by Gail Hart
“I think I’ll hang out here a while longer.”
Kathryn rose from her stool. “You needn’t on my account. Run along with your friends. I have to hit the restroom.” She walked away without glancing back at the men.
* * *
Kathryn pushed the door to the ladies’ room open and walked to the nearest sink. She splashed cold water on her face and closed her eyes, wishing the conflicting emotions bubbling inside her would slide down the drain as well.
Ever since her longtime boyfriend had turned her life into a cliché by leaving her for a younger woman, she’d imagined turning the tables by having a fling with a boy toy—a sizzling younger guy who could satisfy her in ways her boring ex never had. At home, she couldn’t afford to risk starting gossip about her personal life, but here in the islands, it would be safe to leave her uptight office persona behind and cut loose. She’d had three goals for this trip—to dive Grand Cayman’s world famous underwater walls; to sample as many umbrella drinks as possible; and to find a hot young stranger to fulfill her wildest fantasies. Not necessarily in that order, in fact, definitely not in that order.
Reaching into her purse, she pulled out a folded sheet of notebook paper and opened it, revealing the heading, “Boy Toy To-Do List.” Just reading the list of sexual delights made her squirm. She was so ready to move from the planning to the execution stage. Now Steve Tyler had crossed her path. He was pure yumminess, and judging by the way her pulse thumped when he so much as looked at her, more than capable of helping her work her way down the list. The problem was, he wasn’t a stranger. She’d watched him grow up. He knew her mother. She should walk away now. Hooking up with him wouldn’t be sensible. It would so not be sensible.
But damn it, part of her was sick to death of being sensible. Part of her wanted to take Steve back to her room and ride him like a bronco. No muss, no fuss, no strings, and no one got hurt.
Indecision was a strange and unwelcome feeling. Kathryn was used to knowing exactly what she wanted to do and doing it. Tonight, though, it was as if she had an angel sitting on one shoulder and a devil on the other, her inner good girl and her inner slut, yanking her in opposite directions. She grabbed a comb from her purse and jerked it through her hair, wincing as a tangle ripped from her head.
Maybe she wouldn’t have to make a decision. She’d suggested he leave. Maybe he’d moved on to the next meat market with his obnoxious friend. But her gut told her otherwise. He’d still be there when she returned. He wanted her as much as she wanted him. What happened next was up to her.
Sure enough, Steve was waiting at the bar. His spine-tingling smile was missing in action, though. “‘Run along?’ Is that how it’s going to be? Are we back to you treating me like a six-year-old? That would be a damned shame.”
She shrugged. “It was clear your buddy wanted to rescue you from my clutches. I figured it was only fair to let him try.”
His frustration showed in his scowl. “You know damn well that wasn’t what either of us wanted. We had each other all hot and bothered. Then you backed away.”
He moved closer, as close as he could get without making contact. Her body ached to close that infinitesimal gap.
“Decision time, Katie. Do we explore what we know is going on here? Or do we go back to eating ice cream?”
Her rational mind told her she should end this now, while she still could. But she hadn’t had sex in a year, and he made every inch of her throb. She touched his upper arm. “Let’s go.”
CHAPTER TWO
The air was surprisingly cool as they spilled out of the now-crowded Hard Rock and onto the sidewalk in front of the harbor. Steve saw goose bumps rising on Kathryn’s arms. He slid an arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him. “You’re cold. Let me warm you up.”
Her voice hinted of barely contained laughter. “At great personal sacrifice, of course.”
“Hey, it’s a tough job, but someone has to do it. I wouldn’t be much of an ‘officer and a gentleman’ if I let you stand here shivering.”
“My hero.” She slipped an arm around his waist and rested her head against his shoulder. Her hair smelled faintly of something flowery and feminine. Though she was small, there was nothing fragile about her. Her body, pressed into his side, was firm and solid. She was in good shape. Maybe too good. She’d look better with a little more meat on her bones.
