Caribbean Nights

by Tressie Lockwood

  Nic cupped her cheek, and Keeta turned to face him. “Now, are you secure in the fact that I want you? We can enjoy each other all night, if that’s what you want.”

  Keeta kissed his palm, and then took on a mischievous look. “Don’t let the eyes fool you, Nic. Or my earlier fears.”

  “Meaning?”

  She pushed him on his back and began to undress him. Relieving him of his swimming trunks, she took the time to plant a kiss on his shaft. Keeta’s new toy shifted under her touch. She ran her hand over Nic’s taut, hot flesh, savoring the hardness, the shape, the flavor. She’d gone down on past lovers, but never enjoyed sucking a man like she was now. Cutting her gaze toward Nic, she watched him watching her as she took him deep into her throat. He seemed to fight not to pump so he wouldn’t hurt her.

  Keeta anticipated him releasing in her mouth, wondering if she’d like the taste. She drew harder on him, squeezing him, dragging on his shaft as she ran her hand up and down. When she fondled his balls, Nic looked like he was close to blowing. He put a hand on her shoulder, stilling her movements.

  “If you don’t stop now, I’m going to come.”

  She drew back enough to speak. “That’s the point.”

  He shook his head. “The first time is always more intense. When I do that, it’s going to be buried as far up inside you as possible.” He leaned over the side of the bed and found his pants. From one of the pockets, he withdrew a condom and ripped open the packet. Keeta nipped it from his fingers and helped herself with gloving him. Nic just leaned back, his fiery gaze never leaving her hands.

  When he was covered, Keeta climbed up his body and positioned her sex over him. Before she lowered herself, Nic narrowed his eyes and said, “Can you handle all that?”

  She smirked. “Can you handle this?”

  Keeta sheaved his staff, gasping at the tight fit. Sure, it had been a while since her last lover, but she had to work her hips to get Nic deeper. Her core walls expanded around his girth as she came down and arched up. Keeta fell forward, but Nic caught her hips and began his own rhythm. Over and over, their bodies came together, then drew apart. The friction, the sensations between them, brought Keeta to the brink of her second orgasm. She tried to speed up the ride, but Nic kept them slow and easy. He shifted his hand around to her belly and began to use his thumb to knead her nubbin.

  Energy electrified Keeta’s entire body. She shivered and cried out his name. Dropping her head forward because it had all of a sudden become too heavy, she watched Nic’s movements through droopy eyes. He was so big, her short legs scarcely parted enough to wrap around him. Keeta’s eyes grew wet. She closed them, so close to release.

  Nic picked up the pace until he was practically pounding her. Each drive made Keeta bite down to keep from screaming at the intense pleasure Nic gave her. When she didn’t think she could take another second, her core muscles contracted, and a powerful orgasm raged through her nether region. As if he had been waiting for that moment, Nic came seconds behind her. He leaned up, wrapped his arms around her, and dragged her to his chest. In one fluid motion, he flipped her on her back without pulling out. He pumped harder while covering her lips with his own. Keeta opened her mouth to take Nic’s insistent tongue, and the room filled with the sounds of their skin slapping together, slick with sweat.

  Hours later, spent and sore from her activities with Nic, Keeta slipped out of bed and headed to the shower. She left her lover snoring softly on the bed and stepped under the hot spray. The warm water eased her aching muscles, and she lathered her hands with body wash to run them over her heated skin. Soon she’d have to wake Nic up. They might be consenting adults, but it still wouldn’t look good for Nic to be found coming from her room. Ann Marie hadn’t brought her there to start an affair. She was there to work, and she wanted to maintain her professional appearance at all times. That was the only way she knew she could advance, and not by looking like a slut who jumped into bed with a man she’d just met.

  She closed her eyes and thought of Nic. Yeah, she’d just met him, but there was something about him that made her heart flutter. Strong, dominant, what woman wouldn’t go for that? If she wasn’t careful, she’d fall in love with him, and she wasn’t so sure that was a good idea. Nic seemed to be into her, but that could be the magic of Jamaica where love and lust bloomed—sometimes both.

