Intrigued By Love (Written in the Stars Book 5) Read online

  My cheeks heated as the image of Jax fucking me flashed behind my eyes.

  “Oh my God, you slept with him.” She grabbed my forearm. “How could you not tell me? I bet you told Cora. You tell her everything.”

  If only Cora was down here, I’d probably do exactly that, but she was taking a nap on a sun lounger at the front of the ship.

  “Tell you what?” Kiana asked as she came down the stairs from the deck above us into the galley area.

  She studied me and sighed before walking up to me and wrapping me in her arms. “It’s okay. He’s not doing much better. Sex is supposed to relieve the tension, but it looks like the two of you just made it ten times worse.”

  I pulled back and muttered, “Thanks for the recap.”

  “You’re welcome.” Kiana wiped the tear I hadn’t realized slipped down my cheek. “You love him, and it’s obvious he still loves you.”

  I couldn’t deny her assessment of the situation.

  Lina set her head on my shoulder and hugged both Kiana and me. “Isn’t there any way to fix this?”

  “We have too much history to work through. Too many people and situations that have caused us pain.” One of them being the woman who’d done everything to make my relationship with Jax harder.

  Earlier in the morning, Raquel had received a list of expectations from Jennine Burton’s house manager, Raymond. Among them being accommodations for her dedicated staff who would accompany her, so they could provide for her comfort when the resort fell short. It hadn’t mattered that Thad had explicitly stated no one who wasn’t approved was allowed to stay at the resort.

  I’d personally called Raymond to convey that it wasn’t possible to accommodate any staff or guests outside of those Thad had approved. It wasn’t Raymond’s fault his bosses were assholes, but I was not going to budge.

  This resulted in an irate call from Jax’s father, Christopher. I’d ended up giving him the same answers as I’d given Raymond, and told him if he still had issues to contact Thad personally.

  Dealing with the Burtons had solidified that last night with Jax was a mistake. We came from two different worlds, and I couldn’t see myself living in the one he’d come from, no matter how much I’d wanted to in the past.

  “You mean Christopher and Jennine Burton,” Lina said. “They had a conference call with Thad. Even got his parents dialed in.”

  “What did he tell them?” My stomach hurt to think Thad had caved and agreed to the demands of the Burtons.

  “Give my man some credit. He informed them that due to security concerns, no one who wasn’t on the original list and was cleared with a background check could attend. He went as far as saying he understood if they changed their minds about attending.”

  “I take it they didn’t bite,” Kiana said.

  “Nope, but they aren’t coming with an entourage of twenty.” Lina threaded her fingers with mine. “See, Thad has your back. He’s like the older brother you never knew you needed.”

  “I can’t argue with that. I do adore the man.”

  “If you ever decide to separate, we’re keeping him,” Kiana added, and both Lina and I glared at her. Which caused her to burst out laughing. “You two were way too serious for a second. Almost reminded me of the sour look Jennine Burton had on her face that one time we all went to dinner in Vegas.”

  I shivered. “That was a disaster of epic proportions. Even my boss couldn’t get her to chill out, and Henna has the ability to charm the grumpiest of guests.”

  “How a woman like her could convince the world she deserved an Oscar is beyond me.” Lina sighed. “She puts a capital C in crazy.”

  “Well, I’ve already prepared my staff on how to handle her. I actually have Raquel assigned to be her guest services concierge. The less she sees me, the better it’ll be for all of us.”

  Both of my sisters nodded their agreement.

  “Now, back to the subject of Crazy Town’s son. That’s what Ani calls her, and I kind of like it.” Kiana released me and folded her arms across her body. “Was it as good as you remembered it being?”

  I groaned, knowing I shouldn’t have expected either of my sisters to let it go. “Kiana, you’re so nosy.”

  “Just because I’m not of the dickly persuasion doesn’t mean I don’t want to hear about your sex life or the man with the monster cock who rocks your world.”

