Holiday Hookup

by Jamie K. Schmidt

  He pushed forward, his hips jerking in need.

  Selena sucked him as he slowly worked her with his fingers. Her wet, hot mouth was driving him crazy. He went back to her clit to make her just as frenzied as he was. Her sounds of pleasure were muffled, but when she came, her thighs pressed his hand, trapping it as she rode out her orgasm that had her swallowing reflexively.

  “Coming,” he gasped, trying to pull away.

  But she grabbed his ass and kept him there.

  Blaine’s entire body shook as she let him come. He was still moaning softly when her thighs released his arm and he slid out of her mouth.

  “I don’t have any condoms,” he growled.

  “In my purse,” she said, pointing.

  I love you.

  He almost said it. It would have been a reverent prayer, but not a joke. But it was too soon. He was too sexed up to be taken seriously. And yet, there was something about her that shook him. After putting on a condom, he walked to the foot of the massage table and yanked her to the edge.

  Selena gave a giggle that was cut off when he put her thighs against his chest and held them there while he thrust inside her. Tight heat engulfed his cock, and he lost himself in slow lovemaking. This was exactly what he needed.

  “Blaine,” she groaned his name, arching into each deep stroke.

  “Selena,” he groaned back. “You feel so damned good.”

  The sweet friction built up until he was impossibly hard. He rocked into her faster, making her breasts bounce in a rhythm that was driving him toward an explosive release. He could hear voices on the beach. The pavilions weren’t as private as being indoors, but Blaine was confident they wouldn’t be interrupted. Still, the slight possibility made the already exquisite feelings have a touch of danger to them.

  Selena’s hands clawed at the sheet underneath her. Her mouth opened wide in a silent scream and he watched the orgasm shake through her as he pounded into her with fast strokes. The sounds of her arousal and how she tightened around his cock eroded his control. Blaine took her harder and she arched her hips, the rest of her limp and shivering. Selena offered herself to him and he accepted the sweet surrender. He came growling like a beast, hoping no one would come investigate. Lights flashed under his eyelids and he forgot how to breathe as he came deep inside her. He could barely remain standing. Yet, he couldn’t leave her side.

  “That was incredible,” she sighed.

  He wasn’t sure he’d be able to form words. There wasn’t room for both of them on the table, so he picked her up in his shaking arms and lay down with her on the soft blanket covering the sand floor.

  They lay entwined in each other’s arms until Keoni said from outside the pavilion, “Uh, guys, if you’re still in there. I’ve got another appointment in five minutes.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  SELENA WAS FEELING so relaxed, she thought she would fall into a boneless heap. If Titus saw her right now, he would knew know that something was up. But Selena didn’t have it in her to care. She went upstairs with Blaine, holding his hand. She was looking forward to hanging out a little bit more with him.

  But as soon as they got up to the penthouse suite, he dragged out his laptop and looked up at her with puppy-dog eyes. Sighing, she plugged in her phone and turned it on so that it was a hot spot. She gave him the password. She didn’t know where Blaine got his energy, but the last thing she wanted to do was stare at a computer screen.

  She looked around the penthouse and noted that the cleaners had done a spectacular job as usual. She made a note to tell Titus what a good job they were doing. Titus tended to only care about the complaints, and not enough about when people were actually excelling at their jobs. That was another reason why she didn’t want to work here permanently. Seeing Titus on a day-in-day-out basis would have been terrible enough, but to always have to be worried that she wasn’t good enough or that she had to strive to do better and better each day? That was a pressure that she left behind her when she quit Bolete.

  “Can I get you something to drink?” she asked.

  “If you can put on a pot of coffee that would be great.” Blaine looked up briefly to smile at her before immediately going back to his computer.

  Selena wondered if she had made a terrible mistake. After making the coffee, she poured it into a carafe and brought it out to him. She handed him a large mug and then went out by the hot tub area. She would give him until dinner was ready. That would be a solid three hours. And then he was cut off for the rest of the day whether he liked it or not. Taking out her notebook, she started thinking about what Blaine had said about concentrating on her restaurant first and building it up, so that it could be franchised. It was so against what her life plan was, though. She had a hard time accepting that it would be a good thing to do. For the longest time, her plan was work hard, save money, go to Paris, graduate from Cordon Bleu and then the restaurant.

  It was a refreshing idea that her life could start any time or that it had already started, and she wasn’t aware of it.

  Dinner tonight was going to be the mahi mahi and pineapple salsa that she had originally planned for lunch, but she was stumped for a side dish. A salad was the obvious choice, but it didn’t spark within her. Dessert was going to be the leftover tart that they didn’t demolish last night after spending an enthusiastic time in bed. Flipping to Blaine’s lists, she saw he requested potato chips. And while the blue corn chips that Mikelina got him were tasty, they weren’t the same. She decided that she had slacked off enough today and Blaine deserved a treat. She would make fried potato chips to go with the fish.

  But first, she needed a nap. Jumping off cliffs and being made love to were hard work. Putting on a layer of sunscreen, she looked back and saw that Blaine was still hard at work. Feeling relaxed and hopeful about a possible new relationship with her life goals, Selena eased the lounge chair back and let the lingering afternoon sun bake into her.

