by Willa Blair
With a wicked smile, she lifted and lowered herself.
His eyes squeezed shut and his jaw clenched. With only a few more strokes, his head arched back, and his hands, which had been guiding her up and down, slid up to squeeze her breasts and thumb her nipples.
Makenna reached behind her to fondle his sac. With a groan that vibrated through her, Tom came, and she rode him until his muscles unclenched and his eyes opened.
“I could get used to this,” she murmured, leaning forward to drop a kiss in the center of his chest. She felt his chuckle in her core before she lifted off him.
“I hope so. I already have,” he answered as he removed and disposed of the condom.
“So ye’re already taking me for granted, are ye?” She let her grin soften the snark, and stretched out on his body, reveling in his sheer masculine hardness and heat.
He smiled and lowered his lids, his gaze following his hand over her shoulder to the swell of her bottom, his hand smoothing over her curves. “Never.”
She settled her head on his shoulder, inhaling his salty, male musk. On impulse, she licked up his throat. Definitely salty, but the taste made her body start to thrum all over again. What was it about this man? She’d never been so aroused in her life. She licked again, then shifted over to lick and nibble at his earlobe. She felt him harden underneath her.
“Makenna…it’s too soon.”
“Wheesht. Let me taste.” He relented as she licked her way down his chest, pausing to pay special attention to his flat nipples. She took her time, moving lower still, tracing each ridge of muscle over his ribs and belly, listening to his breath catch and speed up as she touched him. His eyes widened when she let her hair drape his thighs, her movements making it slip across his skin. Then she bent to him. Semi-rigid until her tongue swirled around his length, he went hard, lightning fast. With a moan, she took him into her mouth and swirled her tongue around him again, enjoying the salty tang, the length and thickness. He bucked and thrust, muscles clenching under her hands as she teased, stroked and fondled. She continued to torment him, playing with fire, until he went rigid all over.
“Keep doing that,” he ground out, “and I won’t be able to stop…”
She gently squeezed his balls while she ran her tongue along his length. “Did I say I wanted ye to?” She traced the edge of her teeth lightly along his length.
With a hoarse oath, he came. It took a while, but when his breathing steadied, his eyes finally opened, and he gave her a lazy smile. “Amazing. You’re amazing.”
“And don’t ye forget it.”
“How could I? Come here.” He tugged her up and tucked her against his side, pulling the covers up with her.
Makenna snuggled against him. It had been too long since she’d enjoyed the simple pleasure of being held by a lover. Of course, none had done for her what Tom did. She took a deep breath of his scent, trying to memorize every nuance.
“Are you okay?”
“I couldn’t be better,” she sighed and realized the truth in her words. She had fallen in love with this man. Not the fairy tale prince. The Tom who’d taken the time to get to know her, who’d come to her shop to chat with her every morning, miles from home, then taken her all over this side of the island. The man who’d shared his joy in spending time on the water, and taught her to surf. The man who treasured beautiful things…and people.
Only one thing bothered her. He’d hidden all this from her—his wealth, the house, the car, even his taste in beautiful art and artifacts—behind his board-shorts and T-shirt persona.
Was he hiding anything else?
****
A week later, Tom sat at his office desk, attempting to work. His mind kept wandering to Makenna. The past week with her had been even more satisfying than he’d expected. She played as hard as she worked, and matched him, passion for passion, no matter where he took her or what they did together. He’d never been so impressed with or entranced by any woman. As his attachment to her grew, so did his worry things were moving too fast. And somehow not fast enough. The mere thought of her hair brushing his thighs made him rock hard. The memory of her mouth on him, of plunging into her while she moaned his name, nearly made him come. He was hooked on Makenna Stewart more thoroughly than he’d ever imagined he could be with any woman.
He nearly jumped out of his skin when the phone buzzed and his secretary announced, “James Barton’s on line one for you.”
He crashed back to reality and picked up the phone on his desk. “Jim. What can I do for you?”
