5:00 a.m. the morning after
Jack woke up to the faint sound of early morning waves rippling along on the beach. He shifted on the couch, not wanting to wake Lei, but when he sensed emptiness where her warmth had been, he sat straight up.
“Lei?”
He glanced around and tossed aside the chenille throw that had covered him. The lights from the hotel next door helped him find his clothes, yet not a scrap of hers remained.
He shut the blinds and turned on his desk lamp. The food had been put away, and her roses were gone. No trace of the white-chocolate covered cherries remained—they’d been eaten in very creative ways.
“Get some sleep. We’ll go back to my place in a few hours,” he’d told her after they’d made love for the third time, “then we’ll just spend the day in bed. My bed.”
Lei hadn’t protested. She did not say no to him or anything he asked of her the whole night long, come to think of it. She would have been crazy to go in to work after being up all night, anyway, so where the hell was she?
He got dressed, brows knotted with concern. Had she made it home safely, if in fact she went home? And where the hell was home, anyway? She was supposed to go home with him!
Fuck.
When he saw her again, they were going to have a little talk. He wanted a relationship, one that included good-bye kisses and maybe a phone number. Amazing concept!
The more he thought about it, the more pissed he got. She had no business leaving him at zero dark thirty in the morning without an escort.
Now, he was going to be sick if he didn’t hear from her. As he finished buttoning his shirt, Jack saw the note on the floor. It must have fallen from the table. He picked it up, read it, and swore.
8:15 a.m. Friday morning
Keely couldn’t concentrate. Jack just called to say he was on his way in. By the sound of his voice— dark and distant—he was not in the best mood.
Neither was she.
She’d called in sick yesterday, hours after leaving Jack asleep on his couch, a couch they’d shared lust and tenderness. Like when he’d asked her to go back to his place later, like when he’d dropped multiple kisses on the back of her neck, murmured her name, and said “thank you” before dozing off to sleep.
Then there was the note.
Her breath tangled in her throat. To a man like Jack, the words she’d written meant the kiss of death for Lei, but didn’t she already know that when she took a pen to the notepad?
The door burst open and Jack strode in. Keely felt her skin singe from the tension radiating from his body. She avoided looking at the cold, hard set to his jaw. “Morning. Any calls?”
“Good morning,” Keely mumbled, guilty heat creeping up her face. “The pool builder, Dexter Hu, is waiting for you at the Pandanus Hotel to show you the new pool design. That’s it. No other calls.”
“Thank you.” He stepped into his office and closed the door.
It was going to be a long, dreary day, agonizing over visions of him at his desk, rifling through paperwork, signing invoices, checking his e-mail, and listening to his voice mail.
She committed to memory the sexy timber of his voice, the way his hand crunched through his hair while he analyzed reports.
She’d made her decision.
No time like the present, she thought, sighing as she picked up the phone and buzzed his extension. “Mr. Sloane, can I have five minutes of your time—”
“No.”
“Four minutes, then—” “No.”
“Three and a half…?”
“Keely, you’re coming with me,” he said abruptly.
“I’m-what?” she asked as he strode out of his office.
“Let’s go. If you want to talk, here’s your chance. Besides, I could use the company. I’m having a crappy two days.”
Oh, great. Her two weeks’ notice would go over like a ton of bricks. “Your, um, date with Lei…it didn’t go well?”
She knew she had no right to ask and, when his jaw clenched and his blue eyes darkened, she wished she hadn’t given in to temptation.
“Nope.”
“I’m not dressed to go out,” she mumbled, desperate to not be alone with him in public, certainly not in the Pandanus Hotel.
“You’re fine as you are.”
“Mr. Sloane, I’m dressed too plain to be seen in the Pandanus—”
“Keely, what the hell do you think the Island Lily is—chopped liver?” he snapped. “And right now I want plain. I need plain. Let’s go!”
Minutes later they were speeding down Kalakaua Avenue on their way to one of the island’s top-rated hotels. She sat in the passenger seat of Jack’s convertible and felt anything but sporty. Her hands fought to keep her bun from flopping apart in the wind. The heat and humidity, combined with her buttoned up sweater, made her feel like she was frying in hell’s kitchen.
Even more disconcerting was the fact that the
man behind the wheel had been her lover the other night and didn’t even know it. She couldn’t help remembering his hot, muscled body, and memories of the way his lashes lowered and his blue eyes got all smoky while she licked and sucked his cock forced a guilty lump to her throat.
If he ever found out…
“Ever think of letting your hair down, Keely?” Jack asked as he powered his car through Waikiki traffic.
Her eyeglasses slid down the moisture beading on her nose. Keely pushed them back up with her finger. She shook her head, though she knew very well how to let her hair down.
“You could take your sweater off, assuming you have something decent on underneath…”
She shook her head even harder.
Dexter Hu was waiting for them when they pulled up to the grand entrance of the Pandanus. He stepped forward to open Keely’s door while Jack handed his keys over to the valet.
Keely followed a safe distance behind the two men, sneaking a hand up when she thought nobody was looking to undo the top three buttons of her sweater.
The other man led them out to a free-form pool surrounded by boulders and colorful island flora. A series of waterfalls fed into several semi-private grotto-like picnic areas.
She wanted nothing more than to dive into the pool and splash around like the other guests.
Of course, Jack, looking casual and cool in cream cotton slacks and a business casual Aloha Friday shirt with a blue and tan surfboard print drew lusty female gazes. One of them was bound to catch his eye, Keely thought, remembering the woman in the red bikini who’d also gotten better acquainted with Jack in his office.
Keely excused herself to use the ladies room. Once inside, she removed her sweater and splashed cool water on her face. She had bigger problems than being a baked potato.
Leaving Jack Sloane was going to kill her. Rip her heart in two.
But she couldn’t stay, knowing he’d move on to someone else, that someday she’d pick up the phone to the sound of his wife’s sweet voice on the other end asking for him.
“Well, what a small world, Keely St. John.”
The menacing female voice belonged to the biggest nightmare of her life. Keely spun around, gripping the edge of the granite counter for support.