Can't Fight This Feeling (Indigo Royal Resort Book 1)

by Claire Hastings

  “Absolutely! There is a place in Bora Bora that Simone and I keep talking about going and checking out. Yes, they have all the great things you hear about doing in Bora Bora like boating, snorkeling, etcetera, but their spa—their spa is like the best in the world. People choose this resort to go to this spa. It’s not a ‘hey, since we’re here, let’s get a massage.’ Certainly, there is some of that, the walk-in traffic. But it’s not the only traffic it gets. They have a tea room...a tea room! They offer six different types of massages. Different body wraps and scrubs, and they have a custom cool pool and multiple hot tubs that are each a different temperature. Some of their treatment rooms even have a glass floor so you can look into the ocean as you’re getting your massage or whatever.”

  “Wow. Sounds…intense.”

  “Just think about the potential!” she said, getting animated. “If we invested in creating that kind of atmosphere at the Indigo Royal, and we could make ourselves the place on the island to go for these kinds of treatments, it’d be huge. St. Thomas doesn’t have anything like that right now. Right now we rely mostly on the people deciding while they’re here that it would be nice to get a massage or something. The amount of traffic we could bring in from girls’ trips and honeymoons could be massive, not to mention if we open it up to non-guests. It should be fairly easy to fit it into the ‘grownup playground’ marketing we have going. Indigo Royal, where you go play and relax.”

  “You’ve put a lot of thought into this,” he commented.

  “Yeah, it’s been a secret little dream of mine for a while.”

  “It’s not such a little dream, sweetness. But I think it’s something that could be amazing. Why haven’t you brought it up to your uncles?”

  “Are you kidding me? They’d never hear me out.”

  “Sure they would. Their world revolves around you and the resort. If you brought them an idea that could be their next big move, then I think they’d be all in.”

  “Their world revolves around me as if I were still twelve. You know better than anyone how they can be. They would never, ever take my idea seriously. I’m still a little girl in their minds.”

  “This could be your chance to prove you’re not.”

  “Yeah, right. You see how they talk about me like I’m not even there while we’re at dinner. I love them—they are amazing and they have given me everything. But I know how this conversation will go. I’ll bring it up, and then they’ll proceed to debate it like I’m not even in the room. And if they do even acknowledge my presence, it would be to say that I’d never be able to do it.”

  “You really think they’d say that?”

  “Well, maybe not in so many words, but I think that would be the basis of their thought process.”

  “I think you need to at least try. I think they believe in you more than realize.”

  “Make you a deal,” she said. “I’ll float my spa idea by them, if you tell them we’re a couple.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The silence that passed between them seemed to skip a beat with each wave that rolled beneath the catamaran. The words still echoed in his head, as if she had thrown down a gauntlet.

  “Did you just issue me a challenge?” he said playfully. This was the Drea he was used to, the one who loved to challenge him and never shied from an adventure.

  “Not just you, both of us,” she answered proudly. “We both apparently have things we want to say to them, but are afraid to do so. Didn’t you say that Uncle Gray told you to stop being a chicken?”

  “Chickenshit, actually.”

  “Well, this is our chance. We do this together.”

  He looked at her face as she finished, seeing in her eyes a brightness that hadn’t been there a moment ago. She was making plans for them, and he loved it. For the first time in a while, he was starting to feel optimistic about the whole thing. Maybe it could be as simple as she made it out to be. In all his overthinking and analyzing, he hadn’t considered what having her support would actually mean to him. Man, could he be a dumbass.

  “Together. I like that,” he answered, gazing into her eyes.

  “Just you and me against the world,” she whispered in response.

  “I love that.” He leaned in and kissed her, taking her mouth slowly.

  She responded by scooting closer to him. Never breaking the kiss, she positioned herself so their bodies were facing each other head-on, her legs spread, draping over each one of his, straddling him. He reached around her body, running his hands up and down her back. As he came upon the little strings, he took them in his hand and played with them for a moment, before tugging on them lightly. He’d been toying with the idea since he saw her come up from below deck this morning wearing this suit, and he figured now was as good a time as any to make his move.

  When he tugged with a little more purpose than before, the strings quickly came undone and the suit top went slack around her breasts. He could feel her smile against his lips, and her body shook a little as she giggled. Leaning back, she broke their kiss and looked down at the fabric loosely hanging from her neck. The top fluttered a little bit in the breeze, teasing her nipples and giving Kyle a glimpse of the beautiful breasts that it had barely contained to begin with.

  “Oops,” he said, shrugging one shoulder, a mischievous smile spread wide across his face. It was taking every bit of restraint he had not to reach up and yank it off her neck.

  “Nudity isn’t a problem, is it, Captain Kyle?” she replied impishly, mocking Staci’s words from the other day.

  “Oh, it most certainly is not!”

  The laugh she let out filled the open air around them, sending shock waves through him. It was a big, full sound that packed a serious punch, and he couldn’t have hidden his own smile even if he had tried. She grabbed the bikini top and pulled it over her head, getting the strings caught in her mess of curls. Her breasts bounced lightly as she tugged, trying to free the top. The gentlemanly thing to do would have been to help her untangle the strings, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the beauty that was her cleavage. A couple of seconds later when she had gotten herself fixed, he looked up at her to find her watching him stare at her. He reached out, taking one perfect sphere in each hand.

