Feel the Heat: A Contemporary Romance Anthology (81 page)

Thankfully I was spared a moment later when a warmly wet towel wiped across my eyes. “Here, use this,” he said, his voice unbelievably soft.

“Awesome.” I wiped my mouth, not able to stop a grimace at the taste that had worked in from a well-placed shot. “So…would you mind going in the other room and ordering breakfast while I…freshen up?”

“Of course.” A chuckle accented his words. I was glad
someone
thought this situation was funny. “Take a shower. I have shampoo and body wash and everything in there.”

Sounded like a good idea. The stuff in my hair needed to be dealt with.

Finally able to see, I didn’t look at him as I made my way to the bathroom. I was a little embarrassed, truth be told. It wasn’t the most glamorous of looks, the Facial.

About ten minutes later, I heard the bathroom door open and then saw his nude body come toward the shower. “I want more,” he said as he opened the glass door. “I can’t seem to get enough of you.”

My girlie parts swelled. That was always nice to hear.

His condom was already in place and he didn’t waste any time. He backed me up against the tile, pulled my leg high on his hip, and thrust into me with all the glory I’d recently come to expect from him. My scream of delight was a side effect, and the harried rocking toward an orgasm that weakened my knees and had me praising his name beat the delicious lovemaking from the night before.

I leaned against him languidly, letting the hum of aftermath vibrate through my body. “You are sexy as hell, Delilah,” he said as he bent to run his lips along my neck.

“You’re okay too. I guess.”

He laughed and spread body wash on the loofa before lathering me up. After he’d washed me, hair included, he quickly did himself and then followed me out of the shower. Not a moment too soon. The ding of a doorbell—a doorbell in a hotel room was a new one for me—announced the arrival of our food.

Brad threw on a robe and let in the man with the cart.

“Good morning, Mr. Resslen,” the man said pleasantly as he wheeled the cart toward the table.

Cold trickled down my middle. I stood, wide-eyed, as the man dressed the table and then set up the food. After he’d gone, I said, “Resslen?”

Brad had been pulling out a chair, but his whole body tensed and he stopped mid-action. He turned to me, expressionless.

“As in the up-and-coming star that created Resslen Company?”

Brad continued to stare at me.

“As in the owner of the company that blew up, went global, and is now kicking crazy ass? The company I was presenting to?” I threw out a hip, not really able to believe I’d slept with a freaking celebrity in the entrepreneurial world. I needed a moment for that to sink in.

Still he stared, not even twitching. If I hadn’t known better, I would have guessed he was hiding his discomfort.

“You are a ga-zillion-aire, and you settled for merely a
room
?”
Hiding my awe under faux-scorn, I tsked at him. “Cheap ass.”

His blank mask cracked into a smile. Relief flooded his eyes. “I’m frugal—what can I say?”

“Cripes. I hope they have your credit card on file to charge for the towels and cutlery that’s sure to disappear when you leave.”

Smiling larger, he motioned me into the chair. “Come on. Eat.”

“Don’t be so pushy.”

He waited until I was settled before finding his own seat.

I rolled my eyes. “I mean, I should’ve known. I know the name Bradley Resslen, your friends were affiliated…”

“A little dense on your part, yes.” He took a bite of pancakes.

I shook my head again. “I’d only ever heard your full name said. Bradley Resslen. And usually CEO was affixed. So, just
Brad…
obviously you know why my career choice wasn’t to be a detective.”

He met my eyes as seriousness stole his expression. “Does this change things?”

Taken aback, I said, “What’s there to change?”

“I like you, Delilah. I want to keep seeing you. But sometimes my…job gets in the way. People change around me. For the worst, usually.”

I pointed my knife at him. “If you don’t let me start buying a drink or two, then yes, things will change. I’ll give you a kick, for starters.”

“But seriously…”

I shrugged. “I don’t see why it matters. You have a job like anyone else. You just happen to be a lot better at it than most.”

“We won’t be using your company,” he said. “I apologize, but I think you know why.”

“I should probably feel bad about basically warning you off, but yeah, I get it. No hard feelings.” I blew out a breath and looked at the ceiling. “I mean, how dense could I be?
Brad.
Your buddy talks to you about— I mean, I really missed the boat on this one. I didn’t even consider the possibility.” I shook my head and went back to my breakfast. It wasn’t the first time I’d missed the obvious. It was still ridiculous, though.

“But we do have some openings that would be a perfect fit…”

I waved my knife at him. “That’s going too far, actually. That makes things weird. If I get laid off, I’ll go through the proper channels.”

Brad dropped his gaze to his pancakes. “That’s noble, but big business often means networking. Leveraging who you know. Use your connections, Delilah. Get yourself on the same playing field as your peers.”

