Romantic Acquisition (19 page)

Kate fell asleep in the early hours of the morning.  She didn’t hear the helicopter at all but the next morning, she woke up to Carlo knocking at her door and felt the hum of the ship’s engines. 

“Come in,” she said sleepily and pulled the sheet higher over her chest. 

Carlo opened the door only slightly.  “Are you naked again?” he asked. 

Kate laughed but answered him quickly.  “Yes.”

He didn’t come into the room.  “Meet me up on deck for breakfast?” he asked.

“Sure,” she said and almost laughed again when the door closed quickly.

Kate pulled on another bathing suit, this one a red bikini.  She wasn’t sure what the agenda for the day would be but it probably would include water.  The ocean looked fabulous this morning and the sun was shining high in the sky. 

Kate went up the stairs and found the dining room with little problem.   Unfortunately, no one else was there.  She searched the decks and eventually found Carlo sit
t
ing at a deck table sipping a cup of coffee. 

Kate sat down next to Carlo on the seat, waiting until he’d finished reading his newspaper article.  But as soon as she came around the corner, he put down the newspaper and gave her his full attention. 

“What did
you want to do today?” he asked, pouring her a cup of coffee from
the coffee
pot next to the table.  He added cream and sugar, just like she preferred it. 

She took a grateful sip of the strong brew. 
“What is everyone else doing?”

Carlo smiled, “You’re a very sound sleeper, aren’t you?”

“I guess so.  Why?”

“Because a helicopter came and picked them up this morning.  We’re now cruising around the
Atlantic
on our own.”

Kate took too large of a sip and burned her tongue on her coffee, sputtering as it went
down
the wrong way.  “We’re what?” she choked.

Carlo’s smile widened.  “That woke you up, didn’t it?”  he said and patted her between her shoulder blades. 

“What do you mean?”

Carlo leaned forward so his arms were resting on his knees.  He had a wolfish grin on his face as he looked at her.  “I mean, we’re all alone.  No one from the office knows we’re here except for a few people, and they’re instructed to contact me only in an emergency.  There’s no one who is going to phone us, walk in on us or knock on the door at an inopportune moment.”

Kate’s mouth literally dropped open. 

“Makes me wonder what’s going to happen now.  How about you?” he asked.

She put her coffee cup carefully back onto the saucer, terrified about where her mind wandered with this piece of information. 

“Why are your hands shaking?” he asked and leaned back in his chair.

“I don’t know what you mean,” she said primly.

“I think you do,”
he laughed.  “But I’ll relent for now.  Tell me where you want to go.  Any island you’ve always dreamed of visiting?”

“Any island?”

“Sure.  You name it, this ship will get you there in style.”

“
Let me get this straight. 
Y
o
u
’
re friend
had to head back to his country on some sort of emergency and is allowing
you go island hopping at his expense?”

“He owes me several favors.”

“Why?”

“Let’s just say I’ve helped him out in some situations
and leave it at that.  Besides, he’s stayed at our house in
Grand
Cayman
before so he’s just returning the favor.”

Kate watched him, her eyes slanted.  “What’s it like to have royalty in your debt?”

Carlo shook his head.  “It isn’t really like that between me and Jamil.  We’re just friends.  He isn’t a royalty kind of guy.”

“Doesn’t he need to run a country or something?”

“Sure, but he has his fun as well.  We went to college together.  We know each other’s secrets,” he leered.

She
laughed at his unapologetic grin
. 
“You men are terrible.  I can only imagine what the three of you were like in college.”

“Can you?  You’ll have to fill me in on what you’re thinking.  I’m sure your imagination is much better than the reality.”

“No thanks.  I’ll keep my imaginings to myself,” she laughed.

He watched her for a moment. 
“Pity.”

Kate laughed harder.  “You’re incorrigible.”

“Absolutely.”
  His wolfish grin was back. 

“What do you suggest we do?”

Without blinking an
eye he responded, “Go back down to your cabin and make love for the rest of the day?”

Kate rolled her eyes.  “Do you ever think about anything other than sex?”

“When you’re around?  No.”

“How about just relaxing in the sun?”

Carlo sighed and feigned disappointment.  “Fine.  There’s a pool in the back that you can lounge around near.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Watch you lounge around.  I’m guessing you’re wearing a sexy little red bikini.  Am I right?”

Kate nodded.

“Then I’m wholeheartedly in agreement with your plan for the day.”

Kate wasn’t sure she wanted to follow through on that plan now.  He looked too interested in just lounging around and staring at her in a skimpy bathing suit.  “Don’t you have some work to do or something?”

“Nope,” he replied and chuckled at her expression.  “Relax.  I won’t attack you.  Not until after breakfast,” he said and stood up to walk over to the buffet that was loaded with breakfast foods.

