by Simply BWWM
Nicole pursed her lips and drew in a deep breath as she thought about it for a long moment. “Honestly, something in my heart feels hollow around him. The desire that I used to have for him is gone. There’s nothing for him inside me anymore; it’s like the remnants of a burnt house.”
She looked over at Jeffrey, wondering if anything that she said had made sense. He nodded and patted her hand. “Go with your feelings, darling. You’re so spot on about this one.”
He poured himself a glass of wine then, and she gave him a little smile. “How are things going with Pono? Are you still seeing him?”
Jeffrey’s cheeks turned a soft shade of pink and he grinned. “Yes. I’m really so very lucky. Things with Pono are going so well. We’re really happy.”
“I am so glad for you!” She grinned happily.
“Ai! Kids!” an old woman’s voice called out loudly to them. They turned and saw Auntie walking across the grass toward them, carrying a bag in her hands. Jeffrey zipped up out of his chair and went right to her, taking the bag and carrying it for her as she made her way to the deck to sit with them.
“Auntie gonna come have some beers with you.” She grinned and pointed to the bag. Jeffrey took her beer out and then disappeared into the house and came back a moment later with a frozen, frosty mug.
“Ah, you take good care of Auntie. Good boy.” She waved at him to sit down, and he did. She cracked her beer open and poured it into the frozen glass with a happy kind of moan. “This is good, huh? Paradise!”
She lifted her glass to toast them, and they cheered her toast and drank with her. Then, she smacked her lips and looked at them. “You two all settled in now?”
They nodded. “We are. We’re finding our way around the island too, which is nice. I’m starting to feel more like a local,” Nicole answered with a smile.
“Good. You a local now. You living here, you island people.” She took another good pull off of her beer. “You go see the rainbow eucalyptus yet?” she asked, giving them both an interested eye.
They shook their heads. “What’s a rainbow eucalyptus?” Jeffrey asked in fascination.
“Oh!” She was pleased that she could share something unusual and special with them. “Rainbow eucalyptus very special. Only grows in a few places in the world, all in tropical areas. Some on Maui, some here. Not on all Hawaiian Islands! It’s a eucalyptus tree, but when the outer bark peels off, there’s rainbow color on the inside! Like island magic! Mother nature painting beautifully.”
“Rainbow trees?” Nicole asked, wondering if Auntie was pulling her leg. She didn’t have to wonder for long. Jeffrey had his smartphone out in a second, and he was gaping at the photos that the search engine showed him of what a rainbow eucalyptus actually looked like.
“Are they really that colorful?” he asked in astonishment.
Auntie looked at the pictures on his phone. “Yes. They different though. Maui mostly have the blue and purple, I think, and Oahu , we mostly have the orange and green. You go see them.” She waved her beer in the air somewhere northward on the island.
“Where are they?” Nicole asked in fascination as she stared at the images.
Auntie smiled. “There some at the Dole plantation, almost on the north shore. You see them in the parking lot and on the grounds. Beautiful. Go see. Not everyone knows about them. They special.”
Nicole and Jeffrey both promised to go and see them. Auntie was watching them, and she took another long drink, smacked her lips again and then spoke with a little more seriousness to her friendly tone.
“I wish you both good luck in your love lives.” She nodded at them each.
“Our love lives?” Nicole asked in surprise. She wondered if Jeffrey had been sitting and talking with Auntie a little too much, but then she saw the surprise on his face and knew that he hadn’t been.
Nicole laughed ironically. “I have no love life.”
Auntie peered at her thoughtfully. “I know better. You will have a love life, and you going to have to make a good choice. The boy here is all set. Jeffrey doing it just right. You honey, you got choices to make.”
Nicole nodded slowly, impressed at Auntie’s perception. “You’re certainly right about that,” she agreed quietly.
***
The week flew past, and before she knew it, it was Friday, and she and Dane were on their way to New Zealand in the early hours of the morning. She had packed for just about anything that a long weekend in a foreign country could offer, and she knew that if she needed anything, she could buy it there. Her biggest concern wasn’t what she brought or didn’t bring; it was whom she was going with.
Dane had acted businesslike and professional with her from the moment he had picked her up at the house in a car with a driver. It had actually felt like a business trip to her, save for the tingling electricity that always seemed to flow through her when he was nearby.
They’d made it through security and were onboard the plane and heading out of the country in what seemed like no time at all. They ate a wonderful dinner on the plane, and she thought to herself that a meal as fine as the one they had could only have come on a private company jet, and she hoped that she would be able to use the jet anytime she did overseas business, because it was already the best flight she had ever had.
When the meal was done, she laid her wide, cushioned, leather seat back and it became a bed for her. She nestled under a luxurious blanket and slept until they arrived in Auckland, on the north island of the two-island nation.
