by Katee Robert
Alex, damn him, seemed to know exactly what she was thinking. He reached between them and snagged her swimsuit, and then he pulled it off her, baring her from the waist down. She didn’t have a moment to feel strange about that because he was already moving down her body to resume his position. Except this time nothing served as a barrier.
She held her breath, praying he wouldn’t make her wait, and someone upstairs must have been listening because this time Alex didn’t tease her. He gave her pussy the same thorough kiss he’d just given her mouth, exploring her with his tongue. Savoring her.
He growled and the sound made her writhe. As if he couldn’t contain his desire any more than she could. As if maybe he wasn’t as in control as he seemed. He urged her legs wider and spread her so he could fuck her slowly with this tongue. “You taste good, sweetheart. A man could lose himself in you if he’s not careful.”
She blinked, barely able to comprehend his words. He almost sounded like he thought she was some temptress, but that couldn’t possibly be right. She was Kendall freaking Barnes, and she rarely broke the rules, let alone indulged herself with something as decadent as being on the receiving end of stellar oral sex from a man who was barely more than a stranger.
“You’re thinking too hard.” He lifted his head. “We still good?”
“Yes, we’re good.” She might die if he didn’t keep going, but he showed no signs of resuming. Kendall licked her lips. “I don’t know how to stop thinking so hard,” she whispered.
Alex gave her a wicked grin. “I have a few ideas.” He went back to her clit, working her with the flat of his tongue. And then he pushed two fingers into her.
Kendall’s thoughts shorted out. Her whole world went fuzzy and then narrowed down to the way he filled her even as he kept that motion against her clit that had tension coiling through her. “Don’t stop.”
This time, Alex had no verbal response. He didn’t pick up his pace, either, didn’t rush her to the finish line. He just kept up those languid strokes as he rotated his wrist and made a motion inside her that had her whole body going liquid. “Oh god.” She forgot to worry about what he might think and dug her fingers into his hair, holding him in place. “Don’t stop. Please don’t stop.”
He didn’t stop. He drew her inexorably to the edge and then pushed her over, sending her hurtling into an orgasm that wracked her body. Her grip on his hair spasmed and she ground her pussy against his mouth, mindlessly seeking to prolong the pleasure.
As she drifted down, Alex slid his fingers out of her and gentled his kisses. She expected him to… Well, she wasn’t sure what she expected. This man never seemed to do what she anticipated.
She certainly didn’t anticipate him climbing up to lay on the bed next to her and then tucking her against his body. A little maneuvering and he flipped the comforter over them, cocooning her in warmth. She tried to tense up, but her body didn’t get the memo. Instead, she sprawled across him as he trailed his fingers up and down her spine.
Kendall started to reach down, to move to return the favor, but Alex caught her wrist. “It’s okay, sweetheart. This was about you.”
That pulled her out of her euphoria a tiny bit. She lifted her head. “Are you going for saintly status or something?”
“No.” His chuckle was a little strained. “Nothing like that. I said I’d make you feel good. I wasn’t part of the bargain.”
“And you say I’m a crappy bargainer.” No reason to feel hurt that he didn’t want her to make him come. None at all. But it didn’t stop the feeling from crawling through her. Was this just a pity orgasm? Another pity orgasm?
God, she really was that pathetic, wasn’t she?
Chapter 6
Alex wasn’t sure when things went so sideways, but as he lay there with Kendall in his arms and a set of blue balls for the record books, he couldn’t bring himself to regret it. Every instinct he had about this woman was proving correct. Wound too tightly. In desperate need of letting go even more than he supposedly was. But once she did let go?
He shifted, even knowing damn well it wouldn’t do anything to relieve the aching of his cock. She’d had every intention of getting him off, but a strange part of him didn’t want this to be transactional. Tit for tat. He hadn’t been thinking about his pleasure when he towed her to the bed, and he sure as fuck hadn’t thought about getting his rocks off when he had his mouth all over her pussy, or when she came so hard that she about took his fingers off.
