It’s Hotter in Hawaii

by HelenKay Dimon

  Her smile was so broad and genuine it filled the sunny room. “Seems fair.”

  He cleared his throat and carried his bag into the bedroom. He separated his few possessions into piles and tried to ignore the soft mattress right in front of him. “You should take a shower.”

  She followed him and hovered in the doorway. Brushing her hair away from her eyes, she smiled at him. The gesture, so sweet and feminine, had him gasping for air.

  “Are you offering to help wash my back?” The deep throaty sound coming out of her mouth sent a shock of adrenaline rushing to his groin.

  “Huh?” He concentrated on the few clothing items in his hands as if folding were an Olympic sport.

  “Were you asking a question or making a suggestion?”

  Man, oh man. She was flirting with him. He could handle wrath, even figure out a way to deal with sadness. But this sensual side destroyed all of the barriers he tried to erect to keep her out.

  “I thought you’d be more comfortable if you were, you know, clean.” Now she had him blathering like an idiot.

  “Then I’m on my own?”

  The husky edge to her voice sapped his control. “I should unpack.”

  He didn’t have any possessions left to put away. That’s what happened when a guy traveled with three shirts, a pair of pants, and little else.

  She walked to the opposite side of that inviting bed. Stood right across from him. Long fingers threaded through the tassels on the end of the decorative throw pillows. She twisted the unruly strands with small movements so seductive, so reminiscent of the gentle caress she used on his hard body, that he had to bite back a groan.

  “Need any help?” she asked.

  Only the kind that came from her mouth sliding over his erection and sucking on him until he exploded. “No, I’m good.”

  She winked at him. “I know.”

  Those sexy words sliced through him, melting away what was left of any resistance. He reached for her just as she scooted away and slid into the bathroom. One more step and he would have done a header into the pillows. As it was, he balanced until she left the viewing range, then fell to the bed.

  He rolled over and lay there on his back, praying for a good reason to stop this madness. Without one, he was going to go after Cassie. Hell, even with one, he’d go after her.

  A low, sexy humming emanated through the closed bathroom door. The tune was soft and vaguely familiar. The melody played in his mind as he imagined her peeling off those shabby clothes and revealing her high, firm breasts to his gaze.

  For a second he contemplated clawing his way through the wooden door to get to her. Then the water rushed on, drowning out her riveting voice.

  Cassie would be naked now. Ready to step into the bath and let the water cascade over her body. If she needed a washcloth, he’d be right there to help.

  He tried to move, but his body refused to cooperate. He just sprawled across the mattress thinking that he should have gotten two rooms. A nice one for her. A bed of nails for him.

  The door popped open and she stuck her head out. “Cal?”

  Shit. “Ummm, yeah?”

  When she didn’t answer, he lifted his head. She peeked around the door with her hair piled up in one of those intricate fashions only women could accomplish. The style showed off her long, kissable neck and her creamy white shoulder blades. Cal never thought of a woman’s neck and shoulders as irresistible until he met Cassie.

  “Do you need anything out of here before I step into the bathtub?”

  What a question. “Well…”

  The words faded into nothingness when she stepped out from behind the door. Naked. Her bare skin glowed with a light sheen from the humidity created by the shower. Every curve was on view for his appreciation.

  Admiring her was no hardship. His hungry gaze traveled up long, lean legs, up to a slender waist, then settled on her ample breasts. With or without clothing, clean or dirty, a perfectly formed body.

  Her pink tongue licked her full lips. “You were saying?”

  Was he saying something? “I just—”

  “Yeah?”

  He leaned up on his elbows and took the plunge. “Mind if I join you in there?”

  “I need to know what you’re working on.” Brad Nohea leaned back in his government-issue desk chair and stared at a work folder instead of giving Josh the eye contact he craved.

  “A case with the police.”

  Brad lowered the file. “Be more specific.”

  “A drug case.”

  Brad squared his shoulders, making his too-tight short-sleeve dress shirt look even more absurd than usual. “Do you want to get fired?”

  “Not really.” Josh glanced around the room, wondering if this was all a man got after years of hard work.

  Thirty years of service to the government and years at the DEA, and Brad sat in a small room, not much bigger than a cubicle, shuffling paperwork and supervising people who surpassed him in talent without even working at it.

  Brad didn’t go out in the field. He attended meetings, issued orders, covered up operations gone bad, and passed the blame. In Dan’s case, Brad just plain hid from the truth. That was fine. That was Brad’s choice. What Josh hated was Brad’s insistence he hide as well.

  “Did you call the NTSB about the Rutledge crash yet?” Josh slid the question in there as easy as if he were ordering a turkey sandwich for lunch.

  Brad’s face flushed with bright orange before turning an interesting shade of deep red. “For the last time—”

  “We have information the investigators need.”

  “It was an accident. It doesn’t involve us.” Brad jumped from talking loud to actually yelling.

  Josh figured this kind of stress was not good for a sixty-year-old man. All the more reason for Brad to come clean.

  “Dan was working for us.”

  “We’re done here.” Brad stood up but didn’t move.

