“I’m good with that.”
Liza lowered the zipper as he’d done for her and tugged the denim over his hips, taking his gray boxer briefs, too. What she revealed took her breath away as Kendall stood before her, hard and pulsing and igniting her arousal once more.
“You approve?” he asked.
Lowering to the bed, she laid her head on a pillow and smiled. “Wholeheartedly.”
He removed his jeans the rest of the way before crawling up to join her. Kneeling between her feet, he removed her thong and kissed his way from her toes to her navel. By the time he reached her breasts, Liza was a whimpering mess.
“Those whimpers are driving me crazy,” he said against her collarbone. When he settled hard and hot between her thighs, whimpers turned to moans. “That’s even better.”
Liza was only vaguely aware of his movements as Kendall reached for the nightstand, mostly because his other hand had reached her clit, and his talented fingers were driving her close to the precipice once again. Knees bent, she waited impatiently as he slid the condom into place and braced above her.
Eyes locked, he entered her, hot and hard and way too goddamn slow.
“Kendall, please.”
“What, baby?” he asked, voice hoarse as he withdrew.
She clamped her hands on his ass. “All of it. I need all of it.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Loosening the reins on his control, Kendall gave Liza exactly what she’d asked for. Hard and fast, deeper with every thrust until she cried out his name. Fire lit through her veins as she sank her teeth into her bottom lip, arching her hips as mind-numbing pleasure shot through her limbs. Liza’s body shattered beneath him, and before she’d crested the last wave, Kendall growled with his own release, muscles taut, taking them both through the storm.
Chapter 19
Kendall’s day hadn’t started this well in a long time. Maybe ever.
Blonde curls splayed across his arm as Liza’s cheek rested on his chest. His body still hummed with satisfaction, yet the whisper of her breath across his sternum provoked a carnal response he doubted the sheets would hide for long.
Amazing sex wasn’t a new experience for Kendall, but burying himself in Liza shot well past amazing. Considering she’d screamed his name no less than three times, he felt confident she approved of his performance.
Kendall planned to let her sleep, but when Liza stretched, a purr escaping her lips, he kissed the top of her head. “Morning, baby.” Shifting his weight, Kendall lifted her to lie atop him, his dick jumping in response, and her eyes opened wide.
“Good morning to you,” she drawled, dropping a smooth thigh over his hip.
Cupping her bottom, he nipped at her lower lip. “You up for another round?” The other thigh rubbed the length of him as she nipped him back.
“Not if I want to walk out of this room at some point.”
“Who said you have to leave?” The question took Kendall by surprise, especially coming from his own lips, but Liza didn’t flinch.
“Finishing the interviews with Ray while lying naked in your bed would be more than a little awkward.” Flicking his nipple with her tongue, she said, “But there are other ways to take care of this.” Grasping his dick, she slid farther down his torso until her chin rested at his navel. “Should I show you?”
Warm lips caressed his abs before she pressed his dick between her breasts. Kendall nodded his approval as his hands clutched her hair.
“Is that a yes?” she murmured, gliding him up and down her cleavage.
Kendall groaned, and Liza progressed to massaging his balls while sliding her tongue down his shaft. His hips drove up as his body locked, every muscle anticipating what would come next. She took the opportunity to fondle his ass, taking him in, surrounding him to the hilt.
He told himself to lie still. To let her have her way. But his control hung by a string as she sucked him hard, sliding her nails down his inner thighs. Kendall lifted, mindless with desire as every nerve in his body vibrated on a razor’s edge. The quiver started behind his knees, rolled into his groin, and exploded like a lightning strike, blasting through his limbs as if he’d touched a live wire.
Sparks still rippled through his system as Liza crawled back up his body, dropping a series of kisses along the way.
“Feel better now?” she asked, kissing his chin.
Wrapping her in his arms, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Like I’ve been gutted and set on fire, but in a good way.” Her giggle made him smile. “Thank you,” he mumbled, rolling to his side and tossing a leg over hers.