“Fine. Then I’ll talk to Lucas. But I don’t want to be accused of sleeping my way into the position.”

His face turned red. “I hadn’t thought about that angle.” Now who was dense? “Fair enough.” After a pause, he said, “So about today—what do you say to just hanging out? Maybe set up on the beach?”

“
You
may know everything, but I still need to learn the stuff this convention is teaching.”

“The only really insightful lecture was yesterday, and it was still a little shallow. Why don’t you grab your computer, we’ll get a couple chairs and umbrellas, and set up shop at the beach? I’ll ramble on about what you were sure to learn, you can take notes until you’re tired of it, and we’ll chill.”

“You don’t want to spend your time—”

“Delilah,” he cut in, his tone firm and commanding. “I’m not doing you a favor. You’d be doing me one. I promised myself I’d use this trip as a vacation. I work a lot of hours. Too many. I don’t get a lot of opportunities to lounge on a beach with a beautiful woman. Do me the honor of hanging out with me today.”

“Still with the pushiness.” I lowered my face to hide the heat rushing to it. “Okay.”

“Good. Now hurry up and eat. I want to revel in your body a little more before we head out.”

“
W
ait a minute
,” Brad said as he slowed.

I didn’t really have a choice. His big arm was wrapped around my waist.

He turned me into a small shop and directed me to an assortment of flip-flops that were hanging off a rack like fruit. “Let’s get you a pair of these.”

I glanced down at my Chucks. They were arguably a little out of place with my bathing suit and wrap, but so was the computer bag slung over my shoulder. “I don’t know, I’m feeling very hipster today.”

He smiled and grabbed a pair of sparkly pink flip-flops. “What size are you?”

“No.” I put those back—I wasn’t five—and grabbed a pair of sparkly black ones. Much better. “These will work.”

He moved on to a wrap that didn’t have dirt smudges on it. “One of these?”

“Are you embarrassed of me or something?” I asked, picking a clean one in a similar style to the one I was wearing.

“Oh no, Delilah—I didn’t mean to imply—”

“Goodness, Mable, quit freaking out. I was kidding.” I angled a grin up at him.

With a relieved smile, he bent to kiss me before smacking me on the butt. “What else does my hot mess express need?” he asked.

“If you keep it up, my ego will be impossible to carry.” I placed the items on the glass counter. Brad shoved his hand into his pocket.

“No,” I said.

“It was my suggestion to—”

“No,” I said again, shifting so he was blocked. “Unless you plan to share these sparkly black flip-flops with me, this isn’t your purchase.”

Once I had the items paid for and on, and the old stuff stowed in the bag, we were on our way again, headed to the beach for a day of idleness.

“Wait.”

Once again, I was slowed and steered, this time toward an outdoor shop, much like a booth, where a large sign instructed the passersby to pick a pearl. Sparkling jewelry, all featuring pearls, gleamed from glass cases surrounding the little shop. According to the advertisement plastered on the side of the small building, hotel guests got their pearl free of charge.

“Let’s do this,” Brad said, bending toward one of the cases to analyze the contents.

“What would I do with a loose pearl?” I asked, finding at least four necklaces I wanted to impulse-buy. I backed away. Jewelry was a weakness and I didn’t have money to drop on it.

“You pick a pearl and then you pick the setting. C’mon, it’ll be fun.”

How did you explain to a rich guy that you had no money, and eating would work out better in the long run than buying a necklace…

“I have our spot reserved on the beach. C’mon, Delilah, let me buy you a necklace.”

“Not a chance. You need to save your money for retirement. Do you have any idea how often CEOs lose their jobs? Stocks go down, and you’re on the curb, buster. Best hold on to your pennies.”

“You’re ruining my high. C’mon, let’s pick a pearl.”

I smiled in delight. “Well, since it’s all about
you
…”

He laughed and said to the lady, “We’d like to pick a pearl, please.”

“Fantastic! Are you guests of the hotel?” The woman let herself out of the shop enclosure.

“Yes, we are,” Brad said, giving me a squeeze.

Warm fuzzies spread throughout my middle. I threaded my arm around his waist and then couldn’t help myself—I stepped in front of him and pulled his face down for a kiss. His lips were soft and willing, and the hunger I had for him was overshadowed by a growing softness that meant bad things in the dependency department. It had only been a day or so, and he already had the hooks in. Forgetting him wouldn’t be easy.

“Right over here,” the woman said, standing next to an old wooden bucket on a newer wooden box. Within were oysters stacked in a heap, just waiting for their shells to be ripped open and their prizes taken. The whole thing was a little barbaric in a civilized sort of way. Welcome to tourism.

