Not so fast.
Tristan
TRISTAN GATHERED UP all the papers from the floor carefully keeping Laney’s vision for each common area on top of the floor plan. Her ideas jazzed him up about the hotel redesign, surely Luke would feel the same way. Despite Laney saying she couldn’t do this, he knew she could. He’d definitely introduce her to Luke, let him lose himself in those hypnotic blue eyes, and feel her energy.
Get hooked into her.
Like him.
Was he hooked?
Fuck yes, he was. No matter how much he tried to deny it, Laney had gotten under his skin. Finding her on this cruise where he was supposed to be having one careless fling after the other kept his reality in check. This place wasn’t real. But Laney and her vision for his hotel felt real enough.
He had no plans to let her go completely after this cruise. Starting some kind of relationship with her, though, would have to happen on dry land. We don’t come here to start relationships, his own words slapped back into his mind and pissed him the hell off. He believed that wholeheartedly at the time and Tristan didn’t change his mind very often.
He also had to face that by the time this ship returned to New York, Laney would have been in Jonathan’s bed. No way was that dickhead going to say no to her. The idea of her skin soiled by his grimy touch made Tristan want to throw something against the wall. He caught his face in the mirror by the wet bar. Who are you calling grimy? On last year’s cruise, he’d slept with twice the women Jonathan had. Surely, Laney wouldn’t want him for anything serious.
Damn.
The bathroom door opened and he cursed under his breath because he let those stupid thoughts run away with his brain. And his hard-on.
Forcing a smile on his face, he glanced at Laney who was holding the ring in the palm of her hand.
What the fuck? Holding it. Not wearing it. Was she giving it back? Had she changed her mind?
He straightened to his full height, Tris, the sex beast saying, step aside wussy boy, I’ve got this. I’ll show her who you really are.
She scanned the floor. “I would have helped you clean up.”
“You’ve done enough,” he said, watching her for some kind of signal.
Laney’s innocence shined off her skin, making her glow. He couldn’t let her leave without taking one more sweet kiss from her. Fearing she’d say no, he marched up to her with powerful steps.
“I have to do this.” He took her mouth. Hard. Set the pace for what he could do. If she were willing to indulge him this one last fantasy.
Put the damn ring on!
She gasped at the intensity of the kiss and her mouth melted against his. They moved in the same rhythm as her body swayed against him. He deepened the kiss by cradling her head and she tangled her tongue up with his. Yes.
“You taste so good,” he whispered. “I can’t get enough.”
Never had a kiss ignited a torrent of emotions, hitting a nerve he never knew he had. He held Laney against the wall and she kissed him back now with as much fervor. Speeding up, headed for some kind of endgame. His blood soared hot through his body. He begged his inner beast to let him have this soft moment. Have Laney the way Tristan would take her. Not Tris.
Shuddering, Laney gasped for air and she stared at him with glassy eyes. Oh no, he overwhelmed her and after a gentle tap on his chest, he let go immediately.
No meant no. And stop meant stop.
Holding her throat, she ambled to his cabin door. Damn it. He screwed this up. He’d told her the ring gave her the control to decide when she wanted him to take her. The first chance he’d gotten, he lunged for her like a horny teenager.
He felt the first twang of his heartache when she opened the door. Only she swiped the privacy sign, dragged it from the inside handle, and hung it on the outside. Then she closed the door.
And locked it.
Uh-oh.
With a smile that made his heart go thump-thump, she slid his college ring onto one of her fingers. It didn’t matter which one.
Game. Fucking. On.
Tristan locked his eyes on Laney as he tugged the hem of his Henley shirt. The waffle fabric dragging across his sensitive skin as it lifted away placed him fully in that moment.
“Yu-um,” Laney said, drinking in his bare chest.
“Touch me,” he begged.
The tips of her fingers felt cool against his heated skin. She touched him with the same passion in her eyes like when she’d stroked her favorite fabrics all over the ship. Laney’s hands brushing against the wall of his chest turned him to utter goo.