Cuddling into his chest, she whispered, “Any time.”
Once they were finally out of bed and dressed, which took several more hours, the day took a turn for the worse.
“The battery’s dead,” Kendall declared when Liza’s cart refused to start. “I should have come down and plugged it in.”
Though she’d planned to spend the night in Kendall’s bed, she hadn’t counted on staying half the next day. Not that she regretted a single moment of the last twenty-four hours, but Liza was now without a cart and in desperate need of a shower.
Kendall had offered his, of course, but she also needed clean clothes, and those were at her place. Why she hadn’t packed a bag, Liza couldn’t say, but she wouldn’t make that mistake again.
“I’ll run you home while the battery charges,” Kendall said, playing her knight in shining armor once again.
“Thank you. If you let me know when it’s fixed, I’ll find someone to bring me back for it later.”
He looked as if she’d insulted his manhood. “Why would you call someone else? I’ll come back for you when it’s ready.”
To think she’d considered him an ogre two weeks ago. “That works, too.”
Matter settled, Kendall led her to his cart around the side of the house. With her shoes in her hand, Liza took extra care to watch where she stepped, catching the subtle movement of what looked like an innocent stick seconds before the strike came.
Screaming, she leaped to the side, landing on a sharp rock that made her cry out in pain.
“What?” Kendall said, watching her hop on one foot as she tried to spot her attacker.
“A snake! Didn’t you see that? It nearly bit me.” Too freaked out to think, she jumped onto the seat of the cart, gripping the shoes to her chest. “Amos, get back! Where did the damn thing go?”
If she hadn’t been scared out of her mind, Liza might have tempered her reaction. But a close encounter with a snake seemed like probable cause to lose her shit.
“Liza, it’s okay.” Kendall tried to examine her feet. “Did he get you?”
“Don’t step there!” She pointed to the spot the snake had been. “Are you trying to get yourself killed? You can’t die and leave me alone with that monster. What the hell is wrong with you?”
To her utter amazement, he laughed at her. “Honey, it’s okay. You probably scared the snake more than he scared you.”
Liza stomped on the seat. “Does that look possible to you?”
Kendall held up his hands. “Okay. Look.” Scanning the area, he picked up a stick, and Liza nearly screamed at him again. Thankfully, this one really was a stick, and he used it to scrape the area where she’d pointed. “No snake. See? He’s long gone.”
She didn’t believe him. What if the sneaky thing was under the cart, waiting for a second chance to strike?
“Keep looking.”
“But it’s—”
“Keep looking!”
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Kendall took a deep breath. “If he were still here, Amos would have let us know by now.”
Clinging to the roof of the cart, she remained skeptical. “Are you sure?”
Nodding, he moved closer. “Come down from there.”
“I’m never coming down again.” He could drive her like this, and she’d leap off to land on her steps. No more touching the ground.
Scraping a ha
nd down his face, Kendall’s eyes dropped to her feet. “Babe, you’re bleeding.”
Liza glanced down to see red splotches all over the seat. “What—?” Lifting her foot, she spotted a dark gash across her heel. “I’m bleeding!”
“We need to get you back inside.” Kendall swept her off the cart and into his arms. They were halfway to the stairs before she thought to cover her private area, which she was once again flashing to the world. “You can’t walk around out here without shoes on. What’s wrong with you?”
Right. A snake tries to bite her and she was supposed to be calm. A little blood, and Kendall got to be Mr. Panic Attack.
“I’m fine,” Liza insisted. “My foot doesn’t even hurt.” That might have been the adrenaline talking, but she really couldn’t feel it.
“You’re bleeding, dammit.”
Yeah. She got that. Kendall carried her into the house and charged into his bedroom, setting her down gently before rushing into the bathroom. He returned seconds later with a first-aid kit and emptied the contents onto the bed next to her.
