Life's a Beach (9 page)

“I think I can squeeze in some time before my next appointment.”

Amelia practically ran up the stairs. Dude was right at her heels. His phone rang just as she let them in. He looked at it, swore, and then looked at her.

“I've got to take this.”

She started to strip off her clothes. “Don't be too long.”

He swallowed and his eyes got a glazed look when she stretched, pushing her breasts out. She danced her fingers down to her panties. His phone rang again.

“I'm going to start without you,” Amelia said.

“Fuck it.” Dude turned off the ringer on the phone and pushed her down on the bed. He propped himself up on an elbow. “Show me,” he ordered, turning her face into his for a long slow kiss.

Amelia spread her legs. Dude captured her thigh with his leg. His mouth lavished long, sweet kisses over her lips. “Play with yourself,” he said, moving down to her breast. Her fingers slipped inside her panties and into the wet, slick folds of her pussy. Dude licked slow circles over her breasts.

Oh, yeah, this is what I've been thinking about all morning. Another week and a half of this.
Amelia stopped the countdown timer in her head. She would enjoy this moment-by-moment and not ruin it by thinking.

“I can hear how wet you are,” he growled against her taut peak. He sucked hard, and she gave a little cry. Her finger pushed against her clit. “Faster,” he told her, and she obeyed as he assaulted her other nipple.

“I'm going to come,” Amelia whispered, flickering her fingers against her throbbing bud.

“Good, because you know it's not going to be the last time. I'm going to bend you over that railing out on the lanai and fuck you until you come screaming my name.”

“Does it have to be Dude?” she gasped out as pleasure spasms shook her.

After a moment, he said, “Yeah, it does, sweet thing.”

Then he stripped her panties off. Tossing off his clothes, he lay next to her again. “Put me in your mouth while I go down on you.”

Amelia gasped as he rotated himself and then flipped her on top of him. Dude pulled her hips down so she was straddling his face, her ass in the air. The stubble on his cheeks rasped against her inner thighs, and his mouth was greedy at her opening. Dude was all tongue and groans, his face intimate with each rub. She was struck by the sweet hum of desire and a good jolt of lust at the sounds his mouth was making against her pussy. Tugging on her nipples, she bounced on his face. His tongue entered her and she couldn't control her moan. Looking down, she saw his cock curved toward her, and she engulfed it in her mouth, taking him deep in her throat. Giving as good as she got, she slid her mouth up and down him, cupping his balls and raking his inner thighs lightly with her nails. He was equally enthusiastic, licking every inch of her. Her thighs tightened on his cheeks as she sucked him hard and fast.

Had she ever been this wet? She felt she was drenching him and yet she couldn't get enough. Circling the tip of his penis with her tongue, she rubbed him fast in her fist. His moans sent tingles of vibrations through her, and the next time his tongue brushed her clit, she lost it. Shivering, she could only swallow and suck as his orgasm quickly followed. When she rolled off him, they were breathing heavily.

He turned around and kissed the back of her knee. She shuddered into jelly. Dude continued to kiss up her back until his cock nestled between the cheeks of her ass. Holding her against him, he kissed her shoulder and neck. Idly caressing her breast, Dude nibbled on her ear.

“Sunshine, I've been thinking about fucking you all day. Next time don't book me an afternoon session.”

She rubbed her backside against him. “You should be happy to get the chance to make some tips.”

“No one carries cash in their swimsuit,” he chuckled into her ear.

Reaching up to hold his head closer, she ran her fingers through his hair. “Can we stay at your place tonight?”

“Roger dat,” he said. “But I don't have a lanai.”

“Then I guess you're going to have to fuck me now.” She turned around in his arms and kissed him. She could taste herself on his tongue and wondered if he could taste himself in her mouth. They rolled around, kissing and touching, until he was hard again. It didn't take long. Feeling like a seductress, she led him off the bed and onto the veranda. From there, she lost control of the situation. One moment she was languidly coaxing her lover. The next moment, she was turned and bent over the wooden railing. He kicked her legs open, and she heard him open the foil packet. She steadied herself as he guided her hips back to him. Dude thrust into her roughly, but she was wide open, wet, and oh so willing. There wasn't any tenderness in the quick thrusts, but Amelia didn't need that. Didn't want that. She wanted him to pull her hair, slap her ass, and fuck her hard and fast. But she could vocalize none of that as she tilted her head and watched the ocean crash into the beach. Dude pounded into her, his fingers tight on her hips.

“Yes, Dude, yes.” She didn't care what she was crying out. She just needed this driving pleasure that his body was giving her. His thighs slammed into hers and the smack of their bodies sounded as erotic as it felt.