“So what you are looking for is a crusty, hairy, worse-for-wear type of shell,” the woman said, bending over to analyze the contents. “The worse it looks, the more valuable the pearl inside.” The woman picked a pair of tongs off the box and moved an oyster aside. “That one is pretty, see that? Kind of nice looking. I wouldn’t advise on choosing that one. And that one is okay. Not bad. Oh, here’s an ugly one. That one might be good…” She continued muttering as she nudged oysters around.

I glanced up at Brad with a smile, barely managing to wipe my face clear as she straightened up, eyes still on the bucket, and held out the tongs. “Why don’t you have a look and see what you think.”

“Oh, uh…” I pushed an oyster to the side and then moved a couple of others. “What do you think?”

“Look at that one!” She pointed at the oyster I’d just uncovered. “That’s a good one. See the stuff on the shell? It’s really hideous. I’d probably go for that one.”

“Horribly ugly oyster, coming right up.” I fished it out and handed it off.

“Okay, now we just need to hit the gong three times—” She gestured toward the small metal disk off to the side.

“No, thank you,” I said, glancing around in embarrassment.

“I’ll do it,” Brad said, laughing. His arm was around me, so I had no choice but to step up with him as he alerted everyone to the fact that we were ridiculous tourists. Once done, and with my face burning, the lady walked us over to a seat at the counter.

“You’ll towel-hop across a beach, but you’re embarrassed to ring a gong?” he asked as he gestured to the one open seat.

“I’m sorry, was that a question? Because it seems obvious…”

“Now I’ll shuck it, and we need to loudly say,
Aloha!
”
She beamed.

“No, thank you,” I said again. I got a squeeze, but he didn’t push this time. Apparently there were limits to his desire to embarrass himself.

The lady said it for us as she opened the shell. “Oh yes! Now this is a good one. One in a hundred come out like this. Have a look!”

It was a gorgeous, bluish-grey pearl. All four of the necklaces I’d admired had pearls of a similar color nestled within them. “Meant to be,” I said with a smile, leaning against Brad.

“Yes, it is,” he said, and rubbed my back.

“Did you want to pick out a setting to put this fabulous pearl into?” the woman asked with an excited gleam. She was a great seller, that much was clear.

“What do you think, Delilah?” Brad asked, taking my hand and helping me off the stool. “What’s your taste? A necklace, a ring?”

His mention of a ring gave me a thrill and a nervous pinch in my gut at the same time. I veered toward the safety of a necklace. After looking in all the cases with him patiently following me around, I finally settled on a teardrop design.

“Oh yes, that one is just beautiful,” the woman said, taking it out of the case.

She set it on the velvet for my viewing pleasure, and I glimpsed the price.

Over two grand!

I gulped and leaned away. Yes, Brad had a ton of money, but I wasn’t the sort of girl who was comfortable with someone spending that kind of money on her. I wished to hell I was, but some things couldn’t be changed with glitter and gongs.

“You know what, just the pearl is fine,” I said, backing away.

“You don’t like it?” Brad asked, his eyes fixed on the necklace. He shrugged. “Then find another. There must be something here you like.”

“How about this one—” The lady brought out another gorgeous setting of roughly the same price.

“Oh, no. It’s okay. Honestly, Brad, just the pearl is fine. That was fun. Let’s stick with that.”

He glanced at me with an argument at the ready, but he saw something on my face that made him straighten up and step away from the glass case. “Sure. Let’s just head to the beach. Let me do the paperwork for the pearl, and then we’ll be all set.”

“Okay.” Feeling relieved but strangely guilty, I took another step back to give him room. A weight settled on my chest as the woman put away the beautiful necklace. I turned away, reminding myself it was my choice. I wouldn’t feel comfortable with him spending that much money—and that would tarnish the pretty thing around my neck.

I wandered over to look at shot glasses, which were more my speed, while he spoke with the saleswoman.

“Ready?” he asked a few minutes later, curling his arm around my waste. “I’ll hold on to this.” He slipped my pearl into his pocket. “Remind me to take it out if I go swimming, though.”

“If?”

“You’re going to make me get in?”

“You can swim, right?”

“Yes, but I’m lazy. I’d much rather sit all day.”

I grinned. “You have to go to the bathroom sometime.”

His grimace turned into a smile. “Remind me not to swim next to you.”

I laughed. “Sorry about the necklace,” I said a few minutes later. “I really am happy with just the pearl.”

“No problem, Delilah. It’s the thought that counts, right?”

“I think that is my line.”

“You’re slow on the clichés.”

I laughed and fell in step with him as we made our way through his fabulous resort.

