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Make Me Crave
Katee Robert
‘I crave you…’Can their hunger be satisfied?Roman Bassani will do anything to close a deal. Even chase down Allie Landers on her Caribbean vacation to make an offer on her company. He expects a challenge—but not their immediate intense attraction. After an accidental one-night stand they agree to put business aside—for now. The island lulls them into a heated sexual journey…but what happens to their opposing interests when they return from paradise?
“I crave you...”
Can their hunger be satisfied?
Roman Bassani will do anything to close a deal. Even chase down Allie Landers on her Caribbean vacation to make an offer on her company. He expects a challenge—but not their immediate intense attraction. After an accidental one-night stand they agree to put business aside—for now. The island lulls them into a heated sexual journey...but what happens to their opposing interests when they return from paradise?
“DARE is Harlequin’s hottest line yet. Every book should come with a free fan. I dare you to try them!”
—Tiffany Reisz, international bestselling author
New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author KATEE ROBERT learned to tell her stories at her grandpa’s knee. Her 2015 title The Marriage Contract was a RITA® finalist, and RT Book Reviews named it ‘a compulsively readable book with just the right amount of suspense and tension’. When not writing sexy contemporary and romantic suspense she spends her time playing imaginative games with her children, driving her husband batty with what-if? questions, and planning for the inevitable zombie apocalypse.
If you liked Make Me Crave, why not try
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Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Make Me Crave
Katee Robert
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-07128-4
MAKE ME CRAVE
© 2018 Katee Hird
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
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www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
To Hunter McGrady.
You’re an inspiration!
Contents
Cover (#uaa50ba9d-6529-5137-aa11-22ca755b58fc)
Back Cover Text (#u6a05f96f-b3c6-5503-9054-4dd8515364b2)
About the Author (#u974943c9-0087-5a2e-bfed-10c125948594)
Booklist (#u39b296b1-f2fe-5b03-b157-f0158345d0b9)
Title Page (#ud3f54333-6300-567c-ae87-cdc0f41b47e5)
Copyright (#u583603f4-9c67-5bd2-a1be-8c9e500c7a86)
Dedication (#uafedb3b1-9587-553c-a121-624dd2548c49)
CHAPTER ONE (#ua027bdb5-7548-5e56-810b-58ec53959de4)
CHAPTER TWO (#uf5d28f4d-8012-53e6-9c8c-c44bca98cabd)
CHAPTER THREE (#u3920a8f5-b68f-54c6-a628-82815bbe52c1)
CHAPTER FOUR (#u97a16176-2b67-5696-97a0-9ad9af624ba5)
CHAPTER FIVE (#u6d06bdb4-d425-5b1e-becf-a636d690b2f3)
CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIFTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIXTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#u219e272d-b0ef-5bb9-aab9-7b50b73da809)
“I SHOULD CANCEL.” Allie Landers threw another massive load of white towels into the washer and bumped the door closed with her hip. “Honestly, I shouldn’t have let you talk me into this in the first place.”
“It’s cute that you think you let me do anything.” Her best friend, Becka Baudin, laughed. She pulled another set of shoes out of the metal bin and paired them up with the appropriate-sized cubby. “And, besides, I already checked us in for our flight. It’s too late to turn back now. Our classes are covered. Claudia is handling all the administrative work for the week—for both the gym and the shelter. If you stay, you’ll just stand around and stress out because things are operating just fine without you.” She slid another set of spin shoes back into their cubby. “When’s the last time you took a day off, Allie?”
Allie sighed, because that was the one argument she couldn’t win. She didn’t take days off. Her gym, Transcend, and the women’s shelter it helped support were her life. She even lived in the apartment above the building combining the two. When she wasn’t filling in teaching a class for one of the girls she employed, she was handling administrative work or doing whatever was required for the shelter.
She preferred it that way. Being busy made her feel complete in a way that nothing else did. She was a vital cog in a perfectly operating machine.
Except little about it was perfect these days.
The few donors she’d had who helped keep the women’s shelter afloat had dried up. The gym functioned just fine on its own, but she’d been using every bit of profit to keep the shelter going. Because of that, the gym was in jeopardy now, too. The result... She was in trouble. More trouble than she’d let on to anyone. Admitting it aloud was akin to making it real, and she couldn’t do that. There was a way out. There had to be.
A way that didn’t involve selling out to the vulture investors who’d been circling for months. Allie just needed time to figure it out.
The very last thing she needed was to jet off to the Caribbean to some private island for a week. But if she admitted as much to Becka, then she’d have to admit everything else.
She couldn’t. Not yet.
Allie had just sunk what remained of her personal savings account into keeping the power bill paid at the shelter, which meant another month gone by without debt collectors calling. Or, worse in so many ways, without having to turn out any of the women currently living there.
“Hello? Earth to Allie.” Becka waved a hand in front of her face, a frown marring her expression. “Where’d you go?”
“Nowhere important.” She forced a smile and reached over to flick her friend’s hair. “The blue suits you.” It was just as bright as Becka’s personality, several shades melded together to create something beautiful.
“Don’t change the subject.” Her friend frowned harder. “You aren’t going to cancel, are you? If you try, I will hog-tie you to your suitcase and haul your ass to the airport myself. You’re going to relax and enjoy yourself for a week even if it kills both of us.”
Allie snorted. “If it kills both of us, that’s hardly relaxing, is it?”
“Smart-ass.” Becka’s blue eyes were pleading. “I’ve already left our contact info with Claudia. I promise, if something happens and they need you, I’ll pay for your flight back to New York without bitching about it once. And I’ll never bully you into going on vacation again.”
Allie raised her eyebrows. “How much did you have to pay Claudia to make sure she doesn’t call me?” That was the only way Becka would make a promise like that. Her friend played to win, and she wasn’t afraid to play dirty. Claudia was just as bad.
Becka all but confirmed it. “Claudia is on the same page as I am. We both agree that you need to get the hell away from this place for a little bit.”
She sighed again, but a small part of her looked forward to seven days with no email, no phone calls, no weight of the world on her shoulders. The island had no internet access except in the main lodge, so she’d have no choice but to relax. “I guess I have to go, then.”
“Yes, you do!” Becka gave a little wiggle. “Now help me get the rest of these shoes put away before your class. I’m going to pop in if it doesn’t fill up. Seven days of drinking and sunning myself are going to add up quick.”
Allie laughed and moved to help. She pushed away the worry and stress that had plagued her for months. It would still be here when she got back. What would it hurt to just cut loose for once in her adult life? “I’m looking forward to it.” And for the first time since she’d bought the tickets, she actually meant it.
* * *
Roman Bassani glared at the pretty Chinese woman behind the counter. “You’ve been giving me the runaround for weeks. I know for a fact that Allie Landers is in here daily and she’s actively dodging my calls. I just need to talk to her.” He couldn’t tender her an offer to invest in her business if he couldn’t pin her down, and he’d been having a hell of a time managing that since his initial call to propose the idea. Coaxing reluctant business owners into seeing things his way was something that usually came easily for him. But Allie Landers was a slipperier quarry than he’d expected.
Apparently she’d successfully dodged him. Again.
“I’m sorry, sir.” Claudia didn’t look the least bit sorry. “She’s out of town for the next seven days. Any business you have with her will have to wait until then.”
“Out of town? Where the hell did she go? There’s got to be some way to get ahold of her.” He didn’t actually expect Claudia to answer, but apparently needling him was too much of a temptation.
She leaned forward with a small smile. “She’s on a private island with no cell service or internet. If you want to contact her before she gets back, I suggest smoke signals.”
Cheeky.
He could use this. Roman plastered a disbelieving look on his face. “That’s bullshit. There isn’t a damn place in the Western Hemisphere without cell service or Wi-Fi, let alone without both.”
“There is on West Island.”
Aha. He didn’t let his expression shift. “If you say so. You tell Allie to call me when she gets back.”
“I’m sure she’ll have you at the top of her list,” Claudia said sweetly.
Roman turned without another word and stalked out of the gym. He breathed an audible sigh of relief once the door closed behind him. Everything about that place was so feminine, he couldn’t walk inside without feeling like a bull in a china shop. It was more than the tiny instructors that he seemed to argue with the second he asked after the owner. There wasn’t a single pink thing in sight, but the place was always packed with women.
None of that was a bad thing, but the looks they gave him—as if they expected him to go on a rampage at any moment—and the subtle flinches they made if he moved too fast... It grated. It wasn’t their fault, and he applauded what Allie Landers was doing there, but their behavior left him painfully aware of how big his body was by comparison to theirs, and of the fact that no matter how carefully he spoke or how expensively he dressed, he was still a goddamn animal beneath the suit.
He didn’t let anyone see it, but those women sensed it all the same.
A predator.
It didn’t matter that he’d chop off his hand before he raised it to a woman or child. To them, he was a threat.
Roman cursed and started down the street. He should hail a cab, but he needed to work off his aggression more. The long strides helped clear his mind and ease his agitation, leaving nothing but cold purpose in its wake.
This Allie thought she could skip town for a week and ignore the fact that his deadline was bearing down on them. Two weeks until she had to make a decision, or other investors would make the decision for her. Normally, Roman wouldn’t hesitate to play dirty, but his client wanted Allie to agree to the contract without him putting on undue pressure. An impossible task. He had a healthy bonus waiting for him if he could pull it off, but that was secondary. His client wanted full acquisition of the business with the shelter intact—the women in the shelter would scatter if they thought it was a hostile takeover. They trusted Allie, and they sure as fuck wouldn’t trust him.
All of it boiled down to his needing the damn woman to go along with this buyout and he couldn’t convince her to get onboard if she wasn’t here.
But he had a location.
Roman fished his phone out of his pocket and did some quick searching, his frustration growing when he realized that the resort was booked for the next year straight. The website promised a discreet paradise, which translated to the staff being unwilling to move things around to accommodate him. Since giving him guest names so he could offer his own incentive was against company policy, he’d hit a dead end.
Only one thing left to do. He called his best friend, Gideon Novak. “Hey, don’t suppose you have any connections with West Island in the Caribbean?”
“Hello, Roman, so nice to hear from you. I’m doing well, thank you for asking.”
Roman rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes, I’m being a prick. We both know that’s not going to change. The island. It’s important.”
The slightest of pauses on the other end wouldn’t have been there if he hadn’t fucked things up royally six months ago. He and Gideon were mending that bridge, but rebuilding the trust was slow going. It didn’t matter that Gideon understood where Roman was coming from—Roman had still almost cost his friend the love of his life, Lucy.
Finally, clicking sounded on the other end of the phone. “I haven’t dealt with the owner specifically, but I’ve placed two separate clients with his company and they’re both still working there.”
It was better than he could have hoped. “I need one of the villas.”
Another pause, longer this time. “Roman, if you need a vacation, book it yourself. I’m not a goddamn travel agent.”
“No shit. This isn’t pleasure—it’s business. I need to find a guest arriving today. And offer the owner of the reservation a truly outstanding amount of money to reschedule. The resort won’t give out that information to me, but if you have an in, they’ll give it out to you.”
“This better be really important.”
It wasn’t a question, but Roman had nothing to lose at this point. “Vitally. One of the businesses I’ve been trying to court for months is coming down to the deadline. If my client doesn’t invest first, the other wolves circling will. They’ll damage the integrity of this place and do irreparable harm to people’s lives as a result.”
“Sounds like you’re playing the hero. A new look for you.”
“Fuck no. I’m in it for the bottom line, and the bottom line is that with the right spin, this place could be making a significant amount of money, and the good press that comes from it being connected with a women’s shelter would go a long way to opening doors to me that have previously been closed.”
Gideon snorted. “Whatever you have to tell yourself. Give me thirty.”
“Thanks.”
His friend hung up without saying goodbye. Gideon would come through for him. The man was an unstoppable force, and Roman counted himself lucky to have him on his side.
Sure enough, thirty minutes later, a text came through with the reservation details—and the significant amount of money to be wired to the owner of the reservation he was co-opting. Roman wasted no time sending the money and booking the first flight out of New York.
He had seven days to track down Allie Landers and convince her to see things his way. How hard could it be on an island with only ten villas on it?
