Saving Kenna Page 5
The waitress roused me from my self-recriminations, asking what I wanted.
I looked up at the woman—a worn out, wrinkled-face, bleached blonde—and gave her a brief smile, trying to hold back my surprise she’d seen through my stay-away guise.
“What can I get you, sweetie?” she asked, snapping her gum, and offering me a tired smile.
“What single malt whiskeys do you have?”
She rattled off a list, and I stopped her at Jameson, ordering a double.
“Be back in a jiffy.” She sauntered off in the direction of the bar, but my attentions stayed firmly fixed on Joe.
“Yeah man,” Joe said, running his hands through his brown, balding, greasy hair. “He just scored two hot numbers. Both rich bitches. One of them is the woman he’d been fucking. Not sure what happened there, but she obviously pissed him off. I’m going to the new house to keep an eye on them. Dude, from what I heard, Marcus is keeping them in bare, concrete rooms. No beds, no nothing. Gnarly.” Joe adjusted himself before continuing.
“One of them is a strawberry blonde with a rockin’ bod. Hell, they both have fuckable bodies. Makes me hard just thinking about it. I’m hoping to get a piece of Strawberry while the getting is still good.” He licked his cracked, fat lips, then took a slug off his beer.
My entire body clenched, and I gripped the edge of the table, commanding myself to stay calm and not give into the need to pound the shit out of the fucker who’d dare talk about my Kenna in such a lascivious manner.
“Word is he’s going to auction off her virginity to the highest bidder. But I’m telling you, I can’t believe such a hot piece of ass hasn’t been fucked,” Joe rambled on, sealing his fate at a later date.
“Fuck!” I hissed out
“Sorry?” The waitress gave me a wary glance as she set my whiskey in front of me.
I quickly schooled my features, not wanting to draw attention to myself.
“Nothing.” I pulled a few twenties from my pocket and handed them to her. “Keep the change,” I grumbled, my gaze firmly trained on Joe.
“Thanks, sweetie.” She touched my arm before leaving.
I thought back to what Joe had said about Kenna and let my mind drift back to ten months prior, right before Chris Wilkes’ death.
The hot August sun beat down on me as I drove the speed boat around Lake Powell, towing whatever water skier currently hung on for dear life.
It didn’t bug me that I drove the boat while Chris, Irelyn, Cory, Rachel, and Kenna had a blast water skiing. Being the chauffeur was my job after all, and quite frankly, I enjoyed driving the Enzo 244 across the waters of Lake Powell. I’d never been much for water sports—it wasn’t something we Irish did on a regular basis. And my time in the merchant marines had taught me it’s always better to stay in the boat then out. But bouncing the boat off the waves had a definite thrill to it.
“Here you go,” Kenna said, handing me a cold bottle of water.
Our hands connected at the transfer and the zing of our ever-present chemistry traveled through my body. She peeked up at me through her incredibly long lashes, and for a long moment our same wordless conversation repeated.
We wanted each other.
We needed each other.
But wanting and needing didn’t always equate to having.
“Thanks, love.” I gave her a grateful smile before tearing my gaze from hers.
I opened the bottle and took a long pull while I slyly took in her bikini-clad body. Fuck if she wasn’t beyond gorgeous. Though her skin didn’t darken the way Irelyn and Rachel’s did, Kenna had the perfect amount of tan on her luscious curves. Curves I’d love to run my tongue all over.
“You’re welcome.” She squeezed my hand before breaking our contact. “Being the driver is a thankless job.”
“Not really.” I stopped the boat so Chris could swim back and climb on. “I enjoy challenging Chris and Cory.”
“I do love it when you dump my brother on his ass. So,” she paused and glanced over her shoulder at the rest of the party, “it sucks that our favorite bar closed early this year. Guess we’ll be staying in tonight. Chris invited a bunch of people over for a pool party.”
