He pulled out his phone, which he apparently hadn’t completely destroyed, even if the screen had seen better days, and tried to call Cole, as he had been on and off for several hours.
“Come on, pick up your phone! Fuck!” Blake muttered.
Probably because of the storm, the connection was incredibly erratic. He had briefly gotten through to his brother’s phone a couple of times, but Cole hadn’t had the chance to answer before the connection cut out again.
Suddenly, the sound of thunder ripped through the hotel, and Blake got up and walked around to face the window. To his surprise, the previously blue sky was now almost pitch black and the palm trees were rocking in a violent wind, seemingly up from nowhere. As he watched, the clouds broke open and hail began to thunder down, in tandem with heavy rains.
Well, shit!
He sighed as he pressed his forehead against the window, refusing to contemplate how this was going to affect construction. The sound of his phone ringing brought Blake back to the moment, and he hastily put his phone to his ear.
“Hello? Hello?” He pressed the phone tightly against his ear, hoping to make the connection before the signal was lost once more.
“Blake?”
“Cole! I’ve been trying all morning to get through to you—what’s the word on the plane?” Blake asked before his brother had the chance to answer. He’d sent a text asking about a private plane, earlier, before he even knew about the hurricane or the cancellations.
Cole cleared his throat, and Blake’s heart sank.
“The bad news is that we can’t even get a flight on anything commercial—they’ve got it all shut down due to the storm, and they aren’t sure when things are going to be up and running again. Looks like you’re going to have to just sit tight for a little while longer. What changed? You were plenty happy before. Didn’t seem in any hurry to get back. Did your girl dump you?”
“Don’t,” Blake warned tersely, so much venom in that one word that even his clueless brother quieted.
“How are things going over there?” he asked, just to say anything at all, since he didn’t know when he might next be able to talk to anyone off the island.
“Well, if Hawk could manage anything at all that would be great, but even if he doesn’t, things are fine. We’re turning more profits this quarter than we originally thought we were going to from the Wellington side of things. I’m sure none of this really matters when you’re stuck on an island paradise, though.”
Cole laughed at his own joke, and Blake swore under his breath once more. He was in no mood to be made fun of or even to be teased in the situation he was in, and he was more than happy to make that clear.
“Well, try not to work too hard, buddy,” Cole said with an obvious smile. He hung up before Blake had the chance to say anything else, and Blake rolled his eyes. He wanted to throw his phone again, but he knew that it wouldn’t do him any good. Frustrated or not, he was stuck on this island until he had a way to get home, and he might as well make the most of it. He pulled out his laptop and set to work, minus any Internet, since that connection was down.
***
Blake managed to get through most of the afternoon with the work that he had given himself, but around five, he knew that he had done all he could for the day. The manager had checked in with him a few times, promising to do all he could to find an available room somewhere on the island, but for the time being he was stuck in the lobby, camped out along with other tourists who had also checked out and then had had no flight to get on.
With a sigh, he shut off his computer and sat back in his chair, thinking. He decided he would go down to the bar. Perhaps there would be some sort of game on he could watch for a while, killing a few hours until there was a break in the storm and he had better hope of escaping to the mainland. He glanced at the storm as he got up, seeing that it was still gusting and thundering, but not understanding why it was so dangerous when it seemed more or less like any other storm he’d ever seen.
Shaking his head, he walked down toward the bar and then stopped cold as he spotted Kelly standing just beside it, staring up at a tall, buff guy, laughing and elbowing him playfully. The guy leaned down to whisper something in her ear and she laughed again, the sound sending shards of glass into Blake’s stomach as though the windows had been shattered by the storm.
Chapter Fifteen
Kelly
The look on Blake’s face utterly bewildered Kelly. She stepped away from her manager, who was a consummate flirt whom she had to appease every now and then by pretending to actually do more than merely tolerate him, and watched as Blake’s face hardened to iron. It was even worse than the first night, when he’d learned about the project and had shown up for their date in a mood foul enough to rival the impending hurricane.