CHAPTER TWO (#u219e272d-b0ef-5bb9-aab9-7b50b73da809)
ROMAN TOOK FIVE minutes to change and stalk through his villa, getting a feel for the place. It was all vacation luxury, heavy on the driftwood furniture and big open spaces to maximize the view of his private beach and the foliage that surrounded three quarters of the building.
And therein lay the problem.
He should have anticipated that an island with only ten villas would play heavily into privacy, but with the various activities open to all guests, he’d anticipated there would be plenty of time to find Allie and make his argument.
He hadn’t figured on not knowing which part of the island she was on.
He strode onto the beach and looked around. The natural curve of the island created a miniature bay that blocked out the view of anyone else. There were bicycles and walking paths to get to the main buildings, where there was a restaurant, a bar, a yoga studio and a boutique gift shop. He could hang out there and hope like hell that Allie would venture in for a meal, but with the option to have dining brought to the villas, he didn’t like his odds.
No, better to get the lay of the land and plan accordingly.
A quick examination of the storage unit right off the sand—designed to look like a weathered shack—gave him the answer. There was gear for a variety of water sports. He considered his options and went with the kayak. It was the fastest way to get where he needed to go and stay relatively dry in the process. He shucked his shoes off, paused and then dragged off his shirt, too. The summer sun should have made the heat unbearable, but as he pushed the kayak into the water, it was damn near pleasant.
Roman hadn’t been on a kayak before, but it seemed easy enough. He experimented in paddling until he got a good rhythm, then set off, heading south around the island. He’d make a circuit and go from there.
The main problem lay in the fact that he didn’t exactly know who he was looking for. He’d never managed to pin Allie Landers down into meeting him in person. The digging he’d done online had brought up precious little—both in details about her as an individual and pictures of her. Her social media accounts were both set to private, and the one photo he’d found of her was from ages ago. The Transcend website, which revealed more about the company’s services and vision than its founder, didn’t give more information than a contact email address. Considering it was linked with a women’s shelter, that wasn’t surprising, but it still irked him.
That said, Roman had secured deals in the past that began with even less information than he had now. He was confident he’d pull it off this time, too.
The first villa to the south had a family with two smallish children making sandcastles, so Roman kept going, starting to enjoy himself despite the fact that he much preferred the city to anything resembling nature. This didn’t feel like nature, though.
It felt a whole lot like paradise.
He made his way around the island, surveying beach by beach. There were two with families, two with groups that seemed to consist solely of men, three empty and one with a group of four women who catcalled him as he paddled past. He filed that information away to check on later. There was no telling how many friends Allie had come down here with, but he knew she wasn’t married and had no children, so at least he’d narrowed down the search.
By the time he came around the north point of the island, he was fucking exhausted. Roman spent time in the gym regularly, but the heat and the constant paddling wore on him. He steered around the outcropping of rocks and let his paddle rest across the kayak in front of him, taking a moment to roll his shoulders.
Which was right around the time he saw the woman.
She lay on her back, her arms stretched over her head, her long blond hair stark against the vivid red of her beach towel. But that wasn’t what made his breath dry up in his lungs.
It was the fact she was topless.
Her golden skin glinted in the sunlight as if she’d oiled herself before coming out to the beach, and the only thing resembling clothing she wore was a tiny triangle of indeterminable color. Her long legs bent as she shifted, her large breasts rising and falling with a slow breath.
He forgot what he was there for. Forgot that his muscles were damn near shaking with exhaustion. Forgot everything but his sudden need to see what color her nipples were.
What the fuck are you doing?
He shook his head. Going closer was inappropriate. Fuck, sitting there and staring like a goddamn creep was the height of inappropriate. It didn’t matter how mouthwatering her curves were or the fact that she’d propped herself up on her elbows to watch him.
Roman took a deep breath, and then another. It did nothing to quell his raging cockstand, but he managed to pick up the paddle and keep rowing. Whoever that woman was, no matter that he wanted to spend a whole lot of time up close and personal with her...she wasn’t Allie. The one picture he’d managed to source of the woman alone was several years old. Her goddamn senior yearbook photo. She’d been skinny to the point of being unhealthy with her hair chopped short and dyed pitch-black.
He highly doubted she looked anything like that currently.
The one defining characteristic of the women who staffed Transcend was that they were all tiny and chiseled and didn’t have a soft spot on their bodies. Beautiful, yes. Roman could appreciate all body types, but none of them had made his hands shake the same way that woman on the beach did. Soft and curvy and with breasts he ached to get his mouth on.
Knock that shit off. You aren’t here to fuck anyone, no matter how sexy she is. You’re here for business.
He’d go to dinner tonight and see if he could sniff out which of the women on the island was Allie and make his plan from there.
And if he saw the mystery woman once he’d gotten the rest of it figured out?
Roman grinned. Maybe he’d make an exception to his rule and indulge in some pleasure along with business.
He was in paradise, after all.
* * *
“How are you doing, sweetie?” Allie pulled on a sundress and headed over to check on Becka. Her friend had indulged a little too heavily on the vodka on the flight down from the city, and the short plane ride from Miami to West Island had made her sick. She’d spent the afternoon sleeping it off, but she still looked a bit green around the gills.
Becka managed a shaky smile. “I think vodka and I broke up.”
“It’s temporary.” She hesitated. “Do you want me to stay? Nurse you back to health?” She was pleasantly tired, but the draw of tonight’s menu was enough to have her itching to ride to the lodge and get a better lay of the land. Becka had been so out of sorts when they arrived, it had been a rush to get checked in and settled in the villa so she could sleep off the worst of it.
“God, no. It’s bad enough that I’ve brought shame on my family for ruining the first day of your desperately needed vacation. I’m not going to let you spend any time paying for my bad decisions. Go. Eat delicious food. Drink.”
Allie still didn’t move for the door. “Why don’t I see if the chef can make up some broth or something easy on your stomach?”
“Go, go, go. You’re on vacation. You’re not required to mother me.” She softened the words with a smile, still looking queasy.
Allie went. Becka wouldn’t thank her for staying and would only feel guilty if she did, which would distract her from resting. Tomorrow would be soon enough for them to go exploring and try out the stand-up paddleboards Allie had eyed when she’d checked out the beach.
Her face heated at the fact she’d been caught sunbathing topless. Whoever that guy was, he’d been far off enough that she couldn’t clearly see his face. Those shoulders, though... Allie shivered. Even at a distance, she’d seen the cut of his muscles and how purposefully he’d maneuvered the kayak through the turquoise waters. The island must have already gone to her head, because she’d spent a truly insane moment hoping he’d come to shore so she could get a better look at him.
Maybe more than a better look.
Allie laughed at her fanciful thoughts. Vacation hookups were all well and good, but if that was what she’d wanted, she’d chosen the wrong place to go. Isolation and relaxation were the name of the game on West Island, which was exactly what she’d craved when she let Becka talk her into booking the trip. It was the exact opposite of New York and her life there.
But now she found herself wondering if maybe something slightly more chaotic would have been a better choice. The sun and sea had soaked into her blood and the heady feeling had her convinced anything was possible. It was only a week. The perfect length of time for a fling...
If she wasn’t on a private island in the middle of the ocean without a single man in sight.
She bypassed the little golf cart that was one of the main forms of transportation here. It felt good to walk after being cooped up on the plane and then lying prone while she sunned herself. She usually taught at least one class a day at Transcend—more if she needed to cover someone else’s schedule—so being inactive wasn’t natural for her. It was only a mile or two to the restaurant and the day had started to cool as the sun reached for the horizon. It’d be downright pleasant tonight.
She’d make sure to wake early and attend one of the yoga classes offered, and the rest of the day would be filled with activities that would keep restlessness from setting in. There was even scuba diving available, though Allie wasn’t sure she was feeling that adventurous. Snorkeling? Sure. Going deeper with only a tank and a few tubes between her and drowning? That would take a whole lot more convincing.
The path was cleared and well maintained to allow the carts to drive without problems, so she let her mind wander as she fell into a natural stride that ate up the distance without tiring her out. Every once in a while, the path would branch off in different directions, some heading toward other villas, some heading deeper inland. There was a small selection of hiking trails that offered tours of the history of the island.
She made it to the restaurant easily and found it practically deserted. Allie paused in the doorway, wondering if she’d misunderstood the woman who’d checked them in. Maybe it was closed?
“Looks like it’s just you and me.”
She jumped and spun around. The man stood a respectable distance away, but his sheer size ate up the space and made her feel closed in. She froze. I’d recognize those shoulders anywhere. Confirming her suspicion, his gaze slid over her body as if he was reminding himself of what she looked like with nothing but what she’d worn on the beach. She tried to swallow past her suddenly dry throat. “You.”
“Me.” He finally looked her in the face, and she rocked back on her heels. The man was an Adonis. There was no other way to describe his blond perfection, from his hazel eyes to the square jaw to the cleft in his chin to the body that just wouldn’t quit. He might be wearing a shirt now, but the button-down did nothing to hide his muscle definition.
He held out a wide hand with equally perfect square fingers. “Let me buy you a drink?”
“We’re at an all-inclusive resort.”
His lips twitched, eyes twinkling. “Have a drink with me.”
Oh, he was good. Charm practically colored the air between them, and she had the inexplicable impulse to close the distance and stroke a finger along his jawline. To flick that cleft chin with her tongue.
Allie gave herself a shake. “Since we’re the only ones here, it’d be silly to sit apart.”
The look he gave her said he saw right through the excuse, and why not when it was pathetically flimsy? The truth was that this man was magnetic and she suspected she’d be drawn to him even in a room full of people. He waved a hand at the empty place. “Lady’s choice.”
“How magnanimous of you.”
“I try.”
She laughed and headed for the table in the middle of the small patio. There were half a dozen tables, and she picked a spot that put her back to the building and presented the best view of the ocean through a carefully curated gap in the foliage.
He eyed the view and then the chair on the other side of the table, and then he picked it up and set it adjacent to hers so they were sitting on a diagonal, rather than directly across from each other. “Nice view.”
She turned to agree—and found him staring at her.
Allie wasn’t falsely modest. Life was too short to play games with body shaming and pretending she didn’t have access to a mirror. She was pretty—beautiful when she put some effort into it—but she’d given up being skinny or petite after the agony of high school, and she wasn’t athletically built like some of the women at her gym. Sure, she had muscle beneath her softness, and she could keep up with the best of them in her spin classes, but she loved food just as much as she loved to sweat, and her curves reflected that. Some guys had a problem with that, though she didn’t keep them around as soon as comments like “Should you really be eating that?” started.
This guy looked at her like he wanted to put her on the table and feast on her for dinner.
The desire stoked the flame inside her that had kindled the second she saw him. She leaned forward, checking his left hand. No ring. No tan lines, either. “What brings you to West Island?”
“It’s paradise, isn’t it? Who wouldn’t want to come here to get away from it all?”
That wasn’t quite an answer, but she was distracted by the intoxicating way his mouth moved when he spoke. Get ahold of yourself, Allie. You’re in danger of panting for him. She took a quick drink of water that did nothing to quell the heat rising with each minute she sat next to him.
Luckily, a waiter appeared to save her from saying something truly embarrassing. He outlined the menu for the night and took their drink orders, then disappeared as quickly as he’d come.
They were in the middle of one of the most beautiful places Allie had ever seen, and she couldn’t manage to tear her gaze away from this stranger. She licked her lips, every muscle in her body tensing when he followed the movement. She opened her mouth, but before she could speak, he took her hand, running his thumb over her knuckles.
The touch was innocent enough, but she felt that light movement in places that were most definitely not innocent. She didn’t have to look down to know her nipples now pressed against the thin fabric of her sundress.
His smile was slow and sinful and promised things she never would have had the gall to ask for. “This is going to sound unforgivably forward, but what do you say we get out of here and go back to my villa?”
It was crazy. More than crazy. She didn’t even know his name, and she sure as hell didn’t know anything more pertinent about him.
But there on the softly lit patio with the tropical scent of some flower she didn’t recognize and the soft shushing sound of the tide coming in, she didn’t feel like Allie, gym owner and mother hen, the responsible one who could never afford to do anything out of line or make a misstep because too many lives depended on her.