“Kenna,” I said warily. I knew what she thought, because I thought the same thing. The house Chris rented had a mother-in-law’s cottage behind the main house where I stayed. The cabin had plenty of privacy. If Kenna joined me, no one would miss her. Since the girl had a rep for spending time alone, and for sometimes just disappearing, they’d never come looking for her in my quarters.
“What?” She grazed her teeth over her sexy bottom lip, flirting with me the way she always did. “Certainly, you wouldn’t turn a girl away who just needed a break from the madness that will surely ensue tonight. You know how crazy Chris’ parties can get.”
“I do. But we both know that’s not why you’d come to see me.” My eyes dropped to her bikini top and her full tits I wanted so badly to suck. I thought about the first and only time we had kissed under the stars at South Mountain Park just a few months ago. Since then, I’d made a concerted effort to stay away from her, though the effort felt tortuous and wrong.
Kenna opened that sweet mouth of hers to say something when Chris yelled from the back of the boat.
“Sloan, I think we’re ready to go back. Kenna, leave Sloan alone. Let the dude drive the boat.” Chris shook his blonde hair, flinging water all over Irelyn and Rachel.
“Stop, Chris! I just dried off,” Irelyn shrieked.
A wicked grin split Chris’ face just before he picked up his sister and launched her into the lake. She came up sputtering and coughing, concentrating her sable death glare on her brother who laughed his ass off.
“You are so dead Christopher Wilkes. Just you wait.”
A frisson of dread turned my blood cold, and I closed my eyes against the invading sensation. My stomach started to roil, and for a moment, I thought I might hurl.
“Are you all right,” Kenna asked, putting her hand on my arm. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost or something.”
“What?” I shook off Kenna’s hand from my arm and took a long drink of water. Over the years, I’d learned to recognize moments of foreboding for exactly that. “I’m fine. Just ready to get out of the sun.”
Everyone climbed into the boat and Kenna took her seat next to a dripping wet, and spitting mad Irelyn. I drove them back to our slip at the dock. Suddenly, I had an overwhelming need to hold Cliodhna’s Emerald.
Ever since the damn thing had come into my life, the mystic shit I had dismissed previously had become a part of my life. I fucking hated that Paddy O’Shea had burdened me with it. I had a mind to throw it in the lake, but I had a feeling it would find its way back to me regardless of what I did to rid myself of it. I really didn’t want a demonstration of its power. I remained happy enough to believe it was all superstitious crap.
Later that evening, after we grilled out, I returned to the cabin, and immediately dug out the leather pouch from my bag. I emptied the Emerald into my hand, squeezing it tightly.
Irelyn’s words to Chris echoed in my mind. “You are so dead Christopher Wilkes. Just you wait.”
“Fuck!” I muttered and rubbed the back of my neck against an unnatural chill. As much as I wanted to dismiss her warning, I couldn’t. I could feel it in my bones, and I swear the Emerald grew warmer as I clutched it.
I opened my fist and stared at the stone, glad the damn thing wasn’t glowing or some shit. I swear it had a life of its own, and I hated that, more and more, I started to believe the thing actually had power, though logically, I knew that to be impossible.
I cursed Paddy under my breath. How the hell was I supposed to watch over Chris? We were friends of course, but we weren’t close enough he’d heed a warning from me. Besides, what the fuck could I say without him looking at me like I’d gone barmy or something?
Somehow, I’d have to find a way. If something happened to him, I’d never forgive myself…
“Sloan?” I heard Kenna’s voice drift in from underneath the door.
Letting out a long sigh, I debated whether I should open the door. I didn’t want to send the wrong message to her. If I let her in, all bets would be off.
I slid the Emerald back into its leather pouch and tossed it into my bag.
When I opened the door, Kenna stood there looking impossibly beautiful in a strapless, red sundress that hugged her curves perfectly.
Immediately, I knew opening the door had been a mistake. The way she looked at me with an almost pleading expression—bottom lip gripped between her white teeth—made me forget all the reasons I had that kept us apart.
“Kenna,” I said, glancing past her to make sure no one watched.
