.

Bobbie gave a self-satisfied smirk. The question of whether she was able to climax or not had certainly been laid to rest. And fuck her previous partners for letting Bobbie think the problem was her.

Not only had Buck brought her to completion again and again, the pinnacles where he’d sent her had each been damnably prolonged.

In a lucid and resting moment between romps, Buck had mentioned her almost endless clenching of interior muscles, and Bobbie had just shrugged.

She didn’t know how the hell it was happening.

Nothing in her limited experience had prepared her for it.

Was it weird? She didn’t know that, either.

Every time she peaked, she lost track of reality, her eyes growing wide before they rolled back in her head.

Then she rode the wave until it eventually died down, only to ramp up again within seconds.

Clearly, Buck was either a grade A, lover, or his penis was a freaking magic wand.

Bobbie sighed. Her money was on both.

She reveled in the feel of his beating heart beneath her cheek. What she wouldn’t have given to wake up like this every day over the last fifteen years.

For that loss, she blamed her brothers, and it made her despise them even more.

Of course, she’d never had any kind of soft spot for them, even when they had—uncharacteristically and falsly—helped her with her boat purchase and the start-up of her catering business.

Why hadn’t that redeemed them? Because they’d not only made her grovel for both, they made sure they came out richer on the other end.

Regarding the boat downpayment they’d “lent” her, they’d required her not only to pay them exorbitant interest, they’d made her even more of a slave to their needs; cooking, cleaning, and doing house repairs for which they were too cheap to pay local labor.

They knew Bobbie was a fast learner, so they’d trusted her to patch holes in the roof, repair worn stair-treads, and even replace part of a sill that had been rotting on the north side of the old structure.

She’d done a good job, too. But had they praised her efforts? No . They’d simply demanded more.

As for her catering business? Well, they’d really hit the jackpot with that one. They were still raking in the bucks with the shares they’d demanded in return for their co-signatures on her loans.

Not very much longer.

“You’re thinking too hard,” Buck smacked his lips, then yawned so widely she almost spotted his tonsils. “What time is it?”

Bobbie sighed. “Getting late. I’ll need to move my boat back down to Searsport soon.”

Buck grumbled, then sent her a sly grin. “What if you called your brothers and tell them that the storm had you pulling in up the coast? That way, we can spend the whole night together.”

Bobbie matched Buck’s Cheshire Cat smile. “I like the way you think. The only thing wrong with that scenario, is that I have to talk to my brothers.” She stuck out her tongue and made a face.

Buck ran his hands down her naked back to cup her ass. “I’ll make it worth your while.” His lids grew heavy with promise.

Bobbie couldn’t believe he had any more sorcery in him, but far be it from her to doubt his wizardry.

“Okay,” she agreed almost giddily. “I’ll also make sure the dogs are good while I’m up. I haven’t heard a peep.”

“Oh. I gave them treats about an hour ago,” Buck told her.

“You… You got out of bed?” How the hell had she missed that?

“I did,” he laughed. “You were out like a light.”

Yup. Magic .

Another huge sigh was accompanied by her pout. All Bobbie really wanted to do was snuggle in and ignore the real world, but she reluctantly leveraged off her warm roost and inched on her knees down to the end of the bed.

Wow. She couldn’t take her eyes off Buck. What a sight he made, naked and sated. Even at rest, his cock was magnificent. She couldn’t wait to have it again.

He was eying her, with undoubtedly the same thoughts in his mind.

With visions of orgasms dancing in her head, Bobbie leaped up and pranced naked to her sat phone. She could certainly use her cell at this point because she had connectivity, but she didn’t want her brothers to know that.

She lifted the more versatile device from its dock, and dialed Drew’s number as Buck’s eyes hotly perused her nakedness from the berth.

“Where the hell are you?” Drew growled, picking up on the first ring.

Fuck off. Nice to talk to you, too .

