by Taryn Belle
Laina slid her hand down between their entwined bodies and grasped him. Still rock-hard for her, just waiting to take her to new heights. “Now it’s your turn,” she said.
“I can wait. If I give you a few minutes, I bet I can make you do that again.”
She ran her hand up his arm, cupping a muscular shoulder. She didn’t want this to stop. She didn’t ever want him to come, because that would mean this was over. And what would happen then—now that he’d had her, would he move on with someone else tomorrow? The thought gave her a sharper stab of jealousy than she liked, but she wouldn’t contemplate that now. In this moment, the idea of feeling him inside her again, of having him chase his own climax as a result of his intense desire for her was too intoxicating to resist. And she was already burning for him again, feeling a low buzz in her clit that told her what had just happened hadn’t been nearly enough.
“I didn’t get enough of you inside me. You promised to fuck me until I screamed.” The dirty words felt foreign and awkward coming from her mouth, but they also gave her a powerful charge she’d never experienced before. She was sexual, desirous and desired, and the discovery of that potential was worth any discomfort that might come over the rest of the week. “I don’t want to wait,” she said, reaching for his raging hard-on.
A second later he was inside her again, with his eyes on hers. His body sheened with sweat as he drove into her over and over again. She loved the slick feel of it on her skin... She pushed her hands up into his hair, feeling its dampness. All because of her, and being the recipient of his urgency was the most incredible thing she’d ever felt. She could tell he was close now as he pushed one of her thighs upward and quickened his pace. His breath came out in an urgent pant. She tightened herself around him.
“Laina—here I come—” His whole body shuddered as he emptied inside her, a low groan emitting from his throat. He rode out his climax with his eyes fastened to hers, his face a mask of ecstasy, until he finally collapsed on top of her.
She trailed her hands up his back. “Let’s do it again,” she whispered.
CHAPTER SIX
JAMES COULDN’T SLEEP. From his bed at The Palms hotel he could see thin, early-morning light coming through the blinds, and from outside he could hear the soft calling of tropical birds. His room, with its white-canopied bed, massive whirlpool tub and expansive view to the ocean, was perfectly conducive to rest and relaxation. But it made no difference.
He couldn’t stop thinking about her. And it wasn’t just his mind—his entire body wouldn’t stop yearning for her. He hadn’t wanted to leave her after their time together on the boat. Three times last night they’d brought each other to heaven, and still it wasn’t enough for him. He’d wanted to stay with her all night, doing it over and over again to tame the raging lust he felt every time he looked at her. He wanted to teach her everything he knew about pleasuring him, pleasuring herself, taking both of them to heights they’d never imagined. He wished she were here right now so he could put his arms around her, bury his face in her beautiful hair, and then pull her on top of him and enter her, hear her moan—damn it. He’d only had one night with her, and suddenly he was like someone possessed. James was a man who lived in the moment, moving on from his encounters within minutes of ending of them. The next morning, he never missed the women he bedded. He was always too busy with work, but somehow that didn’t seem to matter right now.
Work. He had to get his head back into it. Rolling onto his back and giving his erect cock a light swat to tame it into submission, he pictured the blueprints of the resort in his mind. All of his projects started with a photograph in his head that he couldn’t erase. When it was still hanging around in his head a month or two later, he knew it was time to act—and so far, he’d never been wrong. Sure, he’d thrown himself into a couple of developments that hadn’t become roaring successes, but he’d never had a failure. Some of it was luck, he knew, but a lot of it was drive. He’d done his first project at the age of twenty-two, right after graduating from Georgia State—the best he could afford on his lifeguard wages—with a BA in business. Though Kiki’s father wasn’t a wealthy man, it was he who’d lent James the five thousand dollars he needed to finance his first commercial venture, a smoothie stand in a strip mall that he’d helped build with his own two hands. Back then James had been driven by fear, a desperate attempt to make enough money to save his mother before it was too late.
But she’d never seen the stand completed.
James had needed twenty-six thousand dollars for the experimental treatment. He hadn’t cried at her memorial, but when he surpassed that number three months after her death, he spent a whole afternoon staring at the number on his computer screen with tears streaming down his face. And as the tiny business began to cough out more and more revenue, he buried his grief in a determination that had served him to this very day. He entered each new project with abandon instead of caution, optimism instead of pessimism, perhaps subconsciously honoring the spirit of his mother.
She would have loved Laina.
James jumped from his bed, almost physically shaken. Where the hell had that thought come from? He raked a hand through his hair, trying to clear his head. His phone dinged on his bedside table and he snatched it up, happy for the distraction. Jennifer Liu: All a go on Moretta?
James scrubbed a hand over his face. He didn’t want to deal with this right now, but it was a fair reminder. He wasn’t just in paradise for a wedding. He was here to get a deal done, and that was what really mattered. What always mattered. Yes—he had to get his mind off Laina Rose’s smoking-hot body and get it back into what she could do for him.
Working on it, he typed back.
Glad to hear it. I’ll expect an update tomorrow. The ellipsis spun, and then, I’ve been thinking about you.