She couldn't take her eyes off the waves. Couldn't stop herself from shaking apart as Dude lost his mind in a litany of reverent curse words.

“Sunshine. Fuck. So good. Baby. God. Yes.”

Reduced to inarticulate grunting, Amelia came hard, clamping down on his cock and squeezing him inside her.

He exploded with a rough snarl that resounded through her. Primitive, it felt like he was marking her. His hand smoothed down her back and he slowly pumped inside her. Amelia went up on tiptoe, liking the new sensation of gentleness probing into her. He kneaded her ass as he slowly moved in and out of her.

“You are incredible.” He pulled her upright back against his chest and dropped his head to her neck.

“Thank you,” she whispered, not trusting her legs to hold her or her voice. She stroked the silky hair on his arms while she came back to herself.

Too soon, a loud knocking on the door interrupted their cuddling.

“Dude, phone call. It's the kahuna. You need to call him back right now,” Hani said through the door.

“I hate him,” Amelia hissed.

“Hani's just the messenger.”

“That's not who I meant. What's that jerk Kincaide want with you?”

Dude gave her a double take. “Uh, not sure.” He placed a kiss on her shoulder blade. “But I'd better not keep the kahuna waiting. I'll see you tonight.”

Samuel enjoyed driving his yacht. He would have preferred to meet Tetsuo at his office, but the man insisted on doing business on the open waters. Probably afraid of corporate spying devices or something.

Plugging the meeting's coordinates into his GPS, he enjoyed the feeling of captaining his own ship. He could have called in the small staff he kept on retainer, but aside from it being ridiculously short notice, he didn't want to create any stir that would give away his identity. He didn't want to hurt Amelia by having her find out he'd been lying to her about who he really was. It was bad enough he'd had to have Hani take his 3:00 p.m. snorkel lesson so that he could meet Tetsuo; he hoped they'd be able to keep that on the down-low. She'd be gone before he knew it, and he wanted their few days to be happy and carefree.

He rubbed the pang in his chest that popped up at the thought of saying goodbye to her. But once he closed this deal, he would be an even richer man, and she'd made it very clear how she felt about wealthy men. So he was going to enjoy being Dude with her for as long as he could. But then it would be time to get back to his life in New York. And who knows, maybe they'd run into each other in a coffee bar. Too bad she hated Samuel Kincaide for some reason. He thought back to the two brief conversations he'd had with her as Kincaide, but he couldn't figure out what set her against him.

He saw Tetsuo's yacht up ahead and cut his speed. Tetsuo's boat was twice the size of his, and he had a full crew onboard.

Compensating?

Samuel smirked as he maneuvered close enough so he could drop his anchor and set up buoys to protect the sides of the boat. After a few attempts, he was able to line up with Tetsuo's boat and secure his own so he could hop aboard the ladder at the other boat's stern and hoist himself up. The waves, for the most part, were cooperating, but if the wind picked up, he'd cut the meeting short; he didn't want to risk going for a dip in waters this deep. Tetsuo's bodyguards offered him a hand up, but Samuel didn't take it. As it was, they were better dressed than he was. He didn't want to seem like he needed anything from them. But he did see pistols in shoulder holsters as their jackets flared in the slight breeze.

Of course, a paranoid part of him thought,
This far out would be a good place to dump a body.

“Mr. Hojo requests that you join him on the bow for drinks.” One bodyguard went first, and the other motioned for Samuel to follow.

Samuel noticed another bodyguard through the open window of the bridge. Wondering if they were going to frisk him, Samuel braced himself. Tetsuo was dressed impeccably in a white linen suit with a light blue shirt open at the collar. He rose as they got closer. For a moment Samuel wished he'd shaven and changed into a suit, but if his plan was going to work, it was imperative that Tetsuo think he'd gone native.

“Enjoying your vacation, Mr. Kincaide?”

“Call me Samuel.”

“Not Dude?”

Samuel gave a half-embarrassed chuckle. “Dude is so I can take a good look at what's going on at the hotel without making people nervous.”

“You're a spy. I like that.”

Samuel shrugged.

“Can I get you a drink?”

“Seltzer is fine.” He wanted his head clear for the negotiations and for the trip back. Eyeballing the clouds, he saw there was a chance of a storm coming in.

A lovely redhead wearing a maid's outfit poured him a glass of water, embellishing it with a cherry and an orange slice.

“Thank you,” he said to her.

“Please sit.” Tetsuo gestured to the chair across the table from him. A few trays of finger foods were spread out. “Help yourself.”

Samuel had missed out on lunch—not that he was complaining, considering he had been with Amelia. The food looked too good to resist, so he grabbed a few crab puffs and some cheese wedges.