Here, she was just Allie, a woman. A woman who desperately wanted the man staring at her mouth as if he was doing everything in his power to keep from kissing her right then and there. She licked her lips again, secretly delighting in the way a muscle in his jaw jumped. “Yes.”
“Yes?”
“Yes, let’s get out of here.”
CHAPTER THREE (#u219e272d-b0ef-5bb9-aab9-7b50b73da809)
ROMAN TOOK THE woman’s hand as they left the candlelit restaurant and made their way to the golf cart he’d driven there. He’d considered walking, but he was so goddamn glad now that he hadn’t.
She looked even better up close than she’d been on the beach. Her white floral dress displayed her large breasts to perfection, hugging her ribs and then flaring out to swish around her thighs as she walked next to him. Her long blond hair was a mass of waves tumbling just past her shoulders, and he could picture it all too easily tangling between his fingers as he thrust into her.
Slow down.
He took a careful breath, and then another, focusing on keeping his stride unhurried and his hand loose on hers. Roman was hardly a saint, but he’d never had a reaction to a woman on such an intrinsic level like he was having now. He wanted to kiss her pouty lips and run his hands over her body and...
Slow. Down.
Not happening.
Not when she looked at him from under thick lashes, her blue eyes devouring the sight of him. She wanted this.
But he had to be sure.
He pulled her into his arms when they stopped next to the golf cart. She stepped against him easily—eagerly—and he let himself off the leash enough to run his hands down her back and to cup her ass, bringing her flush against him. Her breasts pressed against his chest, and he had to bite back a groan at how good she felt. “I’m going to kiss you now.”
She didn’t give him the chance to follow through. She tilted her face up and captured his mouth. It was chaste as such things went, her lips soft against his, but it didn’t stay that way. Roman slid one hand up to cup the back of her head and deepened the kiss, tracing the seam of her lips with his tongue and delving inside when she opened for him. Her hands fisted the front of his shirt, pulling him closer even as her hips rolled against his.
Roman tore his mouth from hers. “Golf cart. Now.” Or he was in danger of forgetting where they were and fucking her right here. Even ignoring the glaring lack of a condom, he wasn’t a beast incapable of anything resembling control, and this beautiful wanting woman deserved better than to be bent over a goddamn golf cart.
At least for the first time.
First time? You’re out of your damn mind.
He picked her up and set her on the golf cart, enjoying the way her lips parted in a surprised O. He was showing off and he didn’t give two fucks about it, especially not when he slid behind the wheel, fired up the cart and started down the path leading toward his villa. He almost asked about hers, but just because she was alone didn’t mean she was alone.
The thought brought him up short. He glanced at her. “Are you here with someone?”
“Just my friend.” She correctly interpreted his expression. “I’m single. No boyfriend. No husband.”
Thank fuck. “Same.” He pressed the accelerator again. There were little eco-friendly lights scattered along the edge of the path to keep them from driving into a tree, and he made it back to his villa in record time.
Roman shut off the engine and turned to face her. “I—”
“Wait.” She pressed a finger to his lips, and he instinctively nipped her lightly. Her eyes went wide. “Let’s just...enjoy this. It’s not like it’s real life. It’s the fantasy of this place.” She motioned with her free hand.
He couldn’t argue that, not with the low sound of some bird in the distance and the sky and sea fading from magnificent colors to true dark even as they sat there. He’d left on a scattering of lights in the villa, and he took her hand and led her inside. “Hot tub?”
“Maybe later.”
There was no mistaking the intent in the way she watched him, so he didn’t waste time. This was, after all, the fantasy. Roman embraced that and ignored the part of him that was curious about who this woman was and why she’d come to this place. About what her life was like wherever she spent her normal time. About a lot of things. He set it aside, because he craved another taste of her, and if he started talking about shit that didn’t matter, he would ruin this perfect feeling of breathless need between them.
He led her into the main bedroom. It played up the island fantasy just as much as the rest of this place did: big windows overlooking the water, a massive mattress framed by a driftwood headboard. The white comforter was ridiculously fluffy, but he wanted to see her stretched out on top of it while he drove into her.
Slow, damn it.
Roman turned and framed her face with his hands. He kissed her, exploring her mouth as he took them deeper. She made a little helpless noise in the back of her throat that had his cock hardening even further. He licked along her neck and nudged off the strap of her dress before working his way across her upper chest to do the same to the other side.
As much as he wanted to rip the goddamn thing off her, he dragged his mouth over the swell of one breast and then the other, shifting the fabric lower with each pass. Her fingers tangled in his hair, and she arched to meet his mouth, her breath coming as quickly as his.
He captured one nipple, sucking hard until her back bowed and she let loose a little cry. “I’m taking this off.”
“Good.” She shimmied out of the dress in a move that made his mouth water, her breasts bouncing a little.
And then she stood before him in only a pair of pink lace panties.
“Fucking perfection,” he breathed.
It was hard to tell in the low light, but a flush might have appeared on her cheeks and chest. “Don’t make a girl stand here while you stare.”
He shook his head, trying to clear it. “Give a man a few seconds to enjoy the view. I didn’t get a chance to on the beach earlier today.” He kneeled before her and ran his hands up her legs, enjoying the feel of her muscles flexing beneath his touch. He stopped at the generous curve of her hips and hooked his fingers into the edges of the panties. “It drove me fucking crazy that I didn’t know the color of your nipples.” The answer was a dusky rose, the contrast between her nipples and her tanned skin drawing him farther up onto his knees so he could see her better, could lick her there again.
She shook, just a little. “You could have come to find out.”
“Mmm.” He kissed her soft stomach as he drew her panties down her legs. “If I had, you would have run screaming up the beach and barricaded the door.”
“Maybe.” Her breath hitched as he ran his tongue around her belly button. “Or maybe I would have waded out into the water to meet you.”
The image hit him with the force of a train. Of the waves cresting up to tease her breasts as she stood there waiting for him. Of him pulling her into his arms the same way he had here in the villa. Of her wrapping her legs around his waist and him tugging her bikini bottom to the side and—“Fuck, maybe I’ll make another circuit around the island tomorrow and we can do it right.”
She laughed softly. “Or maybe you can put that wicked mouth to good use and we can focus on the here and now.”
That sounded even better. Roman moved, hitching one of her legs over his shoulder, and buried his face in her pussy.
* * *
Allie had half convinced herself that she was dreaming, but the feeling of his mouth latching on to the most secret part of her was all too real. She closed her eyes and gave herself over to his licks, long and slow as if relishing her taste and feel. It was the single hottest thing she’d ever experienced.
Right up until he turned them and toppled her onto the massive bed. She gasped, the sound morphing into a moan when he pushed a single finger into her, as slow and exploring as his mouth had been.
His eyes drank in the sight of her in a move she swore she could feel. He lingered on her thighs and pussy, hips and stomach, taking extra care over her breasts, before finally settling on her face. “Perfection,” he said again.
“You’re not too shabby yourself.” She reached over her head to grip the comforter, knowing full well that it offered her breasts up for him.
He made a sound perilously close to a growl. “Thanks.” A second finger joined the first, and he barely gave her time to adjust to that before he pushed a third into her. Stretching her. Readying her. “Fuck, woman, you feel good.”
“You...too.” She fought to keep her eyes open, to not miss a single second of the experience. This golden god looked at her as if he wanted to imprint himself over every inch of her, and she was more than happy to play sacrifice for the night. If he could bring such pleasure with his hands and mouth, there was no telling what he’d do with the rest of his body.
He twisted his wrist so that his thumb slid over her clit with each stroke of his fingers, the combined sensation leaving her feeling warm and melty. She let go of the comforter to reach up and cup his chiseled jaw. “I’m going to call you Adonis.”
He barked out a laugh. “I’m hardly that pretty.”
“You’re even prettier.” She never would have said it in real life, without the island and pleasure making her drunk on him. Allie traced her thumb over his bottom lip, slightly fuller than the top. “You call me perfect, but you’re flawless.”
Another laugh, this one strained. “Trust me, I have more than my fair share of flaws.” He turned his head and kissed her palm. “But we’ll pretend that’s not the truth tonight.”
“Works for me.” She didn’t ask about his flaws. That wasn’t what this was. She didn’t even know his name, which somehow made the whole situation hotter—because Allie never did this. Ever.
Tonight she was going to.
With that thought buoying her, she reached for his pants. “I need you.”
“You have me.” He pushed his fingers deeper as if to demonstrate.
“No, I need you.” She managed to get his belt off and shoved his shorts down his narrow hips. His cock was just as perfect as the rest of him, long and thick, and she swallowed hard. “I’m tired of waiting.”
“That’s too damn bad, because I’m just getting started.” He slid his fingers out of her and looped an arm beneath her waist, sliding her farther onto the bed until he could place her hands on the bottom of the headboard. “I’m not going to tie you down.”
Her heart tried to beat itself out of her chest at the thought. “I don’t know how I’d feel about that.” Liar. She wanted it. Allie didn’t think she was particularly kinky before tonight, but the thought of being at the mercy of this man...
Slow your roll. He’s a stranger. Getting tied up by a stranger is a bad idea, even in paradise.
He stopped, kneeling above her on all fours, his cock dipping down until it almost touched her stomach. Those hazel eyes were completely serious for the first time since she’d met him. An hour ago. You met him an hour ago.
He didn’t touch her, though he was close enough that she could feel the warmth coming off his body. “If you’ve changed your mind, we can stop. I’ll give you a ride back to your villa or, if you aren’t comfortable with that, you can take the cart and the staff will return it to me tomorrow.” No judgment in his tone. No trying to guilt her or pull some shady business. Just ensuring that this was exactly where she wanted to be.
She gripped the headboard. “I want to stay. I want you.”
His grin had her breath fluttering in her chest like a trapped thing. “You won’t regret it.”
Before she could think too hard about what tomorrow would bring, he kissed her, long and slow. Reacquainting himself with her as if it had been days since they’d last touched instead of moments. Her Adonis worked his way down her body one torturous inch at a time, turning parts of her erogenous that she never would have considered before that night. The inside of her elbow. The bottom of her ribs. Her knees.
He stroked and kissed her body as if memorizing every inch, until she was a quivering mess. Her world narrowed down to where he would touch her next, to the only parts of her he hadn’t touched—her breasts and the spot between her thighs where she ached for him. “Please. Adonis, please.”
He chuckled against her inner thigh, and she felt it like a bolt to her pussy. “I like it when you call me that.”
“I’ll call you anything you want if you just touch me.”
“I have been touching you.” He shifted to lay next to her, his big palm coasting over her body, an inch off her skin. She shook with the need to arch up and feel him, but the slant of his brows told her that if she tried, he’d just move his hand farther from her. “Unless you mean something specific. Like here.” His fingers drifted just above her nipples and then down until she could feel the air displacement above her clit. “Or here.”
“Please.”
The touch was so light, she thought she might have imagined it. But she didn’t imagine the look in his hazel eyes. He leaned down until his lips brushed hers with each word. “I want to feel you coming on my cock.”
CHAPTER FOUR (#u219e272d-b0ef-5bb9-aab9-7b50b73da809)
ROMAN HAD LAUGHED when he’d found the stash of condoms on his initial exploration of the villa, but he’d never been so glad for them as he was in the moment when he ripped through a foil packet and rolled the condom over his cock.
He looked at her sprawled on his bed, her long limbs askew, her pussy so wet he could see it glistening from where he stood, her breasts reddened from his mouth, her hair a tangle over the white comforter... Passion personified. “Aphrodite.”
She tore her gaze away from his cock. “What?”
“If I’m Adonis, then you’re my Aphrodite.” He wanted to know her real name, but Roman wasn’t a fool—if he pressed her now about it, it would ruin the fantasy they played at. He ran his hands up her thighs as he climbed back onto the bed. “You look like her statue.”
Her lips curved in a sinful smile. “You already have me in your bed. You don’t have to go overboard with the compliments.” She leaned up on her elbows and kissed his throat. “If you don’t slide your cock into me right this second, I’m liable to expire on the spot.”
Fuck, she kept surprising him. Roman laughed; the sound was harsh with need. “Can’t have that.”
