“Nothing beats Marvin,” Kane said, grinning. “‘Let’s Get it On,’ is simple and straightforward, just how I like it.”
She had to grin back, because she figured he’d made the selection to ease some tension out of the moment. “Simple and straightforward like you?”
“Exactly.” He cupped her face in his hands. “That’s why the first time you come it’s going to be just that way. My mouth, working you, taking you there.”
Heat rushed over her, through her, making her burn. Her smile died. “I…Kane…”
“You like my kisses,” he said, and bent his head to the side of her neck. She shivered, the whole-body kind as his tongue traced designs on her sensitive skin.
Her hands went to his shoulders but he pulled them off, holding them in his. “I meant to tell you what I like about a woman’s body, Audra,” he murmured. “Breasts and ass and that sweet, sweet place in between.”
Oh, God.
Then he went back to kissing her neck, his mouth hot and wet. He pushed her hands under the pillow beneath her head. “Leave them,” he ordered, then crawled down her body, his lips cruising over her clothes until he had reached her mons. He kissed there too, his eyes up to catch her gaze. “It’s pulsing, isn’t it?” His strong tongue managed to work into her groove, over the light cotton of her dress and the silky material of her panties. He flattened it against the stiff swell of her clit.
Audra stilled as pleasure shot through her.
Kane did it again, then lifted his head, smiled. “Time to get naked, baby.”
Before she could blink, he’d hauled her to a sitting position and yanked her dress over her head. Then he sat back, as if thunderstruck.
“Jesus Christ. You’ve been wearing that under there all day?”
Audra sucked in a breath and glanced down, taking in the matching bra and panty set, the palest shade of lemon sherbet, the straps of the bra and the cups a sheer, gauzy fabric. The tiny panties were kept up at the hips by matching ties. Both were a far cry from her usual practical cotton underwear. Her face heated. “Husband-pleasing stuff.”
Kane’s brows lowered and he looked…angry?
“Never worn before,” she said, not sure why she was making the point. It wasn’t possible for him to be possessive of her, was it? “Never seen on me by anyone, um, else.”
The words seemed to calm him, though, and his expression cleared. “Pretty.” His fingertips traveled the line of the low-cut demi-bra. “Now show me what’s underneath it.”
Her eyes widened.
“Undress for me, baby.” He leaned back, his gaze on her body.
Wow. He really knew what he was doing. Just that heated look in his eyes had her panting and her belly was tight with desire. The panties were drenched and he was going to know in a minute if he kept watching like that.
“Please,” he said, soft as butter as she hesitated.
But it was the want that he communicated without a word that had her trembling hands moving behind her back to the hooks. When it dangled in her hand, Kane reached for the bra and rubbed one cup over his cheek before setting it aside. “Mm,” he murmured. “Smells like you.”
Swallowing hard, Audra thought the bed might combust from her body heat.
“Next,” Kane demanded, hand out. “Panties.”
Gathering her courage, she wiggled out of them, then placed the scrap of fabric in his outstretched palm, while her pulse thrummed at her throat, wrists, and between her legs. Her eyes went wide as he brought the underwear to his mouth. He licked the gusset.
“Tastes like you,” he said, with obvious appreciation.
Audra trembled. “Task accomplished,” she called out.
“What, baby?” He placed her panties on the bedside table.
“I think I just had an orgasm.”
His smile grew, slow and white. Gleaming like a shark’s. Her body shivered and she felt every centimeter of her bare skin prick with anticipation…and a little trepidation too. Her toes curled tight again, trying to hang on to that cliff of sanity.
“If you only think,” Kane said, “then there’s still pleasure left for me to provide.”
With that, he pounced, fully dressed, on her naked body.
His mouth dragged over her, branding her with scorching kisses from her throat to her hips. She squirmed and wiggled and moaned, but his big hands kept her still for him, then turned her, then turned her back again so she was touched everywhere by his fire.
Then he focused on her breasts.
