Natural Blond Instincts (12 page)

T
HE ENTIRE TIME
Wes spoke in front of the board, the only person he was aware of was Kenna. Everyone appeared to be listening, nodding, whatever, but he didn't really care…except about what Kenna thought.

Would she do it? Stand up and get what she wanted?

“Excellent, Roth,” Mr. Mallory said when he'd finished and everyone had applauded. “Thank you. The newest addition is coming along better than I had hoped, and we know we owe that to you.”

“I didn't work alone.”

Mr. Mallory looked at Kenna. “Yes, my daughter. I'm thrilled she's been able to help you.”

Kenna's smile didn't falter, but then again, she was a Mallory. Tough. Resilient. “She more than helped me,” Wes said. “And she has a report as well.”

Mr. Mallory lifted an eyebrow and looked at his daughter.

Kenna stood, and with a perfectly calm voice and steady hands, told every board member what she thought of the bonuses that had gone to executives instead of being trickled all the way down the line to the employees who needed it more, what she thought about the lack of available child care for their thousands of employees. She told them what she thought about their nonexistent programs for maternity and paternity leave, and what she believed was a far more fair package. She discussed costs and suggested alternatives.

Then her father stopped her. “Expensive ideas.”

“Yes,” she agreed. “But if you look at the financials, worth it. Especially considering that in the long run, some of these things are cheaper and have a bigger payoff than the executive bonuses.”

Her father nodded. “I'll think about it. Thank you, Kenna. Next on the agenda?”

Her expression carefully blank, Kenna sat down.

Wes waited for her to look at him so he could smile at her, anything to make her look…happy, but she didn't.

Mr. Mallory moved the meeting along, not addressing his daughter again, not even when the meeting was over.

Wes supposed that's when he realized his loyalty had shifted.

Maybe, if he was being honest, he'd felt it shift way back on that very first day he'd met her.

 

K
ENNA DIDN'T
go to Wes's room that night. She intended to soak in her tub and let herself have a good, long, rare pout.

But Wes came to her.

When she opened the door to him, when she moved aside so he could come in, they didn't talk.

They didn't even try.

What they did do was their damnedest to burn up the sheets. The shower. The floor in the bathroom.

And in the deep dark of the night, still without saying a word, she fell asleep in his arms.

And woke up alone. He'd left a note on her pillow, written on the hotel stationery.

A smiley face.

It made her laugh. The truth was, she was glad to wake alone, glad for the time, because what had happened here in Los Angeles, both with Wes and in the boardroom, had thrown her a little. She needed to separate it all in her head, needed to think.

By Monday she thought she had it all sorted out. Some of what she and Wes had experienced had been adrenaline, some genuine affection. But mostly it had been pure lust.

And now it was most likely out of their system. In light of that knowledge, work was simpler than she'd have thought. Meetings kept both her and Wes from saying anything to each other except business-related talk, and after a brief flash of disappointment, she decided that was a good thing. They didn't need to complicate anything with a discussion.

Besides, what would she say?
Thanks for the greatest sex ever? I'll never look at a hotel bathroom counter quite the same way?

Can we get a hotel room tonight, too?

After work, she went to her parents' house. The Monday-night Mallory family dinner proved to be as torturous as any, and less than three minutes into the thing, Kenna wanted out.

Ray had tried to talk her into dinner with him and his latest significant other. She should have gone, she'd have been so much better off.

Instead, here she was. Feeling this odd restlessness she didn't know what to do with. Damn, she hated a pity party, especially her own. She bucked up.
No more pathetic thoughts, not a one.
She promised herself dessert if she managed to keep a smile on her face. A
big
dessert.

Everyone around her had someone. Her mother and father, of course. Her aunt and uncle. Then Se
rena and Josh arrived, gazing into each other's eyes until Kenna felt nauseous.

“Dinner is nearly ready,” her mother said. She stopped to look more closely at her daughter and frowned. “Honey? You look a little peaked.”

Yep, most definitely peaked.

“You're working too hard. I knew it. I told your father so.”

“Which of course made him laugh.” Kenna watched Serena and Josh come around the corner. Josh's tie was crooked. Serena had a goofy smile on her face.

“Laugh?” Her mother frowned. “Why on earth would he do that? Actually, he agreed with me. Told me how much effort you've been putting in.”

“He did?”

“Your father isn't a sentimental man, Kenna. You know that. It isn't often he'll wax poetic over hard work and dedication, but he notices. Don't you ever think he doesn't.” Her mother checked her spotless dress, smoothed back her hair. “Isn't Serena lovely tonight with her new beau?” She moved into the kitchen, and for lack of anything else to do, Kenna followed her. “I hope he treats her right.”