“No, we can’t.” She nipped the spot where his neck met his shoulder and then her hand was around the base of him, guiding his cock inside her.
He fought to keep the stroke steady and not drive into her like a goddamn beast. She clenched around him, one leg looping around his waist to take him deeper yet. Heaven. There was no other word to describe her little whimpers and shakes that he could feel all the way to the base of his cock. Or for her hands sliding down his back to grab his ass and drive him the rest of the way into her. He tangled his fingers in her hair and kissed her hard. “You know what you want.”
“I want you.”
He pulled almost all the way out of her and she rose to meet his thrust, her body moving in perfect time with his. As if they’d done this a thousand times before.
It was good. Too damn good.
He pulled back enough to create a little distance between their bodies. “Touch yourself. I said I want to feel you come on my cock, and I meant it.”
She didn’t hesitate, one hand snaking between her thighs, her middle finger circling her clit. The sight of her seeking her own pleasure while they were still joined threatened to toss him headfirst over the edge. He thrust again, hard enough to make her breasts bounce with each stroke.
Once. Twice. A third time.
She came with a cry, her mouth opening in a perfect O and her pussy milking him. He had no choice but to follow her under. Roman grabbed her hips and fucked her, pursuing his own pleasure even as her orgasm went on and on. Pressure built in the small of his spine and his balls drew up as he came hard enough to see stars.
He managed to collapse next to her instead of on top of her, but only barely. They lay there several long minutes as their gasping breath settled into something resembling normal. Roman pulled her closer, driven by some desire he didn’t have a name for, and kissed her again.
She shifted toward him and hooked her other leg around his waist. “God, I just came harder than I’ve come in living memory and I already want you again. Do you have some kind of aphrodisiac in your sweat?” She licked his throat. “I think you might.”
He rolled onto his back, taking her with him so she sprawled on his chest. “If I do, then you do, too.” Sure enough, his cock was already stirring.
She squirmed against him, her smile conveying that she knew exactly how hot the move was. “Is it still a one-night stand if we keep having sex until we’re both walking funny tomorrow?”
He opened his mouth, reconsidered and shut it. Telling her to stay as long as they were both on the island was premature in the extreme—and would interfere with his business here. He couldn’t forget his purpose, not even for this beautiful creature staring at his mouth as if she wanted it all over her body again.
Business would wait until tomorrow.
Roman coasted a hand down her spine, bringing her more firmly against him. “It’s still night, so the possibilities are endless.”
“I like the way you think.”
“Trust me, I’ll give you reason to like a whole lot more than that.”
* * *
Allie woke up to his mouth on her pussy. Again. In the few hours since they’d passed out after having sex again, he’d woken her up three—three—times like that, and proceeded to ravish her until her promise that they’d both be walking funny today was definitely a reality rather than a possibility.
His big shoulders spread her legs wide and he fucked her with his tongue, his low growls just as hot as his actions. She slid her fingers through his hair without opening her eyes. “Yes. Right there. Keep doing that.” He zeroed in on her clit, mimicking the movements she’d made when she touched herself and pushing her to the edge yet again.
She didn’t stand a chance of holding out.
She came with a cry, back bowing and her hands clenching him to her to prolong the pleasure as if she was totally and completely wanton. Maybe she was. She certainly had played the part that night, with no thought to what he’d think of her words or actions because this was only temporary. They were strangers, which was freeing in a way she’d never anticipated. It didn’t mean she’d ever do anything like this again, but she was going to enjoy every single second of her time with her Adonis before dawn came.
He left her for several precious moments, but then he was back on the bed, flipping her onto her stomach and drawing her hips up. The position left her exposed, but she loved every second of it, especially when he stroked her between her thighs and then his cock replaced his fingers.
He pushed into her with a smooth move, sheathing himself to the hilt. And then he began to move, thrusting roughly into her and then withdrawing, only to begin again. Allie gripped the comforter and shoved back to meet him, until the only sound in the villas was the smack of flesh against flesh and their ragged breathing. She tried to hold out, tried to keep from being overwhelmed with the pleasure, but he did something with his hips that hit a spot deep inside her, and her orgasm crested in a devastating wave. She cried out, distantly aware of him fucking her harder until he, too, came with a curse.
He dropped to the side and guided her down with him so that they lay spooning with him still inside her. He kissed the back of her neck and palmed her breasts. “Morning.”
“Mmm. And a good one at that.” She still hadn’t opened her eyes, but as one of his hands trailed down to her clit, she laughed hoarsely. “You’re insatiable.”
“Only with you.” He kept up those slow kisses to the nape of her neck. “You make me crazy. I just came and I want you again already.” He cupped her pussy, the possessive move making her moan.
But then she opened her eyes and realized how light it was outside. Allie froze. “What time is it?” If Becka woke up and realized she’d never come back last night, she’d be worried. Allie was reliable and dependable, and she most certainly didn’t stay out all night while having amazing sex with a stranger. As beyond amazing as it’d been, she hadn’t stopped to consider that her friend might think she was hurt or that something bad had happened.
He picked up on her tension and removed his hand. “What’s wrong?”
“I have to go.” She rolled out of his arms, her body crying out at the loss of warmth, but if Becka wasn’t already awake, Allie had to make sure she got back to the villa before that happened. If she was, then Allie had some explaining to do.
Either way, she couldn’t stay there.
He sat up and watched her scramble for her dress, a frown marring his handsome face. “I know we joked about it being a one-night stand, but that doesn’t mean you have to bolt the second the sun comes up. I thought we could have breakfast before you left.”
It sounded just as wonderful and perfect as things had been since she’d taken his hand and embarked on this wild adventure.
Unfortunately, reality was calling—or as close to reality as a person got on West Island.
But she didn’t like the look on his face—as if she’d somehow hurt him—so she paused. “I would love that, but my friend is back at our villa, and if she wakes up and finds me gone, she’s going to think that I walked off the path and broke my leg or something and sound the alarm. I don’t have an easy way to get ahold of her, so I have to go make sure she’s not forming a search party.”
His frown cleared. “I understand.” He got out of bed and pulled on his shorts. “I’ll give you a ride back.”
She started to tell him she didn’t need that, but the truth was she did. It was one thing to take his cart because she’d changed her mind about being with him and didn’t want to walk the paths alone at night. It was another to want to skip a potentially awkward morning-after conversation. She was an adult. She could handle it.
She hoped. “Thanks. That would be helpful.”
He threw on his shirt but didn’t bother buttoning it. It gave him the look of a... She didn’t even know, but she liked it. A lot. Down, girl. She found her shoes and followed him out to the golf cart.
Allie was so tense as she sat next to him, she was surprised she didn’t jostle right out of the seat when he put the cart into gear, but he reached over and took her hand, interlacing their fingers as if they held hands all the time. She relaxed, muscle by muscle, but her nerves didn’t calm. “I don’t do that normally—any of it.”
“You don’t have to explain yourself to me.” He squeezed her hand. “I had a good time last night.”
“Me...too.” She studied his profile. Adonis, indeed. “A really good time.”
He shot her a look as he took a turn onto a path marked with her villa number. “I’m in danger of being pushy, but I’d like to have a repeat—or several. I’m here on business, but my nights are yours if you’re interested.”
Her breath caught in her throat, though she couldn’t say why. To spend her days with Becka doing all the activities they had planned and her nights with her Adonis... That truly would be paradise. She licked her lips. “I...I’d like that.”
He grinned and pulled to a stop where the cart path ended and the walking path began. “In that case, would you gift a poor man with your name? You’ll always be Aphrodite to me, but I’d like to know the true identity of the woman I plan to have coming countless times in the next few days.”
She blushed and then called herself an idiot for blushing. “I’m Allie.”
He went so still, he might as well have turned into a statue. Those hazel eyes focused on her with unsettling intensity. “Allie? Allie Landers?”
She jerked her hand back, her heart beating for a reason that had nothing to do with desire. “How do you know my last name?”
He laughed, but not like anything was funny. “This is so fucked.”
“What are you talking about?”
Gone was the devilishly charming Adonis who’d seduced her with little effort last night, replaced by a cold man she didn’t recognize. “Roman Bassani.”
She knew that name. She knew that name. Allie scrambled out of the cart and took several steps back, though he made no move to touch her again. “The guy who keeps hounding me? What the hell are you doing here?”
His smile was as cold as any she’d seen. “I’m here to convince you to sell your business.”
CHAPTER FIVE (#u219e272d-b0ef-5bb9-aab9-7b50b73da809)
ROMAN WATCHED THE metaphorical shit hit the fan in slow motion. He looked at his Aphrodite—at Allie Landers—in disbelief. The horror in her expression, the way she took a step back and her body language closed down. Gone was the flirty siren he’d just had in his bed, replaced by a woman who didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him.
Still, he tried to salvage it. “I can explain.”
“Explain how you hunted me down to West Island and seduced me.” She shook her head, blond hair flying. “Nope. Absolutely not. You pulled one over on me. Good job. Way to go. Points for being totally and completely unexpected. You don’t get to stand there and tell me you can explain, because this is beyond explanation.”
“I didn’t know you were...you.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “I’m fucking this up.”
“You think?” She took another step back. “Your reputation might be shady, but I never expected this.”
He started to explain why he thought she couldn’t possibly be Allie Landers, but cut the words off before they reached the air between them. Telling her that her glorious curves didn’t fit in a specialized gym was both shitty and wrong, and he’d have realized that he shouldn’t assume a single goddamn thing if he’d stopped thinking with his cock long enough to function. There has to be a way to salvage this. “I don’t see why this has to change anything.”
Her blue eyes went wide. “You don’t think this needs to change anything.” She drew herself up to her full height, somewhere close to six feet. “You’re out of your goddamn mind. Get out of here. I never want to see you again.”
“Like hell I will.” He hadn’t wanted to do it like this. In fact, he’d crafted several well-thought-out arguments about how she needed to listen to his investment proposal. All of that flew right out the window in the face of his frustration. “You’re going to lose it all if you don’t stop being so fucking stubborn and let my investor help you.”
She looked at him like she’d never seen him before. “Wanting to preserve what I worked so hard to create isn’t stubbornness—and not wanting to sell it out to someone like you doesn’t make me an idiot.” She motioned at him.
“Someone like me.” She’d made it sound like an insult, and maybe it was. Roman played dirty. He’d never had any qualms about that truth. He still wouldn’t have tried to seduce Allie into seeing things his way—but he would have done everything else under the sun. He still would.
But her obvious disdain stung. He laughed harshly. “Someone like me,” he repeated. “Honey, look in the mirror. There’s only one reason Transcend is going under, and it’s not me. I’m just trying to save it.”
Her lips twisted. “How noble of you. Well, you can take your apparent white-knight complex and shove it up your ass.” She spun around and marched down the path toward her villa, her middle finger in the air.
Stubborn, frustrating woman.
Admittedly, he could have played that better. Roman pinched the bridge of his nose for a long moment and then turned the cart around and headed back for his place. If he could just tell her who his investor was...
Impossible. He’d signed a nondisclosure, which his investor had insisted on. Even if he wanted to tell Allie the details of what his client had planned for her gym and shelter, he couldn’t. Judging by her reaction, it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. She would have called him a liar and told him he was full of shit.
He’d miscalculated. It wouldn’t have changed the reaction he’d had to seeing Allie in person—he didn’t think anything could have altered that—but he’d have kept control enough not to try to seduce her.
Fool. He could almost hear his old man’s voice as if the bastard sat next to him. Took the easy way and look what happened—exactly what always happens. Failure.
Roman shut that shit down. He didn’t have time to wallow in shame for fucking up. He had to figure out a way around it. As tempting as it was to follow her back to her villa and continue the argument until she saw things his way, it wouldn’t do anything but make her dig in her heels further. Allie had proved herself to be as stubborn as the day was long. For some reason, she was resistant to investors.
He needed to figure out why. It was the only way to get around her issues.
He took a shower and headed into the main lodge. It was the only place to get a call out on the island or to use anything resembling the internet. It took some convincing to get the woman on staff to give him access to the tiny business center, but he managed.
