One Taste

by Cari Quinn

  He turned to her, their shoulders brushing as he read. “That’s it again. There isn’t a legal way for a client list to be given in a sale. Not unless the clients knew ahead of time and agreed to let the contracts be bought out.”

  “And do you think they would?”

  Shane’s brows snapped down as he focused on her face instead of the papers. Anger burned bright and fierce in his eyes. Instinct told her to take a step back. He looked dangerous and more than a little scary. Instead, she laid her hand on his forearm. His muscles vibrated under her touch.

  “Shane?”

  “I’m going to kill him.”

  The papers shook in his hands. He dragged a deep breath through his nose and placed the papers on the table. He thumbed through, and the name flew out. How had he missed it? He’d read the damn contract at least seven times, and still he’d refused to see the obvious.

  “Shane?”

  “Goddamn Kain.”

  Confusion darkened the espresso brown of her eyes. “Who’s Kain?”

  “My fucking best friend.”

  “What does your best friend have to do with this?”

  He fisted his hands. “Evidently…everything.”

  Shane paced the length of the boardroom. He couldn’t believe Kain would do this to him. First his father left him completely out of the loop about just how bad things had gotten, and now his best friend since eleventh grade betrayed him as well?

  “Shane, you’re going to have to dumb it down for me. I don’t know who your best friend is.”

  He whirled on her. Anger threw spots in front of his eyes. Days of no sleep and living on coffee churned in his gut. And now her. Another secret. Just how many people in his life were going to lie to him? She was so goddamned innocent in all this. He stalked to her, pushing her back with every step he took. “I’ve known him since I was sixteen. We played ball together, for fuck’s sake. And his family’s the owner of the largest construction company in Hawaii.”

  Kendall put her hands up to fend him off, but he kept advancing. “What does that have to do with buying Justice Construction?”

  “Everything,” he snarled. He knew Kain could be ruthless about getting a toehold in California, but this? Rage rode him hard, and instead of panic, her chin lifted in defiance.

  “From your reaction I’m going to say you’re super pissed off.”

  “Not one thing has made sense to me today.”

  Her gaze dropped to his mouth as she reached behind her for the bookcase that lined the wall. Her attention darted back up to his eyes. Her chest heaved, and her nipples tightened under her blouse.

  The slap of her apple scent threw him off. He grasped her upper arms. The silk of her blouse crumpled under his hands; her skin was warm and disturbingly fragile. He had no business touching her, but her huge doe eyes pulled at him.

  “Shane?”

  He hauled her up onto her toes and slanted his lips across hers. Taking, not asking. She sucked in a breath, her jaw slackened in shock. And bastard that he was, he took advantage. He wanted to feel something beyond the chaos. Even the slap of her hand again if that was what he got.

  He swiped his tongue into the warmth of her mouth and slid along hers. She sagged against him. He transferred his grip onto her hips. Instead of pushing him away, she wound her arms around him. The fierce scrape of her nails through the short hairs along his nape snapped whatever leash he had left.

  She held on, crushing her chest into his. He backed up, lifting her into his arms. Blind with the anger that transferred into lust, he acted on instinct. From the moment she’d walked up to the house, he’d wanted to know just how she tasted. The bitter edge of coffee and the sweet tang of the melon she’d eaten drew him in, and he wanted more. He sucked her tongue into his mouth and was rewarded with a moan of surprise.

  She opened wider, and they fought for a deeper taste. The scrape of her teeth along his lower lip ended in a nip that left his lip and his cock throbbing.

  He hoisted her onto the table and jerked her skirt up. She lifted her legs around his hips and pulled at his shirt. “This is just sex.”

  He nodded. He could live with that. He wanted to lose himself in the uncomplicated mechanics of pleasure. Even if it was just ten minutes, he wanted to empty out his brain and feel something else.