That was the first time Kate realized that brea
kfast was already waiting for th
em.  “Good grief.  Did everyone already eat?”

“No, they left before breakfast.”

“Who is all this food for?  It is enough to feed an army.”

“Just the two of us.  I’m guessing Jamil thought we’d need sustenance after a rousing bout of lovemaking so he made sure we were well fed for our afternoon session.”

Kate shook her head.  “You really have a one track mind, don’t you?”

“Yep,” he said and piled a plate high with eggs, sausage, biscuits, jam and a mount of f
r
uit.

“Who is that for?” she asked as he set one plate in front of her.

“For you of course.  You’ll need to build up your energy.”

Kate laughed again.  “We’re going to be just friends, remember?”

“Sure, until you realize that being just friends is a completely unrealistic idea and you attack me sexually.”

Her only response was to dive into her food.  Carlo did the same.  He told her some of his escapades with Jamil and Phillip while they were in colle
ge together and had Kate laughing
so hard her sides hurt.  Apparently they had gotten into several bar fights over
various
women and pool games.  There were poker stories, fraternity parties and jokes on their fellow classmates, the list seemed endless.  “When did you have time to study?”

“
Classes were easy,” he said, wa
ving aside her concern. 

“Didn’t you say you went to Harvard for both your undergraduate and graduate degrees?”

“Sure.  Why?”

She shrugged one shoulder as she said in amazement,
“You’re just the first person I’ve ever
met who can
describe Harvard as
‘
easy
’
.  Most people think it was a pretty tough challenge.”

“Well, there were some classes that were
difficult
, but nothing that my dad didn’t already dish out to us
,” he explained
. 
“
We had a fun family life but my parents believed in making sure we were prepared for the pressures of college life before we went and wasted
their
money partying.”

They spent the better part of the day just relaxing by the
pool and talking.  Kate told him
about her friends and college experience
s
.  Carlo countered eac
h of her stories with one of his
own.  By the time lunch was served, they were laughing so hard they could barely eat the lobster soup and spinach salad. 

The afternoon was more relaxed.  Kate laid in the sunshine while Carlo read over some documents.  She didn’t realize that he wasn’t really reading them but was staring at her behind his sunglasses.  She would have covered up her red bikini if she knew what was going through his mind.  As it was, she noticed that he dove into the pool several times, but she just assumed he was cooling off from the sun, not from his thoughts. 

Kate fell asleep in the afternoon.  The hot sun was lulling her to sleep and she finally gave in to the feeling.  She had fitful dreams of a tall man in a blue bathing suit with strong, muscular arms and legs, and a stomach that a male model would love to have.  And he was walking towards her, gently waking her up and leaning over her.

Kate woke suddenly and found that Carlo really was leaning ove
r her, blocking out the sun.  In
her still sleepy state, she reached up and pulled Carlo down, kissing him with all the passion she’d been feeling through out the lazy day as they’d talked. 

“Kate, I’m only human,” he said and tried to pull away.  But her arms tightened around him and he gave in to the lure of his
bikini clad mermaid
.  The deck chair was large enough for three people so he laid down beside her, pulling her onto his chest and taking over the kiss.  He pulled her head down to his and deepened the kiss, his tongue delving into her mouth, demanding entry, then stirring her own tongue to life, demanding that hers duel with his in a foreplay of the mating ritual both of them were desperate for. 

Kate reveled in the kiss and more than allowed him to take over.  She became putty in his arms, a willing partner in the mating ritual.  She only battled with her will for a moment, then released her control, pushing aside her concerns for the future and the pain of the past. 

This was Carlo.  Any man as sensitive as he was couldn’t be as bad as her last experience.  With that thought, she arched her back and gave in, telling him with her body that she was willing to follow through with the intimacy that they were currently sharing.

Carlo wasn’t sure what the message she was trying to send but he loved the feel of her soft skin against his.  He liked the way she purred when he ran his hand down her side, or when he spanned her flat stomach with his palm.  He loved the way she gasped when he moved his mouth from hers to her ear and down her neck to nibble on her collar bone.  She was so sensitive, so responsive, he was going out of his mind to take her, to possess her. 

Kate ran her fingers down his back and felt powerful when his muscles moved along with her hand.  His body was moving towards her hand, desperate for her touch.  She wanted him to speed up but he was going tortuously slow. 

Carlo untied the string that held her top against her neck, pulling the red triangle down that had been protecting her perfect breast from his full view, teasing him with a glimpse but not a full view.  He groaned when her nipple hardened before he even touched it.  His hand moved across the sensitive bud and her back arched, pressing the perfect mound closer to his touch.