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Katee Robert
‘I crave you…’Can their hunger be satisfied?Roman Bassani will do anything to close a deal. Even chase down Allie Landers on her Caribbean vacation to make an offer on her company. He expects a challenge—but not their immediate intense attraction. After an accidental one-night stand they agree to put business aside—for now. The island lulls them into a heated sexual journey…but what happens to their opposing interests when they return from paradise?
“I crave you...”
Can their hunger be satisfied?
Roman Bassani will do anything to close a deal. Even chase down Allie Landers on her Caribbean vacation to make an offer on her company. He expects a challenge—but not their immediate intense attraction. After an accidental one-night stand they agree to put business aside—for now. The island lulls them into a heated sexual journey...but what happens to their opposing interests when they return from paradise?
“DARE is Harlequin’s hottest line yet. Every book should come with a free fan. I dare you to try them!”
—Tiffany Reisz, international bestselling author
New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author KATEE ROBERT learned to tell her stories at her grandpa’s knee. Her 2015 title The Marriage Contract was a RITA® finalist, and RT Book Reviews named it ‘a compulsively readable book with just the right amount of suspense and tension’. When not writing sexy contemporary and romantic suspense she spends her time playing imaginative games with her children, driving her husband batty with what-if? questions, and planning for the inevitable zombie apocalypse.
If you liked Make Me Crave, why not try
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Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
Make Me Crave
Katee Robert
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ISBN: 978-1-474-07128-4
MAKE ME CRAVE
© 2018 Katee Hird
Published in Great Britain 2018
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
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To Hunter McGrady.
You’re an inspiration!
Contents
Cover (#uaa50ba9d-6529-5137-aa11-22ca755b58fc)
Back Cover Text (#u6a05f96f-b3c6-5503-9054-4dd8515364b2)
About the Author (#u974943c9-0087-5a2e-bfed-10c125948594)
Booklist (#u39b296b1-f2fe-5b03-b157-f0158345d0b9)
Title Page (#ud3f54333-6300-567c-ae87-cdc0f41b47e5)
Copyright (#u583603f4-9c67-5bd2-a1be-8c9e500c7a86)
Dedication (#uafedb3b1-9587-553c-a121-624dd2548c49)
CHAPTER ONE (#ua027bdb5-7548-5e56-810b-58ec53959de4)
CHAPTER TWO (#uf5d28f4d-8012-53e6-9c8c-c44bca98cabd)
CHAPTER THREE (#u3920a8f5-b68f-54c6-a628-82815bbe52c1)
CHAPTER FOUR (#u97a16176-2b67-5696-97a0-9ad9af624ba5)
CHAPTER FIVE (#u6d06bdb4-d425-5b1e-becf-a636d690b2f3)
CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIFTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIXTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
Extract (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#u219e272d-b0ef-5bb9-aab9-7b50b73da809)
“I SHOULD CANCEL.” Allie Landers threw another massive load of white towels into the washer and bumped the door closed with her hip. “Honestly, I shouldn’t have let you talk me into this in the first place.”
“It’s cute that you think you let me do anything.” Her best friend, Becka Baudin, laughed. She pulled another set of shoes out of the metal bin and paired them up with the appropriate-sized cubby. “And, besides, I already checked us in for our flight. It’s too late to turn back now. Our classes are covered. Claudia is handling all the administrative work for the week—for both the gym and the shelter. If you stay, you’ll just stand around and stress out because things are operating just fine without you.” She slid another set of spin shoes back into their cubby. “When’s the last time you took a day off, Allie?”
Allie sighed, because that was the one argument she couldn’t win. She didn’t take days off. Her gym, Transcend, and the women’s shelter it helped support were her life. She even lived in the apartment above the building combining the two. When she wasn’t filling in teaching a class for one of the girls she employed, she was handling administrative work or doing whatever was required for the shelter.
She preferred it that way. Being busy made her feel complete in a way that nothing else did. She was a vital cog in a perfectly operating machine.
Except little about it was perfect these days.
The few donors she’d had who helped keep the women’s shelter afloat had dried up. The gym functioned just fine on its own, but she’d been using every bit of profit to keep the shelter going. Because of that, the gym was in jeopardy now, too. The result... She was in trouble. More trouble than she’d let on to anyone. Admitting it aloud was akin to making it real, and she couldn’t do that. There was a way out. There had to be.
A way that didn’t involve selling out to the vulture investors who’d been circling for months. Allie just needed time to figure it out.
The very last thing she needed was to jet off to the Caribbean to some private island for a week. But if she admitted as much to Becka, then she’d have to admit everything else.
She couldn’t. Not yet.
Allie had just sunk what remained of her personal savings account into keeping the power bill paid at the shelter, which meant another month gone by without debt collectors calling. Or, worse in so many ways, without having to turn out any of the women currently living there.
“Hello? Earth to Allie.” Becka waved a hand in front of her face, a frown marring her expression. “Where’d you go?”
“Nowhere important.” She forced a smile and reached over to flick her friend’s hair. “The blue suits you.” It was just as bright as Becka’s personality, several shades melded together to create something beautiful.
“Don’t change the subject.” Her friend frowned harder. “You aren’t going to cancel, are you? If you try, I will hog-tie you to your suitcase and haul your ass to the airport myself. You’re going to relax and enjoy yourself for a week even if it kills both of us.”
Allie snorted. “If it kills both of us, that’s hardly relaxing, is it?”
“Smart-ass.” Becka’s blue eyes were pleading. “I’ve already left our contact info with Claudia. I promise, if something happens and they need you, I’ll pay for your flight back to New York without bitching about it once. And I’ll never bully you into going on vacation again.”
Allie raised her eyebrows. “How much did you have to pay Claudia to make sure she doesn’t call me?” That was the only way Becka would make a promise like that. Her friend played to win, and she wasn’t afraid to play dirty. Claudia was just as bad.
Becka all but confirmed it. “Claudia is on the same page as I am. We both agree that you need to get the hell away from this place for a little bit.”
She sighed again, but a small part of her looked forward to seven days with no email, no phone calls, no weight of the world on her shoulders. The island had no internet access except in the main lodge, so she’d have no choice but to relax. “I guess I have to go, then.”
“Yes, you do!” Becka gave a little wiggle. “Now help me get the rest of these shoes put away before your class. I’m going to pop in if it doesn’t fill up. Seven days of drinking and sunning myself are going to add up quick.”
Allie laughed and moved to help. She pushed away the worry and stress that had plagued her for months. It would still be here when she got back. What would it hurt to just cut loose for once in her adult life? “I’m looking forward to it.” And for the first time since she’d bought the tickets, she actually meant it.
* * *
Roman Bassani glared at the pretty Chinese woman behind the counter. “You’ve been giving me the runaround for weeks. I know for a fact that Allie Landers is in here daily and she’s actively dodging my calls. I just need to talk to her.” He couldn’t tender her an offer to invest in her business if he couldn’t pin her down, and he’d been having a hell of a time managing that since his initial call to propose the idea. Coaxing reluctant business owners into seeing things his way was something that usually came easily for him. But Allie Landers was a slipperier quarry than he’d expected.
Apparently she’d successfully dodged him. Again.
“I’m sorry, sir.” Claudia didn’t look the least bit sorry. “She’s out of town for the next seven days. Any business you have with her will have to wait until then.”
“Out of town? Where the hell did she go? There’s got to be some way to get ahold of her.” He didn’t actually expect Claudia to answer, but apparently needling him was too much of a temptation.
She leaned forward with a small smile. “She’s on a private island with no cell service or internet. If you want to contact her before she gets back, I suggest smoke signals.”
Cheeky.
He could use this. Roman plastered a disbelieving look on his face. “That’s bullshit. There isn’t a damn place in the Western Hemisphere without cell service or Wi-Fi, let alone without both.”
“There is on West Island.”
Aha. He didn’t let his expression shift. “If you say so. You tell Allie to call me when she gets back.”
“I’m sure she’ll have you at the top of her list,” Claudia said sweetly.
Roman turned without another word and stalked out of the gym. He breathed an audible sigh of relief once the door closed behind him. Everything about that place was so feminine, he couldn’t walk inside without feeling like a bull in a china shop. It was more than the tiny instructors that he seemed to argue with the second he asked after the owner. There wasn’t a single pink thing in sight, but the place was always packed with women.
None of that was a bad thing, but the looks they gave him—as if they expected him to go on a rampage at any moment—and the subtle flinches they made if he moved too fast... It grated. It wasn’t their fault, and he applauded what Allie Landers was doing there, but their behavior left him painfully aware of how big his body was by comparison to theirs, and of the fact that no matter how carefully he spoke or how expensively he dressed, he was still a goddamn animal beneath the suit.
He didn’t let anyone see it, but those women sensed it all the same.
A predator.
It didn’t matter that he’d chop off his hand before he raised it to a woman or child. To them, he was a threat.
Roman cursed and started down the street. He should hail a cab, but he needed to work off his aggression more. The long strides helped clear his mind and ease his agitation, leaving nothing but cold purpose in its wake.
This Allie thought she could skip town for a week and ignore the fact that his deadline was bearing down on them. Two weeks until she had to make a decision, or other investors would make the decision for her. Normally, Roman wouldn’t hesitate to play dirty, but his client wanted Allie to agree to the contract without him putting on undue pressure. An impossible task. He had a healthy bonus waiting for him if he could pull it off, but that was secondary. His client wanted full acquisition of the business with the shelter intact—the women in the shelter would scatter if they thought it was a hostile takeover. They trusted Allie, and they sure as fuck wouldn’t trust him.
All of it boiled down to his needing the damn woman to go along with this buyout and he couldn’t convince her to get onboard if she wasn’t here.
But he had a location.
Roman fished his phone out of his pocket and did some quick searching, his frustration growing when he realized that the resort was booked for the next year straight. The website promised a discreet paradise, which translated to the staff being unwilling to move things around to accommodate him. Since giving him guest names so he could offer his own incentive was against company policy, he’d hit a dead end.
Only one thing left to do. He called his best friend, Gideon Novak. “Hey, don’t suppose you have any connections with West Island in the Caribbean?”
“Hello, Roman, so nice to hear from you. I’m doing well, thank you for asking.”
Roman rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes, I’m being a prick. We both know that’s not going to change. The island. It’s important.”
The slightest of pauses on the other end wouldn’t have been there if he hadn’t fucked things up royally six months ago. He and Gideon were mending that bridge, but rebuilding the trust was slow going. It didn’t matter that Gideon understood where Roman was coming from—Roman had still almost cost his friend the love of his life, Lucy.
Finally, clicking sounded on the other end of the phone. “I haven’t dealt with the owner specifically, but I’ve placed two separate clients with his company and they’re both still working there.”
It was better than he could have hoped. “I need one of the villas.”
Another pause, longer this time. “Roman, if you need a vacation, book it yourself. I’m not a goddamn travel agent.”
“No shit. This isn’t pleasure—it’s business. I need to find a guest arriving today. And offer the owner of the reservation a truly outstanding amount of money to reschedule. The resort won’t give out that information to me, but if you have an in, they’ll give it out to you.”
“This better be really important.”
It wasn’t a question, but Roman had nothing to lose at this point. “Vitally. One of the businesses I’ve been trying to court for months is coming down to the deadline. If my client doesn’t invest first, the other wolves circling will. They’ll damage the integrity of this place and do irreparable harm to people’s lives as a result.”
“Sounds like you’re playing the hero. A new look for you.”
“Fuck no. I’m in it for the bottom line, and the bottom line is that with the right spin, this place could be making a significant amount of money, and the good press that comes from it being connected with a women’s shelter would go a long way to opening doors to me that have previously been closed.”
Gideon snorted. “Whatever you have to tell yourself. Give me thirty.”
“Thanks.”
His friend hung up without saying goodbye. Gideon would come through for him. The man was an unstoppable force, and Roman counted himself lucky to have him on his side.
Sure enough, thirty minutes later, a text came through with the reservation details—and the significant amount of money to be wired to the owner of the reservation he was co-opting. Roman wasted no time sending the money and booking the first flight out of New York.
He had seven days to track down Allie Landers and convince her to see things his way. How hard could it be on an island with only ten villas on it?