  “I don’t know that I can tell you enough just how perfect these are.”

  “Did Dalton really tell you that Staci’s were fake?”

  Kyle gently removed his hands from her chest, leaning backward to rest on them, and nodded. He was very curious as to why that’s where her mind automatically went.

  “Does he tell you about all the chicks he has sex with?” she asked.

  “Not all, but I hear about most on some level. It’s usually not much more than a confirmation that he got laid the night before. But with Staci, he shared a little more.”

  “Like her fake boobs?”

  “Well, to be fair, one look at them and I could tell they were fake. But yes, it was one of the things he mentioned.”

  “What else did he tell you?”

  “Why are you so curious?”

  She shrugged one shoulder trying to act as if it were no big deal, but Kyle could tell otherwise. There was something deep in her eyes that he needed to uncover. The sounds of the water around them filled the silence as he waited for her to answer. He didn’t want to push her, but he knew that he needed to understand what was going through her head. When she hadn’t answered after another moment, he decided he needed to take action.

  Grabbing onto her waist, he quickly brushed his fingers back and forth over her sides, lightly tickling her. The action made her squirm and let out a round of giggles. She continued to squirm under his grasp for a moment, before finally taking in a deep breath.

  “Fine, fine,” she said, catching her breath. “Because I wanted to know what you two tell each other about girls. So I know how much Dalton is gonna know about at work on Monday.”

  The thought hadn’t occurred to him that she would be worried that he would kiss
and tell. In fact, thoughts of what he would share with his buddy hadn’t crossed his mind in any way. If she was worried about Dalton looking down on her, she had the situation all wrong. Or maybe she was just worried because she didn’t know what to tell Leona and wanted their stories to match. Even though the two acted like they were only friends due to work, Kyle knew Dalton turned to Leona for more than just help getting his bathroom cleaned.

  “Pretty sure I could tell him we spent the entire weekend naked on this boat fucking like rabbits and it wouldn’t change how he looks at you. This is Dalton—the man views having sex like an extracurricular. Ask him what he did the night before, ‘oh, you know, hit up the gym, had a beer, got laid.’”

  “Good point.”

  “I would bet that Leona asks more questions than he does.”

  “Depends on if she’s on or off again with Carlos. If she’s on, then I won’t be able to get a word in edgewise.”

  “Carlos? The maintenance guy?”

  “Yeah, did you not know that?” she asked. He shook his head in confirmation. “Oh, well, yeah, the two of them have been on and off again fuck buddies for years. Why do you think the ‘light bulbs need replacing’ all the time?” She used air quotes around Leona’s secret code.

  “Huh, well, that answers my theory about her and Dalton using each other.”

  “Just once, when he first joined the staff. I don’t remember her reason for not making it an ongoing thing, though.”

  “Yeah, you and Leona share way more than us guys. Here I thought I was in the know because Dalton slipped in telling me about her thing for Cullen Cruz.”

  “Everyone knows about that. What everyone doesn’t know is that she lost her virginity to him when we were seventeen,” she said conspiratorially.

  “Leona? Our Leona? Lost her virginity to a sports legend?” Kyle asked, perplexed by what Drea had just told him.

  “Well, he was just a regular player then,” she answered, shrugging it off as if it was no big deal.

  “Cullen Cruz has never been ‘just a regular player,’ as you put it. He’s been a household name basically since he started.”

  Drea just looked at him like he was making a big deal out of nothing. “Well, when he first came here ten years ago, he was just an everyday football player, or so we thought. We knew he was famous, but he wasn’t so famous that he couldn’t walk down the street. One or two people recognized him, but he was able to be pretty anonymous, at least for the first couple of years.”

  “This conversation has been very enlightening,” he said, trying to wrap his head around what she just told him. He wasn’t even sure how they’d gotten to this point in the conversation, but that was just part of what he loved about her. “Whose turn is it?”

  “I’ve lost track,” she giggled.

  “Well, I’ve got something I want to know.”

  Drea halfway froze as the words came out of Kyle’s mouth. She could see the sneaky smile sliding across his face and just knew that he was up to no good. But she trusted him, so she just waited.

  “You said last night that it was the first blow job you’ve ever given,” he said, matter-of-factly.

  “Yes. So?”

  “So, what else is on your firsts that we need to cross off?”

  It felt like her heart just suddenly stopped beating and as if she’d forgotten how to breathe. She’d gotten so used to her heart speeding up whenever Kyle was around, but those words were like he’d sucked all the air out of the sky.

  “You want me to just run down the list of everything I’ve never done? Or just the sex things?” she asked playfully.

  “Let’s start with the sex.” He winked, leaning in to kiss her.

  He pulled her close and she wrapped her arms around his neck. The feel of her nipples brushing up against his skin sent a shiver down her spine, and she arched her back slightly trying to make more contact.

  “If we haven’t done it, then it’s safe to assume that it’d be a first for me.”