“You mentioned on the phone that your circumstances have changed.” Tetsuo stirred his iced tea and regarded him over the top of the glass as he took a long pull. “Has something come up in New York?”

“Just the opposite, actually.”

A small frown passed quickly over Tetsuo's face. “Oh?”

“I think I'm going to keep the hotel. Build it up.”

Tetsuo raised an eyebrow.

“Of course, I realize we had almost wrapped up our deal,” Samuel added. “So I'd be willing to give you until the end of next week to make your final decision.”

Samuel popped a cucumber sandwich into his mouth and fought to keep the smirk off his face. Amelia would have her full vacation, and as a consolation prize when she went back to New York, he'd have a boatload of money from having unloaded the Hotel Eyesore on Tetsuo Hojo.

“Have you considered our recent offer?”

“I did.” Samuel nodded. “Even with that generous proposal, it would be worth more to me to keep it. I'm going to have to stick to the original asking price.”

The clouds were getting closer and the wind was kicking up. Tetsuo slapped a hand on the table to stop a napkin from blowing away. The maid jumped, nearly spilling the pitchers she was holding.

“Have you experienced running a hotel, Samuel?” he asked. His tone was pleasant, but it still sent a warning up Samuel's spine.

“I'm the finance guy. My brother is the hotelier.”

“Marcus?”

“Yes.”

“Is he on the island?” Tetsuo snapped his fingers, and the maid refilled his glass.

“He's coming next week to start renovation plans.” Samuel finished his seltzer. “That is, if we don't sign a contract before then.”

“Running hotels in Manhattan is much different than down here.”

“They're both islands, right?” He held his hand over the glass and shook his head with a smile when the maid went to refill it.

Tetsuo drummed his fingers on the table. “There are similarities. You may find you have some troubles obtaining the building permits necessary for the upgrades. I might be able to help you out with that.”

Samuel wondered where this was going. “Thank you.”

“You might find, however, that turning a profit in Maui might be more difficult than you think. If it comes down to it, I would be willing to take the resort off your hands. For my most recent offer.”

Samuel hadn't expected him to produce a signed contract. But he hadn't expected him to call his bluff. Marcus was going to have his hide. “I'll keep that in mind.” Samuel put his napkin on the table. He got up and pointed to the sky. “I think I should get back before the weather turns. I appreciate you meeting with me on such short notice.”

“Don't be a stranger. If you need my advice on anything, you have only to ask.”

Samuel nodded. The two bodyguards escorted him to the stern. He made it to his boat feeling like he had dodged a bullet. After the anchor was up, Samuel gave a wave and turned back toward land.

Dozing in the hammock as he sipped his second, well-earned beer, Dude wondered if he overplayed his hand with Tetsuo. A shadow obscured the sun and he turned sleepily to see Kai standing over him.

“What now?” Dude sighed.

“How did it go with Tetsuo?”

“The sale is stalled for the time being.”

Kai let out a giant whoop. “That's great,
luna
—I mean Dude.”

“I'm glad someone's happy about this.”

“In that case, I was thinking that maybe we could hire some more staff.”

“Might as well, but I'm not interviewing anyone. Who do you need?”

“Well, Amelia has been helping out a great deal.”

“Amelia is going home next week.”

“I know, but while she's here can we at least give her a commission on the tours she sells?”

“She's selling tours to our guests?”

“Like a fiend,” Kai said. “She's doing vacation planning and setting up all sorts of activities.”

Dude frowned. “She shouldn't be doing that. She's the one on vacation.” And from what she'd told him, it would be the last vacation she would be able to take for a long while.

“She's says it's fun. Besides, we need the help too bad to turn her away.”

“Yeah, pay her 15 percent commission. But keep in mind she's temporary.”

“What if she wasn't?” Kai asked.

“What do you mean? She's got a flight booked out at the end of next week.”

“She got no home to go to.”

“No,” Dude said, panicking. “No.” There was no way he'd be able to keep the Dude persona up over the long term. He was already a shit for pretending to be someone he wasn't. She didn't have to know he was Samuel Kincaide.

“Okay, okay,” Kai said. “I just thought that you and she…well, you look good together, you know?”

“Do me a favor, Kai, and mind your own business.”

“Whatever.” Rolling his eyes, Kai turned to leave.

“Wait,” Dude said. “I'm sorry. The meeting with Tetsuo threw me. Look, I want to do something nice for Amelia. Book us a B&B in Hana for tomorrow. I'll take her up there. She's been working too hard.”

“Kahuna, you rock.” Kai gave him the shaka before walking away.

“It's Dude,” he called after him.

“Dude,” Kai called back over his shoulder.

Dude opened his third beer.