Heating Up Hawaii (12 page)

With his mouth still on her breast, he started to tremble roughly as he moaned her name.

Chapter
Eight

Luc tensed up when he saw the adjoining door between their rooms firmly shut. The agreement they’d reached the last couple of days was to limit their intimacy to the bedroom. Penny had insisted they don’t exchange any PDA during the day, even if they were alone in the office. She wanted to set boundaries and protect the quality of her work.

However, at night, in private, no boundaries existed. His body stirred, and he glanced at his watch. Barely lunch time. She’d also set the ridiculous rule that lunch time was off-limits, didn’t matter how much he tried to convince her otherwise. He’d gone up to his suite to change for a meeting with local politicians when he heard a couple of voices coming from hers.

The heavy door muffled the sounds, but in addition to her voice there was also a male’s tone. Not Brad’s. And why would any coworker come up to her room?

An unfamiliar sting of jealousy crept up his body. He strode out of his suite and knocked on her door. He resisted the urge to just open his adjoining door and knock on hers—just in case this was work-related.

He straightened when she opened the door, her flowing dress the color of a juicy, ripe guava. A flood of awareness spread through his body.

Her eyes widened. “Luc.”

“Who is it?” said a male voice behind her.

Luc swiftly stepped inside the suite, prompting her to pace back. A very unwanted presence took shape behind her. Darren Dawn looked disgruntled.

Luc’s blood thickened. “Why are you here?”

“It’s between Penny and me.” Darren’s thick Texan accent filled the room. The short guy stood up straight, his eyes narrowed.

He turned to Penny, certain his face displayed a look that demanded some explanation. Why would Darren jet all the way to Hawaii unless he had a hidden agenda? Luc swallowed hard, disliking how possessive over Penny he’d become, and still, unable to do anything about it.

“Luc, Darren just came for a surprise visit and we were talking when you came.” Penny’s voice gained strength toward the end.

“He came all the way from Texas for a chat?” Luc couldn’t conceal the sarcasm in his tone. Did she think he was some kind of stupid? Well, maybe he was. What if all this time, all she did was lead him on, just as she did Darren?

There was a blend of confusion and determination in her eyes.
Merde
, he was confused. Jealousy didn’t appeal to him, as he found no reason to nourish such useless emotion. He had everything he wanted in the world. He could have anything he wanted.

A pang of resentment pierced through his heart.

In the blink of an eye, Penny ushered him a couple of steps closer to the door and away from Darren.

She raised an eyebrow. “Luc, I have this.”

“Really?” He didn’t want her to have this, not alone. She assessed him, then her face lit up with realization that he feared wouldn’t be favorable to him.

“I’ll have a conversation with him. It has nothing to do with you.”

He drummed his fingers on the door frame. “What about our dinner later?”
And everything else?

“I was going to tell you, I finally had time to schedule that complimentary massage. I’ll call you after it’s done.”

He couldn’t argue there. Penny had been putting in as many hours as needed, and often offered to help the opening team by performing tasks outside her comfort zone. She’d injected a positive attitude and sharp professionalism, and deserved that massage more than anyone.

Luc glanced at Darren, who stood with both arms crossed a few feet away from them. The man had the hint of smile on his lips, and Luc’s blood boiled in his veins. His gaze landed on Penny again, her delectable body leaning against the door. “Tell me you’ll be strong.”

She lifted her chin and her hazel eyes shimmered with defiance.

“Insecurity doesn’t suit you, Luc.”

Insecurity?
He wasn’t insecure. Not at all. He was close to dying inside because she didn’t let him take care of a situation she clearly couldn’t handle. “I’ll see you later.”

She looked down but he still saw the darkening in her eyes, shifting them to a forest green.

He would leave her alone…for now.

***

Penny locked the door behind Luc. The tip of her fingers caressed the polished door handle before she took a sharp breath and turned to face Darren.

“Is he why you haven’t been answering my calls or responding to my emails?” A flicker of resentment touched Darren’s blue eyes
.