After ripping a packet open with his teeth, he lifted her foot and dabbed at it with a moist cloth. Liza hissed when the pain shot up her leg.
“I’m sorry, baby, but we have to get this clean.”
Liza endured his ministrations, flinching as little as possible. When he felt confident that the wound was clear of debris, he gently applied a bandage.
Doctoring over, he knelt on the floor in front of her. “Is there a snake phobia you want to tell me about?”
This was not a matter of her withholding pertinent information. “Is there a snake population you failed to mention?”
Kendall set the kit aside and sat down gingerly beside her, brushing a curl off her cheek. “We’re in the South Carolina Lowcountry. I thought snakes were a given.”
“I didn’t get that memo.” Now that the frenzy was over, the pain she hadn’t noticed before made itself known. “I’m not having a very good weekend,” she said, dropping back on the bed.
“Really?” he asked, clearly offended.
Liza waved her hand in the air. “Except for that, of course. That was great. But yesterday I sprained two toes, spilled milk across my kitchen floor, destroyed a paper-towel holder, and nearly broke my brand-new laptop.” She lifted her damaged foot. “Now this. I really am afraid of what might happen next.”
Taking pity on her, Kendall rose from the bed and extended a hand. “Next is a nice hot bath while I find you something else to put on. When you get out, we’ll dig into the chocolate ice cream in the freezer, and by the time we’re done with that, your cart should be ready to go.”
He really was perfect. “You’re my hero, Kendall James.”
Lifting her off the bed, he helped her hobble into the bathroom. “Anything for a damsel in distress.”
The house felt empty. One day. That’s all it had taken for Liza Teller to turn his life upside down.
Not that they hadn’t been leading up to this since the night she’d arrived. Kendall knew now what he hadn’t been able to admit the day he spotted her on that ferry landing. The way she’d smiled. The way his chest had tightened and the hairs stood up on the back of his neck. His heart had recognized what he’d stumbled into even if his head hadn’t.
“Let me get this straight,” Larimore said. “This is Aadi’s fault?”
Kendall was going to need another beer if this kept up.
“Not his fault, but he’s the one who put the idea in my head.” Not completely accurate, but who knows how long this development would have taken without Aadi’s uninvited nudge.
“By telling you to have sex with Liza Teller?”
Make that six more beers. Leaning forward, he tried talking slower. “Aadi never mentioned Liza.” Or did he? Kendall couldn’t remember. “He pointed out that I’m not getting any younger, and that if I want more from life than watching Amos lick his balls, I should probably get my ass up and do something.”
Larimore pondered that statement for a minute. “Seems like sound advice. So you did something. You did the writer. I’m still not seeing the problem here.”
“We’re talking about my life,” Kendall corrected. “Not my weekend.”
The blank stare returned.
“Liza is leaving in a couple of weeks. She was never supposed to be a permanent option.”
Kendall could almost see the wheels turning.
“Oh, shit.” Finally. The light dawned. “She’s the one?”
“She might be,” he hedged, knowing full well that she was. “But Liza lives in New York, and I live here.”
“You’re talking to a real estate agent, buddy. People move all the time. Say the word and I’ll find you an agent in the city with one phone call.”
“I can’t leave the island. Not yet, anyway.”
“Then ask her to move here,” Larimore suggested.
That was the last thing Kendall would do. “That isn’t going to happen. Especially after that snake encounter this afternoon.”
“Snake?” Larimore scanned the ground around his lawn chair. “I hate those damn things.”
“Apparently, so does Liza. She thought one came at her over by the garage.” He still wasn’t convinced that she saw anything more than a twig, but Kendall wasn’t about to tell her that. “I thought she was going to rip my arm off, and while hopping around, she ended up stepping on something sharp. The cut wasn’t bad enough for stitches, but she’ll be hobbling for a few days.”
“Sounds painful. But remind me again why you can’t go to her?”
“She’s working on her notes for Ray’s book tonight.”