  She slid her hand under his shirt, loosening the buttons from the bottom up. Her angel-soft hair fell forward. The strands were at least a yard in length and teased around his wrists at her hips. He wrapped a hank of it around his hand and pulled her neck back. He sucked on the fragile skin at her collar and up to her jaw. Her nails bit into his belly, and he bunched his muscles under her attack.

  Fuck.

  Little Kendall had some claws. She finally got his shirt open and wiggled out from under his mouth. She fisted her hands into his shirt and pushed it off his shoulders. He still held her hair in his hands. The surprisingly heavy strands tangled around his fingers, ensnaring him all the more. Open-mouthed kisses turned into nips at his chest. He tightened his hold on her hair, unprepared for her aggressive nature.

  His dick went from half-hard to a steel tent under his dress pants.

  She tugged forward until she could taste him again. She flicked the pads of her thumbs over his nipples, and he hissed. “Christ.”

  She looked up at him as her tongue swirled around the tight disk. “You’re not the only one who could work out some anger.” She nosed over to the center of his chest and gently ticked her fingernail along the beads of his mother’s rosary. It was as much a part of him as his skin. She traced the center medal and moved on to his other pec. He hissed when she nipped again.

  “Leaving marks?”

  She smiled and wrapped her teeth around the muscle until the indent made him groan. “I think I like angry sex. This is my first time.”

  He arched a brow. “First?”

  Her hand slid into his pants. “Not that kind of first.”

  He sucked in a breath as she gripped the base of his cock. He’d expected fumbling fingers and nervous excitement, not this. Not a woman with sure hands who knew what she wanted. He lowered his head and took her mouth. The kiss was hot and deep and carnal. With each pump of her hand he grunted into her mouth. Finally he detangled his hand from her hair and slid his thumb over the line of her panties against her inner thigh. She undulated on the table until he cupped her. He broke away from her mouth, and again the nip of her teeth set his control on edge.

  He was used to taking the lead. He got off on watching a woman’s eyes burn hot with excitement. But he couldn’t read Kendall. Her gaze was intense and wary and seemed to be on the knife-edge of control like he was.

  She fisted his shaft and dragged her thumb under the head of his cock. He jerked her panties aside. Finesse was as absent as his control. He nudged two fingers inside her. She clamped down on the invasion, and he groaned. He wanted her to close around his cock like that. Wanted it more than breath.

  But he levered himself inside her again and again. The tissues of her pussy softened and swelled. He rolled his thumb under her hood and found her clit. She jerked against his touch. He followed her hitching gasps, making tight circles until her head fell back and her fingers grew slack on his shaft.

  “Tighter,” he growled into her ear.

  She fumbled with his zipper, pushing his boxer briefs aside. “Tighter here?” She cupped his balls, then vised the base of his cock.

  He groaned and pushed himself into her hand as he sawed his fingers in and out of her slick folds. He swiped his tongue along the smooth column of her throat. “It will feel even tighter in here, I bet.”

  She sucked in a sharp breath as he pulled out of her. He pushed up her blouse, then flipped the cups of her bra on the trip up. Small and firm, her breasts barely filled the palms of his hands. She leaned back on the table and continued to rock his cock between her fingers. He braced his hands on her lower hips and dug his fingertips into her ass as he closed his lips around her ni
pple.

  She arched, panting with each drag of his tongue and teeth over her tight little nipples. Soft pink deepened with the angry scratches from his beard. He liked his marks on her. “Do you like it rough, babe?”

  She shuddered. Her grip on his cock was erratic.

  “Kendall?”

  She opened hazy, dark eyes. She stared down at him as he sucked her nipple harder. One hand slid into his hair and held him tight. “God, yes.”

  “Yes, you like it rough?”

  “I’ve never had it like this.”

  He tongued her nipple. “Do you want me inside you?”

  “If you don’t have a condom, I’ll probably kill you.”

  He laughed for the first time in days. He gentled his tongue along the underside of her breast before nipping over the hard tip again. “Wallet.”

  His cock slid free from her hand as she fished into his back pocket.

  “Not that one?” She gripped his ass.

  “No,” he growled.