  After she finished her shower and wrapped a towel around herself, she stepped back into the room to find Nic awake. He grunted, eyeing her. “You’re already cleaned up? I was about to join you.”

  “Your libido is bigger than Texas,” she mock complained. “It’s late, and you’ll have to sneak out of here. We both have to be up in three hours for work.”

  He rose, no shame about his naked body whatsoever. And here was Keeta, clutching her towel like it was her lifeline. The gleam in Nic’s gaze told her he’d noticed how she held on tight. He strode across the room and had the towel crumpled on the floor in a heartbeat. Crushing her body against his, he covered her lips in a greedy kiss. Keeta couldn’t have denied him if she tried. She wrapped her arms around his neck, closed her eyes, and let him take them far away where there was no one to interfere with their time together.

  * * * *

  Eyes bloodshot and burning, and tired beyond the ability to reason, Keeta rushed about trying to fulfill every command Ann Marie threw her way. That, compared with all the requests from the models, had her ready to cry uncle and find a table under which to suck her thumb like a toddler. Most of the women weren’t so bad. It was that damn Kite who was driving her nuts with her needs. Keeta had been inches from going off on the woman countless times. The single reason she hadn’t was because Kite was the highest paid, the most sought after of the group. To antagonize her might mean Keeta’s job. She couldn’t risk it.

  “Late night?” Kite quipped on Keeta’s third run back with a strawberry-lemon spritzer for the model.

  “No later than anyone else’s,” Keeta responded, and kept moving. But Kite wanted to pluck her last nerve, so she kept following. Keeta sighed. “Aren’t you due back on set?”

  “Nope.” Kite answered too perky this early in the day. “I’m on a fifteen minute break.”

  Kite hooked her arm through Keeta’s and smiled like they were old friends. That kind of fakeness pissed Keeta off, but she bore it for the time being.

  “You know you’ll never keep him, right?” Kite said. “The fact that you’ve become lovers is just temporary.”

  Keeta almost shrieked and dragged Kite farther away from everyone else. “Could you keep your voice down? How do you even know—?” Kite raised perfectly shaped brows. Keeta called her every curse word in her vocabulary, all inside her head. “Look, we’re adults. What we do is no one else’s business.”

  Kite waved a hand and uttered a tinkling laugh that grated Keeta’s raw nerves. “I know that. I’m just saying don’t get your heart involved because a woman like you can’t keep a man like Dommie. Think about it. He’s military. They’re all about treating their bodies with respect. You…” Her gaze raked Keeta’s form. “I’m not trying to be mean.”

  “Of course not,” Keeta said. She put her hands on her hips. “You know when I started at this job, I thought all models were the same—empty-headed and all about themselves. I learned that there are some who are highly intelligent, even having a business mind. Then there are the skanks. No matter how beautiful they are, you smell the rottenness beneath from a mile off.”

  Keeta gave her a pointed look, knowing Kite would get which category she fell into. Keeta smiled, and tilted her head in a solicitous way. “Can I get you another spritzer?”

  Kite, face and neck red, spun away with a muttered “no” and stomped off. Keeta sighed in relief, glad she’d put the woman in her place without going to far. She dismissed Kite from her mind and returned to work. Not until that night, when she sat across from Nic for a late dinner, did she remember what Kite had said.

  Nic promised her good food at a
place he’d heard about. The restaurant, Scotchies, served jerk chicken, jerk pork, and jerk fish along with various sides. From the moment they walked up to the wide bar with men cooking row upon row of meat on top of sticks, Keeta was mesmerized with the culture. While she watched, the chefs covered the meat with huge sheets of what looked like aluminum siding.

  They placed their order, Nic getting chicken and Keeta ordering the fish so they could sample each other’s meal. After paying at a window, they seated themselves at a table beneath a huge canopy. Beautiful, vibrant-colored flowers bloomed among rich green foliage, surrounding the area and giving it a sense of privacy from the outside world.

  Keeta shook her head. “This place is amazing. No frills, but still so…perfect. I hope the food is half as much of an experience.”

  All the food was served in aluminum foil, and Nic was already tasting it. He dipped a piece of chicken in jerk sauce and popped it into his mouth. “Mm, try this.” He broke off another piece for her and held it out to feed her. She leaned back.