Kenna laughed and helped herself to the tray of hors d'oeuvres on the counter. “Don't you have that backward? I hope she treats
him
right.”

“Is Josh a good man, then? Oh, good. Your aunt was so worried. I know he doesn't come from much, not that that really matters, but—”

“He's a good man. His family is—”

Strong.

Smart.

Sexy.

And suddenly she wanted to see Wes so badly her body hummed.

“Kenna.” Her father came into the kitchen. “We haven't had a chance to talk privately since the meeting. You did great.”

“What?”

“Something wrong with your hearing? Your proposal was solid.”

“You hated my proposal.”

Her father looked shocked. “Of course I didn't.”

“You didn't agree with a single point.”

“Yes, well, that was business. But you were well-prepared, you were smart, sharp and articulate.” He smiled. “I was proud of you.”

“You were…” Stunned, Kenna looked at her mother, who was also beaming with pride. “Proud.”

“Absolutely. Keep it up. We've got high hopes for you.”

“In the hotel.”

“In the business, yes.”

Kenna drew a deep, shaky breath. “Dad, I've given it a shot, and I'll give you the rest of the six months I promised you, but this is not going to be a life thing for me. I just don't have the…the passion for it.”

“Didn't you just hear me say how pleased I am with your progress?”

“Yes, and believe me, I've always wanted to hear it.” Only the funniest thing, the world didn't stop. The heavens didn't sing.

Her heart didn't soar.

And no one was more surprised than herself when she said, “I'm so sorry. I just really want to do something else.”

“What?”

She smiled, but it was a little wobbly because though it had just come to her, she thought maybe she'd known it all along. “I don't want to say until I cement the position. Which I won't do until I give you the time I promised you.”

Her father looked at her mother, who nodded. He sighed. “I wanted to push you into this, I wanted it to work for you. But I'm not going to hold you to the six months, not if it's not working. I'm not that selfish.”

Kenna stared at him, then hugged him hard. “Do
you remember that Ferrari you dangled in front of me?”

“Of course. Don't tell me you still expect it.”

“No. Because I have a far better use of that money. It's for a good cause.”

He gave her a long look. “Legal, right?”

She laughed and hugged him again. “Very legal.”

 

S
HE MEANT
to go straight to the Teen Zone to see Sarah, but she made a detour and drove by Wes's house. She'd never been there, but she'd asked her father for the address. She just wanted to talk, to tell him the things she'd been thinking about…and okay, maybe she'd decided they shouldn't suffer, they could have mindless sex. All in the name of therapy, of course, but he wasn't at his small and shockingly adorable cottage on the beach. She left him a note on his front door.

A smiley face.

Onward. She drove the streets of San Diego toward the Teen Zone because what she needed more than mindless sex, what she really wanted, was to see if her glimmering idea could be turned into her passion.

There was a kid sitting on Sarah's steps, but it wasn't until Kenna got directly beneath the light that she saw it was Lyssa. “Don't tell me you're out
here lighting up,” Kenna told her. “I don't need lung cancer, thanks very much.”

“I'm not smoking.” Her voice broke. “Just…hanging.”

And crying. Damn it. Kenna sat next to her and resisted the urge to hug her. “Is some guy being a jerk?”

“They're all jerks.”

“At least at your age, they are.” She sighed. “Ever read
Cinderella
?”

Lyssa leaned back and gave her a hard look, reminding Kenna this girl hadn't had anything remotely related to a fairy-tale childhood. “Are you going to tell me my Prince Charming is waiting just around the corner?” she asked.

Kenna smiled. “Well…yes.”

“Does he have a car?”

Kenna leaned back and studied the stars. “I couldn't say, but I know for sure he's out there. Somewhere.”

“He's sure taking his sweet time about finding me.”

“Yeah.” Kenna had always had the same problem. Actually, she'd never really looked before. She'd never really been one of those girls who'd dreamed about marriage, two-point-four kids and a white picket fence.

All she'd ever wanted was to do her own thing, and she'd been pretty good at that so far.

So maybe, just maybe, it was time to think about Prince Charming.

But surely Prince Charming, whoever he was, wouldn't appreciate her wanting wild sex with Wes. That would be a big no-no.

Maybe she should just make
Wes
her Prince Charming.

Her heart actually went pitter-patter at that, because he was gorgeous and funny, and—

And she was already more than halfway in love with him.

Oh boy.

“Kenna?”

She realized Lyssa was looking at her. Where were they? Oh yeah, Prince Charming. “Just don't kiss too many frogs while you're waiting for him to show up. Better yet, don't sit around waiting for him, you go pick the one you want.”

Lyssa laughed and swiped her eyes on her sleeve. “Just go get him, huh?”

