Sure, Wyatt marked her physically, but Kelsey had left a brand on him that wasn’t fading so quickly. And that scared the shit out of him. He didn’t want to care. He didn’t want to be jealous. And most of all, he didn’t want to hurt her.
“You gonna do something about it?” Kade asked, his tone mild but an edge of protectiveness over Kelsey screaming in the subtext.
“Worst idea ever.”
“Ah,” Kade said with a knowing nod. “Which means you’re going to do it anyway.”
“Fucking A.”
Kade huffed a laugh and lifted his glass in support. “May the force be with you, man.”
“I’ll need more than the force.” Especially when he’d promised Kelsey he wanted nothing more than a little fun.
After exchanging a quick good-bye with Kade, Wyatt walked across the sand and reclaimed his woman from Carmichael. No other hands but his were going to touch her. Not tonight. And if he had anything to do with it, maybe not for a long time after that.
He hadn’t lied to Kelsey when he’d said plans had changed.
Wyatt had a new goal for this trip.
And it had nothing to do with the bottom line.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“Tell him I don’t fucking care what his gut is telling him. He pays me to be his gut, and if he doesn’t sell that shit off tomorrow, he’s going to get crushed. All the indicators are there.”
Kelsey blinked in the muted morning light, the living room couch creaking as she turned toward the sound of Wyatt’s hushed but firm voice. He was at the small kitchen table with his back to her and his laptop open, hands-free earpiece looped over his right ear. She pushed the blanket off her legs, regretting that Wyatt had woken up before her. Yesterday morning, she’d pulled off the maneuver without a hitch. She’d hoped to manage it again—to sneak back to bed before he realized she’d slipped into the living room in the middle of the night, but she’d slept right past her normal waking hour.
Wyatt grunted at whatever the person on the other end of the phone said. “Yeah, I saw the preliminary numbers on that one, too. It’ll look tempting to him, but he needs to sit on his hands. After it goes public and the fanfare dies down, the price is going to drop considerably. It’s not as strong a company as the media is making it out to be. He’ll be able to get in later if he wants it.”
Kelsey sat up and wrapped her arms around her knees, watching Wyatt work. His hair was mussed and he hadn’t bothered to put a shirt on, but the set of his shoulders and his tone were all business. She knew if she could see his face, she’d find that oh-so-serious intensity there. That intensity did things to her it shouldn’t, warm and tingly things.
Before he could notice her, she tiptoed to the bathroom and took care of her necessities then dug through her bag to find one of the lacy confections she’d bought on her lingerie shopping trip—a near translucent camisole and a matching panty. She checked herself in the mirror and smiled. There. That should be distracting enough to get Mr. Workaholic away from his computer. Yes, it was Monday. But this was supposed to be his vacation after all. No stress allowed.
As she made her way back toward the living room, she could hear Wyatt still barking orders on the phone, his frustration growing. “No, that’s not how I told you to do it. I needed those reports broken out separately.”
Without looking his way, she strolled past him and into the kitchen.
“And I need you to drill down into that second—” His words cut off abruptly, the rest of whatever he had meant to say hanging in the air.
Kelsey peeked over her shoulder, smiled, and then went about digging through the cabinets to find the canister of coffee.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m still here,” Wyatt said, a gruffness to his voice now. “That second report. I want a drill down.”
Kelsey set up the coffee pot and got it brewing, but she was amused at how distracted Wyatt sounded as he continued his conversation. She bent over to pull the cream out of the fridge, giving him a clear view of her backside, and Wyatt let out a groan. His response fit into the conversation, but she knew who that groan was for. He snapped his fingers sharply. Startled, she set the cream down and turned his way.
His eyes were blazing with challenge. He crooked a finger at her and pointed to the spot next to his chair. Uh-oh. She chewed her lip and hurried to get over there. His hand jutted out and grasped her shoulder, pushing her down to her knees on the polished wood floor.
Her knees landed on the floor with a soft thud, and Wyatt turned his chair outward to face her.
“Yes, that’s exactly what I want you to do,” he said into the phone, but he had his hand on the fly of his pajama pants and his eyes on her. Snap. Snap. Snap. The buttons on his pants opened. A soft gasp passed her lips when he pulled his hard shaft free and stroked a hand over it. With his other hand, he captured the back of her neck and dragged her forward until she was settled between his spread knees. Then he clutched her jaw hard between his fingers, his look holding hot warning. You broke the rules again, it said. You’re trying to control the situation.
A shiver worked over her at the sternness of his gaze and the unspoken threat. She dipped her head, hoping he heard her own silent response. I’m sorry. Forgive me.
“I don’t need your apology,” he said to the person on the other end of the line, while lacing his hand in Kelsey’s hair, wrapping the long strands around his fist. “Just make sure I get what I need.”
With an unforgiving grip, he brought Kelsey’s head down to his lap and pushed his cock past her lips. She choked at the sudden fullness, but quickly relaxed her mouth and throat around him, closing her eyes and yielding. Wyatt’s belly dipped inward, his silent intake of breath a sure sign that he wasn’t as steely calm as he sounded. He guided her down his length and then back up, his hold on her hair making her scalp tingle. On instinct, she tried to control the pace, but he wasn’t having any of that. When she attempted to pull back a little too far, he reached down and gave her nipple a hard pinch. She whimpered around his cock, the sharp pain catching her off guard and sending a hot moisture flooding her sex.
“No, Cary, everything’s fine,” Wyatt said smoothly. “Go ahead and give me the rest of the messages.”