Not wanting her to be uncomfortable, he was relieved it didn’t take long for a cab to pull over to the curb. Once they’d climbed in, he gave her a questioning look. “Where to?” They both knew how the evening was going to end, but they hadn’t discussed the next step. There was still an hour until midnight. Maybe she wanted to do some more public celebrating before they started their private party.
Apparently not, because she answered, “Your place or mine?”
“I think our places are the same place. Aren’t you staying at the Buccaneer?”
Her eyebrows rose. “How did you know that?”
He leaned forward and gave the cabbie instructions before settling back, his shoulder just touching hers. “I saw you in the lobby the other day.”
“And you didn’t say anything to me? Why?”
Because he’d been afraid she was a mirage, and if he approached her, she’d disappear. Having the woman he’d lusted after since before he was old enough to understand what lust was turn up on his vacation, in his hotel, had seemed too good to be true. But he wasn’t about to admit that.
“I knew I’d run into you again,” he said. “It was fate.”
The corners of her lips twitched up. “Fate? Well all right, I can go along with that.”
He scowled. “Keep that skeptical tone out of your voice. It’s dangerous to mock fate.”
She raised her hands in a gesture of surrender. “No mocking from me. If fate is responsible for you being here with me, then I’m the world’s biggest believer.” She leaned against him, tilted her head up, and kissed him on the mouth, hard. Her kiss was the kiss of an experienced and seductive woman, her tongue moving enough but not too much, her mouth soft and tasting slightly of chocolate.
Nothing about him was soft any more.
He ended the kiss, but she didn’t pull away. Her arms stayed coiled around his neck, her breasts pressing into his chest. He was used to women coming on to him, but with this woman, the effect was slightly disorienting. Wanting more, he slid one hand up her side and let it stray to the center until his thumb brushed a marble-hard nipple, just a thin piece of cloth away. So close and yet so far.
Her shoulders stiffened and she pulled a few inches back. Her voice was low and breathy. “It’s nasty to start something you’re not prepared to finish, flyboy.”
What was she doing, giving him one last chance to back out? Like hell! He pulled her onto his lap and pressed her tight against the growing bulge in his pants. “Does it feel like I’m teasing? I’m not stopping unless you say you want me to.” Although he might just kill himself if she made him stop.
Her brown eyes glowed. “What I want is you, Steve.”
There was no shame in her voice, no embarrassment. He’d known what she was feeling, but he was surprised to hear her say it so directly. He wasn’t with some overgrown girl playing coy games, as women his own age often did. He was with a strong, confident woman who knew what she wanted and wasn’t afraid to ask for it. His erection strained harder against his jeans.
“And you always get what you want, don’t you, Kathryn?” he whispered in her ear.
His tone had been joking, but her answering tone was serious. “Not always, but when I really want something, I don’t give up without one hell of a fight.”
And for this moment, what his Katie really wanted was to go to bed with him. This must be what it felt like to win the lottery. “I promise,” he said, “this time you won’t have to do much fighting.”
* * *
Kathryn twisted sideways on Steve’s lap and buried her face in the hollow between his shoulder and h
is neck, hoping to slow her heartbeat. It didn’t work. How could it, with his distinctive intensely masculine scent assaulting her nostrils, and with the proof of his desire for her pressing against her thigh?
He laid his cheek on the top of her head. “Sweet Kathryn.” He lifted one hand from her waist and tucked her hair behind her left ear, then ran his fingertip around the rim.
She gasped and collapsed deeper into his chest. This was ridiculous. Her body was hypersensitive, going into spasms at his every touch. It wasn’t like her to react so strongly. She hadn’t with any other man, and certainly not with Jeff, who’d dumped her a year earlier. The feeling was intense and exciting, but she wasn’t sure she liked it. She hadn’t felt this way, all shivery and out of control, since she was a teenager.
And she hadn’t acted this way since... well, ever. At least not in a social situation. This take-no-prisoners attitude in pursuit of a man who was out of her league by conventional standards was more like her work personality. She’d been known to be fearless in throwing herself at a business opportunity, but never at a man. She’d hoped being where no one knew her would help her to drop her usual, safe patterns, and now it was happening.
