“How about you come for me again, beautiful?” Jack whispered in her ear.
She lifted her hips and pressed into his hand, taking her pleasure. His dick was straining against her lower back, but he dared not enter her again until she recovered a bit.
Kat moaned softly and then stiffened when her orgasm released, riding it out on the cusp of his hand. Then, she went still against him in the warm water, bubbles foaming around them. She relaxed and fell limp against his chest.
They sat there in silence, soaking in the tub. Jack’s cock was still throbbing, but he would have to ignore that for now. He wanted this to be special for her, and now knowing that it had been her first time, he was more determined than ever.
Eventually, Jack nudged her, saying, “The water’s getting cold. We should probably get out.”
She nodded, and he helped them both up, grabbing plushy white towels to dry off with. Jack watched as she ran the towel over her skin. He had never realized how amazing her body was until she had started showing it off. Seeing her naked made him lust for her even more.
After some quick drying off, he steered her out of the bathroom and right back into the bed, both still gloriously naked. He drew her into his arms and kissed her. When he pulled away, she looked confused.
“Why are you doing all of this?” She asked meekly. “I don’t understand. You’re always so…mean to me.”
“Mean to you?” He asked incredulously. “How am I mean to you?”
She huffed out a breath and said, “You make fun of me all of the time, including what I’m wearing, what I’m doing, my hobbies. Everything, really.”
Oh, that, Jack thought.
“I was just teasing you,” he told her. “I do that to people I like. It’s kind of my thing.”
Kat stared at him, a look of shock on her face.
“Teasing me!” She exclaimed. “Do you know how many times you made me cry over stuff that you’ve said to me?”
Jack gritted his teeth. Apparently, this whole making her cry thing had been going on a lot longer than he had thought. He felt guilty as hell.
“Look, Kat, I’m sorry. Okay? I’ll do better. I swear.”
“Okay,” she said quietly and sat her head down in the crook of his arm.
Jack had to laugh to himself.
“So, you think I’m a terrible person, but you still had sex with me? I’m not sure how that affects my ego.”
“I don’t think you’re a terrible person. I did think that you hated me.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
She bit her lip nervously and then quickly said, “I have a huge crush on you.”
Bingo.
Kat put her hands to her mouth.
“I don’t believe that I just said that. Can I take it back?”
Jack began to laugh, loud and hard. Her face flushed bright red. He hadn’t meant to embarrass her, but this was quite amusing.
“No, but I’m glad you told me. Things are beginning to make more sense.”
He took his fingers and brushed a strand of platinum hair behind her ear. Then, he took his thumb and traced it along her bottom lip.
“Is that why you got all dolled up? We’re you trying to seduce me, Kat?”
“No. Yes. Maybe,” she stammered.
Jack grinned.
“Well, I find myself thoroughly seduced,” he said slyly.
“Good,” she said with a kind of nervous satisfaction that only Kat could pull off.
Her gaze drew down to his cock, which was semi-erect and waiting for some attention. He was still horny as hell from what they had done in the bath tub earlier.
Kat’s fingers ran across his arm and then to his chest. She slid them down the muscles of his abs and then tentatively touched his cock. He smiled at how hesitant she was. Perhaps she was even more inexperienced than he realized? He had been surprised that she had been a virgin, but he was getting the picture that she had barely been touched—period.
“Do what you want, beautiful,” he encouraged.
She blushed but continued her exploration. His cock hardened as her fingers ran down the shaft to the base and then back up to the head.
“I want to do to you what you did to me in the bath,” she said, looking to him like she needed confirmation to continue.
Jack smiled and nodded. He groaned and shut his eyes.
“I told you that you could do whatever you want,” he muttered as she closed her hand around him and began to milk him.
Despite her just giving him a hand job, it felt fucking wonderful, and when he came, he started to wonder if he wanted this little vacation fling to end.
Chapter 10
Alexandria Thorn was up early for work as usual, trying to get a running start on the day’s tasks. She lived in one of the apartments on the third floor of Gray Tower HQ, so she was pretty much always at work. That was fine with her, since she was a Type A, workaholic. Alex also adored her boss and tried to make his life as easy as possible as his Administrative Assistant.
She was about to update Miles on the progress of Jack and Kat’s mission, which looked to be going amazingly, when her phone beeped for a text message. Alex pulled out her cellphone and stared down at the screen. What she saw made her do a double-take.
Kat: I had sex with Jack last night.
Once Alex had processed the message, she did a little dance in the middle of the hallway of Sublevel 3. Luckily, no one was around to witness it.
Her plan had worked! She had been tired of seeing her best friend pining away for a guy who seemed quite interested in her, even if he liked to play it off. Alex had heard about Jack sending a few of the IT guys into panic mode when he had told them that Kat was off-limits. There may have been a few threats, and Alex had to smooth some things over with HR.
Of course, Kat didn’t know. She lived in her own little world, sometimes oblivious to the obvious. Still, this was a nice development between her and Jack. It had taken a lot to push Kat to get out of her comfort zone with the makeover. Apparently, it was working out nicely.