A car and driver took them from the small international airport to a big house near a beach, where their luggage was taken inside for them. Nicole was stunned.
“I thought we would be at a hotel,” she said in surprise when they pulled up to the house.
Dane shook his head. “No, I thought this would be more comfortable. It’s similar to our business model anyway, so I like that about it too. People renting out private homes for others to stay in. Besides, this is an incredible house, and we practically have our own beach. There’s a swimming pool and a Jacuzzi off of the deck too.”
The house was multileveled, spreading over three stories that rose upward from the earth, leaving a slight allowance beneath the house for any kind of incoming tide greater than six feet above the normal high tide.
There were seven bedrooms, four bathrooms, a kitchen, dining room, entertainment room, an office, a small library, and a sunroom that opened up onto a big deck that wrapped around two sides of the house and faced one of the most beautiful bays that either of them had ever seen.
“I like it. No wait, scratch that, I love it,” Nicole told him with adamant approval.
“Oh good. I was hoping you would.” He winked at her. “So, I had a tour company here come up with an itinerary for us, so we have some fun things to do in between our business scouting for territory and options. I was thinking we could hike up Mount Eden to begin with.”
“You want to hike up a mountain?” she asked in surprise, though she realized immediately that she shouldn’t have been surprised at all; the man was in excellent physical shape. He could have been an underwear model if he had so chosen to be.
He looked hopeful. “Yeah, I guess it’s an extinct volcano, and it’s right in the middle of the city of Auckland. They say there are amazing views from there, and quite a big crater. I thought we’d give it a look, if you like.”
She felt a rush of excitement move through her. “I’d love that! Let’s go!” she agreed, and he had the driver take them to Mount Eden. They hiked together, gazing in wonder and delight at all of the natural beauty around them, talking about everything under the sun.
When they finally reached the top, they found a bench where they could sit, and they gazed out all around them for miles, taking in the magnificent view together. Dane reached for her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing the back of her fingertips.
“Thank you so much for sharing this with me. There’s no one else that I’d rather have here with me
. No one but you.” He gave her a smile, and she felt fire and electricity cruise through her like a twisting, wild river.
“I’m really glad that I get to be here with you too,” she told him, and she realized that she meant it. Aside from Jeffrey, there wasn’t anyone else she would want there at her side either, and Jeffrey was definitely a platonic friend.
They took some photographs of their surroundings and of each other, and as they turned to leave, he pulled her close to him and gave her a gentle smile, leaning close to kiss her lightly on the lips. She felt the same familiar strong pull toward him, but after the one kiss, he let her go, and she looked up at him questioningly.
“Just so that we can say that we’ve kissed someone at the top of Mount Eden, that’s all.” He gave her a wink, and she laughed as he took her hand and they headed down the mountain to the village below it. Mount Eden village was a small area in the heart of Auckland that was an enclave; a community unto itself, and it was filled with interesting shops, cafés, bakeries, and small businesses. They strolled through it together and had a coffee, before getting back in the car and letting the driver take them on a drive through the city, and then a longer drive to the north of the city, before looping and going far south of the city, and then bringing them back to the beach house again.
They’d had a very good look around the Auckland metro area, including the smaller towns in the outlying areas, and they had discussed a good deal of business in the car, talking about what their expansion in the city would look like, and how it could grow out of the bounds of the city to more rural regions nearby.
When they got back to the house, dinner had been prepared by a chef, and they were left to enjoy it alone together. They ate and talked, some about business, but mostly about their personal lives, from their childhoods and where they grew up to funny college stories and even some traveling adventures. With the meal done, he took the dishes to the kitchen, and they washed them together. Then, he asked her if she’d like to go for an evening swim in the heated pool.
A cool breeze swept in off the ocean, caressing their skin and cooling it as they swam here and there in the pool. The only lights on were the soft blue lights in the bottom, illuminating the pool in the darkness of night. A bright moon lit up the surface of the ocean, seeming to dance over the tops of the waves as they crashed into the shore.
Nicole swam to the edge and looked at the cityscape horizon not far from the house, shining and glittering in the night, the sky tower lit up brightly almost at the center of it.
Dane came up beside her and looked at it with her, and then he turned to face her. She had avoided looking at him as much as she could when he had come out of the house in his swim shorts. The mere sight of his body had made hers warm with want and need, and she had denied herself, and so made herself look at almost anything else.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it? And this was all your idea. We’re going to expand and grow here, and the business is going to do so well, and it’s all because of your expansion plan. I’m so glad that you’re at the company with us, but I’m even more glad that you’re here with me.” He gazed into her eyes, and she felt the gravity between them grow. She knew that there was no way she could back away from him.
He seemed to sense it as well, and he lifted his hand up and touched her cheek lightly, tracing his fingertips down the delicate line of it. “You take my breath away. Did you know that? All the time. From the first moment I ever saw you, you stole my breath away, and you’ve just kept on doing it over and over, every time I see you.”