  I should never have told my sister anything about my sex life or Jax’s package. My only excuse was I’d been plied with tequila and we were on a sisters’-only weekend.

  “I swear, Kiana. I can’t wait until Ani gets here and keeps you in line.” Lina laughed, then her expression grew serious as she turned her attention to me.

  I braced myself. “Okay, let me have it. Unless I answer your questions, neither of you are going to let it go.”

  “I just have one and I’ll leave you alone. Couldn’t you just do something casual while he’s here and then go your separate ways?” Lina asked.

  “I don’t do casual. You know this.”

  “Yeah, but it’s Jax.” Kiana braced a shoulder against Lina’s. “Even if it isn’t casual, you could pretend it is. At least you’ll get a thorough vag servicing for the next three weeks.”

  “That’s a great idea,” Jax said from the stairs.

  My face heated and I had visions of strangling Kiana.

  How the hell had we not noticed him coming down? How much had he heard? Well, I guessed I was about to find out.

  Kiana broke the shocked silence. “Hey, Jax. We were just—”

  “Could I have a moment alone with Kai?” Jax stared at me as he asked the question to my sisters.

  “Sure. Come on, Lina. Let’s go make sure Mama is applying her sunscreen and Cora is hydrating.” Kiana grabbed Lina’s hand and dragged her up the stairs without letting her respond.

  Jax and I continued to stare at each other. Then, after a few seconds, Jax said, “Last night didn’t end the way it was supposed to.”

  I leaned against the counter near the porthole looking out over the sea and gripped the edge. “I know. Do you think we can make it through the wedding without tension between us?”

  He took a step toward me. “It all depends.”

  “On what?”

  “On you.” He moved to my side of the counter and continued to come closer. “On what you decide.”

  I frowned. “I’m not following.”

  “I want to see you, to be with you. At least until I leave the area.”

  I opened my mouth to argue, to tell him how it was a bad idea, that it would cause more problems and it wouldn’t work, but he put a finger to my lips.

  “Hear me out.”

  I sighed, ignoring the tingle I always felt the second he touched me. “Go on.”

  “There’s no denying we still have feelings for each other.”

  I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. The tension between us was so high, my staff had started to make comments.

  “You think there’s no future for us.”

  “I know there isn’t,” I interjected.

  He rubbed a thumb down my neck. “And no matter how much I disagree with your beliefs, I’ll accept your stance. So, as an alternative, I have a proposition for you.”

  I lifted a brow and waited. I had a feeling I knew where this was going. And my traitorous body pulsed with anticipation.

  “My proposition is exactly what Lina suggested. Until I permanently leave Bora Bora, we’re together. We’ll argue, we’ll laugh, and most of all, we’ll fuck like we’re still the couple we were in Vegas. Whether it happens now or later, it’s going to hurt when it ends.” He paused. “But I’d rather spend my time here with you, not watching you from afar or having you avoid me.”

  I tried to digest his words. It was so much more complicated than the simple way he’d said it would be for us. I had believed I was going to marry him, have a family with him, live a long life with him.

  Could I let it be a short fling knowing I
still loved him?

  But then again, could I give up the chance to be with him again, even if it was for a finite time?

  “What do you say, Kai?” He set a hand on my waist, making my pulse jump.

  When had he gotten so close?

  I looked into his stormy gray eyes.

  “Take the chance. You know you want to.” His palm slid over my exposed abdomen.

  Goose bumps prickled my skin and made me wish I’d put on something other than a crop top and shorts to cover my bikini. His touch was too distracting.

  “I can’t think when you’re touching me like this,” I said, unable to hide the desire tingeing my voice.

  His lips quirked at the corners. “It’s time to stop thinking so hard and enjoy the ride.”

  His fingers snuck their way past the waistband of my shorts and to the edge of my bikini bottoms. Immediately, my nipples beaded and a low throbbing pulsed deep in my core.

  “Jax, my family is only a floor above.” I arched into his touch, wanting him to go lower.

  He flattened his palm, stopping the teasing movement. “Is that a yes?”

