by Anna DePalo
As soon as she exited the bedroom, any insecurities she had were erased.
“Wow,” Noah said, taking her in with one glance.
Her laugh came out sounding nervous to her own ears. He was dressed only in swim trunks, and her pulse picked up.
His hands went to the sides of his head and moved it from side to side.
“What are you doing?”
He gave her a lopsided smile. “Wondering whether I’d come unglued.”
She giggled, relaxing a little, and, realizing that was probably what he intended, relaxed even more.
“Let’s go,” he said, holding out his hand.
She took it—felt her hand encompassed by his bigger, sturdier one—and let herself be tugged out the door.
That afternoon they strolled the beach, taking in the disappearing rays of the sun before eating at one of the finer restaurants on the island.
She loved the local Caribbean cuisine with its emphasis on vibrant seasonings and regional staples such as coconut, plantain and yam. She had mahi-mahi encrusted with herbs and spices and also sampled some of Noah’s beef tenderloin stuffed with lobster.
That night, exhausted from a long travel day, she fell onto her bed and was asleep before her head hit the pillow, saving her from making any awkward decision about sleeping with Noah.
The next morning, they woke early and Noah teased her about being out like a light the night before.
“What are we doing today?” she asked, dodging a direct reply to his comment as they ate breakfast at one of the resort’s outdoor restaurants.
“Whatever you want. I’m all yours.”
And that was what she was afraid of, she thought.
Still, she found herself having fun. In the morning, they went snorkeling in nearby reefs. Afterward, they took out a Wave Runner: she clung to his waist as the wind whipped her hair and they raced over the bluest water she’d ever seen.
She supposed she shouldn’t have been surprised Noah enjoyed being active: he had the toned and well-muscled body of an athlete. The only surprise was that he combined physical pursuits with the career of a computer geek and the social life of a playboy.
As the day progressed, she found herself dwelling again and again on the contradiction at the heart of Noah Whittaker. Certainly, she’d done him a disservice by focusing on one aspect of his life in her column. She was coming to realize he was a complex, multifaceted man with layers beneath his easygoing facade.
Still, his go-go-go attitude soon had her calling him “Action Man,” and teasingly asking whether he ever slept.
His response was to quirk a brow and joke, “According to your column, I spend most of my time in bed.”
In response, she’d flushed and resolved not to give him another opening that led into dangerous territory.
Yet, despite having fun, she did find herself thinking back at a point or two during the day to what Ed had said about an illicit offshore company in the Cayman Islands possibly connected to Noah.
Of course, she’d come across no evidence of a connection, and the more she knew Noah, the more she believed a connection to be unlikely. Still, her mind skittered to the fact that she was in the Caymans, and if such a connection were to be found, now was the time to try to find it.
At the same time, she knew that finding out anything wouldn’t be easy. Given how much secrecy was permitted to companies incorporated in the Caymans, she doubted she could get much information—at least without going down to the government records office herself and attempting to bribe, cajole or lie her way toward gaining access to information. And that would also entail lying to Noah so she could sneak away for a while.
No, she didn’t have much of a shot. And, then again, there didn’t seem much reason to try: Noah had given her a fantastic news story about Whittaker Enterprises. He’d lived up to his end of the bargain. With any luck, that story alone would shoot her career to a whole new level.
She should be relaxing and letting herself bask in the attention of a good-looking guy—just as Samantha had suggested. And, if she were honest with herself, she’d admit Noah was the most fascinating man she’d ever met. She was, in fact, having trouble keeping her hands off him, particularly since, for most of the day, he was dressed in nothing more than his swim trunks.
In the afternoon, they went scuba diving, jumping into the water from the back of a diving boat. They swam together and Noah waved to her, pointing out dazzlingly colored local fish, some swimming in schools. He’d brought along an underwater camera and snapped her picture.
Posing for a photo, she realized with some surprise that, over the past weeks, she’d become immersed in Noah’s world and she kind of liked it. It really wasn’t as bad as she’d built it up to be.
As their scuba boat approached shore, Noah glanced down at Kayla again. Even in a wet suit, with her hair plastered to her head, she looked great.
He’d done his best to keep his hands off her during their time in the Caymans so far, not wanting to pressure her. Still, he was experiencing an odd, stir-crazy sensation that was increasing as evening approached.
Yet, while he was going mad with lust, she’d given him no sign that she was feeling similarly…pent up.
When they got back to shore, he asked, “What would you like to do with the rest of the day?”
He prayed she would say something energetic like parasailing, anything to take the edge off his mounting sexual frustration.
“What?” she asked in mock surprise. “No plans for windsurfing or waterskiing? There’ve got to be plenty of sports that we haven’t tried yet.”
Yeah, and he could name one that involved a bed, no clothing and plenty of sweaty exertion. Aloud, he said, “Nope. What do you want to do?”
He figured there was practically no chance she’d read his mind and exclaim, Excellent! Just what I was thinking. Off to bed we go.
She seemed to consider him, and he wondered for a second whether he’d spoken out loud or she’d picked up something in his expression.
She glanced away. “Hmm.”