“Can I come in?” She bit a little harder on that damn lip of hers, and I flashed back to kissing her, and sucking that plump lip into my mouth.
“Yeah. Sure.” I stepped aside and let her come in, shutting and locking the door.
All bets off!
“I hear the music. The party’s in full swing?” I walked to the fridge and grabbed two beers. “Beer?”
“Yes, please.” She fidgeted, and I smiled, loving I made her nervous.
She should be nervous. In fact, she should be terrified of me.
“Yeah, there’s at least twenty or more people there. Are you going?”
I popped the top from her beer and handed it to her. “No. You?”
Kenna shook her head. “Not in the mood.”
We clinked bottles in a toast and Kenna took a picture of us like she always did and I smiled inwardly, loving how she documented our story.
I came back to my senses and took a long pull off my beer. “Kenna, why are you here?”
“I…” she stammered and stared at her beer, her thumb gliding up and down the neck of the bottle. When she looked back up at me, I saw a flash of recognition in her bright, green gaze.
Goose flesh erupted on my arms, and my own gaze fell to the floor in an attempt to hide from her.
When I looked up again, Kenna, once more, moved her thumb up the neck of the bottle and circled around the opening, and I wondered what it would feel like for her to take my cock in her soft grip.
“Kenna?” My voice came out more demanding as my cock twitched in my shorts.
“I want to be with you, Sloan. Nothing has changed since that night at South Mountain Park.”
“Oh Kenna.” I took the final steps that brought me within her personal space. “You have no idea what you’re getting into. I’m not your knight in shining armor. Far from it.”
“Who said I wanted a knight in shining armor?” She sucked in a ragged breath and stared deep into my eyes. The need I saw in them—the need that turned her eyes the darkest green—unraveled my self-control. “Even if it’s just for one night. I don’t care.”
I stood there, trapped in her gaze, wishing I could do the right thing by her and make her leave.
A good man did the right thing.
I wasn’t a good man.
“You and I both know it wouldn’t be for just one night, one time, one hookup.” With that realization, I gave myself over to the inevitable. I took her beer from her hand, and along with my own, I set them on the table. With my eyes locked on hers, I invaded her personal space once again, this time with the sole purpose of giving her what she’d wanted.
What I wanted.
Kenna’s body gave way to my touch as tiny mewls escaped her soft lips and were captured by my insistent kiss.
Fuck it all, I wanted her more than any woman I’d ever been with. I hadn’t been with a woman in months because I couldn’t get Kenna out of my mind. I only gave into my baser, carnal needs when I could no longer stand it. Even then, I never took them to my loft, and I never let them in my bed. I fucked them at their apartments and left. Half the time, I didn’t even know their names because I didn’t care. It was Kenna I saw when I closed my eyes.
This time, she was here with me, and no fantasy could measure up to having her so close. My entire body thrummed with excitement at the thought of stripping her naked and laying her out in my bed.
I picked her up and carried her to the bed, laying her gently down. My cock strained against the confines of my shorts, and I pulled them off before yanking off my shirt.
Kenna’s eyes widened at my nakedness.
“Do you like what you see, love?” I asked, teasingly.
“Uh…”
When the tip of her pretty pink tongue moistened her lips, I knew she did, and fuck if I didn’t harden more.
I closed my eyes and breathed her in. The aroma of her arousal mixed with her Kennaness—sweet and sultry—nearly had me coming on the spot.
Climbing on the bed, I positioned myself over her, letting our bodies touch. Kenna gasped at the contact, and she squirmed in a perfect way that had my dick taking notice.
“Do you have any idea how fucking beautiful you are?” I kissed my way up the shapely column of her neck to the edge of her jaw.
She didn’t answer, but turned her head, granting me open access to her soft skin.
“Sloan,” she moaned as I sucked in her earlobe, nibbling gently.
My ministrations drove her crazy, and she bucked her hips, driving her pussy into my hard cock. We both moaned until our feverish kisses silenced our sounds. My hand inched under her dress, climbing up her thighs to between her legs.