  “No, we’re not.”

  “If you don’t knock this shit off I’ll have you sitting at a desk in the middle of Nowhere, Idaho, doing paperwork twenty-four hours a day.”

  Josh had heard this threat before. Heard a million just like this one. Usually, he had walked close enough to a line of propriety that he deserved the lecture. Not today.

  He got up nice and slow. “Do you want me to quit?”

  “There’s the door.” Brad pointed at it as if to emphasize his offer. “No one is stopping you.”

  “Keep in mind that if I leave here then I’ll have zero incentive to keep your secrets. I could run right to the NTSB.” Josh did some pointing of his own. “You might want to remember that.”

  Brad sank into the chair. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Right.” Josh got to the door before he could control his anger and speak again. “Keep telling yourself that.”

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Cassie wondered when Cal would take the hint. A woman could only leave so many clues before she gave up, put on a robe, and went to the spa to get a facial.

  That was exactly her plan back at the airport. But after walking into the posh hotel room and seeing Cal hover over that big bed, her good intentions and all sense of self-protection fell to the wayside. Since they had used a cave the first time, this would be a much more comfortable place to have sex.

  The basic idea remained the same—them together now.

  Looking at him now, she realized the clues were there ever since they crossed the hotel-room threshold. He had that stunned, just-hit-by-a-car look about him. Eyes wide and glazed, his hands alternated between flexing and clenching. The area just below his waistband bulged and strained against the material.

  Except for the erection, he looked like a guy struggling with a case of severe terror. That explanation didn’t make much sense from what she knew of Cal’s history. Growing up, Dan regaled her with stories about the legendary Cal. Dan skipped the tales of the bedroom antics, but Cassie had overheard him tellin
g other guys.

  Knowing what she knew, the idea that Cal experienced uncertainty when bedding a woman—any woman—struck her as laughable. If he turned her down or tried to reason with her in that condescending tone he favored, she would rip off his arm and beat him to death with it.

  That was her new plan. Seduce and enjoy. She’d either have to refrain from looking at him afterward, or tie him to the bed and ask him to tell her what was happening in his head. She just wanted to break this pattern and enjoy the aftermath.

  “Come inside,” she said, purposely tempting him with both her nudity and her word choice.

  She held out her hand. After a slight hesitation, he stood up and reached out until their fingers touched. A gentle shiver ran through her. No other man made her feel alive and uncertain at the same time.

  He tugged her into his arms. Pulled her close and placed a sweet kiss on her bare shoulder. She snuggled her cheek against his and nuzzled until he lifted his head and kissed her full on the mouth. As with every other kiss, tiny explosions went off behind her eyes. Light or deep, his kisses sent a wave of dizziness moving through her.

  “The water is getting cold.” But his voice was oh so warm when he said it.

  “I’m plenty hot.”

  “Good.” With hands on her waist, Cal walked her backward into the steamy bathroom.

  When he trailed a line of kisses along her collarbone, she dropped her head to the side to give him better access. Without any signal from her brain, her fingers weaved through his hair, loving every strand. Her other hand swept along his back, caressing every inch.

  The kissing and touching ignited something sleeping deep inside. She had survived a bad breakup with a man who viewed fidelity as optional in a relationship. She grappled with the reality of her brother’s death. So many hours had been spent trying to understand the men in her life and the dangerous choices they made.

  Cassie wanted to stop all the thinking and dissecting and concentrate on feeling. There was only one way to do that.

  She used her thumb to bring his chin up. “Hi.”

  A huge smile lit up his face right before he leaned in for a shattering kiss. Their lips slanted over each other, tender at first then with increasing force. His tongue flicked out, licking the seam between her lips, and her heart sank right to her stomach.

  Without breaking his hold on her waist, he bent down and shut off the water, stopping the threatening overflow. “Get in.”

  She’d never bathed with a man before. The idea seemed so intimate, almost uncomfortable.

  Until now.

  With her clothes off, there was nothing to stop her from moving ahead. Rather than play coy or hide, she turned her body over to him. He may be hesitant about whatever lingered between them, but she wasn’t.

  He eased her into the tub. Water splashed over the sides and dripped onto the tile floor as she sat back against the cold porcelain. Eyes closed, she opened her body to his touch. For what felt like hours but really amounted to just minutes, sure fingers lingered on her breasts, coaxing her nipples into tight buds.

  Then his hands were gone. He sat back on his hunches and started to strip out of his clothes.

  She threw out her arm and stopped him. “Wait.”

  “For?”

  “Go slower.”

  Uncertainty clouded his gaze. “Honey, slow is the one speed I don’t think I can do for you.”

  The poor thing looked horrified. She guessed the bulge behind that zipper was driving his decisions. “I want you to ease out of your clothes.”

  “Uh, okay.”

  “Let me enjoy the moment.”

  “You want me to do a little dance?” His voice grew gruff.

  There was an interesting thought. “If you want to perform a number, feel free. I just want to watch you undress.”

  She leaned back and put her feet up on the edge of the tub. She intended to enjoy this front-row seat.

  He shrugged. “You’re the boss.”

