Wyatt forced himself to take a few steps back off the makeshift dance area, but kept
his focus glued on Andrew and Kelsey. One errant hand going somewhere it shouldn’t
and Wyatt was going to break off Andrew’s fingers and feed them to the sharks.
“She can take care of herself, you know,” Kade said, sidling up next to him again
and offering him a glass of what looked to be scotch.
Wyatt accepted the drink and downed it. Fuck keeping his edge tonight. “The guy’s
a creep.”
He nodded toward the couple on the dance floor. “And Kelsey’s tough
and
loyal. Whatever she’s doing out there is for your benefit.”
Wyatt released a weary breath, a deep tiredness settling over him. “How do you really
know her, Vandergriff?”
Kade was quiet for a long moment, the ice cubes in his drink clinking against the
glass as he rolled it in his hands. “I can’t really—”
“Are you one of her clients?”
Kade snorted.
“Well, are you?”
“Uh, no. Kelsey’s a doll. But we play for the same team.”
Fuck. So Kade was a dom. Perfect. Now that shitty romantic comedy Wyatt had been weaving
in his head about Kelsey falling for Kade had an NC-17 element added to it.
“Don’t we all.” Wyatt glanced over at him, his tone wry.
Kade lifted his eyebrows as he sipped his drink. “So what are you doing with her then?”
Wyatt tilted his head back, looking to the stars above and sighing. “Losing my goddamned
mind.”
Kade chuckled. “Yeah, I could see that. That girl is one who can leave a mark.”
Wyatt rolled his shoulders as the song came to an end and set his empty glass on a
passing waiter’s tray. “She already has.”
Sure, Wyatt marked her physically, but Kelsey had left a brand on him that wasn’t
fading so quickly. And that scared the shit out of him. He didn’t want to care. He
didn’t want to be jealous. And most of all, he didn’t want to hurt her.
“You gonna do something about it?” Kade asked, his tone mild but an edge of protectiveness
over Kelsey screaming in the subtext.
“Worst idea ever.”
“Ah,” Kade said with a knowing nod. “Which means you’re going to do it anyway.”
“Fucking A.”
Kade huffed a laugh and lifted his glass in support. “May the force be with you, man.”
“I’ll need more than the force.” Especially when he’d promised Kelsey he wanted nothing
more than a little fun.
After exchanging a quick good-bye with Kade, Wyatt walked across the sand and reclaimed
his woman from Carmichael. No other hands but his were going to touch her. Not tonight.
And if he had anything to do with it, maybe not for a long time after that.
He hadn’t lied to Kelsey when he’d said plans had changed.
Wyatt had a new goal for this trip.
And it had nothing to do with the bottom line.
NINETEEN
“Tell him I don’t fucking care what his gut is telling him.
He pays
me
to be his gut, and if he doesn’t sell that shit off tomorrow, he’s going to get crushed.
All the indicators are there.”
Kelsey blinked in the muted morning light, the living room couch creaking as she turned
toward the sound of Wyatt’s hushed but firm voice. He was at the small kitchen table
with his back to her and his laptop open, hands-free earpiece looped over his right
ear. She pushed the blanket off her legs, regretting that Wyatt had woken up before
her. Yesterday morning, she’d pulled off the maneuver without a hitch. She’d hoped
to manage it again—to sneak back to bed before he realized she’d slipped into the
living room in the middle of the night, but she’d slept right past her normal waking
hour.
Wyatt grunted at whatever the person on the other end of the phone said. “Yeah, I
saw the preliminary numbers on that one, too. It’ll look tempting to him, but he needs
to sit on his hands. After it goes public and the fanfare dies down, the price is
going to drop considerably. It’s not as strong a company as the media is making it
out to be. He’ll be able to get in later if he wants it.”
Kelsey sat up and wrapped her arms around her knees, watching Wyatt work. His hair
was mussed and he hadn’t bothered to put a shirt on, but the set of his shoulders
and his tone were all business. She knew if she could see his face, she’d find that
oh-so-serious intensity there. That intensity did things to her it shouldn’t, warm
and tingly things.
Before he could notice her, she tiptoed to the bathroom and took care of her necessities
then dug through her bag to find one of the lacy confections she’d bought on her lingerie
shopping trip—a near translucent camisole and a matching panty. She checked herself
in the mirror and smiled. There. That should be distracting enough to get Mr. Workaholic
away from his computer. Yes, it was Monday. But this was supposed to be his vacation
after all. No stress allowed.
As she made her way back toward the living room, she could hear Wyatt still barking
orders on the phone, his frustration growing. “No, that’s not how I told you to do
it. I needed those reports broken out separately.”
Without looking his way, she strolled past him and into the kitchen.
“And I need you to drill down into that second—” His words cut off abruptly, the rest
of whatever he had meant to say hanging in the air.
Kelsey peeked over her shoulder, smiled, and then went about digging through the cabinets
to find the canister of coffee.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m still here,” Wyatt said, a gruffness to his voice now. “That second
report. I want a drill down.”
