Josh saluted the doorway with his mug. “Worse than boring. If Derek keeps this up, he’ll never get a woman.”
Since Kane knew about Derek’s success with the ladies, he let that comment slide. The kid possessed a mixture of brains, looks and charm that women found irresistible. The gig as a research assistant put him in the classroom with undergrads, so that he had his pick of both fellow grad students and younger coeds.
Yeah, Derek did just fine. Kane had the near empty condom box to prove it.
“The best part was when Annie whined about having to fill out that agriculture declaration form on the plane,” Kane said.
“It takes two seconds.”
“That was Derek’s point.” Derek said a bunch of other stuff, too, but none of it warranted repeating. Too boring.
Kane complained, but, really, he enjoyed the verbal sparring. Watching Annie bluster, listening to her talk with a respect and knowledge of the land, eased the tension that had been running through him since the confrontation at the police station.
And Derek. The kid matured every single day, growing into the kind of man who would make his mother proud. Kaia had valued education, even though a surprise pregnancy at seventeen had stopped hers short. Derek’s father had split early, and cancer had taken Kaia while Derek was still in his teens. That left Kane in charge. Possibly the least qualified man on the planet to play the role of father. Somehow Derek had managed to thrive despite all of Kane’s mistakes.
A smirk formed on Josh’s lips as he flipped through the pages of his notepad. “You join in this scintillating conversation between Derek and Red?”
“Hell no.” Not exactly a lie. Kane had listened until he fell asleep.
“Too busy staring at Red, huh?”
Time to change the conversation off his private life. Last thing Kane needed was a safe-sex lecture from Josh. “What do you have for me?”
“Information on the private investigator Annie hired.” Josh stopped there.
Kane wasn’t in the mood for a dramatic pause. “And?”
“Gone.”
“Still?” Kane yelled the word.
“No, this time really gone. The authorities are starting to worry his disappearance is permanent.”
“What?” Kane really needed to ask Annie why everyone’s lives changed around her, and not for the better.
“There was a fire,” Josh said.
Kane’s brain immediately clicked on the scene in the marina parking lot. If flames did that to his truck, he could only imagine what happened to a body.
“His office caught fire two nights ago.” Josh stirred the coffee, then clanked his spoon on the side of the mug. “Everything is gone. No paperwork. No files. No Jed Richards.”
“Jed is?”
“The PI. Married guy with a teenage son. The fire investigator is working on the case.”
“Any witnesses? Anyone else around?”
“No. The wife says Richards got a late-night call to meet a client. In his line of work, that wasn’t unusual.”
“We could follow that lead.”
“No one knows who the client was. This person wasn’t listed on the computer calendar the wife kept at home.” Josh flipped the pages of his notepad. “Richards smoked. The theory of the day is that he fell asleep with a cigarette in his hand.”
“And then vanished into thin air? I don’t buy it.”
“The only connection I see in all of this is your new girlfriend.”
Kane didn’t bother to correct his friend. “She’s been in Hawaii for several days.”
“True.” Josh took a long sip of his coffee, draining the cup. “She could have a partner.”
“A partner in what? What exactly is it you think she’s doing?”
“The investigator’s wife kept more than a calendar at home.”
Dread crawled up Kane’s spine. Josh wasn’t the type to engage in histrionics. His instincts had saved both of their asses more than once. But, Kane refused to believe Annie could murder anyone. Couldn’t see it. She had a secret. That wasn’t it.
“Tell me.” Kane said the words but didn’t mean them.
“Richards tracked a man named Cliff Radnor for Annie. A real loser. Con man who beat the system and eluded the cops. Preyed on very wealthy women with known psychological problems, so no one looked too closely when they cracked. And they did. He broke them and left with their money. Traveled around. Used various names. Never caught.”
“Sounds like a guy someone should follow and lock up.” Or shoot.
Josh closed his notepad and folded his hands on top of the table. “The guy had Annie’s interest.”
The dread morphed into a sharp pain in his stomach. “Why?”
“I don’t know yet. The wife said Annie wanted to know everything about this guy. Annie rode the investigator until he tracked Radnor down.”
“Is the wife being protected?”
“That’s under control. Unfortunately she only had limited intel on the home computer, but we should be getting whatever’s on there soon.”
“Anything else?”
“Sure.” Josh continued to dole the information out in small bits.
“Of course there is.” Kane raked a hand through his hair. “Go ahead.”
“Whatever the investigator told Annie caused her to book a flight and head to Hawaii.”
“Let me guess. To Kauai.”
Josh didn’t stall this time. “Right again.”
“Fuck me.” Kane stood up and paced the room. “Whatever she’s looking for has to do with Radnor. Never heard of the guy.”
“She didn’t come here for a legitimate photo assignment. She came here for another reason. One she’s not sharing. Now the investigator is missing. Two plus two equals four here.”
The information didn’t compute that easily for Kane. He turned the pieces around in his mind, trying to finish off the puzzle. He couldn’t get there.