Drew’s greeting, if that’s what you could call it, didn’t sound happy. Had he already been in Searsport looking for her?

“Uh, up the coast. I’m riding out the storm in Herricks Bay.” She named a spot close enough to be reasonable, and far enough away that they wouldn’t come look for her.

“And what aren’t you saying?” Drew snarled. “No. Don’t answer that. I already know. I got a call from Monsieur Provard this morning that you left his party early and disappeared. What the fuck, Bobbie? Are you trying to piss the man off?”

She didn’t want to have this discussion with him now. Especially if he and Jeff were complicit in any way with the rich asshole’s shenanigans. But what choice did she have?

“Listen. I didn’t ask to go to his stupid party.

He ordered me to.” She quickly came up with a fake, but viable excuse.

“And that government official he fixed me up with? A total perv. All hands. I wasn’t about to put up with that crap.

I get paid to cook, not shmooze. So I went out to get some air.

That’s when I checked the weather and saw the storm moving in, so I gave my regrets to a few key people, and left.

” She kept talking so Drew couldn’t get a word in edgewise.

“As I got closer to home, I began having trouble with my radar due to the storm’s proximity, so I thought it prudent to find a place to anchor in familiar territory, rather than trying to fight the wind and find my way back to Searsport in low visibility. ”

Drew was no sailor, so, hah . He’d have to take her word for it.

“Yeah? Well… Next time,” Drew growled, “you’ll do what Provard says. You hear me? He’s too good of a customer for you to be dissing him like that. I don’t give a shit if that government asshole had his entire fist up your cunt, you’ll stay for the duration, and you’ll do your duty by us.”

And just what the hell was that supposed to mean?

Bobbie itched to tell her older sibling to fuck right the hell off, but if Chief Ildavorg and Mason’s investigation into her brothers was moving forward, she didn’t want to rock that boat.

Bobbie tried to conjure a sincere sounding reply without tipping Drew off that she was blowing smoke. He knew her too well. If she simply caved, he’d smell a rat. But if she was too defiant, he’d find a way to make her life miserable.

She weighed her words, judiciously. “I’ll be more careful about how I exit next time,” she replied heavily. “If Provard pairs me with a prick again, I’ll activate my gag response when he’s not looking, then puke all over his shoes. That ought to get me out of there without question.”

“Bitch,” Drew snapped. “Just watch yourself, and behave.” He changed his line of questioning on a dime. “When will you be back in Searsport?”

Bobbie also switched gears, thankful he’d let the first conversation drop.

“I’ll probably set sail from here as soon as I have good visibility; which looks like it’ll be around five tomorrow morning. That means I’ll be at my mooring somewhere between seven-thirty and eight o-clock.”

In reality, she’d be coming from Hampden, which would take approximately the same amount of time. So, if they were actually up in the morning—a rare occurrence—and came looking for her, she’d be exactly where she’d indicated at precisely the right time.

“Make sure you drop off our money before you go to work.”

Click.

Sure . Be an asshole. Demand your money then hang up without so much as a gruff goodbye. But Bobbie wasn’t surprised. She gave her phone the finger before stowing it away again.

“That went well,” Buck snorted from the amidst the rumpled bedclothes, holding out his hands to beckon her back.

“Typical,” she shrugged, and feeling impish, she ran lightly toward him on the balls of her feet and launched toward his prone body.

Buck’s hands caught her up around her waist, and he lifted her in some kind of bizarre, horizontal dance move.

“Ooof. I wasn’t expecting that,” she chortled giddily, held aloft above him.

“Neither was I,” he laughed, joy enveloping his entire face. “But don’t try it again. I doubt if I can repeat it.” He let her down slowly until she was resting atop him again, skin to skin, cheek to chest, then he tipped his head forward and kissed her nose.

“I’m hungry,” Buck stated.

