Pure Attraction Page 13
She gave him her best skeptical look. “How do you plan to make this work?”
He reached over and unbuckled her seat belt, then put a large, warm hand on her bare thigh, moving her legs apart. He rested one knee on the truck’s floor so he was positioned between her legs. Oh. Now she got it.
But he explained anyway. “First I’ll take off your clothes. Then I’m going to lose myself in the sweet, wet heaven between your legs. And I’m hoping you love it just as much as I do.”
Her breath caught in her throat as her insides turned to hot, molten liquid. She swallowed, trying not to give in yet. “We’ll see about that,” she said, echoing his words from moments before.
He smiled a little. Then his hands were on both her legs, exploring. He bent down to kiss a trail up, up, so close to the top of her thigh. But he stopped before he got there, and she let out a hiss of dissatisfaction.
“I’ll get there,” he said, like he was soothing her. “Lie back for me, please.”
It was getting harder to give him that same skeptical look from moments before, but she tried, then lay back on the seat. He found her waistband, teasing her in the process, and pulled off her clothes and her sandals. Then the kisses started again.
She closed her eyes and let his words play through her mind again as he moved higher, higher.
I’m going to lose myself.
Love it as much as I do.
By the time he neared the top of her thigh, she was hot and restless and so, so ready. But he stopped again. His breath rushed between her legs, heightening this exquisite torture, but his mouth was gone. Her eyes snapped opened, and she lifted her head to glare down at him. She found him staring between her legs, his mouth parted, his eyes hooded with lust.
“Fuck, I’ve dreamed about doing this to you. Again and again.” His voice was low and strained, like this was the ultimate pleasure for him. It wasn’t a surprise, but the idea really sank in this time. Going down on her really, really turned him on. This wasn’t just the warm-up act to get her in the mood; it was the main event. All he wanted from her was to enjoy it.
“Then do it,” she whispered.
His mouth was on her in a wet, hot kiss. Oh, Lord, the sheer pleasure of being worshipped like this—she had no other word for it. There was no urgency, no impatience, just a singular focus, right between her legs. He was kissing her everywhere, his tongue moving over every vulnerable pleasure point. Good God, it was incredible. He found a spot that made her moan, winding her up, but when she was shaking, he moved. She grabbed his hair, steering him back, and he groaned. The vibrations ran through her, bringing her to the edge of an orgasm, and she held on tighter.
“Make me come,” she said, her voice hoarse and demanding. “Make me come.”
His hands tightened around her thighs, and his tongue flattened against her clit in a long, determined stroke. She cried out as her orgasm hit her, fast and hard, his groans sending more shudders of pleasure through her.
Time passed. Minutes, hours—who knew? Jessie tried to get her usually overactive brain to start working again, but it was strangely resistant. Slowly, she opened her eyes, blinking up at the ceiling of the truck, then lifted herself onto her elbow. Byron was still kneeling between her legs, his hands on her thighs, but now he was staring at her with a mixture of smug satisfaction and discomfort...the latter probably because he still hadn’t come. Blinking again, she tried to get her thoughts together. Her gaze wandered down to his erection, jutting against the fly of his pants, and she smiled.
“We’re not stopping here.”
He nodded.
“How would you like it best right now?” she said softly.
“Sit on my lap. Use me to make yourself come again.”
She could picture the whole scene. Straddling him, looking down at him, his muscles flexed. He’d work hard to satisfy her while she pleasured herself until she couldn’t hold out any longer. Yes. That was exactly the kind of thing he’d like.
“Take off your shirt.”
He lowered his eyes and started on the buttons of his shirt, stripping himself down. He hung his dress shirt over the steering wheel, and his scent filled the car. A new rush of heat slid through her, this one less urgent, more luxurious. He pulled his T-shirt over his head, revealing those sculpted muscles and tattoos that had got her attention the first day on the water. That first day felt like such a long time ago.
Byron fumbled with his belt, but he looked so deliciously sexy like that, shirtless, with his belt open, that she shook her head. “Leave your pants on. Just unbutton them.”
Jessie sat up and pulled her shirt over her head, leaving her bra on. His gaze fell on her breasts, lingering, and then he climbed onto the seat next to her. She turned and straddled him, then shuffled, pulling down his pants and his boxers until, oh, Lord, his cock was out. It was hot and hard in her hand, and she squeezed it, admiring it, as he sucked in heavy breaths. His cock jumped in her hand, but he didn’t move. He rested his hands on her hips as she played with him, waiting.
“You have a condom?”
He nodded and reached for the glove compartment, his cock between them, thick and hard, throbbing against her clit. They both moaned. Byron found a condom in his wallet, and she took it from him. She leaned back and slowly rolled it on.
Then she looked up into his eyes and gave him a cool smile. His eyes lit up, but restraint was written all over his face as she rose up, positioned herself and let him fill her. Oh, this was heaven, the fullness, the heat as she lowered herself further. She closed her eyes and let her head tip back, indulging herself in the heat that spread through her. His hands were heavy on her hips, but he was still.
