Chapter 13
thirteen
. . .
BLAKE
After almost two weeks together, all the hard boundaries I’d been so determined to set between Honor and I were so gone.
And I didn’t care one damn bit.
The shallow part of me could claim it was the way her incredible body looked in a bathing suit that did it. The romantic part might say it was the way her breath caught every time I stared at her mouth, or the way our bodies seemed drawn to each other like she was a damn flower, and I was a fucking bee desperate to touch her for even a moment.
But the realist in me would say it was the way she fits so damn perfectly with me, my family, and every aspect of my life.
It had been two years since I’d had this kind of reaction to a woman. I found myself wanting to touch her, to be close to her, to have her look at me, those bright blue eyes full of expectation.
I’d wanted to kiss her so damn badly so many times.
Then I’d remembered the story she’d told about crossing that line with a client, and I’d shut it down faster than a hotel room party on prom night.
“I’m happy being a pretty thing on a rich man’s arm, but nothing more than that.”
I was the rich man with an arm, and she was most definitely the pretty thing.
I didn’t want to be yet another guy she had to fend off.
Yes, there was some kind of charged sexual chemistry between us that was getting harder and harder to deny by the day, but that didn’t mean we had to act on it.
We were adults. I was the owner of a multi-billion-dollar development company. Surely I had enough self-control to resist one single, sexy, world-alteringly beautiful woman.
Tossing the room key on the table near the door, I scuffed off my shoes, following Honor into the living room. It had been another day spent with my family, this time doing basket weaving over by the beach before a long, boozy lunch in a beach cabana.
I’d used any excuse I could to touch her. The fact that my family believed we were a legitimate couple was reason enough for me. I’d held her hand as we stood at the bar. Brushed my fingers over her shoulder when I’d slung my arm around her chair at lunch.
She hadn’t pulled away or told me to stop. In fact, she’d smiled up at me every time our bodies had connected.
“I’m going to shower and get ready for tonight,” Honor said, heading for her room. Just as she reached the door to the bedroom, she pulled her flowing linen dress over her head and dropped it to the floor, giving me a perfect view of her ass in her high-cut red swimsuit.
The endless days of seeing Honor in a bathing suit were slowly killing me.
It was pure fucking torture.
The door shut behind her and I scrubbed a hand over my face, blowing out a long breath.
I cursed my brother’s name for wanting another week here with all of us after the wedding before he and Kelly jetted off to another island destination for a solo honeymoon like a normal couple.
But I wouldn’t touch Honor. Not like that. Not like I desperately wanted to.
She was here to do a job, not become my personal plaything. I couldn't cross that line, and neither could she.
Heading for the bathroom, I took a shower, scrubbing the feel of her hands from my skin. I dressed quickly, pulling on a crisp, light blue linen shirt and pressed navy shorts, sliding into the tan leather loafers that cost me a ton, but felt like butter on my feet.
I walked out to the living room just as Honor was coming out of her room. I stopped moving at the sight of her.
She was dressed in a white thin strap dress that clung to every curve of her body. The teal-and-tan tropical flowers covering it were a festive touch. The dress came down in a triangle point just below her knees, but the slit up the right side, almost to her hip, showed off her perfect, slender legs.
I choked out a cough. “Wow, you look…”
She stopped suddenly like she hadn’t known I was there, a flush creeping into her cheeks. “Oh… thanks.” Her eyes roamed over me. “You look…”
Her words trailed off as we stared at each other across the room.
I didn’t know exactly when or where it had happened, but the sexual tension between us was fucking palpable, despite my best efforts to shut it down.
“I… um… forgot my lipstick.” She turned abruptly, heading back to her room. Then she stopped just as fast, turning back around. “Do you think…?” she started, then she shook her head and turned away again.
“Wait.” I moved around the couch to close the distance between us. “Do I think, what?”
She let out a small laugh, lifting her head, her gaze meeting mine. We were being so awkward around each other all of a sudden. So many second-guessed thoughts and unfinished sentences.
She moved closer, stopping in front of me, and without thinking, my hand reached out to brush her hair back from her shoulder, sliding around to the base of her neck.
She was so goddamn soft. So goddamn perfect for me.
I wanted to taste her.
“Blake…” she said quietly, almost timid for her. And that was never a word I’d use to describe her.
Before I could reply, she pushed up onto her toes and pressed her mouth to mine, her hand against my chest to steady her.
My surprise at her bold move lasted only a second, before I leaned into the kiss, my fingers tightening in her hair.
Fuck. Me. She tasted sweet.
Kissing her was even better than I’d imagined it.
I had no idea what had made her do it, but there was no way in hell I was going to ruin the opportunity by asking. She could kiss me any damn time she wanted.
Gripping her waist, I shifted her closer until her body was pressed against me. Our tongues swept over each other in slow, lazy strokes, and my cock twitched behind my zipper.
I deepened the kiss, covering her body with mine until there wasn’t an inch of space left between us. Honor let out a soft moan in my mouth that sent a jolt running through me.