As her manager strolled down the hallway, Kelly looked between Blake and Jamal, wondering if he could possibly be jealous and then dismissing it out of hand. That was absurd.
But she still couldn’t explain why he hadn’t called. She took a step in his direction and was shocked to a standstill when he turned his back on her and walked away.
What the crap?
Gary, from the front desk, joined her just outside the bar, a shot glass in his hand.
She raised an eyebrow, one eye still on Blake’s retreating back. “Day drinking while on the job?”
He tossed back the shot and shrugged. “One shot won’t even give me a buzz. This hurricane has everyone on edge. What gives between you and Loverboy?” He preempted her protest. “Come on. The whole staff knows.”
Kelly sighed. “Yeah. Fine. Whatever. I’ve been seeing him and now … now I have no idea,” she admitted, as Blake vanished. “He’s furious for some reason.”
“Ask him why?” Gary suggested archly.
“I was going to,” she retorted. “But he just turned and stalked away from me.”
“So, go after him. Meanwhile, I have to keep trying to find Sir Billionaire a room. He’s been prioritized over everybody else. Must be nice to have money so loud it shouts GIVE ME A RESERVATION, YESTERDAY.”
Kelly didn’t hear anything past room. “Why a room?” she asked in confusion. “He’s in the penthouse.”
“Checked out this morning and a family took over it,” Gary called over his shoulder as he walked away. “They got in on the last flight before the hurricane shut everything down.”
His words sank like lead coins in the pit of her stomach. He’d checked out? Without so much as bothering to say goodbye? Fury rushed to a fast boil in Kelly and she started in the direction Blake had vanished.
It wasn’t hard to find the bastard. He was standing by a window, glaring out at the whipping trees.
“Hey, idiot,” she snapped. “You’re supposed to stay away from windows in bad weather.”
Blake didn’t even look at her.
“Why didn’t you text me?” Kelly demanded. “After last night. You do remember last night, don’t you?”
“I’ve been working.” His answer was cold to the point of almost being clinical. It raised Kelly’s anger even higher.
“Oh? Well, it’s a pity that your phone isn’t,” she replied tersely.
“If you haven’t heard, there’s a hurricane bearing down on us. Does things to the signal.”
As she opened her mouth to respond, Nolan walked into the lobby. Kelly stifled a groan as he saw her and made a beeline directly over, a huge smile stretched across his ugly face.
“Hey,” he greeted her, walking way too close, as always.
Kelly took a step away, also as always. “Hi. This isn’t your day.” It was no way to speak to a client who had paid a good chunk of her bills for quite some time, but she didn’t have the energy to fake it today.
“You missed my day,” Nolan reminded her, still beaming. “Get a drink with me?”
“No,” she said flatly, turning back to Blake. “Why were you going to leave like that?” she asked, some of her anger ebbing as the sadness
began to hit home. This was a man she’d respected. Someone she’d cared about. And he’d just up and—
“Are you really asking me that?” Blake’s eyes moved from the window, to her, to Nolan, and back to the window again.
Confused, Kelly glanced at Nolan, who was still smiling hopefully about a foot away. “Do you know him?”
Now it was Nolan’s turn to be confused. “Who?” He glanced at Blake. “Him? No, I just met him for a second this morning.”
“What? Why?”
“Jamal said you might be with him, and I was trying to track you down,” Nolan shrugged.
Understanding dawned on Kelly and along with it, a tidal wave of regret. Oh God. No. This wasn’t how he was supposed to find out … “Nolan,” she said, a trifle unsteadily, “You broke the rules.”
“There are rules?” Blake muttered just loudly enough that she heard, and her stomach wrenched again.
“This is my workplace. I come to you. You don’t come to me. You don’t go near the hotel suites or clients.”
Nolan scowled. “You ditched me, Kelly. I had every right to go searching.”
“No.” She shook her head. “You didn’t. I’m not your girl.” She was blowing up one of her biggest contracts and could not have cared less. “You’re my client. That’s all. And you’re not any longer.”