With her hands occupied, he held her face. Instead of kissing his lips, she kissed his fingers. When her mouth opened, he slipped one inside. Man, so hot and moist. So soft and safe. Could he be a lucky enough bastard to slide his cock past those lips and come down her throat?
No, no one was that lucky.
“I want you,” he breathed. I wanted you the second I saw you, he could have screamed, but he kept that to himself.
“I’m here.” She flashed his ring. “I’m yours.”
“Take that dress off.” He stepped back getting under control.
Her hair hanging loose and all over the place hid the tie holding the front of the dress up. He expected she’d lift it over her head like he had with his shirt. Watching the front peel down slowly while her eyes gleamed at him had Tristan grabbing for something to keep him steady. Much better than the banana.
Last night under the moon, her skin, her breasts, her nipples, all felt like a cloudy dream. Despite the harsh bath of sunlight cranking into the cabin now, her peachy skin looked flawless. Holy shit. Those beautiful tits, no breasts, were not a dream. This was goddamn real.
“Can I touch you?” he asked, low and throaty.
“You better, because I’m about to attack you.”
That stopped him. He’d always been the aggressor. Next time. He locked his thumbs in the dress’s skirt and slid it down her toned legs.
Kneeling, he pressed his nose against her stomach. Soft with a few muscles giving her a curvy shape that drove him nuts. He breathed her in. Coconut. Sweet. To his surprise, she turned around, and now round ass cheeks were in his face. Beautiful black lace disappeared in the cleft of her sweet ass. Mine. When Laney bent over to slide the thong down, he damn near lost it right there.
As she righted herself, he captured her breasts from behind, kissing the back of her neck. He rolled her hard nipples between his fingers.
“We’re really doing this.” He spun her around and feasted on her beauty.
“Yes, Mr. Hart,” Laney said, playing with the top button to his jeans.
Tristan was done waiting. He was ready to explode. Fuck. Condoms. Where were his condoms? He’d brought several boxes. Aw hell. He didn’t want her to see him ripping open a twenty-four pack.
Usually, he kept a few handy in either a shirt pocket, or his shorts, or jeans. Usually on this cruise, sex presented itself anywhere. This was way better. In the privacy of his cabin where he could take her and enjoy her. As long as he wanted. Again, and again.
Together they pushed down his jeans and then the briefs he only wore here to keep his hard-on from bumping into shit. Her eyes flickered down and a smile spread across her mouth.
“You like.” He stroked his hard and heavy cock.
She licked her lips. “I need a taste test.”
“No! Too fired up. I’ll come in your mouth.” He ran his fingers along her lips. “I’ll sink my cock right here soon, if you let me.”
“I’ll let you.”
He lifted her up and set her on his dresser. “Today, I go first. Open your legs for me, Laney.”
He was in the presence of utter perfection with her soft plump skin and a throbbing clit peeking through. She tasted so sweet on his tongue and after the first lick, he was a goner.
Laney drew in a sharp breath and pulled his hair.
“Good?” he asked.
“I won’t last,” she
groaned.
“Don’t last. I’m not going anywhere and I promise this won’t be your only climax this afternoon.”
“Promise, huh?”
He answered with his mouth by assaulting her hard nub. So beautiful, soft, wet, and delicious. A blast of heat landed on his tongue as she clenched and squirmed.
“Let it go, Laney. It’s just you and me,” he said, sliding a finger inside, needing to feel the heat and the tightening.
“Oh, dear God.” She lifted her hips and her thigh muscles clenched and flexed.
Fingernails dug into his back and he prayed she left a mark. He wanted the battle scars. He wanted to be scarred by Laney.
Scarred for life.
CHAPTER TEN
Laney
Tristan gently lifted Laney up and next, her back was on his mattress. The fabric felt just like hers in her cabin, comforting her. He kissed her deeply, holding her face.
While her head swam in passion, he whispered, “I have to get something.”
