He paused, aware that she was smiling, watching him. “If your mother is in town. Or you have a test the next day. Or…your dog ate your homework.”
She laughed, and rolled a bit, still holding his hand so he was there with her—Tim squished over to the far side of the bed, and Ryan and Kai lying face to face.
He kissed her. “If you have a flat tire,” he added between smiling kisses. “Or it’s Flag Day.”
He came up on an elbow and, very nicely, she tucked in beside him. “If your bunion is acting up.”
Then he’d made love to her. Kissing, stroking, and a little more teasing and laughing. With his mouth, he’d worked his way down her body, gently, tenderly, because she’d been pretty well used. He kissed and soothed her nipples with his tongue, then slid a wet path down to her navel. Then he’d moved between her legs and kissed and sucked a long, rolling orgasm into her. Finally, he’d come inside her. They held each other, gazes locked, as he fucked her. It wasn’t gentle, exactly. In fact, by the end, it got a little wild. But they’d held gazes through it, and held each other, and it was a mighty fine fuck.
Ryan had rested over her for a long time and was filled with reluctance when, finally, he knew he had to move off her.
Tim and Vin had gotten their clothes back on as Ryan and Kai had wallowed in their afterglow. When Ryan stood to dress, Kai had gotten up, too. She’d stepped into her bathroom for a minute and was wrapped in in long silk robe when she came out.
Each of the men had kissed her. Each said, “Goodnight, baby.” Tim had said it with a long, thorough kiss.
But Ryan hadn’t wanted to leave her. And each step he took away from her felt worse.
Like his feet were made of lead, he finally ground to a stop. The other two kept walking until, finally, Vin realized they’d left him behind. He turned and looked. “What?”
Ryan tossed him the keys to his truck. “I’m going back. I’ll see you at the Y tomorrow.”
Kai’s building had security, and the old guy at the desk had just nodded the three of them out the door, so he didn’t seem to have any problem nodding Ryan back in. Ryan didn’t even have to use the story he’d worked out about leaving his keys behind.
When he knocked on Kai’s door, she took only a moment to answer and didn’t seem very surprised to see him.
Her arched brow didn’t deter him…much.
“I was remembering,” he said. “Ten years ago, I fell asleep with you in my arms, and I expected to wake up in the morning the same way. I kind of wish I’d gotten do that. I was hoping we could try it now.”
“Sleep, you mean?” She probably had a right to sound skeptical. “Just that?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re saying you’ve had enough sex?”
He was pretty sure he saw a little twinkle in her eyes. He chewed his lower lip for a minute, considering. “With you?” he asked finally. “It feels like a dangerous precedent to say yes to that. For tonight? Yeah. I’d be very happy to just fall asleep in that bed of yours, with you right there beside me. But I’ll say, honestly, looking ahead, even very far ahead, I’m not seeing a time when I’m going to be saying I’ve had enough.”
She smiled, and he caught a glimpse of that girl from ten years ago. “Come in, Ryan.”
He got what he wanted. He undressed again, and she slipped out of her robe, and they met in the middle of the bed. He kissed her a couple times in a way that felt like some sort of declaration he didn’t—and, probably couldn’t—put into words. And then he held her, her head resting on his shoulder, and they slept.
Well, she slept. It was hard to fall asleep with a boner, and his dick had apparently not gotten the message that this was a no-go night now. So it took Ryan a while to doze off, but he didn’t begrudge it. Having her warm, soft, and trusting against him was mighty fine.
Chapter Five
The three men had a standing Saturday 10:00 a.m. basketball game, Kai learned, so her morning with Ryan didn’t extend into what might have become that awkward phase. She was aware when his phone alarmed and might have grumbled a bit when he’d rolled out of bed, kissed her, and told her to keep sleeping while he got breakfast.
And helped himself to her shower, though he hadn’t asked about that.
