“Oh, God,” she whispered, staring at herself in the reflective glass. Her gaze shifted to him, standing behind her. “You’re pretty too.”
He hid his smile against her neck, then licked a line to her earlobe so he could take a bite. She jolted again and her hips tilted, at first back, so that his fingers slid deeper up her channel, and then forward so her clit could make better contact with his blunt fingertips.
The sensual dance of hers could go on for hours as far as he was concerned but he felt the growing tension in her muscles, felt the ragged breaths going in and out of her lungs. Her eyes drifted closed and her head dropped back to his shoulder even as she ground her ass against his hard cock again.
Okay, maybe he couldn’t take hours of this. Gritting his teeth, he rubbed his cheek against hers. “How are you doing, babe?”
“I’m going to have beard burn,” she said, her voice sex-slurred. “I love having your beard burn.”
Christ, and he’d be looking for it tomorrow, as proof that this wasn’t one of his recent dreams that left him aching in his twisted sheets every night.
“You’re supposed to be watching,” he said now, drawing his tongue down her throat. What he wouldn’t give to suck a hickey there, just another mark of his to go caveman over in the morning.
“I can see with my eyes closed,” she said, her hips moving another sensual circle, shuffling back though her legs were hobbled to rub against him again. “I can feel you inside me.”
Good God. If she kept that up he was going to come in his pants. Gritting his teeth, he edged his groin farther from her sweet little ass.
“Kiss me, Kane,” she demanded, and her mouth turned toward his.
He groaned, knowing he would give her the moon if she asked. Putting his lips on hers, he synced his tongue and his fingers, both moving in the same in-and-out rhythm.
She made a sound and her skin flashed hot. Yeah, the girl was getting close, thank God. He latched onto her lower lip, took it between his teeth in a firm grip, then lashed it with his tongue even as he rubbed her perfect little clit. Her body strung tight in his hold and he bit harder even as he gave a firm pinch to that hard jewel at the top her sex. She cried out, and he rubbed each side of the knot of nerves.
It shot her over the top.
He let go of her mouth as she cried out. “Look, baby,” he said, nudging her chin with his nose. “Look at you fly.”
But instead of staring at herself, Audra’s eyes met his as she continued to orgasm. You know me. I think you know what I need. She’d said that, but as she continued looking he thought it worked both ways. She knew him. She knew what he needed.
You shouldn’t spend the rest of your life alone, or even think that you must.
He broke off the unspoken communication by ducking his head and sweetly kissing her cheek and then her jaw as aftershocks tremored through her. When she finally quieted, he gently withdrew from her body and pulled up her panties. Kneeling at her feet, he yanked off her jeans then swung her into his arms and walked her to the bed.
Her features were soft, her eyes sleepy as he tucked her against the pillows and drew up the covers. She released a little sigh and he hardened his heart against the forlorn note to it. “You aren’t going to join me here, are you?” she said.
He shoved a hand through his hair and tried to ignore the throbbing clamor of his cock. “Audra…” His head dropped, then he lifted his chin to meet her eyes. “You’ve already had one selfish asshole in your life.”
Her gaze dropped to the bulge in his pants. “You don’t have to be in my life for me to make you feel good.”
Kane sucked in a long breath, then let it out. “Let’s leave it like this, baby. Hurting a little for you makes me feel just right.” With that he left, his cock twitching just like it had upon his arrival—though this time not in anticipation, but protest.
“Down boy,” he repeated, walking out her door. “We’re keeping the girl safe from the likes of us.”
The next morning, Kane was striding through the indoor/outdoor reception lobby when his cell rang. The screen said it was his second cousin, Alec Thatcher, since childhood nearly as close to him as a brother. Closer even in the last five years, since Alec’s real brother had died at the hands of a drunk driver. Nothing’s wrong, Kane assured himself now, spooked for a brief moment like he was every time he saw Alec’s name come up, his mind leaping back to that night when the voice on the other end had been choked with grief.
