Off-Season Stud Page 8

  “You fly around the world helping to save lives and you couldn’t tell me?” Gretchen was confused.

  “A lot of people also died on my watch, and I couldn’t handle it. Hurricane season is back, and I just couldn’t stomach another assignment. So I took a sabbatical before the news of anything bad surfaced, and I ended up here. I was hoping to wait out the season. But now, they found me.”

  Gretchen grabbed his hand. “They can’t make you go anywhere you don’t want to go.”

  Matthew kissed her forehead. “When you’re the world’s foremost expert on disease outbreaks related to natural disasters, the government is intrinsically involved in your life.”

  Her emotions had gone from contentment to horror to revulsion to bursting with pride in a matter of about 90 seconds. There was nothing to say, because her lips were quivering and her tears were falling.

  “So what you’re telling me is you’re a fucking hero.”

  “No, I’m not. People died. Children. Old people. Half the time, there’s nothing I can do to stop the cholera outbreaks. Last year, I had to see a counselor for months and I still couldn’t sleep. I was in darkness for months. And then I met you and I felt sunlight again.”

  Gretchen then knew what she had to do.

  She reached over and unzipped his pants.

  “Well, then, international man of mystery, you’re getting a proper goodbye before you go.”

  25

  Matthew

  She was all over him before he could stop her.

  How could she even look at him right now, let alone put her hands on his cock?

  “Gretchen, wait. You don’t get it.” His words came out breathlessly as she yanked at his jeans and his underwear.

  “Lower your seat,” she ordered.

  “Nymph, you don’t understand…”

  “What I don’t understand is how to lower a driver seat in a Jeep. Lower your damn seat.”

  “Gretchen…”

  She huffed. “Never mind, I got it.”

  The seat back wrenched downward and Gretchen climbed on top of him. She was kissing him furiously and frantically caressing his chest, his abs, his pleasure trail and finally landing on his cock. It was somehow still hard as granite even when telling her his deepest shame. It proved to him she was good for his soul.

  She made him feel alive, and good, and worthy.

  He was tempted to sit up, throw the Jeep in reverse and drive like a bat out of hell to the Ferris Island ferry. They could hide out on that tiny island. He could throw his phone into the river. They would never find him. They could easily sneak into Canada from there.

  But could he live with himself?

  Just then, he began to hear the sound of a helicopter approaching in the distance.

  And the two of them were exposed in his open-air Jeep. Granted, there was no traffic on this road, but soon a helicopter pilot might be able to spot them humping like bunnies.

  Matthew’s brain was foggy with the sadness of what was coming, and the happiness of what was about to come all up inside his little water nymph.

  “Gretchen, my love, let me get a condom.”

  She was kissing his neck. The entrance to her pussy was moistening the tip of his dick. Shit, he thought. He could feel the first bead of cum seeping out in anticipation of her.

  “There’s no time. I hear them,” she said.

  She ran her kisses down his chest, lifted up the edge of his shirt and trailed kisses across his abs. While propping herself up with one hand, she guided his shaft about an inch deep inside.

  “Sweetheart,” he groaned, “You don’t understand. My profession…I’ve been exposed to god knows what … I’ve been tested for everything and I’m fine, but there are always risks…oh god.”

  He was a goner. She was around him. He was fully sunk inside her and his soul, his heart and his wanton cock were grateful.

  She leaned down and kissed him as they thrust together, the sounds of the helicopter blades getting closer.

  “The only thing you’re going to transmit to me is a baby. Because you’re a fucking hero and there needs to be dozens more of you on this earth…as soon as possible.”

  She was absolutely out of her mind, but he loved it.

  No. He loved her.

  And as their frantic lovemaking reached its peak, he told her so.

  “I love you, my little water nymph,” he growled, just before the two of them cried out together in a blast of emotion, all wrapped up in happiness, sadness, wonder and worry at once.

  26

  Gretchen

  The helicopter landed in a hayfield yards away from the Jeep just as she climbed off of Matthew.

  She wasn’t ready to let him go. But it would be OK.

  She was used to being alone.

  “Go,” she said.

  Matthew hopped out of the Jeep, just as two U.S. Marines approached to escort him away.

  But just before heading toward the chopper, Matthew broke from them.

  Gretchen climbed out of the Jeep as Matthew grabbed her up in his arms.

  “Say it and I’ll go,” he shouted over the din of the chopper blades. “If you say it, then I know it’ll be OK.”

  She began to sob again. “I love you, too, Doctor. Now go save the world.”

  And in the next moment, he was ripped away from her.

  She stood there watching the chopper take off, Matthew waving down to her, an ache on his face that she wanted to wipe away.

  The helicopter disappeared over the river, and she watched it make its way toward the horizon of the great lake.

  27

  Matthew

  He would be back.

  The government was sending him to Malaysia to deal with the aftermath of a tsunami.

  Going was the right thing to do.

  Hiding was not an option, even though that was what his reptile brain preferred.

  But he would come back.

