Chapter 18
ANDREW
S tretched out on the carpet in our room with Rowan on top of me, I tried to take a breath to calm my runaway heart. My knees were burning, my ass was sore, and my mouth was swollen from Rowan’s drugging kisses. But the fierce pleasure I’d found in his arms made any ache insignificant.
I turned my head and started laughing when I looked at the bed right beside us and the fact that we’d been too frantic in our need to fuck to make it there.
“Care to share the joke?” Rowan asked, and I felt the vibration of his chest against my back.
I glanced at him, and my heart stopped when I saw the look of joy and vulnerability in his beautiful blue eyes, laugh lines crinkling.
The look was different but no less potent than the primal gaze he’d given me when he closed the patio door a half hour ago, shutting us inside our cocoon so we could discover each other to our bodies’ content.
“I’m laughing at the fact that there’s a comfortable bed less than a foot away from us and we were so hot for each other we couldn’t help but fuck on the floor.”
Rowan smiled in return, his irresistible dimple winking at me. “It’s your fault. One look at you and all my careful control just slips away,” he admitted and kissed me softly.
“I’d say we’re both to blame. You stare at me with your big blue eyes, and I’d be willing to do just about anything.”
“Like sleep with your boss?”
“Like sleep with my boss.” I kissed him back. “But remember, you’re not my boss right now. You’re Ro, my hot vacation lover.”
“Right.” A pained expression crossed his face, but it was gone as quick as it came.
Rowan rolled off me and walked over to the bathroom.
I heard water running and then watched him saunter back into the room a minute later as I finally sat up.
He offered his hand, and I readily took it, surprised by the power of such a simple touch given everything that had just happened between us.
We stood face to face, and I was at a loss for words.
Rowan was more than a hookup - or a vacation lover - but different from my past relationship.
I didn’t want to think about the how or why just yet, but I let that reality sink inside me.
Taking my hand, Rowan lifted it to his lips and kissed each knuckle, and that inexplicable feeling swelled up like a massive tidal wave, threatening to pull me under.
Then he bit my hand teasingly, and the tender moment vanished.
I walked over to the bed and threw off the heavy cover, then slid under the crisp cotton sheets.
I splayed out on my back, and Rowan followed suit.
I gave him a thorough once-over from head to toe, his wide chest sprinkled with blonde hair, his taut stomach, his impressive cock.
He reached for my hand again and brought it up to his mouth, brushing soft kisses against it, then moved it ever so slowly down his chest, over his nipples, then his stomach, and finally to his now semi-hard cock.
Our eyes locked, and the simmering heat in his gaze turned molten.
Neither one of us looked away. I felt the crazy urge to tell him to hold me tight, but before I could utter a word, Rowan took my lips in a sensual kiss.
I rolled on top of him as he opened his legs, and we ground our aching cocks together.
The sounds of our mutual pleasure grew louder as I let myself get swept away by Rowan’s touch.
After languid round of frotting, in the comfort of our bed this time, we fell asleep for two hours and woke up starving. For food. Our hunger for each other would have to wait as we took care of our other appetites.
Walking down to the main level of the hotel, we came upon Jasper who was carrying a large basket of white towels.
Soft rays of sunlight filled the turquoise lobby, the expansive room designed in the same chic but relaxed style as the rest of the hotel with modern furniture and splashes of tropical color.
“Finally come up for air?” He smiled at us, and I felt my cheeks heat.
“Yes, and now we’re starving,” Rowan replied. “Take pity on us and let us order dinner early?”
“Have a seat on the patio by the pool, and I’ll be out in a few minutes to do just that.”
“Why don’t you and Xavier have dinner with us?” I asked. “You said the other guests were out for the rest of the night.”
Jasper looked at Rowan, who nodded. “Alright, if we’re not intruding.”
“We’d love to have you join us,” Rowan responded with a tight smile. I was about to ask him if he was okay, but Jasper was quick to reply.
“Let me place these in the rooms upstairs and then Xavier and I will meet you on the deck.”
Rowan and I strolled out onto the patio that was bathed in late daylight, the sun hanging low on the horizon. The air was quiet, save for the waves crashing against the sand and the gentle twitter of birds in nearby trees.
