Two if by Sea (8 page)

T
his had
to be one of the craziest things she’d ever done. Rock climbing on a cruise ship. Talk about out of her ordinary comfort zone. Daphne didn’t even like glass elevators.

She grabbed ahold of the rock above her head and pushed up with her legs.
Oomph
. It took all her concentration not to slip and go flying. She’d learned that the hard way.

“You’re getting the hang of it.” Damon hung off the wall like he’d been a monkey in a prior life, all grace and ease. The man hadn’t slipped once.

“Thanks.” Daphne put her foot on another ledge and pushed up. “So why cruise ships?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why not a normal career. You went to a good college, you said so last night. Why not investment banking or the law. Why a cruise line?”

Damon thought for a moment. “It’s not that interesting.”

Was that embarrassment? No way. Daphne pulled herself up higher on the wall. “I’m serious. I want to know.”

Damon exhaled and climbed a few feet without a pause. “Tony and I…we weren’t the study hard types. It all seemed so pointless.”

“Poor babies.”

He shot her a look, but paused above her. “One day we were sitting around, ditching class probably, and Tony threw out the idea. He asked me, what are we good at?”

“And you said partying, didn’t you?”

Now she knew he was embarrassed. His jaw flexed and he climbed high enough to hide his face. “You guessed it.”

“Then what?”

“We turned it into a business. There were already singles resorts all over and a couple cruises, but nothing like the Stardust.” He waited for Daphne to catch up. “We started with a small cruise liner, a couple weeks a year. It took off like wildfire.”

“And now you’ve got this?”

“Yep. An enormous traveling party. We’ve got a cruise sailing almost every day of the year. We’ve branched out into all sorts of different themes. Employ a ton of staff. Everything pretty much runs itself.”

“So why are you still involved? You could stop sailing and do something else.”

Damon chewed on his lip. Had she hit a nerve? “Yeah, I could.”

“Tony doesn’t want to?”

Damon rubbed the back of his neck. “Tony’s complicated.”

“And you aren’t?” Daphne didn’t know why she was pushing so hard. But something about the way Damon skirted around the truth bugged her. She wanted to know more about him. She wanted to get inside his head and figure out whether there was more to him than a fly-by-night player.

“I could settle down.”

Daphne blinked. Not what she’d expected. “You mean get married?”

Damon fidgeted with the rope. “I don’t know. Tony and I…we’ve been…”

“You wouldn’t want to leave him.”

Damon caught her eye. “I don’t know what he’d do alone.” With a sad smile, he took off, climbing ahead of her up the rock wall.

Wow
. She’d never pegged him as the sentimental sort. The way he and Tony had taken control the night before…The things they did to her body. The way they lit her up and made her beg for it…

She hadn’t given him enough credit. Here she’d been so focused on herself and her own feelings, she’d assumed the man didn’t have any of his own. Especially not ones that ran so deep.

His shoulders flexed and his toes gripped a rock a few feet above her. Yesterday all she’d seen was a hot body and a big ego. A man out to prove himself between the sheets. Today?

He’d opened her eyes. There was someone real underneath that bravado. Someone she wanted to know a hell of a lot better. She grabbed the next fingerhold and hoisted herself up in the air.

He wanted to race to the top to hide his feelings? She’d beat him to it.

Up and up she climbed, always a few feet behind Damon’s muscled form.
Damn it.
She pushed harder, reached higher. A quicker lunge with her back leg. A better grip with her fingers. By the time the top of the wall came into view, she’d gained on him.

A few feet more and
shit!
Her foot slipped, her fingers gave way and Daphne let out a shriek.

Damon’s hand wrapped around her wrist and caught her. “Easy. You’re safe. The harness will protect you.”

Her heart hammered inside her chest and she nodded through gulps of air. He was right. She hung suspended off the wall, not falling. As her breathing slowed, she looked up at him. “Then why are you holding me?”

Damon smirked. “I didn’t want to wait for you to climb up here again. Come on, we’re at the top.”

He hauled her up until she could grab ahold of the lip of the wall. Damon climbed onto the platform and pulled Daphne up beside him.