  “Well, then, I’ll have to start to come up with some ideas.”

  “Open to suggestions?”

  “Just what did you have in mind?”

  “Well, believe it or not, I’ve never been skinny-dipping, and since I'm already half naked, now seems like the perfect time.”

  “How have you never been skinny-dipping? That seems like something you and Leona would have done in high school.”

  “Somehow, it wasn’t something we ever thought to do.”

  “Then I think that sounds like a perfect thing to do.”

  The squeal that left her seemed to cut straight through the air, as she popped up from his lap. Placing her hands on her hips, she grabbed hold of the little strings tied there. Tugging on both sides at the same time, she let the small piece of fabric covering her fall away. She felt the warm air against her sex and wondered if Kyle could tell how turned on she was. There was no one for miles, but the idea of being totally naked with him out in the open like this got her blood rushing.

  Kyle remained sitting, looking up at her, about eye level with her sex. She saw him lightly lick his lips and she swore she could feel herself getting wetter. Putting his hands on her hips, he finally stood. Her hands seemed to have a mind of their own, reaching out and touching his smooth chest, running up and down over the ripples of his muscles. He looked her straight in the eye with a wicked grin and in one swift move, he dropped his shorts, never breaking eye contact.

  Excitement pulsed through her veins as she broke away from his grip and headed to the edge of the boat. Without thinking twice, she pushed off from the deck and dove in head first. The cool water encased her quickly as she broke through the surface, instantly cooling her off. It felt so good in contrast with the heat that was still radiating through her. As she broke back through the surface, she opened her eyes to see Kyle still standing on the edge of the catamaran. He looked so good, standing there in the sun, in nothing but his birthday suit. Even from here she could tell his big beautiful cock was hard, but not fully erect, and she wanted to get her hands on it. She pointed at him and then crooked her finger back and forth, enticing him to come join her.

  He licked his lips again and leapt in, his feet hitting the water first. He popped up from under the surface right in front of her, spitting some salt water into her face. She couldn’t help but let out a giggle and splashed him in return. He reached out and wrapped his arms around her, and she responded by wrapping her legs around him. Her center was still warm as she pressed it against his cool body and she could feel his hardness slide under her ass.

  “I think I rather like this,” she commented.

  “Being naked in the ocean?”

  “Yeah. It’s freeing to not be constricted by my suit.”

  “So, all future swimming trips are to be done naked, got it.”

  A strange feeling hit her then, listening to him talk about the future, even if it was just something as little as going swimming. She’d had to stop herself a number of times these last couple of days from trying to imagine what a future with him could look like. Picturing them trying to cook together in the kitchen, sitting out on the porch watching the sun rise and set over Big House Beach, curled up together at bonfires. She allowed herself a moment to think about how as much as she loved the church her parents got married in, she was pretty sure she wouldn’t want to get married there herself. She knew that she was getting ahead of herself, but much as her mother had known that night on the beach, Drea knew now, holding on to each other as the clear blue waters of the Caribbean splashed around them, that he was her forever.

  They continued to swim and splash around for a while enjoying the warm sun and the cool waters. The weather was perfect, the waves were calm, and other than a couple of other boats that went by, they were all alone. This weekend had been just the break they needed from the resort. Even though they saw each other every day at work, it had been weeks since they’d gotten some real down time. The resort had been booked solid
the last couple of months, so that no one had really had time to breathe, much less do anything other than business as usual. Part of her wondered how Vaughn had found time to plan a secret wedding among all the chaos that surrounded them.

  Swimming back to the boat, she climbed up the ladder to the deck and looked around for a towel. Before she could reach for one that was sitting on the bench near the bar, she felt Kyle’s arms wrap around her from behind, drawing her flush with his body. The coolness of the water droplets on his skin warmed quickly between their two bodies, causing them to feel a little sticky. His hands found her breasts almost right away, flicking her nipples. The giggle that had been about to escape her from the surprise of his presence turned into a soft “mmmmmm” as he continued to play with her body. His lips met her shoulder and he peppered kisses up her neck, moving her hair out of the way as he went.

  Feeling like her knees were starting to get a little wobbly, she reached behind her and grabbed on to his torso. He took this as encouragement to continue his assault on her body, turning his kisses into nibbles. Slowly walking her toward the bar, nudging her forward step by step, his attention to her nipples went from playful flicking to long, purposeful pinches and twists. She arched her back and closed her eyes, trying to get more of her into his hands, feeling every little movement he made zing through her body.

  After a couple of steps, she reached her hand out, unsure exactly where the bar was and worried they might run into it. As she did so, Kyle grabbed her outstretched hand and used it to spin her around, so she was now facing him. Taking her mouth in his, he continued to walk her the last few steps until her backside hit the bar. No sooner had she made contact than he picked her up by the waist and hoisted her up onto the bar. Standing in between her open legs, he picked up each one and wrapped them around his waist. She couldn’t stop a giggle from escaping as he pulled back from their kiss.

  “Well, hello, beautiful,” he said low and husky.

  “Hi,” she answered back, a lot more breathy than she had intended.