  And they would have a proper date.

  They would explore the locks. Sit by the fountain and feed the ducks. Eat some gourmet chocolate. Tour the centuries-old French military forts. Kayak through caves. Climb a lighthouse. Sit on the swing at the end of her dock and have coffee, and, after all the neighbors were drunk and trundled off to their beds, make love in the water. Scare the fish.

  He smiled at all the ordinary, wonderful possibilities.

  There was so much more fun to be had with Gretchen, and he had her words in his heart to keep him going until this ordeal was over.

  He would be back.

  He had to be back.

  28

  One month later

  Gretchen

  She remained stoic as she and George, her mother, and the rest of the neighbors finally dismantled her dock for the season.

  Gretchen had had some explaining to do when she had picked up Nancy from the airport in Matthew’s Jeep.

  And after all that explaining, her mother had stayed.

  And then, after…other developments…Nancy had decided to move back up here for good.

  “Mom, you and Dad moved to Florida to finally get away from Michigan winters,” Gretchen had said.

  Nancy touched her daughter’s face and said, “It’s what Dad would have done.”

  And that was that, as far as Gretchen was concerned.

  Truth be told, she would be grateful for the company during the long, icy winters.

  It wouldn’t be long before the ice set in.

  The jet ski may have been gone, but her snowmobile was brought out and cleaned up.

  It was just a month ago that her whole world was turned upside down. But now it was time to get back to the serious business of running a resort.

  On the off chance the internet was working, Gretchen pulled up her River Rocks Resort Facebook page.

  Oddly enough, it was running. And it was faster than ever.

  Impossibly fast.

  So fast, it seemed suspicious.

  Not one to look a gift
horse in the mouth, Gretchen went ahead and checked her messages. She had several requests waiting there for next summer’s bookings.

  Things were going so fast, she went ahead and set up her new iPad, hooked up the little credit card gadget that Matthew had given her, and installed the app.

  She quickly answered messages and emails, taking credit card deposits over the internet as well as over the phone.

  Pretty soon, she had the entire following summer booked solid.

  Gretchen was feeling rueful that at any moment, with the changing of the wind, the internet might get knocked out again.

  She hadn’t heard a word from Matthew, but she wasn’t surprised.

  That morning over coffee on the couch with Mom, they had watched on Good Morning America the footage a of the aftermath of the tsunami.

  People were out of power, out of water, out of food. The world was scrambling to send aid to remote, hard-to-reach areas.

  “I’m such an idiot,” she had said aloud while watching the news.

  “How dare you say that about my daughter,” Nancy had said.

  “That’s why Matthew never wanted televisions in his cabins. He didn’t want to see the news. He knew if he did, something would happen, and he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from going to help.”

  Nancy had smiled and listened.

  “Well,” she said, “When my future son-in-law comes back next time, he’ll have plenty here to help him settle down again.” Nancy had reached over and patted her daughter’s tummy. Gretchen smiled and set down her coffee. She was limiting herself to one cup these days.

  When she wrapped up making reservations, Gretchen felt the need for a walk.

  Outside, she found Regina standing in the road, watching something.

  As she approached the road, she heard the noise of trucks.

  “Hey, Regina, is your internet actually working today?” Regina startled; she hadn’t heard Gretchen approaching above the noise of the trucks down the road.

  “Yeah, it is. That might have something to do with it.”

  Gretchen looked down the road where her neighbor was pointing and squinted at the trucks.

  The doors were emblazoned with the name of a large corporate internet provider and there were small trenches dug up and down both sides of Sandy Lane.

  “Fiber-optic cables,” Regina said. “I certainly hope this isn’t going to raise our taxes, because I know I didn’t vote for this in the township meetings.”

  Gretchen was having a sinking feeling about all this. She wandered over toward a man in a hardhat who looked like he was in charge.

  “What’s going on here? Is this a county project?”

  “No, ma’am, a private person paid us to install fiber optics here for internet service. The highway department signed off on the easements about a month ago.”

  Matthew did this.

  If this had happened more than a month ago, Gretchen would have been giving Matthew an earful, letting him know he didn’t understand the pace of life up here, and why couldn’t he leave well enough alone.

  Now, though, things were different.

  She put a hand on her tummy and thought of the little bean growing in there, and was relieved to have an extra connection with the outside world.

  29

  Seven months later

  Matthew

  It had been a long eight months in the remotest parts of Southeast Asia, but it hadn’t been as bad as he had feared.

  He and his team had staved off the worst possible scenarios and kept the outbreaks of cholera under control.

  Things were more or less back to normal.

  The casualties of natural disaster still ate away at him, but as it turned out, the counseling he had undergone over the years had given him coping tools.

  And when his government supervisor had found out about the mental trauma he had experienced after last year’s assignment, she informed Matthew that his future employment with the federal government would be optional.

  He was free of his contract.

  It was time to start living his life without worry about where he might fly off to the next day.

  The doctor no sooner landed at JFK than he dialed up Gretchen.