  “Yes, I am.” She sighed as warm water covered her sore body up to her neck.

  He stood on the small circular rug next to the tub. “Ready?”

  “I doubt it.”

  He smiled as he lifted his arms above his head and stretched out like the prowling panther he was. Muscles bunched along his shoulders and rippled up his sleek arms. He grabbed the edge of his tight T-shirt and dragged it up his broad chest, revealing his hollow stomach, perfect V-shaped torso.

  To encourage his impromptu striptease, Cassie kicked her leg out of the water, splashing his upper leg with tiny droplets. Resting her foot against his thigh, she curled her toes against his clenched muscle.

  Cal reached down and smoothed his fingers over her damp skin, traveling up to her knee before she put an end to the touching tour.

  “Now the pants.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

  “Do I look like I’m kidding?” She’d never been more serious in her life.

  “No, ma’am.”

  He didn’t play games, make her beg, or even make her sit there for one more second. Instead, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a condom.

  “You always seem to have one of those handy.” It was as if his pocket held a never-ending supply.

  “Just took it out of my bag.” His words slurred, thanks to the packet clenched between his teeth.

  “I like a man who’s ready for any opportunity.”

  He dropped the condom on the floor. “I bought a box when we stopped to get something to eat.”

  “Aren’t you tricky?”

  “Prepared.” His fingers went right to his pants and fumbled with his belt and zipper.

  Realizing at that second that being a silent bystander didn’t appeal to her, she scrambled to her knees in front of him. “Let me.”

  Their eyes met in silent understanding as his hands dropped to his sides. Soapy, slick fingers explored the outline in his pants. Her thumbs rounded and explored until his body shook.

  Wanting more, she leaned in and brushed a wet kiss over him to entice cooperation.

  He rewarded her by bending his knees. “Damn, Cassie.”

  This honest wanting reaction was a confidence booster. Cassie had played a few bedroom games before now, but they tended to be at Han’s request and for his enjoyment. This time the moment was for her. What she wanted and when. She loved the change.

  Right now she wanted that zipper down. Cal had started the job, but she finished it with a slow steady pull that freed him to her hands. Sliding inside the rough material, she pulled him out for her touch.

  His fingers clenched in her hair as she cradled and caressed him. “You’re killing me.”

  That was the plan. Have him begging for mercy.

  She threaded her fingers past the elastic band of his briefs and yanked them down his legs along with his pants, exposing all of him to her view. When she smoothed her palm along the length of his erection, his lower body bucked.

  The rush of feminine power spun right to her head. He wanted her and she had the power to give him pleasure so intense it bordered on pain.

  As much as she wanted to play, she needed him for more than that. She slowly pushed to her feet, using her hands and mouth to trace a path back up to his muscled stomach. By the time her tactile tour was done, her chest ached from the force of her labored breathing.

  A smile broke across his sensual mouth. “You’re my kind of woman.”

  She rubbed her wet breasts against him, feeling the slight tickle from the tufts of soft hair on his chest. The dampness in the air and the water from the bath made their bodies slick.

  “Then shut up and take me.” The whispered order bounced off the marble walls of the small room.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Strong hands helped her out of the tub. As soon as her feet hit the mat, he dropped to his knees taking her with him. The move put him on the floor with her straddling him. His large hands wrapped around her body to pull her close. Once th
ere, palms gently kneaded the flesh of her backside.

  Need spiraled inside of her. They kissed and touched. Every inch of her bare skin rested against his. Then his back hit the floor.

  He dragged her body down until she rested on her knees, suspended over him. His shaft jutted out, waiting for her. “You set the speed.”

  “You really ready for me?” Maintaining the teasing tone was tough as her insides fluttered and pounded.

  He picked the condom up off the floor. “Here.”

  She grabbed the packet out of his hands and ripped it open. It took a few tries to get it unrolled. The tremors rumbling through her made holding anything steady impossible. As if sensing the churning firestorm inside her, he put his palms over hers and helped with the condom.

  His hands moved to her hips and pressed down. When the very tip of him entered her, his head fell back against the hard floor. “God, yes.”

  It was not enough. She wanted the full length of him, every inch, deep inside. She braced her hands on either side of his head, balancing her weight above him and torturing them both with only the barest touch of their flesh. Then, with deadly slowness, she pressed herself down, absorbing his body in hers.

  Sensations rocketed through her. Then she moved. She rode him, long and hard, until his breath rushed out and shivers wracked his body.

  Soon his body stopped shaking and the tension took over. With stiff shoulders, he lifted his upper body off the floor to kiss her. After that, her speed increased. A rhythm deep inside her took control, sending her body up and down on his until her internal muscles pulled tight.

  When she thought her body could not take another second of the barrage of sensations, she pushed down one more time. The move sent his body bucking. The friction of his body pulsing beneath hers made her hips flex without any signal from her brain.

  The heat rolled through the room and off their entwined bodies. She rose up one last time and plunged back down as an orgasm tore through her exhausted body.

  She screamed as she collapsed on top of him. Cal did not fare any better. He lay under her with his arms spread out to the side.