Jessie let out a soft sigh and started to move. She wrapped her hands around his hard biceps and lifted herself up and down, over and over, selfishly enjoying herself. His arms were tense, and his breaths were coming fast.
“Use me, Jessie,” he rasped. “I’ll give you what you need. Take it.”
His words sent a new wave of pleasure through her. He’d said her name. It wasn’t the game they’d played last time in her cabin. This time, it was them. She opened her eyes, and Byron was looking at her as if he had never seen anything quite like her before. She shuddered and shook and moved until she was there, until his hands tightened around her hip and he pulled her down hard over his cock. She came to the breathless groans of Byron’s pleasure in her ear. She fell against his sweat-slick body, and his hands wrapped around her. Jessie lay there, forgetting everything else except this moment.
A motor buzzed in the distance. She started to peel herself off him, but he didn’t let her go.
“You’re incredible,” he said, his voice rough.
Jessie bit her lip but decided not to hold back. “I’m really glad you came. I wanted to see you again. Badly.”
She hadn’t realized just how true these words were until she said them.
He tilted his head a little. “We could do this again, on my way back from Tokyo. Just one more time. I can come the last night you’re here.”
“Just one more time?” she echoed.
She was light-headed from the orgasms, and his cock was still inside her, reminding her of exactly what he wanted to do for her. There were probably reasons she should say no, but everything in her body said yes, one more time. So she nodded. “I’d love that.”
His smile was so warm and happy, and a different kind of warmth spread through her. His arms loosened from around her. “Where’s your phone?”
It was where she’d left it, in the pocket of her shorts. She found them and handed the cell to him, and he gave the old flip phone a skeptical glance.
“Not really the cutting edge of Silicon Valley technology.”
“I’m aware of that.”
He opened it and squinted down at the tiny screen. “You don’t have any contacts.”
“Now you’re going to have one contact.” He pressed the buttons, then called his phone with it.
“Kind of like the Batphone?”
“Does that make me Batman?” His mouth tipped up into an amused smile. “Then yes, exactly like that.”
He handed the phone back to her, and his smile faded. “You have my number. Call me if you change your mind. But otherwise, I’ll see you Friday night.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
BYRON SPENT FAR too much time waiting for a call from Jessie saying she was backing out, but it never came. He’d sent a message to her cabin, telling her he’d pick her up at six unless she let him know that wouldn’t work. No reply. As he stood in front of her door, he was nervous in a way he never was around women. The last time he felt like this, he’d been a teenager taking a girl out on a first date. Christ, this felt like a first date. Which was ridiculous, considering everything they had done together. So he blew out a breath and knocked.
Jessie opened right away. She was wearing a sleeveless red dress that dipped down in the front, giving him a peek at her cleavage. Her hair fell over her shoulders in a white cascade, and she was wearing makeup that made her blue eyes stand out. Her smile was warm and a little vulnerable. In a word, she looked lovely.
“Hey.”
“Hi again,” he said, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
It was quiet for a moment as they stood, taking each other in. Her gaze was hot, like she was thinking about getting naked in the near future. And he couldn’t stop himself from smiling.
“Want to go back to my place?”
“That was quick. But yes, definitely.”
“Good. Because I ordered food for the two of us.”
She closed her door and followed him out to his car. Her eyes widened as he opened the door for her.
“No pickup truck this time?” She attempted to frown down at his Porsche, but her amusement peeked through.
“Regrettably, no,” he said, their last pickup truck encounter flashing in front of him. He closed the door as she settled into the seat, then walked around the car and slid into the driver’s seat. She was quiet as they drove through the resort, along the narrow road lined with palm trees. They passed the trails to each cabin and continued into the forest. He stayed right at the fork and finally came to a stop in front of the metal gates.
“No Guests, Please,” she read off the sign on his gate. “How intriguing.”
Byron found his keys and pressed the button that opened the gate. The day was growing darker, and the road curved in front of them, with only the deep green of the tropical forest ahead.
“I feel like I’m being swept away into a Gothic novel,” she said as they drove around the curve. “The sprawling, crumbling estate will be revealed around the next corner.”
Byron chuckled. “Then you’re about to be disappointed. My house isn’t that big, and it’s definitely not Gothic.”
Jessie gave him a skeptical glance.
After the next turn, they headed down into his private cove, blanketed with untouched forest. The road wound down a gentle slope that followed a stream down the hill, ending in the middle of an empty beach. Then the house came into sight, perched on a break in the slope, not far above the beach. It was the opposite of Gothic, a mix of island and modern, designed by the same architect as the rest of the resort. The house was long and narrow, made of weathered wood and glass. On the wider stretch of the plateau, a deck with a pool stretched out, overlooking the beach.
The driveway met the house on the back. With a press of another button, the garage door opened, and Byron pulled in.
“This is beautiful,” Jessie whispered as he turned off the engine.
