by J. S. Scott
“Did you want to be in on the planning?” I hated to think I was keeping her away from something she wanted to do.
She shook her head. “I already see it because Paige and I conference with video online.”
I was relieved. I didn’t want to have to be there early, but if Kenzie really wanted to go for the planning, I’d do it. There wasn’t much I wouldn’t do to see her smiling like she was right now.
“Will your jet make it to Hawaii?” she asked uneasily.
“Of course. Do you want to go to Hawaii?” I was confused because I thought we were talking about Denver and the wedding.
“The wedding is being planned there. Since it’s still going to be cold in Denver, Paige decided to have the ceremony in Maui.”
“Sebastian will probably like that,” I told her. “It’s one of his old hangouts.”
“Do you like it?”
“I haven’t been there since I was a kid. My dad used to take me scuba diving all over the world. I started when I was eleven. I was a junior diver before I certified when I turned fifteen,” I told her, my chest aching over the hobby that my dad and I had enthusiastically shared. They were good memories, but not necessarily easy to recall because I no longer had my parent to share it with.
“Do you still dive?”
I smirked at her. “I’m in one of the best dive areas in the world on a private island. Yeah, I go out as much as I can.”
“I’ve always wanted to learn,” she told me in a wistful voice.
“Then I’ll teach you.”
“You will?” She looked dumbfounded.
“Can you snorkel? We might want to start there and work you into scuba diving when you’re comfortable.”
“I have a confession to make,” she said solemnly.
“What?”
“I can’t really swim very well.”
I shrugged, filing the information away so that I was always near her when she was in the water. “Then we make you a stronger swimmer before the snorkeling.”
A childlike excitement lit up her expression. “Really? I’d love that.”
“Can you work the time into my busy schedule?” I told her with a grin.
“Yes, Mr. Walker,” she shot back at me with humor in her voice.
Holy hell. I was pretty sure I’d do just about anything to keep her smiling like she was right now.
Kenzie had occasionally appeared kind of melancholy and uptight for a few days after she’d arrived on the island. I was guessing that the prospect of not having a job had dented her optimism. I didn’t ever want to see her tense and worried again.
I wasn’t prepared when she suddenly leaped forward and careened into my chest.
Luckily, my reflexes were quick, and I snaked my arms around her. And dammit, she felt so fucking good that I didn’t want her to pull away again.
“Thank you, Dane. Thank you so much,” she whispered loudly next to my ear.
“Not like it’s exactly difficult or a hardship to go diving. We’re kind of surrounded by water,” I teased.
“I know you aren’t thrilled about traveling, but you’ll love the wedding. I promise.”
Her tone was so earnest that I didn’t want to disappoint her, so I didn’t say anything.
To be truthful, I probably would love the trip to Hawaii if she was there next to me. Her needs were rapidly becoming more important than my fear of the outside world.
I gritted my teeth as her sensual body rubbed against mine. Shit! What I wouldn’t give to be doing this without clothing between us. I wanted to explore her incredible body, and take my time doing it.
“I really don’t mind all that much,” I said as I buried my face in her hair. The feel and the scent of her drove me crazy. Maybe I was a closet masochist, but I couldn’t let her go.
“You were always planning on going,” she accused as she pulled her head back to look up at me.
“I was,” I confirmed. “My brothers are probably only going to get married once. I want to be there. I’m shocked that Sebastian has settled down at all.”
“Paige loves him,” she said. “I hope he’s good to her.”
There was no doubt that Sebastian was going to treat Paige like she was a queen. He adored her, and I knew he’d put his past behind him. “He was a player. But since he met Paige, I don’t think he’s even thought about another woman. He’s reformed.”
“I’m the last one to talk about past mistakes,” she shared. “As long as he sees what he has now, I’m good with that.”
“Nothing that happened to you was your fault, Kenzie,” I assured her.
“I feel like an idiot at times. I’m going to be twenty-six and I haven’t accomplished much.”
“Don’t,” I rumbled. The last thing I ever wanted for Kenzie was regret. Her life had sucked until the present, and I was going to make damn sure she never knew another unhappy day in her life if I could avoid it.
Much to my displeasure, she pulled away from me. “I’m sorry I interrupted you.”
I shrugged. “You didn’t. Like I said, I’m done for the day.”
“Can I use your studio for an hour or two?”
“Of course. I told you that you could.” I thought for a moment before I added, “But only if you let me see your work.”
I didn’t care about her technical skills. I wanted to see her doing something that made her happy.
“I don’t have anything with me that’s even started. I’m mostly just doing sketches right now.”
“I have the perfect place for you to start,” I said as I started to clean my brushes.
“You do?” she answered, sounding confused.
I washed my hands and dried them with a paper towel. “Let’s go. I have something to show you.”
I took her hand and led her to the house, hoping I could make her smile one more time today.
CHAPTER 18
Kenzie
To say I was astonished by what Dane had to show me would have been an understatement.