“Sell me those three buildings you own on the north end of Ali’i Drive. I’ve got a project in mind they’d fit into nicely.”
Tom struggled to focus. “This is sudden. I haven’t considered putting them on the market.”
“I don’t want you to put them on the market. I want you to sell them to me. I’ll give you a fair price and then some.”
Tom leaned back in his chair, his mind a blur. Sweetie Pie occupied the ground floor in one of those buildings. “What are you planning to do with them?”
“Oh, don’t worry about buyer’s remorse. I plan to tear them down and start over. It’s a great location for condos and I can get the zoning for the whole parcel.”
Tom grimaced. If he needed ready capital, here it was—all he could want and more. He’d known Jim Barton for years. The man played fair and paid well. But if Tom sold to him, Sweetie Pie wouldn’t last another month, much less a year.
Could he do that to Makenna? She’d gotten the bakery off to a great start, and justifiably took pride in what she’d accomplished. Hell, he was proud of her, too. She wasn’t afraid of hard work. But he was proud of Josie, too, and wanted to create a permanent after-school facility for her and the keiki who depended on her to keep them off the streets. He needed to think about this. Jim might want a snap answer, but in this case, he wasn’t going to get one.
“Let me run some numbers and get back to you,” Tom finally said.
“I’ll send you the paperwork with an offer. Let me know what you think.” Barton clicked off.
Damn. Tom punched in Jason’s number. Before he decided to destroy Makenna’s dream, he’d better find out exactly what those three buildings were worth.
Chapter Five
When Tom showed up in full business attire at Sweetie Pie the next morning, Makenna guessed something was wrong. Her easy-going surfer-dude had been replaced by a tense man in a suit. Suddenly a little anxious, she came around the counter, took his hand, and leaned in for a kiss. “Are ye well? Can I get ye something?”
“We need to talk,” he said. “Can you get away for a few minutes and walk with me?”
“Aye. Let me tell Kerry to watch the front.” She ducked into the kitchen and warned Kerry she’d be gone for a few minutes then rejoined Tom. His expression hadn’t changed. He looked as somber as he had when he first arrived, only now, his arms were crossed over his chest.
Silent and grim, he took her hand and led her toward the pier. She tensed against the staccato of her pulse and told him, “Surely whatever it is canna be so bad?” Had someone died? Was he leaving Kona? She couldn’t imagine what would make him act this way.
When they paused for traffic to pass before crossing the street, Tom finally spoke up. “I…I own the building Sweetie Pie is in. And the ones around it.”
“Nay. My lease is with…”
“One of my companies. That’s not important right now. I…don’t know how to tell you this. I’ve gotten a good offer, no, a great offer, to buy these buildings. An offer that will let me go forward with several other projects I couldn’t start without the extra capital.” He took her arm and escorted her across the pavement. “But the buyer will tear these buildings down to put up condos.”
They’d reached the pier. Makenna could see the curve of the shoreline and the buildings stretching along it to the south. Ocean brine and the smell of fish filled her nose. She feared she’d always associate those odors with this moment, along with the hollo
w ache in her belly. Tom would destroy Sweetie Pie before she even got it going? She couldn’t believe her ears. A nonsensical thought diverted her for the split second she badly needed to reach for some equilibrium. Maybe she should have used more of Auntie’s secret ingredient in the muffins she fed him.
“Ye will sell?”
“I would be foolish to pass up such an offer.”
“And ye are no fool.” She turned her face into the wind, hoping it would dry the tears gathering in her eyes before he noticed them. He might not be a fool, but she was. She thought she’d learned her lesson in Scotland. She’d come to Hawaii to be her own boss. After Angus MacElin, she never wanted to be under another man’s thumb. Especially not a man she became involved with. She’d made a point of owning all her equipment, her ovens, her walk-in cooler, display cases, tables and chairs. She couldn’t afford a building, so she’d accepted a lease with options to extend. It ran for the rest of the year, which would buy her some time. But nay, she suddenly recalled the clause stating the owner could give forty-five days’ written notice to vacate in the event of the property being sold. The leasing company rep had assured her no one who owned those buildings would ever sell them, not with the prime location they occupied. But Tom intended to do exactly that. Sell the building right out from under Sweetie Pie.
