You, Me, and Forever (Blushing)

Holy shit.

I’d had my fair share of sex. My fair share of blow jobs. My fair share of one-night stands.

But this . . . this was next level.

I’d never get the vision out of my head of me hovering above her as she opened those plump pink lips and let me fuck her mouth.

Her innocence was obvious, and it was easy to see that she’d never done anything like this before. There was something in her eyes when I studied them. Hesitation, maybe? I barely knew the woman, yet I could tell this was a lot for her.

I pushed off of her and made my way to the bathroom, where I grabbed a washcloth and covered it with warm water before wringing it out and making my way back to the bedroom.

She was lying there with her dark hair falling around her. It stood out in contrast against the white sheets on the bed. Her chest was still rising and falling, and I felt good knowing that I’d made her come twice without even dipping my dick into her.

I loved pleasing the woman I was with, but pleasing this particular woman was somehow much more satisfying. There was this look on her face, as if that had never happened before.

As if no one had ever touched her or looked at her the way I had.

It turned me the fuck on.

But my gut told me not to push, and I always trusted my gut. I grabbed my briefs on the way back to the bed and pulled them on before sitting on the edge of the mattress and pressing the warm washcloth to her chest. I cleaned her up, and she cinched her brows together and watched me.

“You all right?” I asked as I set the washcloth on the nightstand.

“Am I all right? Um, I’m fabulous.” She sat up, taking the sheet with her and covering her gorgeous tits. “Why’d you put your undies on?”

“My ‘undies’?” I laughed. “They’re briefs.”

“Fine. Briefs.” She shrugged. “Was this not good for you?”

“Are you fucking serious? That was the world’s greatest blow job, and it was hot as hell.”

“Yet you put your briefs on before we’ve had sex.” She cleared her throat, and she suddenly appeared wounded.

I tucked her dark hair behind her ear. “I know the last time you had sex was with a guy you were dating. I don’t want you to do something you’ll regret. My ego is far too big to be anyone’s regret.”

She groaned. “My first fling has a moral compass? This is a total bust. Isn’t this your thing? Do you normally turn down sex with a one-night stand?”

She was funny and cute as hell, and I was dying to bury myself deep inside her. But my instinct told me not to go there. For her sake—which was outrageous, considering I barely knew the woman.

“I’ll tell you what, Dominique Venezuela,” I said, my lips turning up in the corners because we both knew that wasn’t her name. “It’s late. Let’s get some sleep. If you wake up in the morning and want to have sex, you just climb right on.”

Her eyes widened. “You want me to spend the night? Isn’t that sort of against the rules for a one-night stand?”

“It’s after three in the morning, so the sun will be coming up soon. There’s no reason to leave in the middle of the night. And there are no rules with hookups. You make them up as you go.” I slipped into bed and pulled her down against me, her back against my chest. I liked the feel of her soft skin, and the way her hair smelled like strawberries and honey.

“Do you normally cuddle with people you hook up with?”

No. I normally go to their home, and I get the fuck out of there after everyone’s gotten off.

But I wasn’t ready for her to leave yet.

“It depends. And morning will be here soon enough.”

“If I forget to tell you in the morning, thanks for a great night, Myles,” she said, her voice sleepy, as her hand came over mine. “I hope you have a great life.”

“Go to sleep. Chatting is not part of one-night stands.” I kissed the top of her head.

Her breathing slowed as she nuzzled against me.

And sleep took us both.

It was probably the deepest I’d slept in a while.

The sun forced my eyes open, and I groaned at the fact that this fucking place had very little time without the sun shining. I stretched my arms over my head and reached for my phone to see that it was later than I’d expected—it was almost seven o’clock in the morning. The sun had been up for a while, but I’d been dead to the world.

Flashbacks of the night before flooded my thoughts as I sat forward and glanced around. The spot beside me was empty, and I glanced at the floor around the bed to see that all her clothes were gone.