He led me to the back of the house and pulled me into a room I’d never seen before, an enclosed porch that I assumed he never used. I’d actually passed over the room myself when I’d explored the house, thinking that the closed door was a closet or storage area.
It was a fairly large space, and it was beautiful. It was air conditioned, but someone had thrown open a few of the many windows so the sound of the ocean was clear inside the room.
“I didn’t know this room was even here,” I told him as I entered, stopping so abruptly that Dane slammed into my back.
“I never use it,” he commented as he steadied me. “I have the other huge porch areas, so I guess I haven’t needed it until now. What do you think? Can you work in here?”
It took me a minute to understand what he meant.
I looked around, finally noticing that the room was set up for pottery making. And it was equipped with the latest and best equipment. My experience had come from working on an old pottery wheel and with aged kilns and processors at a local rec center in Massachusetts.
“This equipment is incredible,” I muttered as I walked around the room and ran my hand over one of the pottery wheels.
“It’s yours,” he rumbled from behind me. “Theo and I set it up, but it may need somebody more skilled to figure it all out.”
“You even have the equipment to make bisque items,” I said, still marveling over the volume of equipment he’d brought in. “And they can be painted.”
“I can paint some for you, but I’m not sure my work is exactly what you want on pottery.”
I laughed. “I’d have pottery worth way too much money for me to be comfortable eating or drinking from it.” Maybe I wasn’t quite certain what a piece of pottery would cost with Dane’s mark, but it would be a display piece only. “H
ow did you know what to buy?”
Honestly I was stunned that he’d put a pottery room together when he was never going to use it.
He shrugged. “I just bought whatever they told me might be useful for a pottery room.”
I let out a startled laugh. “It looks like they sold you an entire store.”
“I wanted to make sure you had everything you needed. Do you like it?”
I turned to face him. “It’s amazing. I honestly don’t know what to say.”
Thank you didn’t seem like enough. What touched me the most was the fact that Dane had done this simply to make me happy. Who does things like that? I didn’t need any of the stuff, but I was itching to try to make some pieces now that he had the pottery room.
I couldn’t even pretend that he’d done this for any other purpose than to make me more content on the island, and I wasn’t sure how to handle that. I didn’t know how to handle him. I’d never really worried about making myself happy. Hell, I’d never gotten past staying alive. What could I say to somebody who had done something expensive and probably time-consuming simply because he thought I might like it?
“Don’t say anything,” he suggested. “Just tell me if it has everything you need.”
“I can’t believe you did this for me,” I answered honestly. “Nobody has ever gone to this kind of trouble just for me.”
Tears welled up in my eyes as I continued to stare at him.
“Oh, God. Don’t fucking cry, Kenzie,” he pleaded in a husky voice.
“I can’t help it. Why did you do this? I’m just an employee.”
“You said you like to mess with pottery. And what’s wrong with doing something nice for an employee. Not to mention that you’re more than an employee to me, Kenzie.”
“I do like to putter around with pottery. But you didn’t need to do this.” I felt guilty, and I certainly didn’t feel worthy.
“I wanted to do it,” he protested.
“Thank you,” I said as a tear leaked from my eye and fell onto my cheek. I didn’t want him to think I was ungrateful. I just wasn’t sure how to handle this whole thing very well. “I’ll be in here every chance I get.”
“Make time,” he insisted. “You can start knocking off earlier.”
I smiled at him, a broad grin that I couldn’t hold back. “I don’t need to do that. I have plenty of free time. I’ve felt like I’m on vacation. I’m only on one job, and my hours are way too short in my opinion.”
Like he didn’t give me enough time off already? I’d never worked so few hours before. My work days were usually seventeen hours long. And pretty much every day was a work day. Working for Dane an average of six or seven hours a day was like a holiday for me.
“You’ve worked way too much in your life already. It’s time to learn to play a little, Kenzie.”
I had no idea what it would be like not to work almost every waking hour of my day. “I’m not sure I know how,” I admitted. “Working short hours here is giving me a serious case of guilt considering how much I’m being paid. I like staying busy, Dane.”
“Stay busy with something other than my work,” he demanded.
“I’m paid to deal with your business,” I teased.
“Then maybe I should change your job title. What if I said I need a companion, and that’s going to be part of your job?”
The last thing Dane needed was somebody to be pestering him all the time. He worked hard at weighing the pros and cons of his investments, the risks and possible rewards. Then he went on to work on his art. His days weren’t exactly short. “I’d say you were lying.”
I watched his throat move as he swallowed hard. “I’m not lying,” he said flatly. “I like having you here.”
His words were the sweetest compliment I’d ever had. “Nobody has ever really wanted me,” I said hesitantly, emotions expanding and threatening to boil over the walls I usually put up to shield them.
He moved closer, so close I could feel his warm breath on my face.
“I want you, Kenzie. I don’t want to want you, but I’m not going to lie to you and myself. I think you already know how I feel. Hell, I can’t be in the same room with you without my dick getting hard.”
