Redeeming Her SEAL (ASSIGNMENT: Caribbean Nights Book 9) (21 page)

“Audra,” he growled and then choked on it as she sucked him into her hot little mouth and massaged his balls so expertly that he felt the rush of release spread through his veins far before he was ready. “
Whoa
.”

She ignored him and worked her tongue along his shaft at the same moment she opened her throat to take him fully into it. A freight train at full speed would be easier to stop now. God, he could not look away from her mouth as she worked him into a frenzy, as she took him in such an elemental way.

His hips had a mind of their own, pistoning faster and faster as the sensations overwhelmed him. Audra seeped into his blood, hit him dead center in the chest, and that was it. The explosion rocked him to the core as everything inside burst from his body, including what he suspected was part of his soul.

Torso heaving, his body melted into the blanket as his vision went gray. She was the one who was supposed to be relaxing, not giving him the orgasm of his life. Not invading his head or his body with her sweet touch and her even sweeter spirit.

He shouldn’t have let her do that. Just as he feared, the experience had wound through his heart, and it was useless to pretend she hadn’t taken up permanent residence. Probably that had happened long before today.

“That was for leaving you high and dry in bed this morning,” she said pertly. “You’re welcome.”

He had to chuckle. “I’m a fan of your compensation method.”

Pulling her closer, he wrapped his arms around her and started to dive into his own brand of compensation, but the strangest thing happened. She pillowed her head on his shoulder and peered up at him with her deep blue eyes, and all at once, he couldn’t move. There was so much to discover about the layers upon layers of emotions shining from her expression that he wanted to understand every last one.

She smiled and lifted a hand to his face but seemed similarly caught, because she just rested it along his jaw in a long, warm caress. “I like it when I can render you speechless.”

“I don’t,” he returned gruffly.

It meant there were things going on that he didn’t know how to verbalize, and for the guy used to giving orders, that was not a comfortable place.

“Let’s chalk it up to the magic of Ilhota Rosa,” she suggested. “I’ve been thinking that it’s time to move forward with reinventing your snorkeling excursion.”

That was not anything close to what he’d expected her to say. “We can’t. Rachel hasn’t gotten anywhere with the court.”

Audra shrugged. “So? Don’t charge. Then it’s not a commercial endeavor, right?”

“Yeah, but this is a business. I can’t just give away all our services.”

“But you’re not doing excursions now,” she argued with absolute truth that he’d be a fool not to recognize. “It’s not like you’re eating into existing profits. I guess boat fuel costs, so maybe it’s not a good idea. Let’s think of another one. The important thing is that you can’t give up.”

Scowling, he started to sit up, to change positions, to do anything other than let her laser-sharp vision keep slicing through him. “I’m not giving up. I’m just…”

Stalled. Defeated. Overwhelmed. There was little wiggle room with the injunction in place, and barring a deliberate decision to ignore it, which was not the right thing to do, he had few options. Aqueous Adventures was his dream, and it was disheartening to have it poised on the brink of ruin, especially given the motivation behind it.

Jared Anderson, one of his oldest friends, had set out to destroy Charlie’s life and was doing an excellent job thus far. Once, he’d believed Audra had some part in it. Now, he just wished it was something they could talk about.

“You’re in need of some inspiration.” She searched his expression. “Maybe you can replace snorkeling with something else. I’ve always wondered why you didn’t add kayaking at Bright Bay to your company’s offerings. It would be a perfect fit.”

Because the memories would have killed him.

But as her warm palm continued to bleed sanity into his battered heart, he realized he was at a different place than he had been. No longer did he have to avoid areas of the Caribbean for fear they would spear him through the gut with images of Audra.

Something tender unfurled in his chest as he stared at her. “That’s what I pictured in my head. All those nights we were apart. The bioluminescence spreading out under the kayak and your soft perfume on my skin because I couldn’t wash it off.”

Or more to the point, he’d never tried. The two weeks they’d spent together had specific associations: scents, textures, muscle aches, tan lines. They were all unique to the Caribbean but nothing more so than kayaking at night in Bright Bay, which wasn’t something you could do just anywhere in the world.

“Why not look into it?” she murmured, her breasts brushing against his torso as if it was the most natural thing in the world to be discussing business strategy while naked. On the beach.

But it made sense in the world they created when they were together.
She
made sense.

It fit to finally admit to himself while reveling in the colorful chaos of Ilhota Rosa that Audra had hurt him so much because he’d given her a piece of his heart that he’d never meant to let go. He’d fought it, denied it, pretended he’d had a choice in the matter, but in the end, the only decision he could truly make was to embrace it.

He was in love with Audra. For all the good it did him to admit it.

J
ared’s receptionist hated Audra. Always had. Audra chalked it up to one more barrier between her and the man behind the curtain, whom she would see today come hell or high water.

Charlie needed her to take care of the injunction once and for all. And maybe at the same time she could banish at least
one
of the speed bumps between them. They spent so much energy tiptoeing around inflammatory conversations. Why not just nip this one in the bud?

It wouldn’t fix everything. She’d thought revisiting Ilhota Rosa might be enough to break through some barriers, but all that had done was get her to the point where she realized that she owed it to Charlie to do what Rachel had suggested—flat out ask Jared to do her the favor of lifting the injunction. She had to take action, to fix the problems she’d caused. Not purposely. But that didn’t matter. Still her mess to clean up.

“I have an appointment,” Audra informed the brunette who was examining her manicure like there wasn’t anyone standing in her reception area. The woman had one job—to let people into the ReefCo inner sanctum, and she was failing miserably at it.

Pamela fake-typed on her keyboard. “Mr. Anderson isn’t seeing anyone today.”

“He’ll see me,” she ground out through clenched teeth, though she had no idea if it was true or not.