“You should probably go.” Kendall’s breath hitched, and Alex froze. Holy fuck, was she going to cry? Nowhere in how he thought this would play out did crying come into the picture.
Shit.
Shit.
Had he missed a sign? Had he just fucked up beyond belief?
Alex forced his body not to tense and kept his tone even. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”
“Nothing.” Kendall cleared her throat, and when she spoke again, she seemed to have herself better under control. “It’s nothing.”
His heart actually stopped. He was sure of it. “Doesn’t sound like nothing from where I’m sitting.”
“Then maybe you should change your perspective.”
There she was. He liked it when she showed her claws. Even knowing her as briefly as he had, Alex suspected she didn’t get snarly with people as a general rule. He couldn’t stop himself from running his fingers through her hair. “You having regrets?”
“No. It’s nothing like that.” But the wobble was back in her voice.
Damn it, she was having regrets. Alex stared at the ceiling, trying to weigh out the best path forward. Did he take off and give her time to find her footing again, or would that cause more damage than staying? He didn’t know. Hooking up wasn’t something he did much anymore, and never with someone like Kendall. When Alex needed his itch scratched, he found a partner who wanted the same thing. Someone who would be intent on their mutual pleasure, instead of worrying about the morning after.
Kendall wasn’t like that. As she kept telling him, she didn’t do this. Didn’t let go. Didn’t fuck around. Didn’t do any of it.
“You want to talk about it?”
She huffed and sat up. “If I did, I’d talk to my therapist, not to some random guy I met fewer than twenty-four hours ago.”
That stung, but he ignored it. “Fair enough.” He made a show of looking around. “I don’t see your therapist, so… next best thing?” Kendall still wouldn’t look at him, and actual fear curdled his stomach. “Kendall, sweetheart, talk to me. Did I… Did I hurt you?” He hadn’t thought so. She’d seemed like she’d enjoyed every second of it, and she’d definitely come, but he should have known better than to take her up on her offer when she was so clearly hurting from something. Even if Alex wasn’t the initial cause, he’d contributed to that pain.
“What?” She finally twisted to face him, a frown drawing her brows together. “Hurt me?”
Her honest confusion didn’t make him feel any better. “You were fine. Now you’re not. Only one thing has changed.” He waved a hand between them. “Hard not to draw conclusions from that.”
Some of her consternation cleared, and she sighed. “Alex, why don’t you want me?”
It took him a full five seconds to process her words, but they still didn’t make any sense. “Of course I want you.” When she still didn’t look convinced, he gave a choked laugh. “I about came in my pants just from you orgasming on my face.”
“Then why…” She made a vague wave at his cock, still standing at attention.
Comprehension dawned. It wasn’t the sex that fucked her up. She’d seen his turning down her offer as a rejection. “Kendall.” He waited for her to meet his gaze to continue. “I want you. I want you so fucking bad, it was everything I could do not to take you up on everything you offered and sink into that tight little pussy of yours until I can feel you come around my cock.”
She blinked. “I still don’t understand.”
God, she was killi
ng him. “You keep telling me you don’t do this. You’ve obviously got some shit going on, and I don’t want to be something you regret.” Adding to the burdens she carried wasn’t on his agenda, and yet that’s exactly what he’d accidentally done. He didn’t know how to fix this, or if he should even try. With his track record, he was just as likely to make it worse as he was to make it better.
“I don’t get you.” She pulled the blanket more firmly around her, covering her body nearly completely. “Like are you even real? Because at this point, I have my doubts.”
That surprised a laugh out of him. “I’m real, sweetheart.”
“If you say so.” She frowned. “I think I might be the one being an asshole right now, and I’m not sure how that happened.”
“Hey.” He waited for her to look at him. “Come here.”
Kendall slowly, almost reluctantly, settled back against him. He managed to keep the tension from his body, to not wrap her up and hug her until she felt better about this whole thing again. He didn’t want to be something—someone—she regretted. A silly thought, maybe. He had every intention of leaving this ship behind and not looking back once they docked in Orlando in the morning.