  He cupped her breast and scraped the edge of his nail over the rigid center. She gasped out a shout and unearthed his wallet from his other pocket and dumped it on the table. She pushed him away and shimmied out of her panties. “Hurry.”

  He flipped his billfold open. Christ, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d had to use his emergency condom. He pushed down his pants and underwear and sheathed himself.

  She widened her legs. He pulled her closer to the edge of the table and guided the head of his cock along her swollen lips. She placed her hands behind her back for leverage. With her shoulders thrust back, her breasts lifted. Fuck, she was too pale and lovely to be this wild. Her mouth was ravaged from his, and her dark eyes were heavy-lidded, but there was definite excitement glittering there.

  His cock throbbed. His entire focus was getting in between her sweet thighs. He lowered his mouth to one tight tip as he teased her with another swipe.

  Her hand slid between them to guide him inside, but he wasn’t ready to end the teasing. He jerked her hand behind her back and braceleted her wrists. “Not so fast.” Her eyes widened, and her shoulders bowed. But there was no censure in her gaze. She bit her lower lip and smiled up at him. He tightened his grip, and she ground her pelvis into him, forcing him in another inch.

  “What did I say?”

  She rolled her hips with a laugh. “I don’t care what you say. I want you inside me.”

  He grabbed his shaft and slid up and down through her slick folds. “What if I’m not ready?”

  She reversed the roll, and he couldn’t stop the forward motion this time. She grasped around him, sucking him into a fisting warmth he wasn’t sure he ever wanted to leave. She winced, and he stopped.

  “Kendall?”

  “Keep going.” She panted.

  He tried to back up, but she wrapped her legs around his hips and dragged him inside until he was balls-deep. She cried out. He stilled inside her. The throb of her muscles vising him strained his control. He wanted to do it again, to watch her take all of him again. Her hands splayed under his grip against the table.

  Her chest heaved. “More.”

  He slipped out of her and rocked forward again. She clasped tighter. “Fuck,” he muttered against her neck and repeated the motion. Heat and pleasure swelled inside him, around him, and fueled him. He let go of her arms and thrust into her once more. He couldn’t get enough.

  Ferocious need seemed to mirror hers. She grasped his shoulders so tightly the bite of her nails ratcheted up the tension between them until there was nothing but sweat, the groan of the table bearing their weight, and moans.

  “God, that’s so good. More,” she gasped.

  He wasn’t sure how much more he could give her, but he increased his pace. The dark slide of madness closed in on him. His grip along her hips was punishing, but he couldn’t stop.

  She bumped her hips up on each full thrust inside her, and the friction of sweat and her excitement heated the air between them. Her cries pushed him for more. The sweet sound of her moans was all he could cling to as he held on through the lava-hot tingles rocketing up his spine.

  “Fuck,” he growled.

  She shuddered. The vibrations shook him as he chased her clasping pleasure until it wrung him dry.

  Slowly her legs slid down to hang off the table. She pressed her forehead to his shoulder, and the way she trembled made him want to cuddle her close. But this was just sex. Two people riding anger and grief and possibly a little hate. He didn’t want to confuse things.

  He held tight to the condom and pulled out of her. With her warmth gone, the emptiness returned twofold. At least now he was just too fucking tired to hold on to the anger. Her hair fell forward, and he couldn’t read her. Would there still be a sly smile filled with pleasure? Or would it be one of regret?

  She hopped off the table and swayed once before he caught her. She hid behind her shield of hair, turning away from him to pull her skirt down.

  “There’s a bathroom through that door.”

  She nodded and didn’t say a word before grabbing her panties off the chair and fleeing through the door.

  With a sigh, he took care of his condom. Every bit of those last fifteen minutes was ill-advised. So why did he want to chase after her and do it again?

  Chapter Three

  Kendall slumped against the door. Her thighs were still quaking, and she was pretty sure her system hadn’t quite caught up to the fact that she’d just gotten fucked within an inch of her life. Because there was no mistake; that had been sex in its purest and most basic form.