Brushing a hand over the soft exposed skin at her collarbone, the strap of her dress slipped from her shoulder. My fingers trailed down her side to her hip, gliding over the top of the perfect ass I’d been admiring for almost two weeks now.
Then a pounding on the door thundered through the room, startling us apart.
“Come on, lovebirds! Stop boning or you’ll be late for dinner!” Spencer called, dousing the moment.
Honor pulled away with a small smile as I plotted Spencer’s murder in my head.
“We can’t be late for dinner. We don’t want Hudson and Kelly to be late for their bachelor and bachelorette parties afterwards,” Honor said with a small, teasing smile. “This trip is all about them, remember?”
She strode for the door, her dress hugging the curves of the ass I’d just had in my hands.
Screw the bachelor party, I wanted to come straight back here and show her all the amazing things I could do to her with my tongue.
“You’re really into her,” Hudson said with a shit-eating grin, taking another long gulp of his beer.
We were currently at one of the beachside bars, having booked out the whole place for Hudson’s Bachelor party. The rest of the guys were gathered around the two dartboards in the open-air hut a few feet away.
“She’s my girlfriend, of course I’m into her. Would I have brought her to your wedding otherwise?”
He chuckled. “If it meant pissing off Reyna, then yes.”
Reyna.
Thinking about her felt foreign now. Honor filled my mind on a constant loop, and I liked it that way. Reyna was a mistake of my past—one I was done allowing to hold me back.
I reached for the glass decanter on the table in front of us, just as a cheer went up from the guys over at the dartboard.
“Honor is nothing like Reyna,” I said, pouring out another drink for my brother and handing it to him.
Hudson knocked his glass with mine. “Amen to that.”
As if our conversation had conjured her, movement through the trees caught my eye and Honor strode down the path towards us in that incredible dress.
“Hey! No women at the bachelor party unless they’re naked!” Spencer called across the pool.
No way in hell would any of these guys be seeing Honor naked. Not while I was breathing.
The possessiveness of that thought made me pause, but it didn’t make it any less true.
Honor smiled. “Relax, Spencer, I’m not staying. I have no intention of watching you crash and burn when you try to hit on the stripper.”
The other guys hooted with laughter, trying to shove Spencer in the pool.
“Honor! Welcome to my last night of freedom!” Hudson said, spreading his arms wide with a grin. “Are you here to take your last-minute chance to proposition me like Blake’s other girlfriends?”
Honor raised her eyebrows, surprise clear on her face.
“Fuck you, Hud,” I muttered, downing a long swig of whiskey.
“No,” Honor said carefully. “But I am about to go to Kelly’s bachelorette party and triple check that she definitely wants to marry your sorry ass. Maybe press her a little to make sure you’re really who she wants.” She shrugged. “You never know, she might be having second thoughts about tying herself to a scoundrel like you for life.”
Hudson’s drunken eyes narrowed on Honor. “You wouldn’t. Who would have doubts about marrying me? Have you seen my butt?”
She choked on her laugh. “I haven’t. And I’ll pass.” She pulled a room key from her purse and held it out to me. “You forgot this. Might come in handy when you come stumbling in at two am, drunk off your ass.”
“You want to do what off his ass?” Hudson asked loudly.
A smile played at Honor’s perfect lips as she stared down at me.
I wanted to reach out and pull her towards me, watch her slide that dress up her thighs so she could straddle my lap. She could do whatever the hell she wanted to whatever part of my body she chose at this point, just so long as she was touching me.
Instead, I took the key card from her outstretched hand, my fingers brushing hers.
She hesitated, only for the briefest second, like she wanted to say more but didn’t have the confidence to ask for it. At least not in front of my brother.
“Okay, well… you boys have a good night.” She gave me one last knowing look filled with playful promise and started to stride back the way she’d come.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” Hudson called, raising his glass in her direction.
She glanced over her shoulder as she walked away. “That doesn’t leave us with much.”
Just as she was about to turn around, her eyes snagged on the bar to our right and she stopped.
“Corey?” she called, a confused smile on her face as she made her way over.
The bartender looked up from the glass he was polishing, his face splitting in a grin.
“Honor?”
She walked up to the bar, the two of them falling into easy conversation.
Hudson tsked from beside me like a fucking schoolteacher. “You just going to let that happen?”
I shot him a look. “Let what happen? Honor having a conversation with someone she clearly knows?”
We watched them from where we sat, Honor tossing her hair over her shoulder as the bartender clocked her every move like he was trying to work out how to get her back to his room.
Spencer strolled over, thumping me on the shoulder. “Are you two going to sit over here all night, or are you going to let me kick your ass at darts?”
Twenty minutes later when I’d beaten Spencer and been bested by Jeremy twice, I went back to the table to pour myself another drink only to find Honor was still at the bar talking to Corey.
I hated the way my jaw clenched at the sight as I brought my glass to my lips, trying to appear like I didn’t give a damn that she was laughing at his jokes instead of mine.
Hudson threw himself down in the chair beside me. “You should go get your girl or that bartender is going to throw her over his shoulder and make off with her.”
I knocked back my whiskey, relishing the burn in my throat, and pouring myself another.
