Private Paradise (3 page)

The sheer beauty, combined with the warm,
salt-scented breeze, the lazy slap of waves lapping up onto the
beach, gave Holley Cay a calming vibe that made a person feel like
nothing could ever go wrong.

“
I'd think working for me would be a
pretty damn big deterrent,” Carla snapped, distracting him from the
view out the window. Contrary to his thoughts, the look on her face
proved that some days things went very wrong for some
people.

He couldn't stop his lips from curving into a
smile. “Actually, it was kind of a selling point.”

Her face went pale underneath the tan.

“
What, you didn't have enough fun
ripping me apart and humiliating me the first time? You thought
you'd take Chris up on his offer and come back for another
round?”

There was no mistaking the pain in her eyes
and her voice, and again the guilt clawed at him. Though he knew
he'd treated her horribly, he'd justified it over the years with
the knowledge that she'd gone on to become incredibly successful.
If she'd stayed with him, who knew where she would have ended up.
All he knew was that it wouldn't be here in paradise running one of
the most exclusive resorts in the world.

He'd hoped, stupidly, selfishly, that her
hurt would have faded over the years, but it was all still there on
her face, raw and undeniable. When Chris had told him he'd be
working with Carla, part of his excitement and urgency to see her
again was that he'd have the opportunity to give her a
much-deserved apology. But now, seeing the pain on her face, he
realized what a selfish asshole he was, dredging all of this up for
her just so he could make amends.

He ran a frustrated hand through his hair.
“Chris told me about some of the problems you've been having, and
when I heard about your situation, I wanted to help. I figured it
was the least I could do.”

Her arms were folded tight across her chest,
her face a stony mask.

“
But you're right,” he said at her
continued silence and dug his cell phone out of his pocket, “this
was a bad idea. Let me call Chris, I'll tell him I changed my mind,
I can recommend a couple other guys―”

“
It would have been nice if you could
have done that about a week ago, before our investors got all hot
and bothered by you. Unfortunately for me, I actually need you to
keep your job so I can keep my job. According to Chris, they
practically wet their pants when he showed them your
resume.”

Sam couldn't stifle a chuckle. Carla always
did have a way with words. “I can make some calls―there are a lot
of guys more qualified than I am―”

Carla cut him off. “Even if you can find
someone we can hire quickly, it won't look good if I send you
packing right away.

No, if it looks like I screwed this up, I'm
out. I can't lose this job. I've worked too hard to get her and I
don't want to let Chris down. You have to stay, at least long
enough to get everyone off my back.” For the first time since she'd
stepped out on that patio he saw a flash of vulnerability in her
eyes.

He'd always been drawn to it, drawn to her.
The way she came off as so savvy, so confident, but inside there
was a sweetness she didn't always let others see. “Of course I'll
stay.”

“
Good.” She nodded. The vulnerability
vanished, replaced by the guarded wariness her tight smile couldn't
hide.

Her shoulders lost some of their tension as
she leaned a hip against the desk and folded her arms across her
chest. Sam tried and failed not to notice the way the plump curve
of her breasts swelled above the top of her sleeveless dress. She
gave a deep sigh, giving him just the barest glimpse of black lace
against smooth tanned skin.

Oh, Jesus, Carla DeLuca in black lacy
lingerie, those luscious tits barely contained by thin satin...

“
Eyes up here, soldier,” Carla
snapped.

He dragged them back up to her face and saw
that her cheeks were a delicious red. He felt his own face heat to
be caught staring at her rack. World class or not, Sam had come to
pride himself on his professionalism no matter the circumstances.
“Sorry, I uh―”

“
If we're going to work together, you
can't look at me like that.” Carla said tightly.

Sam nodded, but didn't bother making any
promises he couldn't keep.

She gave him a curt nod back and pushed away
from the desk. “I'll go to my office and pull together all the
information to get you up to speed,” she said, already headed for
her office, “and after lunch I'll give you a full tour of―”

“
Wait a second,” he said, reaching out
to catch her. Jesus, he'd forgotten how smooth her skin was. Just
wrapping his fingers around her upper arm was enough to send an
electric shock straight through to his cock.

