by Eden Summers
It wasn’t the assumption of her loose morals that irked her. It was the possibility of staff exposing her bedmate. She had already been nervous that Keenan worked for a rival company, but the enemies to lovers situation wasn’t the peak of her concern. It was vanity that weighed her down. The man she had slept with was mute, and her powers of deduction had pinned him down to working in a low-level position within Grandiosity.
They came from different worlds with vastly differing income brackets. She had read the shame in his features when they discussed his employment, just like she’d started to successfully read all his other emotions.
And she hated herself for being conceited. Hated and hated and hated.
“That’s it?” Spencer shoved himself into her musings. “I wasted twenty minutes of your life and all you’re going to do is call me a dick?”
“I’m in Seattle. I can’t really spike your coffee with laxatives again.”
“Again?”
“I like to help keep you regular, Spence. I’m surprised you haven’t noticed.”
He chuckled, but the tone was sinister. “It sounds as though you’re not dealing with the stress of the settlement. Maybe I should catch the first flight tomorrow and oversee what you’re doing.”
“No.” God, no. “I can handle it myself. It’s under control.” Kind of. Sort of. Maybe not. The upcoming wedding was a constant nightmare in the back of her mind, and the mere thought of Penny made her shudder. There were numerous other things, too, but she wasn’t going to give Spencer the excuse to fly to Seattle and try to rekindle something that was dead and buried.
Her cell beeped with an incoming text from across the conference table and she reached over to grab it.
“I’ve actually made a lot of progress.” She opened the message and couldn’t control her heart as it fluttered at the sight of Keenan’s name.
Keenan: With my inability to communicate clearly, I’d appreciate if you met me in the lobby so I don’t have to Marcel Marceau my way through a charade with your receptionist.
“Oh, shit.” She pushed to her feet, the conference phone sliding toward her with the movement.
“Everything all right?” Spencer’s voice was distant, a fading whisper being drowned by the whoosh of blood in her ears.
“I’ve gotta go.” She didn’t want staff to put a face to the owner of the used condoms from her room. “I’ll speak to you tomorrow.”
She slammed the receiver down and rushed to the lobby on the toes of her pumps. Her focus caught him immediately. His formidable frame was near the hotel entry, his gorgeous face impassive as their gazes collided.
She continued toward him and chanced a cautious glance at the receptionist. Kelly was on the phone, her face bowed, her attention occupied. Apart from a couple seated on the leather sofa, engaged in conversation with suitcases at their sides, there was no one else in the lobby.
She was thankfully flying under the radar, even though her heels sent a deafening tap through the room with each step.
Please go. She implored Keenan with a look of dismay and shooed him with a hand movement. His brows knitted together, the sting of dismissal hitting his features before he could school his expression. He turned toward the entrance, keeping a steady pace as she came to his side and they walked into the cold night air together.
“Why are you here?” She continued down the steps leading to the sidewalk and didn’t stop until a hand clasped hers and pulled her up short. She turned to him, her gaze flicking from the lobby to his penetrating eyes as she breathed fog between them.
He pulled out his cell from the inside pocket of his jacket and showed her the messaged he’d sent earlier.
“Shit.” She placed a hand over her mouth and fought to control a shiver over the vastly differing temperature from inside. “I forgot to reply.”
His eyes raked her in concern, bringing with it a dose of overwhelming exhaustion far greater than what she’d already been experiencing. The only thing prepared for excessive exercise was her heart which beat at a lust-starved pace.
“Today has been a nightmare.” She hung her head and massaged the bridge of her nose. All she wanted to do was go home to San Fran and sleep in her own bed. She was sick of drama, tired of playing Whack-A-Mole with all the staff problems, and the buzz of delirious energy he’d left her with the day before seemed to have transformed her into a clump of nonsensical putty.
His hands slid up her arm, over her elbows, to grip her shoulders. He stepped into her, the white wisps of his breath drifting between them in the freezing air. She tilted her mouth toward his, so close, so tempting.
She needed to tell him to leave, the words were already poised on the tip of her tongue, yet her lips parted with other movements in mind. This close she was senseless with the need to kiss him. To taste him.
“I can’t be seen with you.” She was trying to convince herself, attempting to break the spellbinding way his eyes seduced her.
His brow furrowed in confusion, but he didn’t loosen his grip. They remained toe to toe, thigh to thigh.
“One of the housekeeping staff went through my trash,” she said breathlessly. “Apparently, the number of times I got laid the other night was hot gossip.”
His hands fell. His face, too. Fury took the place of his concern and he glanced back at the hotel with a narrowed stare.
“The shift manager fired the housekeeper in question, but my sex life is still the topic of conversation.” She placed her hand on his stomach, stealing back his attention. “It’s not the type of scrutiny I can afford. Especially when I don’t know what position you hold within the company.”
She was digging for information to appease her vanity, but the jut of his chin and the thinning of those sensuous lips said she wouldn’t receive what she was searching for. He was ashamed of his job, and she was even more ashamed for repeatedly bringing it up.
“I don’t know what to do,” she admitted.