Protection. Of course, he came on the cruise prepared. Probably packed a separate suitcase with all the boxes of condoms he needed for endless hours of sex. The sex he’d planned to have. The man approaching her with a gold square in his teeth and several more in his hand didn’t look deprived, though.
Uh-oh.
“I have a superpower,” he said, biting through the foil.
“You have many.” She reared up to get a better gander at him.
“I come, but I don’t get soft. Not for a while.”
“Of course, you don’t.” She stroked the wall of his chest. The skin was so smooth, so curvy with roped muscles. “You’re not real. You’re a god.”
“I’m very real.” He sheathed himself, but took one more deep, wet kiss. She jumped when his thumb found her aching clit. “And you are so very ready.”
On his elbows, so he wouldn’t crush her, his hips closed in and without warning, his hard cock slid straight in. “Aw hell, I knew you’d be tight.”
“Three years,” she said, counting the stars behind her eyes from the blast of pleasure.
“That’s just so wrong.” He eased out slowly.
“I’m not made of glass. You said I’m yours, take me. The way you want to.”
He went still and stared at her. “Which me do want?” he asked with a shaky voice. “I don’t know exactly who to be right now.”
“I want the Tristan who wants me. If that’s the guy who comes here every year, have at it. I have a feeling I’ll like both guys.”
“You wouldn’t like me if you were here wearing a pin,” he said low and gruff.
“I’m not wearing a pin. I’m wearing your ring.”
He smiled and slid back into her. “Yes, you are. Hold on, you.”
Tristan
TRISTAN ALREADY MADE Laney come once. Twice, if he counted last night. Today she was his again, open, hot, and slick. He wanted to do this all afternoon. But he was also enjoying her company on another level.
The stupid idiot in him wanted more ideas from her for his damn hotel. She’d put her heart into the design exercise this afternoon. Like it’d meant something to her. Like he meant something to her.
Because he’d been himself with Laney. He pushed the self-loathing feelings away. Thinking he didn’t deserve her kindness. He kept her face close, pumping in and out of her wet heat, using his tried and true sexual techniques, but gave her his best sexy time while kissing her. She hungrily took his mouth, wanting his kisses, too.
“Christ, baby that’s so good,” he groaned. “I’m close.”
“Go for it.” She grabbed his ass.
God, that did it.
He felt the rush of his climax everywhere. Even his toes tingled. He filled her up while coming apart in front of her. His whole body shook as euphoria took over.
“Hey, look at me,” Laney said.
With an open mouth to breathe in her skin, he panted, harsh and wet. He lifted his head, wanting her to see him at his most vulnerable. Red-faced and drooling.
Even if that wasn’t a good look for a billionaire.
Laney regarded him as a man she satisfied, though. And all he saw was her. No one else was in his head. At all.
“Damn, woman. You’re evil.” He sniffed, settling in next to her, twisting her body so they stayed connected.
“Do you think I put a spell on you?”
“You did something to me.” He never felt like this.
Not on this cruise, anyway. By that point with someone else, he’d be thinking of the next woman to bang. What a pig he’d been. He wasn’t different from any other guy in that group. Only, he got more. More women had wanted him. Still, that was no excuse to be a monster.
Stop.
Stop.
Stop.
He had one woman now. The only woman he’d wanted since he got there. Peace and calm spread through him.
“Hey, I have an idea,” Laney said, and he wondered if he would get more turned on or be afraid.
“Yeah?” he asked and kissed her ear. “Anything. You can have anything you want right now.”
“I saw a make your own sundae ice cream parlor somewhere.”
He snorted a laugh into the curve of her neck. “Get dressed. I know exactly where it is.”
Laney
LANEY LICKED HER HEAVENLY ice cream cone, but stopped when she caught Tristan frowning at her. “What?”
“Are you trying to kill just me?” he quipped, attacking his vanilla sundae covered in steaming chocolate goodness. “Or every damn guy on this ship?”