CHAPTER TWO (#u219e272d-b0ef-5bb9-aab9-7b50b73da809)
ROMAN TOOK FIVE minutes to change and stalk through his villa, getting a feel for the place. It was all vacation luxury, heavy on the driftwood furniture and big open spaces to maximize the view of his private beach and the foliage that surrounded three quarters of the building.
And therein lay the problem.
He should have anticipated that an island with only ten villas would play heavily into privacy, but with the various activities open to all guests, he’d anticipated there would be plenty of time to find Allie and make his argument.
He hadn’t figured on not knowing which part of the island she was on.
He strode onto the beach and looked around. The natural curve of the island created a miniature bay that blocked out the view of anyone else. There were bicycles and walking paths to get to the main buildings, where there was a restaurant, a bar, a yoga studio and a boutique gift shop. He could hang out there and hope like hell that Allie would venture in for a meal, but with the option to have dining brought to the villas, he didn’t like his odds.
No, better to get the lay of the land and plan accordingly.
A quick examination of the storage unit right off the sand—designed to look like a weathered shack—gave him the answer. There was gear for a variety of water sports. He considered his options and went with the kayak. It was the fastest way to get where he needed to go and stay relatively dry in the process. He shucked his shoes off, paused and then dragged off his shirt, too. The summer sun should have made the heat unbearable, but as he pushed the kayak into the water, it was damn near pleasant.
Roman hadn’t been on a kayak before, but it seemed easy enough. He experimented in paddling until he got a good rhythm, then set off, heading south around the island. He’d make a circuit and go from there.
The main problem lay in the fact that he didn’t exactly know who he was looking for. He’d never managed to pin Allie Landers down into meeting him in person. The digging he’d done online had brought up precious little—both in details about her as an individual and pictures of her. Her social media accounts were both set to private, and the one photo he’d found of her was from ages ago. The Transcend website, which revealed more about the company’s services and vision than its founder, didn’t give more information than a contact email address. Considering it was linked with a women’s shelter, that wasn’t surprising, but it still irked him.
That said, Roman had secured deals in the past that began with even less information than he had now. He was confident he’d pull it off this time, too.
The first villa to the south had a family with two smallish children making sandcastles, so Roman kept going, starting to enjoy himself despite the fact that he much preferred the city to anything resembling nature. This didn’t feel like nature, though.
It felt a whole lot like paradise.
He made his way around the island, surveying beach by beach. There were two with families, two with groups that seemed to consist solely of men, three empty and one with a group of four women who catcalled him as he paddled past. He filed that information away to check on later. There was no telling how many friends Allie had come down here with, but he knew she wasn’t married and had no children, so at least he’d narrowed down the search.
By the time he came around the north point of the island, he was fucking exhausted. Roman spent time in the gym regularly, but the heat and the constant paddling wore on him. He steered around the outcropping of rocks and let his paddle rest across the kayak in front of him, taking a moment to roll his shoulders.
Which was right around the time he saw the woman.
She lay on her back, her arms stretched over her head, her long blond hair stark against the vivid red of her beach towel. But that wasn’t what made his breath dry up in his lungs.
It was the fact she was topless.
Her golden skin glinted in the sunlight as if she’d oiled herself before coming out to the beach, and the only thing resembling clothing she wore was a tiny triangle of indeterminable color. Her long legs bent as she shifted, her large breasts rising and falling with a slow breath.
He forgot what he was there for. Forgot that his muscles were damn near shaking with exhaustion. Forgot everything but his sudden need to see what color her nipples were.
What the fuck are you doing?
He shook his head. Going closer was inappropriate. Fuck, sitting there and staring like a goddamn creep was the height of inappropriate. It didn’t matter how mouthwatering her curves were or the fact that she’d propped herself up on her elbows to watch him.
Roman took a deep breath, and then another. It did nothing to quell his raging cockstand, but he managed to pick up the paddle and keep rowing. Whoever that woman was, no matter that he wanted to spend a whole lot of time up close and personal with her...she wasn’t Allie. The one picture he’d managed to source of the woman alone was several years old. Her goddamn senior yearbook photo. She’d been skinny to the point of being unhealthy with her hair chopped short and dyed pitch-black.
He highly doubted she looked anything like that currently.
The one defining characteristic of the women who staffed Transcend was that they were all tiny and chiseled and didn’t have a soft spot on their bodies. Beautiful, yes. Roman could appreciate all body types, but none of them had made his hands shake the same way that woman on the beach did. Soft and curvy and with breasts he ached to get his mouth on.
Knock that shit off. You aren’t here to fuck anyone, no matter how sexy she is. You’re here for business.
He’d go to dinner tonight and see if he could sniff out which of the women on the island was Allie and make his plan from there.
And if he saw the mystery woman once he’d gotten the rest of it figured out?
Roman grinned. Maybe he’d make an exception to his rule and indulge in some pleasure along with business.
He was in paradise, after all.
* * *
“How are you doing, sweetie?” Allie pulled on a sundress and headed over to check on Becka. Her friend had indulged a little too heavily on the vodka on the flight down from the city, and the short plane ride from Miami to West Island had made her sick. She’d spent the afternoon sleeping it off, but she still looked a bit green around the gills.
Becka managed a shaky smile. “I think vodka and I broke up.”
“It’s temporary.” She hesitated. “Do you want me to stay? Nurse you back to health?” She was pleasantly tired, but the draw of tonight’s menu was enough to have her itching to ride to the lodge and get a better lay of the land. Becka had been so out of sorts when they arrived, it had been a rush to get checked in and settled in the villa so she could sleep off the worst of it.
“God, no. It’s bad enough that I’ve brought shame on my family for ruining the first day of your desperately needed vacation. I’m not going to let you spend any time paying for my bad decisions. Go. Eat delicious food. Drink.”
Allie still didn’t move for the door. “Why don’t I see if the chef can make up some broth or something easy on your stomach?”
“Go, go, go. You’re on vacation. You’re not required to mother me.” She softened the words with a smile, still looking queasy.
Allie went. Becka wouldn’t thank her for staying and would only feel guilty if she did, which would distract her from resting. Tomorrow would be soon enough for them to go exploring and try out the stand-up paddleboards Allie had eyed when she’d checked out the beach.
Her face heated at the fact she’d been caught sunbathing topless. Whoever that guy was, he’d been far off enough that she couldn’t clearly see his face. Those shoulders, though... Allie shivered. Even at a distance, she’d seen the cut of his muscles and how purposefully he’d maneuvered the kayak through the turquoise waters. The island must have already gone to her head, because she’d spent a truly insane moment hoping he’d come to shore so she could get a better look at him.
Maybe more than a better look.
Allie laughed at her fanciful thoughts. Vacation hookups were all well and good, but if that was what she’d wanted, she’d chosen the wrong place to go. Isolation and relaxation were the name of the game on West Island, which was exactly what she’d craved when she let Becka talk her into booking the trip. It was the exact opposite of New York and her life there.
But now she found herself wondering if maybe something slightly more chaotic would have been a better choice. The sun and sea had soaked into her blood and the heady feeling had her convinced anything was possible. It was only a week. The perfect length of time for a fling...
If she wasn’t on a private island in the middle of the ocean without a single man in sight.
She bypassed the little golf cart that was one of the main forms of transportation here. It felt good to walk after being cooped up on the plane and then lying prone while she sunned herself. She usually taught at least one class a day at Transcend—more if she needed to cover someone else’s schedule—so being inactive wasn’t natural for her. It was only a mile or two to the restaurant and the day had started to cool as the sun reached for the horizon. It’d be downright pleasant tonight.
She’d make sure to wake early and attend one of the yoga classes offered, and the rest of the day would be filled with activities that would keep restlessness from setting in. There was even scuba diving available, though Allie wasn’t sure she was feeling that adventurous. Snorkeling? Sure. Going deeper with only a tank and a few tubes between her and drowning? That would take a whole lot more convincing.
The path was cleared and well maintained to allow the carts to drive without problems, so she let her mind wander as she fell into a natural stride that ate up the distance without tiring her out. Every once in a while, the path would branch off in different directions, some heading toward other villas, some heading deeper inland. There was a small selection of hiking trails that offered tours of the history of the island.
She made it to the restaurant easily and found it practically deserted. Allie paused in the doorway, wondering if she’d misunderstood the woman who’d checked them in. Maybe it was closed?
“Looks like it’s just you and me.”
She jumped and spun around. The man stood a respectable distance away, but his sheer size ate up the space and made her feel closed in. She froze. I’d recognize those shoulders anywhere. Confirming her suspicion, his gaze slid over her body as if he was reminding himself of what she looked like with nothing but what she’d worn on the beach. She tried to swallow past her suddenly dry throat. “You.”
“Me.” He finally looked her in the face, and she rocked back on her heels. The man was an Adonis. There was no other way to describe his blond perfection, from his hazel eyes to the square jaw to the cleft in his chin to the body that just wouldn’t quit. He might be wearing a shirt now, but the button-down did nothing to hide his muscle definition.
He held out a wide hand with equally perfect square fingers. “Let me buy you a drink?”
“We’re at an all-inclusive resort.”
His lips twitched, eyes twinkling. “Have a drink with me.”
Oh, he was good. Charm practically colored the air between them, and she had the inexplicable impulse to close the distance and stroke a finger along his jawline. To flick that cleft chin with her tongue.
Allie gave herself a shake. “Since we’re the only ones here, it’d be silly to sit apart.”
The look he gave her said he saw right through the excuse, and why not when it was pathetically flimsy? The truth was that this man was magnetic and she suspected she’d be drawn to him even in a room full of people. He waved a hand at the empty place. “Lady’s choice.”
“How magnanimous of you.”
“I try.”
She laughed and headed for the table in the middle of the small patio. There were half a dozen tables, and she picked a spot that put her back to the building and presented the best view of the ocean through a carefully curated gap in the foliage.
He eyed the view and then the chair on the other side of the table, and then he picked it up and set it adjacent to hers so they were sitting on a diagonal, rather than directly across from each other. “Nice view.”
She turned to agree—and found him staring at her.
Allie wasn’t falsely modest. Life was too short to play games with body shaming and pretending she didn’t have access to a mirror. She was pretty—beautiful when she put some effort into it—but she’d given up being skinny or petite after the agony of high school, and she wasn’t athletically built like some of the women at her gym. Sure, she had muscle beneath her softness, and she could keep up with the best of them in her spin classes, but she loved food just as much as she loved to sweat, and her curves reflected that. Some guys had a problem with that, though she didn’t keep them around as soon as comments like “Should you really be eating that?” started.
This guy looked at her like he wanted to put her on the table and feast on her for dinner.
The desire stoked the flame inside her that had kindled the second she saw him. She leaned forward, checking his left hand. No ring. No tan lines, either. “What brings you to West Island?”
“It’s paradise, isn’t it? Who wouldn’t want to come here to get away from it all?”
That wasn’t quite an answer, but she was distracted by the intoxicating way his mouth moved when he spoke. Get ahold of yourself, Allie. You’re in danger of panting for him. She took a quick drink of water that did nothing to quell the heat rising with each minute she sat next to him.
Luckily, a waiter appeared to save her from saying something truly embarrassing. He outlined the menu for the night and took their drink orders, then disappeared as quickly as he’d come.
They were in the middle of one of the most beautiful places Allie had ever seen, and she couldn’t manage to tear her gaze away from this stranger. She licked her lips, every muscle in her body tensing when he followed the movement. She opened her mouth, but before she could speak, he took her hand, running his thumb over her knuckles.
The touch was innocent enough, but she felt that light movement in places that were most definitely not innocent. She didn’t have to look down to know her nipples now pressed against the thin fabric of her sundress.
His smile was slow and sinful and promised things she never would have had the gall to ask for. “This is going to sound unforgivably forward, but what do you say we get out of here and go back to my villa?”
It was crazy. More than crazy. She didn’t even know his name, and she sure as hell didn’t know anything more pertinent about him.
But there on the softly lit patio with the tropical scent of some flower she didn’t recognize and the soft shushing sound of the tide coming in, she didn’t feel like Allie, gym owner and mother hen, the responsible one who could never afford to do anything out of line or make a misstep because too many lives depended on her.