  * * *

  The sunset and the slight chill in the air woke her. She had slept much longer than she had wanted to, and she hurried into action. Luckily, the mahi would only take a few minutes to cook.

  “Hey,” she said as she passed by Blaine to get to the kitchen.

  When he looked up, his eyes were tired. He had been frowning hard at the screen.

  “Is it time already?”

  “Almost,” she said. “I overslept. Are you hungry? If you don’t mind waiting, I can make potato chips to go with the fish. Or we can have a salad.”

  “Chips?” he said. “You had to ask?”

  “That’s what I thought. You’ve got an hour. So finish up what you’re doing because the internet is going down once dinner is down.”

  Blaine grunted. “Titus called a few times, but I let it go to voice mail.”

  “Good,” she said. “There’s nothing he needs to talk to me about. If it had been an emergency, he would’ve kept calling. How are things at the office?”

  “Not as bad as I thought they’d be,” he admitted. “But I’m glad I was able to take a look at the some of the code with fresh eyes.”

  “Sixty minutes and counting,” she said. “And then you’re cut off for the rest of the evening.”

  “Cut off?” He smirked. “As long as it’s just from the internet, that’s fine with me.”

  She felt herself blush at the hot look he gave her. “Yeah, just from the computer.”

  Retreating into the kitchen, she washed the potatoes and then cut them thin on the mandoline. She poured peanut oil into a deep-dish frying pan and waited for it to heat up. Once it did, she put a layer of the potato slices in until they browned and crisped. After placing them on a paper towel to drain off some of the oil, she repeated until she had a large bowl full. Satisfied, she dusted them with Himalayan salt and set them aside.

  After taking the mahi mahi filets out of the fridge, she dipped them i
n a bowl of whisked eggs and then into a plate with panko crumbs until they were evenly coated. She lightly coated the grill pan with olive oil and added the flaky fish.

  “Smells good,” Blaine said from the doorway. He looked rumpled and tired. She worried that all the fun from the day had been leached out by the few hours on the computer.

  “How are you doing?”

  He stretched. “I’m good. Hungry.”

  “Excellent.” She started chopping vegetables up for a salad. It wouldn’t kill him to have both the salad and the potato chips. “Would you like white wine for dinner?”

  “That depends. You are joining me for dinner, right?”

  “As long as you still want me.”

  “Always,” he said huskily and came up close to her to drop a kiss on her lips. “I’ll open the wine.” He took the wine out of the fridge and poured them each a glass.

  “To us,” he said, clinking glasses with her.

  She allowed herself a small sip. It was crisp and tasted like peaches. It would accompany the dinner perfectly. “Thanks. Now, let me put on the finishing touches.”

  Blaine brought the wine and glasses to the table and then set it.

  “You don’t have to do that,” she said. “That’s my job.”

  “I’m greedy for your time. The sooner this is done, the sooner I can have dinner with my gorgeous chef.”

  She mixed up a citrus-vinaigrette dressing and allowed herself to pretend that this was her home, with her man. That this could be her life. It was a heady experience. She plated up fish and salad and brought that out first. Then came back with the bowl of potato chips and serving tongs.

  “These are fantastic,” Blaine said, stuffing his face with the potato chips.

  “I figured you deserved a treat.”

  They ate in companionable silence, holding hands across the table like they had been lovers for more than just a few days.

  “I’m glad I met you,” he said, finishing up his fish. “I never thought I’d want to be with someone as much as I want to be with you.”

  Selena nodded. “I feel the same way. I’m used to being alone. I like it that way. But I’d rather be with you.” Even though she knew this was temporary, had known it from the beginning, a part of her wished that they had more time to be together.

  “I know what you mean. It’s weird. If I was back in Detroit, I would eat while working and not think anything of it. I can’t remember the last time I’d even tasted my food.”

  “That’s a horrible way to live.”

  “It definitely was beginning to take its toll on me.”

  “It could have been worse,” Selena said, rubbing her thumb over his hand.

  “It was worse.” He rubbed his hand over his face. “I should have never hit Paul. It felt good though. Too good. Like I could get used to using my fists to solve all my problems. I don’t want to be like that.”

  “That’s why you’re here. To learn how to deal with things a little more productively. I’m glad I didn’t have to pry the internet out of your cold, dead hands.” She nodded to where her phone sat on top of his closed laptop.

  “I was looking forward to dinner with you. Plus,” he admitted, “I was getting aggravated because the interns and some of the junior engineers where doing their work in a different way than I could have done it.”

  “Acknowledging that you’re a control freak is the first step,” she said. “Ask me how I know.”

  He sighed. “I guess I have to do the navel gazing.”

  “Beyond that, when you get back to Detroit, you might want to talk to a therapist too.”

  Making a face, Blaine put another dollop of chips on his plate. Selena resisted the urge to tell him to eat his salad first. She wasn’t his mother. All she could do was give him the best choices and let him pick. She ate her salad as an example.

