by Josie Kerr
“I’ll see you around the conference, Reynolds,” Cal couldn’t help but call as Topher stomped out the door. He made it until Topher was around the corner before he began chortling. “What a dick,” he said, turning to look down at Kat. Her expression killed the mirth in his throat. “Um, Kat?”
“You’re kind of a jackass, aren’t you?” Kat’s eyes flashed, and Cal had never wanted to kiss a woman more in his life than he did in that moment.
“Yeah, I am, but this jackass was serious about the dinner invitation.”
Kat smoothed the nonexistent wrinkles from her skirt as she stood at the entrance of the hotel’s supper club, waiting for Cal to appear. She was early—like, really early. Early enough to have had two strong cocktails at the pub across the way before coming here, which might not have been such a good idea, because she had a tendency to be a flirty tippler. Kat snorted. “Flirty” was an understatement, and considering that she’d practically pawed him on the airplane after having half a glass of wine, well, she probably needed to stick with tonic for the rest of the evening.
Oh, please, Kathleen, Kat’s bad angel whispered in her ear. Cut the crap. If there’s a time and place to be flirty-drunk, this is it. And you know that slab of Southern goodness that is Cal Harper is exactly who you need to slut it up with.
She’d been thrumming with anticipation since “the jackass” had convinced her that he really, truly was asking her to dinner and not just trying to piss Topher off. Kat shook her head with mortification. I can’t believe I said he was a jackass. Thank goodness Cal took her comment in stride. In fact, he seemed to readily accept her classification. She didn’t quite know what to think about that, so instead, she obsessed about what to wear, wanting to not look like the complete square that she was. She ended up choosing a bronze sequined skirt that was a bit too much for everyday wear, a tailored white blouse, and her favorite metallic heels. She even wore her hair down. She felt like a princess, or Cinderella on her way to the ball, or someone other than Kathleen Maeve Fahey, the bean counter.
She was just contemplating a run to the bar to have one more stiff drink when she saw Cal round the corner at a brisk trot. He wasn’t late at all, but she appreciated the fact that he wanted to be early. He halted in front of the bar, looked at his watch, and then glanced at the restaurant where she stood. Kat gave him a tentative wave, and Cal gave her the biggest, most appreciative smile she’d ever received. No one had ever smiled at her like that, and what was more, he kept that grin on his face as he crossed the big lobby.
“Should’ve known you’d be Punctual Patty,” Cal murmured after he brushed his lips across her cheek in greeting. “Boy, look at you.”
“Ta-da,” Kat did a little dance move, then grimaced. Oh God, Fahey, you are such a dork. But Cal didn’t seem to notice, because the grin was still there, and he couldn’t seem to keep his eyes off of her. “You clean up well yourself.”
And he did. As well as the jeans and Henley he was wearing earlier fit him, he was a man who was made for a suit. Or rather, the suit was most likely made for him, because the tailoring was impeccable. From the tip of his carefully shined shoes to the perfectly knotted silk tie, he looked every inch the epitome of a successful man.
Son of a ham sandwich.
“Shall we go in?” Cal grinned bigger, and Kat felt like laughing like a loon, so she just nodded and allowed him to guide her inside.
Get it, girl.
´*•.¸(*•.¸ *¸.•*´)¸.•*´
After a lovely supper where they’d explored more of the basics, Cal and Kat moved to the lounge and settled into a leather love seat with a bottle of whiskey, and they’d talked more, about more intimate subjects.
Cal couldn’t stop looking at or touching her. She was gorgeous and goofy, and sexy as hell, and he was absolutely smitten. The curve of her neck, her delicate earlobe, and the fine lines of her wrist proved irresistible—he couldn’t keep his hands off of her. Kat seemed to be afflicted with the same condition, because even as Cal peppered the length of her forearm with tiny kisses, Kat’s long fingers curled around the back of his skull and twined in his hair.
“Well, well, well, you two are looking very cozy.” That ass Topher loomed over their little nook, and once again, Cal itched to punch the guy in the gonads. “We missed you at the opening dinner. Mr. Harper, it was gracious of you to sponsor an event that you didn’t even attend.”