What had looked like thin air from below, was actually a large landing and an elevator bay. Daphne gripped her thighs and bent over to catch her breath. “We’re taking that back down, right?”

Damon grinned. “Not yet. First, you’re coming with me.”

Her opinion of him shouldn’t matter. But something about the way Daphne had dismissed his future bothered Damon. It wasn’t that she was wrong—the woman had him and Tony nailed. But he’d never seen it from someone else’s eyes.

He’d never seen the pity.

After shedding the climbing gear and sending it back down the wall, Damon led Daphne to a secret door. Tucked into the corner, it blended in with the rock face and practically disappeared.

He pushed it open and ushered her inside.

“What is this place?” Daphne stepped in and spun in a slow circle.

Damon shrugged. “It’s a private room. Tony and I come here when we want to get away from it all. Employee access only.”

Daphne walked over to the windows.

“They’re one-way. We can see out, but no one can see in.”

She palmed the glass. “You’re sure?”

“Mm-hmm. I’ve tested it myself. If you stood on the other side, all you’d see is your own reflection.”

She nodded, her eyes never leaving the view. It was still mid-day, but the club was packed. People everywhere. Drinks flowing. Music pumping. In their isolated little world, only the bass soaked through. A steady beat in time with Damon’s thoughts.

He pulled a bottle of bourbon from the cabinet on the wall. “Can I get you anything?”

“No, thanks.”

After pouring a drink, he sat on the edge of the sofa. Daphne never turned around.

“I take it you’ve never been to a sex club before.”

Her head moved side to side.

“Like what you see?”

She didn’t need to answer for him to know the truth. Her breath hitched, her fingers shook, and every time she looked somewhere new, a tremble shook her entire body.

Damon relaxed. It had been a gamble taking her into their private viewing room. One he wanted to pay off.

From where she stood, she could see the bar, the dance floor, and an alcove of semi-private rooms. People milled about. Some naked, some in lingerie. All there to enjoy the steamier side of the Stardust.

He’d seen the view a million times and Damon only had eyes for Daphne. “Have any of your clients been to a place like this?”

Daphne nodded. “A few.”

“What did your firm have to say about that?”

“Mr. Hopkins said they should be more careful. Private house parties drew less attention.” She snorted. “He said high-class hookers were cheaper than our firm. If a client needed to get off, they should hire one of them and keep their names out of the papers.”

Ouch
. “Your boss sounds like a major asshole.”

She turned. “He is.”

“Then why do you work for him?”

Daphne made her way over to the couch. She sat a cushion away. “It’s one of the best PR firms in LA. If I make partner there, I can go anywhere. It opens a lot of doors.”

“Are any of them to places you want to go?”

Daphne started. “What do you mean?”

“All those doors.” He waved at an imaginary row of them. “Do they lead anywhere you want to go?”

She clasped her hands on her lap and frowned. “Honestly? I’m not sure anymore.”

Damon slid onto the seat. “Then why are you living your life under their rules? Why not take a chance and see if there’s something better out there? Something you want more.”

Her teeth grazed her lip and Damon bit back a groan. How did she manage to be so sexy without knowing it? Those red lips. That fiery hair. Skin like porcelain.

The couch dipped with his weight as he scooted across it. “What are you so afraid of?”

She looked up and her green eyes knocked him breathless. “Couldn’t I ask the same of you?”

He blinked. “What?”

“Every time I ask about you—your past, your life, anything—you clam up. Is there something you don’t want me to know?”

Damon stood and downed the rest of his drink. This conversation wasn’t supposed to be about him. “I have nothing to hide.”

She stood and stepped toward him. “Then why take me up here? Why shove all this sex in my face if it wasn’t to shut me up?”

He set his glass on the counter and charged forward. Daphne backpedaled, her feet scooting across the plush rug until her back hit the one-way glass.

Damon caged her in, his hands palming the cool panes on either side of her face. He leaned close, his face an inch from hers, his chest closer. If she breathed, they’d touch.

“I took you rock climbing because I thought you’d enjoy it. You shouldn’t be working on your vacation. When’s the last time you took a day off?”

She pursed her lips.

“Answer me.”

“A year. Maybe two.”

