27. Jameson
The dim glow of the aquarium tunnel tinted Kat in varying shades of blue. She leaned closer to the thick plexiglass and looked up as a shark swam overhead. I followed it for a moment before returning my gaze to Kat and those blessedly tiny shorts, and my fingers twitched with the desire to run them over her bare legs.
Then I’d work my way across the rest of her smooth skin, feeling every inch left uncovered before uncovering the rest and getting it under my fingertips too.
My dick stirred at the thought, and if I didn’t distract myself with some marine-life facts, I’d be the perv sporting wood around fish and all these people—I kept waiting for my body’s reaction to Kat to fade, just a little. With a body like hers, I knew that I’d never have a neutral reaction, but regardless of how much sex we had, I immediately started obsessing about the next time. About all the different things we could try, and all the different ways I could make her come.
Ok,thedownstairssituationisgettingworsebythesecond. I cleared my throat and pointed at the first fish I saw.
“This fish is a tarpon, and due to its majestic size and silver color, its nickname is Silver King.”
Kat smiled at me like I’d told her the secrets of the universe. Then she pointed. “What about the giant speckled one that looks like the pissed off Godfather of the seas, like he’s about to make someone sleep with the humans?”
I chuckled at her Godfather twist. “That’s a Queensland Grouper. If you think he looks mean, the Goliath Groupers are about twice that size and have been known to eat sharks in one bite.”
She studied me. “Now I’m starting to see it.”
“See what?” I dared a quick glance down, worried I was so used to having a hard-on around her that I hadn’t realized it’d happened, but the situation was controlled. Barely, but still.
“You as a kid.” She tipped her head, indicating the family to her left. One of the boys was spouting off facts about the fish to his sister and parents, and I could see his frustration that no one was soaking in this important information.
“Pretty damn close,” I said, and she hugged me and snuggled in close, adding a kiss on my cheek.
A sensation I hadn’t felt in a long time stirred in my gut—one I needed to smother before it got the wrong idea about what this thing between Kat and me was. She was only here for a couple more weeks, so getting attached wasn’t an option.
It’d been so long since I’d even attempted investing emotionally that I wouldn’t know where to start. Feelings were a weakness, a key to manipulation that took away your control.
It’sjustbecauseofallthesex.It’sconfusingmynaturalinstinctsandcloudingmyjudgment.
That was definitely it. I liked reliving our past escapades while thinking of what we’d try next, and we were running out of time, so naturally I felt a strong pull toward her. There was no reason for deeper feelings to step into the ring. They’d only get in the way.
“You look like you’re having a heated debate in your head,” Kat said.
I shut down the thoughts that shouldn’t be going through my head. “I am. I can’t decide if I should show you otters or jellyfish first.”
She hooked her arm through mine and leaned on my shoulder. “I don’t care. As long as I’m with you.”
Shit.Sheoutrighttoldmeshegetsattached,andIpushedforthisno-stringsarrangement,andnowI’mafraidshe’llenduphurtwhenthisisallsaidanddone.
I started toward the otters as I tried to convince myself that it didn’t have to end badly. She knew the terms, and I was helping her express herself as she asked me to, teaching her to be bold, whether at work or in bed. That way she could make a great manager or boss, and in her next relationship—The jealousy that flooded me was a kick to the gut. Nooneelsebetterevertouchheragain.
Of course that was unrealistic and unfair, and fuck, why was my brain doing this to me?
As if to taunt me, it chose that moment to remind me that no matter what happened between us the next several days, when she found out my plans for the Hartford office, she’d be angry and hurt.
If I was a better man, I’d shut it down now.
But since I wasn’t, I wrapped my arm around her waist, pulled her closer, and told myself to just enjoy it before the shit hit the fan.
* * *
AFTER PUTTING several miles between us and the dock, driving the boat extra fast, since Kat said she wanted fast, I eased off the accelerator. Gradually I slowed the boat to a stop, letting the waves determine our destination for a while.
Kat stood and spun a full circle, taking it all in. Her cheeks were pink and wind-whipped, and her hair had that same bedhead look it did the first day I’d met her, when I’d fantasized about being the one to mess it up. “Wow, this is amazing. I can see everything.”
I saw everything, and she was standing up, grinning like a kid in a candy shop. I worked with a lot of serious, cynical people, and Kat was a breath of fresh air.
Most people would’ve chosen the luxury boat, which was fine—I enjoyed my time out on it, even if it was mostly spent schmoozing and keeping our biggest clients happy. If she’d picked it, I would’ve made a call to get a driver, but I liked being the driver. Liked having total control.
I thought that we might go to Spectacle Island, but now that we were out here, I wanted time alone with Kat, who looked like she belonged out here. Maybe she was a siren—that would describe how impossible she was to resist.
She braced a hand on top of the windshield, the breeze swirling her hair around her face. “Man, if I had a boat, I’d come out here all the time. There’s something so freeing about being on the water, like worries don’t exist anymore.”
“That’s why I used to practically live out here. It was nice to get away from it all for a while.” Those days seemed like distant memories, more like daydreams than reality. In high school, it was usually with my rowdy group of friends, and despite not being in international waters, we sure acted like we were. After Dad died was when I started taking more solo trips, just me and the water, everything else too far away to touch me for a while.
“Why the ‘used to’, then?”
“Because I decided to get my shit together. I immersed myself in my work and it’s been non-stop for years. Even most of my weekends are filled with work.”
