Chapter Seventeen
Me
Don’t forget, we leave for Hawaii on Thursday.
I pressSend on the text and shake my head, knowing it’s a dumb text to send since our calendars are synced, but it’s Saturday, and I haven’t seen or heard from Ana all day.
Ana
I know. Our calendars are synced. Why are you really texting me?
I chuckle at her response. The woman never beats around the bush.
Me
I was wondering if you’ll be home for dinner.
Ana
Why? You want to cook for me?
Me
Or take you out … whichever you prefer.
After having Ana grinding on my lap yesterday and seeing that she wants me despite the tough exterior shell she uses to keep herself safe, I’ve decided to lay all my cards on the table. The woman is everything I want—smart, fierce, independent, and beautiful. Even though the circumstances aren’t ideal due to us fighting for the same position, I would be a dumbass not to take advantage of the fact that I have her living with me for the foreseeable future.
Ana
You can cook for me. What time will you be home?
Me
I am home.
Ana
So am I.
Instead of texting her back, I pocket my phone and go in search of her. After checking all the obvious places—including the pool because a part of me is hoping I’ll find her skinny-dipping again—I find her sitting in the library, her laptop open and papers strewn about all over the desk. I didn’t realize she’d made this room her own space, but I like knowing she’s gotten comfortable here.
She doesn’t notice me standing in the doorway, so I take a few moments to watch her in her element. Her hair is up in a messy bun, held together by a pen, and her face is clean of makeup, showing off the beautiful spatter of freckles she has across her nose. She’s sporting a thin tank top, minus a bra, and because it’s chilly in this room, her nipples are on display.
With a pen between her lips and her brows furrowed in concentration, she types furiously, no doubt planning world domination—or a Kingston Limited takeover. The woman is the entire fucking package, and if I have it my way, instead of fighting for power, we’ll rule Kingston together. I just need to figure out how to make that happen.
“Maybe you should take a picture,” she says without looking up. “Then, you won’t have to continue staring at me like a creeper.”
I chuckle at her unfiltered words. “I prefer the real deal,” I volley. “Pictures don’t do you justice.”
She glances up and makes a show of rolling her eyes in an attempt to appear unaffected, but the soft pink now tinting her cheeks gives her away.
“What do you want, Parker?” she asks, calling me by my last name, like the guys at work do. She’s never done it before, and if I had to guess, it’s her veiled attempt at keeping me at a distance.
“I’m bored.” I shrug and walk over to where she’s working and have a seat across from her. “Whatcha working on?”
“My pitch.”
When she doesn’t elaborate, I laugh. “You wanna share with the class?”
“Why? So you can undermine it—or better yet, try to steal it?”
It’s my turn to roll my eyes. “I’ll share my idea with you.”
“Go for it.” She sits back and crosses her arms over her chest, plumping her perky tits up.
Not wanting to look like a perv for staring, I focus on her face when I say, “He’s a musician, so I think we should host a party in Vegas.”
“Of course you do,” she scoffs.
“In case you forgot, his next club opening is there. We could sponsor the event and have him feature his drink and our liquor. Similar to what the sporting venues we partner with do.”
I wait for her to talk more shit, but instead, she stares at me thoughtfully before she says, “Actually … that’s a good idea, and it goes along with my idea.”
“I’m sorry.” I chuckle. “Did you just say I had a good idea?”
“Don’t be annoying.” She turns her laptop around so we can both see her screen. “I was thinking we could partner with one of the rideshare companies to promote drinking responsibly and have Ronan be the face of the campaign. He could promote his drink along with the campaign. We could call it something like RideSafe, and Kingston would sponsor it by providing discounted rides for people who shouldn’t be driving.”
“And we could kick it off at the party in Vegas,” I add, the details all coming together in my head. “Not only would it endorse Ronan’s partnership with Kingston, but it would also be a great way to promote Kingston’s stance on drinking responsibly.”
“Exactly.” Ana smiles. “Two birds, one stone.”
