Seven Nights (17 page)

She was surprised she’d said that statement out loud. It revealed so very much about her heart. More than she wanted to surrender.

His face tightened. “We didn’t break up.”

“Yes, we did.” She cocked her head.

“No. You left me. There’s a subtle, but very important difference.” Sean’s voice was harsh as he let her go and paced to the edge of the water. The waves moved up and back around his feet as he stood staring out at the crystal blue Caribbean.

Leah hesitated for a moment before she approached him with caution. “Yes. I did leave you, that’s true. But Sean, it couldn’t have really been a total shock to you. We’d begun to grow apart in the last few months. We argued more, we saw each other less. It was the only choice.”

“Running is never the only choice.” He shook his head, but didn’t look in her direction.

She sighed. “I didn’t run! I made a decision based on the circumstances. The longer I’d stayed, the harder it would have been when it ended. It was hard enough as it was.”

Finally, he turned in her direction and the torment she saw in his eyes was as alive as if she’d walked away the day before instead of three years before. The level of emotion stunned her.

“Yes, that might have been true, Leah. Staying might have made things even more complicated and painful. Or we might have worked things out and been married by now. We might not have lost these past five years.” He sighed. “But we’ll never know. What’s done is done, there’s no changing that, no matter what we do.”

Leah ducked her head. Was that
shame
she felt? No. Sean was just confusing her with his easy answers to questions that had been so complex when she’d been in the middle of them. She knew she’d done the right thing by walking away.

Hadn’t she?

“You’re right. We’ll never know what would have happened if things had gone differently in the past,” she murmured. Then she paused. The past was gone, but she was facing similar issues with Sean now in the present. Maybe she could change their fate if she tried to make him deal with their problems now. “How are things going with your business issue?”

His face twisted. “You want to talk about my business? Now of all times?”

She hesitated. Sean might not see how their break up related to what was happening around them at that very moment, but she sure as hell did.

“What better time is there to talk about it?” she asked. “It’s affecting my time down here and it’s obviously important to you.”

Sean looked out at the ocean again, then turned to look back up the beach toward the main resort lobby. His bank of office windows glistened in the distance.

“Yes. This place has become my whole life in the last few years. I sacrificed everything for it. And now…” He trailed off.

“Now?” She touched his arm as she said a silent prayer that he would confide in her. If he could just do that, she could believe things could change. After all her years working for the magazine, she had so many contacts in the travel industry. Surely she could do something to help with his dilemma. If only he’d tell her what it was.

He locked eyes with her for a moment and she thought she might get her wish. He seemed to be on the edge of saying something important, something about the trouble that kept pulling him away from her.

“Honey, I’m sorry this stuff has been distracting me today,” he said with a pat on her forearm like she was a faithful dog or a child. “But let’s not let it spoil our last few days together.”

“Please, Sean.” She hated the pleading in her voice. If only he knew how important this was. “I want to help you. Don’t shut me out.”

He reached up to brush his fingers down her cheek. “This isn’t your battle. And you’re here for a week of fantasy, not a week of boring business.”

She opened her mouth to protest, but Sean cut her off with a kiss before she could tell him what she thought of his dismissal. Then she couldn’t think at all. With just a few brief swipes of his tongue, Sean made her mind cloudy and the things that had been so desperately important a moment before seemed like they weren’t worth breaking away from his arms.

She sank into the kiss, completely surrendering as the sun finally dipped over the horizon, leaving only a dusky light around them.

“You look beautiful in twilight,” Sean whispered as he pulled away and nudged a lock of hair away from her eyes.

Leah smiled as a swell of emotion rocked her with as much power as his kiss. It was amazing how this man, a man she’d tried to forget for so many years, could so easily frustrate and melt her within the span of fifteen minutes. He still held sway over her emotions, her heart. That hadn’t changed. She knew it probably never would.

But sometimes love wasn’t enough.

“Of course, you always look beautiful,” he continued as he slipped her hand into his and began to guide her up the beach toward the main lobby of the resort. “And I want you to truly see that tonight.”

Her heart skipped. “Is it time for my next fantasy?”

His smile was answer enough.

“Should I change?” she glanced down at the short sundress she’d thrown on after her swim. “I wasn’t really thinking about my fantasy when I put this on. It isn’t even an outfit you gave me.”

His smile broadened as he took a long and heated glance from her head to her toes. “No, that’s perfect. Short skirt, bare fantastic legs. It will work more than well for what I have in mind.”

“What
do
you have in mind?” she asked as he held open the glass door for her and motioned her into the lobby.

Leaning in close to her ear, he whispered, “Sight. Tonight, I want you see
everything
.”

She shivered in anticipation. The only thing that frightened her about a fantasy of sight was that Sean would see everything. Including how much she still loved him.

Chapter Eleven

Sean slid his key into the lock and pressed the call button for the far left elevator in the lobby.

“Since when do you need a key to use an elevator in this place?” Leah teased, but Sean could feel the tension coming off of her in waves. She emanated an arousing combination of nervousness and excitement.

“This is the Express Elevator,” he explained as he inserted the same key into the control panel and pressed the white button above it. “For the owner’s use alone. Now, look around. Really look. What do you see?”

Leah wrinkled her brow, but did as she’d been ordered. Slowly, she turned around in a circle. “Normally sized car with a small bench and…” she trailed off with a grin. “And mirrors on each and every wall, including the interior door.”