They were on the smallish side and had never seemed that sensitive to her, but Kane obviously was a breast man as he’d said, because he kissed and laved endlessly, soft touches and lazy circles that left her feeling liquid inside, her body languid. Then his mouth grew greedy and he sucked biting kisses on the soft globes until she whimpered, needing more, needing attention to the aching points of her nipples.
His tongue nudged one, then the other, and she whimpered again. “Sweet,” he murmured against her flesh. “Sweet berries.” Then he cupped a breast with his hand, lifting it higher to latch on. To suck. Ravenously.
Audra’s hips shot high. He threw his leg over her thighs, the denim deliciously rough against her skin. He moved to her other breast, whispering to her in soothing tones. Stay still, baby. Let me take you there.
But when he took her other nipple between his lips, his tongue pressing it hard to the roof of her mouth, her fingers clutched at his head. Without letting up the pressure on her throbbing flesh, he moved her hands again, shoving them beneath the pillow once more. Her body squirmed, the additional restraint stoking her excitement. “Oh, God.”
Kane let her nipple go with a wet pop that sounded so filthy she shivered. “Bondage,” he murmured as he drew his chin down the center of her body to her belly. His stubble scratched and tickled and sent her squirming some more. “We’re definitely going to play with that.”
Then he climbed between her legs, pushing them wider and sliding her knees high. Audra’s ragged breaths couldn’t seem to provide enough air and her head spun, taking the room around them away. There was nothing beyond the two of them, connected by that hot, greedy look on Kane’s face. The two of them, linked.
It was amazing, arousing and she felt flushed all over, swollen and yearning. “Please,” she said. “Please, Kane.”
He glanced up at her face, then redirected his gaze to stare at her wet flesh, his breathing quick and deep. That he remained fully dressed only added to her sense of vulnerability and heated need.
The man could do anything to her…and she wanted it. She wanted everything that Kane would allow.
His hands moved, thumbing her apart to reveal more. “So damn pretty,” he said, his breath was hot on her intimate flesh. “So fuckin’ pretty.”
Her belly jumped and now embarrassment mixed with desire as Good Girl Audra tried asserting herself. She was in bed with a man she hardly knew. Letting him touch her, taste her, and hoping he’d take her where no man had taken her before.
And right now he was looking at her.
There.
Her next whimper sounded worried instead of aroused.
Kane’s head shot up, his eyes narrowing. “Baby.”
Rising to her elbows, words tumbled from her mouth. “This is probably a bad idea. What was I thinking?” She was nude and he was dressed, this powerful man who’d had dozens and dozens of women in his bed who could come at will. “You’ll fail and we’ll both feel bad. Maybe it will cause you bedroom problems, you know, in the future. I can’t be the cause of that. I’d never sleep at night.”
Instead of answering, with his gaze still on her face, he slid one finger over her drenched flesh, rubbing with a tender touch.
Every muscle strung tight. “Oh, my.” Delicious. Fantastic. Good Girl Audra, go away.
He stroked over her delicate skin again, and needy and wanting, Audra fell back. “Okay,” she said, sliding her hands beneath the pillow once more, surrendering to the renew
ed desire his simple touch could bring. “Do your best.”
He chuckled, the sound dark and sexy and she closed her eyes, tensing in anticipation for the next light brush of his fingers.
But this time it was firm and wet and velvety. His tongue flicking over her, a tease, a temptation. She swallowed a moan as he did it again, the light touches making her belly tighten and her toes cramp. Opening her eyes, her gaze fixated on his dark head between her pale thighs. Oh. My. God. She didn’t blink, mesmerized by the sight. Then his dark lashes lifted and he stared into her eyes as he reached out again with his tongue and licked, long and soft. Once. Twice. Tender around her opening.
She made noise then, needy sounds, and he hushed her, his hands going to her hips. They tried to arch, but he held them in place as he licked her clit, a leisurely orbit before making his own noise, deep in his throat.
His head lifted, his mouth shining with her juices. “God, you taste good,” he said, then lowered his head again. Sucked.