Nothing’s wrong. His knuckles rapped against the wooden counter as he passed.
Knock on wood.
Did his little rituals give him a stronger feeling of certainty? His phone trilled again and he accepted the call, bringing the device to his ear. “Alec. Everything okay?”
“On my end, yeah.”
Relief relaxed a tight coil in his belly. “Good.” He strolled toward the pool, his gaze roaming, looking for problems, checking on the pulse of the guests he passed. Everything appeared in order and he felt the sun shining on his shoulders with a new appreciation. Despite the little sleep he’d managed the night before, a wave of goodwill passed through him and he looked up, noting the deep blue of the sky.
Beautiful.
“How about you?” Alec asked.
“Never better.”
The silence on the other end of the line signaled Kane’s response was out of character. Never better? Yeah, he didn’t talk like that, did he? Not usually.
In the distance, he saw the backside of a woman in leggings, just a flash as she walked between columns of an open-air hallway. “I’m staring at a fine female behind and that puts me in a very good mood.”
Alec gusted out a sigh. “Thank God.”
Taking his phone from his ear, he glanced at it puzzled, then put it back in place. “My admiration for the feminine form provokes such fervency?”
“You sound like yourself.”
“I am myself—” He broke off as the leggings reversed and he suddenly glimpsed the entire package that went with the distracting backside. Audra. He should have known—he probably had known at some level and it’s why his eye had been caught in the first place.
Tight, pastel work-out clothes molded her body and revealed swathes of skin at her shoulders and slices of the sides of her torso. He wasn’t close enough to know if she’d had to use make-up to cover whisker burn on her face and neck.
He hoped so.
Yeah. Caveman.
And damn, he hoped her dreams had been sweet.
“Kane?”
With a grunt, he tuned back in to his cousin’s call. “Here. What’s up?” He leaned his shoulder against a nearby wall and watched Audra sashay to the juice bar, her blonde hair swinging around her shoulders. “Everything okay with you and Lilly?”
“Lilly…”
Grinning, Kane realized he’d sidetracked the other man just by mentioning his lover’s name. “She treating you right?”
“She…” He could imagine his cousin shaking his head, incredulous by the tone of his voice. “The whole damn world is brighter with her in it.”
Kane’s gaze tracked Audra as she accepted a smoothie and moved off to wind through the surrounding bistro tables. He had to squint against the glare of the sunlight on her shining hair. “I get that.”
“You’re silently snickering.”
“Hey, I’m not.” He frowned. “I’m sincerely glad you found your Lilly.”
“Says the man certain he could never be satisfied with one woman.”
“And you said that made me sound like an asshole,” Kane pointed out.
“Do you mind that?”
“Maybe I do.” He watched Audra continue on her way, her attention focused on the long straw she was attempting to push through the plastic top of her to-go cup. It was why he spotted the chair she was on a collision course with and she didn’t. His muscles bunched, gathering to leap forward, instinct propelling him to prevent a possible injury despite the distance between them. But bef
ore he could take a step, she’d halted, skittering to a stop just inches from the offending piece of furniture.
He breathed easier as she skirted the danger and lingered by the three-tier fountain, sipping her drink and gazing on the bubbling water.
“Kane?”
Oh, yeah, he was on a phone call. “Sorry, I checked out for a minute. Did you want to tell me something?”
An odd hesitation followed.
“Alec, you’re sure everything’s all right?”
“Lilly’s been talking to Audra.” His cousin cleared his throat. “And it sounds like you two have been spending some time together.”
Oh, shit. How close were those two friends? Kane shut his eyes, remembering the scent of Audra’s hair and the wet clasp of her body on his fingers. The heat of her kiss and the sweet way she came apart in his arms. Had she told her best friend of their latest encounter? He hoped not. “We, uh, had dinner with Amber and Jessie one night.”
