Chapter 3
Pete spotted the beautiful woman as soon as he stepped off of the elevator. It was as if he had some sort of sixth sense when it came to Olivia lately. The woman had gotten under his skin so many times but…he had to admire her guts for getting on a plane even though she as terrified of flying. What kind of a crazy woman takes a job doing something she’s afraid of doing?!
So instead of heading towards the beach as he’d originally intended, he turned and headed towards the woman who hadn’t been out of his mind for months. Time to make some changes in their relationship. Time to find out what the lovely Olivia was really about. And definitely time to investigate this tension that seemed to haunt both of them.
Now that he had a clear plan in mind, he thought back to several of their contentious conversations, reviewing them in his mind. How much of their antagonistic attitudes towards each other was really just pent up sexual frustration for each other? Probably most of it.
He moved closer to the woman who was saying something to the dining room hostess.
Probably all of it, he acknowledged as his eyes moved down her figure, noting her tiny waist and slender ankles that looked ridiculously sexy in the strappy sandals.
“Come with me,” he said and didn’t wait for her to argue. Because he knew she would. Argue, that is.
He put an arm around her waist, guiding her out of the dining room and out into the warm, humid evening, ignoring the way her body automatically stiffened in shock. “You don’t want to dine in the hotel dining room tonight,” he told her.
She was almost running to keep up with his longer stride so he slowed down.
“I don’t?” she demanded.
He chuckled when he saw the sparkle of fight in her eyes. “No. I know of a great burger place. We can walk.”
He fully expected her to argue because that’s what they always did together. So he was both surprised and more than slightly pleased when she simply followed along next to him.
Just a couple of blocks away, he led her through a break in an old, stone wall. “We’re here,” he announced. “You’re going to need to take those off,” he told her and reached down to slip off his own flip-flops.
“Why?”
“Because this place serves the best burgers on the island. You aren’t going to want to miss this and you’ll get sand in your sandals. The walk back will hurt.”
Again, he braced himself for an argument, so he was pleased when she lifted her leg up and, with one hand on his shoulder and the other slipping the shoe off of her delicate foot, she looked up at him, eyebrows lifted, as she waited for him to lead the way.
He put a hand to the small of her back and led her down to what looked like a shack set up on the beach.
“Hey there, Eddie,” he called out to the guy grilling about fifty burgers on an open charcoal grill that was really just a steel drum cut in half with a grill screen balanced on top.
“Pete!” the cook called out, lifting his hand up. The two men did the normal Bro Hug, slapping each other on the back as they hugged one shoulder and only one shoulder.
“What the hell you doing back here, dude?” the man demanded as he turned to flip several more burgers.
“Flying around. Landed yesterday.”
“And you’re only making it here tonight?”
“Had to tie down last night,” Pete explained.
Evidently, that was an adequate explanation since Eddie flipped a few more burgers, then turned to survey Olivia. “And who is this?”
Pete put his arm around Olivia’s waist, pulling her in closer. Ignoring her startled reaction, Pete made the introductions. “Eddie, this is Olivia. Olivia, this is the self-proclaimed World Champion Burger Master.”
Olivia laughed softly in appreciation of his joke even as she extended her hand and Pete had to fight the urge to pull her away. It was just a polite gesture, but jealousy ripped through him when Eddie’s big paw enveloped Olivia’s more delicate fingers. Eddie was shorter than Pete by several inches, but the burger master had about a hundred pounds on him. The man loved his burgers!
So why was Pete so relieved when Olivia shook the big guy’s hand, then moved right back to his side? And why in the world was he feeling on top of the world simply because Olivia, the woman he loved to rile just to spark her temper, had moved closer to him?!
He was confused and, at the same time, he wanted to beat his chest at the moment and swing from vines, all because Olivia had come right back to his side. He’d never had these caveman tendencies before.