Unable to stop myself, I wrapped my arms around his neck, sighing as I threaded my fingers into the coarse, thick hair on his head. “I feel it,” I admitted. “I wish I didn’t, but I do. It’s always going to be dangerous because I’m your assistant.”
“My assistant-slash-companion,” he corrected. “And no matter what happens between us, I’m not planning on firing you.”
His arms came quickly around my waist, holding me like I was something precious.
Maybe he had good intentions, but how did you live in the same house with somebody in a working relationship after you’ve had sex with them?
Knowing I needed my job was almost enough to make me back away from him. But I couldn’t. Being close to Dane, being held by him, was so damn intoxicating that I couldn’t give the opportunity up.
His hand ran up and down my spine in a comforting, possessive motion that made me feel like I’d found peace exactly where I was at the moment.
I lay my head against his shoulder, feeling defeated. “You might not be planning on it, but if we have sex, it will end up awkward.”
“I’m pretty sure that at some point, you’ll end up in my bed, Kenzie,” he grunted.
“I…can’t,” I said in a breathless voice, knowing that his prediction was probably true.
How long would I be able to deny how much I wanted him?
“I think you can. Honestly, I don’t think either one of us can resist the temptation anymore,” he contradicted, not giving me time to reply before he lowered his head and kissed me.
His intent was clear, and I shuddered as I finally felt his mouth fuse to mine. My blood turned white-hot as Dane demanded that I surrender to him, and I gave way without much thought.
I couldn’t think.
I couldn’t reason.
All I could do was feel what he was doing to me, and I responded with a moan that was stifled by his mouth.
I can’t do this. I can’t.
Somewhere inside of me, my brain was screeching to be heard, but the warning voice was so quiet compared to the roar of need silencing it that I paid no attention.
All that mattered was Dane, and the fact that I craved the feel of him.
I let out some kind of feral sound as he broke off the kiss to trail his sensual lips over the sensitive skin of my neck. My short nails dug into the nape of his neck, then started clawing at his T-shirt clad back.
I needed something more, anything substantial that would put me out of my smoldering damn misery.
“Dane. God, I need you.” The words slipped out of my mouth before I could censor them.
“I’m here. I’ll give you whatever you want,” he growled. “Just don’t tell me to stop.”
His hands stroked down my back and landed on my jean-clad butt.
Dane’s warm breath wafted over my neck, and then to my earlobes.
I tried to push my body harder against him. I wanted to feel that rock-hard body as close as he could get.
“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” he said huskily. “Leaving you alone is impossible. I can’t be in the same room with you without wanting this.”
“Me, either,” I confessed, my breath coming hard and fast from my lips.
When he lifted my T-shirt and started to pull it over my head, I didn’t protest. In fact, I held up my arms so he could discard the item. My bra came off immediately after, and I almost purred when we met skin-to-skin from the waist up.
Dane was shirtless, which was his habit when he was working in his studio. It was torment to see his chiseled, smooth chest and abdomen, and not want to touch him.
> He was right. I was going to fail no matter how much I knew I needed to protest. I was beyond protecting myself, which had never happened to me before. Right now, I wanted Dane more than I wanted to survive. Either that or I trusted him enough to know he’d never hurt me.
I wanted to whimper in protest as Dane moved away from me, but his focus was on something else.
“Step out,” he commanded gruffly as he lowered my jeans and panties down my legs.
I lifted my feet one at a time until he’d discarded my pants, and I stood before him naked.
I felt so exposed that I faltered for a moment, but my hesitation didn’t last long.
I looked down at him with hungry eyes, shuddering when I saw the heat in his gaze.
“I’ve dreamed about this,” he rasped as he rose, his hands skimming over my body reverently as he straightened. “But seeing you like this is so much better than my imagination.”
“I ache,” I said in a tormented voice that cracked as his fingers toyed with my throbbing nipples.
“I’ll make it better,” he promised.
“I’m nervous,” I confessed. “I’ve only had sex with one guy, and that was back in high school.”
“Forget about him,” he said in a muffled voice as he nipped at the sensitive skin on my neck. “I’ve already forgotten about any other woman except you.”
Somehow, it didn’t matter if Dane saw my imperfect body. I knew he still wanted me, scars and all.
He moved back and traced the white line of the mark on my chest, a knife wound that had barely missed my heart.
“I hate this,” he mentioned angrily. “I hate that those motherfuckers ever laid a hand on you…period.”
“It’s over,” I moaned as I reached for the zipper of his jeans, frenzied to get him as naked as I was right now.
“Don’t,” he warned in a low and guttural tone. “My patience is already gone.”
“I don’t need patience,” I protested. “I just want you.”
I didn’t recognize the needy woman who was fervently groping for Dane’s cock. I wanted to feel him. I wanted to know that he was just as desperate as I was.
His body tensed as I finally found what I wanted. A feeling of power coursed through my entire body as I recognized how violently Dane reacted to my touch.