At least this time, she hadn’t been aware the man she’d given her heart to had such power over her career. Her life. All her dreams. Even when she found out about his wealth, she still believed being her own boss and running her own business put her on an equal footing with him. Turns out, she was only his tenant. “So ye will destroy me.”
“What? No! We’ll find another location for Sweetie Pie. A better one.”
“Will we?”
“I own other buildings.”
“Until ye get a great offer on them, and ye sell them as well.” Makenna’s stomach churned. “I thought I meant something to ye, but I see yer business is more important, and means more than I could ever mean to ye.”
“Makenna…” Tom reached for her but she stepped back, unable to bear his caress.
“Dinna touch me. In fact, dinna come near me again. Leave me be. And get yer morning coffee somewhere closer to home.” Barb thrown and relationship terminated, she turned and stormed back to Sweetie Pie. She’d keep it going for as long as she could. Then what? Try again elsewhere in Kona? Or return to Scotland?
****
Tom stared out over the water, his back to the view of Kailua-Kona’s palm-lined shore, a cold, empty pit where his heart used to be. He’d wanted to go after Makenna, but her stiff posture and hurried gait made it clear she didn’t want him to follow. He knew she would take news of the impending deal badly, but he thought she’d have the sense to accept his offer to help her relocate. This deal was simply business, dollars and cents, nothing more.
He wasn’t trying to destroy her.
What in hell’s name had made her think that? After everything he’d done for her? The time he’d spent with her? The things they’d done together? Not to mention he’d never had such great sex. He loosened his tie and rested his hands on the railing, gripping it until his knuckles turned white, wishing he could crush the steel under his hands, and his pain with it. Why would she immediately assume he wanted to punish her? He’d offered to find her another location, not to put her out of business and walk away. She could start over. She’d made a bigger adjustment when she came to Kona from Scotland. He’d be helping her this time, too.
Scotland. He turned and looked back the way she’d gone, but she had already fled out of sight. Had something happened there to drive her this far from home? Something bad, not just an opportunity to live near her mother’s family? He was a fool. Of course something must have happened. She never talked about the restaurant she’d left, or the chef she worked for, and had refused to answer the one time he’d asked. Kerry had told him Makenna’s boyfriend had suddenly broken up with her and left town. He wondered if the two were connected.
Memories of Makenna’s smile as she talked to customers at Sweetie Pie, her pride in what she’d created there, haunted him. Could he really take away everything she’d worked for and make her go through building her business all over again?
He did care for her, despite what she’d assumed. In fact, he loved her, and his heart swelled with the realization. More than she knew. More than he’d known, until just now. He’d gladly buy her a new building. A hundred of them, if he could.
But he turned back to the railing, thoughts churning. The sharp businessman in him wanted this deal. Needed it. Could he find a way to have it all?
****
A new month meant new beginnings, right? Tom looked at the date on his phone. February sixth. He realized he’d broken the news to Makenna on the first day of the month. Helluva new beginning there. And now, he’d spent nearly a week without seeing her. Missing her. He’d finally done something about the mystery of why she’d left Scotland. He’d searched online for information about her, and when he found an article in her hometown paper, the reason for her reaction to his news hit him like a surfboard to the back of the head. Something bad had happened, all right. Some man had happened. The local celebrity chef she worked for suddenly closed his restaurant to move to Edinburgh, leaving her behind. Tom could read between the lines. Her boyfriend’s sudden disappearance and this? She’d been betrayed by the man she cared about—and worked for.
No wonder she wanted to be her own boss. No wonder the news had devastated her. The next man she’d gotten involved with had full control over the survival of her business—and by extension, her success. She’d come halfway around the world to start over. Without meaning to, without knowing it, he’d done much the same thing to her as the chef had done. He’d hurt her in more ways than he could have imagined.