Looking down at her, he wondered for about the millionth time why he reacted so differently when around Olivia. Then the image of her walking across the sand earlier today flashed into his mind. Yeah, his mind was completely imagining her breasts in the sunshine, pale globes with pink, pointed tips taunting him.
But he hadn’t seen those pale, beautiful globes, had he? Nope. Not yet!
Putting a hand to the small of her back, he lifted his chin slightly. “Send over two burgers with your famous cheese sauce.”
“You got it,” Eddie replied, already grabbing a red, plastic basket that had a toasted bun sitting inside. “Go grab some beers and I’ll have Jenny take this over to ya.”
“No beers tonight,” Pete called back even as he led Olivia over to one of the tables set off near the perimeter of the area. The tables were quickly filling up and Pete noticed that several people were waiting in line for their food. Eddie was a gem to help them skip over the wait, but Pete wasn’t sure that was such a good thing. Not tonight.
Tonight, he had the crazy idea of actually talking to Olivia. Getting to know her. No tempers. No annoying comments and no chuckling when she blushed or when her temper flared.
Just talking.
After leading her over to one of the tables, he held out a chair for her, actually acting like a gentleman. It was what he would normally do on a date but with Olivia, they’d never gotten this far. Usually, he’d say something annoying, enjoy the spark of light in her pretty, brown eyes and she’d stomp off.
This was definitely different for both of them. “I’ll be right back with some ice tea.”
Olivia watched Pete move towards the bar for drinks, amazed at the strength evident just in the way he walked. He was also stopped by several tables, talking with people he obviously knew and they joked with him a bit, shook his hand or just had a short, casual conversation. Apparently, Pete was a very popular fellow!
And very confusing. Why was she here? Why hadn’t she told him to buzz off earlier at the hotel?
Looking down at her cell phone, she willed a message to come through, telling them that Mr. Steele and his new bride needed to fly off somewhere, or that they needed to go pick someone up, fly them to another destination and be back in Saint Martin for Mr. Steele’s departure. Anything at all! Anything that would get her out of this confusing situation in which she found herself now.
Pete was walking back with two large glasses of iced tea in his hands, a woman that looked shockingly similar to Eddie by his side with baskets overflowing with fries and enormous burgers.
When he sat down, placing one of the drinks in front of her, she smiled weakly, not sure what was going on.
“Don’t let him get too friendly,” the woman joked even as she gave Pete the stink-eye. Olivia couldn’t stifle her laugh, and Pete kissed the older woman affectionately before she moved off to take care of other customers.
“You seem to know quite a lot of people around here,” she commented as she surveyed the burger, not really sure how to eat such an enormous meal.
“Just pick it up and dive in. Don’t be intimidated,” Pete explained, and did exactly that, licking ketchup off of his fingers.
She followed his instructions warily, but when she took her first bite, she was amazed. “Oh, this is good!” she sighed, realizing how hungry she was as the beef and cheese hit her taste buds. “This is really good!” and she licked off more ketchup.
“Told ya,” he said and winked to soften the comment. “Fries are good too.”
They ate and talked about nothing important and it was one of the most relaxing conversations they’d ever had together. Pete finished off his burger but Olivia could only finish less than half before she gave up. “That was wonderful!” she sighed, leaning back in the wooden chair. “I didn’t know that this place even existed!”
He wiped his hands on a paper napkin, his eyes moving over hers. “Do you realize that we’ve sat across the table from each other for over two hours now, and we haven’t irritated each other even once?”
She looked up at him, startled by his comment. At that same moment, all of the sexual tension that had been flitting around between them earlier this afternoon hit them full on. She could feel it, sense it. And she had no idea how to handle it.
Staring into Pete’s eyes, she was debating the effectiveness of just throwing herself into arms and begging him to show her what his eyes were promising.
But that would be stupid. She didn’t even like Pete. Why would she want to…?
“We’d better get back to the hotel,” she blurted out, breaking through the silence that seemed to cocoon them under the thick spell of the night.