Larimore rolled his eyes. “Now who can’t keep up? I mean, why can’t you leave the island? Not that I’d be happy to see you go, but there’s nothing keeping you here. I can handle the rentals, and with the money from the sale, you’d have plenty of cash on hand to get a nice place.”
It wasn’t that easy. “Ray is here.”
“Ray has Francine and Aadi and two dozen other locals to watch out for him. New York has Liza and your mom. I’m not saying set sail tomorrow, but come on, man. This is a no-brainer.”
Kendall actually agreed with his friend’s assessment. All but the part about someone else taking care of Ray. He may have looked good to Liza the day before, but his health had been too erratic to pretend the man wasn’t on the decline.
“This is all premature, anyway,” Kendall said, determined not to get ahead of himself. “For all I know, I’m just a vacation fling she can tell her friends about.”
Larimore leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. “I wouldn’t mind being somebody’s vacation fling.”
Though his friend didn’t live the same hermit life Kendall did, he’d been in a dry spell since the first of the year. “I hear there’s a group of ladies staying over on lot twenty-nine.”
With a sigh, Larimore shook his head. “They’re all married. I checked.”
Kendall tapped his friend on the leg. “Sorry, buddy. Maybe next week.”
Chapter 20
Life was funny sometimes.
Though Liza had intended to spend her evening setting up a time line for Ray’s memoir based on the notes she had so far, her brain would not cooperate. Instead, she’d spent the last hour playing with her new plot ideas.
The concept with the most promise was the black comedy inspired by the twins, Kathy and Tabby. But then she’d been drawn to the plight of a single mother fighting to survive with four kids and a deadbeat ex—an idea that had the potential to spawn a series, provided Liza littered the story with other strong women looking for their own happy ending.
The plot that surprised her was the murder mystery, involving a book club, a bespectacled librarian with a mean side, and an author who uses clues from classic literature to solve crimes. Grimacing, she scratched out bespectacled, partly to avoid giving Marcelo the impression she’d turned him into a villain.
Whether she could pull off a myster
y or not was yet to be seen, but even if she didn’t pursue that particular plot, Liza wanted to read the story badly enough that she contemplated passing the idea on to Vanessa for a client who might do the book justice. No pun intended.
As if these weren’t enough to get her started, somewhere between dinner with Kendall—followed by other more energetic activities—and being hobbled by the snake encounter, her list of ideas had doubled. Good in one way but bad in another.
Good that she might actually manage to save her fiction-writing career. Bad when she was supposed to be focused on the book currently under construction.
“I have provisions for the invalid!” called Francine through the open door leading to Ray’s part of the house. Liza had been leaving the door open to hear if Ray called for her. Or, heaven forbid, she heard a noise that might be him falling and needing help. Though how she would hobble down the stairs in a hurry, she wasn’t sure.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Liza replied, not meaning a single word coming out of her mouth. She’d already resisted the urge to call Kendall to ask if he’d bring her chocolate, hesitant to take advantage of their new, more intimate status to send him out on a honey-do errand. “But I’m grateful you did.”
She lowered her foot off the chair she’d been using as a stool, intending to meet her benefactor at the kitchen island.
“Don’t move, young lady. I have strict orders to make sure you keep that foot up and your butt in a chair.”
“I told Ray I was fine,” Liza argued. “He shouldn’t have called you.”
“Ray didn’t call me.” Francine smiled like the Cheshire Cat. “Kendall did.”
Just the mention of his name sent heat dancing up Liza’s cheeks. “Kendall called you?”
An array of candy bars, chips, soda, and ice cream was pulled from the brown paper bag. “Yes, ma’am. And he was explicit in his instructions. Foot elevated. Butt planted. Woman pampered. In that order.” Adding a bottle of wine to the collection of snacks, she added, “This is for me.” Sliding the ice cream into the freezer, Francine said, “If I didn’t know better, I’d think Mr. James has a thing for you.”
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