by Lexy Timms
Daniel rolled to his feet, following me with a fond smile on his face as I continued to poke around the suite. “I thought you might like this,” he said.
I shook my head. “You know, you didn’t have to take me somewhere this nice. I would have been just as happy with anywhere else, as long as we got to spend our time together.”
Daniel grinned at me. “Well, there was no worry about that.” He paused. “I just wanted to spend the time with you.”
I grinned right back at him.
“I didn’t want to spare any expense on this weekend,” Daniel said quietly.
“You don’t have to impress me,” I protested. s
Daniel rolled his eyes. “I think if I was trying to impress you, I wouldn’t have brought you into my business,” he said.
I forgot what he was saying as I found the biggest bathtub I had ever seen in my life. “Forget about the pool—we’re taking a bath.” I stared in shock at the place and immediately turning on the hot water tap. It was hot, but not scalding, right from the get-go. I grinned as I ran my hands under the water. “This is perfect.”
Daniel smiled and shook his head, but he didn’t protest, of course, as I started dropping my clothing to the floor.
I found the soft gray robes behind the door of the bathroom. I groaned, running my fingers over the material. Then, I leaned even closer so that I could brush my cheek across the fabric. “I lied,” I told Daniel. “We are totally existing in these this entire weekend. I don’t care about any of the rest of it. Not even the tub.”
Daniel laughed and shook his head. “Whatever you say,” he said. But contrary to his words, he caught my hips, pulling me close again, his fingers stroking gently along my naked skin. “But really, who needs robes when we can just spend the entire weekend naked and in bed? Or in the pool, or in the bathtub? It’s our own private place, after all. Just you and me.”
I groaned as his fingers found their way between my legs, stroking softly at my smooth folds there. I couldn’t help the blush that spread across my face and beyond, staining my whole chest with a soft pink.
Words bubbled up inside of me, words that I didn’t dare to say just yet. Words about how much I cared for him, about how happy I was that I had given this another shot. I’d had so many misgivings about this, about us. I had been so sure that this was doomed to end only in pain. But Daniel seemed far from the player that public perception made him out to be. It really seemed like he might care about me. I trusted in weekends like this. I couldn’t help it.
I wanted to be scared about all of this. If the media found out that I was sleeping with my boss (again), then there was no telling what that could do to my business future. For someone who wanted to be the CEO of a company one day, that wasn’t something that I could just callously forget about.
But at the same time, I couldn’t seem to keep away from Daniel. And I couldn’t help but trust him when he told me that he was trying his best to keep us out of the media’s eye. Why else, after all, would he have arranged a no-doubt expensive stay for us this weekend at a place like this, where he swore that the press wouldn’t bother us?
It would help, I knew, if my brother and Leanne would just relent on their campaign against the man. But they both still had their reservations about whether or not he was the right man for me. They didn’t know the first thing about that. They didn’t know him. No, what they were worried about was whether or not he was going to be dangerous to me. If I was going to end up in just the same position that I always seemed to end up in, with the wrong kind of guy.
I didn’t want to get my heart broken again. But at the same time, I didn’t think Daniel was out to break my heart.
For now, I relaxed into Daniel’s arms as he pulled me close yet again, kissing me and sliding his talented fingers along my bare skin. We were alone there in the hotel room, for the rest of the weekend if that’s what we wanted. And I ached with how badly I wanted him.
I leaned in close, surrendering to him. Trusting him. What more could I do, really?
Chapter 15
Daniel
I HELD ABBY CLOSE TO me, my fingers finding their way up under her robe so that I could stroke her side. I was still amused that here, in the privacy of our room, she insisted on wearing the robes. Soft as they were, I would much rather feel her naked skin pressed against mine. We hadn’t had sex yet, not since we’d arrived. But I wasn’t complaining.
Instead, we had just made out for minutes and minutes at a time, our bodies pressed against each other’s. We had ended up putting on our soft robes, toppling into bed together, our lips meeting yet again. It was a slow build that made my whole body tingle with desire for her. There was an intimacy to this that I never could have imagined, something I hadn’t felt with anyone else before her.
Finally, I had laughingly pulled away from her Eskimo kisses and called for them to deliver the room service that I’d ordered when I had booked the room. It was meant to be a succulent spread, something to drive Abby wild with lust. Champagne, chocolate-covered strawberries, whipped cream, and more. I only hoped she realized just what this weekend meant to me.
Because she wasn’t just here as my girlfriend. This definitely wasn’t something that I would do with just any other woman. No, this was special for the two of us. Something that I wanted her to share with me.
I kissed her again, feeling heat pool inside of my core. I wanted nothing more than to lay her on her back, to strip her bare, to kiss my way across her whole body. To bring her out onto the deck, to that private pool, where we were at once so exposed and yet so hidden away. I wanted...her. I just wanted her.
But at the same time, there was room service on the way, and I could understand her nervousness, given that she was so hesitant to land in another media story opposite me.
“I know you’re probably getting sick of hearing me say things like this, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bed this big before,” Abby said suddenly, looking around at the king-sized four-poster that we were currently sprawled across. She giggled softly, running her fingers across the silky sheets. “I must sound like such a country bumpkin.”
