by JC Harroway
“I want you to touch yourself,” Kenzie instructed. She felt powerful saying it, and Antonio readily complied, spitting into the palm of his hand and keeping eye contact with her as he began to rhythmically stroke himself. She wanted so badly to run to him, to sit down on top of him and have the ride of her life, but she knew that in order to maintain the upper hand she had to delay her pleasure.
She could see that Antonio’s strokes were beginning to get faster and that he was close to coming.
“Come here. Please,” he practically begged, his voice filled with urgency.
Overcome with desire, Kenzie rushed to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling his mouth toward hers. It was a kiss she had been imagining ever since yesterday morning. As they kissed, she reached down and grabbed a hold of his hardness and took over where he had left off, moving her hand up and down the shaft. She could feel his whole body respond to her touch. With his heart practically beating out of his chest, she quickened her strokes until he cried out in ecstasy. Stepping back, she realized that her heart was racing, too.
Antonio looked exhausted and he pulled Kenzie back toward him, wrapping his arms around her small waist.
“What about you?” he asked.
Kenzie wanted so badly to have her turn, to let Antonio bring her to the heights of pleasure, just as she had done for him.
“Let me make you feel good,” he whispered.
Antonio didn’t know it, but he was already doing that. For a moment, she considered lying down right there in the courtyard and allowing him to work his magic between her legs. She already knew how skillful he was with his mouth and wanted to see what else he could do with it. But the businesswoman in her got the best of her, and she reminded herself to be cautious.
Besides, there was something fun about knowing that she had taken him over the edge, but that she didn’t need the same in return. She kind of liked having the upper hand.
“I’m ready to go back to the city now,” Kenzie said, matter-of-factly. “There’s a lot of work to be done.”
CHAPTER THREE
AT THE HOTEL, Kenzie spent the rest of the afternoon looking over the papers from Aunt Lilly’s estate. She thought about how incredible it was that a relation of hers was a business owner and regretted the fact that she never got to know her. Regrets over the deceased was a feeling Kenzie was all too familiar with. Since Cole had been taken from her, she really tried to do everything to the best of her ability and to live without worrying about what other people thought. But there was always that aching in her heart—no matter what she did and how wonderful it was, a little voice would chime in to ask what it would have been like if Cole were still alive. What would they be doing? It was a question that colored all of her experiences.
Except for the past two days. Kenzie had somehow allowed herself to really live in the now with Antonio—to fully feel all the sensations he had awakened in her. But one thing was certain—this wasn’t love, and never could be. That was a feeling she reserved for the one person she thought would have been her husband. It was a role no other man could ever fill. Sex was one thing, but her heart belonged to Cole.
After Kenzie finally put away the paperwork, she changed into the string bikini she had stuffed in her carry-on and went down to take a dip in the hotel pool. The water was cool but felt wonderful after even a few seconds of being outside in the heat, and she swam a few laps before allowing herself to float in the shallow end for a few minutes.
Afterward, she sat in a chaise lounge, watching a young family play in the water. In the hot tub, she observed a young couple, probably on their honeymoon. They were both tan and fit and the man was busy picking the woman up and pretending that he was going to dunk her under as she held up a hand to protect the large, sleek bun on the top of her head. Kenzie smiled wistfully. Part of her wished for both of those scenarios but part of her was beginning to think that wasn’t the way it was meant to be.
After a while, she dried off and came back to her room to lounge around in a fluffy white bathrobe. The swim had made her feel exhilarated and a little looser. She thought back on the oh-so-hot encounter with Antonio at the distillery. She couldn’t stop a smile from crossing her lips when she remembered how shocked he was when she had cut their encounter short. She also got a little thrill thinking about the business venture she was about to embark upon. The yoga business could be unpredictable, but it was a realm she knew well, and most of the time she felt sure of herself. Part of her liked feeling like she knew nothing—that there were still things left to be learned, new territories left to explore.
She knew that if she put her mind to it, she could do anything. But she was also smart enough to know she couldn’t do it without help.
“You agreed to do what?” Missy asked incredulously when she told her about the bet—minus the sexy stuff, of course.
Missy was holding things down at the yoga studio in Kenzie’s absence and she was also Kenzie’s biggest cheerleader in all of her business ventures.
“I know,” Kenzie sighed, plopping down in the center of her king-size hotel bed and staring out the window at her ocean view. The sun was setting, and the sky had taken on a pinkish hue. “But I really think this is doable,” she told her friend. “Don’t forget, I started Honor Yoga in a month with a thousand-dollar savings bond.”
“You are a magician,” Missy agreed. “But turning a business you know nothing about around in one week’s time? Sorry but I don’t see how we can do it.”
Kenzie twirled a curl around the click pen she was holding. “What about a rum mixer?” she offered.
“Like, a big party?” Missy asked.
“Kind of, but something that would really put Baracoa on the map.” Kenzie was envisioning the courtyard where she and Antonio had been transformed with little gold lights and music into a fabulous pop-up venue.
“Oh, I get it.” Missy was getting onto Kenzie’s wavelength. “Publicity first, then build from there.”