“Right,” he replied and stood up. He took their trash over to the bin and threw it away, lifting a hand to Eddie who waved back.
When they’d arrived, the sun hadn’t quite set over the horizon. But now, it was dark, only the street lights and the Caribbean moon providing dim lighting as they dusted their feet off and slipped their footwear back on. “It’s a nice night,” she said awkwardly as they walked along the sidewalk to the hotel.
“I think it’s always nice here in the Caribbean.”
Everything was too romantic. The full moon, the gentle lights…there was even soft music playing somewhere off in the distance. Not to mention the moist air, filled with the scents of earth and jungle, added to the romantic atmosphere.
Olivia felt her heart pounding and the thick tension surrounding them. “Unless there’s a hurricane,” she countered, needing something negative. Something to break this tension.
He chuckled again. “Yep. Hurricanes are bad.”
She nodded, but Olivia wasn’t sure what else to say. She struggled, thinking that she needed to say something. Anything. But nothing came to mind.
Finally, they were standing in front of her hotel room and she turned, feeling silly and awkward. Taking her key out of her purse, she fumbled with the lock. The stupid card wasn’t working. She kept sliding it through but the red light flashed, mocking her!
“Let me try,” he said and covered her hand with his. Since he was behind her, she could feel his chest against her back. Just like yesterday. But this time, he wrapped his other arm around her waist, pressing the warmth of his chest against her back. She could feel all of him. Every inch of his body was warm. Hot. Sizzling! His body was burning hers, making her crazy!
Olivia held her breath, not allowing herself to move in any way. She knew that if she moved, she would ignite. And then it would all be over.
“Olivia,” he whispered, his voice too close to her ear. Shivers raced through her body and, from the stiffening of his muscles, she knew that he’d felt her tremor as well.
She turned around, trying to protect her back. But as soon as she did that, she knew that it was a mistake. He was here! He was tall and big and HERE! She stared at his chest for a long moment, but slowly, she lifted her eyes and stared into his own. Wow! The man could definitely send sizzling messages through those silver eyes of his.
“What do you want?” she asked, her lips barely able to move as she struggled to form the words.
“You,” he replied.
A moment later, his hand dove into her chestnut hair, his fingers tangling and pulling her head back. She should have pulled back, told him to go to his own room. But instead, she lifted herself up on her toes, meeting his mouth halfway.
When their lips finally touched, the result was fireworks. She gasped, but he absorbed the sound in his mouth as he slanted her head, deepening the kiss. With a whimper, she pulled him closer, arching her body so that every part of her was in contact with every part of him.
She felt him fumbling behind her, but didn’t realize that he was opening her door until they were inside of it. Then all she knew was her back against the wall as he lifted her up, his hands holding onto her bottom as she tilted her hips, needing the connection with his, pressing her core against his erection. It wasn’t enough!
Tearing at his shirt, she needed to get the material out of the way. She needed to touch him without the fabric of his tee-shirt in the way!
He put her feet down on the floor. “NO!” she whimpered. But she was only there for a moment, the fraction of a second that it took for him to pull his tee-shirt off over his head. Then he lifted her back up into his arms, carrying her down the short hallway to her bed.
Olivia felt the world shift, but didn’t care, didn’t even know how he’d gotten her naked. All she cared about was baring his skin so that her fingers could move along his heated flesh.
When she felt his hands cup her breasts, she cried out. Arching into his hands once again, she writhed, trying to get his fingers onto her nipple. Bu he wouldn’t move, teasing her with just a flick of his thumb.
“More!” she demanded, all inhibitions gone. The two men she’d had sex with in the past, she’d been shy and awkward. But with Pete, all shyness was gone, replaced by an almost painful need to get closer to him, to feel all of him.
With a growl, he grabbed both of her hands and lifted them up over her head. “Damn, you’re beautiful!” he said as his eyes looked down at her bared breasts. How he’d gotten her sundress off, she had no idea, nor did she care. All she cared about at his particular moment was the fact that he wasn’t touching her and he wouldn’t allow her to touch him.