She showered, too, when he went out her front door, and was dressed when he got back. She wasn’t very anxious about their time together on the morning after, but she didn’t want to face it wearing nothing but her robe and the stale smell of sex.
Her Saturday morning was usually spent in the gym at Tone—and the spa, too. Most often she worked in her office or the classroom through the afternoon, but she put in her hardest workout of the week on Saturdays, and then indulged herself with a massage.
That part of her routine would be especially welcome today. She’d had quite a Friday night workout, too.
She was dressed in capris leggings, a sports bra, and a loose tank when Ryan came back with coffee, chocolate croissants, and fresh strawberries.
“I like the way you think,” she said, as he held a berry to her lips.
He followed it with a kiss. “Well,” he said. “You were such a good girl last night.”
She smiled and knew he saw the humor in it when she rolled her eyes, too.
They ate at the little table out on her terrace. She didn’t splurge on things very often, and she hadn’t on this studio condo. She always had something better to do with her money. But the terrace—two-sided at a front corner of the building, private, and boasting a little peek at the Harlem River and Randall’s Island Park beyond it—made up for everything that was otherwise too small about the place. Every spring she thought she might be going overboard, prettying it up with potted trees and flowering shrubs and fairy lights. But every summer, she enjoyed the hell out of it.
Trying her coffee, she looked at Ryan in surprise. “This is my favorite café mocha,” she said. “How’d you do that?”
Ryan lifted a shoulder. He was very appealing with that little glimmer in his eyes. “I asked.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “From my favorite shop.” There’d been half a dozen for him to choose from in a two-block radius.
“I asked three times.”
Kai didn’t exactly want to be touched by that, but she could hardly help it. “Thank you.”
He nodded, watching her intently. “I won’t have to ask again.” He went on when she didn’t speak, though she was sure he’d been waiting for her response. “So, I kind of want to apologize for leaving you tied to my bed on the Randall yacht.”
She took a breath, looked at him, and nodded.
“What happened after we left you? How did you get loose?”
“In the morning, a woman from the housekeeping staff peeked in. She untied me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Well, we’re kind of even now, aren’t we?” She was remembering what she’d done to him in Montauk and knew he was, too.
He grinned. “Yeah. Your payback was…masterful, I gotta say. Bygones, I guess, eh? Agreed?”
“Agreed.”
“When I finally remembered—when I’d sobered up enough—I came back. But you were gone. Did you get off the boat okay?”
Maybe she hadn’t been off the boat when Ryan had come back for her. Maybe she’d been in Timothy Randall II’s office.
She’d used the tiny shower in Ryan’s room and made free with his toothbrush. She’d dressed in the clothes she’d worn the night before, then peeked out into the hallway. Her greatest hope was that she’d get off the yacht without being seen by anyone.
But she was stopped by a woman before she’d reached the upper deck.
“Miss Morrison?” the woman asked.
Kai had startled guiltily, then remembered she’d had to show her ID when she’d come on board the night before.
“Will you come with me, please?”
Declining didn’t seem to be an option, as the woman turned and started walking away.
She was may
be only five years older than Kai. But it looked like she lived in an entirely different world. She was dressed…exquisitely. Not like in a ball gown or anything—she was clearly at work. But her clothing—an ivory, cowl-neck sweater, a rich brown pencil skirt, a tooled and silvered leather belt slung below her waist, heeled ankle boots—was sharp and tidy and finished.
Kai thought they really might not be much different. They might have even grown up in the same neighborhood. But this woman looked like she’d gotten somewhere. Was getting somewhere.
With nothing so much as resembling a wobble, the woman led her to an area in the stern of the ship. Kai followed her into an office reception space and waited through a knock on an inner door.
“Mr. Randall?” the woman said. “I have Kai Morrison.”
“Bring her in,” Kai heard from beyond the door.
The woman smiled at Kai and gestured. “Please.”