I pushed to my feet and made my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth before padding out to the spacious family room and kitchen. There was no sign of her.

A piece of paper on the counter caught my eye.

Miles,

Thank you for everything. I had to leave early, as the diamond business never sleeps. I hope you have a great life.

XO, Dominique Venezuela

I’d never had a woman I’d hooked up with wish me a good life so many times. Yeah, I get it. It’s a one and done. I know the drill.

I’d wondered if she’d take me up on the offer to have sex today, but I was glad that I’d refused her last night, because my gut had been right.

I had a feeling she’d regret it, and that wouldn’t sit well with me.

I ran a hand through my hair as I flipped the paper over, a small part of me wishing she’d left a phone number. But she was leaving town today, and I had no idea where she really lived, or what her real name was, since I was fairly certain that everything she’d told me was fabricated.

Lying was always a big turnoff for me, but somehow her telling me the wrong name hadn’t offended me. It felt more like a game she and her friends were playing than a form of manipulation.

I shook it off as my phone rang, and I saw that it was Jackson.

Duty calls.

“Hey, did you look over my ideas?”

“Yep. I’m on it,” he said. “I think you can get even more rooms on the property and go bigger than we’d originally planned without losing too much green space, because there’s just so much to work with. Anyway, just wanted to let you know that we’ll be landing soon.”

“Sounds good. I’ll jump in the shower and pick you up when you get here.”

“See you soon.”

Jackson and I had grown up together, and we were like family. He’d worked on the majority of our commercial projects, and the dude was a brilliant architect.

I made my way to the bathroom, hoping for a quick shower, but considering I had a wicked case of blue balls this morning, I spent a little time giving myself some relief from the thoughts of the woman I couldn’t quite get out of my mind just yet.

I got dressed, made a cup of coffee, and shook it off.

I swung by the airport to pick up Jackson after he’d landed. Thankfully this island had a private airport for those who wanted to get on and off by something other than a boat.

He whistled when we pulled up in front of the Seaside Inn. “You’re right. It’s even better in person. Look at that fucking view.”

“Yep. It’s something. And with all the tourists flocking to this place, they can’t accommodate half of them. So a lot of people stay in Anchorage and just come hang out here because it’s the place to be right now, apparently.” I parked in the small parking lot beside the inn.

“So we need to get this going sooner rather than later.”

“Definitely. We can’t do anything for a month because apparently they committed to hosting another wedding here in a few weeks, and there wouldn’t be enough time to get that one rescheduled. They wanted us to wait six months, but thankfully I was able to negotiate it way down. It’s going to take nine to twelve months to get this project up and going, and if we can time it to happen by next season at this time, we’ll make a killing.”

“You do have a good vision when it comes to this shit,” Jackson said.

“Says the dude who draws everything we build. You’re the talent here. I’m just the one who takes that plan and puts it into action.” I pulled the door open and stepped inside.

“Myles, it’s nice to see you again,” Howard said as he walked over to greet us. “I was hoping you’d come by this morning. I want to introduce you to the couple getting married here, seeing as you technically own the place now.”

I didn’t feel a need to mention that I already owned the place, and he was just renting it back from me.

Nor did I feel the need to meet locals, though that didn’t stop him from trying each time I saw him.

I had a business plan that had been very successful to me thus far, and chatting with the locals was not part of it. Sure, we’d be hiring employees from Blushing to work on the construction, as well as employees to run the place once it opened.

But Howard wanted to introduce me to the people getting married here this month, and the caterer and the party planners and all that shit that I didn’t have any interest in. This was going to be a luxury resort, not a wedding venue. Sure, they could rent a banquet hall if they wanted to, but that would be a very small portion of the business we were building. We’d have a five-star restaurant on site, and we’d hire the best if they were here, or we’d find them and move them here.

That’s how the St. James Corp. does business.

“Sure.” I gave him a curt nod and held out my hand to the man beside me. “This is Jackson, the architect on the project. Jackson, this is the man we purchased Seaside from, Howard.”