He’d texted her that he’d be back in Freeport Sunday night. Of course, his text hadn’t said anything about her showing up Monday morning at ReefCo’s office building, only that he wanted to see her, which was typical. He’d been singing that same song since they’d stopped being a couple.

This was the first time she’d considered taking him up on it. But getting and keeping the upper hand was paramount. Audra was nothing if not resourceful, and Jared’s admin, Trish, owed her a favor for screwing up the resort reservations when her sisters had come for spring break. She’d put an appointment on Jared’s calendar the moment Audra had asked. Or at least she’d said she had. Pamela hadn’t even bothered to check.

As she pulled out her phone to call Trish, Audra’s head started to pound. And then it got worse as the man himself pushed open the doors.

A staring contest ensued, full of unspoken grievances—on both sides—as Jared Anderson casually leaned on the door to contemplate Audra as if he’d been expecting her. He probably had been and Pamela was just being her usually witchy self.

All of it served to knock her off-kilter, which was not a good place to be when facing down the dragon.

“Pamela,” he said smoothly without looking at his receptionist. “Would you please find some coffee for Dr. Reed? Hazelnut creamer, no sugar.”

“I don’t need coffee, Jared, thanks.” Like a really bad muscle memory, her spine vibrated with tension the moment she heard his voice. That’s why she liked texting so much. Actually, she’d have preferred to have this whole conversation via text messages, but she had a feeling that wouldn’t go over well or she wouldn’t be here. “Just your time, assuming I still have an appointment?”

Jared speared her with his hazel eyes that any normal person would mistake as charming and flirty. In reality, he was sizing you up to find the weakest vulnerability on your body. So he could exploit it.

“You do.” He held the door open in clear indication that she should precede him into the hall.

She did but wished it didn’t feel like she was jumping at his bidding. But then that would be precious on her part considering it was nine a.m. on Monday, less than fourteen hours from the moment he’d returned from Singapore. He’d mentioned wanting to see her. Here she was.

Jared’s office was on the top floor of ReefCo’s building, and the view was spectacular. He ran his entire empire from here, despite the innocuous labeling of the enterprise as a nonprofit reef restoration company. He’d never completely come clean to her about it, but she was pretty sure he ran a good bit of his worldwide resort income through his nonprofit organization, which was a tax no-no. But who was she to point out another person’s sins?

Jared steered her toward the wingback chairs near the window, the spot he put anyone he wanted to catch off guard. It was a cozy little sitting area with a panoramic photo of a coral reef teeming with life stretched along the wall at a right angle. Jared always took the seat facing away so guests would have the full view of the tranquil picture, presumably so anyone in the opposing chair would be lulled into a false sense of serenity while he pounced. It was just one of many of his tactics that grated on her.

Everything this man did had cold calculation behind it. Including what he was doing with Ilhota Rosa, and she was putting an end to it. Should have a long time ago, but she’d been such a coward about facing him. What was it about Jared that turned her so weak?

“To what do I owe the pleasure, Dr. Reed?”

She didn’t sit down. Instead, she crossed her arms and stared down at the man who’d held her hand at Isaac’s funeral, who’d murmured to her in the dark as she cried until her insides felt like they’d been scraped out with a lemon zester, one layer at a time. Had he taken advantage of her grief? Or had she just been that needy?

There had to be good in him. No one could fake so much tenderness, and it was that man she appealed to.

“Our relationship meant something to me,” she told him honestly. “And I’m hoping it meant something to you. Enough that I can ask you for a favor.”

She’d half expected him to stand, just to level the playing field, but instead, Jared steepled his hands together and tapped his thumbs, clearly contemplating how much she’d be willing to pay for the favor. “I see. I was hoping this was a social call.”

“We broke up. I don’t want to get back together,” she reminded him needlessly, since she’d repeated that exact phrase at least ten times in the weeks following the bold move she’d made to remove him from her life. That had been like her old self. She clung to it, letting it infuse her with confidence.

He smiled, ruffling the nerves along her spine. “So you’ve said. What’s the favor?”

No acknowledgment of whether she’d meant anything to him. No sign of whether she had any kind of leverage to use. God, she hated playing verbal chess with him. Hated the helplessness that came along with it. Only for Charlie would she do this, and she centered herself by recalling the way his eyes had melted when he’d talked about Bright Bay.

That alone had decided this course of action. He shouldn’t have to look for additional revenue streams because she was too much of a chicken to set things right.

What she had with Charlie was rare and special, and she’d done her part to cause the problems between them. This showdown with Jared wasn’t the magic bullet, but she had to hope it would go a long way toward showing Charlie he could trust her with his painful secrets. Then maybe they could figure out what came next
sans
these additional complexities.

She cleared her throat. “Cancel the injunction against commercial ventures in the waters surrounding Ilhota Rosa.”

“No.”

And they were off and running, opening volley served and returned. No explanation from him and none needed. This was how he operated.

“You can’t build a resort there,” she insisted. “My report supports the island as a wildlife sanctuary so the Bahama Wildlife Foundation retains ownership of it in perpetuity. You can’t buy it. There’s literally no reason to continue this ridiculous grudge against a man who used to be your friend.”

That’s when he stood, and the glint in his gaze backed her up a step. Mentioning Charlie had been a mistake.

“If that’s all, Dr. Reed, I’m very busy catching up from being overseas, as you can imagine. You can see yourself out.”

Using her title was yet another way he played hardball, reminding her that she owed her job to him in a not-so-subtle way. Yeah, she got that he’d pull the funding for her research with no qualms and still sleep like a baby tonight. She didn’t care. She’d lived under that threat since the moment she’d broken up with him. Nothing had changed except she was tired of it.