“Okay. Well.” Alec blew out a breath. “I think I should warn you…Lilly agrees.”
Kane opened his eyes to see Audra now in conversation with a young mother attached to a stroller. She was smiling down at the stroller’s occupant, a tow-headed cherub who could just as easily be Audra’s own child. Someday there’d be that for her—kids, a husband, all the things she thought she’d lost when her intended groom hadn’t shown up on the beach.
The painful twinge in his chest was new, but he ignored it.
She deserved that complete, warm family unit, he told himself. She deserved the best of everything.
Including the sexual satisfaction only you seem to provide, a little voice inside him whispered. Boastfully.
He ignored that, too, and redirected his mind back to that warning Alec wanted to issue. “What are you worried about, cuz?”
“Audra lost some of her self-confidence, thanks to my ex-friend Jacob.”
“Yeah, no kidding.” But she’d gained some sexual confidence in the last few days hadn’t she? After all, she’d eventually managed to ask for what she needed from him last night.
“She’s beautiful, you know that,” Alec continued.
“No doubt.” Dazzling.
“Successful, funny.”
“She has shit taste in TV programming, though.”
“What?”
“Never mind.” Kane smiled, thinking of her grisly shows.
“Some man is going to fall in love with her.”
“Of course.” Fucker better treat her with a thousand times more respect and care than the last one.
“Her plan is to let that happen, then break the dude’s heart.”
“Huh?”
“Walk away, when that man has laid himself at her feet. She thinks it’s how she’ll fully recover from the rejection. Then she’ll go on to find her real, happy future.”
Kane considered that a moment. It was a ballsy move, or at least intention, and after what she’d been through, he figured she owed it to herself to give it a try. “Go, Audie,” he murmured.
Alec cleared his throat again. “That guy’s not going to be you, is it Kane?”
His hand tightened on the phone and his spine snapped straight. “Christ, no.” His whole body wanted to throw off the very idea of it. “As if I’d fall in love. You know I won’t. I never put anyone else’s welfare above my own and I think that’s pretty much a given if a man’s going to give his heart away.”
“Yeah, well,” Alec said, then blew out a sigh. “I’m just checking—”
“No need,” Kane said, and turned to head back to his office with only one last swift look at Audra, bright as a butterfly beside the fountain. “I’m still the same selfish fuck I’ve always been.”
Chapter 11
Audra strolled the resort grounds, telling herself she was not looking for Kane Hathaway. Even thinking his name should cause her to hide herself and her blush in her bungalow, but here she was, sauntering through the lush greenery like a goddess.
Well, at least sauntering like someone who’d been thoroughly debauched the night before.
What a memory!
She sipped her mango smoothie and tried to cool her thoughts. The only thing that would have made last night better was if Kane had actually taken her to bed instead of just taking her to bed. Not to be vain or anything, but she was sure it wasn’t because he hadn’t found her tempting. His breath had been raspy in her ear and when she’d backed into him she’d known what that hard erection in his pants signified.
But he’d resisted and she’d accepted what he’d offered. What she’d needed.
Her parents had made her crazy and he was the only path to calm. At least it had seemed that way the night before. And he was bad boy enough, experienced enough, not to balk when she told him about it.
You know me. I think you know what I need.
It still sort of shocked her that she’d managed to say the words, but, well, she trusted Kane.
To her relief, today Lee and Poppy Montgomery had checked out at eight a.m. to either explore the nearby wine country or go back home to LA. Audra actually didn’t know which. Her mind still fogged by that X-rated event with Kane the night before, she’d hugged and kissed them goodbye before any details sank in.
With the exception of her mother complimenting her on her morning glow.
Audra owed thanks to Kane for that as well as the other…but she wasn’t going to hunt the poor man down. No. He’d done enough for her.
However, if she stumbled upon him as she reconnoitered the resort…
Her heart seemed to hit a speed bump when she spotted movement ahead. Had she conjured him—
“Wrong Hathaway,” she murmured as she saw Amber coming from the opposite direction, a basket in hand.