Alex began typing out her response.
Alex: Yay! How was it? Did he rock your world? Was it everything you had hoped for?
Then, a few moments later, she got a response.
Kat: I’m going crazy. He wasn’t in bed this morning. I haven’t seen him. What do I do?!?
Alex: Relax. You’re fine. Just keep being your awesome self. He’ll make the next move if he wants to.
Kat: Sigh. I guess. I’ll let you know later.
Alex: By the way, good job on getting the Carr data. Miles is pleased. We’re having our analysts comb through it now.
Kat: Yay!
After Alex was done, she placed her phone back in her pocket and continued down the hall to her office. She had a feeling that things were about to get interesting on Faraway Cay.
✽ ✽ ✽
Lucas Mercado maneuvered his Cessna 406 over the coordinates provided by Gray Tower Inc. Luke (as most people called him) sometimes took jobs from them from time to time. He spent a lot of time shuttling cargo in and around the Caribbean and parts of North and South America.
On certain occasions, he made “special” trips for groups like Gray Tower which were under the radar. The pay was great on these deliveries, but they were risky. If he were caught, he’d be in big trouble, especially with the stuff he was currently carrying. However, he only did jobs like these for companies and people who he knew weren’t going to do bad shit with it. One thing he refused to do was smuggle shit like drugs. Luke did play fast and loose with the law, but he did have standards.
There was a cargo pod on the bottom of his plane that held an automated drone that Gray Tower had given him. Once deployed, it would fly itself with pinpoint accuracy to a specified location. The drone itself had a container that had contraband. In this case, Gray Tower sent supplies for their operatives which could include anything from weapons to tactical gear.
Apparently, Gray Tower
needed some low-key support stuff on a small island in the Bahamas. That was fine with Luke. Any easy smuggling job was a damned good one in his opinion.
Hitting the button on the cargo pod, the drone dropped and began its descent. Now, it was time to head to Grand Bahama Island and pretend that was the way he was headed in the first place.
✽ ✽ ✽
Jack walked along the beach of Faraway Cay making notes as he went. He had woken up early to get to a meeting with Carr and now was walking the perimeter of the island, looking at ways to beef up security.
There was also an ulterior motive. Jack had asked for a special delivery to be sent to the island, things that he could not take through customs. He liked to be prepared and hated the idea of not being armed. This shipment he had ordered would fix that.
A drone had delivered a package on the northeastern tip of the island where there was no structures or habitation. Some of the island was beach. In other places, the terrain was much higher. Every part of the island, however, was fucking beautiful. This was turning out to be a pretty nice trip for him, especially with the gorgeous woman who he left sleeping back in the suite.
Now that he had his package, he could rest a little easier. It had been hard to leave Kat this morning. Jack had wanted to let her sleep, so he left without waking her. He had attempted to keep his mind off her while getting his work done, but it had been hard as hell.
Last night had been fucking amazing. Sure, they had only had sex once, but he had to admit that he had loved the hand job she had given him. It was almost like he was sixteen again. Still, any touch from Kat was heaven. He was going to have a hard time readjusting when they left this little paradise and went back to normal where they were only colleagues again and not lovers.
Jack finished his walk right around noon. He found himself increasingly wanting to get back to the suite and to Kat, so he made his way back to the mansion and to their rooms. When he got in, he saw Kat sitting on the couch, looking anxious. That was never good.
“What’s wrong?” He asked, frowning as he strode over to her.
Kat looked at him with those big, brown eyes. She appeared to be upset. Damn.
“I didn’t know where you were,” she said. “You just disappeared. I thought that…Actually, I don’t know what I thought.”
“I’m sorry,” he replied as he sat down next to her. “It won’t happen again. I had a morning meeting with Carr, and then I had to work on his security plan. I suppose that I got caught up in my work.”
She nodded but said nothing. That was never a good thing with Kat. The more time Jack spent with her, the more he realized how sensitive she really was. He’d have to be a lot more careful when interacting with her. There was not going to be any more crying on this damned trip.
“So, I was thinking after lunch that we could relax for a bit and take a swim in the ocean,” Jack said. “I got a lot done this morning and could use a break. What do you think?”
Her demeanor brightened a bit.
“Okay,” she said, a smile creeping slowly across her face.
Damn it if he didn’t love to see Kat smile.
✽ ✽ ✽
Kat’s mood had improved greatly after she got some sand between her toes. The weather was sunny and hot, and it felt wonderful to be out. She also felt better knowing that Jack hadn’t purposefully abandoned her after their night together. Kat had been certain that he had been avoiding her and had literally spent the whole morning feeling sorry for herself.
That had obviously been a waste of time, but when she got anxious, it grinded her life to a halt. She hated that she was like that, but she had yet to figure out how to get her anxiety under control without being drugged out.
The beach area by the mansion was beautiful. White sand sparkled in the sunlight. The water was a dazzling turquoise blue, and there was a soft ocean breeze. Kat was excited to be here. She had never traveled very much, except for business, and it was always within the continental United States. This Gray Tower trip was a rare treat, and it was extra special with a gorgeous male counterpart.