I laughed and nuzzled at her neck. “Not sick of that,” I promised her. Then, I grinned at her. “Just wait until you see what I’ve ordered us from room service.”
Abby groaned half-heartedly. “How many times do I have to tell you that you don’t have to try to impress me?” she asked me.
“Not trying to impress you,” I promised her, even though that was only half-true. “I had actually arranged for this before we even got here.”
“How did you know we were going to end up in bed so quickly?” Abby asked in mock surprise. “What if I’d wanted to go out exploring?”
I grinned at her and shook my head. Just then, there was a knock on the door. “Let me get it,” I told Abby, giving her a soft kiss.
She settled back against the pillows while I went to the door, directing the hotel worker inside with his cart and tipping him to make him go away. I took the cart the rest of the way into the bedroom where Abby was waiting, first popping open the bottle of champagne and pouring her a glass.
Abby giggled as she accepted it. “I don’t think I’ve ever had champagne with lunch before,” she said. “Unless you count mimosas with brunch.”
I snorted and shook my head, holding out a tray of chocolates to her. “This isn’t the kind of lunch that your mother would ever approve of,” I told her, and I was rewarded with the slow grin spreading across Abby’s face.
I dragged the cart closer to the bed so that we could reach it from there, and then I got back into the bed. I curled up next to Abby, wrapping my body around hers, and slowly fed her a chocolate-covered strawberry while she giggled, her eyes gone dark with lust.
Slowly, I raised my glass of champagne, looking seriously into her eyes. “Thanks for going away this weekend with me and letting me spoil you,” I told her.
Abby’s eyes flared briefly wider, and I could tell
she liked the sound of that: me spoiling her. Then she shook her head. “Thank you for spoiling me,” she said softly. “And I just hope that you’re getting as much out of this as I am.”
I kissed her again, but my mind was focused on the words she had said. She hoped that I was getting as much out of this as she was? Couldn’t she tell how happy I was to be here? How relaxed I was around her, in ways that I never got to be with anyone else? If anything, I was the lucky and spoiled one here.
I thought back to the other women I had dated before Abby, though. None of them had been as grateful. No, most of them had acted like they deserved for me to spoil them. Especially Ivy. She had acted like if we weren’t having weekends away like this, then I was doing something wrong. I shook my head, trying to forget about those memories, but Abby was frowning up at me.
“What are you thinking about?” she asked me, and I could hear the worry in her voice.
For a moment, I thought about lying to her. Telling her that it was just something to do with work, maybe. But I didn’t want to lie to her, especially not on a weekend like this. A weekend that was about us. I finally shrugged. “I’m just thinking that no one I ever dated before really cared about things like this,” I told her. “They just expected it.”
Abby snorted and shook her head. “You should know by now not to compare me to the rest of them,” she said, looking amused.
“I don’t,” I told her. “I don’t compare you.” She’d be the easy winner if I did, but I wasn’t comparing them. It was just interesting, the differences. I had never expected to meet someone like Abby. It made me wonder if we really were destined for something more together. Or if those differences would serve to be the undoing of all of this. Because after all, maybe I needed to be with a woman who was happy being in the spotlight. Maybe that was the only kind of woman I could possibly be with, in light of who I was.
I tried to put those thoughts out of my mind right now, though. I wanted this to be a nice, relaxing weekend, just the two of us. No pressures or stress. We could worry about the rest of it later, but for now, the press couldn’t get to us.
Abby smiled easily back at me. “I believe you,” she said. For a while, it was silent as we ate the food that had been brought up. I could tell Abby was turned on, her lusty eyes never leaving mine as she sucked errant fruit juice off her fingertips. But then, she slipped fluidly from the bed, her eyes never leaving mine. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s check out this pool that you were so excited about.”
I laughed and followed her out of bed, stripping off my robe and leaving it in a pile on the floor. “Oh now you want to swim?” I asked teasingly. I was already half-hard, but it wasn’t anything she hadn’t seen before. I wanted nothing more than to haul her back to bed, that was the thing. But I wasn’t really complaining. This weekend was about her, and I wanted to do whatever she wanted us to do while we were here. Even if I didn’t totally understand her impulses.
To be honest, that was what I liked about her. I liked that she knew what she thought and what she believed in, and that she wanted to go with it, whatever it was. I wanted to follow her in business. I wanted to follow her in everything.
It wasn’t a feeling I had ever had with anyone else before. Even with Ivy, I had tried so hard to find a balance between her personality and mine. And it wasn’t that I wasn’t looking for any sort of balance between me and Abby. It was that it didn’t feel like I had to try so hard for that balance. Somehow, we already complemented one another.
She was beautiful, special, incredible. The best woman I had ever met in my life. And she had already broken up with me before. But now, I was determined to show her just how special I thought she was. Just how perfect I thought she was. No, I didn’t want her to get away from me this time. This weekend was all about her, her wants and her needs. If I was able to play my cards right, then we weren’t going to have to worry, this whole weekend. We were going to have the place to ourselves to do whatever we wanted.