Pleasure spasmed, agonizing in its sweetness. Audra moaned as waves of it began to roll over her, ripples of bliss that grew in intensity. Her heels dug into the mattress and she squeezed shut her eyes, moaning louder as he slid one long finger inside her. The pleasure peaked, nearly nudging into pain, and then she was coming down the other side, her sated body twitching with a dozen aftershocks.
Muscles and mind blown away, she lay flat on the bed, at the mercy of the massive sensory event she’d just experienced. Limp noodles had more autonomy.
“Baby,” Kane whispered.
She opened her eyes. Somehow, when she was out of it, he’d moved and now sat on the side of the mattress at her hip, still fully clothed, still fully confident in his masculine power. It oozed out of him and made her heart skip, her breath catch. He put a hand on her upper thigh and she trembled at the implied masculine power of it, another ghostly reminder of what he’d wrung from her.
“Better?” he asked, smiling.
Better. Not broken. Not a failure. A woman.
All because of this gorgeous, arrogant man.
Chapter 8
Minutes later, Audra was wrapped in a throw Kane had tossed over her, her nude body covered and her head as fuzzy as the wool cloth. He handed her a glass of cold water and she sat up against the pillows to sip at it, trying to think what to do next.
He raised an eyebrow. “Why the frown?”
Oh, no reason, just that he’d given her a spectacular orgasm while he remained dressed and unsatisfied and she didn’t know what he expected of her next. In return. Didn’t she owe him something?
But he didn’t seem to be in any hurry for it.
“Audra?”
“I…I don’t know what to say,” she confessed, studying the glass in her hand.
“Thank you,” he prompted.
“Thank you,” she said, then snuck a peek at his expression. “Then you say…”
“That’s what friends are for.”
Okay. Friends. Right. He’d offered her a service, like…like changing a car tire. If a buddy did that for her, she’d offer something in return. A plate of cookies. A gift card.
His own climax.
Still pondering, she jolted when his phone pinged an incoming call. Sultry music continued to pour softly from the room’s speakers, but Kane’s voice sounded all-business as he answered his cell. Wrapping the throw more tightly around her, she looked away to give him some privacy, all the while trying not to feel defenseless and shy in her nakedness.
“Damn,” he said, and she glanced over to see him rising then slipping his phone in his back pocket.
“Problem?” she asked, as if he was a work colleague and not the guy who’d just gotten her off.
“I need to head to my office,” he said, pushing his hand through his short hair.
“Totally understand,” she replied, already beginning to clamber off the bed. “I’ll go back to my bungalow.”
“Then I have a dinner with my sisters,” he said, frowning.
“Totally, totally understand.” This was awkward. She moved about, trying to gather all her clothes without letting the fabric wrapped around her slip.
“Audra.”
She glanced up, saw that he had her underwear in hand. Snatching it away from him, she ducked her head to hide her blush.
His hand clamped on her shoulder, his palm heavy and hot on her bare skin. Goose bumps raced over her nakedness.
“Come to dinner,” he said.
“You mean tomorrow? I don’t know—”
“Tonight. Join me and my sisters.”
“Um…” Awkward, right?
“Please?”
Oh, great. As if she could ignore that polite request after what he’d so recently delivered. “Won’t…won’t your sisters find it…odd? I’m not…” What wasn’t she? Not someone Kane was dating. Not someone who should be thinking of dating, for goodness’ sake. She’d just been jilted, after all.
But she was indebted to him, though it still wasn’t clear exactly what he expected in return—it couldn’t be just her presence at a dinner table could it? She clutched her underwear tighter. “Kane, we wouldn’t want them imagining something—”
“My sisters won’t imagine anything’s going on between us, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Kane pulled out his phone again and focused on the screen. “Seven o’clock,” he said, and named the resort’s main dining room. “See you there.”