Bobbie grinned. Food was one of Buck’s favorite subjects. “You’ve always been good at eating,” she replied, then reached down between them and gave his semi a gentle squeeze. “But now I know your mouth and stomach aren’t the only parts of you that are overachievers.”

Buck looked pleased with himself, then praised her back. “Nah. You make it easy. And…of course there’s the fact that I love you,” he added cheekily. “That makes everything so much better.”

Bobbie sighed and shook her head stubbornly. This was the second time Buck had declared his love today, and even though she was moving close, she still wasn’t ready yet to give heart over to him completely.

“I’ll take your word for it,” Bobbie forced a smile. “Now. About that food…”

She was just about to move when Buck’s cell phone chimed from the floor where he’d tossed his pants.

“You want that?” Bobbie asked.

“Yeah. I should take it. It could be Mason or the chief with an update.”

She scrambled off Buck, retrieved his phone, then went back to the bed to sit beside him where he’d propped himself up on pillows.

Buck grunted, looking at the screen. “Tex,” he mouthed to her before connecting. “Hey, Tex. You have something for us?”

Bobbie watched as Buck nodded. “Yeah. She’s here. I’ll put you on speaker, then we’ll wait.”

Buck pushed the appropriate button and filled Bobbie in. “Tex wants a five-way conversation with Mason and the chief also involved. It’ll take a minute for him to add them to our chat.”

“Okay,” Bobbie agreed, then greeted the man she’d liked the minute she’d met him. “Hi, Tex.”

“Hi Bobbie. I have news, but we’ll wait until everyone is here, if that’s okay.”

“This is your fishing expedition,” she agreed easily. “Which means you’re in charge.”

“Thanks. Or maybe not, once you hear what I have to say. I don’t?—”

“Mason here,” Buck’s brother came on the line.

“Ildavorg.” The chief chimed in a second later.

“Okay.” Tex took over again. “Now that we’re all here, I need to tell you that we’re dealing with a whole lot more bullshit than we thought.”

Bobbie couldn’t say she was surprised. Her brothers had always been sketchy.

“But let me start seventeen years ago,” he prevaricated.

Bobbie sputtered. “Seriously? Seventeen years ago? I was fifteen or sixteen then.”

“Right,” Tex agreed. “That was the year your parents took off, leaving you and your brothers to your own devices. Am I right?”

“You are.” Bobbie didn’t like to think about those times too much. Even though her parents had been drunks, and fought all the time, they’d still been…well, her parents.

Remembering those long-ago days made her melancholy. Especially since they hadn’t all been bad. At least in comparison to what Bobbie had endured once her asshole brothers had taken over.

Their mother was never up in the morning to see Bobbie off to school, but in the afternoons when Bobbie came home, before her mother began drinking heavily, there had been love and dysfunctional comradery between them.

At least Bobbie thought so. Looking back, they’d had some nice times; some shared laughs.

Their father was a big man. Gruff, and a bit on the slovenly side, he’d never shown any overt affection.

He’d had two redeeming qualities that Bobbie could recall.

The man was employed as a lumberjack for a logging company up north, and even though he hit the bottle hard once he got home, he never missed a day of work and always provided generously for his family.

His other positive attribute? He was ultimately fair in everything he did.

When he moderated between Bobbie and her brothers, he always came to an equitable agreement or solution to whatever was occurring.

Yeah. The pair had left like cowards, but Bobbie had come to the conclusion, as she’d aged, that they’d left because they knew they were toxic to their family.

But Tex was talking again, and she needed to pay attention.

“…they took care of a few legalities before they disappeared.”

“What legalities?” Bobbie asked. He was clearly talking about her parents again.

“Are you sitting down?” Tex asked in a concerned drawl.

“I am,” Bobbie agreed, but sidled closer to Buck. She had a feeling she was going to need his support for whatever Tex was going to tell her next.

“Okay,” he huffed. “Here it is in a nutshell. The family home and the bank account your parents left behind? It doesn’t belong to your brothers. It belongs to you.”