Confronting Annie with the limited amount he knew wouldn’t work. She would evade or lie. Hell, he might not even know which she was doing. The journal was the only answer. He wanted her to come to him. To open up and be honest and show him the journal, but they didn’t have time for that. He’d have to take the information. Not wait to receive it.
“Take Derek out of the house for a few hours. I need to get her alone.” Kane heard the rough edge to his voice but ignored it.
Josh frowned. “Why?”
“I think I know how to get some of the details we need and figure out what she’s hiding.”
Josh shook his head. “Look, man, I’m not knocking your skills in the sack, but—”
“You’re not the only one with a notepad.” Kane dumped his mug in the sink.
“She wrote something down? You think she’ll give it to you?”
“No. I’m going to have to take it.” Then she’d hate him.
“This sounds like a bad idea.” Josh tucked his notepad away. “Do you have a plan?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you going to fill me in on what it is?”
“No.” One guilty party was enough. Kane didn’t need to drag someone else into his scheme.
“You’re going to hate yourself in the morning.”
“Long before then.” In fact, he already did.
Chapter 21
An hour after Josh and Derek left on a mysterious errand, Annie wondered exactly what bit of news Josh had given to Kane during their kitchen discussion. Kane had spent every minute since moving around the house and wasting a significant amount of time doing nothing.
The mundane task of the minute included a screwdriver, the kitchen window over the sink and a new screen. She could describe every step Kane took in this project—actually, in every project of the day—because she’d watched him nonstop since his company left.
For an unemotional guy, some pretty deep feelings bubbled right under his surface.
She tried to break away and look for her journal. That didn’t work. Kane fo
und a home improvement task wherever she went. He repaired a broken curtain hook. Fixed a clothing rod in the bedroom. Even went through magazines in the family room and threw away some sports magazines that looked decades old. And smelled it, too.
Yeah, he was running from something or, worse, planning something.
“Could you hand me that dowel?” He asked the question as if she knew what the thing was.
She peeked in the toolbox on the table. “What does it look like?”
“A dowel.”
“Believe it or not, that’s not helpful.”
Standing behind her, his musky scent filling her head, he reached under her arm and grabbed up a pin-looking thing. “This is it.”
She plucked it off his palm and held it between two fingers. “That doesn’t look like anything.”
He didn’t move away, which was a good thing since she wanted him right there. To keep him from pulling back, she leaned against him, letting his chest brush against her. Only two thin strips of cloth separated them.
“It holds the screen in place.” He cleared his throat, but his voice stayed husky and deep. “The winds off the water can get strong.”
“Uh-huh.” Winds. Rain. Whatever.
That old hurricane could take another run at the island, and she wouldn’t notice. All that mattered was the feel of his warm body against hers.
She closed her eyes and concentrated on the puffs of air caressing her neck when he spoke. The firm contours of his upper body fit against hers. Even the rough scratch of denim along her bare legs felt right.
The dowel rolled into her palm as his hand closed over her fist. His fingers laced between hers, trapping the wooden piece between them.
A hot stream of air blew against her ear. “I’ve been meaning to do this chore.”
“Afraid the chickens will get in?”
The plastic end of the screwdriver thunked against the wooden table where he dropped it. Seconds later his free hand slipped up her thigh and landed on the button to her shorts. The position wrapped her deep into his arms, cheek to cheek, with his soft hair brushing her forehead.
“Chickens?” His voice sounded unsteady.
He might be tough and hard on the outside, but he had a soft, squishy side. A part of him she could connect to on a level separate from want and sex. But, getting there, to that place, seemed impossible.
Their relationship was fractured from the start. She lied. He bossed her around. Nothing about her time on Kauai went according to plan. The boat disappeared. Chester Manning turned up dead. Most confusing, she met a guy who made her think of something other than guilt and revenge.
She didn’t know how to repay that kind of gift. Except…
“Kane?” Her head fell back against his shoulder.
He dropped a soft, lingering kiss on her open mouth. “Yeah?”
“Why are we talking about chickens and windows?”
His rumbling laugh vibrated against her lips. “I have no fucking idea.”
She turned and folded her arms over his shoulders. “I like part of that sentence.”
“Why, Ms. Parks, are you feeling naughty?” Hot palms slid over her butt and pressed her lower body tight to his.
“It has been almost”—she looked at the clock and pretended to calculate the time—“four hours since we got naked and climbed all over each other.”
“Five.”
She pulled back and stared into his eyes. “Five?”
“Five hours and thirty-seven minutes, but who the hell is counting?”
This man, this tall, dark, handsome island man, mixed strength and charm better than any man she’d ever known. The look in his eyes was both intelligent and heated. He wanted her and didn’t try to hide it. Despite everything that had passed between them, she could trust this.
She kissed the stubble under his chin, then rubbed her cheek against the rough patch. Every part of him intrigued her. His smell. His body. His loyalty to friends and ties to his past. A past that didn’t include her, and a future that might never be opened to her.
And none of that mattered in this moment. Right now, all she wanted was the touch of his hand and wet press of his lips on her body.
