Celia yanked on the waistband of his pants and shorts. He lifted his hips from the bed, and she pulled them halfway down his thighs. His dick sprang up, hard and tall. The past couple of times they’d been together, she hadn’t had the chance to appreciate his body. And did she ever? She grasped him, circling his shaft in her fist. She squeezed him, stroked him, rolled the slick moisture over his head.
“Yeah, that’s good,” Quin breathed. He was all silky skin, draped over steel, and her mouth watered for a taste. She leaned over him and closed her lips over the head of his dick and drew him more fully into her mouth. His groan was deep and satisfied. He thrust her hips up, meeting her. She took him deeper, before her head bobbed up and down as she took him in her mouth, withdrew him and took him deeply again. She repeated the action several more times. Each time, his body becoming more and more rigid, his breath more and more jagged.
“Oh, fuck me,” Quin groaned. She looked up at him and his eyes were fixed on her.
“Don’t worry,” she said, already more emboldened. “I will.” She took him deeper in her throat, not taking her eyes from him. She’d never been too enthusiastic about blowjobs, figuring it was best to just get down to the mutual pleasure part of the festivities, but she could do this for hours with Quin. She took in the pleasure-twisted features of his face—the flared nostrils, the hard-set jaw. Fucking would come next. If there was the slightest chance he would last that long.
She swirled her tongue over the tip and felt the vibration of his shudder. He was close, but she was having too much fun to let him finish. Turned out, she enjoyed being in control.
“If you don’t do something quick, I will,” he threatened. “I’ll take back all your control, turn you over and fuck you senseless.”
Her eyes widened. That did sound like fun. But instead, she stayed where she was. She grinned, deciding to tease him a little more. She cupped his balls, massaged them and pressed on the sensitive spot behind them with her middle finger before taking him into her mouth again. The combination of her attentions caused his head and shoulders to rise from the bed in pleasure. “Oh, shit,” he cursed. “That’s it.”
But Celia pulled back, and Quin fell, frustrated, back to the pillow. “Goddammit. What are you doing to me?” His breaths were heavy pants.
“You don’t like it?”
“I love it, but you’re killing me.” He chuckled. “You’d better be having fun here, because the payback is going to be torture.”
Celia giggled. Sex had never been something for her to laugh about. But with Quin she found herself having fun. They were able to joke and laugh while in the midst of passion. That was new for her. But as she looked up at him now, he wasn’t smiling. His lips were pressed together, white with pressure and tension. The poor guy had suffered enough.
She shifted her position over him and brought her hands to her back to unzip her dress, but clearly Quin had other ideas. He grasped her arms, pulling her to him. Her thighs straddled his hips and her clit came into contact with his dick, which she’d already made slick with her saliva. He shifted his hips so that he slid against her and she gasped. “I thought this was about making me more assertive?”
“I think you’re doing pretty well at that.”
He slid against her several more times, as she reached behind her back to unzip her dress, and he reached up and pulled it from her body.
“There are some condoms in the nightstand,” he told her, pulling her down to kiss her.
She pulled away just long enough to reach over and grab a one.
She handed it him and he shook his head. “No. This is your show.”
She tore open the foil packet and rolled the latex over him. She lowered herself onto him, and as he filled her, she felt her pleasure come over her, rippling throughout her body. She raised up and then lowered, swiveling her hips, to make it as pleasurable for him as it was for her. Seeing the pleasure on his face, she saw she was successful.
She rode him, twisting her hips—she’d never felt more exposed, but never freer. She moved faster and faster, and she felt the pleasure build low in her stomach. Then it started to build. Warmth moved through her, ebbing, growing, flowing throughout her body. Quin gripped her hips, guiding her, thrusting his own hips upward until they met in a torrent of passion that crashed over her as she came with a cry and fell against his chest.
CHAPTER NINE
TWO DAYS LATER, with the yacht docked back in St. Martin, Quin finally close to getting what he’d come on the boat for—he’d made a verbal agreement with Seacoast Prestige to make Rexford Rum their exclusive rum brand. It wasn’t a signed contract, but he was close. But the more Quin thought about it, he wasn’t sure it was what he even wanted anymore. Before coming on board, he had heard of Jared Foster’s reputation—the rumors and innuendos that followed him wherever he went—but after the things Jared had tried with Celia on the yacht, he knew they weren’t just rumors. It would be easy to ignore the whispers and sign a contract with him. He would have to sit down with Reid and Gemma and have a serious discussion before he spoke to Jared again.
There was a light knock on his door, and he turned and saw Celia in the doorway. “You ready? The car to the airport will be here soon.”
“Yeah, I’m ready.” He looked around the beautifully appointed stateroom in the floating luxury resort, before his gaze fell again on Celia. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
The day before, he’d booked first-class seats for him and Celia together back to Miami and arranged for their transportation to the airport. He couldn’t wait to get back on firm ground at home. He missed his siblings and the distillery. He wanted the chance to get Celia alone without the shadow of Jared Foster hanging over them. After their first night together on the yacht, they hadn’t had much time alone. His body just about vibrated with need for her. And the minute they landed in Miami, he would be wasting no time taking her back to his place.