An unexpected possessiveness simmered in my gut at the thought of that tattooed wannabe touching her.
Why, though?
I had no right to her. We’d kissed once, and I was paying her to be here. There hadn’t been a chance for us to have a conversation about anything after our kiss earlier. For all I knew, she’d been indulging my advances purely because I was a client.
The thought filled me with bitterness and self-loathing. How had I let this happen? How had I become so consumed by someone I barely knew? Someone who was an employee? Letting myself feel anything for her was a monumental mistake.
“Fuck,” I muttered to myself, emptying my glass again.
“You okay?” Hudson asked, frowning. “Why are you slamming back whiskey right now?”
I glanced at my brother.
I should tell him. I know I’d promised Honor that our arrangement would stay between us, but I’d also promised myself I wouldn’t cross the line with her and I’d already screwed that up. I had to tell someone or I was going to go out of my damn mind.
“Because she’s not my girl,” I blurted, instantly regretting the words.
Hudson’s brow pinched. “What the hell are you talking about? She’s your girlfriend. I’ve never seen you look at anyone the way you look at her. Don’t let the bartender weasel in on what’s yours.”
Bitterness flooded me all over again. “She isn’t.”
Hudson leaned closer, resting his arms on the table, a look of pure confusion on his half-drunk face. “Isn’t what?”
“Mine.”
I sighed, scrubbing a hand over my face. This was such a fucking mess and I only had myself to blame.
I never should have lied to my brother or any of my family to begin with. Bringing Honor just to avoid their inevitable questions had been an idiotic plan. Now I was going to face more questions than ever.
“She’s someone I paid to come on this trip and pretend to be my girlfriend. I didn't want to hear about how you all thought I was still hung up on Reyna because I haven't been in a relationship since her. Or listen to you and Mom get on my back about settling down or getting serious about someone.”
He stared at me like I’d grown three heads. “Bro...”
“Only I didn’t expect her to be so fucking incredible,” I went on, ignoring the disbelief on his face. “There’s so much more to her than she lets people see. I’ve told her things I haven’t told anyone about what went down with Reyna.” I sighed. “And we kissed tonight…”
Over at the bar, Honor swatted at Corey’s hand, laughing at something he said.
“... and now I can’t get her out of my fucking head.”
Hudson let out a long, low whistle, watching Honor as well.
“First of all, you’re an idiot. You’re a fucking billionaire who has women falling at his feet and you paid a woman to be here with you.” He shook his head. “And second of all, you’re still an idiot. One for falling for her and two for leaving her over there being wooed by the damn bartender. Go get her, man.”
I scrubbed a hand over my face. “Are you listening? She’s not mine. I have no claim to her. And even if she was, she’s her own person. She can talk to whoever she wants.”
Hudson sighed like I was a small child he had to explain something to several times. “Blake, do you like her?”
I hesitated. Not because I needed to think about my answer, but because I knew how stupid it made me.
“Yeah, I fucking like her.”
“So, get up off your ass and go over there. See if she likes you, too. Because I’m banking that she does.”
Honor threw her head back and laughed again, the sound carrying across the pool deck and making my jaw clench. Hearing it was torture, not only because she had an incredible laugh, but because some asshole who wasn’t me was making her do it.
I pushed to my feet.
“Yeah, go get your girl. And beat your chest while you do it!” Hudson said with a broad grin. He sat back in his chair, satisfied that his job was done now that I was on my feet.
I stared down at him, and he just shrugged. “I’ve had a lot of alcohol tonight, and Kelly isn’t here to keep me in line like she usually does.”
Shaking my head, I strode for the bar, sliding an arm around Honor’s waist and holding her against me.
She smiled over her shoulder like I’d hung the fucking moon, her reaction satisfying the caveman in me. “Hey, you.”
Her hands slid over mine, warm and soft, where they rested on her waist. “This is Corey.” She nodded at the bartender. “We went to high school together back in Ohio, where I’m from. Can you believe it?”
My fingers tightened on her hip as I reached out with my other hand to shake Corey’s.
“Blake,” I said, gripping his fingers a little more firmly than necessary.
He gave me the nod. “Nice to meet you, man.”
I motioned over my shoulder at Hudson. “The guys were hoping for another round.”
Corey slapped both palms against the bar. “Coming right up.” He turned back to Honor. “Amazing to see you, H. Keep in touch while you’re here, okay?”
She smiled broadly. “Of course.”
He winked at her as he walked off to prep the drinks, making my jaw tick.
Honor turned in my arms, running her hands up my chest and fuck, if I didn’t love the feel of it. All the frustration I’d been feeling ebbed from my body at that one simple, reassuring touch from her.
I’d known I was in trouble from the moment I laid eyes on her at the airport, but this was a whole other level. One kiss and I was ready to throw down with another guy just for talking to her. I’d never been the jealous type, but something about Honor had those feelings sparking inside me so easily.
“I better go meet Kelly and the other girls.” She leaned in to kiss me on the cheek. “Make sure you behave tonight.”
I leaned down, brushing my lips against her jaw, relishing the shiver it elicited.
“Once we get back to our villa, I can’t make any promises.”