“Hell yeah. Let’s do it.”
For the next several hours, we work together to sort out all the details until Ana’s stomach rumbles, reminding us that we haven’t eaten.
“You don’t have to cook,” she says.
“Nah, I don’t mind. But since it’s nice out, why don’t we grill out on the patio and eat outside?”
“That sounds lovely.”
Her phone goes off, and she glances at it. Since I’m sitting next to her, I see it’s a text from her dad, asking if we’re available to do Sunday brunch tomorrow morning.
“I’m down,” I tell her without her having to ask.
She texts her dad back and then looks up at me. Our faces are so close that all it would take is us leaning in slightly and our mouths would touch.
Ana licks her lips, her eyes landing on mine, and I slowly release a breath, wondering if I should make a move. It’s crazy since we’ve kissed before, but so much has happened since then. When she sucks in her bottom lip and glances up at me through her lashes, I take that as my sign.
Sliding my arm around the back of the couch we decided to work on earlier, I lean in, my eyes not leaving hers while I give her a chance to push me away or tell me no.
When she does neither, I bridge the rest of the gap between us and press my lips to hers. They feel exactly how I remember—soft and supple—and when she parts them on a sigh, giving me permission to deepen the kiss by sliding my tongue into her mouth, she tastes just as sweet as she did the last time I kissed her.
Unlike our previous kisses that were motivated by our chemistry and passion, this one is slower, gentler. Neither of us is in a rush to take things any further. As we get lost in the kiss, our tongues caressing each other, it’s like time has stopped, the world has momentarily disappeared, and all that’s left is Ana and me and the way our lips curl so damn perfectly around one another.
And not for the first time, my mind wanders to thoughts of a future with this woman, and unlike with any other woman I’ve been with, I can see it. Working together to bring Kingston to the next level. Evenings spent talking business over dinner, which lead to heated nights in bed. Sunday brunches, weekends away, introducing her to my family …
But my thoughts don’t stop there. Instead, they continue further—to her wearing my ring and taking my name, turning this house into a home as we fill it with little versions of us …
Her stomach growls loudly, ending the moment, and we pull back, both of us slightly out of breath.
“Let’s get you fed,” I tell her, backing up so I can meet her eyes.
“Okay,” she says, “but afterward, we should continue where we left off.”
When I raise a brow, a bit shocked by her forwardness, she shakes her head.
“I was talking about the pitch.” She pushes off my chest and climbs off the couch, stumbling toward the door like she’s drunk from our kiss. “Let’s go, Parker,” she yells behind her. “I’m starved.”
Jesus, after that kiss, I am too. But it’s sure as hell not for food.
“I forgothow beautiful the beaches in Maui are.” Ana sighs in awe as she takes in the view of the sunset on our balcony while the only view I’m interested in is her.
Her hair is up in a tight ponytail, showing off her slim neck, which I want to kiss every inch of. She’s wearing a strapless white floral minidress with a pink-flowered lei she received when we arrived hanging around her neck. She looks beautiful, and the only thing I want to do this week is get lost in her—even if we are here for Ryder’s wedding.
After dinner, despite my best efforts, nothing else happened between Ana and me. At brunch on Sunday, we ended up pitching our idea to Samuel when it got brought up, and from there, everything went into overdrive.
We spoke with Ronan, and after he agreed to the collaboration—and his agent gave the green light—we moved forward full force.
The event is taking place in less than a month, and with us being here for this absurd wedding, that leaves us less than three weeks to handle all the arrangements.
The team back home is working on it, but Ana is hands-on, like I am, so we’ve been buried neck deep in the details.
The three days before we got here, we worked damn near around the clock, not having a moment to ourselves. And when we got home, both of us were too tired to even think about taking things further—okay, obviously I thought about it, but I was too exhausted to do anything about it.
Our eight-hour flight here was spent with us catching up on our sleep, and now, I’m awake and ready to see where things can go between us. I just have to hope she’s on the same page.
