All the Pretty Poses (20 page)

My gasp melts into a strangled moan and Reese
pumps his hips, surging into me as my body clenches around him.
“That’s it, baby. Come
hard.”
He’s unrelenting as he drives
me through my second orgasm.

It’s as I lie limply beneath him that I feel
him pull out in one slow stroke and I look down at him. Reese is
rubbing the tip of his finger over the studs. His cock is
glistening with my want and, now, so is his finger.

His eyes flick up to mine. In them is passion
like I’ve never seen before. Reese slips the tip of his wet finger
into his mouth, his eyes drifting shut on a groan of pure pleasure.
“God, that’s the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth.”

Despite my spent body, a spark flares between
my legs as I watch him spread my folds and ease back into me. “Now
let me fill you up,” he says before he begins his sweet torment all
over again. True to his word, Reese fills me up when he reaches his
own climax. He doesn’t stop until I can feel it running down onto
the floor beneath me.

In the end, it’s my third orgasm that does me
in. I’m so overcome with intense pleasure that I don’t even realize
I’m screaming Reese’s name until I see his smile.

I did it. Just like he said I would.

I was happy to prove him right.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE- Reese

Kennedy doesn’t object when I dress her, pick
her up in my arms and carry her back to her room.

She also doesn’t object when I turn on the
shower and take her with me into it, fully clothed, only to repeat
my invasion of her body all over again. It’s when we are lying
naked in her bed, curled up beneath the warm covers, her body
tucked into the curve of mine, that I begin to wonder why it is
that I just can’t seem to get enough of her.

“What are you thinking about?” she asks
softly from beside me. I had thought she was asleep.

Before I can think better of it, I tell her
the truth. “Why it is that I can’t seem to get enough of you.”

I can almost hear her smile. “Is that a bad
thing?”

I pull her in closer to me and kiss the silky
skin behind her ear. “Hell no.”

“Then why so puzzled?”

“I don’t know. I just…I just feel like I
don’t even know who I am anymore.”

I feel her stiffen slightly before she rolls
onto her back and turns her head so she can look at me. “You mean
because you’re with me?”

The sadness and disappointment in her eyes
gives me a painful stab in my chest. “God, no! Why would you even
think that?”

She shrugs casually, but I know she feels
anything but nonchalant. “It’s not like I’m exactly ‘acceptable’ in
your world.”

“Who gives a shit? I’ve spent my whole life
trying to be someone I’m not. Now, all these years later, I’m
just…angry.”

Kennedy reaches up and strokes my cheek, her
eyes big, green pools of something sweet and safe and real. “You
don’t have to be anybody but Reese with me.”

“But do you even know who I am?”

My question surprises her. She has no
answer.

“Do you really want me to be the guy who
could just leave you like I did? Because I don’t think I like him
very much.”

“We all grow and change with time, Reese. You
don’t have to be exactly like that guy anymore. You can be anyone
you want to be.”

“One thing hasn’t changed in all these
years.”

“What’s that?” she asks, her fingertips
making lazy circles over my jawbone.

“I don’t think I’ve ever stopped feeling what
that nineteen year old boy felt. Since the day I left you, all I
can ever remember being is angry. Everything else was just
a…a…façade. A mask. A pose for someone else’s benefit. To convince
people that I’m something I’m not.”

“You mean your father?”

I nod. “And others. I’ve built an empire by
showing people that I’m a shrewd, ruthless businessman who can’t be
taken advantage of. Just like my father. Yet I’ve spent a lifetime
trying to be anything
but
him. As it turns out, I’ve been
walking in his footsteps all along.”

“It’s not too late to start over, Reese. It’s
never too late.”

I stare into Kennedy’s eyes, into her
beautiful face. “I wish it was that easy.”

“It can be.”

I smile and kiss her on the end of her nose,
but I make no comment. She probably wouldn’t say that if she knew
everything about me.

No, she wouldn’t say that at all.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO- Kennedy

I’ve never felt more like a princess than I
do when I’m with Reese. Well, I’ve actually never felt like a
princess
at all
until Reese. He had this way of making me
feel special when we were younger. That’s something that hasn’t
changed. He makes me feel like I’m the only girl in the world.