He scoffed as he tapped into his cell screen and then turned it to face her. It sounds like you’re looking for excuses to stop seeing me.
“I already have numerous.” She stepped back, needing space from the palpable annoyance ebbing from him. “But when I’m with you, the reasons are hard to remember.”
He wasn’t convinced. His chin remained high, his jaw tight. He typed into his screen again and held it up between them. When you figure it out, let me know.
He lowered the device and slid away. Each foot of distance he placed between them made her heart ache. It wasn’t right. She didn’t ask for this. It was meant to be sex, and she’d stupidly tripped over the line of passion and stumbled into something unfamiliar that seemed a lot like infatuation.
“Keenan, wait.”
He didn’t pause. Those rugged shoulders of his kept drifting further away.
“Keenan.” She took off after him in a huff.
She should be running in the opposite direction, endeavoring to place more space between them. Only, the need to have him stare at her in appreciation was killing her. The desire for it was a living, breathing thing, clawing up her throat and cutting off her breath.
She reached his side, the streetlight bathing them in a warm glow, and gripped the crook of his arm. He swung around and peered down at her with disdain.
“Don’t look at me like that.”
He did as she requested, turning his focus away to glare at the world.
“I want to spend more time with you.” The only problem was that she needed to be discreet. Oh, so discreet. She had to move on from Spencer slowly. He couldn’t find out she was with an employee of their competitor. He’d be furious, and his father would lose faith in her work ethic.
Keenan’s inability to speak would also be held against her. Spencer would try to humiliate her to save face. Worse, he would inevitably try to humiliate Keenan.
Christ. It was such a mess. So why couldn’t she take the easy option and watch him walk away?
“We need to keep
this quiet.”
His nostrils flared and he nodded.
“Is it worth it?” Her question was meek and needy, the fragility demanding reassurance.
He pinned her with his glare, but this time was different. This time his ferocity said hell yes, of course it is. He stepped into her, his large physique overbearing.
Her throat tightened with his proximity and she swallowed over the need to kiss the anger from his features. He grabbed her hand and tugged her out from underneath the streetlight, his long stride taking her to a shadowed position beside a neck-high shrub.
She’d never been with a man who had less than an executive role in a company. Not unless you included high school. But when he looked at her, when he touched her, none of it mattered, not his job or his lack of speech. Not even her cousins warning her away.
“How are we going to do this?”
He pressed into her, thigh to thigh, and grasped her hips. She struggled for air, the deep breaths she’d been inhaling now coming out in puffs of short, sharp white fog.
She was overwhelmed with a sensation she’d never experienced before. Lust was no longer the only facet to the attraction between them. Other things were weaving their way in. Emotional things. Needy things.
It was wrong. Yet while she stood against him, it felt entirely right.
Her career didn’t matter. Her cousins didn’t exist. Even the hardship of restricted communication didn’t stand a chance against the insanity of her emotions. She wanted a repeat of the other night. A continuous loop of lust and passion, for days on end. It was vital that she acquire everything he had to offer.
He tugged her into a one-armed hug and she went willingly. His scent comforted her. Crisp and clean. Sexy and inviting. He typed with his thumb, never releasing her, and held the screen between them.
I can keep my mouth shut if you can.
She closed her eyes and laughed at his self-deprecation. They shouldn’t joke about this. It wasn’t a game.
“Hiding seems childish.”
He squeezed her, demanding she look at his cell. We don’t need to hide. We’ll just be careful.
Careful? They were far beyond that. Careful meant not following him into the private property of a darkened mansion. Careful wasn’t sitting beside him at a local restaurant or inviting him into her suite.
You’re tense.
“Yeah,” she admitted and turned her gaze to his.
His ferocity was gone. Now the familiar man from her dreams was at the forefront. He slid his palm around her neck and leaned in slowly, giving her a chance to protest before his mouth grazed hers. She sank into him, placing her hands on the hardness of his chest as his tongue snaked across her lips.
Desire warred with self-preservation. She tried to pull away, but he held her neck tight, hypnotizing her with a kiss that couldn’t be denied. Shouldn’t be denied. Her fingers tangled with the material of his shirt, their noses brushed. He ground his hips into her, and the unmistakable erection nestled between them doused her in a bucket of crystal clarity.
She shoved from his grip and gasped for breath. “Not here.”
He inclined his head, his lips kiss-darkened, and he stepped back to use both hands on his cell. Go get changed. I’m taking you out.
“No.” She backtracked, distancing herself from whatever pheromone-induced stupor he’d pulled her into. “I should lay low for a while.”
A lot lower than kissing behind a shrub out in front of her hotel.
Why? His forehead crinkled in the cutest look of desperation. You’ll be gone soon enough.
He reached out his free hand and she stepped back, fearful of her weakness. A smirk tilted his lips and the glint in his eye said he knew exactly why she was fleeing.
“The best thing for me is an early night.”
His smirk remained in place. Teasing. Taunting. He stared at her, unblinking, and began hypnotizing her into submission.
“Keenan…”
He raised a brow, feigning ignorance of his appeal.