But before he left his stateroom, he reached out and pulled on Celia’s wrist, bringing her into his grasp. His arms wrapped around her waist and he kissed her. His tongue smoothed against hers and he savored her taste. The kiss was brief however, and they pulled apart. When Quin looked out the door, he saw Jared in the hallway. He couldn’t be sure how long Jared had been standing there, and the man’s face was neutral, not letting on how much he’d actually seen. “Your car is here, Rexford.”
Quin nodded. “Celia and I are on the same flight—I’ve offered her a ride, as well.”
Jared nodded. “I’m sure you have.”
The three of them walked up to the deck. When they reached the gangway leading to the dock, Quin extended his hand to Jared. “Thank you for the invitation aboard. It was a great trip.”
“No problem.” Jared shook his hand. Quin didn’t like Jared’s short answers. He could tell he was angry. Did he know that Quin had been seeing Celia? The woman he’d made a claim on?
“We’ll be in touch.”
Jared nodded, but said nothing in response.
After saying a quick goodbye and thank-you to the crew, Quin and Celia walked side by side onto the dock. He had to suppress the urge to reach out and grab her hand until they were in the car. When they were out of sight of the yacht, he looked across at Celia, who was looking out the window. He wanted to run his lips over the line of her jaw, nibble her earlobe and lick that sensitive spot behind her ear that would make her giggle and then moan. But he couldn’t. Not until they were back home.
She turned and looked at him, caught him staring. “What?”
He shrugged. “Despite the circumstances, I had a good time with you.”
She smiled. “I had a good time with you, too. Thanks for being there.”
“I’ll always be there,” he promised.
* * *
A few hours later, when their plane touched down in Miami, Celia was more than ready to get hom
e and relax. She looked out the window as the plane taxied down the runway toward the airport. She sneaked a look at Quin. He was already on his phone, his thumbs tapping wildly on the screen. The plane came to a stop, and when the seat-belt light turned off, Celia and Quin gathered their things and disembarked the plane.
Celia thought about the yacht trip as a whole. She hadn’t exactly gotten enough dirt on Jared to report to anyone, and she knew that if he had given her anything, people would still question why she’d gone on the trip. Why she’d put herself at risk and given her boss the wrong idea. That was how it worked anytime a woman came forward with any sort of accusation—she was put on trial, not her harasser. After that first night onboard, she had barely seen either of the men, partly because she knew that Quin had kept Jared busy and distracted, discussing their upcoming collaboration. But she wondered how much it had to do with keeping her away from Jared. She knew that he thought he was helping, trying to keep her safe. But instead he was messing up her plan.
With Quin spending two days keeping Jared occupied, that also meant that she’d barely seen him during the rest of the trip. Quin had seemed distracted on the flight back to Miami. He’d barely spoken to her at all and she wondered what was on his mind. He was still silent as they walked through the airport and made their way to the waiting taxis. She wondered if he regretted making the deal with her. Maybe it had only been the proximity on the boat that had brought them closer. A more sinister thought then occurred to her: had Jared convinced him to keep his distance? Was she a condition of the deal they were working on, and he was scared that Jared may have seen them kiss? Was he worried about the business, or now that they were back on solid ground, did he regret the agreement they’d made?
Celia had always been an overthinker, and instead of asking Quin what was on his mind, she also stayed silent until they made their way to the ground-transportation area, where lines of cabs and private cars waited to take passengers home. He touched her arm, leaned in close and gave her a kiss on her lips. It wasn’t a long, sensual, drawn-out kiss, and she was disappointed it was more of a friendly peck. His lips were warm, and the kiss sparked a trail of heat that ran from her mouth to her core.
The kiss had started innocently enough, but when he leaned in again, for another kiss, his lips were parted, and he took her breath away. Despite his silence since leaving the Caribbean, the kiss told her what he wanted—her. When he backed away, he cupped her cheek.
“Damn. My plan was to take you back to my place as soon as we landed. But I need to get to the distillery and talk to Reid and Gemma.”
“You wanted to take me home?” she asked. She’d thought his silence had meant that he wasn’t interested in their arrangement anymore. But that obviously wasn’t the case.
“Of course, I did. Although, I don’t believe you need any lessons. But it’s been a couple of days since I’ve had you.”
“Well, you know where I live. Why don’t you come by when you’re finished with work, anyway?”
Celia then realized just how deep she already was when it came to Quin. She took a step back—physically and emotionally. She had to protect herself from getting hurt. She knew that, of course, but tell that to her body, that wanted him like she’d never wanted another man. She should be pushing him away, but she wasn’t. It was already too late—she should have realized there was no way she would be able to live without this man’s kiss or his touch. His love.
He kissed her again, and her lips parted under his and he took full advantage of the opportunity and slipped his tongue into her mouth for one more quick taste. Her willpower shot, her arms encircled his neck and she pulled him closer. There was nothing wrong with a goodbye kiss as a way to cap the short romantic vacation they just shared.