No. James dropped his chin into his chest and let out a sigh. He had created this. He had slept with a woman he knew he shouldn’t have, it had given her hope and now he hated himself for it.
And yet he had to be careful. Jennifer had many places she could invest her money, but she’d chosen James’s projects four times because his deals were relatively fast and clean. This was the first time he’d hit a major hurdle on a project with her, but he knew better than to think she wouldn’t pull out. And she had every right to, seeing as he hadn’t filled her in on what the problems were. He could have a legal nightmare on his hands if he didn’t figure this out, and now she wanted more personally from him on top of it all. He’d royally messed up. How the hell was he supposed to respond to a message like that when he didn’t feel the same way?
Nice of you to say so, he finally decided on. I’ll be in touch soon. He pressed the send button and squeezed his eyes shut. His phone dinged in his hand again, and he cautiously opened his eyes. Kiki Becker: Don’t forget horseback riding at 10!
James groaned and slapped a hand to his forehead.
* * *
Placing her foot in the stirrup, Laina lifted her other leg and swung it over the mare’s back, settling herself comfortably into the saddle. It was a perfect day for a ride, with just a few streaks of cloud above and an endless stretch of white sand before her. The waves lapped around her horse’s ankles, but the mare barely seemed to notice. Almost all the horses on Moretta were accustomed to walking along the beach, often going into the water up to their haunches without fear—which was no small feat for their trainers.
Laina loved riding. It was one of her favorite things to do on the island, bringing her back to childhood memories of being sandwiched between her parents and brothers as they rode in a line through the hills near their home. They’d kept horses at the estate right up until Laina had stopped going there when she was twenty. Though she hadn’t officially announced her decision to her family, her mother must have sensed it because Laina got a call from her not long after. We’re thinking of relocating the horses. Of course, if you think you might
be spending more time here again...
But Laina hadn’t. The horses had gone to live at the corral managed by the island council, where they could be given more attention and ridden frequently. After that, Laina’s mother had punished her by failing to send her a birthday gift a month later. Laina hadn’t cared about that, but it was the lack of a phone call, email or even text acknowledging her twenty-first year that had stung. Showering their children with extravagant birthday gifts was a tradition with her parents, and the way she and her siblings received them said a lot about how different she was from them. While her brothers used to rip open their presents, leaving their cards abandoned and sometimes even unread on the floor, Laina had always cared about them more than what was inside the boxes. Rarely personalized, she’d nonetheless looked for clues within those Hallmark poems, some sort of proof of her value that she rarely got verbally. To the best daughter in the world. From the day you were born, you lit up our lives. To someone who’s special and wonderful. She got only a few of those, but she never forgot them. More often they were of the generic variety—To our number one daughter; Thinking of you on your birthday; May the year ahead be all you hope for!
But Laina had stopped looking for validation from those cards, or from her parents, over a decade ago. Her mother and father had both made it clear they weren’t in support of her choices, and Laina had come to accept that some people just didn’t fit in with the rest of their family. She was one of them.
Laina’s horse was raring to go. Talking to her softly, she held her in with the reins while the rest of the party mounted their steeds and got ready. But still no James.
Just the thought of him sent a sharp flutter to her groin, a heat to her cheeks... Against her will, she twisted her head around to look for him for approximately the fiftieth time. She had to stop. She’d known exactly what she was getting into yesterday, and it had been everything she could have possibly dreamed of and more. She’d discovered life-changing things about herself and climaxed not once, but three times under James’s relentlessly pleasurable tutelage, leaving her completely spent at the end of the night and yet still yearning for more. Yearning for him.
But it was over, and she had no right to expect anything more from him. Even if the thought of spending five long days in his presence was torture, she could handle it. She’d keep herself busy by helping Kiki with the wedding and working on a housing project she was behind on. And she would not keep thinking about how amazing James had felt inside her, how hard his cock had been for her, how he’d pushed her hair off her face so he could see her eyes while he fucked her, how his ragged breath had sounded in her ear when he came, how his lips had felt on hers, biting her ravenously like he couldn’t get enough of her—
“Tell me it was him who made the first move and I’ll castrate him.”
Forcing her mind back to the present, Laina turned her head to the sound of Kiki’s voice. She’d brought her horse alongside Laina’s while she’d been lost in her feverish daydream, and now her friend was looking at her as if she knew exactly what was going on in her head.
“What are you talking about?” Laina asked innocently.
“My dumb-ass cousin. If he hit on you—”
“No! It wasn’t like that. I, um...”
Kiki gave her a slow smile. “You um-ed, did you? I see.” Glancing over her shoulder, she gave her horse a pat on its side. “Well, have fun um-ing. Just remember what I told you, okay?”
Laina dropped her chin slightly. It wasn’t like there was any possible way she could forget, and she had to admit it was a little embarrassing for Kiki to know she’d fallen under James’s spell—exactly what she’d warned her not to do. But it wasn’t like she could hide the truth from her friend, and Kiki knew a thing or two about falling for womanizers. Like Dev, former groupie-addict turned doting fiancé. “Don’t worry about me, okay? I can handle this.”