Mr. Randall—the Second, obviously—sat behind a desk. He had the blond hair and sharp blue eyes of his son, looking as good on him as they did on Tim. He glanced at Kai, pointed to a chair and said, “Sit, please,” like an order, not a request, and then turned his attention to the woman.
“Patricia,” he said. “Is that Kaiser Freight file hiding on my desk somewhere? I can’t find.”
Patricia smiled and walked around the desk. “Yes, here,” she said, pulling it from under a pile of three or four other files. “You have about forty-five minutes before your meeting with Mr. Davis.”
“Good,” he nodded. “Will you give me a five-minute heads-up?”
“Of course. He’ll want to see the final contract draft. Do you want me to fill in the amounts of your last offer and complete the 21-80? Copies for both?”
“Yeah, please. And where are we with that Port Authority application?”
“Tim has a meeting with the deputy director midweek. I’ll brief him for it tomorrow.”
That brought the Second’s blue eyes back to Kai. “Fine. Let him know I need to see him today,” he said. “Thank you, Patricia.”
It was a dismissal, but Kai saw the truth of it. Whatever business Randall had, Patricia knew more about it than he did. She could run his enterprise, and Kai wouldn’t be surprised if she did a better job of it. Of the two, she was far more interesting, and Kai’s gaze followed her as she left the room.
Randall cleared his throat, no doubt expecting her attention should be on him. “May I call you Kai?” he asked, also not truly a request.
“Of course.”
“So, Kai,” he went, barely waiting for her response. “How much will it cost me to get your signature on this waiver of liability and nondisclosure agreement?” He had his index finger tapping on a form in front of him. Patricia had moved it front and center before she left.
“Liability and nondisclosure for…”
His blue eyes were unfriendly. “For what happened to you last night.”
Tim may have thought himself entitled, but at least he was aware of it and a bit sweet in it. Randall II was not. “I don’t know,” Kai said. “What do those things usually go for?”
“I have a lot of money, Miss Morrison,” he said, and she guessed they weren’t friends anymore. “Probably, I have enough to compensate you for…whatever.”
“I don’t really want your money, Mr. Randall.”
He nodded, not in agreement, she was sure, but showing how unsurprised he was. Because he was so smart. “Very…liberal of you,” he drawled. “But I’m sure you can find some nice cause to put the money toward.”
Well, now he was just being mean. He no more expected her to take his money and give it away than he expected she wouldn’t take it at all.
Kai thought about her life as a waitress and the MBA she’d meant to earn. She thought about her appearance, how it compared to Patricia’s and how it led Randall to make assumptions about her. She kept thinking about those things as she met those cool blue eyes.
Then she stood. “I won’t accept your buy-off,” she told him. “However, I want a loan of a million dollars, at today’s prime rate, ten-year payback, with payments beginning in three years. I’ll sign your liability waiver and NDA when Patricia brings me the loan papers. I won’t want to see you again.”
Five days later, Kai opened the door of her tiny South Philadelphia apartment and welcomed Patricia in. She signed the loan papers and then Mr. Randall’s forms. She kept Patricia through lunch. She learned who cut Patricia’s hair and where Patricia shopped for clothes. She shared her ideas about what she was going to do with Mr. Randall’s money.
With a certain amount of effort, Kai had suppressed her qualms about accepting Randall’s payoff. No doubt, having a young woman found tied naked to a bed on his yacht following a night of extreme partying could make a rich man anxious. She supposed it could even make a caring father want to protect his son. Still, nothing had happened that Kai hadn’t consented to. She didn’t even really have regrets about it. Though, certainly, she’d have stayed quiet about it with or without a NDA.
She signed the papers and tried not to feel she was stealing Randall’s money. Then, with an entirely clear conscience, she stole Patricia.
Patricia liked warm weather and sunshine. She’d built and opened the Tone sites in Atlanta and Phoenix and LA. At the moment, she was out shopping locations in San Diego.
Kai looked across the table at Ryan and smiled. “Yes,” she said. “I got off okay.”