The thought didn’t bring him the relief it had earlier today. He gave into the urge to wrap his arms around Kendall and cuddle her close. Another thing he didn’t normally do. Easier for everyone when sex was clearly just sex and not edging into anything messy. Sometimes he cuddled his partners, sometimes not, but most of them preferred the latter. He’d never felt the lack before, but now he couldn’t imagine walking away from Kendall before he had a chance to smooth this out. The scent of her floral shampoo wrapped around him, and he mentally cursed himself for pulling her closer when all his cock wanted to do was sink into her.
Not today. Not like this.
Then when?
There would be no other opportunity. Not when he had every intention of cutting his vacation short.
She finally sighed and all the tension bled from her body. “I just wanted to reconnect with my friends. We were so close in college, and since then everyone is so busy all the time. I’m just as bad as everyone else, so I’m one hundred percent not throwing stones, but I miss them. I thought this was such a brilliant idea to spend more time together, but I managed to mess that up and booked us the wrong cruise.”
She’d mentioned something like that earlier, but he was too busy trying to keep her from walking into a wall to pay too much attention. “No way do they hold this against you.”
“I don’t think it’s that, exactly.” She snuggled closer almost absently. “It’s just not what I thought it was going to be. Nothing about this is. I should have realized that a cruise would offer them all sorts of things they want to do beyond lying by the pool, but I didn’t really think about it. Even though we didn’t have finalized plans today, it still feels bad that I was alone.”
He couldn’t help giving her a squeeze. Alex had never wanted to be good at comforting and the softer set of people skills, but he did right in that moment. Surely a squeeze was helpful? He just didn’t know. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine.” The wobble still in her voice said otherwise. Kendall gave herself a shake and propped up on her elbow. “How did you end up on this cruise? It doesn’t seem like your kind of thing.”
“It’s not.” He let himself drink in the sight of her, enjoying the way the twinkle came back into her green eyes. “My grandfather thought it would be a good present to force me to take a vacation, but this was his idea of a good vacation.”
Her eyes went wide. “Your grandfather is on this cruise?”
“What? No.” He laughed and it felt…good. “No, Pop said this kind of shit would be bad for his heart.” He gave their intertwined bodies a significant look. Alex’s heart wasn’t doing too great at the moment, either. His cock still hadn’t calmed down, but he gave that up for a lost cause. A little agony never hurt anyone.
She smiled. “That’s a fair point. I admire his moxie. My younger sister might think something like this was a brilliant idea, but I’m pretty sure my older sister would die on the spot if she was on the ship.”
Moxie. That was one way to describe Pop.
“He thinks I work too much.” Alex didn’t mean to say it. But then, he didn’t mean to do a lot when it came to this woman. Right now, he should be making his excuses and establishing that this was the end of the road for them. He should be telling her that he wouldn’t be around for the rest of the cruise.
He should be doing a lot of things.
“Do you?”
“Probably.” He shrugged as much as he could in his current position. “Who doesn’t these days?”
“That’s the freaking truth.” Kendall seemed to argue with herself and finally said, “Thanks.”
“For what?”
“For all of it. Taking care of me this morning. The two orgasms. All of it.” She lifted her face and he had to bite back a smile as how hard she was blushing. Kendall pressed her lips together and finally said, “I would really, really like to return the favor.”
Alex’s mind shorted out as what little blood remained in his body rushed to his dick. He took a slow breath, trying to battle his desire. Trying and failing. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I know. Like I said, I want to.” She didn’t give him a chance to argue. Kendall shifted to straddle him, and his honorable intentions died a noble death. She gave him a little smile as she went for the front of his shorts.
They both froze as someone knocked on her door.
A woman’s voice came through, soft and worried. “Kendall, are you in there?”
Kendall paled and leaped off Alex like his body had caught fire. “Oh my god, you have to hide.” She looked around frantically. “Right now.”