Nolan’s hand shot out, and Kelly didn’t wait to see what part of her it was going to attempt to grab. Her knee moved swiftly upwards and connected with the man’s groin.
She didn’t stick around for him to collapse screaming and cursing, nor did she wait to see Blake’s reaction. Before the storm got too bad and she was trapped with the man she’d fallen head over heels for, the one who now would no longer even look at her, Kelly walked straight out of the building and into the storm.
Chapter Sixteen
Blake
He wanted to kick the scuzzy little man writhing on the floor, but Blake’s focus was far more on the fact that Kelly had just stepped straight out into a hurricane. His anger went the way of Nolan’s pride and he grabbed his bag and hurried to the concierge.
“Watch this, make sure no one touches it, and I’ll reward you handsomely.” He didn’t wait for a response from the redhead kid, making a beeline for the door and rushing out into the driving rain.
He looked around wildly, wondering where she’d gone, praying she hadn’t been dumb enough to actually consider walking through the storm.
Stepping out from beneath the marginal shelter of the awning, Blake was instantly saturated by the downpour, coming down so hard that he could barely breathe. It stung his skin and lit his lungs on fire. Nevertheless, he drew in as deep a breath as he could muster, prepared to shout her name, when he felt a hand on his arm and whirled.
Kelly looked at him quizzically, her maid’s uniform rapidly soaking through as she stood with him in the rain. It was the first time the damn uniform had looked good, Blake thought vaguely, as her curves molded to the sodden fabric in the same way his hands had last night.
“What are you doing?” she yelled over the roar of the wind.
“Looking for you!” he yelled back, grabbing her hand and pulling her back under the awning, only by now it was a moot point. They were both drenched from head to toe.
“You idiot,” Kelly snapped. “I was born and raised here. You really think I’d walk into the teeth of a storm just because I’m upset about something?”
“I don’t know,” he retorted, pulling her closer so he could hear her more easily, and so he could just touch some small part of her. “Turns out I really don’t know much about you. I realized after Nolan visited me that I’ve been doing all the talking. I barely know a thing about you.”
She tugged her hand away. “Well, all you had to do was ask.”
“And you wouldn’t have lied?” he challenged her.
A cab sped up and Kelly turned away and started to climb in. Blake was right behind her, ignoring the furious look she gave him. “And you wouldn’t have lied?” he repeated, as the cabbie floored it in the direction of Kelly’s house, just a mile away.
“No.” She hunched over on herself, visibly shivering. “I didn’t lie to you before. I’m not—” she darted a glance at the driver. “I’m not what you think I am. I’m not, no matter what Nolan said.”
“Then tell me,” Blake said, aware he was pleading, and not caring. He needed to know, almost more than he needed dry clothes. Which was pretty badly. “I thought we had something, Kelly.”
“So did I!” she cried, shoving some money at the cabbie as he pulled up at her home. “Don’t follow me, Blake.”
He did anyway, chasing her up the steps to her home and then inside, because she couldn’t very well leave him standing in the driving rain.
“What do you want?” she asked desperately, her usually golden skin so white that he grew worried.
“You,” Blake said quietly, and reached out for her.
Kelly jumped him. There was no other way to describe it. One moment she was standing, trembling, in her foyer, the next she was wound around him, her lips frantically finding his.
“I need you,” she whispered, tangling her hands in his hair and meeting him kiss for starving kiss. “Now, Blake. Please. I didn’t sleep with Nolan. I swear to God—”
He cut her off with another hard kiss, thrusting his tongue deep and lifting her higher in his arms. He stumbled toward her room, tearing at her clothes and his without ever breaking the kiss. As soon as he got her soaking wet shirt off, he dove his head into her breasts, kissing and licking all over her supple, slick flesh, suckling her nipples, biting and then soothing with more kisses.
She moaned and writhed, her hands on the front of his pants, rubbing him as she undid his belt.