“Yeah, but if he wants to do more than kiss you—”

“Turn him into a toad?”

“Yes. An ugly one, with warts.”

Lyssa laughed again, and that felt good, hearing
her, seeing her smile, knowing she'd helped, she'd really helped.

They watched the night for a few more minutes before Lyssa said, “So where's your prince? Is he out there also?”

“According to my own rules, he has to be.”

“Have you met him yet?”

“I'm hoping.” She watched a star fall. “I'm hoping a lot.” She gave in to temptation and hugged Lyssa, then stood up. “I've got to see Sarah.”

“What about?”

She took a deep breath. “I'll tell you after it's done.”

Lyssa blinked. “Okay.” She waited until Kenna had reached the front door. “You going to work here?”

“Are you this smart in school?”

“What, like I couldn't figure it out?”

“All right, I want to work here.” She didn't just want to make her father donate the price of a Ferrari and visit once in a while. She wanted to take the additional college courses she needed to counsel the kids. That combined with her life experiences, and she figured she'd be great.

Passionate.

The hours would be long and the pay short, but what was new about that? In the meantime, she'd
volunteer. Just like this, giving her time and help in any way that she could. “Would you like if it I did work here?”

Lyssa lifted a noncommittal shoulder. “Sure.”

Not exactly a resounding endorsement, but Lyssa was a teen and didn't do resounding.

But then Lyssa rolled her eyes. “Duh, Kenna.” She smiled widely. “You'd be great.”

Yeah. She'd be great.

A
FTER TALKING
to an excited Sarah, Kenna practically danced out to her car. She was so happy, so excited, she could hardly contain herself.

Her life was actually, genuinely, on the right track. There was a sticky note on her windshield—with a smiley face on it.

Taking it off the window, she hugged it close to her chest, feeling a ridiculous grin burst onto her face.

Mindless sex, here she came. A perfect way to top off the night.

She drove to his house and took a moment to admire the full moon.

Then she laughed at herself. There was a tall, dark and sexy man just inside, and she was standing here looking at the moon. She had to laugh at herself.

“What's so funny?” came a husky voice from the top step.

Wes.

“I was just thinking, I'm standing out here sigh
ing over the moon, when I could be inside…” She met his gaze. “Sighing over you.”

“It
is
a beautiful night. I was sitting here thinking about a long walk with you.”

Her laugh was breathless. “And here I was wishing we were doing something fast and reckless and exciting.”

“We?”

A loaded question, one she wasn't sure she had an answer to.

He came close and smiled, a sexy one that made her heart stutter. “That one little word
we
scare you, Kenna?”

“Only slightly more than hell, yes.”

“You missed me.”

“Maybe. Wes…my father released me from my contract. The job is all yours.”

“What?”

“I'm going to go back to school. I'm going to work at the Teen Zone. It's what I really want to do, it's what put this smile on my face.”

“And I thought that was me.”

She laughed. “
You
turned the smile into a grin.”

“Okay, then.” He sobered, touched her face. “I thought you liked your job.”

“I do. I like it. I like it a lot, actually. But I realized I don't love it, not like you do. It doesn't drive me,
Wes, and I want something that does. I want that so badly.”

“You know I'll miss you at work.”

“That'll pass.”

He put his hands on her arms. “I doubt it,” he said so seriously, she felt a lump in her throat.

“But I won't miss you
outside
of work.” His eyes heated. “Or I'm hoping I won't.”

“You won't,” she whispered.

“Let's go.”

Her heart leaped. “To do something fast and reckless and exciting?”

“I was thinking of long and slow and sweet.” The blatant look of desire behind his glasses made her hormones rev. “Or at least something halfway between. Up for a compromise, Kenna?”

Were they still talking mindless sex?

Still holding her hand, he brought it to his mouth, let his lips linger as he gazed at her over their entangled fingers.

“Yes,” she said, her bones liquefying. “A compromise.”

 

H
E TOOK HER INSIDE
the house he'd bought with his first bonus from Mallory Enterprises seven years before. It had been a dump back then, but he'd slowly renovated the place, made it his.

Now, when he could have bought nearly any other house he wanted, he wouldn't have traded it for the world. In the years since, he'd purchased places for his parents and his brother, but he'd stuck with this one for himself. It meant something to him that he'd come from nothing. That he'd rebuilt this house from nothing.

That he'd made himself a home.

He opened the front door, watching Kenna take in the airy, open space that was his living room.

“This is great,” she said. “Are we going to—”

“Make love.” He pulled her to him, slipped his arms around her. “We've had sex, fast and hot and reckless. But we haven't made love, Kenna, long and slow and sweet.”

She laughed a little, and backed up. “But I didn't have anything against the fast and reckless sex.”

“Are you nervous because I used the love word now?”