“I wanted to spend time with you. Get to know you. I thought you’d like a break from the crowd.”

She ran her tongue nervously over her lips until they shone. “You didn’t bring me in here to try and seduce me?”

Damon focused on her chest rising and falling with every breath. The longer he stared, the faster it rose. At last, he flicked his gaze up to hers. Fear. Confusion. Lust. It raged within her. “Would you let me?”

“I shouldn’t.”

“You didn’t say no.”

Damon’s lips crashed into hers and Daphne moaned. Damn him for breaking down her defenses. Damn him for showing her the truth.

She did want him. Her body ached for his touch. The whole way up that rock wall, she’d denied it. Every grip and push up, she’d pretended he meant nothing. All those questions? Her way of turning off.

Years in the PR business had taught her well. Ask the right questions. Find the weakness. Cover it up. Or in this case, exploit it. She’d goaded him into shutting down. Pushed all his buttons until he couldn’t take it another second.

What had it gotten her? His lips hot on her own. His chest crushed against hers. His cock, long and hard, digging into her belly.

Christ, she wanted him to fuck her right there. He could rip her clothes off and take her against that window and she’d let him. Beg him to do it.

How had it all gone so wrong? How had he broken through her walls?

She reached for him, fingers twisting in his shirt, and pulled his body closer. He groaned and wrapped one arm around back, tugging her off the glass.

They tumbled onto the couch, his body crushing hers into the leather. His lips were everywhere. Her cheeks, neck, shoulder. His hands were in her hair, twisting it all around.

“Please, Damon. I can’t—”

“Shh. Don’t worry. I’ll give you what you need.” He kissed her silently, tongue swiping across hers as he found the waistband of her pants. A hard tug and they were gone. Panties, too.

Her whole bottom half was naked and exposed. She loved it.

Damon spread her legs, his hand diving between her inner thighs. “Damn, babe. You’re so wet for me.” He stroked her sex, smearing her juices up and around until she whimpered.

“Or is some of this because of the club?” He nuzzled her cheek and she turned her head toward the windows.

A couple leaned against the glass, the woman’s naked ass cheeks plastered against the pane. The man stood in front of her, running his hands up and down her body.

“What are they doing?”

Damon smiled. “You don’t have to whisper. They can’t hear you.” He stroked her clit and she bucked against his hand. “They’re about to fuck.” He stroked it again. “I want you to watch.”

What?
“I couldn’t.” It was scandalous.

He pulled his hand away. “Then I won’t let you come.”

She arched into his retreating hand, pumping her hips up in the air. Begging. “You can’t do that to me!”

“Then watch.”

Daphne closed her eyes. This can’t be happening. Damon stroked the outer lips of her pussy, teasing and toying with her body. She hung on the edge of release. So close and yet so far. He had meant what he had said.

She opened her eyes and found him staring. “I watch and you…”

“Make you come? Yes.”

Daphne swallowed down her shame. “All right. I will.” She turned back to the window. The man had stripped the woman’s dress from her body and thrown it on the floor. Her hands pressed against the glass and as Daphne watched, he undid his jeans.

The man’s cock sprang free and Damon slid his finger between her folds. He thrust inside her empty channel and Daphne cried out.
Yes!
She turned toward him, but he grabbed her face with his free hand.

“I told you to watch.”

He thrust his finger inside her channel, stroking her inner walls as she turned back to the window.

The man outside flipped the woman around. Her breasts mashed into the glass, her palms splayed out and as Daphne sucked in a breath, he sunk inside her.

Oh my God.
The woman’s mouth fell open in an O and although she couldn’t hear them, she knew the woman was moaning. The man fucked her in a brutal beat. Harder and harder, shoving her body against the glass.

Her nipples mashed into the window, her belly squished flat, and lips opened and shut with every slam from behind.

The man threaded his hand through her blonde hair, holding her still as he took her deeper. Daphne bucked against Damon’s hand and he chuckled.

“Like what you see?”

“Y-yes.”

“Good.” He slid down her body, letting her face go to spread her legs. The first swipe of his tongue across her clit sent fireworks across her vision, but she forced her eyes to stay open.