“That’s right.” Sean pressed the elevator’s stop button. As the car ground to a halt between floors, he stepped closer. “Welcome to your Sight Fantasy.”

“You want to make love to me right here?” she whispered as he tilted his head closer. “In the elevator.”

“More than I’ve wanted anything since… well, since last night on the cabana floor.” Sean smiled at her blush. “Is that okay with you?”

“More than okay.” She leaned up to meet his lips. Her arms locked around his neck as she brought her body up flush against his, molding her soft curves to his chest and setting off a ricochet reaction straight to his cock. “But I have a couple of questions first.”

Sean pulled away with a laughing groan. “Good God, remind me not to seduce another reporter. What are your questions, Miss Inquiring Minds Want To Know?”

Leah laughed with him, though she began to slide her hips against his in a most distracting fashion. The heat of her body seared him even through her dress and his increasingly tight shorts. “First, if you
ever
date another reporter, I’ll make sure
you’re
on the evening news.”

“Point taken.” He smiled as he brushed a kiss against her temple and breathed in the sensual scent of her blonde hair. “Now ask so we can get past the twenty questions and start with the fantasy.”

“Second, security cameras?”

He smiled. “Not in the Express Elevator.”

Her sigh of relief was cut off by her second question. “You said only the owners have a key to this car. That means Will has one.”

“Yes. Will has a key. But he’s down in the dining room schmoozing with some guests. If he wants to come back up to the office, he’ll see the Out of Order sign I put up in front of this elevator and use a regular car.” He slid his hands up to her shoulders and hooked his fingers under the straps of her sundress. “Is that all?”

“No, I have one more question.” She leaned closer. “When are you going to take this dress off? I’m losing patience.”

“
You’re
losing patience?” he laughed as he slowly pulled down one dress strap, baring the tanned curve of her shoulder. He left the strap dangling at her elbow and traced back up her arm with his fingertip. Leah hissed in a breath and let her head drop back.

He took full advantage of her surrender, dropping a hot kiss on her shoulder, then tracing his tongue across her collarbone. He used his teeth to pull the opposite dress strap down, allowing himself a few gentle nips along her skin as he went.

“Mmm.” Leah’s grip on his shoulders grew tighter. “Did you know there’s a mirror on the ceiling, too?”

“Yup.” He blew a hot breath against her breast through the thin cotton dress. “There are mirrors everywhere. I hope you’re watching.”

“I can’t look away,” she murmured on a sigh as he peeled the dress down over her breasts.

Sean opened his eyes and watched his reflection in the mirror as he used the tip of his tongue to trace a small circle around Leah’s taut nipple. She arched her back toward him, making his job all the easier.

Seeing himself touch her only increased his excitement. Already his cock throbbed mercilessly, begging to plunge inside her, but he held back. Instead, he glided his hands around to the sweet swell of her rear end and cupped her against him. He forced her legs wide apart and rocked between them as he continued to suckle each nipple in turn.

She moaned and rubbed the hot apex of her thighs against his swollen erection and stars exploded, blocking everything in his vision except for her gorgeous face. Sean gave up his quest for control. He yanked the dress around her hips with enough force that he nearly ripped the fabric. He was rewarded with the fact that she wasn’t wearing any underwear.

Leah giggled as she kicked the dress out of the way. “If you rip my dress in half, I’m going to have to insist that you carry me out of here as naked as I am.”

Sean gathered her against his chest and kissed her as he fumbled with the waistband of his shorts. “Whatever you say. Will would find a way to spin it in our favor,” he muttered as he finally managed to struggle out of his shorts. He kicked them in the general direction of her dress and pulled away from her just long enough to shuck his t-shirt off.

Once they were both naked, Sean pulled her up against him again, but before she could lean up to kiss him, he spun her around so they were back to front.

“Look,” he whispered, nipping her earlobe as he began rolling her bare hips against his in slow circles. His cock knocked against the cleft of her ass and he sucked in his breath at the welcome heat.

Her eyes widened as his hands moved along her skin. He cupped her breasts, glided them down her stomach and finally, with her watching every move, slid one hand between her legs.

“Sean.” Her voice came from some primal place deep inside her. It was low and husky with wonder and desire. “Please hurry.”

Slowly, he backed up until his knees hit the low bench behind him. Taking a seat on the edge, he pulled her down on top of him, spreading her legs so that she was poised just above his hard cock. She didn’t need any guiding after that. Without a word, she used the mirror to position herself above him, then glided down with a seductive shimmy of her hips, taking in each hard inch.

Sean gripped her hip with one hand and snaked his fingers between her legs with the other as she began to move. When he pushed her folds aside and strummed his finger over the bud of her clit, Leah shut her eyes briefly. He halted immediately and a whimper escaped her lips.

“Watch,” he reminded her. “I’ll keep doing that, but only if you watch. Watch what your face looks like when you come. Watch how our bodies move together.”

She nodded slowly and her eyes fluttered open, her gaze locking on his fingers as he began to move them again. Her breathing increased as she continued to roll her hips up and down over his shaft, then the speed of her gyrations doubled as his thumb moved with increasing pressure and purpose.

Finally, with a cry, she gripped at the bench and rode out an orgasm that twisted her face and had her body gripping at him, convulsing wildly as she watched herself ride. Sean marveled at the beauty of her face as she came and the power of her body as she milked him. He wanted more, so much more, but the pleasure was too intense. The emotion too strong. With his own roar of pleasure, he arched his hips and filled her as her last quivering shudders rocked his body.