As if she spoke her desire out loud, he bent down and captured her mouth in a searing kiss that wiped out all of her lingering doubts. His fingers trailed up her back, following the path of the deep groove between her shoulder blades.
Faster. She needed this to happen faster.
While her mouth tasted his, her fingers went to work on his belt. The back of her hand grazed the bulge below his waist. When his body bucked in response, she swept her knuckles across his body a second time.
He broke the kiss and pressed his forehead against hers. “Damn, woman. Your touch will kill me.”
She cupped him, pressing and molding him in her palm. At first, with a light and teasing touch, then with increasing pressure and pace.
“Tell me exactly what my touch does to you.” She whispered the order against his chin.
“You can see. Feel it.” His hand covered hers and pressed her fingers tight against his fly. “I get hard. Stay hard.”
The waistband of her shorts loosened. The khakis fell to the floor around her ankles. She lifted one leg, then the other, leaning on him the entire time and trying not to lose her balance as she disrobed. Standing there, resting her butt against the edge of the table, she wore only a white shirt and aqua panties.
“Nice underwear.” The compliment rumbled against her neck as he placed a line of kisses down her throat to her shoulder.
“I have them in every size.”
He lifted his head and grinned down at her. “What did Derek do?”
“He brought me six packs of underwear ranging in size from something a preteen would wear to something a four-hundred-pound man might wear.” Kane’s belt slipped open, and she started working on his zipper. “I think he’s afraid of women’s underwear.”
“I think he’s more accustomed to taking them off than buying them.”
“I hope you mean taking them off women.”
“Yeah, and for the record, if he’s wearing women’s underwear, I don’t want to know.”
She eased the zipper down and over Kane’s erection and slid her palm inside his jeans. “I guess Derek gets his stud qualities from his uncle.”
“Since I’m the only one in the room, let’s concentrate on me instead of Derek.”
With his hands on her hips, Kane lifted her onto the kitchen table and stepped between her thighs.
“Here?” she asked, more excited by the idea than she expected.
“Standing up. Sitting down. I don’t care. We just need to get to it now.”
Not the most romantic come-on she’d ever heard, but urgency pulsed off of him. She couldn’t think of a more fundamental and feminine feeling of strength than that. To have an attractive, virile man want her without questions or explanations. The power associated with having all of that intensity turn and focus on her shook her. Left her feeling weak and strong at the same time.
He dropped his jeans to the floor. A condom appeared out of nowhere. She guessed he kept a spare in his jeans for moments like this. They’d christened every other room in the small house. The kitchen deserved a spin.
“Are these the only pair that fit?” His thumb pressed against her growing wetness.
Her chest rose and fell faster than she could breathe in. “Of what?”
“Is this the only pair of underwear you have?”
“No…no.” The thread of the conversation moved farther away from her every time his thumb passed along her slit.
“Good.”
She felt a tug. Heard the rip. Saw a flash of aqua in his hand right before it dropped to the floor.
“Did you—”
“Yes. No more waiting.” His jockeys followed her underwear to the floor.
She wrapped her thighs around his trim waist and fitted her body against his. Fingers dug into his T-shirt, w
rinkling the thin material and balling it in her fists.
Poised above her, his body prepared to enter hers. With one strong surge, he filled her, pressing deep and strong inside her. The friction of his size against her softness made her stomach dip and flatten.
With a sudden urgency, he grabbed the fleshy underside of her legs and tightened her hold around him. He moved in and out in a steady beat that knocked the legs of the table against the floor with a smack. The harder he pushed, the louder the wood cracked against the tile.
He buried his mouth in her neck. “God, yes.”
She ran her fingers through his hair, tugging his head close for a kiss. Their mouths fused together as the tension built below. With thrust after thrust her body tightened, and her legs clenched harder to his waist.
Heat rose around them. Sounds of deep breathing and heavy pants rose to fill the silence in between the scrapes of the table against the floor.
He groaned and shifted his body one last time, driving high and strong inside her. With a shudder, his body released. His hips bucked as a low rumble sounded in her ear. The final plunge sent an orgasm crashing over her. Ripples seized her. Her arms and legs squeezed his bare flesh just as his damp body slumped against her. She threw back her head and tried to gulp in enough air. Despite her thundering heartbeat and rough gasps, her skin and muscles sparked with life. She rode out the orgasm, reveling in the closeness of their heated flesh.
When she finally came down from her sex-driven high, she heard the loud ticking of the clock on the wall. She’d never noticed that before. That wasn’t all that was new. Kane had lifted her off the table. She didn’t even notice until he started walking down the hall, each step pushing him hard inside her.
His cock stayed semihard even after their sexual activity. She could barely move, and he was ready to go another round.
“How can you walk?” She asked the question with her cheek resting on his shoulder and her lips pressed against his hot neck.
“Can’t.”
She smiled at his clipped tone. Need did funny things to a man’s voice. Funny, sexy things.
His voice touched off something inside of her. “What are we doing?”
Your Mouth Drives Me Crazy Page 16