He’s hardly left my side for a minute since
the night he found me in my room, sea sick. During the day, he’ll
go for a few minutes here and there to take care of business with
Karesh or make a few necessary phone calls, but it’s usually when
I’m changing clothes for dinner. Otherwise, every morning he’s
curled around me when I wake up, he’s putting his hands all over me
in the gym as he works me out, he’s giving me the royal treatment
as we lie by the pool and then he’s hiding away with me at night,
making love to me in breathtaking ways. It’s been the most surreal
experience of my life.

He hasn’t asked me to dance again either. He
did manage to apologize the morning after my last dance, though.
The morning after that crazy encounter on the stage.

I woke to the fine tickle of something along
my side. I reached around to brush it away, only to find it was
Reese’s hand.

“
Your skin is like the finest silk in the
world,” he’d purred by my ear. At that point, he’d abandoned the
light tickling and started to stroke his palm up and down my side.
“I’m sorry if I embarrassed you last night.”

“
How did you embarrass me?” I asked,
starting to squirm as his hand moved further and further toward my
front, skimming the edge of my breast all the way down to the
inside of my hipbone and back again.

“
By clearing the room,” he said, dragging
his palm up between my breasts and then back down again. His
fingertips stopped just at the apex of my thighs, causing a thrill
to precede them and land in my core like a bolt of lightning. On
his next trip up and down, I found myself anticipating his arrival
there, hoping he’d touch me like I wanted him to.

“
Yes, how horrible of you to do what you
want to do on your own ship. It was scandalous,” I teased, trying
to be patient and wait for him to make the first move.

When his hand found its way to the bottom of
my stomach again, I eased my legs open the tiniest bit in
invitation, but still he stopped just short of the throb there.

“
You don’t know how conflicted I was. This
is my boat and these are my clients and that’s the kind of
entertainment I promise them. But not you. Never you. I loved
seeing you up there, but knowing that they were watching you…” He
trailed off, his touch growing rougher, more insistent as he
trekked back up my stomach to cup my breast. “Knowing that they
were watching your nipples get hard under that water…” He pinched
my nipple then, tugging it as though the memory still aggravated
him. I sucked in a breath and I waited, fighting the urge to arch
my back and press my butt into his groin. “Knowing that they were
wishing they could put their hands on you,” he said, moving down to
the ache that seems only to burn for him, “to put their fingers
inside you. Their cocks.”

Suddenly, as though he was urgent to lay
claim to me once more, Reese reached down and pulled my top leg
over onto his, spreading my thighs wide for him. He dipped one
finger inside me, thrusting hard and deep. His groan must’ve been
from finding me soaking wet for him, for then he shifted behind me
and entered me in one quick, sharp motion.

We both gasped and then exhaled at the same
time, neither having grown accustomed to that incredible feeling.
Conversation stopped at that point. Reese parted my folds with his
fingers and rubbed my clit until I could do nothing but say his
name over and over and over again. He came with me that time. I
felt him stiffen behind me just as he poured heat deep into me,
thrusting again and again until I lay boneless in his arms.

Afterward, he pulled out of me but he left
my leg on top of his. As he kissed my shoulder and nuzzled my neck,
he fingered me ever so gently, whispering wonderful things into my
ear.

“
I love the way you feel inside, so
smooth, so wet with my come,” he said, stroking my walls with his
finger. “I wish I could stay in you forever.”

I thought to myself that I wish he could,
too.

Every morning since then has been spectacular
like that. And every night has been even better.

Today marks our first port since Hawaii—the
Marquesas Islands, which I know nothing about. It’s also the first
morning I’ve awakened to an empty bed. But it’s not long until I
hear the creak of the cabin door and I see Reese sneaking back
in.

I feign sleep to see what he’s going to do.
He has the most delicious ways of waking me up and I’d hate to miss
one because I woke too early.