She glanced over at Jack who was in a pair of black swim trunks, his amazingly ripped torso, bare for all to see. Every time she looked at him, a yearning welled up in her. He was just too hot. She still couldn’t believe that they had had sex last night.
Kat knew that she wasn’t really in Jack’s league. She wasn’t as pretty as Alex or Keira, even with the makeover, and she was still shocked that Jack had shown interest. Still, she was happy that it happened. It had been the night of her life.
Jack grabbed her by the arm and pulled her toward the water. They walked in together, the cool Caribbean water feeling wonderful in the heat. Kat let it lap at her ankles for a while until Jack pulled her farther in. When they were up to their necks, Jack grabbed her and hauled her into his arms.
“I can’t seem to keep my hands off you,” he said, his voice low and sexy.
She gasped when his hands trailed down her torso under the water and finally settled at the edge of her bikini bottoms. His other had cupped a breast. Kat wasn’t sure what she had done to deserve attention from a man this hot, but she sure as heck wasn’t going to complain.
It had to be the makeover Alex did. That was the only explanation. She hadn’t even had any IT guys hit on her over the past year. That asshole Brenden was the last one to take notice—and look where that had gotten her.
Jack cocked his head and frowned.
“What’s wrong?” He asked her.
Dang.
He must have noticed that she went to her anxious place, where her thoughts always went negative no matter what was going on.
“Nothing’s wrong,” she lied.
How was she supposed to explain to him her anxiety issues and insecurity? This was Jack Hunter, a Gray Tower badass. He’d probably laugh at her when he realized how spazzy she could be.
“You look worried,” he pressed. “How about you tell me what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours?”
She sighed.
Maybe she could tell him a half-truth to get him off her back?
“I just have anxiety about…a lot of things. That’s just the way I’ve been since I was little. Even if I have nothing to worry about, I’ll still be anxious.”
Jack watched her closely before saying, “I get it.”
Shocked, Kat stared at him. That hadn’t been the reaction she had been expecting.
“Look,” he continued. “It wasn’t that many years ago when I was still in the Army that I let all that shit get to me too. It’s a long story, but I’m doing a hell of a lot better now.”
She smiled and said, “So, there’s hope for me yet?”
“You’re doing just fine as is. I don’t know many civilians that would readily go on a mission like this.”
Kat laughed.
“This really isn’t that hard of a mission. I mean, there was a tense moment, but the rest of the time, we’ve been playing around in paradise.”
Logan shook his head.
“That doesn’t mean that this operation couldn’t flip on us at any moment. Just be aware of that, and don’t put your guard completely down.”
Kat nodded, reality coming back to her. He was right, after all. Things could change suddenly and for the worst. Hopefully, though, the rest of the week could continue like this. When she wasn’t flipping out, she had been enjoying herself.
“I understand,” she told him.
“Good. Now, let’s swim a little bit more, and we can go back to the room afterward for…other things.”
He grinned.
Yay! Yay! Yay! She thought as she felt a hand grab her ass and gave it a squeeze.
✽ ✽ ✽
Jack couldn’t help but watch Kat as they stood around the bar in the formal dining room that evening. She was in that tight little white dress he had seen her wear before the mission had even started. Despite having sex with her that afternoon once they had gotten back from the b
each, she was still front and center in his mind.
Their last tryst in the sheets had been a lot more comfortable for her. He was certain of that. However, there was still something off. Sex with her was fucking amazing, but she was still extremely tentative. It was something that they would have to work on tonight.
He smiled and ordered two soft drinks for themselves. It was after dinner, and Carr’s guests were mingling around. Before he could get to Kat, Carr came over.
“How’s progress on the security plan?” Carr asked, leaning against the edge of the bar casually.
“Good,” Jack told him. “I’ll be finishing up my report tonight, and I’ll send it out to Gray Tower’s finance people tomorrow so that they can give me an estimate.”
“Wonderful!” Carr said. “Thank you so much for your quick but thorough work. I hope that you have had some down time?”
Jack glanced over at Kat who was now talking to one of the other guests and said, “Yeah. A little bit.”
“Good! I’m glad to hear it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some business to attend to.”
Carr strolled off, and Jack watched Kat steadily. She was chatting with Peter Knowles, a wealthy Bahamian native. Jack had talked to him briefly the other night and had done some quick research on him. From a Gray Tower standpoint, he was probably harmless.
However, Jack didn’t like the way the other man was leaning in next to Kat. He watched as she smiled and laughed at something that he had said. Was she flirting with him?
He grabbed their drinks from the bar and stalked over to where Kat was standing. Jack had never thought of himself as the jealous type, but when it came to Kat, everything flew out the window. When he got to Kat and Knowles, he handed Kat her drink and sized up Knowles.
The other man was average height with a shaved head and umber-toned skin. Knowles smiled broadly when he met Jack’s gaze.
Troubled Paradise (Gray Tower Book 2) Page 9