Penny chewed on her lower lip and looked at him. The man she almost chose to spend the rest of her life with had been a lot more self-assured, even funny at times. But she had to remind herself that a lot had changed since he’d been back from rehab.

“Darren, I answered three of your emails. I’m here to work. I can’t answer every time you call.” She kept a cool tone even as he nodded tightly. The air in the living area became stuffy, but not the kind of stuffy she experienced with Luc.

“Are you sleeping with that man?”

When he’s not ravishing my body into the wee hours of the morning, yes.
“That doesn’t concern you.” She wasn’t about to discuss her love life with Darren, of all people. He wasn’t ready for it.

“You can’t honestly believe that, can you? I still love you.” He took a step closer to her, but she stepped back.

“Darren, I care for you as a friend.” She gathered her strength to keep going. “And as a friend I think it’s best if we don’t talk to each other for a while. Now that you are clean and doing so well, these past feelings can’t be in your way.”

He shook his head. “You’re ditching me.”

“No. I’ll always cheer for you. But I don’t think it’s healthy for you to expect more from me and for me to keep hurting you. I know I’ve hurt you a lot, but it’s not fair for me to keep explaining it or apologizing. I need to move on, too.” The last sentence echoed in the depths of her mind.

I need to move on.

She could no longer work for Charles Dawn. That would mean Darren would always know her location. She’d told him she was going on a business trip to Hawaii. Darren probably had questioned his father, who gave him her exact location.

It wasn’t fair to Darren and it wasn’t fair to her. Maybe Luc was right. By still working with Charles, despite the circumstances, she was being selfish. She wanted to shed some of her guilt, but hadn’t stopped to think how that affected Darren. The only man who’d loved her enough to marry her. It was time to put an end to it.

She took in a deep breath, knowing she was about to put everything on the line. Still, her honesty was her parting gift to Darren. “Darren, after this assignment I’m resigning from your father’s firm.”

“Why?”

She folded her arms. “It’s just not working anymore. I’ve always wanted my own business, anyway.”

He paced for a moment, then stopped to admire the same view she did from the balcony. When he turned to her, the expression on his face softened. “You don’t have to do it, Penny. Did he do or say anything to you?”

“No.” She forced a smile. The last thing she needed was to stir things up and pitch Darren against his father. Besides all his flaws, Charles loved his son. She wished her own father had been more protective of her feelings growing up. “I really meant what I said. I want to be friends with you. But right now, you need to get over what happened and if you keep dropping in like this it won’t help.”

“All this time I was so worried about me, I never stopped to think how uncomfortable it must have been for you to work for my father.”

She swallowed the lump in her throat. “It wasn’t all that bad.”

He chuckled. “You’re a terrible liar, Penny Ashbrook.”

She joined him in laughter. Amusement replaced the bitterness in his eyes.

“I’m not giving up my career. I just want to move forward with my life.”

He nodded. “I’m sorry, Penny.”

“It’s okay.” She gave him a hug. And for the first time she did it because she wanted to, and it felt good. “We’ll be okay.”

***

“Please take your clothes off, the masseur will be in shortly,” the receptionist said with a smile, then closed the door behind her and left.

Penny wriggled out of her dress, folded it and dropped it on the chair. She took a deep breath and inhaled the therapeutic scent of orchids and other local flowers. The dimmed light and green wallpaper invited her to relax. The refinement of the resort extended to the room with golden accent pieces and the atmosphere of pure indulgence.

Penny climbed on the massage table and stretched. She lay down on her belly and covered herself with a white blanket, soft against her skin.

A gentle knock on the door made her mumble, “Come in.”

She laid her head sideways and closed her eyes. She heard the masseuse stepping close to her.

“I can’t wait for my deep tissue massage.” She giggled out loud. “Please don’t be offended if I just relax and don’t talk a whole lot.” She hoped her implied request didn’t come across as snooty. However, after the long days she’d been having, she looked forward to this kind of indulgence. Not thinking about anything. Thinking…was dangerous.

“Don’t worry Penelope, talking is not what I had in mind.”