  “Hey, how can you skimp on my piece? You didn’t give me any sauce,” she complained with a laugh.

  “Trust me. Taste the chicken first.” She did, and thought she was in heaven with the delicious flavors. “Good?” Nic asked. When she nodded, he dipped a tiny piece of the chicken into the sauce, allowing scarcely more than a drop to coat the meat. “Now, this is really spicy. Want to try?”

  Keeta leaned in close, opening her mouth. Nic fed her, a sweet, romantic gesture—that is, until her nostrils were the clearest they’d ever been in her life. “What the hell?” she screeched when she’d chewed and swallowed. “You ate that like it was nothing. It’s fire!”

  Nic burst out laughing. “I warned you. Anyway, I think my taste buds have been fried for the last twenty years from all the crap I downed in the army. I like it.”

  To demonstrate, he poured most of the sauce over his meat and continued to eat. Keeta, tongue still on fire, grabbed a piece of fried bread and enjoyed that until her mouth settled. When she finished the bread, she ate her yams and fish. The meal was one of the best she’d ever had, and she was grateful to Nic for bringing her.

  “Thanks for this,” she whispered when she’d swallowed her last bite. “I never would have lifted my head from my notes long enough to come here. You’ve shown me so much over the last few days. I just wish I had a video camera to have recorded it all.”

  Nic stroked her cheek. “Maybe we’ll come back some time on an actual vacation.” The closed expression that came over his face worried her. Maybe he hadn’t meant to say what he had. That’s what reminded Keeta of what Kite had said earlier. A woman like Keeta could not expect to hold onto a man like Nic.

  None of her previous relationships—the few that there were—had worked out for whatever reason. And this time with Nic, although wonderful, might be more convenience for the both of them rather than fate. Should she even think that there could be more? Nic hadn’t once considered a plus-sized woman. To hope this would turn into love seemed too much.

  Nic crumpled the last bundle of foil in his palm and tossed it away. He ran a napkin over his lips and checked his watch. “Getting late. Do you want to walk on the beach or go back to the hotel?”

  She curved up her lips. “You just want to get me into bed.”

  “Of course.” He raised his eyebrows in innocence. “Haven’t I made it clear I want your body, woman? If not, I need to try harder.”

  He stood and zipped around the table to tug Keeta to her feet. When his arm came around her waist and he dipped her a little, a whoop went up among the crowd of diners. Keeta struggled to get free. “Would you stop, Nic? Someone from our group might be here and see us.”

  “I don’t care.” He nuzzled her neck, nipped her, and sucked at her skin. “Besides, I heard they all went to Hedonism tonight. There’s no way they’re coming back sober or venturing past their own beds until morning. Ann Marie was the leader of the pack.”

  “In that case, shouldn’t you be there to be sure your guys aren’t up to no good?”

  “They’re fine. Adrien hired them, and I’m sure they’re among the best. They won’t let anything happen to the models.” He spun Keeta toward the exit. “Now, I’m interested in one thing for the rest of the night—just how many times I can make you scream.”

  Chapter Eight

  Keeta had been hanging over Ann Marie’s shoulder for hours, taking down notes, making calls, sifting through endless photos. Yet, nothing could dampen the excitement she felt inside. Over the last week, she and Nic had practically toured the entire island and tried every fun activity imaginable. Twice they’d been back to the mineral spring, and those times Keeta had come prepared. She wasn’t afraid to get in the water, and the memories of making love with Nic in the exotic locations would stay with her forever. That morning, after she’d gotten him out of her room at five, she’d lain in bed wide awake, and had come to one conclusion. She loved him.

  Ann Marie slammed a fist on the table in front of her. “Damn it, I know we have what we need here, but this spread isn’t working. Do you have any ideas, Keeta?”

  With effort, Keeta dragged her thoughts off of Nic. She examined the oversized book where Ann Marie put together the layout for the magazine. She’d tried several combinations of pictures, but she was right. Keeta saw right off that the arrangement didn’t click. With the expense they had put into what would become a little mini-series across several issues, each piece needed to explode off the page.