  But it was an older man who answered.

  “I’m sorry, they’re all booked up for the summer.”

  “Is this George? It’s me! Matthew!”

  “Who the hell is Matthew? And how d’you know my name? I’m filling in while the girls are in the hospital. I don’t know why they thought it was a good idea to have an old man answer the phones around here, but I suppose it’s because…”

  Matthew cut him off. “Wait. Girls? Hospital? What the hell is going on? George, this is Matthew Brandon, from last summer. Gretchen’s boyfriend.”

  And then George let out a streak of cussing so loud it about burst Matthew’s eardrum.

  “No, no. George. This is not her ex-boyfriend Nicholas. This is Matthew, the professor from New York.”

  George grunted. “Oh, that guy! The off-season stud, I presume?”

  Matthew rubbed his forehead. “George, we’ll come back to that nickname after you tell me what’s going on, OK?”

  George cussed in his impatience. “For a professor, you sure are a bit thick. I assume you can figure out the answer from the nickname. You salty dog, you.”

  Matthew’s eyes darted back and forth as he looked at the airport departure screens for the next flight to Detroit, or anywhere near upper Michigan. Too bad he couldn’t make an entrance similar to his exit via helicopter.

  Then it hit him. Girls? Gretchen and her mother. Stud? Baby. Hospital…?

  “Jesus, George. What hospital?”

  George roared at him, “The same damned hospital that that damned bullheaded girl always ends up in when she gets herself in trouble. And if I were you, I’d get the hell off the cell phone device and get my ass up here to greet my impatient cuss of a baby boy!

  “A boy? I’m having a baby boy? And it’s…impatient. George, is Gretchen delivering prematurely?”

  “You got brains in there, after all. OK, look, just get here right now, and if you don’t, I’ll find you and send you the way of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

  30

  Nine weeks later

  Gretchen

  Gretchen lay on the bed next to the perfect tiny boy, still marveling at his ten tiny fingers and ten tiny toes. She could see as he slept that he would grow to have perfect full lips like his daddy. And strong legs like his mommy’s, if the way he kicked at Gretchen during diaper changing time was any indication.

  The last nine weeks had been a blur.

  Although baby James—named for her late father—had been born a few weeks early, his NICU stay was short and mostly free of drama.

  They’d had him home for the last six weeks, and she and Matthew and her mother, had fallen into a comfortable pattern of caring for the baby and taking care of the demands of the summer season. Nancy had taken up residence in an extra cabin at Regina’s resort until a mother-in-law suite could be finished on Gretchen and Matthew’s A-frame.

  A bit too comfortable, Gretchen thought, upon hearing Matthew making coffee in the next room. Just hearing him pad around the kitchen made her horny these days.

  It had been nine weeks since the birth, and three weeks since the doctor had given her the all-clear to resume sexual activity.

  But in actuality, it had been nine months and nine weeks since their hasty goodbye last September.

  She was getting frustrated with Matthew’s overprotective nature.

  Gretchen was horny, and she wanted some dick.

  Now.

  31

  Matthew

  “Get naked,” he heard her say as she slid up behind him at the kitchen island. He was wearing flannel pajama pants and no shirt.

  “What did I tell you, Gretchen?”

  She slid her hands down into his underwear and brazenly cupped his balls. She felt his stomach explode with goos
eflesh. He inhaled sharply.

  “Damn, woman.”

  She pouted. “But the doctor gave me the all-clear three weeks ago!”

  Matthew spun around. Now her hands were at the back of his pants, gripping his ass cheeks. He bit back a groan when he saw that she’d left her summer pajama robe untied, with nothing underneath.

  He growled. “And I told you, doctors can be wrong.”

  She gave him an evil grin. “Yes they can.” She showed him what she was thinking by slipping her hands out of his pajama bottoms and pushing her robe open, fully exposing one breast. She took his hand and placed it there.

  She sighed and closed her eyes. Licked her lips. She added, “And in this case, you’re the doctor who’s wrong.”

  The feel of her soft breast and tight, aching nipple made the ever-present semi-erection rise to full and ready. He growled and claimed her mouth with his and worked his way down her body until he had her exposed nipple in his teeth. She hissed as he worked her over, his other hand massaging her other breast.

  “Your mother’s going to be waking up soon to help you get ready for the wedding,” he murmured between kisses and nibbles.

  “If you’re as horny as I am, we can make it quick,” she breathed. “Baby James is asleep in the bed, though. We’ll have to do it on the couch.”

  “I have a better idea, my little water nymph.” He dropped his pants, tossed his soon-to-be wife’s robe to the floor, and picked her up. He carried her over his shoulder, caveman style, to the shower.

  While they waited on the rug for the water to warm, he took the time to make sure she was indeed ready for his cock again. Backing Gretchen against the tiled wall, he wrapped one of her legs around his waist, giving him access to her pussy. With his other hand behind her ass, he gently, tenderly caressed her perineum, working his way toward to her cunt.