“Would you like to take a walk on the beach?” I motioned to Rowan, and he nodded.
“I’ll miss this when I go home,” I said as we stepped onto the warm white sand.
“Atlanta is a four-hour drive from the ocean. I’ve been spoiled this past year, working in some of the most beautiful spots on earth.
There’s something about being on the water that’s calming and energizing at the same time. ”
Rowan nodded. “I don’t think I could go back to being landlocked for very long. I live in London for a few months in the springtime, but I often travel on the weekends, to Spain or nearby countries.”
“You have a home in London?”
“A house in Notting Hill. And please don’t reference that movie. You don’t know how many times Dylan and Rafe bugged me about it. I am no Hugh Grant, pining away in my bookstore.”
“No, of course not. You’re Julia Roberts,” I replied with a smirk, and he stared at me.
“What about the rest of the year?” I asked as we neared the water’s edge. We toed off our sandals, the warm waves lapping at our feet.
“I have a farmhouse in Montpellier, France that I often use as my base in the summer and fall. I host parties, invite clients, and I’ve come to know a lot of the locals. But I’m not sure I’ll have the ability to do that anymore. I need to slow down.”
“Are you all right?”
Rowan shrugged. “I… I had a recent health scare. Now I take meds for high blood pressure.”
“The captain told me. You’re too young, Ro.”
“I know. I’d been pushing too many 70-plus hour weeks for months on end, especially these past two years, and my body revolted.
It’s time to slow down. That’s part of the reason I’m working remotely.
The pace is more relaxed. It’s given me the opportunity to step back and take time to relax, to assess my work and my life. ”
“You’re doing the right thing. When it comes down to it, if we don’t have our health, everything else doesn’t matter.”
Rowan nodded, a sad expression passing over his face.
“I’ve also felt… I don’t know… empty for a long time.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my job, and carrying on the family business is an honor that I don’t take lightly, but it’s been a challenge.
And my personal life has suffered too. I have rare relationships outside of work that are genuine, and there are few people that I trust. I can work all I want, and I love it, but I need more. I’m just not sure what that is.”
“You’re a smart man. You’ll figure it out eventually.
A lot of people run on autopilot for so long that they never question anything in their life.
I did that when I lived in Atlanta, at work and in my relationship.
I just assumed everything was okay and didn’t investigate clues I should’ve picked up on.
Like the fact that most of my friends didn’t like my ex…
Anyway, at least you know something’s missing and are willing to put in the effort to find what it is you need. ”
Rowan placed a hand on my back, and I stopped to face him. “I have to say that outside of the unbelievably amazing sex, our friendship has been the most wonderful thing to happen to me in a long time. I wanted you to know that,” he confessed.
“I feel the same way,” I whispered, my heart lurching in my chest. That fluttery feeling in my stomach returned full force.
Wait, what?
“I mean, I’m not exciting like the celebrities you rub shoulders with…” I added to lighten the mood.
“Thank God for that. The last party I attended in London was so boring. Nothing but actors, models, and reality TV stars droning on about themselves. And everyone’s expression was the bloody same since no one’s face moved.
I thought someone was flirting with me, but he could’ve been constipated for all I know. Fucking Botox.”
I burst out laughing, and Rowan cocked his head, eyeing me up and down in that way of his that gave me goosebumps.
Then I thought about the movie stars and models and I realized that he was here, with me.
It was still a mindfuck that I was trying to wrap my head around.
While we were together, just the two of us, Rowan’s wealth rarely registered.
We continued to stroll along the beach and talk.
But the more he talked, the more I panicked about how very different our lives were.
He owned mansions and yachts, not to mention, he ran a billion-dollar business.
He hung out with celebrities, politicians, and world leaders.
What the hell was he doing here on this beach? With me?
Sex. Really good, unbelievably amazing, best-I’ve-ever-had sex.
But just sex… and friendship, yes, we were friends.
This softer feeling that Rowan inspired was friendship mixed with lust. Maybe more.
I had the sudden urge to pull away from him and hide, but I shut that down.
I was thirty, not eighteen, and I knew what I was getting into when I invited him here.