Splendor(177)
Julia’s sister stared at the bouquet with a horrified expression, as though she were clutching an angry badger instead of some beautiful flowers. Julia was squealing in delight as she realized her twin was the lucky girl, while Lauren could only murmur in stunned disbelief, “How in the hell did that happen?”
Chapter Twenty Three
July
“Okay, maybe this is my new favorite hotel. It’s at least in the top five. No, make that top three. And I do understand why they call this place paradise.”
Tessa stretched luxuriously as she reclined in the padded chaise lounge. The warm Hawaiian sun beat down on her bikini-clad body, and she closed her eyes in bliss.
Ian chuckled. “It will be interesting to see how your pecking order changes as you see more of our properties. But you will be hard pressed to find too many places in the world as beautiful as these islands.”
They had flown to Hawaii a week ago, traveling first to the resorts on Oahu, Kona and Kauai. Ian had performed his usual inspection of the properties, held meetings and reviews with the managers and staffs, and tended to all the other matters that required his attention during visits like these. They had arrived here in Maui two days ago, and tomorrow nearly every hotel manager in the Americas Region would be arriving for a four day meeting.
The managers meeting was an annual event, and held at a different property each year. While this was obviously the first one Tessa would be in attendance at, she’d been involved the past two years with all the preparations – compiling reports, printing up name badges, coordinating with the hotel staff to ensure all the necessary A/V equipment was ready, etc. The entire management support team had been heavily involved with the preparation for what was arguably one of the most important events of the year. Andrew always attended the meeting, needing to be on hand to ensure everything ran smoothly, and he had in the past taken one of the support team along to help out. Tessa recalled listening to both Gina and Alicia in the past rave about the trip, how luxurious everything had been, what a fabulous time they’d had. Tessa hadn’t been able to help being more than a little envious, and had wondered wistfully at the time if she would ever get a turn.
She thought idly how much could change in a year’s time. Twelve months ago she’d still been married to Peter, clinging desperately to save a marriage that had really been over with for a long time. She’d been working for a boss who she admired and secretly crushed on from afar, but had never dreamed he’d even noticed her. Now, a year later, she was divorced, Peter was living halfway around the world, and her boss was now her lover, the man she idolized and longed to be with every minute of every day.
Ian’s phone rang and he scowled at it before reluctantly checking the screen. His phone seemed to have been ringing off the hook these past few days, and she knew he must be growing weary of all the calls.
“Damn it, I’ve got to take this unfortunately, “he told her. “It shouldn’t be long.”
She waved her fingers at him. “It’s okay. I’m not planning on moving from this spot for a good long while.”
He squeezed her shoulder as he answered the call, walking to the edge of their private patio as he did so. From behind the lenses of her oversized sunglasses, Tessa smiled in satisfaction at the truly awe inspiring sight of him clad in just a pair of swim trunks. His heavily muscled upper body was bared to her admiring gaze, and she noted with interest at how deeply tanned his skin had become in just a few days. She loved the raw, primitive beauty of his ripped biceps, broad chest and huge shoulders. She liked that he wasn’t overly hairy, just a wide strip of hair down the middle of his chest that tapered down past his waist and disappeared beneath his dark blue swim trunks. Tessa continued her unabashed inspection of his body, lusting at the sight of his long, muscular legs and taut buttocks. He was unshaven today, giving him that dark and dangerous look she loved, and his hazel eyes were covered by a pair of aviator sunglasses.
Beneath her red bandeau bikini top, her nipples peaked and her breasts felt achy as she continued to watch him. It had been over a week since they’d had sex, due to another of her heavy, painful periods. That hadn’t prevented them from enjoying each other in alternate ways, though the pleasure had been largely on Ian’s side. Despite his half-hearted protests that he could wait until she was over her cycle, in the end he hadn’t resisted when she’d taken him into her mouth, or stroked him with her hands, or guided his fully erect cock between her breasts. She had done the latter just last night, and could still picture the look on his face as he’d come all over her breasts, the thick streams of semen marking her in a different way as she’d rubbed his essence into her skin. He had groaned as he’d watched her, taking her mouth in a soul-stealing kiss, and then whispered to her urgently that he’d been keeping very careful tally all week of how many orgasms he owed her.