Cal did not loosen his grip on Kat’s wrist until she indicated that he should. She sat up and straightened her blouse, all the while keeping those exotic amber eyes fixed on the dick that seemed hell-bent on ruining their evening.
“Well, I like to do my part,” Cal drawled. “I would have gone to the dinner, but you know how it is: a bunch of self-congratulatory blowhards patting themselves on the back and trying to convince everyone, including themselves, that this whole thing is worth the outrageous fees they charge.” Cal risked brushing Kat’s fingers with his, and he saw the ghost of a smile and received a whisper of a touch back. Yeah, Kat was more than all right. “Though, the conference seems to have more intriguing attendees this year.”
“You’ll be at the follow-up meeting in the morning, Kat?”
Cal bristled at the other man’s tone, and he absolutely did not like the way Topher was looking at Kat nor the way that Kat wouldn’t meet Topher’s eyes.
She cleared her throat. “Yes, of course I’ll be there. The Wicklow Distillery account is the reason I’m here, right? I’ll meet you in the lobby tomorrow morning.”
Topher looked like he was going to say something else but thought better of it and simply nodded before walking away. After he was gone, Kat poured herself another whiskey and quickly downed it. Cal rubbed her back, and slowly she relaxed and sank into his side.
“He’s more than just a coworker, isn’t he?” Cal murmured the question against Kat’s hair as he tried to figure out the scent that permeated her auburn tresses.
“He’s my ex-husband.”
Cal was so shocked that he accidentally sucked a hank of her hair into his mouth. “Your ex-husband?”
Kat huffed a mirthless laugh. “Yeah. We got married right out of college. I’m better at my job than he is, and his parents like me more. I stayed on after the divorce was final on the condition that I never had to work directly with him. It’s worked out except for this last project.”
“Well, damn. How long . . . ?”
“Oh, we’ve been divorced for fifteen years. He gets some sort of perverse pleasure from parading his endless harem of bimbos through my office. He thinks it makes me jealous.”
“That dude is a grade-A dick and a fool to boot.”
Kat didn’t agree, but she didn’t disagree. “So, since we’ve broached this, Cal Harper, what about you?”
Cal grunted. Here goes. “The event I sponsored was supposed to be a delayed reception dinner.”
Her eyebrows arched. “Oh, really?” was her frosty statement. He couldn’t fault her. He would have had the same “What the actual fuck?” response at learning the person pawing him was recently married.
“It was over before it really began. I found out she was cheating on our wedding day. I never moved into the house I bought her, filed for divorce the Tuesday after the wedding—Monday was a holiday. I’ve been divorced for four months and twenty-nine days.”
Kat had been chewing on her lip while he was explaining his pitiful matrimonial history, and he couldn’t stand it anymore. He cupped her chin in his hand and thumbed her lower lip. She leaned into him, and Cal pressed his lips against hers.
“Kat.”
“Yes.”
“I want to ask—”
“I said yes, Cal.”
Cal grinned, and then he stood up. Kat’s eyes sparkled with mischief as she took his offered hand. She grabbed the bottle of whiskey off the low table, and they headed to the elevator.
Cal didn’t ask which room they should go to; he just swiped his key card and punched the button for th
e top floor, and Kat tried to appear nonchalant and breezily sexy, like she was used to accepting propositions from men like Cal Harper. She took a pull directly from the whiskey bottle as she watched Cal step toward her, and for the first time, she got the appeal of mirrors. Good Lord, he was sexy. Still buttoned up tight, he leaned over, plucked the bottle out of her hand, and took his own drink before leaning into her space and kiss-nipping her jaw.
The elevator chimed and the doors opened. Cal grinned crookedly and then surprised her by chastely kissing her hand. They walked arm in arm down the hall to Cal’s room, one of the two penthouse suites in the hotel. Cal opened the door and followed Kat inside. She stood in the center of the living room and gazed at the view through the French doors, her mind racing. Cal came up behind her, pulled her heavy hair away from her neck, and kissed that perfect spot that drove her crazy. How could he possibly know? Kat’s heart thumped hard in her chest.
“Darlin’, talk to me. What’s going through that head of yours?”
His question surprised her, and when he pulled her into his arms and tilted her face up with a gentle nudge, his gaze was soft and caring. “Kat, tell me what your concerns are.”