  A moment of sanity broke thought the haze of lust.

  “This is only going to lead to a broken heart.”

  “Can it get more broken than the way we feel right now?”

  I had no argument against that. Could it hurt more than when I’d left Vegas? At least this time I’d know what to expect. Three weeks. I could do this. Then I’d go about my life here in Bora Bora and he’d go back to Vegas.

  “Yes or no. The choice is yours.” He moved closer, slipping his other hand to the back of my neck.

  I closed my eyes, unable to handle the emotions in his gaze.

  “Look at me.” His voice changed to that deep timbre that affected me to the core of my bones, the one he’d use when we played our games. “I’m not going to let you hide. Give me your answer.”

  Lifting my lashes, I licked my lips, inhaled to steady my nerves, and then whispered, “Yes.”

  Relief flashed on his face before it was replaced by an intensity that matched the voice he’d just used.

  I lifted my face, expecting him to kiss me, but he shook his head.

  “You want me to kiss you, you’ll have to earn it.”

  A tingle shot down my spine.

  “You can’t be serious. Here?”

  He nodded. “You know the rules. Don’t move your hands or come unless I give you permission.”

  “Yes, Jax.” My fingers flexed on the granite I held on to.

  He pushed his palm past the edge of my bikini bottom, through the soaked seam of my sex, and to my swollen clit. “Fuck, you’re so wet.”

  His cock grew against me, thick and hard.

  I bit my lip, trying to hold in the moan that wanted to escape. Dammit. I was loud when it came to sex, and I’d have to keep it in or my family would rush down here.

  “Let me see if we can get you to scream.”

  I narrowed my gaze. “You wouldn’t.”

  “Wouldn’t I?” He circled the aching bundle of nerves. “Besides, I know you’ll be a good girl and keep all those sexy sounds you like to make inside. I promise, I’ll make it worth your while.”

  My pussy flooded with my desire as he drove up my need. I threw my head back and gazed up at the ceiling of the kitchen, trying to hold in the desperate urge to cry out.

  Jax pushed two fingers deep in my pussy, and I couldn’t help but gasp.

  “Ssshh, baby. You don’t want us to get caught with my fingers deep in your cunt. With your juices soaking my hand. With your pussy walls clamping down as I thrust into you.”

  “Jax, this is cruel.” I inhaled deep and closed my eyes.

  I loved it when he described everything he was doing to me. It had always turned me on when the refined businessman turned into the dirty-talking rebel.

  He pulled out and then plunged in, repeating the slow motion, driving me crazy. “Tell me you don’t like it when there’s a chance of getting caught, and I’ll call you a liar.”

  His thumb worked my clitoral nub as his fingers thrust in and out of my quivering pussy.

  “Yes, but not the possibility of my parents seeing us.”

  “Then keep those moans internal.”

  Sweat sheened my skin, and my body was on fire. I could feel everything tighten inside. Just a little more and I’d go over. My damp palms slipped against the stone I held.

  Jax used his other arm to brace me up, but I kept my hands where they were.

  “Let go. I’ve got you. Come for me.”

  As if my body was waiting for him to give permission, the small spasms in my core turned into contractions, and my body detonated.

  “Ja—” Jax covered my lips and drank in my cry of release.

  He held me against him and kept me from collapsing on my unsteady legs. My pussy clenched around his pistoning fingers as wave after wave of ecstasy washed over me.

  He kissed me, eating at my mouth, until the spasms stopped in my core and I slumped against him.

  Chapter Nine

  Jax

  I held Kai against me, loving the sound of her shallow gasp and the feel of the tiny spasms of her cunt around my fingers. There truly was nothing on earth that could compare to Kai orgasming. Well, maybe coming around my cock versus my fingers.

  I was hard as stone and could swear my dick had a permanent imprint of my zipper on it.

  If only I could take her toward the passageway leading to the sleeping cabins and lose myself in her. But this wasn’t about me. Kai’s skittishness about me was something I’d have to navigate carefully. I wanted forever and had to do everything possible to make her want it to.

