Chapter 9
Kensie
The relaxing sounds of the waves entered my consciousness, as did the delicious and familiar scent of fried fish, bacon, and pancakes.
When I turned over and touched Canaan’s side, the coolness of the sheets suggested he’d been gone for a long time.
I’d always been a night owl and a late sleeper, and whenever I had a break from school and my work, I happily slept.
Smiling, I sat up and stretched my arms, loving the comforting beauty of the artfully decorated bedroom I could now see in the daylight.
Bright, vibrant flowers adorned the walls and opened into a bathroom.
A shirtless and sweaty Canaan walked in from the beach through the connecting patio.
“Good morning, Canaan.”
He smiled slightly. “Good afternoon. My chef has prepared a brunch that should be ready.”
“Were you just jogging?” I asked, unable to tear my eyes away from his glistening, caramel-sinewed chest.
He grinned and dipped his head so he could capture my gaze. “Yes. And my eyes are here.”
Nonplussed that he caught me ogling him, I quipped, “You know you’re fine as hell. I can look and not touch.”
“Or you can do both since you are in my bed,” Canaan smoothly replied.
I waved my hand. “You got me in a moment of weakness with you being so vulnerable last night. It won’t happen again.”
“Vulnerable?” He scoffed, though a hint of apprehension sprinkled his expression. “I was just being chill. Exhausted.”
I pulled my knees up and hugged them. “If that’s your chill, I’m down. Because the other you is irritating.”
“Funny because I thought the same thing about you.” He climbed onto the bed and hovered over me.
I held my knees tighter, protecting my body from his.
Even though he was sweaty, my body throbbed for his.
“I woke up to a sleeping beauty. All I wanted to do was taste your lips, neck, and breasts again. Do you know how sexy your nipples are? The color of the ripest purple grapes that beg to be plucked from a vine. And the taste . . . well . . . The taste of you only leaves me wanting.”
My sex painfully pulsed at his hypnotic eyes and his sensual words. I shook my head slowly, warring with myself not to open my legs for him. “Canaan . . . I—”
He placed his index finger near my lips.
“As I was saying . . . All I wanted to do this morning was to be inside you, to stroke you until you clawed my back like you did in Jamaica. Then you started snoring. Brought me back to reality in a hurry.” Smirking, he stood up again, and I threw a pillow hard at him.
I protested through my laughter. “I don’t snore.”
“One of these nights I’m going to record you.”
“And I’ll hurt you just like those women I threatened last night.”
“Threatened?” He folded his arms with a quizzical expression. “What did you do?”
My eyes widened. “You drank that much alcohol, you don’t remember? I told the three women in your bed that you forgot you had a woman and that I would stab them if they didn’t leave. They ran scared. Still doesn’t ring a bell?”
He clapped his hands together and chuckled. “Wish I did remember. I would’ve loved to have seen you in action.”
“How could that be? You didn’t look or act drunk.
You don’t remember anything about last night?
” No wonder he’d been open with me and allowed me to take control last night.
The Canaan I’d known in college and from the media had been arrogant, privileged, and dominant.
A man who wouldn’t admit any weakness. A true alpha male.
“Little-known fact. I hold my liquor so well that no one knows I’m out of my head, and everything is a blur the next morning. I can’t tell you how many times back in college I had no idea how I ended up in some of these women’s beds.” He grinned while stretching his arms over his head.
Trying to stay focused on his face and not his body, I scoffed, “Don’t remind me. You broke Emme’s heart.”
Canaan dropped his gaze. “I was twenty-two and had just made my dad’s company generationally wealthy. What did I know about being faithful?”
I accused, “You’re thirty, even richer, and you still don’t know.”
“Point.” He placed his hand across his chest and the palm of his other hand up.
“I promise to be faithful to my fake woman.” Canaan winked.
“Or at least try.” This time, he ducked when I threw the pillow, and he lost his balance and fell on the bed, almost on top of me, laughing at his own clumsiness.
Pushing him away playfully, I admitted, “I didn’t think you laughed at yourself. Thought you were too cool ever to be normal.”
He shifted to his side and looked at me.
“Crazy how I thought the same of you. You were so serious. Head always in the books. No time for fun. I was glad you wrote a book that wasn’t about science.
” Lines appeared above the bridge of his nose.
“I never noticed that when you smile, your eyes slant shut. Maybe it was those awful glasses you used to wear, or maybe I never saw you smile back then. I damn sure never thought I would want you so much. Happy Valentine’s Day.
” Canaan reached up and twirled one of my braids around his finger.
The room temperature rose yet again as his eyes drifted to my lips.
“Happy Valentine’s Day,” I whispered, and before I could get drawn into his lair, I grabbed my cell from the bed.
“Speaking of Valentine’s . . . We need to take a pic to make it official and share it on our profiles.
The more we take photos when we’re having a real moment like this, the more it’ll show in the pictures, and people will believe us. ”
He let go of my hair and grumbled, “So, we mess up a real moment by taking a photo?”
“Yes.” I scooted beside him and snapped the pic when he glanced at me. “See?”
The phone captured him staring at me while I smiled at the lens. We were a couple in love in bed together.
“Should I post it?”
Canaan nodded before he suddenly pushed off the bed to stand.
“I need to take a shower and get ready for more interviews. After we eat, I’ll give you some money to shop while I work, or you can get one of my staff to shop for you.
Buy whatever you want or need for the next few days.
Once we get settled, you can buy more things in Miami.
There may be parties and functions that will require formal attire.
You can stay in your suite alone tonight since it’s only one more night.
I’ll send for someone to pick you up in the morning.
I chartered a plane, and our flight leaves early tomorrow.
” His words were instructive and pleasant, but his warm, playful mood had shifted.
He was pushing me away, and long after he left the room, I stared at the picture of us . . . already missing him.