“Don't be ridiculous. Nothing makes me nervous.”

“I think
I'm
making you nervous.”

“Wes…”

“We're still different, you know. Nothing's changed there.”

“Not that different, I've come to realize.”

“Different enough.”

“Let me show you we're not, let me prove it.”

She looked so excited and nervous and terrified all at the same time, poor baby.

He knew just how she felt. He pulled her close again, trailed his mouth along her jaw, loving the feel of her body against his as they swayed together in the middle of his living room. “I should tell you…I work hard and play hard. I thought women were just a part of the play. They're not. You're not.”

“I know.”

“You work hard and play hard, too,” he said, and let that sink in.

They weren't that different.

“Come see the rest of the house with me.” He showed her the kitchen, the deck…his bedroom.

She laughed at his unmade bed, then squealed when he scooped her up and tossed her onto it. Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes slumberous. Her long hair tumbled over her shoulders.

She looked so good in his bed, he planned on keeping her there a while.

A long while.

She came up to her knees in the middle of the mattress, looking right at home there. Kneeling on the bed with her, he cupped her face, kissed her jaw, her throat, nibbling at the corners of her mouth be
fore he finally settled his lips over hers, scooping her closer, loving the feel of her warm curves against his body.

As he undressed her, he felt her pulse hammer beneath his fingertips. He intended to go slow, give as much pleasure as possible, but as he peeled off her clothes, exposing her body to his gaze, his own pulse hammered in his head.

So hot, so…his. Her body curled into him, her breasts and hips flush to his, moving, arching as the need built to unbearable heights.

Tugging his shirt free, she tossed it aside, then ran her hands over his chest and arms with a look of wonder on her face. “You're so beautiful.” Then she shoved him to his back on the bed and pulled off his pants.

He'd barely taken a breath before she straddled him, wrapping her fingers around his erection, bringing him to her hot, wet—

“No,” he managed to say through his clenched jaw, and rolling, tucked her beneath him. “Not yet.”

Her hands, caught in his, flexed as she stared up at him. Not yet? What did he mean not yet? “Why not?”

“I told you. Long and slow and sweet. Or at least at a speed somewhere below wild and crazy. We're
going to make love, Kenna. Haven't you ever made love before?”

Panic wove around her heart. “Wes—”

His tongue circled her nipple.

She nearly jerked out of her skin. “I don't think—”

“Perfect,” he murmured. “Go with that.” Lifting up a fraction, he blew on her wet skin. She watched him watch her intently as the tip beaded tightly under his administrations. Then he drew her into his mouth, and she writhed against him, helpless, mindless against the onslaught of emotions.

“Easy,” he whispered, trailing his mouth over her quivering belly. “We have a long way to go.” His tongue dipped into her navel, then lower, until she felt his warm breath on the inside of her thigh.

“Wes—”

He kissed her,
there.
“Yum,” he said, and used his tongue.

She nearly shot off the bed, but he held her still beneath him, slowly, surely, purposely driving her out of her mind. Because he knew her, because she'd let him know her, he was able to torment her, for one long, humming moment holding her quivering and shuddering on the very edge.

“When…I can…breathe,” she panted. “I'm going to…
so
torture you back.”

He treated her to one perfect stroke of his tongue and sent her skittering into an earth-shattering climax. Surely such intensity, such unbelievable reverence and desperation had never existed before now. Her entire body shuddered and clutched, and finally, she felt his weight shift, felt him reach for a condom.

“Oh, no,” she managed, and flinging her hair from her damp face, sat up. “My turn.” She shoved him to his back, looking over his body, from his broad shoulders to his tough chest and flat belly…

To the part of him standing at attention. Needing attention. “Hmm. Look at that.”

“Kenna—”

“Shut up, Wes.” She took her time looking, then touching, then tasting…and only when the breath was sowing in and out of his lungs as if he'd run a marathon, when his body was gleaming, when he'd whispered her name over and over in a plea that made her wet all over again, did she sit back on her heels. “Yep, that should do it. We're even.”

“Condom,” he begged, and reached for the night stand.

She helped him, then put her lips to his damp shoulder, surprised when he cupped her face for a sweet, tender kiss. “Now,” he said, and rolled her beneath him. “The slow, the tender. The gentle.” As
he eased into her she was blown away by the sense of homecoming, a rightness, a joy that couldn't be explained.

It was the most intimate thing she'd ever experienced. She stared at him, her anchor, her lifeline. He'd been right about one thing, this was more than that mindless sex she'd come for.

If that's what she'd really come for.

He smiled as if he knew, as if that was okay with him even, and began to move, and she nearly died.

Definitely more than sex, but she had no idea what to do with that knowledge other than close her eyes and let it take her.