They shook hands and made small talk as I told the older man that I was going to take Jackson outside to walk the property.

“This is small-town living, brother. You’re not used to having locals in your business, because you’ve never taken on a project like this in a town of this size.” Jackson chuckled as we stepped outside and he took in the property.

“Yep. I’m learning that quickly. I’m going to spend a few weeks here and meet with the contractor and figure out how we’re going to get supplies brought in and come up with a game plan. We’ll probably need to bring a lot of things over by boat.”

“Damn. You sure you’re up for this? This isn’t New York, Myles, or even Los Angeles or Vegas, or other areas we’ve taken on projects like this. It’s a small town, more remote—things are going to be more challenging.”

“Yes. I’m more than aware. There’s apparently a moose in town who you just sort of ignore, and Howard and his wife Lydia appear to know everyone in town, so I get the feeling they think I’ll be the same way.” I scratched the back of my neck.

He chuckled and clapped me on the shoulder. “It’s good for you. You’ve always been in the city, and maybe it’s time you spend a little time in nature. You could try smiling every now and then. People like that.”

I flipped him the bird, and we spent the next hour talking through our ideas. He was going to make a few tweaks to the plans, and I glanced at my phone to check the time.

“All right, we’ve got that meeting with Charlie from Huxley Construction. Let’s go see if he’s here. Howard said we can meet in the dining room and go over everything there.”

We made our way inside, and Charlie Huxley was standing there talking to Howard. Well, Howard was talking, and Charlie appeared to be trying to get the conversation to come to an end after he’d looked up to see us walking his way.

We made the brief introductions and pulled him away so we could go chat on our own.

“Are you from here?” Jackson asked him as we sat down at the large table, and I pulled my laptop from my briefcase.

“Born and raised.” He scratched the back of his neck as he stared at the screen, and his eyes widened. “This is going to be a big one.”

“Yeah, and now this guy wants to go even bigger, and add another wing on the west side.”

“Damn. You don’t mess around.”

“Is this something you feel comfortable taking on?” I asked. “I told you I’ve got a crew we can bring out and house here for a few months, as we want to get things going right away.”noveldrama

“Yeah, I’ve got this. And we’re going to need the extra crew to get this done in the timeline that you want. I’ve got some guys in Anchorage that’ll be happy to work on this, and my crew of eight to ten guys here, but this is a lot. Especially if you’re set on opening by next season.”

“I’ve opened hotels that were four times this size in the same amount of time, so I think it’s doable,” I said.

“It’s doable, assuming we have what we need regarding the crew and we can get all the supplies here in time. Those are the holdups that kill a project timeline. But if you’re on top of that side of things, and supplies aren’t an issue, I can manage the guys and stay on track. I thought doing the forty-five rooms was going to be a lot, but now we’re increasing this to a sixty-room hotel.” He shook his head. “It’s a lot larger than anything we’ve had here. I mean, the current inn is the largest accommodation that Blushing has to offer at the moment.”

“I think it’s necessary,” I said as he studied the drawing on my computer screen, and Jackson pointed out where we’d add the fifteen-room wing on the west side.

“Hey, Myles. That couple I told you about is here, and I’d love you to come meet them.”

For fuck’s sake.

“Yep. I’ll be right there, Howard,” I said, trying to hide my irritation.

Once he walked away, both Charlie and Jackson chuckled.

“He’s probably the nicest man you’ll ever meet,” Charlie said. “But the dude can talk. And he wants everyone in town to be best friends. I tend to keep to myself, but Howard and Lydia won’t stand for it.”

I pushed to my feet. “All right. Let me get this over with. You two can work out the logistics.”

I walked toward the entrance, where Howard was waving me over.

I startled when I saw the woman standing next to the man that Howard was speaking to.

I knew “Dominique Venezuela” was a bullshit name, but was she seriously here to get married?

Had I completely misread this woman?

And why was I so pissed off about that?