She had no idea what to say, though there were things in her head that wanted a voice, that wanted to be said aloud, but none of them seemed to make it past her throat. Her lips parted, and the words remained stuck inside. Dane touched her lips with his fingertips, his face turning with the haunted expression that he sometimes got when he looked at her, and he hesitated a moment, but then he slid his arms around her and pulled her against him, closing his mouth over hers.
She kissed him back, though she knew that she shouldn’t. Her desire for him had taken a deep hold and insisted on overruling every logical thought in the back of her mind, arguing against any kind of further romance with her boss.
His tongue swept over hers and his arms tightened around her. She felt his hands close in her hair snugly as he kissed her more passionately, and then she felt him harden against her, and it made the flames of need in her ignite into a bonfire. She moaned softly, and he gasped. In the next moment, she felt the string tie of her bikini top go loose in the back, and a swirl of cool water rushed over her bare breasts.
Looking up at him in surprise for only a moment, she closed her eyes as his hands covered her breasts, squeezing them and bringing them each in turn to his hungry mouth. She wasn’t going to be able to stop, and quite to the contrary, with every sensual move of his tongue over her dark nipples, she only wanted him more.
Her hands lowered to his shorts, and she reached inside of them, closing her fingers around his shaft, massaging it firmly as he groaned deeply. He lost all control then and reached his hands to the sides of her face, holding it as he stared into her eyes.
“I need you. You have no idea how much I need you. Please… please come with me.” His voice was urgent, and she felt that same ache inside of her.
With only a nod, he understood, and he took her by the hand and led her out of the pool and into his bedroom. It was one of the bigger rooms in the house, and it held a large bed, much bigger than any that they had been in before, including the party.
He laid back in it, stretching his body out, and she brought her mouth straight to his erection, sucking at it and teasing him, tasting him and driving him wild until he closed his hands around her arms and pulled her up close to his chest. Bringing his hands to the backs of her thighs, he brought her knees up to his ribs and she hovered over his groin for a moment, long enough to stroke him a few more times before she pushed the tip of him into her, and they both lost their breath at the incredible and sudden rush of pleasure that it gave them.
She took her time lowering her body down over his as his hands carved over her breasts and legs, squeezing her hips as he helped to push himself up inside of her. When he was fully in her, they began to move together, and though she started out with a dominant grasp of his wrists held tightly in her hands, as they rocked with one another, their bodies beading with sweet sweat, their passions overwhelming them, he did something that he had never done with her before, and he rolled her over onto her back.
Surprised at his move, she watched him and saw that there was nothing but pleasure on his face as he thrust himself into her over and over again, and she wrapped her legs around him and drew him into her all the way.
Their breath grew short and their lovemaking hotter and hotter, until at last they cried out loudly and clung to one another in total release. He flooded her, and she knew she had never felt anything better as a woman in her life than what she was sharing with him.
As their bodies began to relax, he eyed her curiously and drew her into his arms and up against his chest. Giving her a light kiss, he spoke with a soft voice. “Stay with me. Stay here in this bed with me all night. Please. I know it’s not what we said we were going to do, but we haven’t done anything that we said we were going to do, and I want you here with me, in my arms, all night. Please say you will.”
She didn’t have to think about it at all. She smiled at him and leaned forward to kiss him. “Yes,” she answered with a little ribbon of surprise inside of herself. “I’d love that.” She kissed him long and slow, and not another two minutes later, he pulled her on top of him again, and thrust himself up into her once more.
They spent a long night holding each other tightly and burning through their shared passions, until weariness and sleep finally took them, and they lay with one another, sleeping in peaceful repose, until the morning light woke them, and he made love with her again.
As they sat together over breakfast, bot
h of them blissfully happy, she lowered one brow at him suspiciously and lifted her chin as she asked him something that had been at the back of her mind.
“Did you do this on purpose? Did you organize this whole trip here to New Zealand, and get this house and come with me just so we could… have a night like we had last night?” she asked, wondering just how crafty the man before her really was.
He looked at her innocently. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. This is a business trip. It’s had an amazing turn of events, and we’re lucky to have the house, but we’re here for business.” He looked like he almost meant it, and she laughed at him, knowing that he was going to act like everything was status quo.
They were taken to a small airport a while later and boarded a helicopter. The blades began to whir, and the chopper lifted off of the ground and tilted some, heading up the coast on the east side of the island, going north out of Auckland.
The view was spectacular, and neither of them had ever seen anything like it in their lives. Both of them were talking about the expansion and discussing different regions that they could see from the air, making notes, taking photographs, and even circling back two or three times to get a second look at the ground. A video was recording the whole flight so that Edward could see what they were working on when they took it back to him at the office.