Ryan must have heard something in her tone, because his eyes watched her inquisitively. He gave her plenty of time to say more, but she didn’t use it. He broke the short silence. “When can I see you again?”
“I have a busy day today and a commitment for the evening. Tomorrow, I fly to Chicago.”
“When do you get back?”
* * * *
Wednesday evening, Ryan had Kai across the table from him at Daniel’s on East 65th. He was a little put off by all the French on the menu, but the bartender had done a good job with drinks in the Upper Lounge while they’d waited for their table, and the food lived up to the restaurant’s five-star reviews.
He liked the company a lot.
Kai had agreed to this date on Saturday, before he’d left her condo. When he’d joined Tim and Vinnie for basketball later, he’d met their gazes steadily while choosing not to share his plan to see Kai again. He didn’t think he’d fooled them any, but they hadn’t asked and he hadn’t offered.
She was beautiful, sitting in candlelight and keeping those soft brown eyes on him. She wore another retro dress made of a heavy silk fabric that followed her curves, classy and subtly sexy.
Womanly, he thought, and very different from the girl he’d met on the Randall yacht.
Leaning across the table now, holding her left hand with his as they both took tastes of a complicated dessert that Ryan thought had too many flavors, he commented on it. “You’ve changed so much,” he said, “since we first met.”
He wasn’t sure he was entirely happy with the changes she’d made—he only rarely got glimpses of that sweet girl he remembered. And he wondered guiltily if he’d had a hand in that. He and his friends hadn’t meant any harm in the way they’d treated her, but they’d been, at the very least, careless.
“Ten years, Ryan,” she said. “You’ve changed, too, yeah?”
Ryan nodded. “Sure. But not as much, I don’t think.” He was pretty sure he was still, at basis, the same guy. He wasn’t all the way sure about Kai. “I worry that what we did to you…” He tapered off, remembering, then tried again. “What happened wasn’t what I meant. I’d seen you earlier on the boat. I’d watched you. I thought you were feeling like I was—a bit out of place, a bit too innocent for the party that was going on. When I took you to my room, it was because I wanted to be with you. I wanted to make love to you, if you were going to let me. I didn’t expect…”
“A gangbang?”
He looked at her, startled at the word. “Is that how you see it? How it felt to you?”
/>
“No.” She squeezed his fingers but then took her hand away and sat back in her chair. “That wasn’t what it was, and I didn’t feel it was at the time, either.” She lifted a shoulder. “It wasn’t the best, though, waking up still tied.”
“I’m sorry for that.”
She smiled. “Well, you paid for it eventually, didn’t you?”
Ryan didn’t quite have it in him to smile back, and she must have read the seriousness in his face.
Fingers interlaced, she put her hands on the table and leaned forward again. “Yes, it’s true that the events of your graduation party changed my life. Certainly, I had an eye-opening sexual experience. I don’t regret that, Ryan. I don’t feel you stole my innocence. I can say I have, in the last ten years, enjoyed my sexuality. I might have gotten to this same point eventually through gradual experimentation. But that night was a significant kick start, right?”
Ryan watched her and wished he still held her hand.
“What happened with us, what happened when Vinnie and Tim came, those things weren’t the only significant events of that experience. Before I left the yacht the next morning, I met a woman named Patricia. She was Tim’s father’s AA.”
“I remember her,” Ryan said. Hungover, the three friends had eventually gathered Sunday afternoon at the apartment where Tim had lived for his junior and senior years. They’d been working—fairly badly—at level 46 of Destiny when they’d been interrupted by a knock at the door. Tim answered, and Patricia was there—sleek, lovely, imminently professional, and all business.
Tim was to meet his father at ten o’clock on Monday morning, she told him.
“Why didn’t you just call?” Tim asked.
Patricia had lifted a delicate, oh-so-disapproving brow, taken her phone from her purse—right there in its little pocket, no fishing around for it—and dialed a number. Then waited while nothing happened.
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