As soon as she heard the deep male voice, a hot tingle pinched her every nerve. Penelope automatically raised her head and sat up, juggling with her sheet to keep all of her parts covered. “Luc?”

“I’m your masseur.” His lips curled.

She took a good look at him. He’d donned a white shirt with the hotel logo embroidered on the left side. It looked rather tight. He also wore white pants, and if there had ever been a man supposed to wear white pants…he stood in front of her, with a couple of bottles of lotion in his hands. All hard muscles and sex. All danger. All man.

“I talked to the manager and he’s in the process of hiring male masseurs. I wanted to thank you in my own way for your… observation.”

“I thought you were mad at me.”

He shrugged. “So did I. It turns out, besides good looking and rich, I’m also forgiving.”

“But are you qualified to do a massage? I’d hate to get tainted with a bad experience.”

A deep chuckle left his lips, the sound reverberating in her body. “I am a certified masseur. I took the classes a million years ago. I might be a bit rusty,” he drawled, “but since this is complimentary I thought we could both compromise.”

She chewed on her lower lip. “We were never good at compromising.”

“It’s never too late to learn. Also, I’m very good with my hands.”

That is exactly the problem.

Penny curled her lips. It didn’t take a genius to understand what he was doing. Luc wanted to make her suffer for blowing him off earlier. He wanted to make her squirm and beg for him, and if she ran from the massage, he’d rub that in her face.

He stretched his arms like a lazy cat and cracked his fingers. “What is it going to be, Penelope? Are you scared of a little massage?”

She shifted on the table. “Not at all.”

“Lay down.” He turned his back to her to give her privacy. She looked at how the white pants shaped his tight butt and her throat felt dry.

Penny rested her head in the hole in the table and closed her eyes. The moment she felt his hands on her shoulders, a ripple of excitement began, starting at her oversensitive scalp and continuing down to her curling toes, traveling everywhere and anywhere in between. The chilling waves of awareness quickly gained heat.

She pressed her lips together to suppress a moan when his strong hands caressed the hollow of her shoulders, spreading a cold cream on her skin. Good God, it felt good.

He made invisible patterns on her shoulders with his fingers and to her surprise his hands didn’t heave on her like a brick on water. They felt strong and firm, but as he deepened the movements and moved them down her back, there was a softness about the way he touched her.

He kneaded her upper back for quite some time. A blend of deep relaxation and latent desire warred inside her, making her concentrate the best she could not to whimper with pleasure. When he moved down her lower back, she opened her eyes wide. A part of her expected—damn—
wanted
his touch to travel south, to massage her butt cheeks.

She took a deep breath to inhale the fragrance of the candles, which had fascinated her not long ago. But all that penetrated her sense was the scent of Luc–the familiar woodsy notes, the light citrus and the undeniable male in him.

The way he was handling it, handling her…he made sure she was covered by the blanket whenever he didn’t touch her exposed skin. He acted professionally, just to make her want him even more. The pulsating knot between her legs wanted release.

“Move to your back,” he said coolly, giving her his back again, though this time as she raised her head from the face holder she caught a glimpse of the tightening in his pants.

Hhhmmm… Empowerment surged inside her. This wasn’t easy for him either, was it? He had an erection long enough to hang dry a pile of clothes. Damn it, it was time she did something about it. But first, she’d make him suffer.

The sheet covered her entire body, though she doubted he didn’t notice the imprint of her turgid nipples, slightly elevated against the fabric. She took a deep long breath as if all the oxygen in the room could be contained in her nostrils.

He caressed her shoulders and his fingers lingered on her neck. She let out a sexy moan, not to admit defeat but to arouse him.

She raised her eyes to him in pure defiance. Although the light was dimmed, there was a hot intensity in his pair that was hard to resist.

While his fingers worked her neck and arms, her gaze didn’t leave his. She wondered if he would do or say something to make things easier for her. But time dragged as he moved to touch her legs, spreading lotion on her calves.

He challenged her, she knew it. All part of a game… he wouldn’t touch her where she throbbed to be touched. Could she resist his pointless, yet maddening, stalling?