The Satin Sash (20 page)

“With my hands, my lips?”

“Yes and yes.” She kissed his lips, his nose, his forehead. “With your mind,” she whispered.
With your words,
she thought.Words he didn’t tell her in sunlight.Words she tucked deep into her heart as though he’d told her he loved her.

She’d made an embarrassing amount of noise even though this was the laziest way he’d ever loved her; slowly and tenderly, as though he were determined to prove he could do more than just fuck her as she’d accused.

In the morning, it was difficult to relate the businessman barking orders over the telephone with the man who’d loved her last night.

“See that stretch over there, Heath?” he asked.

Heath’s horse let out a gust of air through his nose, almost covering Heath’s words. “I see it.”

“That’s troubled.We might do something with it if we can get around the legalities.”

Heath let out a laugh and ran a hand across the top of his head. “Don’t tease me.”

“Pretty, isn’t it?”

Both men seemed engrossed by the verdant sight, and Toni was privately amused watching them. On the beach side, they passed a mother wading into the water with two little kids. The children pointed at the horses, and Toni waved and mouthed
hi,
while Heath asked, “What is it that you see there?”

“I’ll explain when I show you this other resort.What does your gut tell you about it?”

“It says yes,” was all Heath said.

“You’re getting hard, Grey,” she teased, squirming to get a better feel of the bulge biting into her backside.

He stilled her with one hand. “You’ve been wiggling.”

“I have not!”

“I’ve been suffering quietly for an hour.”

She snorted.

“I’m serious.”

“I’ve been utterly still the entire ride, waiting for the horse to make up its mind to gallop away with us until we’re in California. Or the hospital.”

“That would be in the opposite direction, I believe.”

“Are you afraid of horses?” Heath asked.

“A little,” she grudgingly admitted. Heath only smiled. His muscled legs straddling the horse were . . . an eyeful. He really did look amazing on that horse. Francine would fall head over heels for him. Louisa, too.Any woman who could appreciate a man who knew how to take control. Any woman who liked raunchy sex and . . . dominant men with . . . big cocks and . . . skillful mouths.

Jerking her eyes away from him, she gazed at the landscape, crowded up ahead with hotels.“So why haven’t you done anything in Cabo?”

“Government,” they both said.

Heath added, “Grey would need to kiss some serious governor ass.”

Toni jumped in to champion her lover. “Grey can get anything he wants, can’t you, baby?”

“That’s right, pet,” he cooed down at her, and raising his voice, “I’ll kiss governor ass.The problem is, we need to wrap up in Canada if you’re parking your ass here for a year. And apparently, some serious bribery would also be involved.”

“I’ll do the bribing; you just write the checks and kiss ass like you love to.”

“He hates kissing ass!”Toni said in Grey’s defense.

“Except yours,” Grey grumbled quietly to her, and they both laughed.

“There aren’t that many apartment buildings,” she noted as she sobered, scanning the houses dotting the cliff, the hotels lining the shore up ahead.“There are either huge houses or hotels, but maybe buyers would like a place with an ocean view and not an entire house to maintain?”

She wasn’t certain, but suspected Grey had just kissed the back of her head. “You’re brilliant, my girl.”

She was still a little mushy in the thighs over that endearment when they reached the sprawling hotel Grey wanted Heath to see. The resort was acres and acres of magnificence, with glistening windows and slanted rooftops, surrounded by gardens.“Do you want to see it with us, pet?” Grey asked as he helped her dismount.

Oh, tough one. Either stay with the smelly horse or . . .

Watch them work together. Ogle them from afar. Privately drool over them while they, in turn, drooled over the architecture. The men were such opposites, yet so alike in their passions. Their passions for land, for construction. Talking business with Heath, Grey was animated in a way Toni had never seen.Their interaction was natural and effortless, and entirely mesmerizing to watch. Like a couple of gifted athletes who lift each other’s game when they play together.

Both in the bedroom and out of it.

Chapter Eight

As they crossed the sand and walked up the steps leading to the lush green pool area, a crowd of people came into view, and the sound of live music carried in the air.

“Oooh, a Mexican wedding!”Toni said, noting the colorful floral arrangements gracing each of the tables on the terrace, a tattered piñata sitting lonely over a nearby stretch of grass.

“We’re not invited, Miss Kearny,” Grey warned.

Not caring that the men hung back,Toni made her way around, plopped an abandoned mariachi hat onto her head, and plucked shot glasses of tequila from a busy- looking waiter. She brought them up to the men, both their gazes palpable though shielded by their lenses. “We’re on vacation.You both take yourselves too seriously. Especially you, Grey. We’re going to have some fun, all right?”

Without checking to make sure they drank their shots, she strolled back into the crowd. More than fifty people circulated over the lush green lawns and walkways surrounding the massive pool. Square tables had been set up around it, each draped in a different color cloth.

Children mingled with adults, some splashing into the pool, another group peering under a table where a group of women sat in avid discussion. Smiling when she realized those three little boys were hoping to catch a sight of the women’s panties, Toni glanced back to notice Grey and Heath were at the very fringes of the party. They were looking high above and past her, discussing their future project. Grey had an arm stretched out, and he was pointing at the building as he spoke, while Heath nodded in agreement. Grey loved his properties, the developing, everything from spotting the land to giving it more substance. She could tell Heath shared his passion.

Feeling stirrings in her stomach, she moved on to investigate further, smelling the blooms in the air, the food from the buffet, and finally located the mariachi group that was the source of the music.

She was drawn into the excitement of the party and found herself smiling widely as photographers made the rounds, one of them attacking the partygoers, another following the bride and groom. The groom looked to be sixty years old; his much younger bride was dressed in an embroidered linen frock that did justice to the festive theme.