“
What?” she said, forcefully jerking
her arm from his grip. Like she couldn't stand to be touched by
him.

But he knew different, could see the way her
cheeks flushed and the way those world class tits rose and fell a
little bit faster. God, he wished he could make her forget the
past. He wanted to pull her into her office, spread her across the
desk and shove that filmy skirt up her thighs.

Peel down her panties and bury his face
between her legs to see if her pussy tasted as good as he
remembered. In that moment, he realized why he'd jumped so quickly
on Chris's offer. And it wasn't because of any good intentions or
any ideas of doing right by Carla to make up for what he'd
done.

He was here because deep down, he'd never
gotten over her. Never stopped wanting to reclaim everything he'd
thrown away.

Impossible, he knew, and a hell of a lot more
than he deserved after the way he'd treated her. “Before we get
down to business, I just want you to know how sorry I am.”

She flashed him a smile that didn't reach her
eyes. “Don't be. It's not your fault that the board of directors
thinks I'm borderline incompetent, and it's not your fault Chris
decided to help me”―she held her hands up crooked her fingers in
air quotes―“by hiring you behind my back.”

“
That's not what I'm talking about and
you know it,” he said, stepping closer, close enough to catch the
scent of her, soft, floral, and all woman. “I owe you an apology
for how I ended things between us. I said things to you that were
unforgivable, things I didn't mean―”

“
Don't.” She spat the word out in a
harsh whisper. Her face had gone cold and pale as marble, her full
lips thinned to a tight line. “I don't want your apologies, or any
other reminders of my own stupidity. If this is going to work at
all, you're going to do exactly what I did and forget anything ever
happened.”

“
Carla―“

“
Oh come on,” she said with a laugh,
having recovered some of her bravado. “Sure your sudden appearance
caught me off guard, and I'd prefer not to be stuck working less
than fifteen feet away from you. But do you really think I'm still
hung up on a stupid summer fling we had when I was eighteen? It was
nothing. I was over it by the time you left the lake.”

If that was true―and he seriously doubted
it―then she'd been in a hell of a lot better shape than he'd been
in. “It wasn't nothing,” he protested.

“
It was less than nothing,” she said.
She put her palms on her desk and leaned forward, her dark eyes
narrowed in a fierce glare. “As you were so careful to point out,
we were just hooking up. How significant could it be?”

Carla snuggled further under the blanket as
the cool night breeze ruffled through her hair. The lights of the
Las Vegas strip glimmered in the distance, but here, in the middle
of the Nevada desert with an ocean of stars shining brightly above
them, it felt like she and Sam were a world away from their lives
in the suburbs surrounding the hustle and bustle of the strip.

“
I've never seen so many
stars,” she whispered, in awe of the lightshow sparkling above
them. “At home there's too much ambient light from the strip to see
them clearly, but out here you can see everything.”

“
Mm hmm.” She felt a
tickling sensation low in her belly as Sam slid a leanly muscled
arm around her waist and pulled her closer. She shivered as he
brushed her hair over her shoulder and nuzzled his mouth into her
neck, kissing and sucking in a way that made her go hot and shaky
all over,

“
I can see Scorpio,” she
said, trying to pretend she wasn't going crazy inside. “And
Cassiopeia.” Her breath caught and her eyes fluttered closed as
Sam's teeth closed over her earlobe followed by a soft flick of his
tongue against the tender skin.

Before Sam, she'd never known it could feel
so good to have her neck and ears kissed. She sighed and arched her
neck back to give him better access.

“
I know where you can find
the Big Dipper,” he murmured and pulled her hand down to the front
of his jeans.

“
Stop it,” she said in an
embarrassed whisper and snatched her hand away. Still, the feel of
him, the hot, hard thickness of him felt seared into her
palm.

