24. James
24
JAMES
“ S he’s exhausted,” I whispered to Kaitlyn as I pulled the sheet over Harper.
“Big day in a lot of ways. Major strides,” she whispered back, beaming at me.
Harper had asked for the two of us to tuck her in, and the process had felt surprisingly natural even though it had never happened before. I read the first book snuggled on one side of my daughter, Kaitlyn read the second nestled on the other side, then we talked about the highlights of the day together. Harper had struggled to keep her eyes open the whole time, until she finally drifted off to sleep.
We tiptoed out of the bedroom and paused outside the door. I couldn’t tell if Kaitlyn wanted to spend more time with me or go our separate ways for the night, but after the past few prickly days, I wasn’t ready to let the good vibes that were reemerging end.
“Do you want to grab a glass of wine?” I asked. “It’s a beautiful night, we could sit outside.”
Kaitlyn nodded shyly. “Yeah, I’d really like that.”
It felt like she’d just agreed to a date, but I punched down my hopes. We still needed to sort through the distance that had grown between us and find our way back to where we’d been.
I met her outside carrying a pair of glasses along with a bottle of red as well as a white.
“Looks like you’re ready to party hard,” Kaitlyn laughed as I placed the bottles on the table.
She had her feet tucked beneath her on a lounger that was backed up to the palm fronds, with a prime view of the ocean. As much as I loved my Miami house, there was something about my Key West place that made me feel like I was miles away from civilization. It felt easier to breathe when I was here.
“I wasn’t sure which you liked better,” I said, settling in a chair next to her instead of beside her on the lounger.
“I’m easy to please, I like both. Gentleman’s choice.”
“Key West calls for white, I think,” I said as I uncorked the bottle.
We drank in silence for a few minutes, letting the peace of the location wash over us. I tried not to stare at Kaitlyn as she sipped her wine, but it wasn’t easy. She’d let her hair dry in the sun after spending the day swimming, and it was a gorgeous wild mass around her shoulders. She’d changed out of the bikini I’d had sent over and into a short, loose-fitting white dress that kept slipping down in front, giving me glances of the pale pink bra beneath it. Her skin had turned a golden brown despite the sunscreen she kept applying. I glanced down at my own legs and noticed I was darker than normal as well. We’d both be going home with what looked like a post-vacation glow.
“Things have been more stressful than usual for you lately, huh?” Kaitlyn asked as she took another sip of wine.
“Why do you think that?” She was right, but I wanted to know what had led her to that conclusion. I’d thought I’d done a pretty good job of projecting nothing-to-see-here calm, the way I always tried to do.
“The Jess stuff.”
I felt my mouth move into a frown and took a gulp of wine. “Yes, she’s never been easy to deal with.”
“You came down on her pretty hard,” Kaitlyn said tentatively.
I fought back against the reflexive anger I felt any time I thought about Jess’s situation. “You have to understand that this has been a pattern with my sister. Making irresponsible decisions then leaving me to clean up the fallout. And the last time she went rogue? I’m still feeling the ramifications of her actions.”
“May I ask what happened?”
It was time to tell her the whole story, so Kaitlyn would finally understand why Jess and I had such a hard time finding common ground.
“Remember that guy I told you about? The one Jess was dating? Well, I had a history with him. We’d already been business rivals for a while before he and Jess started dating. Adding my sister into the equation took the rivalry to another level. And after they broke up…let’s just say the rivalry got more intense. He’s very, very focused on undercutting my business any way he can.”
“Sounds like he took the breakup pretty hard,” Kaitlyn said. “Do you think he really loved her?”
“No,” I replied flatly. “I don’t. If he loved her, he’d have poured all his efforts into her : convincing her to give him another chance, helping her deal with the media backlash, working with her to get her life back on track. Instead, all he did was throw a tantrum and lash out at me. What I get from that is that it was never about her. It was always about winning. His ego was wounded when she called things off, and he responded by trying to find a way to come out on top. That’s what he’s still doing, years later. Jess was just a pawn in his game.”
We both went quiet.
“I can’t trust Jess to make good decisions,” I continued. “Her heart is in the right place, but she doesn’t think things through. She leads with her heart, not her head. That’s why she’s only allowed an allowance from her trust fund rather than having access to the whole thing. I’m trying to protect her—and her response to that was to go behind my back. I thought we were past secrets and lies, and then this fashion thing blew up in my face.”
“It’s not just a ‘thing,’” Kaitlyn said gently. “She’s serious about it. And the designer is good. Really good.”
I sighed. The last thing I wanted to do was bicker with Kaitlyn about my sister. “Can we talk about something else? Anything, really.”
“Okay. I’ve actually been wondering something…” Kaitlyn trailed off.
“What? Tell me.”
“Are you and I…okay? Things have felt weird lately.”
Relief washed over me when I realized Kaitlyn was just as unnerved by the distance between us as I was.
“I don’t understand what happened, to be honest,” I admitted. “But I know I’ve missed being close to you.”
We locked eyes, and Kaitlyn moved over on the lounge then patted the space beside her. “Would you like to sit next to me, so we can discuss it further?”
The devilish look in her eye sent heat rushing through me. “I would love to.”
I moved to the lounge and settled so our thighs were touching once again, but this time without a little chaperone’s prying eyes.
“The trip has been a success so far, don’t you think?” Kaitlyn asked, setting her wine glass down on the table in front of her.
“Agreed. And it’s looking even better now.” I leaned closer and planted a kiss on her bare shoulder, getting a soft giggle out of Kaitlyn. I loved her clean soapy smell, tinged with something sweeter I couldn’t quite place.