“We have the day to ourselves,” I tell her, resting my hands on the railing and caging her in from behind. “What do you say we get some brunch down by the pool and spend the day relaxing? I booked us a private cabana.” I lean down and give her heated flesh a kiss, making her shiver in response.
“I’d say that sounds like heaven.” She turns slightly, and her eyes home in on my lips.
With her gaze filled with lust, I assume she’s going to kiss me, but instead, she ducks under my arm and steps back inside.
“I’m going to get my suit on,” she says, leaving me standing on the balcony alone and wondering if maybe she regrets our kiss the other night and isn’t interested in anything more happening between us.
A few minutes later, she comes out of the bathroom, sporting a tiny black bikini with gold hoops on each of her hips and one in the middle of her breasts, holding the fabric together. The swells of her breasts are on display, along with her toned stomach, and when she walks past me, the bottoms of her ass cheeks are peeking out. The bathing suit covers a lot more than the one she wore the day on the boat—probably because her family and coworkers are here—but it still shows off her gorgeous body.
“I’m ready,” she says after throwing her see-through cover-up on.
Her gaze slides down my body, checking me out—I changed into my boardshorts while she was changing and haven’t put on my shirt yet—and with the way her hazel eyes darken with lust, I’m about to change our plans and not leave this room until I’ve fucked her any way she’ll let me—at least two times.
But when she slips on her flip-flops and saunters to the door, I snap out of it, snatch my shirt off the bed, and follow after her like a damn puppy.
“Doyou think we could get my dad on board with moving the company headquarters to Maui?”
We’ve been switching back and forth between the beach and the pool all afternoon, and now, we’re lying on lounge chairs under a large canopy on the beach, only a few feet away from the water. Anastasia’s using her elbows to prop herself up, and in doing so, her breasts are jutted out. She’s slick from the oil she used earlier, and the thought of sliding my cock between her tits is stuck in my head.
“Huh?” I ask, knowing she asked something, but for the life of me, I can’t remember what.
She rolls her eyes and shakes her head and is about to give me shit when Ryder comes running over.
“Hey! A bunch of us are going to play volleyball. Wanna play?”
“Sure,” I say. I haven’t done any form of exercise today, so it’ll be good to get a workout in. “Hey, babe. Wanna watch your man kick ass in volleyball?”
I waggle my brows playfully, and she scrunches up her nose in disgust.
“Seriously? Because I’m a woman, it’s assumed I’m sitting on the sidelines while you play?”
Ryder cracks up laughing.
“Definitely not,” he tells her. “If you wanna play, you’re more than welcome to.”
“Great.” She slides off the chair. “I want to be on whatever team Julian’s not on, so he can watch as I kick his ass in volleyball.”
With a dramatic wink, she runs off toward the net, leaving Ryder laughing.
“She’s something else,” he says, his eyes not leaving her.
“And she’s mine, so keep your eyes to yourself.”
Ryder chuckles. “Just appreciating the view.”
“Maybe if you were marrying someone you actually wanted to marry, you’d be too busy appreciating her view to notice my fiancée.”
“Your fake fiancée,” he points out, deflecting.
“Semantics.” I side-eye him. “My point is, it’s not too late to call the wedding off.”
“Not happening,” he says. “And speaking of weddings—or in your case, non-weddings”—he smirks—“when this whole charade is over, what will you do with all the time you’ll have with her not busting your balls?”
“I still have a while to figure that out. You, on the other hand, have less than forty-eight hours until you marry a woman you don’t want to spend your life with.”
“I’m not calling anything off, so drop it,” he says in a tone that brooks no argument.
“Please tell me you at least made her sign a prenup.”
“Of course,” he scoffs. “I’m not a complete idiot.” He smacks my chest and takes off running. “Let’s go, Parker! Your woman and I need to kick your ass!”
“You’re teaming up with her?” I call back, chasing after him. “What happened to bros over hos?”
“Sorry, man.” Ryder laughs. “I’ve heard the shit she’s done. I’m not getting on her bad side.”