Could he salvage anything from the disaster he’d unwittingly created? Even if he found a place for Sweetie Pie, would she trust him with her dream? Those questions plagued him as he searched for a way to make things up to her. He’d spent nearly a week paddling in circles over whether to accept Jim’s offer, delaying, and trying to find a way to make a deal that worked for Makenna. For Sweetie Pie. Nearly a week of never catching a wave.
Jim was patient, but he wouldn’t wait forever. If Tom knew him as well as he believed he did, Jim had an alternate location lined up in case this deal fell through.
Normally, Tom would have taken the deal without a second thought. He was a good businessman, and this deal was good business. But this time, the deal wasn’t so simple. This time, Sweetie Pie’s future was involved, and this time, Makenna would get hurt. He couldn’t live with that. Even if she wouldn’t see him, wouldn’t talk to him, even if her anger that he even considered closing the deal lasted the rest of their lives, he could not—would not—do this to her. He had come to the conclusion selling the building on Highway 11 was his best bet to accomplish his goals. After telling him the commercial market was down, Jason would give him fits over putting it up for sale now. Yeah, he would lose some money on the deal, but he’d realized over the last few days of not seeing Makenna, talking to her, making love with her, she meant so much more to him.
He had to get her back. He’d crawl back if she demanded it. Over a solid flow of sharp-as-a-razor a’a lava, if necessary. But not until he had something worked out to save Sweetie Pie and take care of Josie and the kids, too. If he tried to talk to Makenna before he had a solution in hand, he would only make things worse. Nothing he could say would heal the rift between them if his plans still threatened her dreams.
But damn it, even if he sold the building and had plenty of ready capital, none of what he considered prime locations for her business were available, and none offered better tourist access and foot traffic than where she was right now. He ran a frustrated hand through his hair then grabbed the phone on the first ring, not giving his secretary a chance to pick it up. He didn’t care who was calling. He needed a distraction.
“B
ensford Realty,” he bit out.
“Tom, is that you? Greg Pearson, here.”
“Greg, yes. My uh, my secretary stepped out. What can I do for you?”
“Look, I know it’s not on the market right now, but I’ve got a client interested in the area you’re living in. Your house might suit them. They’re willing to make an offer and negotiate timing. Can I send it over? I think you’re going to want to study it.”
Tom scrubbed a hand over his face, glad Greg couldn’t see him. “Sure, I’ll look at it.” As distractions went, this wasn’t great, he thought as he hung up, but he’d welcome anything to get off the hamster wheel of searching for a suitable place for Sweetie Pie.
The more he thought about options, the more he realized he had his answer. He picked up the phone and started making calls.
Chapter Six
Though heartbroken this would be the only holiday for Sweetie Pie, Makenna had put up the decorations she’d purchased for Valentine’s Day. They gave the bakery a pink and frilly look out of character with its sun, sand and surf location, but she couldn’t help liking them. The irony, of course, was not lost on her—the holiday celebrating love coming on the heels of losing Tom. She missed his smile and banter first thing in the morning. And she hadn’t been near a surfboard in more than a week. Work sustained her, but she knew the clock was ticking down on Sweetie Pie, and the thought of moving to a new location weighed on her. She hadn’t found a suitable place yet. When she wasn’t at Sweetie Pie, she was out scouting realtors, and she’d recruited Auntie Leila to the cause, which meant cousins she hadn’t even met yet were talking to everyone they knew. Something would come up…eventually.
Who knew when she’d be notified to vacate, but she expected a letter any day now from Tom’s leasing company—not from him. She’d warned him to stay away from her, but it still hurt that he had.
Disgusted with her maudlin mood, she ripped open a box of candy hearts and scattered them on top of the bakery counter. The printed sayings mocked her. Kiss me. Be mine. Luv 4ever. Even Sweetie Pie. Suddenly, it all hurt too much. Makenna rushed to the back before tears started falling.