  Keeta put a hand out and hesitated. “May I?”

  Ann Marie sat back in her chair and rubbed her bloodshot eyes. “Be my guest. I’m about to burn them all and tell the higher ups to kiss off.”

  Keeta laughed. “Yes, well we want out jobs, right? Okay, how about we shift Kite here on the first page.” She hated making that suggestion, but, hell, the woman was born for the camera. Each of the photos taken of her radiated with life. Too bad it didn’t reveal what a self-centered witch she was. “Then the write-up this way, with an inset here.” Keeta shifted around the pictures and write-ups with the precision of having practiced it for years. Every month when Ann Marie put together her work, Keeta went home and worked up her own. Ann Marie was a genius at what she did, but Keeta knew she was pretty good, herself.

  “Wow, I’m either worn to a frazzle, or that is brilliant! Let’s go with it.” Ann Marie stood up and stretched. “We’ll call it a day, and I’ll look this over tomorrow with fresh eyes. If everything is kosher, we’ll be home in no time.”

  Keeta didn’t respond in any way, and Ann Marie crossed to her bedroom door and disappeared beyond it. That this trip was coming to an end was obvious to everyone even a couple days ago, but the reality of it hit Keeta hard. She sank into the seat Anne Marie had just vacated and stared unseeing before her. Would things change with Nic and her after they returned to New York? Did he feel the same as she felt? They hadn’t discussed it, but Keeta decided she had to know now. One way or the other, she wanted to know where this was going.

  As if he sensed her thinking about him, Nic chose that moment to call her on her cell phone. She couldn’t keep the grin from forming on her lips. “Hey,” she whispered, breathless.

  “Hey, yourself,” he echoed. “Can you get free tonight?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you haven’t had dinner?”

  “Nope,” she confirmed.

  “Well, there’s one more restaurant we haven’t tried,” he suggested.

  She laughed. “Just one more, huh? If I haven’t gained ten pounds since you’ve been feeding me all this good food, I’ll be shocked.” It was true. Nic loved to go out to eat. He’d told her even at home, he visited restaurants more often than staying at home. If they continued seeing each other, she’d have to curb that habit. He might have a ridiculously fast metabolism, but hers was a slug. She wasn’t even entertaining that craziness. “Okay, fine. I’ll meet you at the usual place at seven.”

  “Why are you
being so secretive? Everyone knows we’re lovers, Keeta, even your boss. It’s a small island. We’ve run into a few people from your job at least half a dozen times.”

  She frowned. “Hanging out and sleeping together are two different things. No one has seen you going in or coming from my room. And the times we were…doing more than touring, no one was around.”

  He laughed. “See, this is why I still say you’re a little innocent. You can’t say we were fucking like bunnies.”

  “Nic!”

  “Seven. Bye, baby.” He disconnected the call. Keeta’s heart fluttered in her chest. That was the first time he’d used an endearment with her. She didn’t want to read anything into it, but she couldn’t help it.

  Anne Marie’s bedroom door opened, and she came out looking freshly showered. “Good, you’re still here. I’ve thought it over, and I want to make some more adjustments. Order dinner in, and we’ll pour over this thing until we get it right.”

  Keeta just stared at her.

  “What? You didn’t have plans tonight, did you?”

  She sighed. “No, I’ll call room service. What would you like?” She noted Ann Marie’s order and called room service to set it up for delivery in a couple of hours. Then she phoned Nic to cancel. This might be her last night in Jamaica, and she had to spend it with Ann Marie working. Well, at least she’d had fun. That was what was important, and if it ended here, so be it. She was strong enough to keep it moving.

  * * * *

  Why Nic had switched with Kevin, one of his guys, to watch over the models while they drank themselves silly he didn’t know. What he should be doing was making another attempt at retrieving that document. On two separate nights, he’d slipped out of bed with Keeta to take care of his second mission, and both times had been a bust. His time in the room had been limited, and he’d come up with nothing. The only answer must be that the guy kept the papers on him. Time was running out. From what Ann Marie had told him, it was likely they’d pull out soon. He couldn’t leave Jamaica without the papers. Failing the mission was out of the question.