  “I don’t have time to talk to a shrink.”

  “You need to make time for yourself. Two weeks in Maui isn’t going to cure you of your anger issues or vanish the stress from your life. It’s a good start and you can discover new coping tools, but in the end, it’s going to be up to you to continue things once your vacation is over.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it being over,” he said. “There are still several days that I’m going to have you all to myself and I don’t want to waste a moment.”

  “Talking about your health isn’t wasting moments.”

  “Being here with the sand and the surf and the less frenzied lifestyle, I’m reflecting more that maybe I missed out on a whole bunch of life while I was busy working.”

  “It must be a day for revelations like that,” Selena said. “Before I nodded off on the balcony, I was taking in what you said about working on the franchise instead of going to Cordon Bleu. Maybe I should rethink my plans.”

  Blaine leaned forward. “I know that you want to show Anton Koslov that you’re better than he is.” He held up a hand. “I know that’s a sore subject for you. I’m sure he’s a real jerk who deserves to get his nose rubbed into it. But you can rub his nose into it by being successful and not caring what he thinks.”

  “I’m not sure why he bothers me so much. Even after all these years, I have nightmares about being back in his kitchen. I guess it’s because Anton’s that little voice inside me that criticizes me and tells me that I can’t do things.”

  “Why do you listen to him? Why is that voice so important?”

  She toyed with a romaine leaf on her plate. “I don’t know. Maybe because I secretly think he’s right?”

  “He’s not,” Blaine said.

  “The rational part of me knows that,” she said. “But the irrational part of me is still coming to grips with it.”

  “Then I’ll have to convince the irrational part that Anton Koslov is full of shit.”

  She smiled at that. “And was your company saved by you spending valuable nap time checking your email?”

  “I checked my email in the cybercafe. Today, I actually got through the firewall and was able to access my files from the cloud.” He shook his hands over his head. “Hallelujah!”

  “That better not mean that you downloaded them to your hard drive so you can work on them offline when you should be enjoying that sun, sand and surf you were just mentioning.”

  “It’s like sleeping with a teddy bear,” he said.

  “Would that have made more sense if we were drinking mai tais and not wine?”

  “You sleep with a teddy bear for comfort, right?”

  “Not for a long time, but yeah.” She cocked her head at him.

  “It lets me sleep at night, knowing that if I get one of my brilliant ideas, I can open up my laptop and get it out of my head, so I don’t forget it. Besides,” he said with a slow grin. “I like checking up on my brother and Paul when they think I’m not looking.”

  “Do you think they’re having fun without you?”

  “I think they’re running my company into the ground without me,” he said.

  “Sounds like you’ve got an angry voice in your head talking shit too.”

  “I guess I do.”

  He reached across the table, so now he was holding both of her hands. “You’re staying over tonight, aren’t you?”

  “I didn’t bring my toothbrush,” Selena said shyly.

  “I had Mikelina bring over a few overnight essentials,” he said. “I could get used to this concierge thing. She’s like a fairy godmother.”

  She owed Mikelina big.

  “I’d love to stay.”

  “Good. Because you’re going on the hike at Pe’ahi with me tomorrow morning after breakfast.”

  She gaped at him. “It’s not fair to let your company pay my way on these trips. And I got news for you, your fairy godmother is charging your account for all the little items you’re hav
ing her deliver. I don’t want you to get sticker shock when you get the bill.”

  He scoffed. “I’m not worried. I’ve worked countless hours of overtime for them—unpaid. It was their idea to send me here. If they’re regretting the bill, they’ve only themselves to blame.”

  “Are you sure no one is going to get mad?”

  “It’s my company too. If anyone has a problem with it, they can take it up with me.”

  “As long as it doesn’t require punching anyone out.”

  He let go of her hands to hold one hand up in the air and other one over his heart. “I promise.”

  “Then I’m all yours.”

  “I like the way you think.” Blaine put on some more jazz and sat back down across the table from her.

  After they finished the wine and their plates were empty, Selena gathered them up and set them in the sink.

  “I’ll put on the coffee.” Blaine followed her into the kitchen with the glasses and the empty chip bowl.

  “None for me, thanks. I’ll be up all night.”

  Blaine put what he had in his hands in the sink, as well. After lifting her up on the counter, he brought her in for a deep kiss.

  “You’re going to be up all night anyway,” he said against her mouth.

  Hot damn.

  “Well, then bring on the coffee.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  THE NEXT MORNING, Selena made oatmeal and Blaine didn’t even bitch about it being healthy for him. She served it with macadamia nuts and fresh pineapple spears. They had spent the night making love and cuddling. Selena’s cheeks hurt from grinning so much.

  He didn’t have time to log into the computer after breakfast, which played along perfectly with her plans. She was feeling very satisfied with herself, and she should have been paying attention to her surroundings after they left the elevator. She missed Titus bearing down on them. The only thing that saved her was that she had thrown on her chef’s jacket before she left. That and she and Blaine were not holding hands.

  “Selena,” Titus barked. “May I speak to you for a moment?”