I feel his weight as he crawls across the bed
toward me, my insides curling with anticipation. He first nuzzles
my neck before he sucks the lobe of my ear into his mouth. “Rise
and shine, beautiful,” he whispers, his hand rubbing gentle circles
over my butt.

I stretch and give him a sleepy smile,
pretending to wake. His eyes are bright and twinkling with
excitement.

I tilt my head to get a better look at him.
“You look awfully chipper this morning.”

“I’m anxious to get ashore, that’s all,” he
says, giving me just enough of a kiss to make me want more.

Reese hops over me to land on the floor
beside the bed then reaches for my hands and drags me into a
sitting position. The sheet falls away from my naked torso, drawing
his eye. His pupils dilate, his eyes taking on that dark, hungry
look that I’m becoming so familiar with.

I don’t bother to cover myself, mainly
because I’m already missing our morning romp. With his appreciative
gaze settled on my chest, my nipples pucker prettily as if trying
their best to lure him back to bed.

“Damn,” he says on a sigh, shaking his head.
“You should probably be illegal in at least thirty countries.
You’re addictive.”

I laugh. “Wanna come get your fix then?” I
ask, leaning back on my elbows, an obvious invitation.

Reese doesn’t give me his usual cute
comeback. He doesn’t jump my bones either. Instead, he walks slowly
toward the bed and takes one strand of hair that’s lying over my
heart. His eyes never leaving mine, he says, “One more fix will
never be enough, I’m afraid.” His voice is quiet, sincere. A bit
cryptic even.

He raises his hand to cup the side of my
face. He stares at me for several long, intense seconds before his
expression clears and he says with more of his earlier enthusiasm,
“Put on your suit and some shorts. I’m taking you out.”

I smile and climb out of bed. “Okay,” I tell
him, doing my best to hide both my disappointment and my worry over
his statement. While that
should be
a good thing, Reese
didn’t seem too thrilled with becoming addicted to me. I don’t know
what to think about his reaction. So I’ll ignore it. Like I’ve been
ignoring all unpleasant things of late. They’ll come back around
soon enough and I’ll deal with them then.

Less than an hour later, Reese and I are
hiking up the Marquises Rando on Nuku Hiva. Having been here
numerous times, Reese tells me stories of local legend and tales of
people he’s encountered on previous trips. He helps me up steep
spots and holds my hand when we stop to enjoy the view.

At the top, as though by magic, awaits Sven,
one of the male waiters that I met a couple of days ago. He’s
holding a big basket over a pristine white blanket that’s spread
out on the grass.

“Breakfast is served, m’lady,” Reese says,
bowing formally and sweeping his arm toward the blanket.

I don’t even know what to say as I kneel on
the soft material and Reese comes to lounge beside me. We are quiet
as Sven unpacks a breakfast of gourmet egg-and-sausage burritos,
fresh fruit, orange juice and sparkling water.

As we dig in, I don’t even notice Sven
leaving. I only know that nearly an hour later, I look up and he’s
nowhere to be found.

“He’ll be back to take all this to the
yacht,” Reese explains like he read my mind.

“Do you treat all your…women this way?” I sip
my orange juice as I consider him. He looks like Adonis bathed in
tropical sunlight, more magnificent than any of the views I’ve
seen.

“You’re not one of my ‘women’,” he says
lightly, tilting his head to the side as he considers me right
back. “And I don’t want you thinking you are.”

I don’t know what to say to that, so I say
nothing.

“I want to show you everything. I want to buy
you everything. I want you to have the kind of pleasures that
someone like you deserves.”

“I appreciate that, Reese, but I don’t
deserve any of this.”

He shrugs. “I think you do. I want you to
have the best of everything.”

“But I don’t need it. I’m not that kind of a
girl.”

“But you could be.”

“No, I’ll never be like that. This is who I
am, Reese. Simple. Plain. Average.”

“There’s nothing simple or plain or average
about you. I don’t know why you can’t see that.”

It’s my turn to shrug. “Because it’s just the
way it is.”

“Well then maybe I can change all that,” he
says, leaning over to peck my cheek before he rises to his feet and
reaches for my hand. “Come on. We’ve got lots to see today.”