Laney chuckled, wanting to spread the chocolate across his body, but heeded his advice and went at her cone a little more conservatively. The ice cream parlor had stepped right out of the 1950s with its black and white glossy square tiles and red patent leather chairs. She had some patent leather fabrics, but they didn’t sell very well.
“Don’t let Jonathan see you like this, you may not make it out of the shop.” Tristan drew her attention away from the aluminum paneled walls—how can I make fabric look like metal?
Huh? Jonathan?
Holy crap, she hadn’t even thought about him. Why was Tristan thinking about him? Right, because their moments together were nothing more than priming the pump. Loosening her up for another man.
Mission accomplished. She’d never felt more relaxed and satisfied in her life.
Instead of the wham bam, thank you ma’am Jonathan show, Tristan had been oh, ah, yes, more, you like that? Now, how about some rocky road?
Something told her an afternoon rendezvous with Jonathan wouldn’t have gone down like this one. But was she ready to let go of a three-year dream?
Tristan had showered her with his attentions. She’d helped him, too, right? This wasn’t just one-sided. His brother Luke and the hotel offer had distracted him and she turned into his convenient release in between. Tristan seemed settled as far as what he wanted to do with The Sterling and now, he didn’t need her anymore.
Laney exhaled. Time to set Tristan free to get back on his yearly mission. “So...does anyone look good to you?” she asked and crunched down hard into her cone. “For, you know.”
He peered at her then looked away. “It’s not polite to leer at anyone.”
Laney swallowed. “That’s dumb. If a guy looks and sees something he likes, why not let her see it? Nothing can ever happen otherwise.”
“Some guys don’t want anything to happen,” he said with a shrug. “Some are married, in relationships. I’ve been in a relationship before and discreetly looked. I was in love. Not dead.”
“You were in love?” she cooed.
His spoonful of hot fudge sundae stopped midway to his lips. “I’m thirty-two. Of course, I’ve been in love.”
Laney smiled. “I don’t mean puppy love in grade school.”
“Neither do I.” He finished his sundae and wiped his lips with a napkin, but a red sprinkle lingered in the corner of his mouth. She wanted to lean across the table and lick
it off, only she worried her access to him was over. “Wanna walk around?” he asked.
“Sure.” Fisting her cone, she followed Tristan through the tunnel, then out into the sunshine.
Every moment on the outer decks included the pleasant background humming of the ship’s engines as it knifed through the cool Atlantic water.
“Have you ever been in love?” Tristan asked her.
“Does kindergarten count?” She leaned on the railing.
“No.”
“Celebrity crushes?” She’d had plenty of those. Both Hemsworth brothers, who she couldn’t tell apart. But did she need to in her fantasies? And Alexander Skarsgård because who doesn’t love a hot vampire.
“No.” Tristan squashed that.
“A cute kitten?” She’d driven Nana crazy rescuing every feral cat in Madison, New Jersey.
Tristan frowned. “No. And I’m not liking where this is going.”
“So then—”
“Dear fuck no.” Tristan pinched the bridge of this nose. “Please do not tell me you’re in love with Jonathan.”
She swallowed hard and just gave him a pathetic um...
“Oh, Laney.”
“No. I mean...” She took a breath and turned away, the wind sending her hair flying into her face. “I thought I was for a while. When you think of someone nonstop... When you don’t try to date anyone else. When you think...”
“Shit. I guess that can be love.” He cupped her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
“Love has to be both ways, right? It can’t be real love if only one person is walking around with stars in their eyes.” Her obsession with Jonathan had melted into frustration, lately. It no longer had anything to do with love. It’d become about scoring that one night with him.
Laney wanted to be in love. Who didn’t?
“And you still don’t feel any differently about him now that you’ve found out he comes here every year to screw his brains out with as many people as he can get his hands on?”
She gnawed on her lip with that image playing in her head waiting for it to bother her. Hmmm. Nothing. Then she saw those yoga-class women crawling all over Tristan’s spectacular naked body, his cock disappearing into someone else’s mouth...
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