Caribbean Casanova (9 page)

Bookshelves towered to the two-story ceiling, the muted colors of thousands of book spines filling the space. A wood-paneled balcony wrapped around the room, a circular staircase providing access to the impossibly high shelves. The intricate coffered ceiling topped with a stained-glass dome had to be spectacular when the sun shone through it. The dark woods, giant library globe and marble fireplace filled with glowing candles transformed the modern Caribbean villa into a Victorian country estate ripped from her adolescent fantasies.

So often she’d dreamed of a room like this, a place with more stories to tell than she could ever hope to enjoy. Every dark winter in Alaska she’d imagined keeping warm and entertained in a room half this grand. An old library card catalogue sat in one corner and she itched to peek inside every drawer.

“Holly?”

She jumped at the deep timbre of Harm’s voice and turned. He didn’t move from his perch on one of a pair of overstuffed chaises, a leather-bound copy of Huckleberry Finn in his hand. A bare-chested hunk of a man reading the classics in the library of her dreams. He was a nerd girl’s wet dream.

“Do you need something?” He slid a ribbon between the pages and set the book on the pedestal table beside him. She stepped onto the ornate Oriental rug and neared him, noticing the inlay on the table.

“Is that a chess table?” Her fingers were on the patterned wood before he could answer, nervous energy giving her hand a slight tremor. “I’ve always wanted one of these. Preferably set up with a game I play with a pen pal in another country. Can I open the drawer?”

“Be my guest.” He turned towards the table and braced his elbows on his hard thighs. Amusement danced in his deep I-know-why-you’re-really-here brown eyes.

She sat across from him and pulled open the drawer, spying the intricate wood pieces, taller and thinner than the typical Staunton set. She plucked a bishop from his velvet recess.

“Did you come up here for a game?”

“What?” She replaced the piece and shut the drawer. “No, I don’t play well. In my family I’m a grandmaster, but when I went to college I realized that I’m not a great loser. Are you good?”

“Very.” His dark gaze caught hers and a shiver of anticipation danced down her spine. She doubted they were still talking about chess.

She spread her palms against the soft silk of her lavender dress, the reason she’d sought him out hitting her like a sneaker wave. She knew how to boost her self-esteem enough to dare to pose in any of Saskia’s designs. Harm could shore up the confidence in any woman, and all she had to do was let him. If she hadn’t spent the last few days getting to know him, this would be an easy physical exchange. She somehow had to find the balance between having him help her feel sexy and desirable and actually thinking it meant something more. Her tummy fluttered and her pulse jumped and she wished she was as bold in the personal realm as she was in business.

“Why didn’t you call to me? I would have come downstairs if you needed anything.” His warm smile soothed her frayed nerves.

“I know.” He’d been providing her with everything she needed since she landed on the island. All she had to do was ask. Yet she couldn’t bring herself to ask him to make her feel beautiful. She didn’t know how to do needy. “I wanted to tell you Saskia’s latest idea, and I just wandered up here. Is that okay?”

He shrugged. “No one really comes up here but me.”

“That’s a shame. This room is a dream. I could stay in here for weeks and never leave.”

He gave a soft chuckle and leaned closer. “I’ve done it, and it is pretty great.”

“How do you organize them? Is it Library of Congress or Dewey decimal–?”

“Language and subject. But you didn’t come up here to talk library organization. What has Sassy done now?”

She pressed her knees together to keep from squirming. “Sass thinks that since we can’t use the professional models and there is no time to get models from an agency on St. Maarten, I should try to do the shots.”

He nodded. “That makes sense.”

“No, it’s a desperate attempt to salvage a plan. Saskia doesn’t design for women like me.”

“And that would be…”

The man was either dense or trying too hard not to hurt her feelings. “Someone who works for a living instead of works out. I’m not the image we’re trying to sell. And we didn’t plan for a single model in any of the shots anyway, since that tends to look too catalog. I’m going to have the photographer find us some great landscape shots and do the website that way for now.”

He shrugged, his muscular shoulders bunching and honed pecs lifting and settling back. Even his slightest movements seemed sexual. “You’d know better than me. But I think it depends on who you’re marketing to. I’d be much more likely to buy a suit if you were wearing it rather than Sassy.”

She snorted, and her eyes widened in shock as she covered her nose.
Way to be unattractive, Holls.
She shook her head to remove the negative thought. She couldn’t take it back, and he was just feeding her a line now.

“Harm, you’re not going to offend me by being honest. I know how important image is, and I’m not the Sassy V ideal.”

“I’m always honest. I have no idea why women buy bikinis, but this would make a man hand over his Visa.” He leaned forward and traced his fingers from her hips to the curve of her waist. “I think you’ll look even better naked than you do in clothes, and you’re, how did you say it? Hot as fuck.”

Her skin pricked with awareness, heat swirling low in her belly, spiraling slowly between her legs. This was it, the feeling that had propelled her upstairs, the confidence that would boost her enough to try her hand at posing. She sucked in a shaky breath, not sure if she could really keep being with Harm as an ego boost and not become one of the women devastated when he moved on.

“When you look at me like that, you make it very hard to be your friend.” He licked his lips and she nearly launched herself at him to do the same.

“I like being friends. I never imagined we would be, but now I can’t imagine it any other way.” Excitement tickled down her spine, his pure, sexual energy drawing her to him like a lighthouse showing the way home.

“Holly, the things I want to do to you aren’t friendly.” His soft whisper wrapped around her heart and squeezed. “I’d show you, but I don’t want you to tell me to stop.”

She swallowed over her hesitation and shook her head. “I won’t.”

“Is that why you came up here?” He stood and held out his hand. She slid her hand into his, grateful for the help as she rose. Her legs weren’t on their best behavior.