Sam let out a low chuckle and pushed her down
into the blanket. He kneed her legs apart and settled in between,
fitting him to her so she could feel him there, hot and hard. He
rocked his hips, making her gasp at the friction.

His mouth covered hers, his tongue thrust
between her lips to slide against hers. Carla threaded her fingers
through his thick, dark hair and drank him in. There was nothing
she didn't love about kissing Sam.

Unlike the other boys she'd fooled around
with before, Sam knew exactly what he was doing with his lips and
tongue. Maybe it was because he was three years older.

Or maybe it was all the experience he'd had
up until now...

She sucked his tongue into her mouth and
shoved the thought from her mind. Sam was with her now, as he had
been from the second night the summer employees had shown up for
work at the Lake Mead Resort and Marina.

Carla had seen the way all the other girls
had looked at him. She knew he could have taken his pick. But from
the moment she'd arrived he'd set his sights on her. Carla had
known him both by reputation and through his friendship with her
cousin Chris, but until this summer Sam O'Connell had barely given
her the time of day.

But now...

A little sound of pleasure escaped her throat
as she felt Sam rub right up against her most sensitive spot. She
widened her knees and rocked back, feeling a thrill shoot through
her at his answering groan.

“
One of these nights,” Sam
said between soft, sucking kisses, “you're going to let me do this
with your clothes off.”

A wave of heat rushed through her at the
thought of them naked, skin to skin. The tense knot of need between
her legs pulled even tighter. God, it was so tempting. “Don't hold
your breath,” she whispered.

Sam let out a tortured sound that was half
groan, half laugh. “A guy can dream, right?”

It turned her on even more to know that Sam
was dreaming about having sex with her. But as much as her body
craved it, Carla knew she wasn't ready for it. Especially with a
guy like Sam. She knew his reputation and didn't want to be just
another in the long line of girls he'd nailed and forgotten.

Though part of her was dying to give him
everything he wanted, some small core of common sense cautioned her
to keep this one part of herself guarded.

But that didn't mean she couldn't have a damn
good time as Sam showed her a thing or two he'd learned over the
years.

She slid her hands up the back of his
t-shirt, moaning into his mouth as her fingers encountered hot,
smooth skin shifting over hard muscle. She loved the feel of him
under her hands, so huge―topping her measly five foot two by at
least a foot. And every inch packed with lean muscles that bulged
and shifted as he rocked himself against her.

He groaned back and reached back one hand to
tug his shirt over his head. He slid his hand up her stomach,
catching the hem of her own shirt to tug it up her chest. She was
glad the darkness hid her blush as she lay there in just her bra
and her shorts. She wasn't completely inexperienced, but there was
something in the way Sam looked down at her, like he could see
every secret coiled in her heart.

He settled back down over her, and she gave a
little gasp at the feel of his skin against hers. He was so hot,
chasing away the cold of the desert night. She could feel his heart
beating against her chest, feel the dusting of hair on his chest
rasp against her stomach as he kissed his way down her chest and
between her breasts.

His hand covered her breast, his thumb
circling the hard peak through her bra, making her squirm and rock
her hips against his. She felt the tightness between her legs, the
urgency zipping through every nerve, her skin stretched too tight
over her body.

He peeled back one cup and she bit her lip.
She should stop him before this went too far, but it felt so good,
the way his callused thumb rasped against her bare, tight nipple.
And oh, God, his hot tongue circling as the cool night breeze made
her skin prickle with goosebumps.

“
Sam, I don't―” her words
stuck in her throat as he sucked her into his mouth. She'd never
let a boy do this before and knew she should stop him, but the firm
pulls of his lips, his circling tongue, the way he closed his teeth
over the peak...

She tangled her hand in his hair with the
thought of pulling his head away, but instead found herself pulling
him closer, luxuriating in the silky waves. She dug her shoulders
into the ground, so mindless with pleasure she didn't feel the hard
ground or the rocks digging into her shoulders as she arched her
back, urging him to suck her deeper, harder.