“I live in Boston. You live in Atlanta. You’re recently divorced. I’m just . . . a mess.”
“And?”
Kat blinked. “So this is probably a bad idea.”
Cal shook his head. “Darlin’, I beg to differ.” He smoothed her hair back again but didn’t make a move to kiss her. “You’ve lived your life coloring within the lines, doing what was practical and expected, right?”
Kat nodded. Cal pulled her close, one hand on her back, the other firmly planted on her ass. Kat could feel him, all of him. Then he murmured in her ear, “How’s that working out for you?” before placing another whisper of a kiss on her cheek.
He straightened up but didn’t let her go. In fact, he held her tighter, and Kat found herself snaking her arms around his neck and twirling her fingers through the hair that trailed over his collar.
“So I have a proposition for you, Miss Fahey: you and me, here and now. Not back home, not . . . whenever. How’s that sound to you? Because it seems just about perfect to me.”
“Yes.”
“Well then, come on, darlin’. Let’s have some fun.” With a big laugh, Cal picked her up and swung her around, ending in a dip worthy of the most romantic classic movies. He kissed her hot and sweet and then carried her into the bedroom.
“You sure about this?” he asked before he set her down.
“Absolutely,” Kat confirmed and made sure he knew with her own kiss.
Kat loosened his tie, her fingers fumbling over the perfectly tied knot.
“No hurries, darlin’. We have all the time in the world,” Cal reassured her, but now that she’d made her decision, she wanted him now.
“I have a proposition for you, Mr. Harper.” She’d gotten his tie off and was making quick work of the buttons on his shirt as Cal was stripping off his jacket. “You asked for ‘here and now,’ and I want to add ‘hard and fast.’ ”
His jacket off and dress shirt opened, Kat tugged up Cal’s singlet to run her hands over his bare chest. Cal wrapped his fist in her loose hair and pulled her in for a hard kiss. Kat wrested his shirt the rest of the way off, and Cal broke the kiss long enough to strip off the singlet.
She stood back to admire the half-naked man in front of her. Lean and fit, Cal had more ink than she’d imagined. Black and gray tattoos snaked around his torso and across his hairy chest, and Kat couldn’t wait to examine each one more closely. She ran her finger down his furred belly to his waistband, and in a moment of boldness, she cupped his erection through his trousers.
“Babe, if this is your version of fast, going slow just might kill me,” Cal ground out.
Kat grinned, and with a little eyebrow wiggle, she quickly undid his belt and trousers and pushed them down. Cal laughed as he toed off his shoes and stepped out of the trousers.
“Oh.” Kat didn’t know what to look at first.
“Hold that thought, Kat.” Cal stripped off his socks and then hooked his fingers into the waistband of his boxer briefs. “Here goes nothing,” he said with a laugh and then dropped and stepped out of his briefs.
Now Kat really didn’t know where to look, but Cal apparently had other ideas.
“Give me your eyes, Kat,” he ordered, and she did.
Cal took her hands and, after placing a sweet kiss on each of her palms, pressed her hands against his chest. While Kat explored the hard planes of his torso, Cal began to strip Kat’s clothes away, starting with her blouse. His thick fingers deftly unbuttoned the diamanté buttons and undid the zipper of her skirt, and Kat soon found herself wearing nothing but her bra and panties, her necklace, and her high heels.
“Fuckin’ gorgeous,” Cal murmured as he bent to kiss the mound of one breast. “Absolutely gorgeous.”
Kat gripped one of his shoulders for balance while taking her shoes off, but Cal stopped her. “The shoes stay on, darlin’. I like that you can look me in the eye.”
Cal looked her over, his hands following his gaze, caressing her curves, removing the rest of her lingerie and replacing it with kisses. Kat’s body thrummed with lust, and when she was just about to scream with frustration, Cal dug a condom from the nightstand drawer and presented it to her.
Kat grinned and quickly rolled the condom onto his hard length.
“Wait. Hold up.” Cal chuckled. “That was . . . almost more than I could handle.”
Kat kissed him, softly at first, but then she took his bottom lip in her teeth and gently bit down. Cal took her cue, and Kat found herself under him, her back on the mattress. Cal kissed her throat as he slid into her, moving with languid slowness until Kat was vibrating with need.