“Let my hands go,” she begged, lifting her legs up so she could rub her thighs against his hips, cradling him more intimately against her, pressing her hips up closer.
“No. I’ve been dreaming about this for so long. I’m going to enjoy it.”
“You’ll enjoy it more if you let me touch you,” she begged, tugging at her arms, but his heat was making her weak.
“Oh, we’re going to enjoy this plenty,” he promised. With that, he lowered his head, taking her pink nipple into his mouth. She screamed out, shocked by the intensity of that action and unconsciously rocked her hips against his. When she did that, she felt jolts of pleasure hit her so she did it again. And again. The more she pressed against him, the closer she got to finding some relief.
But then he pulled his hips away, shaking his head. “Not this time, Olivia. I want to taste you when you come the first time.”
She stared at him, shocked by the baseness of his words. Never in her life had she been this turned on. And even more turned on by the idea of Pete doing…that…to her!
He didn’t hesitate. His mouth moved down to her stomach, his hips pressing her legs wider. When he couldn’t go any further without releasing her hands, he shifted his hold to her legs, pressing them wider. “I want all of you, Olivia,” he growled a moment before his tongue dashed out to tease her. She jackknifed up with the first touch, but then fell back against the mattress again when she felt his mouth latch onto her nubbin. Screaming out, she arched against his mouth, pressing herself against him and making everything that much worse. Or that much better? She couldn’t think long enough to figure it out because at that same moment, Pete slipped a finger into her body, pressing against her from the inside and…that was all it took. She splintered apart, her body arching, twisting, spasming into a pleasure so intense, she could barely breathe for a long moment.
For a long time, she simply lay there, eyes closed as her body calmed.
Kisses. Pete was kissing his way back up her body and it was doing odd things. Those feelings were starting up again. Opening her eyes, she shook her head. “No,” she whispered, trying to grab his head and pull his mouth away from her overly sensitive skin. “I can’t!” she whimpered.
Pete only took her wrists and pulled her hands away, doing what he wanted. “That was possibly the hottest thing I’ve ever seen,” he told her, then bent his head to kiss her navel, nibbling on the skin as he made his way higher. “Let’s do that again.”
She sobbed slightly, but her body was curling into his again. “Pete, I can’t! It was too much!”
He laughed, her only warning before his teeth gently scraped against her taut nipple. “It was incredible. And you’re a strong woman,” he told her with a light in his eyes that made her stomach muscles tighten with anticipation. “You can give me another one.”
She laughed, but still tried to wiggle away. Not likely, she realized when he simply moved his head over to her other breast, teasing and torturing that nipple just as he’d done to the first one.
When he lifted up, she initially thought he was trying to move away, to escape from this blissful torture. But he stood beside the bed and stripped off the rest of his clothes and Olivia was entranced. With each new inch of skin revealed, she was more fascinated. Olivia couldn’t pull her eyes away from him. When his erection was finally free from the confines of his shorts and boxers, her mouth went dry. He was large and beautiful. Her hand reached out, her fingers wrapping around his girth. She vaguely heard a grunt of appreciation, but ignored him, too focused on learning all about this man and this part of him.
Her fingers smoothed along the skin, feeling the softness that covered the steel strength of him. His hands tried to catch hers, but she batted his hands away, wanting no interference with her investigation.
Leaning her head forward, she let her tongue lick the tip, heard his sharp intake of breath but ignored it again. This part of him was amazing and she loved the taste of him, the feel of his power under her fingers and tongue. Taking a bit more of him into her mouth, she let her tongue swirl around and around, enjoying the pleasure of him like this, under her control. She felt powerful and feminine.
Until he lifted her up under her arms, pushing her back against the bed once more. “Any more of that, and this will all be over, Livie,” he growled. She watched with amazement as he rolled a condom down that girth, then held her breath as he moved closer to her.