Of course, at seven o’clock Audra met her social obligation, because that was the kind of person she was. At the appointed time, she arrived at the restaurant, pausing in the shadows near the hostess desk to take in the lovely atmosphere—linen-covered tables, candlelight, sparkling table settings. One entire wall of glass revealed the beach and ocean beyond, with the white froth of the incoming waves lit by strategic floodlights. Could Kane really mean to leave this amazing place and take a position elsewhere?
Then she saw him coming toward her, threading his way through the tables. He must have been on the lookout, because she was sort of lurking by the entrance, not in plain view. Her heart began beating hard as she took him in, all casual elegance in beige slacks, white dress shirt, navy-blue blazer.
Classic attire on a classically handsome man.
Audra took a step forward, feeling the swish of her dress’s full skirt above her knees. It was a cream-and-floral print, a garment also intended for her honeymoon, and the sleeveless style cut low at the front and laced in the back—an effort to don alone. Her lipstick matched the color of the roses on the fabric as did her low-heeled sandals with their saucy glimpse of toe-cleavage and the strap that wrapped and tied at the back of her ankles.
She’d wanted Kane to be impressed.
His expression communicated appreciation, she decided now. Heart fluttering wildly, she wondered what it would be like to look at that man as a bride approaching the altar.
Dangerous, she told herself, as he came within a foot of her. He’d already said he wasn’t the marrying kind, so she had no right to cast him in that role.
“You made it,” Kane said, smiling at her.
She dropped a tiny curtsy. “As requested.”
“I’m glad.” He bent close and she froze, thinking he meant to kiss her mouth, but his lips brushed her hot cheek instead. “This way,” he told her then, though didn’t take her hand to lead her back the way he’d come.
Likely to ensure no one imagined they were anything to each other.
“By the way,” he said, his voice low. “My sisters don’t know I’m thinking of leaving the company.”
“I won’t mention it, of course,” she assured him. That was easy and alleviated some of her debt. Would he demand more in repayment for what he’d done for her earlier?
He ushered her toward a table where two young women sat in bright summer dresses and who stood for introductions. The first, Amber, had dark caramel-colored hair and a serene smile. Her sister Jessie was a streaky blonde with a breezy approach. Sh
e insisted Audra sit beside her, and as both of Kane’s siblings began chatting in a relaxed manner it was obvious they were seasoned professionals at the hospitality business.
Once weather talk and general compliments had been exchanged, Jessie leaned close. “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but how are you doing?”
From across the table, Kane groaned. “Jess.”
His sister turned wide eyes on him. “What? I’m doing my job. Determining if there’s anything we can do to see to her comfort during her stay.”
Anything we can do to see to her comfort. Audra’s glance darted to Kane and as their eyes met, she felt herself blush. His lips twitched, the damn man!
Shifting her gaze back to Jessie, she pinned on a polite smile. “I’m good.” Then she hesitated. “So it’s common knowledge that I…uh…”
“Was saved from making a big mistake?” Amber interjected. “Because that’s the way we see it.”
“Um…” That was nice, Audra decided, certainly better than “dumped at the altar,” but she wasn’t sure where to go with it.
Kane stepped in. “Maybe Audra doesn’t want to have this conversation,” he suggested, saving her from having to make her own reply. And it didn’t seem like she’d have to weigh in for a while because a server then brought chilled wine to the table and a selection of appetizers and the talk turned general again.
“I hope no one minds,” Jessie said, “but I went ahead and ordered our meal. The chef has prepared a menu just for us.”
After the oysters and charred octopus starters that paired beautifully with a chilled, tart white wine, there was roasted cauliflower soup and a field greens salad with a delicious, fresh dressing. Then the main course came and they all had small tastes of several dishes on their plates—sea bass, scallops, pork chop with a Brussels sprout sauerkraut, and fried chicken with smashed potatoes and crisp-edged medallions of squash.
“This is amazing,” Audra said, wishing she could manage another bite because it all tasted so wonderful.
“I agree,” Kane said. “And if you ladies will excuse me for a moment, I’ll pass along our compliments to the chef.”
Me and Mr. Jones Page 11