The other woman paused as she caught sight of Audra. “Hey,” she said, smiling. “Good to see you again.”
“You too.” Curious, Audra glanced at the basket, noting it was filled with half a dozen graphic novels and some books that looked to be science fiction.
“For a guest,” Amber explained, and there was a telltale hint of a blush on her face.
“Let me guess…”
“Don’t.” Amber bit her bottom lip. “Jessie likes to tease me about Shaw, but the man lost his wife. I feel sympathy for him, that’s all. I want his stay to be perfect.”
“Hence the basket of reading material.”
“He likes this kind of thing.”
“And you’re just being a consummate professional by servicing his every need.”
Amber’s eyes narrowed. “Why does that sound kind of dirty?”
“Whoops.” Audra laughed. “Sorry about that.”
“He always reserves one of our nicest villas.” Kane’s sister hesitated. “Actually, I could use an opinion on something there. Would you like to see it?”
“Sure.” Audra followed the other woman to a doorway nearly hidden by vegetation. “I take it he likes his privacy.”
“Yes.” Amber unlocked the door and pushed it open. “He has a ranch in the mountains not too far from here and this time of year he has family who comes to visit. As an escape, he reserves a place for himself at The Hathaway.”
The villa was as spacious as Audra’s bungalow and had sliding doors leading to an attached outdoor space. It took her a minute to realize it was the same location—the same pool, the same hot tub—she’d visited with Kane, when he’d said she could cross a line through one of the items on her list.
Consummate professional? Was that the role he’d assumed when he’d made that offer? And again last night, when he took care of her needs?
Suddenly, all the residual heat she’d been feeling from the night before fled and cold spilled over her. She rubbed her palms on her upper arms and wished she’d seen Kane that morning. Just a glimpse at the expression on his face when he looked at her and she’d know if she’d taken advantage of his good…manners or if he’d enjoyed himself.
Not as much as she had, of course. But�
�but why had he gone through with it?
After left waiting on that beach, it was too easy for Audra to think that nobody truly wanted her.
And just like that, all the pleasure she’d felt in stepping outside the Goody-Two Shoes box vanished.
“What do you think of this arrangement?” Amber asked now, drawing her attention to a large glass vase on the coffee table in the living area. “Manly enough?”
Audra walked closer to inspect it, trying to ignore her lowering mood. “Very nice,” she said. The florist had used aspidistra leaves to line the chunky, square glass vase, then filled it with pincushion protea, roses an unusual dark gold shade, burgundy carnations, and green hypericum. She glanced at the small card tucked discreetly between stems, recognizing the name. “Your usual florist.”
“Yes.” Amber glanced away, her face going pink again. “But I asked for something extra-special.”
“This is.” Last night Audra made her own special request. God! What had she been thinking?
“You won’t say anything?” Amber asked. “About my paying special attention to Shaw?”
“No, of course not.” They all had their secrets—but she no longer hoped to see Kane to determine how theirs affected him. She wanted a few hours away from the resort and her recent memories of the place.
So, after a brief stop in her bungalow for a shower and to change out of her athletic clothes, a car service took her to downtown Santa Barbara.
Wandering through the small boutiques and past the delectable eateries gave Audra a much-needed break. She lost herself among the other tourists, breathing in salty, sun-filled air and ordering both a churro and a chocolate chunk ice cream cone. As she passed a narrow side street off the main shopping boulevard, her eye caught on a familiar name.
The florist used by the resort.
Nothing soothed her better than cool, flower-scented confines, so she didn’t hesitate to enter the shop. Bells rang as the door swung shut behind her. A friendly looking woman at the counter glanced up as Audra pulled in a deep breath. Aaah.
“Can I help you?” the woman asked, her fingers tying off the wrap of a boutonniere without even looking.
Me and Mr. Jones Page 15