Here, she was just Allie, a woman. A woman who desperately wanted the man staring at her mouth as if he was doing everything in his power to keep from kissing her right then and there. She licked her lips again, secretly delighting in the way a muscle in his jaw jumped. “Yes.”
“Yes?”
“Yes, let’s get out of here.”
CHAPTER THREE (#u219e272d-b0ef-5bb9-aab9-7b50b73da809)
ROMAN TOOK THE woman’s hand as they left the candlelit restaurant and made their way to the golf cart he’d driven there. He’d considered walking, but he was so goddamn glad now that he hadn’t.
She looked even better up close than she’d been on the beach. Her white floral dress displayed her large breasts to perfection, hugging her ribs and then flaring out to swish around her thighs as she walked next to him. Her long blond hair was a mass of waves tumbling just past her shoulders, and he could picture it all too easily tangling between his fingers as he thrust into her.
Slow down.
He took a careful breath, and then another, focusing on keeping his stride unhurried and his hand loose on hers. Roman was hardly a saint, but he’d never had a reaction to a woman on such an intrinsic level like he was having now. He wanted to kiss her pouty lips and run his hands over her body and...
Slow. Down.
Not happening.
Not when she looked at him from under thick lashes, her blue eyes devouring the sight of him. She wanted this.
But he had to be sure.
He pulled her into his arms when they stopped next to the golf cart. She stepped against him easily—eagerly—and he let himself off the leash enough to run his hands down her back and to cup her ass, bringing her flush against him. Her breasts pressed against his chest, and he had to bite back a groan at how good she felt. “I’m going to kiss you now.”
She didn’t give him the chance to follow through. She tilted her face up and captured his mouth. It was chaste as such things went, her lips soft against his, but it didn’t stay that way. Roman slid one hand up to cup the back of her head and deepened the kiss, tracing the seam of her lips with his tongue and delving inside when she opened for him. Her hands fisted the front of his shirt, pulling him closer even as her hips rolled against his.
Roman tore his mouth from hers. “Golf cart. Now.” Or he was in danger of forgetting where they were and fucking her right here. Even ignoring the glaring lack of a condom, he wasn’t a beast incapable of anything resembling control, and this beautiful wanting woman deserved better than to be bent over a goddamn golf cart.
At least for the first time.
First time? You’re out of your damn mind.
He picked her up and set her on the golf cart, enjoying the way her lips parted in a surprised O. He was showing off and he didn’t give two fucks about it, especially not when he slid behind the wheel, fired up the cart and started down the path leading toward his villa. He almost asked about hers, but just because she was alone didn’t mean she was alone.
The thought brought him up short. He glanced at her. “Are you here with someone?”
“Just my friend.” She correctly interpreted his expression. “I’m single. No boyfriend. No husband.”
Thank fuck. “Same.” He pressed the accelerator again. There were little eco-friendly lights scattered along the edge of the path to keep them from driving into a tree, and he made it back to his villa in record time.
Roman shut off the engine and turned to face her. “I—”
“Wait.” She pressed a finger to his lips, and he instinctively nipped her lightly. Her eyes went wide. “Let’s just...enjoy this. It’s not like it’s real life. It’s the fantasy of this place.” She motioned with her free hand.
He couldn’t argue that, not with the low sound of some bird in the distance and the sky and sea fading from magnificent colors to true dark even as they sat there. He’d left on a scattering of lights in the villa, and he took her hand and led her inside. “Hot tub?”
“Maybe later.”
There was no mistaking the intent in the way she watched him, so he didn’t waste time. This was, after all, the fantasy. Roman embraced that and ignored the part of him that was curious about who this woman was and why she’d come to this place. About what her life was like wherever she spent her normal time. About a lot of things. He set it aside, because he craved another taste of her, and if he started talking about shit that didn’t matter, he would ruin this perfect feeling of breathless need between them.
He led her into the main bedroom. It played up the island fantasy just as much as the rest of this place did: big windows overlooking the water, a massive mattress framed by a driftwood headboard. The white comforter was ridiculously fluffy, but he wanted to see her stretched out on top of it while he drove into her.
Slow, damn it.
Roman turned and framed her face with his hands. He kissed her, exploring her mouth as he took them deeper. She made a little helpless noise in the back of her throat that had his cock hardening even further. He licked along her neck and nudged off the strap of her dress before working his way across her upper chest to do the same to the other side.
As much as he wanted to rip the goddamn thing off her, he dragged his mouth over the swell of one breast and then the other, shifting the fabric lower with each pass. Her fingers tangled in his hair, and she arched to meet his mouth, her breath coming as quickly as his.
He captured one nipple, sucking hard until her back bowed and she let loose a little cry. “I’m taking this off.”
“Good.” She shimmied out of the dress in a move that made his mouth water, her breasts bouncing a little.
And then she stood before him in only a pair of pink lace panties.
“Fucking perfection,” he breathed.
It was hard to tell in the low light, but a flush might have appeared on her cheeks and chest. “Don’t make a girl stand here while you stare.”
He shook his head, trying to clear it. “Give a man a few seconds to enjoy the view. I didn’t get a chance to on the beach earlier today.” He kneeled before her and ran his hands up her legs, enjoying the feel of her muscles flexing beneath his touch. He stopped at the generous curve of her hips and hooked his fingers into the edges of the panties. “It drove me fucking crazy that I didn’t know the color of your nipples.” The answer was a dusky rose, the contrast between her nipples and her tanned skin drawing him farther up onto his knees so he could see her better, could lick her there again.
She shook, just a little. “You could have come to find out.”
“Mmm.” He kissed her soft stomach as he drew her panties down her legs. “If I had, you would have run screaming up the beach and barricaded the door.”
“Maybe.” Her breath hitched as he ran his tongue around her belly button. “Or maybe I would have waded out into the water to meet you.”
The image hit him with the force of a train. Of the waves cresting up to tease her breasts as she stood there waiting for him. Of him pulling her into his arms the same way he had here in the villa. Of her wrapping her legs around his waist and him tugging her bikini bottom to the side and—“Fuck, maybe I’ll make another circuit around the island tomorrow and we can do it right.”
She laughed softly. “Or maybe you can put that wicked mouth to good use and we can focus on the here and now.”
That sounded even better. Roman moved, hitching one of her legs over his shoulder, and buried his face in her pussy.
* * *
Allie had half convinced herself that she was dreaming, but the feeling of his mouth latching on to the most secret part of her was all too real. She closed her eyes and gave herself over to his licks, long and slow as if relishing her taste and feel. It was the single hottest thing she’d ever experienced.
Right up until he turned them and toppled her onto the massive bed. She gasped, the sound morphing into a moan when he pushed a single finger into her, as slow and exploring as his mouth had been.
His eyes drank in the sight of her in a move she swore she could feel. He lingered on her thighs and pussy, hips and stomach, taking extra care over her breasts, before finally settling on her face. “Perfection,” he said again.
“You’re not too shabby yourself.” She reached over her head to grip the comforter, knowing full well that it offered her breasts up for him.
He made a sound perilously close to a growl. “Thanks.” A second finger joined the first, and he barely gave her time to adjust to that before he pushed a third into her. Stretching her. Readying her. “Fuck, woman, you feel good.”
“You...too.” She fought to keep her eyes open, to not miss a single second of the experience. This golden god looked at her as if he wanted to imprint himself over every inch of her, and she was more than happy to play sacrifice for the night. If he could bring such pleasure with his hands and mouth, there was no telling what he’d do with the rest of his body.
He twisted his wrist so that his thumb slid over her clit with each stroke of his fingers, the combined sensation leaving her feeling warm and melty. She let go of the comforter to reach up and cup his chiseled jaw. “I’m going to call you Adonis.”
He barked out a laugh. “I’m hardly that pretty.”
“You’re even prettier.” She never would have said it in real life, without the island and pleasure making her drunk on him. Allie traced her thumb over his bottom lip, slightly fuller than the top. “You call me perfect, but you’re flawless.”
Another laugh, this one strained. “Trust me, I have more than my fair share of flaws.” He turned his head and kissed her palm. “But we’ll pretend that’s not the truth tonight.”
“Works for me.” She didn’t ask about his flaws. That wasn’t what this was. She didn’t even know his name, which somehow made the whole situation hotter—because Allie never did this. Ever.
Tonight she was going to.
With that thought buoying her, she reached for his pants. “I need you.”
“You have me.” He pushed his fingers deeper as if to demonstrate.
“No, I need you.” She managed to get his belt off and shoved his shorts down his narrow hips. His cock was just as perfect as the rest of him, long and thick, and she swallowed hard. “I’m tired of waiting.”
“That’s too damn bad, because I’m just getting started.” He slid his fingers out of her and looped an arm beneath her waist, sliding her farther onto the bed until he could place her hands on the bottom of the headboard. “I’m not going to tie you down.”
Her heart tried to beat itself out of her chest at the thought. “I don’t know how I’d feel about that.” Liar. She wanted it. Allie didn’t think she was particularly kinky before tonight, but the thought of being at the mercy of this man...
Slow your roll. He’s a stranger. Getting tied up by a stranger is a bad idea, even in paradise.
He stopped, kneeling above her on all fours, his cock dipping down until it almost touched her stomach. Those hazel eyes were completely serious for the first time since she’d met him. An hour ago. You met him an hour ago.
He didn’t touch her, though he was close enough that she could feel the warmth coming off his body. “If you’ve changed your mind, we can stop. I’ll give you a ride back to your villa or, if you aren’t comfortable with that, you can take the cart and the staff will return it to me tomorrow.” No judgment in his tone. No trying to guilt her or pull some shady business. Just ensuring that this was exactly where she wanted to be.
She gripped the headboard. “I want to stay. I want you.”
His grin had her breath fluttering in her chest like a trapped thing. “You won’t regret it.”
Before she could think too hard about what tomorrow would bring, he kissed her, long and slow. Reacquainting himself with her as if it had been days since they’d last touched instead of moments. Her Adonis worked his way down her body one torturous inch at a time, turning parts of her erogenous that she never would have considered before that night. The inside of her elbow. The bottom of her ribs. Her knees.
He stroked and kissed her body as if memorizing every inch, until she was a quivering mess. Her world narrowed down to where he would touch her next, to the only parts of her he hadn’t touched—her breasts and the spot between her thighs where she ached for him. “Please. Adonis, please.”
He chuckled against her inner thigh, and she felt it like a bolt to her pussy. “I like it when you call me that.”
“I’ll call you anything you want if you just touch me.”
“I have been touching you.” He shifted to lay next to her, his big palm coasting over her body, an inch off her skin. She shook with the need to arch up and feel him, but the slant of his brows told her that if she tried, he’d just move his hand farther from her. “Unless you mean something specific. Like here.” His fingers drifted just above her nipples and then down until she could feel the air displacement above her clit. “Or here.”
“Please.”
The touch was so light, she thought she might have imagined it. But she didn’t imagine the look in his hazel eyes. He leaned down until his lips brushed hers with each word. “I want to feel you coming on my cock.”
CHAPTER FOUR (#u219e272d-b0ef-5bb9-aab9-7b50b73da809)
ROMAN HAD LAUGHED when he’d found the stash of condoms on his initial exploration of the villa, but he’d never been so glad for them as he was in the moment when he ripped through a foil packet and rolled the condom over his cock.
He looked at her sprawled on his bed, her long limbs askew, her pussy so wet he could see it glistening from where he stood, her breasts reddened from his mouth, her hair a tangle over the white comforter... Passion personified. “Aphrodite.”
She tore her gaze away from his cock. “What?”
“If I’m Adonis, then you’re my Aphrodite.” He wanted to know her real name, but Roman wasn’t a fool—if he pressed her now about it, it would ruin the fantasy they played at. He ran his hands up her thighs as he climbed back onto the bed. “You look like her statue.”
Her lips curved in a sinful smile. “You already have me in your bed. You don’t have to go overboard with the compliments.” She leaned up on her elbows and kissed his throat. “If you don’t slide your cock into me right this second, I’m liable to expire on the spot.”