“I’ve missed you,” she murmured. She placed a gentle hand on my cheek and leaned in to press her lips on mine, a sweet kiss with devious intent. It sent flames right through me.
“Kaitlyn,” I whispered. “I’ve missed you too.”
I pulled her gently until she was on my lap and facing me. I didn’t even bother to hide the fact that I was already hard. She fell against me, her chest on mine, and kissed me deeply. I let out a groan when she ground her hips down.
When she finally pulled away her cheeks were flushed, and I knew the sun wasn’t to blame.
“You have no idea what you do to me,” I managed.
“Oh, I think I know exactly what I do to you,” she laughed and rocked against me again.
It was too much. I put my hands on her ass then stood up with her clutched to my chest, getting a squeal out of her. She tightened her arms behind my neck as I pivoted then dropped her down to the lounge, covering her with my body. I pushed between her legs and hitched her dress up, letting my hand graze along her heat.
“Ooh,” she purred. “Are you feeling like an exhibitionist tonight?”
I captured her beautiful face in my palms. “I want you anywhere and everywhere, so the answer is yes.”
Kaitlyn reached between our bodies and slid her hand down the front of my shorts, rubbing along the hard ridge there.
I squeezed my eyes shut and thrust against her hand. “I feel like we’re in high school.”
“Then take your pants off and have me already,” she panted in my ear.
I stood up and started unbuckling my belt then froze. The unexplained privacy breach that had sent us to Key West in the first place nagged at me, and the thought that someone could be on a boat in the harbor watching us through a telephoto lens was something I couldn’t get past. I wanted her desperately, but I couldn’t afford to lose my head.
“What’s wrong?” Kaitlyn asked.
I reached for her hand and pulled her off the lounge.
“Let’s go inside. I want to do ridiculously dirty things to your body where we have complete privacy.”
Her expression shifted back to a naughty grin. “Ooh, I like the way you think!”
I smacked her on the ass hard enough to make the hem of her dress flip up.
“ Hey !”
Kaitlyn rubbed her rear with a shocked look on her face.
“Did you like that?” I asked, arching a brow.
“I…I sort of did,” she replied, looking a little surprised at her reaction.
“Well, there’s more where that came from.”
Kaitlyn grabbed my hand then took off running for the house.
It was hard to keep from staring at Kaitlyn over breakfast, but Harper’s stream of happy chatter kept me focused.
“Daddy, what are we going to do today? Swim? Kaitlyn, will you go in the waves with me again?”
My phone started pinging, and I stifled a groan of frustration. I wasn’t ready for the fantasy of normalcy to end yet.
“Let Daddy see what’s going on in the world before we plan our day, okay?”
Harper turned her attention to Kaitlyn as I reached for my phone. I knew texts and emails had, almost certainly, piled up since the night before. I was usually more on top of my communication, even when I was technically on vacation, but for once I wanted to relax into the moment with Kaitlyn. Our lovemaking was unlike anything I’d experienced. The hunger of keeping our distance and then her willingness to try new things made for an erotic adventure that I knew I’d be replaying all day. I glanced at her, feeling satisfied on a purely instinctual level when she shivered under the weight of my gaze. She glanced at me then rubbed her fingertips along the back of her wrist, a reminder of how I’d used one of my silk ties to tie her hands together then made love to her with my tongue.
I could feel myself growing hard just thinking about it, so I took a giant gulp of hot coffee and focused on my phone. The first urgent email was from my security team reporting that they’d found nothing during the sweep of the house. As happy as I was that my home hadn’t been breached, I was still angry we couldn’t identify the source of the leak. I wasn’t about to let it rest, and I fired off a quick response to pursue every possible avenue to try to identify what was going on.
I glanced at the endless stream of texts and realized that as much as I wanted to work remotely and enjoy more time here, I needed to head back to HQ.
“Ladies, I’m afraid we have to go home today.”
“No!” Harper wailed. “I’m having fun!”
“I am too, sweetheart, but work needs me. I promise we’ll come back again soon, okay?”
She nodded and propped her chin on her hand, looking so dejected that I wanted to call my team and tell them to clear my schedule.
“Harp, why don’t you and I go to the beach when we get back home since we had so much fun on the beach here? I know it wasn’t on your list, but maybe it’s a green light spot now?”
I held my breath waiting for my daughter to answer. She hadn’t been to our beach since before the kidnapping because it was a spot she and Emily used to visit all the time. She tipped her head and a slow smile spread across her face.
“Okay! Maybe we can bring the floaty unicorn?”
Kaitlyn glanced at me. “Do we have a floaty unicorn?”
“We used to, but I’m not sure where it is.” I didn’t want to tell her that we’d tossed those toys out when she stopped wanting to go to the beach. “You know what, Harp? I’m going to send for a whole zoo of floaty animals that you can choose from. How does that sound?”
“A flamingo too?” She asked with her little hands clasped beneath her chin.
“A flamingo, a zebra, a peacock, a giraffe, a turtle…you can take your pick.”
“Yay! Okay, let’s go!” She hopped off her chair and ran toward her bedroom.
“That was easy,” I mused.
“And we’ll get to check off another major milestone,” Kaitlyn laughed. “Fantastic!”
I reached across the table for her hand, and she threaded her fingers into mine. “It’s all because of you. You do know that, right?”
Kaitlyn blushed, and for a few minutes absolutely everything in my life felt perfect.
If it only it could have lasted.