When they came up for air, his hands were on her waist, hers at his shoulders, and she didn’t want to let go. “Maybe I will come by later,” he told her. “But why don’t we go out? We can get dinner.”
“Like a date?” she asked, knowing it wasn’t a good idea. Going on a date with Quin would again put her in a position of needing him, but there was no way she could say no.
“Yeah, a date. Give me some pointers. Show me what I’m missing.”
“Is that a good idea?” she asked, knowing that with the prospect of a date, no matter how much she wanted to go out with him, it was another risky blurred line in their friends-with-benefits arrangement.
“I see what you’re saying, but maybe if we’d both fulfilled our obligations there, we wouldn’t have to risk,” he teased.
He had her there. She shook her head and smiled. She should have known she wouldn’t be able to get away that easily. As much as she tried not to admit it, she was already looking forward to having dinner with Quin. Especially because she knew the evening would end in bed. She would do almost anything for another opportunity with Quin.
“If you’re forgetting your end of the bargain,” he said to her, “you’re supposed to show me how to do romance. You’re still on the hook, Evans. And I feel like so far, you’ve gotten a lot more out of our arrangement than I have.”
“You think so?” she challenged. “You didn’t enjoy what we did on the yacht?”
“I didn’t say that,” he said, sliding his hands over her hips, bringing her closer. “I got to enjoy this sweet body of yours a few times now. But that isn’t what I’m saying.”
“What are you saying?”
He leaned in close, lowering his voice. “I’m saying that you showed me that you already know how to be more assertive in bed. And while I enjoyed it, and want more, it wasn’t much of a learning opportunity for me.”
“How so?”
“We had sex. A couple of times, sure, but it’s not like we’ve been on a date or that I even got a chance to romance you. If I recall correctly, it was your job to show me how to be in a relationship.”
She smiled. “You don’t have to work so hard at convincing me,” she said. “You had me at dinner.”
“Good.” He sighed. “Now I guess I have to get back to work. Playtime is over.” He secured them a couple of cars, seeing as how her house was in the opposite direction of the Rexford Rum Distillery. He handed her bag to the driver and he gave her one more friendly kiss on the cheek. “I’ll take care of the reservation and pick you up at eight?”
She smiled, and as the driver opened the door of the car, her body was already buzzing in anticipation. “I can’t wait.”
CHAPTER TEN
IN THE SMALL conference room at the Rexford Rum Distillery, Quin sat down at the table across from Gemma and Reid. “Well, we did it,” he told them. “We’ve got a verbal agreement with Jared Foster to stock Rexford Rum.”
“That’s great.” Reid pumped his fist. “I knew you could do it.”
Reid’s confidence in him was a new feeling to Quin. Maybe he was doing the right thing. Maybe it would be best for everyone if he stowed away his conscience and thought about the future of the business. But he saw that Gemma was watching him. “You don’t look happy about it,” she said.
He shook his head. “Honestly, I’m not. After my plane landed, I got an email from Jared and he told me that he’d also been talking to Cain Rum again for the same deal,” Quin told them. When he saw the email, he’d wanted to punch the seat in front of him. He knew that Jared had seen him kiss Celia and in retaliation, he’d reached out to Rexford’s biggest rival in the rum world, to see if they would also be interested in stocking their product on Seacoast Prestige’s properties. “He’d told me earlier that he was also interested in stocking the Cain brand. But he forwarded me their conversation and he offered them our shelf space. He wants us to move on the deal now.”
“Son of a bitch,” Reid muttered under his breath. “But we’ve got it, right?”
“He’s playing with us. But we have a conditional offer. So, yeah, if we act now. If we want it.”
“What do you mean by that??” Gemma asked him. “This is what we want, right? I’m just going to keep making rum. Where it’s available is all up to you guys.”
Quin didn’t even know anymore if the deal was worth it. “I was right about Foster. The guy’s a real asshole.”
“That’s not a surprise. We knew that. Not everyone is an angel,” Reid said. Quin could see his brother was irritated by Jared’s actions. They had a long rivalry with the other distillery, which was based in New York.
“There’s more to it than that. He’s...” Quin struggled to come up with the right word. “A predator.”
“What?” Gemma asked.
“That’s a pretty heavy word to throw around,” Reid said.
“I’m not doing it lightly. The things I heard him say—about women, his employees. He’s deplorable. He invited a woman on board, a woman who works for him, and he pursued her relentlessly.”
“Did he...?” Gemma trailed off. “Do anything?”
“No,” Quin told her. Jared had gotten nowhere near Celia, but not for lack of trying. “He made his intentions known, though.”
The mood shifted in the room.
“So, what do we do?”
“What do you mean?” Gemma asked him. “We tell him to go fuck himself.”
“Hold on. Quin, do you have any proof of what happened?” Reid asked.
“No, just what I experienced with my own eyes and ears.”
“And that’s good enough for me. But we can’t just go around accusing him in public without actual proof.”
“What about the rumors?”
“They haven’t been enough to take him down yet.”
“You can’t be seriously considering signing a contract with him.” Gemma looked between Quin and Reid.
As You Crave It Page 10