Fuck, she kept surprising him. Roman laughed; the sound was harsh with need. “Can’t have that.”
“No, we can’t.” She nipped the spot where his neck met his shoulder and then her hand was around the base of him, guiding his cock inside her.
He fought to keep the stroke steady and not drive into her like a goddamn beast. She clenched around him, one leg looping around his waist to take him deeper yet. Heaven. There was no other word to describe her little whimpers and shakes that he could feel all the way to the base of his cock. Or for her hands sliding down his back to grab his ass and drive him the rest of the way into her. He tangled his fingers in her hair and kissed her hard. “You know what you want.”
“I want you.”
He pulled almost all the way out of her and she rose to meet his thrust, her body moving in perfect time with his. As if they’d done this a thousand times before.
It was good. Too damn good.
He pulled back enough to create a little distance between their bodies. “Touch yourself. I said I want to feel you come on my cock, and I meant it.”
She didn’t hesitate, one hand snaking between her thighs, her middle finger circling her clit. The sight of her seeking her own pleasure while they were still joined threatened to toss him headfirst over the edge. He thrust again, hard enough to make her breasts bounce with each stroke.
Once. Twice. A third time.
She came with a cry, her mouth opening in a perfect O and her pussy milking him. He had no choice but to follow her under. Roman grabbed her hips and fucked her, pursuing his own pleasure even as her orgasm went on and on. Pressure built in the small of his spine and his balls drew up as he came hard enough to see stars.
He managed to collapse next to her instead of on top of her, but only barely. They lay there several long minutes as their gasping breath settled into something resembling normal. Roman pulled her closer, driven by some desire he didn’t have a name for, and kissed her again.
She shifted toward him and hooked her other leg around his waist. “God, I just came harder than I’ve come in living memory and I already want you again. Do you have some kind of aphrodisiac in your sweat?” She licked his throat. “I think you might.”
He rolled onto his back, taking her with him so she sprawled on his chest. “If I do, then you do, too.” Sure enough, his cock was already stirring.
She squirmed against him, her smile conveying that she knew exactly how hot the move was. “Is it still a one-night stand if we keep having sex until we’re both walking funny tomorrow?”
He opened his mouth, reconsidered and shut it. Telling her to stay as long as they were both on the island was premature in the extreme—and would interfere with his business here. He couldn’t forget his purpose, not even for this beautiful creature staring at his mouth as if she wanted it all over her body again.
Business would wait until tomorrow.
Roman coasted a hand down her spine, bringing her more firmly against him. “It’s still night, so the possibilities are endless.”
“I like the way you think.”
“Trust me, I’ll give you reason to like a whole lot more than that.”
* * *
Allie woke up to his mouth on her pussy. Again. In the few hours since they’d passed out after having sex again, he’d woken her up three—three—times like that, and proceeded to ravish her until her promise that they’d both be walking funny today was definitely a reality rather than a possibility.
His big shoulders spread her legs wide and he fucked her with his tongue, his low growls just as hot as his actions. She slid her fingers through his hair without opening her eyes. “Yes. Right there. Keep doing that.” He zeroed in on her clit, mimicking the movements she’d made when she touched herself and pushing her to the edge yet again.
She didn’t stand a chance of holding out.
She came with a cry, back bowing and her hands clenching him to her to prolong the pleasure as if she was totally and completely wanton. Maybe she was. She certainly had played the part that night, with no thought to what he’d think of her words or actions because this was only temporary. They were strangers, which was freeing in a way she’d never anticipated. It didn’t mean she’d ever do anything like this again, but she was going to enjoy every single second of her time with her Adonis before dawn came.
He left her for several precious moments, but then he was back on the bed, flipping her onto her stomach and drawing her hips up. The position left her exposed, but she loved every second of it, especially when he stroked her between her thighs and then his cock replaced his fingers.
He pushed into her with a smooth move, sheathing himself to the hilt. And then he began to move, thrusting roughly into her and then withdrawing, only to begin again. Allie gripped the comforter and shoved back to meet him, until the only sound in the villas was the smack of flesh against flesh and their ragged breathing. She tried to hold out, tried to keep from being overwhelmed with the pleasure, but he did something with his hips that hit a spot deep inside her, and her orgasm crested in a devastating wave. She cried out, distantly aware of him fucking her harder until he, too, came with a curse.
He dropped to the side and guided her down with him so that they lay spooning with him still inside her. He kissed the back of her neck and palmed her breasts. “Morning.”
“Mmm. And a good one at that.” She still hadn’t opened her eyes, but as one of his hands trailed down to her clit, she laughed hoarsely. “You’re insatiable.”
“Only with you.” He kept up those slow kisses to the nape of her neck. “You make me crazy. I just came and I want you again already.” He cupped her pussy, the possessive move making her moan.
But then she opened her eyes and realized how light it was outside. Allie froze. “What time is it?” If Becka woke up and realized she’d never come back last night, she’d be worried. Allie was reliable and dependable, and she most certainly didn’t stay out all night while having amazing sex with a stranger. As beyond amazing as it’d been, she hadn’t stopped to consider that her friend might think she was hurt or that something bad had happened.
He picked up on her tension and removed his hand. “What’s wrong?”
“I have to go.” She rolled out of his arms, her body crying out at the loss of warmth, but if Becka wasn’t already awake, Allie had to make sure she got back to the villa before that happened. If she was, then Allie had some explaining to do.
Either way, she couldn’t stay there.
He sat up and watched her scramble for her dress, a frown marring his handsome face. “I know we joked about it being a one-night stand, but that doesn’t mean you have to bolt the second the sun comes up. I thought we could have breakfast before you left.”
It sounded just as wonderful and perfect as things had been since she’d taken his hand and embarked on this wild adventure.
Unfortunately, reality was calling—or as close to reality as a person got on West Island.
But she didn’t like the look on his face—as if she’d somehow hurt him—so she paused. “I would love that, but my friend is back at our villa, and if she wakes up and finds me gone, she’s going to think that I walked off the path and broke my leg or something and sound the alarm. I don’t have an easy way to get ahold of her, so I have to go make sure she’s not forming a search party.”
His frown cleared. “I understand.” He got out of bed and pulled on his shorts. “I’ll give you a ride back.”
She started to tell him she didn’t need that, but the truth was she did. It was one thing to take his cart because she’d changed her mind about being with him and didn’t want to walk the paths alone at night. It was another to want to skip a potentially awkward morning-after conversation. She was an adult. She could handle it.
She hoped. “Thanks. That would be helpful.”
He threw on his shirt but didn’t bother buttoning it. It gave him the look of a... She didn’t even know, but she liked it. A lot. Down, girl. She found her shoes and followed him out to the golf cart.
Allie was so tense as she sat next to him, she was surprised she didn’t jostle right out of the seat when he put the cart into gear, but he reached over and took her hand, interlacing their fingers as if they held hands all the time. She relaxed, muscle by muscle, but her nerves didn’t calm. “I don’t do that normally—any of it.”
“You don’t have to explain yourself to me.” He squeezed her hand. “I had a good time last night.”
“Me...too.” She studied his profile. Adonis, indeed. “A really good time.”
He shot her a look as he took a turn onto a path marked with her villa number. “I’m in danger of being pushy, but I’d like to have a repeat—or several. I’m here on business, but my nights are yours if you’re interested.”
Her breath caught in her throat, though she couldn’t say why. To spend her days with Becka doing all the activities they had planned and her nights with her Adonis... That truly would be paradise. She licked her lips. “I...I’d like that.”
He grinned and pulled to a stop where the cart path ended and the walking path began. “In that case, would you gift a poor man with your name? You’ll always be Aphrodite to me, but I’d like to know the true identity of the woman I plan to have coming countless times in the next few days.”
She blushed and then called herself an idiot for blushing. “I’m Allie.”
He went so still, he might as well have turned into a statue. Those hazel eyes focused on her with unsettling intensity. “Allie? Allie Landers?”
She jerked her hand back, her heart beating for a reason that had nothing to do with desire. “How do you know my last name?”
He laughed, but not like anything was funny. “This is so fucked.”
“What are you talking about?”
Gone was the devilishly charming Adonis who’d seduced her with little effort last night, replaced by a cold man she didn’t recognize. “Roman Bassani.”
She knew that name. She knew that name. Allie scrambled out of the cart and took several steps back, though he made no move to touch her again. “The guy who keeps hounding me? What the hell are you doing here?”
His smile was as cold as any she’d seen. “I’m here to convince you to sell your business.”
CHAPTER FIVE (#u219e272d-b0ef-5bb9-aab9-7b50b73da809)
ROMAN WATCHED THE metaphorical shit hit the fan in slow motion. He looked at his Aphrodite—at Allie Landers—in disbelief. The horror in her expression, the way she took a step back and her body language closed down. Gone was the flirty siren he’d just had in his bed, replaced by a woman who didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him.
Still, he tried to salvage it. “I can explain.”
“Explain how you hunted me down to West Island and seduced me.” She shook her head, blond hair flying. “Nope. Absolutely not. You pulled one over on me. Good job. Way to go. Points for being totally and completely unexpected. You don’t get to stand there and tell me you can explain, because this is beyond explanation.”
“I didn’t know you were...you.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “I’m fucking this up.”
“You think?” She took another step back. “Your reputation might be shady, but I never expected this.”
He started to explain why he thought she couldn’t possibly be Allie Landers, but cut the words off before they reached the air between them. Telling her that her glorious curves didn’t fit in a specialized gym was both shitty and wrong, and he’d have realized that he shouldn’t assume a single goddamn thing if he’d stopped thinking with his cock long enough to function. There has to be a way to salvage this. “I don’t see why this has to change anything.”
Her blue eyes went wide. “You don’t think this needs to change anything.” She drew herself up to her full height, somewhere close to six feet. “You’re out of your goddamn mind. Get out of here. I never want to see you again.”
“Like hell I will.” He hadn’t wanted to do it like this. In fact, he’d crafted several well-thought-out arguments about how she needed to listen to his investment proposal. All of that flew right out the window in the face of his frustration. “You’re going to lose it all if you don’t stop being so fucking stubborn and let my investor help you.”
She looked at him like she’d never seen him before. “Wanting to preserve what I worked so hard to create isn’t stubbornness—and not wanting to sell it out to someone like you doesn’t make me an idiot.” She motioned at him.
“Someone like me.” She’d made it sound like an insult, and maybe it was. Roman played dirty. He’d never had any qualms about that truth. He still wouldn’t have tried to seduce Allie into seeing things his way—but he would have done everything else under the sun. He still would.
But her obvious disdain stung. He laughed harshly. “Someone like me,” he repeated. “Honey, look in the mirror. There’s only one reason Transcend is going under, and it’s not me. I’m just trying to save it.”
Her lips twisted. “How noble of you. Well, you can take your apparent white-knight complex and shove it up your ass.” She spun around and marched down the path toward her villa, her middle finger in the air.
Stubborn, frustrating woman.
Admittedly, he could have played that better. Roman pinched the bridge of his nose for a long moment and then turned the cart around and headed back for his place. If he could just tell her who his investor was...
Impossible. He’d signed a nondisclosure, which his investor had insisted on. Even if he wanted to tell Allie the details of what his client had planned for her gym and shelter, he couldn’t. Judging by her reaction, it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. She would have called him a liar and told him he was full of shit.
He’d miscalculated. It wouldn’t have changed the reaction he’d had to seeing Allie in person—he didn’t think anything could have altered that—but he’d have kept control enough not to try to seduce her.
Fool. He could almost hear his old man’s voice as if the bastard sat next to him. Took the easy way and look what happened—exactly what always happens. Failure.
Roman shut that shit down. He didn’t have time to wallow in shame for fucking up. He had to figure out a way around it. As tempting as it was to follow her back to her villa and continue the argument until she saw things his way, it wouldn’t do anything but make her dig in her heels further. Allie had proved herself to be as stubborn as the day was long. For some reason, she was resistant to investors.
He needed to figure out why. It was the only way to get around her issues.
He took a shower and headed into the main lodge. It was the only place to get a call out on the island or to use anything resembling the internet. It took some convincing to get the woman on staff to give him access to the tiny business center, but he managed.
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