“Stop using that smirk on me.”
“What?” he mouthed, innocent as sin.
His confidence was her Achilles heel. But he was right. She was only here for mere weeks. Not nearly long enough to get to know him like her body demanded.
“You’re manipulative.”
His focus didn’t waiver, the smirk didn’t falter.
“Fine,” she huffed. “I’ll go get changed. But you need to wait out here and cool off a little.”
He gave an almost indecipherable nod, sealing her fate, banging the gavel and resigning her to another ride on the emotional Keenan roller coaster.
Email
Date: 23rd December
Subject: That night.
Savannah,
Do you remember the night you made me stand in the shadows of your hotel while you went inside to change your clothes? Can you imagine the thoughts that went through my mind while you undressed in your room?
Five minutes is a long time for a man to wait in the cold. But I never felt the chill. Around you, I lacked normal sensation. I lacked control and foresight. And everything else that I’d grown to rely on.
The night our movie plans were ruined is evidence of that.
I don’t chase tail, Savannah. I don’t run after women or heel when lovers come running after me. But I’d happily go to the ends of the earth if it meant you’d come back to me.
Will you? Will you ever come back? Will you ever return my emails?
Keenan
Chapter Fifteen
Keenan was leaning against the lamp post when Savannah returned. He stood in the same GQ fashion as the other night, his casual sophistication making every erogenous zone on her body take notice.
He straightened on her approach, but she didn’t acknowledge him. She turned onto the sidewalk and continued toward the corner, her head low, her coat tight around her waist. It was time to start being careful, no matter how intensely her body tingled with the need to be near him.
His footsteps grew louder, the thump of his boots sending a constant shiver up her spine. When she reached the end of the block, she took a cautious look for oncoming traffic even though her mind was stuck in daydreams instead of the real world.
A deep, masculine throat cleared behind her, right behind her, and she sucked in an anxious breath. She could see him in her periphery, his muscled build a looming temptation. He brushed into her, his shoulder against hers, and trailed his hand into her already occupied pocket.
Her veins tingled as his palm glided over hers and he entwined their fingers in the sanctuary of the material. She didn’t look at him, and he was facing straight ahead, too. They were merely two strangers, walking side-by-side, with their hands inadvertently tangled.
No biggie.
They continued across the street, toward the sanctuary of upcoming businesses that would hide them from all possible view of the Rydel hotel. Each step increased the rampant beat in her chest and her lungs began to labor.
As soon as they reached the corner of the first building, her shoulders relaxed and she chanced a look in his direction. He was peering down at her, his focus trained on her eyes. All calm fled, her footsteps faltered, and the world faded to black.
“Keenan…” She knew that look. She knew what it would bring.
He grabbed her around the waist with his free arm, lifting her feet off the ground and backtracked her into the wall. The cold bricks infiltrated her clothing, but the warmth of his body had her melting. Liquefying.
She clung to his forearms through the thick material of his coat and glimpsed a flash of his fierce gaze as he leaned into her.
“Don’t,” she whispered against his mouth, making him pause. “Not here.”
Anywhere but here.
They needed privacy.
They promised to be careful.
He nudged closer, their noses brushing, his bottom lip sweeping hers ever so gently. If he kissed her, she’d be lost. He knew it. She kn
ew it. And he did it anyway, his mouth manipulating hers in a dance so exquisitely soft and sweet that she whimpered from the pleasure of it.
She kissed the lethargy from her system. She tangled her tongue with his in a sparring match to alleviate the frustration of the day. All the earlier irritation from work poured into him and he took it. He grasped it all, strengthening her. Invigorating her.
When he pulled back, she kept her lids closed and bit into her lower lip to savor the throb. The man sure knew how to kiss. He knew how to do a lot of things unlike any other man she knew.
“That wasn’t unpleasant.” A smile broke free and she blinked her eyes open.
Intensity was no longer a viable word to describe what stared back at her. It was more than ferocity, deeper than pleasure. It was severe and harsh and feral. It was passion and seduction and lust. All the warring emotions rolled into one deliriously sexy shade of silver.
“We should go and do something productive.”
Luscious lips quirked before her eyes.
“Not reproductive,” she clarified and nudged at his chest. “Come on.”
They strolled along the sidewalk amongst the foot traffic of passing people, hand in hand, fingers entwined. The darkness of night placated her, making her feel like they were hiding comfortably in plain sight.
“How about here?” She stopped and peered up at the cinema display board. “Do you feel like watching a movie?”
He shrugged, then gave her an approving nod.
“What do you—” Pressure shoved into her back, a cement-like shoulder propelling her forward. She gasped and Keenan’s strong hands caught her waist, stabilizing her.
“Jesus.” She turned in his arms and caught the disdain from a man looking over his shoulder as he trudged amongst the foot traffic. “He could’ve walked around me.”
Keenan’s hold dropped from her waist and he lunged, gripping the crook of the man’s arm to spin him around.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” the guy spat.
“Keenan,” she warned. “Let it go.”
The muscles in his neck tensed and his focus narrowed to pinpoints.