“Exactly,” Kenzie said, punctuating her idea with a click of the pen. “We stir up some major interest, get written up in the media, and then suddenly we have a hot commodity on our hands.”
“I like it,” Missy said.
“But we need something—or someone to help make this newsworthy.”
“Hey,” Missy said, the enthusiasm in her voice building. “Isn’t Catalina Cortez from Miami?”
Kenzie’s mind started to whir. Of course! Catalina could help them. She was one of Kenzie’s celebrity clients—an up-and-coming pop singer who had been coming to the studio for her 6:00 a.m. class since before she had a record deal. She was not only beautiful but also extremely talented and had over a million Instagram followers who watched her every move. One post or Tweet from Catalina alone could cause a product she liked to sell out in minutes.
If she could get Catalina to appear at the mixer it would all be a done deal.
“Perfect,” Kenzie said, not needing to explain herself further to Missy. Her right-hand woman always understood what was needed, and never failed in helping her to execute her vision.
“I’m going to reach out to her today,” Missy said. “Now go enjoy some of that Miami sun. I’m expecting you to come back with a full-on tan!”
Kenzie rolled her eyes. “Not with my fair skin,” she countered. “You know me, 100 SPF.”
“Any hot prospects down there, by the way?” Missy asked with a hint of innuendo in her voice. She was in her early twenties, super fit and extremely hot with short blond hair in a pixie cut that accentuated her strong features. She was constantly going out and dating (and sleeping with) a different new and exciting person pretty much each week. Kenzie was pretty sure Missy saw her as an old lady when it came to her social life.
“Nope,” Kenzie said curtly. She was a bad liar and knew Missy would see right through her, but she didn’t feel like explaining her
spontaneous sexual adventures of the last forty-eight hours. For one thing, she knew Missy would get overexcited and start grilling her for details. The truth was, she didn’t yet know what to make of Antonio. Was this just his usual form of entertainment, seducing potential business partners, or...something else?
Whatever it was, she was happy to keep it under wraps, at least for now.
“I’ll check in with you again tomorrow after the distillery tour,” she promised. “Good luck with Catalina.”
“You got it, babe,” Missy said as her sign-off.
Kenzie debated going out but quickly decided it was a room service kind of night. After phoning her order in, she changed into her yoga clothes—a pair of light blue and lavender floral leggings with matching bra top—and moved some of the furniture around in the room to clear a space where she could do a few quick vinyasas.
Reaching her arms up to the sky and then diving down, she exhaled out all of the stress and tension of the past few days and set an intention to keep the focus on taking care of herself. It was sometimes easy to forget to do that with everything she had going on. Gliding up into an upward dog position, she caught herself thinking about Antonio and quickly returned her thoughts to her practice. It was going to be hard work, taking down the cocky millionaire who thought he could do no wrong. And although she tried to keep her gaze fixed as she swept her arms up into warrior 2, she couldn’t help but break out into a gleeful smile. This was going to be fun, for sure, she thought.
After enjoying her room service in bed with the TV on, Kenzie drew a bath, and when she was finally relaxed, returned to bed and switched out the lights. She had a big day ahead of her tomorrow. She was going to need her energy.
Just as she was about to close her eyes, she saw the blink of a text message notification. Unable to resist the urge to check it, she picked up her phone and saw Antonio’s name on the screen. They had exchanged numbers in the lawyer’s office, but still, the fact that he was texting was unexpected.
Any chance you’re still awake? it read.
Kenzie racked her brain for an appropriately sexy response, but after a while decided that maybe it was more intriguing to not respond at all. Antonio, she thought, licking her lips and hitching up her white cotton nightgown. She half wished she was back home so she could just reach into her bedside drawer and pull out the tiny silver bullet vibrator that always did the trick, buzzing her clit into an almost-instant state of orgasm. Since she hadn’t packed it in her carry-on, her fingers would have to suffice. She began to rub circles around her clitoris, feeling herself getting wetter with each stroke. She thought about Antonio coming for her, almost on cue, and being so completely under her spell. The thought of Antonio grunting in ecstasy like that caused Kenzie to quicken her circles, but she held back from touching her clitoris directly just yet. She knew that when she did, she would explode in orgasm, and she wanted to delay it as much as possible, to savor the memory of the day’s activities. Reaching up with her other hand, she touched her breasts, and thought about their encounter earlier at Baracoa. The thought of doing something so dirty, where others could have possibly seen them, was too much for Kenzie to handle. Breaking her own rule of waiting, she switched to a rough back-and-forth motion directly over her clit. This instantly took her over the edge, and she moaned out loud with pleasure, her other hand pinching her nipples as she came.
Lying back on the pillows of her bed, she took some deep, deliberate breaths and steadied herself until her heart rate returned to normal. It was the one bedtime activity that usually worked better for her than hot milk. And it had worked—with her eyelids heavy, Kenzie rolled over, pulling the covers up over her until she was in a little cocoon, and drifted off to sleep.
* * *
“Here are the reports you requested, Mr. Navedo.”