The cab pulled to a stop in front of the hotel. Steve handed the cabbie some bills and they got out. Kathryn slipped an arm around his waist and leaned into him hard, as if trying to fuse them together chemically. He draped an arm over her shoulder and rested it on her breast. Hidden by his other fingers, his thumb found her nipple and resumed playing. She stumbled.
He slid his arm to her waist to steady her. “Easy, Katie. Feeling those mudslides?” His cat-that-ate-the-canary expression confirmed he knew the source of her disequilibrium was something else altogether.
She scowled. “My name’s Kathryn.”
They’d entered the lobby, and she noticed the gift shop was preparing to close. She’d better make sure the logistics were taken care of. Not that it was likely a guy like Steve would let himself be caught unprepared. She leaned her mouth close to his ear. “I assume you have protection?”
That impossibly sexy grin widened. “Yes, Kathryn. In my room. Right here on the first floor, in the back facing the beach.”
“Lead the way, then.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
They moved into the hallway. His hand was back to its old tricks, his thumbnail flicking her nipple, and she was so wet she was surprised she wasn’t dripping on the carpet. This needy feeling was making her crazy. She wanted release, and she wanted it now.
Steve slipped his key card into the door slot. Before the door even clicked shut, Kathryn’s hands were at his waistband, unsnapping his fly and pulling at his zipper.
He grabbed her hands and placed them around his neck. “Slow down. No reason to rush. We have all night.”
Slowing down was the last thing she had in mind. She thrust a leg between his and rubbed her pelvis against his thigh. “Please. I need to come.”
“You will, baby, once I get you in bed.”
She pouted. “The bed’s way over there, and there’s a perfectly good floor right here.”
Cupping her bottom in his hands, he pulled her against him and walked her backward. “Trust me. It’ll be worth the wait. I don’t just want to get your rocks off. I want to give you the best sex of your life.”
She smiled up at him. “No one can accuse you of lacking self-confidence. That’s a lot to ask from a random encounter.” Although the way heat built up between her thighs, she suspected he just might be able to deliver. Her hand shook with anticipation as she tugged his rugby shirt out of his jeans. “I’d like a little less talk and a lot more action.”
“Patience, baby.” He raised his hands over his head and she pulled off his shirt. An ache formed in her chest. His rippling abs were as fabulous as she’d guessed. Her fingers itched to touch them.
The back of her knees hit the bed, interrupting her train of thought. She started to sit, but Steve put an arm around her waist to stop her. He grabbed the bottom of her skirt with both hands and in one smooth motion, pulled her sundress over her head and off her body. She stood in front of him in nothing but a pair of blue silk bikini panties and a smile.
The cool air hit her nipples, making them pucker and ache. He reached out and touched one. She let out a sound that crossed somewhere between a moan and a whimper as he rolled the nipple between his thumb and forefinger, sending an almost unbearable surge of pleasure through her overheated body. “Oh, Steve,” she said between ragged breaths.
He slid his hand to the underside of her breast, cupping the soft tissue in the palm of his hand. “You have such beautiful breasts. I’ve wanted to touch them for so long, ever since the first time I saw them naked.”
What the hell? She raised her head and looked at him through narrowed eyes. “Would you like to explain that?”
He sat stared back at her, his expression wicked. “Sure, but you’re not going to like it.”
“Try me.”
He jiggled her breast in his palm, sending an electric jolt to her crotch. “It was the last summer you were home from college. I was on my way to your house on an errand for Mom. The drapes in your den were closed, but there was a three-inch gap in the middle. I looked in and there you were, totally naked.”
He raked a thumbnail across the swollen bud of her nipple. She squirmed and had to fight to keep track of what he was saying.
“I knew I shouldn’t look, but I couldn’t resist. I kept watching until you’d pulled on your swimsuit. Then I ran off before you could see me. But the image of you nude stayed with me. Several years later I had a dream about you, and when I woke up, the bed was, uh... well, you know.” He pinched her nipple and she shuddered. “So you’ll always be special to me. A guy doesn’t forget his first wet dream.”