“I know you can,” Kiki replied, lifting the reins and expertly circling her horse back toward Dev. “Have a great ride. Oh, and by the way? James is right behind you.”
Laina’s belly exploded into a flurry of butterflies. Slowly she turned her head in his direction, her brain immediately going numb when she laid eyes on him. Wearing jeans, a navy T-shirt and a smile just for her, he looked like some sort of cowboy fantasy—the epitome of sexiness and confidence. And he was walking directly toward her.
He stopped beside her horse and gazed up at her. “I’m scared shitless,” he said.
* * *
It was as horrible as he remembered.
From atop his horse looking down, James literally felt queasy. Laina had assured him that the beach was the best possible place to learn to ride—if he fell off he would land in soft sand, she’d reminded him with a smile. Which did not help. The last thing in the world he wanted was to look like a fool in front of this woman, but he hadn’t wanted to skip the outing, either. He needed her to know he was interested, and not showing up would have sent the wrong message.
He could feel his saddle shifting slightly as his horse walked. Was it on tight enough? He was certain it wasn’t. The horse was going to bolt any moment now, and he would be helpless to stop it, sliding off to one side and hanging on for dear life until he fell off and got trampled under the beast’s hooves—
No! He had to breathe, get himself under control.
“You’re doing great,” Laina said, catching up to him from behind. “Just relax your hands a bit. Give the reins some slack—show your animal some trust. And when you want to slow him down, pull the reins up instead of back. That’s a common beginner mistake.”
“Up and not back. Gotcha.” James nodded. He could see her looking at him from the corner of his eye. Despite his nerves, her cock-stiffening beauty had not been lost on him when he’d had a chance to observe her before panic set in. She was wearing those damned cutoffs again, which showcased her tanned legs to perfection. Her hair was swept back into a ponytail, with a few loose tendrils around her face. It had taken all of his strength not to yank her off her horse and kiss her right then and there, but he’d had to settle for a light brush of her thigh with the back of his hand. Her hand had settled over his for a moment, communicating what he hoped was an unspoken message: Again.
Shit, how he wanted her. Even in the middle of the hell he was in, he wanted her more badly than he could ever remember wanting anyone.
Goddamn it. James could feel his cock thickening, just what he didn’t need right now. He focused on the scenery ahead, trying to stay upright in the saddle, and shoving all thoughts of her tight, wet pussy from his head.
From behind them, he could hear a horse approaching. He turned toward Laina and saw Ward come into view on a white stallion. Ward gave James a scathing look and then galloped away, leaving a trail of kicked-up sand in his wake.
Laina looked at James and burst out laughing. “What was that?”
He laughed with her. “A one-up on me, I’m guessing. It doesn’t take much to see I suck at this.”
Laina shook her head in amusement. “If only he knew I wasn’t keeping score. Or that if I was, he’d always lose.”
James hesitated. It was hard for him to believe anyone could be engaged to a woman like Laina and be fool enough to let her go, but he was hardly an expert on relationships. Safer not to comment, he decided—at least for now. “You’re obviously an excellent rider,” he said instead.
Laina grinned. “I grew up with horses. Certain things were expected in the Reinhard household.” She gave him a quick glance and then faced forward again. “Riding, piano lessons, a tutor twice a week whether I needed it or not. Things like that, you know.”
He shook his head. “Actually, I don’t. I think we grew up in very different worlds. I take it your family has money?”
When she didn’t answer right away, James turned to look at her face. She was staring straight ahead, and her profile had a hardne
ss to it he hadn’t seen before. Was it defensiveness? Guardedness? He wanted to have this conversation—no, he needed to have this conversation, but maybe he was moving too fast. “You don’t have to answer that,” he said quickly. “Sorry. None of my business.”
“It’s not that,” Laina said with a shake of her head. “Yes. My family has money, and they have pretty much since currency was invented. Which I guess makes me a first generation starving artist.”
James grinned. “I wouldn’t say that. An architect, and LEED certified, no less? I’d call that a rousing success.”
She looked at him sharply. “How did you know that?”
He stared back at her. “You mentioned it yesterday.”
“No, I didn’t.”
He sighed. “Okay. I might have Googled you.”
She nodded slowly. “I see. And did you like what Google had to say about me?”
“I did. You’re clearly very passionate about your work, and I find that very attractive. I checked out your projects—extremely impressive. Your parents must be very proud of you.”
Laina snorted. “I wouldn’t say that. They’ve never really understood my choices. It’s like they expected me to go all granola on them or something, just because I care about the environment. I tried to show my father a set of blueprints I’d made up once, and he barely glanced at them. It was a good design too—something completely new in passive multiunit living. But my career didn’t fit with their picture.”
James kept his eyes on her. Careful, he thought as the sentence came into his head, but he had to say it. “I find it hard to believe that anyone wouldn’t see how amazing you are.”
Laina looked him sharply, and then her face relaxed again. “You’re just saying that because...” When she trailed off, he grinned.