“Look at me,” he commanded. Olivia followed his instructions, suddenly nervous. But he was slow and gentle as he easily slid inside of her. But not all the way. Only a fraction of his length and then he pulled out. She shook her head, wrapping her legs around his waist in an effort to get him back. When he moved back, deeper this time, she closed her eyes and sighed as she felt him press into her heat. It felt better than she’d ever thought possible.
“More!” she begged, then gasped, lifting her hips when he moved deeper into her body. “More!” she demanded again.
He moved out and she slid her hands down his back, pressing her fingers against his tight butt.
Pete shook his head, trying to see through the thick haze of lust that was hitting him harder than he had ever felt before. Everything Olivia did was shockingly perfect, increasing the pleasure to mind-blowing heights. He wanted to slam into her, to press fulling into her tight, wet heat but he held back, wanting to help her adjust. She was so tight, he suspected it had been a while since the last time she’d had sex. But her fingers against his butt was his undoing. He couldn’t hold back and pressed all the way into her.
When her eyes popped open, her gorgeous brown eyes looking up at him, he hesitated, praying that he hadn’t hurt her. Then her hips shifted, a smile forming on her beautiful lips. He wanted to bend down and kiss her, ensure that she was really okay. But he couldn’t do anything other than move inside of her, feel her inner muscles tighten around him, hugging him in the most intimate way.
He knew he wasn’t going to last much longer, so he shifted, moving his hand lower and helping her. She grabbed his wrist again, but he wouldn’t let her pull his fingers away. Not to mention, feeling her like this, seeing her eyes widen, then her body arch, her own hands guiding his fingers was amazing! He had to grit his teeth to keep himself from climaxing right then and there.
When she finally tumbled over that edge, only then would he allow himself to go as well. As her body throbbed around his own, he couldn’t hold back any longer, couldn’t be gentle. All control was gone and he pounded into her. Pete heard a roar as the orgasm hit him hard and fast, but he had no idea that the sound came from himself. All he knew was that he had to protect Olivia from his lust and tried to gentle himself, but suspected that he’d failed miserably.
Olivia sighed as the tremors of pleasure continued to hit her, slowing down but still there since he was fully inside of her. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she smiled when he pulled her closer, rolling over so that he was on his back and she was tucked up against his side.
He grabbed a tissue from the side table and discarded the condom, then turned to face her. “Are you okay?” he asked. “I wasn’t too rough?”
The giggle that came from her throat was so unlike her that she slapped a hand over her mouth. She wasn’t aware of her eyes still sparkling or the way her leg slid against his, but she loved the way his strong arm reached down to pull her leg higher.
“I’ll take that to mean that I wasn’t too rough,” he said and chuckled when she shook her head.
“It was wonderful,” she told him.
“Wonderful, huh?” he asked, his eyes moving lower, almost clinically looking at her breasts. It wasn’t completely detached since she felt his body harden again and knew that he was more than interested in round two. Well, round three for her.
She knew he was searching for compliments but didn’t care. “Yeah. Pretty wonderful.” Her fingers couldn’t stop touching him. She loved the differences in their bodies, the roughness of his chest and arms, the scruff of his jaw. It was all just too fascinating.
For the next several hours, they talked, curled up like that. Everything she’d thought about this man was transformed in those hours. There was no awkwardness, just interest and curiosity. He seemed genuinely interested in her as a person whereas before, he seemed to enjoy tormenting her. The difference was startling.
But she liked it. Was even more open with him than she was with her sister, which was shocking because she and her sister were close. There was just something about Pete right now that she didn’t quite understand, but…well, he was a completely different person.
As they drifted off to sleep with his arms pulling her close, encouraging her to curl up against his side, she yawned as she asked, “You’re not going to turn into a jerk again tomorrow, are you?”
Unfortunately, she didn’t hear his answer since she fell asleep, secure in his arms.