“You should take a day off once in a while to just come out here and enjoy the peacefulness—or even an extra-long lunch. The office wouldn’t crumble without you, you know.”
“Not sure I want to take that chance. Plus”—I grabbed her hand and tugged her down onto my lap—“you’ll be gone soon, and what fun would it be to be out here without you?” “Not much, because while you’re a very smart, interesting guy, I’m clearly the one that brings the humor.” She ran her fingers across my jaw and then pressed her lips to mine for a sweeter kiss than we usually shared. I was surprised at how much I liked the sweet, especially while out here on the water, where it felt like we were the only two people in the world. “So, how’d you learn to sail? Some fancy private school where you can take Boating 101?”
“No, my fancy private school kicked me out.”
Her mouth dropped. “What? Are you serious? Or are you screwing with me?”
“Not screwing with you for the moment, but later…” I moved to kiss her neck and she hummed, her body melting into mine before she sat up and pulled back.
“Wait. You’re not getting out of this story. Spill it.”
“The story is I was a rebellious, disrespectful teen, and I didn’t bother going to class as much as I should.”
“Ooh, a bad boy. I suspected as much.” She ran her hand down my chest. “And you learned to sail, how?”
I thought she’d get distracted and forget the original question, but I should’ve known she was too tenacious for that. She dealt with a lot of numbers and research, which was what made her so good at the marketing side of the business.
“My dad. We started with a sailboat, which requires more work than turning a key and a steering wheel. He tried to reserve most weekends for family stuff.” Anditwasonemorereasonhedidn’tmakeitinthecut-throatbusinessworld. “Anyway, we spent a lot of them out here, and the speedboat came into play later.”
“It was…” I was kind of embarrassed to admit it to her, especially since on our first day working together, I’d jabbed at her about her dad giving her a job, and I was learning I was more spoiled than she’d ever been. “A present, one I got my sixteenth birthday.”
It was also one of the few things I refused to sell back when we’d been selling off assets to pay off dad’s debts. Most of them involved living too large, extravagant possessions and trips, but now that I was thinking of them in a different light, most of them were for the family.
MaybeKatwasrightabouthavingtochoosewhetheryourpassionwenttoyourcareerorfamily. He’d chosen family and being well-liked, and he’d failed at business. I’d chosen work, and I was more intimidating than well-liked, but when it came to work, I exceeded and succeeded.
With him gone so early, I hated the thought of not having those good memories of him, of the trips and the time he’d spent teaching me skills he thought I’d need.
Kat reached up and ran her fingers through the back of my hair, and I found myself opening my mouth and letting more spill out. “My dad was a great guy with great ideas, and he knew how to charm a crowd, but he was a horrible businessman. He let people take advantage of how nice he was, and when the company took several big hits and things started falling apart, he bent over backward to try to keep everything the same for his employees and at home, and he made a lot of bad moves. He lost not only his money, but also a lot of the investors’ money, and he ended up running the company into the ground. There at the end, he was stressed all the time, and it just pushed him toward the heart attack. And as if losing him wasn’t hard enough, he left my mom and me in a world of debt.”
“That’s why you worked so hard to climb the business ladder so quickly.”
The fact that she jumped to the right conclusion right away made me think that maybe she’d understand my side a little better when she found out about the restructure, although I knew the hurt and anger would still be there. “It is. Regardless of the debts I’ve paid off and all the money I’ve made, I still feel this need to redeem the family name. That’s another reason I’ve pushed so hard to make Craze as big and as strong as it can be.
I’m close to achieving my goal, too, and I won’t rest until I do. For my dad, and for my mom, and yes, for myself, too.”
“Then do it. I know you can. And I know if your dad was here, he’d be proud. I can tell he meant a lot to you, and I’m sorry you lost him.”
For some reason, her acknowledging my loss made my throat feel too tight. I didn’t mean to go to mushy territory, and I needed to find my way out of it, and fast.
“And since I’m also enjoying the extravagant present he gave you when you turned sixteen, I’ll resist pointing out that you must’ve been one spoiled, troublesome teenager.” She nudged me with her elbow and flashed me a teasing smile. “No wonder you turned out so bossy and demanding.”
Bless her for lightening the mood without me having to tell her I didn’t want to talk about my dad anymore and making things tense and awkward. I wrapped my hand around her elbow and teased her right back. “If you go ahead and say it, is it really resisting?”
She shrugged, that heart-stopping smile spreading across her beautiful face. “Probably not, but when it comes to resistance and you, would you want me to do a better job?”
“Fuck no.”
She trailed a finger down my chest. “That’s what I thought. And since I’m not sure you listened very well the first time around, you shouldn’t bother resisting my advice about taking a break once in a while so your life doesn’t solely revolve around work, thinking about work, and doing more work.”
“That’s what I did until you came along.” I ran my hand up the outside of her leg and then skirted the hem of her shorts. “Now I just do work and you.”
“Well, by all means, make sure you take your break from your work time and not from doing me time.”
“Oh, don’t worry. I have my priorities in order.” I tightened my grip on her and slanted my lips over hers. I’d barely gotten a taste when she put her hand on my chest and broke the kiss.
I grunted, and she shot me a reprimanding look. “Patience, Mr. Stone. First, I want more of that cheesy shit you try to pretend you’re too cool for.” She swung her legs forward and gripped the steering wheel. “I want you to teach me to drive, and just so you know…” She rocked her ass against my crotch, teasing me into rock-hard territory. “I’m a hands-on kind of learner.”