Kelsey set up the coffee pot and got it brewing, but she was amused at how distracted
Wyatt sounded as he continued his conversation. She bent over to pull the cream out
of the fridge, giving him a clear view of her backside, and Wyatt let out a groan.
His response fit into the conversation, but she knew who that groan was for. He snapped
his fingers sharply. Startled, she set the cream down and turned his way.
His eyes were blazing with challenge. He crooked a finger at her and pointed to the
spot next to his chair. Uh-oh. She chewed her lip and hurried to get over there. His
hand jutted out and grasped her shoulder, pushing her down to her knees on the polished
wood floor.
Her knees landed on the floor with a soft thud, and Wyatt turned his chair outward
to face her.
“Yes, that’s exactly what I want you to do,” he said into the phone, but he had his
hand on the fly of his pajama pants and his eyes on her.
Snap. Snap. Snap
. The buttons on his pants opened. A soft gasp passed her lips when he pulled his
hard shaft free and stroked a hand over it. With his other hand, he captured the back
of her neck and dragged her forward until she was settled between his spread knees.
Then he clutched her jaw hard between his fingers, his look holding hot warning.
You broke the rules again,
it said.
You’re trying to control the situation.
A shiver worked over her at the sternness of his gaze and the unspoken threat. She
dipped her head, hoping he heard her own silent response.
I’m sorry. Forgive
me.
“I don’t need your apology,” he said to the person on the other end of the line, while
lacing his hand in Kelsey’s hair, wrapping the long strands around his fist. “Just
make sure I get what I need.”
With an unforgiving grip, he brought Kelsey’s head down to his lap and pushed his
cock past her lips. She choked at the sudden fullness, but quickly relaxed her mouth
and throat around him, closing her eyes and yielding. Wyatt’s belly dipped inward,
his silent intake of breath a sure sign that he wasn’t as steely calm as he sounded.
He guided her down his length and then back up, his hold on her hair making her scalp
tingle. On instinct, she tried to control the pace, but he wasn’t having any of that.
When she attempted to pull back a little too far, he reached down and gave her nipple
a hard pinch. She whimpered around his cock, the sharp pain catching her off guard
and sending a hot moisture flooding her sex.
“No, Cary, everything’s fine,” Wyatt said smoothly. “Go ahead and give me the rest
of the messages.”
Wyatt nodded and listened to whatever his assistant was saying but never broke rhythm
of thrusting into Kelsey’s mouth and moving her head just where he wanted it. His
eyes stayed firmly locked on hers. The business chatter faded in her ears, and all
she became aware of was her own heartbeat, the wetness gathering between her thighs,
and the feel of Wyatt against her tongue. There at his feet, a sense of rightness
rose in her, filling her veins and flooding her senses.
She dragged her tongue along the thick vein on the bottom of his cock and pressed
at the sensitive spot beneath the tip. Wyatt’s eyelids dropped closed, and his bare
chest began to rise and fall with quickened breaths. The control was slipping, the
need taking over. The transition rolling through his beautiful body was breathtaking
to watch. He ripped the phone piece from his ear and tossed it across the table with
a growl.
“Fuck, you’re good at this,” he said with strain in his voice.
She smiled around his cock.
Yeah, she was
. And she could make it even better. She lifted her hand to his mouth. He groaned
and sucked her fingers into his mouth, sliding his tongue between her knuckles and
getting everything slick, knowing what she was proposing. Last time, he’d stopped
her when she tried this, but she’d loved how instantly he had reacted to the normally
forbidden touch. She wanted to give him that kind of pleasure again, push it further.
He released her hand and tugged her head back so he could shove his pants farther
down. Then he was guiding her back, his cock sliding over her tongue and stretching
her lips. She cupped his balls with her wet hand, spreading the slickness along the
bottom and dipping lower. His thighs tightened against her as she teased his perineum
and relaxed her throat to take him deep.
“Christ.” His hold on her hair shifted, a tremor going through his fingers. “Your
mouth is going to be the death of me. I stopped you last time, love, but don’t expect
that to happen this time. You’re going to finish what you started and take it all.”
Yes, sir,
her mind whispered. She’d never heard more welcome words. She was dissolving with
need right there at his feet and wanted nothing more than to give him all the pleasure
she was capable of giving. Never before had she gotten so much satisfaction from this
act, from serving a man.
She eased a slick finger farther back, teasing his back entrance and then pressing
against the tight ring of muscle there. His body initially resisted, but when a long,
hard breath hissed passed Wyatt’s lips, his muscles relaxed and her finger pushed
inside of him. His hand flexed in her hair as if unsure how to handle the invasion,
but his knees spread wider, and a low, sexy grunt filled her ears.