“Now. Now. Now,” she said over and over again, as they finished undressing, and Blake didn’t have to be told twice.
He turned her around and pushed her against the wall, spreading her legs from behind and thrusting his full cock into her. As he did, he bit her neck, anchoring her to him in multiple ways. Kelly groaned and moaned as he began to thrust in and out. She had her hands braced against the wall, her ass in the air and her back arched.
She was the most beautiful human being he had ever laid eyes on, bar none.
“You’re mine,” Blake snarled, pulling back just enough to swat her perfect backside, causing her to cry out and moan once more. “Say it, Kelly. Tell me you’re mine.” His hand landed on her ass once more and she groaned with pleasure.
“Yours. I’m yours, Blake. Fuck me, baby! Fuck me hard, just like that. So good.”
He whirled her around and filled her once more, lifting her legs higher around his waist as thrust harder and harder, fusing his lips with hers once more so the tempo of their tongues thrusting matched their bodies.
“Mine,” he said raggedly, as he pushed them closer and closer to the edge, Kelly’s nails raking a trail across his back as she urged him on and on and on. “Mine, Kelly. You’re mine!” he shouted as she shuddered around him, coming in powerful waves that tightened her around his cock, milking him to his own incredible orgasm, its strength every bit a match for Mother Nature’s fury outside.
Chapter Seventeen
Kelly
Somehow, they found their way to the couch. They lay there in each other’s arms, tangled and sweaty, their breaths racing at almost an identical pace. Gradually, Kelly’s heartrate slowed and she looked up at Blake, reaching up to smooth the hair back from his handsome face.
“I didn’t lie,” she said softly. “I’m a companion. Some people call it being an escort, but that comes so close to sex that I prefer some other term. All I do is meet with guys and talk and drink. Sometimes dance. But we don’t have sex, Blake. I swear, I’m not a prostitute.”
She choked up abruptly and sat up. Blake sat up beside her. “Whoa. Hey.”
“No.” She nudged his comforting arm away. “You need to hear everything. I didn’t deliberately hide it befor
e. Not exactly, anyway. I just … we were so good. I kept thinking I would tell you eventually. And then Nolan preempted me.”
Getting up, Kelly grabbed a light robe and wandered down to the kitchen, with Blake following. She put on a kettle of water and held up a random bag of tea from a cabinet. “It’s warm, and I’m freezing. Want some?”
Instead of answering, he walked over and turned off the stove, then lifted her onto the counter, opened her robe, and pulled her into his big, warm body.
She felt immediately how aroused he was by their contact and her own arousal hit hard once more, but for just a moment all she wanted was to be exactly like this, her chest against his big bicep, his chin tucked into her hair.
“My mom was a prostitute,” Kelly began, feeling his large hands moving slowly up and down her back, leaning into their strength. “There’s no shame in it. Or, there shouldn’t be. My dad was a total deadbeat. Got her pregnant before she even got her high school diploma, so her family disowned her completely. I’ve never even met them.”
Blake gathered her closer, his arms far warmer than her robe. She reveled in the slight roughness of his palms as she unfolded her story.
“Mom didn’t have much in the way of a skillset, and there are limited professions here on the island. She tried to leave a few times, but this place was home, so she kept coming back.” Kelly sighed, turning her cheek into him, brushing her lips lightly over his sculpted chest. “She had me, and then she had even more bills to pay. So that was the work she turned to. She could have waitressed over whatever, but it doesn’t pay nearly as well.”
Wordlessly, Blake picked her up and carried her into the bathroom, as Kelly kept talking, he ran the water and settled into the tub with her in his arms, the water rising around them, hot and steamy, as she talked.
“For a while, I guess it was okay,” Kelly went on. “I didn’t understand, obviously, I was just a kid, but she made it work. She was with me during the day, and then at night she’d pay someone to watch me. She was always there when I went to bed and she was always there when I woke up.” She blinked away tears at the memory.
Dared to Love (The Billionaire Parker Brothers Book 3) Page 6