God, her skin was so soft and pliable to my touch that I almost missed the absence of her underwear.
“Kenna? Where are your panties?” I lifted my head and stared into her eyes.
“I didn’t wear any.” She bit the corner of her lip.
“I can see that.” I smiled wickedly as I pushed two fingers between her, finding her impossibly wet.
We both moaned.
“Fuck, you’re dripping. Take that damn dress off now!”
I moved off her and lay on my side, watching as Kenna climbed off the bed and unzipped her dress, letting it fall to the floor.
“Jesus Kenna,” I hissed, taking in this gorgeous woman before me. She didn’t balk at my perusal of her nakedness. Her sweet, pink nipples were hard and inviting, and I wanted nothing more than to suck them into my mouth, laving them until she screamed.
“Back on the bed,” I demanded.
She did as I said, positioning her body next to mine and pressing herself into me. Our mouths met again in a more-heated union. We were both crazed with desire. I had waited too long for this to happen, spent nights dreaming about how it would be between us. All the times I had turned her down, all the times we’d both left wanting and frustrated, were over.
We were wanton.
We were needful.
We were desperate to be with each other.
But the fates, or God, whatever, had other plans for us. Nothing kills the moment like an unwelcome and unwanted knock at the door.
We both froze and stared wide-eyed at each other as the insistent knocking grew louder.
“Sloan. Dude, open the door.” Chris and Cory’s voices boomed. Their laughing voices and off-color jokes told me they had to be three sheets to the wind.
“Fuck!” I grumbled. “In the bathroom.”
I got off the bed and pulled on my shorts, stopping for a minute before opening the door, giving my body time to calm the fuck down, and for Kenna to be safely tucked away in the bathroom. The last thing I needed was for Kenna’s brother to catch her in here with me. Cory would freak. So maybe, all things considered, these two men may have just done me a huge favor.
Unfortunately, I didn’t believe that for a minute and neither did my sad, softening cock.
“What,” I said, not bothering to hide the annoyance in my voice.
“Dude, get your ass over to the party.” Chris tried to push his way into the cabin, but I blocked his entrance.
“Not in the mo
od.” I gave them my best go-the-fuck-away glare.
“Oh. Fuck, dude, you’re not alone, are you?” Cory said, lifting up on his toes, trying to see into the cabin.
“Not exactly.” I kept one hand on the top of the door and rested the other on the door jamb.
“Sorry, man. So, who’s in there? When did you have time to meet someone?”
When my eyes narrowed and I growled, Chris and Cory backed away from the door.
“Never mind.” They held up their hands in surrender and turned and left, laughing as they stumbled down the path back to the main house.
I shut and locked the door again, then I leaned against it and closed my eyes. The interruption had put the correct head back in charge. “You can come out. They’re gone.”
Kenna came back into the room, and I handed her dress to her.
She glanced down at the garment then back up at me. “But—”
“No but’s, love. This isn’t going to happen. I should have never let it get this far in the first place.”
“Sloan,” she complained, but I shook my head.
“I don’t understand.” I could see her eyes fill with tears, and I cursed myself for being such a wanker. But this really was in her best interest.
“I let it get out of hand, Kenna. I apologize for that.”
“I don’t want your apologies. I want you to make love to me.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, and searched for the words I knew would make her leave.
“We wouldn’t have made love, we would have fucked. Nothing more.”
“Fine. Let’s fuck then. Do you think I care what you call it? We both want this, and we both know it would be so much more than fucking.”
“It doesn’t matter what I want. I’m not the man for you. You have no fucking clue what I’m about. What I’ve done and the things I have yet to do. I can’t afford for you to get in my way.” Everything I said was the honest truth, yet my heart clenched regardless. “I have nothing to offer you.”
“I don’t believe you, Sloan. The way you kiss me contradicts your words.” She held her dress in front of her, her bottom lip quivering.