Was it his fevered imagination or did she seem uncomfortable?
She looked up at him. “Let’s go into George Town and take in the shops.”
“Great.” He figured he did a passable job of looking enthusiastic about window shopping.
When they got into the convertible that he’d rented at the airport on their arrival, he took the wheel for the short drive to George Town.
Stopped at an intersection, he glanced over at Kayla. She’d been quiet—subdued even—yet tense during the drive so far and, actually, since they’d gotten back from their scuba dive.
Puzzled, and because he was short on patience, he asked bluntly, “What?”
“I want to make love with you,” she blurted, then clamped her mouth shut. She looked horrified at the words that had just come tumbling out of her mouth.
Noah felt as if he’d been hit over the head with a sledgehammer. Still, he struggled to appear casual…as if he hadn’t been thirsting for this moment…as if, with parched throat, he hadn’t just arrived at an oasis in the desert.
Then another thought intruded, and he groaned as he leaned forward and rested his forehead against the steering wheel.
“What?” she asked, sounding startled by his reaction.
“You just realized?” he said, his voice coming muffled to his own ears. “What about five minutes ago? When we were at the hotel and three steps away from a private room?”
She said nothing, and he sat up and hit the gas, turning right.
“What are you doing?”
“Making an illegal U-turn,” he said. “Keep an eye out for the police.”
A laugh escaped her.
Well, he thought, at least the tension between them had been broken. Now, if only he could get to the hotel room before the last of his self-control dissolved: her admission that she wanted him had already sent it plunging like a runaway elevator.
Out of the corner
of his eye, he noticed she was tugging at the neckline of her top and the bikini beneath.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, then he tossed her a wicked smile. “You know, I’d love for you to start stripping, but the island has a public-decency ordinance.”
She gave an exasperated sigh. “Be serious! I’m just adjusting my bikini. The cups on this one sometimes shift out of place.”
“That’s right, talk dirty to me.”
She laughed. “Hurry.”
“What do you think I’m doing?” he asked with mock impatience.
Kayla was amazed at how aware she was of him. If she weren’t feeling so desperate, she would have laughed.
Noah had looked thunderstruck at her blurted words. His unguarded reaction had erased any doubts about the response that her declaration would get.
Since their arrival in the Caymans, she’d been waiting for him to make a move, at moments so needy for him that she wanted to scream. Could she be blamed for coming out and saying what she wanted?
She chanced another glance at Noah behind the wheel of the car. He seemed to be driving with a single-minded urgency.
She couldn’t believe she’d brought the mighty Noah Whittaker to the edge this way. Then again, not too long ago, she wouldn’t have been able to imagine wanting to.
She stifled a nervous giggle.
He took his eyes off the road for a second. “What’s so funny?” he demanded.
“You,” she said. “Driving as if your life depended on it.”
“Laugh while you can.” He waggled his eyebrows.
“Soon, very soon, baby, you’ll be having a different reaction.”
“Promises, promises,” she retorted, even as she felt her face heat.
He looked at her again as they pulled up in front of the resort. “I can’t remember the last time I was this desperate for someone.”
Her heart lifted at his words. “Me, too.”
They were like two teenagers as they strode across the lobby of the resort and into an elevator.
Once inside their hotel suite, Noah locked the door behind them, gave her a slow smile, backed her up against the wall and proceeded to claim possession of her mouth.
She sighed. He smelled of sand and surf and male.
Cupping her face with his hand, he pressed down on her chin with his thumb, opening her mouth wider and sinking more fully into their kiss.
She couldn’t get enough of him. Their mouths met, angled, then feasted some more. He sipped at her bottom lip, sucking on its plump softness before his tongue slipped inside her mouth, lazily probing.
The kiss went on and on, gaining urgency as she molded herself to him. She moaned low in her throat, holding him close as the headiness of sensation swirled around them.
When he lifted his head, it was to place light, feathery kisses on her lips, her eyelids and along the curve of her jaw. “Do you know how hard it’s been to keep my hands off you until now?” he muttered, his voice husky.
“Mmm,” she said, her eyes closed, feeling him everywhere. “Then why did you?”
His laugh held a note of self-mockery. “Trying to prove to you that I wasn’t untrustworthy.”
She found it hard to think when his hand was kneading her breast through the material of her bikini and sleeveless blouse. “Hmm,” she said, opening her eyes. “Seduce me, and I’ll let you know whether you’ve lived up to my evil thoughts.”
He laughed softly. “Are you inviting me to do my diabolic best?” he asked, his breath fanning her ear.
“Or worst,” she heard herself say even as a voice in her head screamed, Stop talking and take me! “It depends on your perspective.”
He stifled a laugh. “I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much while trying to get a woman into bed.”
“Neither have I.” She tried to clear her head. “I mean, while trying to get a man into bed.”
Actually, she couldn’t recall ever requesting before that a man make love to her—let alone seducing him into bed—but why quibble with details? Especially when she was concentrating on his hands at the buttons of her blouse, which hit the floor seconds before he disposed of his T-shirt.