It was early morning and Antonio was standing on the second floor of the Little Havana distillery, surveying the operations from his vantage point. Everything was running smoothly, as usual. He looked over at the woman standing next to him, proffering a file folder, but couldn’t for the life of him remember what reports he had requested, or who she was for that matter. Clearly, she was one of the many administrative assistants he employed. And by the way she was smiling and waiting for his response, he was certain he had not slept with her.
“Thank you,” he said taking the folder from the gorgeous brunette whose round ass, squeezed into a form-fitting pencil skirt he would have fixated on a week ago. But ever since meeting Kenzie, all of his sexual energy was aimed at one target. The small yet sassy New Yorker had really gotten into his head.
With no further response or directions, the secretary sauntered away, leaving Antonio to gaze down on what he considered the crown jewel of his family’s liquor empire. Little Havana was taking over the rum market worldwide, growing at a rate that production had to race to keep up with. It was a good problem to have, and a challenge that he was sure he could meet.
And even though the floor looked immaculate—everything was business as usual—Antonio felt a little wistful. What good was all of the success and money if there was no one to share it with? he wondered. He thought back on his days with Clarissa, the good times before she had left, suddenly hell-bent on pushing him into some awful suburban existence with a minivan and 2.5 kids. Things between them had been so perfect. He still wondered why she had to go and wreck everything. He had loved her—this much he was certain of, even though when he thought back on their time together, he realized it wasn’t something he had expressed directly to her. Why hadn’t he said the words? He wasn’t sure. But she had to have known, hadn’t she? They had built a house together from the ground up, a whole life, really. Sometimes he thought maybe things would have been different if he had told her, had really fought for them to stay together. Or maybe they just wanted different things. Now it was too late.
But no matter. Even though Antonio still felt sad about their breakup, the thoughts were usually fleeting. He had so much to contend with at work, there was literally no time to wallow. Glancing at his watch he noticed it was time for the first tour of the day to begin.
Antonio usually eschewed the tour groups. He had no interest in tourists with little understanding of rum’s history or complex flavors who were just looking for something to wash down with a gallon of orange juice and pineapple. The rums he was most proud of were meant for sipping—not cocktail umbrellas. Just as he was about to turn around and return to his office, he noticed the group being led into the open lobby and fixed his gaze on a woman with a giant sunhat. He didn’t recognize her, but there was something about the way she walked that struck him as familiar.
Antonio made his way down the winding staircase to the first floor and stood a few feet behind the tour group. He could see that the woman was taking notes on what the tour guide was explaining. At the moment she fell behind from the rest of the group, engrossed in her notepad, he grabbed the woman around the waist and guided her into one of the neighboring tasting rooms.
“What the hell?” the woman yelled.
Antonio looked under the brim of the woman’s wide-brimmed hat and locked eyes with Kenzie. He had been sure of it from the moment she had walked in. Well, almost sure.
“What are you doing, taking a tour of my distillery?” Antonio demanded.
Kenzie sputtered before forming her reply. “I’m just doing some research!” she confessed. “I wanted to see how a real distillery is run,” she said more quietly.
Antonio smirked and took in her adorable form. She was wearing a floral dress that showed off her legs and curves. He wondered if she had any underwear on, or if he could simply slide his hand up her thigh and once again touch the sweet entrance to her body that got wet so easily under his expert touch.
“You could have just asked me. I’m happy to show you,” he said.
“I know,” Kenzie said. “I just like doing things on my own te
rms.”
“I noticed that,” Antonio said with an unabashed smile. Without hesitation, he took her hand in his. “This way,” he said, leading her out the door and across the lobby, in the opposite direction of the tour.
Antonio led Kenzie into the warehouse, and he smiled when she stopped to marvel at the endless racks which held barrel upon barrel of rum, all in specific positions depending on how long they would be aged.
He took in the sight before him. She looked so luscious in the short floral dress, it was as if her whole body was in bloom. He could almost taste the sweetness of her round breasts, which were fully on display, he hoped just for his viewing pleasure.
“So...” she said, looking at him coyly. “What are you going to teach me?”
Without speaking a word, Antonio approached her, and in one swift motion, lifted her up and sat her down facing him on one of the barrels. Immediately, he went to work opening the buttons that ran down the front of her dress to reveal first a lacy black bra, and lower down, a pair of matching panties. Kissing the inside of her thighs, he felt her rake her fingers through his hair, which instantly caused his hard-on, which had been growing in size since he laid eyes on her in the tour group, to spring to full attention.
But he had to hold on. He felt some internal duty to reciprocate the amazing time she had given him in the courtyard at Baracoa. Okay, so it was more than just duty. Truth be told, he was starving for a taste of her.
“I have to have you,” he whispered into the side of her neck. Kenzie turned her head so that she was facing him and kissed him hungrily. For once, Antonio forgot all about work and who was watching and focused solely on the incredible shock waves that Kenzie’s touch was sending throughout his body. The way she pulled him in toward her as they kissed, like she needed to be as close to him as possible, was such a turn-on. He winced a little and tried hard not to make a sound as her nails dug into his back as they continued to kiss.