  God.

  And she had loved every second of it.

  Twenty-seven years of playing it safe, of doing exactly what she was expected to do, and no one was here to see just how far she’d gone off track. She didn’t have to tell anyone. It was insane, but the thrill of it still coursed through her veins.

  If this was what drugs felt like, she understood why people did them.

  Her skin buzzed, and she was pretty sure she was going to have a few creative bruises.

  She looked down at her wrists. Deep red marks stained her skin where his thumbs had bitten into her when he’d clamped her hands together. He’d surprised the hell out of her when he’d done it, but the quick shock had bumped up the excitement to another level.

  A dangerous one.

  A stupid one.

  But God, she wanted to be stupid for once.

  She moved to the mirror and had to lean over the sink. Her thighs still shook, and every part of her felt stretched to the limit. She forced herself to look up. Her lips were raspberry red, and her chin was raw. She touched the abraded skin. Flashes of his ardent mouth let that firefly loose again. She pressed a hand to her belly, then up to her tender breasts.

  She’d never been so deliciously taken. Ever.

  Allowing herself a few minutes to freshen up, she stepped into her panties and faced the door. Now she just had to figure out a way to act like having sex with a man she’d known less than twenty-four hours wasn’t a big deal. Oh, and not look like a whore at the same time.

  Piece of cake.

  She thumped her forehead against the door and took a deep breath. She swung the door open and froze. Shane’s shirt was still open, though his pants were buttoned and zipped. The light thatch of hair at the center of his chest arrowed down over his ridiculously tight abs. He definitely didn’t have the body of a man who spent time behind a desk.

  But it was the rosary that did her in.

  It was so old. The chain and the beads were antique and settled against his skin as if they were simply part of him. He pulled his shirt closed. When he looked up and continued to slip the tiny disks through their holes, her heartbeat roared in her head. His golden eyes were wary and yet still filled with heat. She swallowed the nerves that blasted into her belly and walked out with her head held high.

  “So what’s the plan?” she asked. He looked at her with that eyebrow raise she was coming to expect.
Evidently he didn’t want to waste words.

  He glanced at his watch. “I think we need to go and talk to Kain.”

  “Tonight?”

  “It’s not that late, East Coast girl.”

  For her it was well after ten, but she supposed he was right. “Well, if I’m not going back home, I’ll need some supplies.”

  He nodded and jangled keys in his pocket. “Let’s go.”

  She folded her arms over her stomach and followed. His stride was long and purposeful. He shrugged into a leather jacket that had seen more years than anything in her closet. When he barely stopped at the door for her, she quickened her pace. Impatience surrounded him as surely as the battered leather.

  She was fairly sure that it wasn’t directed at her, but when he climbed into the truck without a backward glance, she didn’t waste time asking any more questions. She opened the passenger side door and swung her purse in. The truck was massive. Fortunately there was a running board and handle, because there was no graceful way to get in with her suit. She settled in her seat and reached for her seat belt. When she clicked it into place, she looked up. His gaze traveled up her thigh before she tugged her skirt back down to her knees.

  But there was no burn in his eyes this time. In fact, he looked even more pissed off.

  “What part of the construction business do you take care of?”

  “Evidently none of it.”

  The acid tone killed any future plans for conversation. He pulled down the drive and out onto the winding roads that led to the coast. The sun had long since set, but the roar of the surf against the shore was worth the drive. Lights dotted the horizon from slips and docks and the occasional boat on the water. Otherwise the ride was dark and quiet. Finally he snapped the radio on, and 30 Seconds to Mars pounded through the speakers.

  Leto’s harsh whispers suited Shane’s mood. She leaned against the door and studied his profile in the dim lights of the dash. She had a feeling that without the scruffy beard and buzz-cut hair he would be far prettier than he liked to own up to. His cheekbones were as sharp as his jawline, but she couldn’t stop thinking about his mouth. It was so wide and soft in contrast to the rest of him.