She felt her smile widen. “You little pervert! If I’d caught you peeping at me, I’d have slapped you senseless.”
He flicked the tip of her other nipple with his thumbnail, making her writhe again. “You still can. Though I wouldn’t have guessed you were into anything kinky.”
“Smartass! No, I think I’ll drive you senseless with lust instead.”
He placed her hand on his rock-hard erection. “That will be a very short trip, Kathryn.”
“Call me Katie.”
He rolled his eyes. “Make up your mind, woman.”
“Just while we’re in bed. Don’t you see? This is perfect. We both get to live out fantasies. I get to have a boy toy, and you get to have Katie.”
“My sweet, sweet Katie.” He pushed her onto the bed and dropped on top of her full length, his head between her breasts. Each hand played with a nipple, his thumbs circling lazily around the nubs. As the nipples tightened, fire shot through her, settling in an exquisite pool between her thighs. She heard a purring noise and realized it came from her throat.
Steve must have heard too. “Oh yes, baby, yes.” He replaced one hand with his mouth and sucked. The warm pressure turned her nipple into a hard, round pearl. She shuddered. It was amazing—he hadn’t touched her where it counted yet, but already she was close to climaxing.
As if he’d read her mind, a hand skimmed down her stomach, paused to trace a lazy circle around her navel, and slipped under the edge of her panties. He slid two fingers deep inside her and stroked.
The first small spasm made her gasp. She wound her arms around his neck and arched into him.
He pressed his thumb against her clit and increased both pressure and speed. How did he know the perfect pace to ignite all the pent-up desire in her? Oh God, this was torture. Her moans grew louder.
His whisper tingled in her ear. “You’re close, aren’t you?”
“You know I am.”
“Let yourself go, baby,” he said, his voice hot as the Cayman sun.
His words pushed her over the edge. She let out a shriek of pure joy and abandoned herself to sensation, oblivious to everything but the waves of pleasure pulsing through her from her womb outward. H
e slid up her body and rained soft kisses all over her face as the last tiny shred of her reserve shattered to pieces.
He smoothed a hand down her hair. “Oh baby, it must’ve been way too long for you.”
“Mmmm,” she murmured in relief and gratitude.
Suddenly his hand was between her thighs again, his thumb lightly stroking the sweet spot. She’d thought she was totally spent, but new tension coiled in her gut. “Whaaa?” she breathed out.
“You deserve more,” Steve said.
She didn’t have to ask more of what. But another climax so soon? That wasn’t her. She wasn’t multi-orgasmic.
Yet as he slipped two fingers inside her and quickened the pace, her body gave the lie to the thought. The steady rhythm of his talented fingers stroking her clit pushed her body closer and closer to the edge, until she knew it would physically hurt if she didn’t find release. Her nails dug into his shoulders. “Hurry.”
“I’ve got you, babe.” His gaze never left her face as with two final strokes, he brought her to another hard and searing climax.
When her heart stopped thumping and her breathing returned to some semblance of normal, she smiled up at him and lifted a hand to stroke his cheek. “This isn’t fair. I’m having all the fun.”
“No way. I love watching you come.” He covered her hand with his. “Besides, I’ll get my turn.”
“Absolutely, but first we need to get rid of the rest of this silly clothing.”
“Sounds like a plan.” While she pulled off her panties, he stood up and slipped out of his jeans.
Kathryn was surprised to see he was wearing boxers. She’d have expected him to favor the blatant sexuality of briefs. Sitting up, she yanked the boxers down, and his thick, swollen cock popped free. As she watched it twitch, her eyes widened. Oh God! Sure, size mattered, but Steve might be too much of a good thing—especially after a year of abstinence.
A look of concern crossed his face. “Is something wrong?”
She gave him a Steve-like grin. “Not at all. I was just thinking that I’ll never, ever call you ‘little’ Stevie again.”