Taking that as a good sign, Kelsey swirled her tongue around his cock and pumped her
finger inside him slowly, brushing against that secret place she knew could drive
a man wild. His shaft seemed to grow harder in her mouth, his verbal responses coming
out in short, quiet bursts of sound. His quickening abandon only drove her higher.
The fact that he was willing to let her try this with him even though she suspected
no one had ever touched him like this gave her a heady rush. Most straight men had
hang-ups about being penetrated in any way, even if they suspected it would feel good.
She loved that Wyatt could simply enjoy.
His cell phone rang out in the quiet, but he didn’t even flinch at the interruption.
He tilted his head back and increased the pace, guiding her mouth over him in just
the way he wanted. She closed her eyes and let her neck muscles go soft, allowing
him to use her fully without any resistance. Her finger eased back and forth inside
him, her thumbnail gently scoring his balls. And as he pumped into her mouth, her
own mind started to fuzz at the edges—only the clean scent of his sweat and the sounds
of their connection filling her senses. She pressed her thighs together, trying to
relieve the throbbing ache he was causing.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” Wyatt growled, his hips thrusting hard now. “And dirty
and sexy and fuck . . .”
His body went taut, his cock swelling in her mouth as a rumbling groan burst from
deep in his chest. His release spilled against her tongue, the salty fluid causing
Kelsey her own moan of satisfaction. She let her finger slide out of him and gripped
his thighs as he rode the end of his orgasm.
When he finally softened his grip on her head and let her hair pass through his fingers,
she released him and sat back on her calves, her breath coming in quick huffs, her
neck damp with perspiration.
“Eyes down, love. Hands in your lap.”
She lowered her head, focusing on the joints where the floorboards met with each other,
and tried to calm herself. Every sensitive point in her throbbed and pulsed with want
for his touch—her lips, her nipples, the little bud between her thighs. But no touch
came. She listened to the brush of cotton as he pulled his pajama bottoms back on,
the chair legs scooting along the floor, keys on a keyboard. Then he started talking.
And it wasn’t to her.
She looked up in shock, finding Wyatt’s profile inscrutable as he resumed talking
business with someone. He turned his head quickly, catching her staring, and gave
her a cool glare that dared her to argue. She brought her gaze back to the floor,
realization settling over her. This was punishment. She’d given him an orgasm that
had clearly been fantastic, and he was
punishing
her? Anger flared in her, fire of a different sort heating her blood.
She stayed there on her knees, fuming, and losing track of how much time was passing.
The sunlight moved a few inches across the floorboards as Wyatt made a handful of
phone calls, never once addressing her in between conversations. She should get up,
should walk out, and tell him to go to hell. But something in her refused to let her
move. She remained in place, arguing with herself. But in the end, determined pride
won out. She would prove she could beat him at his game. This would not break her.
After another terse phone call, Wyatt rose and left the room. She followed his footsteps
with her ears, listening as they receded into the back part of the cabana and then
grew loud again. His bare feet appeared in the spot on the floor she was staring a
hole into. He squatted down in front of her and put a knuckle beneath her chin. She
hoped her gaze conveyed her contempt.
His smile was amused. “Watch that feistiness, love. You’ll get me hard again, and
I may demand a repeat performance before letting you have what you want.”
She narrowed her eyes, and he chuckled.
He reached forward and fingered the strap of her camisole before bringing it down
her shoulder. Goose bumps prickled her skin at the gentle touch. He repeated the process
on the other side, drawing her top downward until her breasts were fully exposed.
He pinched a nipple between his thumb and forefinger, earning a gasp from her, and
affixed a metal clip. Sensation shot straight downward, more wetness gathering despite
her utter annoyance with him. He gave the other breast the same wicked treatment,
then gave each clip a flick with his finger.
“Oh!” Her face tilted toward the ceiling, the surprising bite of pain making her dizzy.
“Maybe this will help you learn that you are not in control here. It’s Monday and
I need to get some work done. I hoped to fit it in before you even woke up so that
I wouldn’t have to use up any of our time, but no. Instead, you insisted on parading
in here, looking like a fucking wet dream, and teasing me away from what I needed
to do.
She gritted her teeth. “I’m sorry, sir. God forbid, I get on my fucking knees and
suck you off first thing in the morning. Your plight is truly awful.”
“Smart mouth. Sexy but disrespectful.” He flicked her nipple again.
“Fuck!” she cried out. How could one little flick of a finger hurt so damn much? She
tried to ignore the moisture beginning to leak down her thighs. “Bastard.”
He inhaled deeply, closing his eyes for a moment before meeting her gaze again. “You
know, love? Your insults would probably be more effective if your scent wasn’t giving
you away and telling me exactly how turned on you are right now.”
Taunting? He was
taunting
her? She couldn’t keep her mouth shut. “I was trying to
help
you this morning. You’re on vacation, Wyatt. You’re not supposed to be working. Jace
told me to do whatever I could to make you relax and leave work behind. I was only
trying—”
He grabbed her jaw, his tone going fierce. “So you’re taking orders from Jace now?”