Kendall couldn’t believe this was happening. She’d managed to get through high school without ever sneaking a boy into her bedroom, let alone being caught while doing it. Now, at thirty, she was reduced to shoving Alex into the bathroom and shutting the door behind him.
Which was right around the time she realized she was mostly naked.
She spun around, searching for her bikini bottoms. Meanwhile, Grace knocked again. “I know you’re in there. I can hear you rustling around. Open the door, Kendall.” Then, softer. “I’m sorry I didn’t make it to the deck in time to catch you. Something came up.”
“Just a second!” Kendall dug through her suitcase and pulled out a sundress. She ripped off her bikini top and yanked the dress over her head. Going without a bra, let alone without panties, wasn’t the least bit comfortable, but it was better than the alternative. She cast a quick glance at the closed bathroom door, but Alex didn’t seem to be in any hurry to betray his presence. It’d have to be good enough.
She ran her fingers through her hair and pasted a smile on her face as she opened the door. “Hey, Grace.”
Grace nearly bowled her over as she pushed into the room. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not. I said I’d be there and then I wasn’t, and no one has seen you since this morning and—”
Kendall grabbed Grace’s shoulders and waited for her friend to look at her. “It’s fine. I drank a little too much and came back here for a nap. It’s a cruise. It stands to reason that people got distracted or chose to do other things besides lie out by the pool.” Her words sounded reasonable, but that didn’t stop the twist in her gut at the thought of her friends wanting to do other things besides hang out with her. Whoever said that people eventually outgrew the feeling of being a hanger-on to their friends was a liar. Hard not to believe that when the evidence pointed to exactly that.
Stop it.
Easier said than done. She tried for a smile. “It’s really okay.”
“No, it’s not.” Grace seemed to finally take in her appearance, and her dark brows rose. “You look—”
“I was taking a nap,” Kendall said firmly.
“A nap,” Grace repeated. If anything, her brows rose higher. “There’s beard burn on your chest.”
She released her friend and slapped her hands to her chest. “No, there’s not.”
“Yes, there really is.” Grace turned and examined the cabin. Kendall could practically see her cataloging the details with that impressive brain of hers. She toed the untied bikini bottoms on the floor. “Did he leave right before I got here, or is he hiding in the bathroom?”
“Grace. What the hell?” She crossed her arms over her chest, which only served to remind her what a freaking liar she was. “I do not have a guy in my room.”
“Uh huh.” Grace took a step back. “Then I guess you won’t mind if I…” She darted to the bathroom door and opened it before Kendall could do more than screech. Alex stood there shirtless, a shit-eating grin on his face. Grace’s eyes went wide. “Holy crap, you have a man in your bathroom.”
“No, I don’t. This is all a figment of your imagination.” Could a person die of humiliation? Because Kendall had to be approaching dangerous levels at this point of the trip. She could not believe this was happening.
If anything, Alex’s grin widened. He held out a hand. “I’m Alex, and apparently I’m imaginary.”
“Grace.” She shook his hand and gave him a once-over. “Apparently I’m interrupting.”
“No. No, you are most definitely not interrupting.” Kendall reached around Grace and grabbed Alex’s arm. “Thanks for the help back to my cabin. I’ll just…” His laugh made her face flame hotter. “Bye!” She opened the exterior door and all but shoved him out, and then slammed it behind her. Kendall turned around and pressed herself against it and glared at her friend. “I can’t believe you just did that.”
“Me? I can’t believe you tried to hide a man in your bathroom!”
She couldn’t believe it, either. Now that Alex was gone, she had the strange thought that it really was all a dream, after all. Surely she hadn’t had a near-stranger bring her to orgasm with his mouth and hands just a little while ago? Surely she hadn’t fully intended on doing the same to him? She shivered. God, she really needed to put some panties on, but she couldn’t figure out how to do it without admitting to Grace that she wasn’t wearing them to begin with.