I loved that idea. And it seemed like Abby, now that she was overcoming her initial shock, was just as on board as I was.
I slipped into the water of the pool, watching for a moment as Abby floated on her back in the center of the pool. I couldn’t draw my eyes away from the easy way she put her body on display. She was totally comfortable with my eyes roving over her naked skin.
And that was a heady feeling indeed.
I slipped in the water myself and then reached for her body, out there in the pool. She came towards me, wordless, something hot burning in her eyes. I pulled her naked body against mine, the caress of the water an easy friction between the two of us.
I kissed her, pulling her body against mine, supporting her above the water, holding her close. My hands slid effortlessly down her sides, smoothing along her skin. I couldn’t help but smile at the way she grinned shyly up at me.
Abruptly, I pulled back, grinning at her. “You said you wanted to swim,” I reminded her, pushing myself back away from her body, swimming off toward the opposite end of the pool. Abby stared at me for a moment as though she didn’t understand, as though it took her mind a second to catch up to what her body was doing. I laughed as I watched her. Then, I sent a large wave in her direction, watching it crest and fall just before it could cover her.
But the water licked at her bare breasts, stirring something inside of me. I grinned at her. She laughed and shook her head, splashing water back in my direction. “You’re terrible,” she informed me. Then, with a wicked grin: “I thought this weekend was all about me.”
I laughed and splashed more water toward her. What followed was a full-out splash fight between the two of us, until we were both laughing and gasping for air.
Eventually, Abby laughingly conceded. “You win, you win!” she told me, when it became clear that she wasn’t getting her wrists free of my grasp. She wrapped her legs around my body, and when I finally released her, she all but collapsed against me, breathing heavily. She snuggled into the hollow of my neck, humming contentedly. I carried her to the edge of the pool and helped her out.
We were both silent as I gently toweled her off and then led her back toward the bed, tugging her gently along with me. We made out again, this time even more heatedly than before. But I could tell that the sun and the swim had worn her out. I smiled at her. “Nap time?” I suggested.
She smiled up at me and curled even closer to me, nodding wordlessly. I wrapped my arms tightly around her, lightly stroking her hair and back. She fell asleep almost immediately, and it was all that I could do to stay awake, to keep this moment going for as long as I could.
Chapter 16
Abby
I WOKE UP TANGLED IN the sheets on Saturday morning, as Daniel slipped back into the room dressed in athletic wear. “Good morning, sleeping beauty,” he said, sounding amused. “There’s coffee and some breakfast pastries on the table if you want.”
I blinked over at him and then looked over at the clock. The last thing I could remember was going for a swim yesterday afternoon and then coming back in here to take a nap. I groaned. “Did I really sleep for the whole night?” I asked.
Daniel laughed. “Yeah, you did,” he said, coming over to the edge of the bed and leaning down to give me a quick kiss. “I didn’t realize work was wearing you out that badly. You should have told me.”
I shook my head. “I honestly had no idea I was that tired,” I told him. I stretched broadly, hearing my back crack as I did so. “God, I feel good. Better than I have in forever.”
“Good,” Daniel said, looking amused.
I reached out and grabbed his shirt, tugging him toward me so he sprawled ungracefully on the bed. I started peeling off his clothes. “I thought we agreed we were going to spend the whole weekend in our robes,” I complained.
He laughed. “That would have made for an awkward workout down at the hotel gym,” he pointed out.
“Is that where you were?” I asked.
“Yeah, I woke up early
and I didn’t want to disturb you,” Daniel told me. “This place has a pretty nice gym too. Got some good reps in.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “What, you didn’t think I was going to give you a good enough workout later?” I asked teasingly.
Daniel laughed and leaned in to kiss me passionately for a moment. Then, he pulled away. “I should probably shower,” he said slowly, and I could hear the suggestion in his voice.
I grinned at him and pulled him in for another kiss. “What’s on the agenda for today, after that shower?” I asked breathlessly as we pulled apart.
Daniel shrugged. “Whatever you want,” he told me.
“Mm, I like the sound of that,” I said. “But I don’t even know what the options are. Other than, you know, staying in the room all day.”
“We could do that,” Daniel said, “or I was thinking you might want to head down to the spa and get a couples massage? With the way you slept last night, I’m thinking that maybe you could do with a little relaxation and pampering.”
I laughed and shoved at his shoulder. “If I need a little relaxation, it’s your fault, boss.”
“I know,” Daniel said, holding a hand over his heart. “So aren’t you so glad that I’ve taken it upon myself to rectify the situation?” He leaned in close, kissing my shoulder. “But before we do that, I’m going to show you just how much I appreciate you.”
I giggled again, frowning toward my bag as my phone started going off. “Ignore it,” I said to Daniel.
“You can answer that if you want to,” Daniel said, smiling at me. “I don’t mind.”
I shook my head at him. “This weekend is about us,” I said. “Whoever that is, it can wait.” I doubted it was anything important, anyway. Daniel was the one who had to field work calls on the weekends. I was just his advisor; any of the calls I had to field were coming from him. So if it wasn’t him calling me, there was a short list of other people it could be. More than likely, it was just some telemarketer.
