Fancy seeing me here? Fancy seeing me here! What in the ever-loving hell was going on? One moment I’d been two seconds from a beach nap and the next, my work nemesis was lounging on the beach right next to me. This couldn’t be happening. I snapped my mouth closed and my eyes traveled the length of his body all on their own. I had zero control over those babies and they landed right on his stomach.
And why the hell did he have abs? Like, so many abs. Perfectly gorgeous tan abs and a happy trail that led to places I didn’t like to think about when I thought about Gabriel.
Well, I did like to think about it, but I didn’t like to like to think about it. Damn it.
“What are you doing here?” I stuttered out, shocked as hell but more mad that he was here and looking beyond fine with all of his tan skin on display. Why did he have to look so good and be so bad?
His teeth were blindingly white against the smooth brown skin of his face as he grinned at me, seemingly completely unbothered by my scowl. His wet, jet-black hair fell over his forehead a bit, making him appear boyish and quite adorable although I’d never tell him that.
Because he was Satan.
Just like I’d never tell him that I sometimes thought about him with my hands between my legs at night when I lay in bed alone.
Yes, my mortal enemy was also the man of my fantasies. Wasn’t life a trip sometimes?
He folded his arms behind his head and I noticed the way his biceps bulged. Lord, mercy. They were big, his arms.
Of course he’d be packing all of those muscles under his dress shirts. Man, life wasn’t fair.
“Just enjoying a couple of days off,” he said with a sigh, like he wasn’t laying on the beach right next to me and trying to ruin my vacation.
Like he hadn’t clearly followed me on vacation so that he could torture me here, too.
I was busy grinding my teeth when he let out a low groan that made my girl parts flutter and closed his eyes like he was getting ready for a nap.
Crossing my legs, I spat out, “Why are you really here, Santos?” I crossed my arms over my chest because my nipples were trying to come out to play, too. Damn traitorous body. My mind may not have liked Gabriel but my body sure did. “And when I say here, I mean on this beach. Next to me.”
He rolled his head toward mine and one side of his mouth hitched sexily before he said, “I thought we could hang out. Get to know each other this weekend. Maybe have a few drinks.”
My face and chest flushed hot. I was confused. Turned on. And hot. So damn hot.
But he was right about one thing. Drinks were needed. Many, many drinks. I reached into my bag and grabbed one of the six pack of canned alcohol I’d smuggled onto the beach. I cracked that baby open as quick as possible and took a healthy sip and then another, barely tasting the peach mango flavor.
“Why would you want to hang out and get to know each other?” I asked, my mouth feeling like it was full of all of the sand on this whole beach even though I’d just downed half a can of liquid courage.
He sat up and turned toward me, sitting on the side of his chair and looking down at me and all of a sudden I felt severely underdressed in my red bikini. Because his eyes were slowly canvassing the length of my body, leaving a blaze of heat in their wake. “Come on, Kate. You know why I’m here. We’ve been dancing around each other for months. I’m tired of the fucking games.”
He looked serious. Way too serious so I downed the rest of my drink and reached for another. Was that what we had been doing? Sure, I’d always been attracted to Gabriel but I’d always known I couldn’t go there. He was my competition. Besides, I’d reconciled long ago that the man was probably a womanizer and completely out of my league.
He was the most gorgeous Hispanic man I’d never seen. I saw how women threw themselves at him all of the time. I’d never seen him take any of them up on their flirtations but I’d seen him throw a few winks their way.
When he’d turned his affections toward me, I’d assumed it was a ploy to throw me off my game and it had for a bit. As much I liked to believe it, I definitely wasn’t immune to him.
No, if he stood too close I most certainly breathed him in deep to smell him. And there pretty much wasn’t a time when my fingers didn’t itch to be in his gorgeous thick hair.
But I was a girl who listened to reason, so instead of jumping his bones like part of me wanted to, I started to say, “But what about our jobs—”
“Fuck our jobs, Kate,” he interrupted. “I don’t give a flying fuck about WRFL . I’ll quit today if it means you’ll give us a chance.”
I almost choked on the end of yet another alcoholic beverage.
“Us a chance?” I breathed in awe. What in the hell was happening here? Since when was there an us? I needed something stronger to drink. “Come on, Santos. You don’t even really like me,” I fired back.
The man had gone from being a royal pain in my ass to talking about us so fast my head was spinning. He was off his rocker.
I cracked open another beverage and he shot me a look. “I like you just fine, Nash.” He eyed the drink in my hand as I brought it to my lips. “Nervous?”
“Maybe I don’t want a man that likes me just fine. Maybe I want a man who loves me,” I smarted, the alcohol making me brave.
He leaned over me, closer until I could smell him. And it was a very satisfying combination of the sea and him. It was like clean, salty sandalwood and I breathed deep just like I always did, not daring to move a muscle.
“Give me a chance, Kate.” I didn’t like when he called me Kate. I fucking loved it. He’d never done it before today, instead always sticking to Nash. It felt personal, private, and sexy as hell.
I watched as he lifted his hand toward me before running a sole finger along my collar bone and slowly pushing my hair off my shoulder. I wasn’t too proud to admit that at one singular touch, I was gone. And my body clearly was, too, if the goose bumps spread on every surface were an indication.
“What are you doing?” I half-whispered, half moaned, feeling my eyelids slip closed of their own accord. Thank God for the sunglasses on my face. I felt like I could hide behind them. But with the way Gabriel’s eyes were perusing the length of my torso, I knew I couldn’t hide the way my body was reacting.
“You know what I’m doing, Kate,” he sang back to me before using that same finger and running it down the middle of my breasts, past the string of my bathing suit and down to my belly button. “It’s been what we’ve both been wanting for months.”
Wetness pooled right between my legs. My breath hitched and the goose bumps were gone. And suddenly I was on fire.
A wicked grin spread across Gabriel’s face and I wanted to murder him. But I also wanted to have dirty, filthy sex with him. I told myself maybe it was three drinks I’d downed in a matter of minutes but I knew better.
Despite my mind, my body had always wanted his.
And lately it had seemed like my mind was on board, too.
And it seemed that he knew it.
The conundrum, though, was what did I do about it?
Did I let him have his wicked, wicked way with me and in turn have some really fantastic orgasms? I could tell by the smug look on Stupid Head’s face that he would make me come again and again.
But what would happen after the weekend? Would we go back to Nash and Santos? Would Kate and Gabriel be long gone after our hook-up?
Did I take a chance and risk making our work relationship even worse or did I get up out of this lounge chair, walk back into my hotel, and pretend this shit never happened?
My head told me to get the fuck up out of here.
But the three drinks coursing through my veins had other plans.
So, I sat up and grabbed his hand from my stomach and pushed it down until his palm was cradling the center of me and I knew from the shocked look on his face that I was soaking wet.
“So do it, Gabriel.”