  I knew it wasn’t going to be as easy as seducing her. Getting into her bed was the easiest part of this whole plan. I had no doubt she still loved me, and after last night, I realized how deeply my family had interfered in my relationship with Kai. I was the idiot who thought separating her from the toxicity I’d grown up with and managed on a daily basis was the right thing to do, but I’d isolated her. And it had given fuel to my mother’s need to control everything in my life.

  I’d tried to do the perfect-son thing, letting my parents groom me to take over their company. Letting them go as far as choosing the right women to date. Not one of those women made me crave them to the depths Kai could with one smile.

  I’d been a goner from the moment I took my spot at the weekly poker game Pierce Lykaios held with his brothers and I saw Kailani Alexander sitting at the table. She’d come from work and wore a custom-tailored designer outfit in fire-engine red. Her hair was pulled up in a knot atop her head. When I’d taken my seat across from her and she’d looked my way with a smile, it was as if my heart stopped. There was no doubt in my mind she was my future. It had taken time to convince her, but she’d eventually given me a chance and we’d been together ever since. Well, until that day I’d come home to an empty apartment.

  Kai stirred as her breath leveled out.

  “Wow,” she whispered and pressed her cheek against my chest.

  “I completely agree.” I slid out of her wet heat and brought my fingers to my lips, sucking in her essence.

  Her taste was better than any fine wine.

  Kai shook her head at me without pulling out of my hold. “You’re incorrigible.”

  “What? I’d lay you out on this counter and gorge on your pussy juices if I didn’t fear for my life with your father and brother.”

  “Speaking of. We have to get upstairs or someone will come looking for us.”

  “We’re not going anywhere until this matter is settled.” I steadied her on her feet as she moved to stand on her own and then threaded my fingers through the soft hair at the nape of her neck. “I meant what I said. You’re mine until I leave French Polynesia.”

  “It’s only three weeks.”

  “Are you asking me to stay longer?”

  She rolled her eyes. “You’d be bored out of your mind befor
e you knew it. Life in Bora Bora runs on its own time.”

  “I can handle a change of pace.”

  She frowned. “Vegas is more your speed than here.”

  “Try me.” I leaned in until our faces were a mere inch apart. “Give me a real chance and see what I’d do for you.”

  “Are you saying you’d move to Bora Bora for me?”

  I held her midnight gaze and said, “Yes.”

  It wasn’t time to tell her I’d already made the move. Hell, I’d built a fucking house for her.

  “And run your empire from here?” She tried to slip away from me, but I trapped her against the granite.

  I ignored the way my still-hard cock jumped at the slight brush of her body.

  “Yes. There are these things called the Internet, satellites, and airplanes. If you recall, I worked from home most of the time when we lived together.”

  “You also have a business building ships. Don’t you have to be at the ports?”

  “I have staff that I trust to run production, and outside of any emergencies, I only visit sites quarterly.”

  “I don’t want you to give me hope and then take it away. I’d rather go into this without expectations.”

  I clenched my jaw. “You’d rather pretend this a casual thing when we both know it’ll always be anything but casual?”

  “Yes. I can’t let myself believe otherwise.”

  I wanted to be angry, but her vulnerability and honesty hit my heart like a fist. This was going to be a harder battle to win than I thought. No, that was a lie. I knew it was going to kick my ass.

  “As I said, try me.”

  “What makes you think it’ll work this time when it didn’t before?”

  “It would have worked if you hadn’t run away and confronted me instead.” Fuck, why had I said that?

  “You’re right.”

  Her response shocked the hell out of me. “You admit you shouldn’t have left?”

  “No.” Her shoulders slumped. “I admit I shouldn’t have left the way I did. It wasn’t fair to you and to me.”

  So she believed leaving me was the right thing. My gut always clenched every time I remembered the moment I realized Kai was gone.

  “I won’t argue with you.”