When a couple skirted by, dancing and kissing to a merry mariachi tune,Toni wanted to dance, too. And she wanted to kiss, too. And she wanted . . .

They stood like bodyguards, tracking her with their eyes, Grey with his hands clasped before him, Heath with them clasped behind his back. She waved them over. One said something to the other.They smiled.They were making fun of her! She wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out at them. Grey smiled, then turned his attention over his shoulder when a wandering beach vendor tapped his arm to show him an array of day dresses.

A laugh escaped her when he gave a nod of consent and pointed in her direction. Grey must be asking the man what size she would wear. He was nodding. Smiling. Yes, of course. Now he was diligently selecting a dress for her.
Oh, Grey.

When Heath sauntered forward, she noted a couple of children nearby begin to whisper, watching him closely from their seats in the grass. She wondered if their little imaginations were making up stories about Heath. Would he be an evil villain to them? A pirate or a smuggler . . .

“That is one ridiculous hat, if I may say so.”

She tipped the brim back so she could actually see his face. “Grey seems to like it.”

“Ah. Well, his eyesight is going.”

“His eyes are perfect. Grey misses nothing. It’s
mine
that are failing.” And how utterly sad was that for a graphic designer?

“How many fingers am I holding up?”

She laughed and folded them back into his hand. “Two. And it’s from afar that I have trouble focusing.”

“Ahh.” Clasping his hands behind his back, he glanced around fleetingly, then directly at her.“Did you miss your high school parties, Cat?”

She waved a hand and walked around him. The sun was at an angle, and where the shadows hit, the breeze was fresh. “Oh, humbug. You two are boring.”

He matched her steps as she made her way around the tables. “Grey is a little concerned we weren’t invited to this party.”

“And you?”

“I’m hungry.”

“Ooh.Then follow me, sir.” She waved him over to a table that had two full plates of mixed nuts at its center.

When she bent over to gather a handful, his legs and hips came flush against the back of hers and her breasts were enveloped by two large, brazen hands. “I’m hungry for
these
,Toni.”

Her nipples pushed into his palms and a rush of feminine power rushed through her when his bulging erection pressed into her tush. His sensual, deep- throated breathing was a guttural sound in her ear. “I want you,Toni. Right here, right now.”

She licked suddenly dry lips. She had a feeling her dry throat had very little to do with nuts and everything to do with Heath’s frame going taut with arousal. “We’re in the middle of a party,” she said under her breath, afraid to look up and find someone watching this hardly subtle advance.

But she knew, felt, sensed people passing nearby. Flashes. Murmurs. Her breasts were still covered by his hands and it took supreme effort to not just stand there and let him have his blessed way. She moved away, extracting her fingers from the nuts and wiping the salty coating on the linen.

When he took her hand in his and began to guide her toward Grey, she was so shocked at the gesture she halted midstride. She looked down at their hands, linked almost casually together, and Heath stopped, his features wooden and incongruous with his smile. “Does this bother you?”

“No.” She squeezed him. “It’s fine. I’m just surprised.”

Still not comfortable, he extracted his hand from hers, raised his arm to her neck and guided her by the nape toward Grey and the eager-looking vendor.

“I’m getting slightly dizzy here, Toni. There’s topaz and there’s royal blue and there’s navy.”

They were gorgeous. Delicately embroidered. Flirty strapless dresses to wear over your bathing suit or just around the house. God,
every
where. “I love them.”

“We’ll take the three blues, then.”

Heath stepped up and he and Grey discussed something, first between themselves and then with the vendor. Heath pulled out his wallet and spared her a glance, grinning like a boy. “Grey gives you the world; I give you three dresses.”

“In different shades of blue,” she teased.

“Exactly,” he agreed.

“Thank you.” She surged up on her toes, intending to kiss those strong, mobile lips she’d been aching to taste, but he swiftly angled his head to the side so her mouth hit his whiskered cheek. She frowned and dropped flat on her feet, realizing she could benefit from curbing her enthusiasm now and then. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think you might not . . . want that.”

The glimmer in his eyes was disconcertingly intense, his face unsmiling as he gazed at her mouth in a way that made her nervous enough to lick her lips. He swiped a big palm across her forehead and smoothed the creases with his thumb. “That’s all right.”

The thing with Grey was that the man could go without talking for hours. And Heath appreciated peace and quiet as much as the next man, or maybe more, which was why they’d both sat in silence under the shade of a thatched-roof terrace while Toni mingled with the partygoers. She had an avid conversation going on with the married couple, and when Heath caught himself straining to overhear her laughter, he squirmed in his beach chair and let his mind run away with other thoughts. How-to-get-Toni-out-of-his-head-after-Cabo thoughts.

Grey was engrossed in jotting down numbers and executing brisk sketches over a tower of napkins he’d procured, when Heath said, “I’m thinking of getting a dog.”

Yeah. A dog. A
puppy
.Who’d lick his hand.Who’d be all grateful and excited when Heath fed him. A good little mutt. He was fully convinced he’d need one to get his mind off a particular kitten.

Grey flipped the napkin over to continue, and it seemed to take him a moment to realize Heath had been speaking to him. He glanced up, his eyes lost, as though his thoughts were drawn inward. “What for?”

“Company.”

Look at her. Toni, ankle-deep in the pool, wearing that silly mariachi hat Grey had just bought her, her hands holding her skirt high to keep it dry. Her legs were slim and toned, and with this glance alone Heath had them memorized. Damn. She didn’t have to be so cute. And look at him, sitting here with her blue dresses folded on his lap so they wouldn’t get wet, guarding her feminine things. He must look ridiculous.