“It’s my favorite place in the world,” he said. A place where so few people had ever been. But he wasn’t going to tell her that.
She was quiet as she followed him into the house, up a wooden staircase and down a long hall that ran along the back of the house. She slowed as she peeked into the doorways.
“You okay?” he asked.
She nodded. “This is just...well, really nice.”
From her tone, he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or if this somehow had put him back in the category of men she avoided.
She bit her lip. “Um, can I use your restroom?”
He showed her the door then headed to the kitchen. The Kalani staff had stocked his fridge for the night, so he took out the drinks and trays of food and opened the door to the lanai. He brought each tray out to the table in front of the outdoor couch that faced the water.
When everything was arranged, Byron leaned back into the pillows and looked out, down the dense green of the hillside, to the waves breaking on his private beach. This was the kind of place that his father had dreamed of building when Byron was young. His mother had, too, but she’d outgrown that dream for something bigger. Of course, divorces were always complicated, but his mother had left so soon after his father swore he’d never leave the island, even if it meant they’d never have the kind of money she wanted. He had been young—so many of the details of their arguments had faded—but the ones that stuck with him made it hard not to see her split in stark financial terms.
The older Byron got, the more he’d wondered why his father had wanted her back. When his father was still alive, Byron had worked up the nerve to ask him, point-blank. Of course his father had answered that question with his usual easygoing smile.
“Love doesn’t seem to work in any way that’s fair or reasonable,” he had said.
Over the years, this comment had come to serve as a warning bell. After all, he couldn’t get enough of hard-to-please women. And, yet, Jessie felt different from Anna or anyone else he’d been interested in. He had a taste for pleasing a demanding woman, the more impatient and careless with him the better, but it didn’t take away the deep-down desire that everyone had—to be wanted for exactly who he was. These two core desires would always conflict. But maybe Jessie would understand the difficult balance.
He frowned. This was supposed to be just one more night together, but the more he thought about leaving Jessie behind, the less he liked it. He’d considered the idea all through his plane ride from Tokyo, about just how good it felt to know she’d be at the end of his plane ride. How the hell he was going to say goodbye tomorrow, well, he still had no idea. But tomorrow wasn’t here yet. And she was with him, in his house, for this last night.
She walked out the French doors and onto his deck. Her feet were bare, and her red dress moved in a way that had him following all her curves. Her nipples were showing through the material, momentarily distracting him. He shifted on the couch to make his reaction less noticeable.
“You warm enough in that?” he asked, using the question as an excuse to give her body the once-over again.
“Yes, but you’re welcome to check for yourself,” she said with a sassy smile.
Jessie plopped down on the cushion next to him and swung her legs over his. He ran one palm up her thigh, then down her calf to her feet.
“Very warm,” he said, swallowing back a groan.
He handed her a glass of sparkling water, and she took a long drink.
“Nice place,” she said with a little smile. “If you’re into the stuck-in-the-middle-of-paradise-with-a-hot-guy vibe.”
Byron chuckled. “The Kalani aims to please.”
He handed her a plate of food, and she balanced it in her lap and took a bite of the cheese.
“This is incredible.”
“Local cows.”
She poked him in the side. “Not just the cheese, Byron. This whole place.” She gestured out at the deck and the hillside and the beach.
“Seriously, why don’t you live here full-time?”
“That
wasn’t part of the deal when I bought this piece of land off Hayden Properties.”
She waited for him to continue, brow creased.
“My stepfather bought this property years ago at a foreclosure sale. He knew it was a good deal, but he had no idea what to do with it, which is pretty typical for him.” He glanced at Jessie, gauging how much of this story to tell. “Land like this is very hard to come by. I made an offer to buy the whole thing from Hayden Properties outright, and he turned me down. Instead, he told me he’d give me part of it if I figured out how to make a profit with the other part for ten straight years. In addition to my CFO role.”
Jessie raised an eyebrow, and he shook his head. “Don’t ask. He treats everything like a game for him to play.” Byron sighed. “I took it because it was a chance to fulfil a promise I made to my father. That I’d bring something back to the island. Good long-term jobs can be hard to find here or on any island, and I had a chance to do something about that. So I did.”
“And now he’s holding it over your head?”
Byron laughed. “Pretty much.”
“Are you sure you’re not associated with the mob?”
“Nope. Just old money.” He tickled her leg, and she laughed. His smile faded. “When I was in New York, my stepfather said he’d be recommending me to the board as the next CEO. If I say yes, I’ll be stretched even thinner. But if I don’t take it, he’ll bring in someone from the outside, someone who might sell off this property.”
“And you don’t want to lose this place.”
It was the truth, but not the whole truth. So he added, “I think I could live with losing this place. Maybe I could build something better. But the hardest part is that breaking from this plan could mean breaking ties with my mother, too. She’s not the easiest of people, but I’ll never stop wanting her acceptance.”
“And she wants you to follow in your stepfather’s footsteps?”