“Why were you on my beach the other day?” I asked as we rounded a restaurant. The ocean suddenly stretched out in front of us in all its majesty. Umbrellas and beach chairs were already dotting the landscape, most of them with a “reserved” sign attached to the side.

“Lucas is staying in that resort. He wanted to be close in case something came up.”

“So he has to work while you take time off?” I stopped with him as he took a slip of paper from his wallet.

He looked at the chairs in front of us, grabbed my hand, and pulled me toward the right. “Mostly, yes. I wanted to catch a few speakers and meet with his final decision for a new vendor, but I needed some time to unplug. Here we go.” He stopped in front of two white chairs with an umbrella to either side. “Choose.”

They were exactly the same. I took the closest.

“I’ve gotten to a point where it feels like my face is always glued to either my phone or my computer screen,” he went on as he sat down. He adjusted his towel under himself before stripping off his shirt. I stared at his remarkable torso.

“Like what you see?” he asked in a deep tone.

“Very much,” I said, untying my wrap and dropping the sides. I looked at the umbrella, which would effectively eliminate my ability to tan.

He pulled his towel out from under him and dropped it on his lap. “I should’ve prepared for your beauty. This is a family establishment.”

I took my sun lotion out of my small beach bag. “You were saying, pervert?”

“Care to go for a swim?”

I glanced over, bemused. He was staring at my hands as I rubbed the lotion into my skin. “I have to wait for this to soak in, and then I’m all yours.
You were saying…
”

“
It’s hard to think around you, Delilah. What are your plans after this?”

“I don’t know. Probably dinner and then sex, right? Or will you be tired of me by then?”

“After this weekend. You live in the Bay Area, right?”

“Oh.” I frowned and squeezed more lotion onto my palm. “Yeah. I still have a job. I’ll go back to that, get a lot of shit for going back to your hotel, probably get blamed for not landing the deal despite sleeping with you—I’m sure they’ll call me a bad lay—and then get laid off or quit. A real fun time will be had by all, I have no doubt. You weren’t a mistake, but I wasn’t being as subtle as I should’ve been. A big oops, on that score.”

His silence had me looking over. His eyes were full of regret. “It’s my fault.
I
wasn’t as subtle as I should’ve been. I invited myself and the guys to your booze cruise, talked only with you, then ferreted you away when the others were returning to their hotel. I’m a jackass.”

“You invited yourself?” I stilled in applying the lotion.

“I didn’t want to wait until you were done. I wanted to see you. I should’ve thought that through.”

“Wait.” I leaned forward a little. “You invited yourself, but then didn’t talk to anyone? Why didn’t anyone approach you?”

“Lucas and Clive were running interference. They said I wanted to go over the presentation. But it wouldn’t matter. People assume I’m eccentric because I’m usually an ‘in the shadows’ kind of guy. It’s not eccentricity—I just don’t like panderers. But no man on that boat would have questioned me giving you all of my attention.”

“Not eccentric. A stalker.” I tried to summon up the ability to care about that fact. Still couldn’t find it. I’d make another note to care more in the future. “So yeah, they will definitely blame me for losing the account. That’s rad.” I blinked rapidly, squinted, and then…still couldn’t find the gumption to care.

What had come over me?

I glanced at my surroundings, and then my gaze landed on the hot man by my side.

Paradise. That was what. I needed to just run with this and deal with the repercussions later.

“Come live with me,” he said in a harried voice. “Come home with me. Quit now. Today. And come back to Texas with me.”

I stilled again. This time, the ability to care came crashing down. My hands started to shake. I just didn’t know what I was capable of anymore. I had boarded the Crazy Plane with the ex, and I wasn’t sure if I’d ever deplaned. This guy had more money to hire attorneys.

Plus, and this was the real clincher, I had another hundred hours of community service to do for that little stunt with my ex. He’d pressed charges, but I had gotten lucky with a female judge. No jail time, just beach and park cleanup. I couldn’t move outside of the state until I was cleared.

Not like I could admit any of that, of course.

I gave him a disarming smile. I hoped. Or else it was a grimace of terror. “Let’s play out the day, sleep on it, and then I’ll run away before you wake up and you’ll hook up with some buxom beauty you met while your face was in your computer, mmmkay? I think that is a better plan.”

His chest deflated with an exhale. Probably relief. “We’ll see how the day goes.”

“Good plan, stalker. Now. I’m going to open my computer, and you are going to flag someone down to get us drinks while revealing all the secrets that will make me great. Yes?”

“Okay.”

“O-kay.” I did as I’d said, very aware that he was staring at me instead of doing as he was supposed to. “Now shoot. Give me the juice.”