“I wanted—” She pulled in a sharp breath wishing she could just say she wanted him. But if she had that kind of carnal confidence she wouldn’t need him to shore it up. “I wanted to apologize for my tantrum and thank you for not freaking out.”

“You seemed to have freaking out handled.” He twined his fingers with hers, standing so close she had no choice but to look up at him.

“I’m not usually like that.” At least in front of other people. Anxiety and embarrassment pulsed with every frantic beat of her heart. “When I get that aggravated I take a kickboxing class or drink martinis or stuff my frustrations under a pint of ice cream. But none of my usual vices were available.” She leaned her forehead against his chest, breathing in the salt of the sea and the musk of the man. “It’s mortifying that you saw me like that.”

“Hey.” He tilted her chin up so she had to face him again. “I like knowing who you are when no one is looking.”

“Thanks.” She grinned, still shocked he hadn’t run screaming after the way she’d behaved. Feeling so comfortable with a man like him made no sense, but no matter what logic told her, it couldn’t explain how being near him thrilled and calmed her at once, how she wanted to heal his hurts and let him slay her dragons while she watched. Preferably from his library.

Harm framed her face in his large hands and she stood on her tiptoes. He brought his smile to hers and pressed their lips together in the softest of kisses.

This had none of the crazy hurriedness of their first kisses, nor the frenzied, teasing passion of their last. And yet each pass of his lips stoked the fire burning within. She didn’t censor anything, not bothering to hold back the soft moans and quiet mews as she let her hands explore his body. The hard planes of his chest, ridges of his abdomen, swell of his muscled shoulders. And he tasted as delicious as he smelled, like cool water and mangos.

She traced the bearded line of his jaw with her fingers and threaded one hand into his hair. He deepened the kiss, moving his tongue deeper as if he wanted to devour her. And she wanted that, to be overcome, engulfed in a passion that would soothe her nerves and build her confidence.

He reached for her, brought his hands to her hips and pressed their bodies together, his thick erection demanding against her belly. This tight against him, her breasts pushed against his chest, her hardened nipples ached in the confines of her bra.

She caught his lower lip between her teeth and leaned back until his eyes opened. She released him and tried to step back, but he held her firm.

“As much as I love this room, I want to enjoy this.”

“You will.” He dipped his head again. She held him off with a hand at his chest.

“Take me to bed, Harm. Now.”

Chapter Fourteen

Desire coursed through Harm’s veins and he took Holly’s hand and led her towards the bookcase. Something different was happening, something he couldn’t describe or deny. Their connection went deeper and wound tighter than purely sex.

He didn’t know if he wanted it to be more than physical, and doubted she did either. But if lying down with Holly Hansen was finally an option, he wasn’t about to let the chance slip away.

“Did you hear me?” She tightened her grip on his hand, her voice wavering.

He stopped, spun her around and pressed her against the shelves. He leaned close, breathing in the scent of warm honeysuckle and hot woman as he reached above her for the corner rosette in the molding. He brought his forehead to hers, not bothering to hide the grin as he twisted the wood.

The wall slid back and she gasped, her eyes glinting with wonder as she stared up at him. “You have a secret passage?”

He kissed her in response, tasting the sparks of excitement and remembering how elated he’d been when he’d completed the project. He broke the kiss and stepped back, loving the way the gold flecks in her eyes sparkled in the light. His heart raced and adrenaline poured through him. This must be how gold miners felt the first time they saw their treasure glinting in the sun.

“Fuck the bed.” Her eyes widened and her nostrils flared as she looked from him to the bookcase and then his darkened office. She grabbed his hand and tugged him toward her, then flattened her palms against his chest and pushed him against the bookcase.

He almost tripped and grabbed at a shelf for balance. A few books tumbled off and thudded against the wood floor. Any other time he would have cared, but he couldn’t think beyond Holly’s soft hair beneath his chin, her hot mouth on his neck. He never got overwhelmed, yet he couldn’t think beyond her hands lighting over his bare skin, the warm scent of honeysuckle filling his head.

She slipped her hands beneath the band of his board shorts and he sucked in a breath, more books falling as he gripped the shelf with one hand and clutched her arm with the other. She looked up at him, smiling and she grabbed his bare ass with both hands and squeezed until her fingernails dug into his flesh.

He tightened his muscles and his cock twitched against her belly. He leaned back and the bookcase slid with the movement. He grabbed for the shelves again and more books hit the ground, punctuating his loss of control. He never lost control.

His heart thundered as he grabbed Holly by her arms and lifted her off her feet. She yelped and wrapped her legs around his hips, the heat of her against his cock short-circuiting his brain.

Thank goodness, his desk sat just a few steps into his office. He set her fine ass on the leather top, using broad sweeps of his arms to send ledgers and blueprints flying. His lamp clattered to the ground and picture frames clunked against one another as they hit the floor.

She let out a squeal of pure delight, wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down with her until her back flattened against the desk. Her lips found his in a kiss so passionate flames of desire licked up his body. She locked her legs behind his back and ground herself against him. Just like she had two nights ago.

He reared his head back, staring down at her dark eyes, shadowed in the dim light. “Oh, no, you minx. This time we come together.”

“Touch me.” She reached between their bodies, but he caught her hands the instant before she would have squeezed his cock and set him off like a rocket.

He held her arms over her head, pushing them into the desk as he pressed his cock at the juncture of her thighs. Her damp heat soaked through his board shorts.

“No panties?”

She shook her head, her breath coming in short pants. She tried to writhe beneath him, but he pressed her harder into the desk, pinning her in place. He doubted Holly had ever had a submissive moment in her entire life, but she looked damned hot that way. His cock wanted to rip through his shorts and dive into her, not surfacing until he unloaded the ache he’d been carrying around in his balls since she climbed off that damned boat and kissed him.