“Gorgeous,” he whispered against her neck.
Kat ran a finger over the furrow in his brow. “What are you thinking about so hard? Oh God, Cal.” Kat arched her back, offering up her breasts when he dipped his head to nibble on one taut nipple.
His chuckle vibrated against her breast, but he still had a look of intense concentration. “Darlin’, I’m trying to last, but those little sounds you’re making are making it hard.”
“No pun intended, I’m sure,” Kat said as she squeezed her core around him.
“Shit, woman,” Cal grunted out. When Kat laughed, he grinned wickedly and kissed her hard. “You ready, babe?”
“Please,” she panted. “Please, please, please.”
Then he made good on his promise, bringing her over quickly and so hard that she thought she might have blacked out for a few seconds, before grinding out, “I can’t wait any longer, darlin’.” Seeing Cal take his pleasure from her body and hearing him roar as he climaxed was enough to bring Kat over again. They rocked against each other slower and slower as the ripples of their mutual pleasure subsided. Cal kissed that magic spot on her neck and murmured his thanks in her ear. Kat stroked his head, playing with the unexpected curl at the base of his neck.
“Be right back—girl business.” Kat gave him a peck on the cheek, and he gave her ass a little squeeze before she popped up and out of the bed. When she emerged from the bathroom, Cal was under the covers and was sitting propped up on the pillows with his hands behind his head.
“Oh, man. Now, that is a sight. You wearing nothing but high heels, a pretty necklace, and that gorgeous smile? Yes, please.” Kat blushed, which made Cal laugh. That rumbly sound made her weak in the knees. No, it made her want to do what they’d just done all over again.
Kat did finally kick her heels off before she got into the bed. She nestled into Cal’s side, and they shared a few long moments of soft kisses before falling asleep in each other’s arms.
Cal swore he heard a rooster crowing, but he kept his eyes screwed shut and tried to dive back into the dream that had him wrestling naked with a certain auburn-haired beauty, a beauty who had a tiny cluster of shamrocks on that soft space on the f
ront of her hip, which just happened to be his favorite part of a woman’s body. He couldn’t wait to examine that tattoo more closely. He smiled, and then he heard that damned rooster again, followed by a pulsing dance beat.
What the actual fuck?
He cracked open an eye and saw the real-life redhead fumbling with her phone, trying to turn off the disco rooster sounds that blared from it.
“Darlin’, what the ever-lovin’ hell is that noise?”
Kat shrieked, her phone went flying, the disco rooster began doing its groove thing again, and Cal wondered how his naked-wrestling dream had devolved into some sort of hick-hop dubstep nightmare. She scrambled over the bed and finally turned off the wretched alarm.
“Sorry, Cal. I sleep through most alarms, so I went looking for something obnoxious.” She grinned sheepishly, and it made Cal want to show her some of his naked-wrestling moves even more.
“Well, I think you achieved that goal, Kat,” he said with a chuckle. “Good mornin’, darlin’.”
“Good morning to you, too,” Kat said with a grin and a giggle. She slapped her hand over her mouth, but that just seemed to make her giggle more. Cal chuckled, and soon they were rolling around on the bed, laughing. Cal had her pinned down and was kissing his way down her body, bent on examining that tattoo, when Kat tweaked his ear.
“Ow!” Cal yelped. “I was just getting to the good part.”
Kat, who was now on her stomach and pulling the pile of clothes off the floor, turned and wagged a finger at him. “Cal Harper, you are a bad influence. I’m already going to have to do the walk of shame back to my room, which I haven’t done in probably twenty years, and if you keep up with your shenanigans, I’m going to be late to my meeting.”
“There’s no shame in my game, ma’am,” Cal managed to say with a straight face, which earned him an eye roll. Dang, she was even cuter when she was being sassy. Cal lay back and enjoyed the view of Kat adjusting her panties and bra, and he decided watching her get dressed was almost as fun as undressing her. Kat balanced on the end of the bed as she donned those high heels again. When she stood up, redressed but fresh-faced with her hair still wild, Cal’s stomach lurched because he knew she was leaving. Their “here and now” was coming to an end, and he didn’t want that to happen at all.