She drank in the sight of him shirtless, a familiar sight from the past forty-eight hours, but one she could now openly admire instead of stealing surreptitious looks at. His chest was all hard planes and lean, sculpted muscle, his navel dusted with hair just a couple of shades darker than that on his head.
She let her hands trail over his smooth, tanned skin. “I’ve been wanting to do this since yesterday,” she murmured.
“What?”
“Touch you.”
“Yes.” He said the word fervently, his hands tightening on her waist. “Touch me.”
Below the waistband of his shorts, his arousal pressed against his zipper. She stroked upward.
“Ah, Kayla.” The words were torn from him. “I want you so much.”
He raked her with a hot gaze as he unsnapped his shorts and let them drop, so that only his swim trunks remained. A second later, he had her skirt pooled at her feet, so that only her bikini was left. “That bikini has been torturing me all day.”
She’d never felt sexier than at that moment, knowing he wanted her with a keen need.
Before now, she’d never considered herself the type to make men weak. She knew she had some nice features, and, as a curvy blonde, was some guys’ ideal, but she’d always been too straight-laced and serious to consider herself the bombshell type.
Noah, though, made her feel gloriously sexy.
His hands came up to cup her breasts and his thumbs stroked her distended nipples through the nylon of her bikini top.
A moan escaped her and her eyelids felt heavy. Hot, throbbing need coursed through her and settled like a dull ache at the juncture of her thighs.
“Look at me,” he said, his voice deep with need.
“Watch me make love to you.”
She forced herself to focus on his face, which was tight with arousal. He bent his head and sipped from her lips, teasing her, as his hands began to explore her barely-clothed body.
His touch was light and fleeting, yet infinitely arousing. “Your skin is incredibly soft and smooth,” he muttered.
“Moisturizer,” she said inanely.
He chuckled, then kissed the side of her mouth. “All over?” His hand went to the juncture of her thighs and cupped her there. “Damp,” he breathed in her ear.
Her eyes closed. She couldn’t help herself. He was doing incredible things to her. His touch sure, deft…wicked.
“And it’s got a lovely sun-kissed tone.”
“Hmm?”
She heard his husky laugh. “Your skin. It’s beautiful, like the rest of you.”
Her eyes fluttered open again. “Cuban roots—thanks to my grandmother. I don’t need a tan, but getting one will deepen the golden tone. It helps,” she said, struggling to stay focused as he continued to rain kisses on unexpected places, “when you need to socialize with the summer-house set…and can’t afford a real vacation…and fear sunlamps.”
“Ah.” His lips trailed across her jaw to her ear. His hand moved, cupped her rear end and brought her snug against him. “Remind me to thank your grandmother.”
She moved against him and heard him groan, then gasped as he nibbled at her neck. “Noah…”
He lifted his head, his lips hovering above hers. “You called?” he breathed.
“Yes.” Her eyes drifted closed as he bent closer. The kiss, when it came, was searing, deep and demanding.
She didn’t know how much more she could stand. She couldn’t remember ever wanting someone this much. And he was making sure she was brought to a fever pitch.
When he lifted his head, he looked down at her with hooded eyes, his face a mask of desire. “Now, baby?”
“Yes.” She wanted to be joined to him, to know him in the most elemental way possible. “I need you.”
“Yes,” he muttered. “Oh, yeah.” H
is hands went to her bikini top. He made short work of loosening it, then followed its descent with his mouth, sucking first on one breast, then the other.
She leaned against the wall behind her for support, but her relief was short-lived.
He straightened before her and slipped his hands beneath the band of her bikini panties, sliding her last piece of clothing off her in one fluid motion.
He got rid of his swim trunks then, and she allowed herself a moment to gaze at him. He was big, aroused and ready for her.
She licked dry lips and he half groaned, half laughed. She watched as he reached over to the entry table for the knapsack that he’d dropped there earlier. Reaching in, he pulled out a foil packet.
“Let me,” she said, just because she itched to touch him.
He stopped in mid-motion and looked up.
“Let me,” she repeated, taking the packet from him.
“Honey—”
She pressed a finger to his lips, not giving him a chance to say more. Then she slowly rolled the protection onto him.
He sucked in a breath.
“There,” she said, looking up at him through her lashes, continuing to stroke him. “Done, but not done.”
“Oh, we’re not done, all right.” He took a step toward her, backing her into the wall again. “Now where were we?”
A giggle escaped her and she took a step sideways, then another, inching away from him. “Don’t you remember?”
He followed her progress. “It’s coming back to me.”
She laughed again before turning and making a run for it, dodging his arm as he tried to grab her.
He caught up with her at her bedroom, tumbling her backward onto the bed and coming down on top of her. They sank onto the mattress together and she was blissfully aware of every inch of him.
“Oh, baby,” he muttered, “I’ve got to have you.”
“Yes,” she said breathlessly.
And then he was there, probing, stretching her, causing them both to expel a breath when he was inside her. They began to move and set up a rhythm.
It was good, so good. She moaned. “Oh, yes.”
“Kayla,” he breathed, his face tense with pleasure. “Ah, honey.”
