Billionaire Bachelors 8 : Unexpected Treasure(25)
Chapter Eleven
For the next five days, Crew tested the very limits of what he could handle. He didn't know whether he was a glutton for punishment or if he was determined to walk around with certain body parts south of the equator forever swollen. Haley was an eager learner, which made everything, er … harder. If she had been impatient or snooty, this would have been so much easier on him.
He could write her off - say he'd tried and then get her out of his head. But the light of excitement shining in her eyes each time he showed her something new was intoxicating for him. The moment was approaching when he would take her to the furthest reaches she could imagine.
That was a lesson that must be taught - personally. Though she wouldn't admit to him how many sexual partners she'd been with, he knew it couldn't be many. She was too shy, too unaware of her own body to have slept with more than a few men. Heck, he wouldn't be surprised if she'd been with only one or two.
Well, by the time he was done teaching her, she'd be a regular siren in bed. Unfortunately, the thought of her using these skills, the skills he'd taught her, with another man sparked a nasty little twinge in his gut. But he wasn't going to dwell on that now
As he walked toward her door, he was determined to keep his hands to himself. The touching had been a part of teaching her to appreciate herself, but that wasn't on the syllabus for today. Today was Lesson Ten - or was it Twelve? - he couldn't remember. Anyway, they were going shopping. The loose clothing had to go. She was a stunner, and she needed to show that off.
He'd have her fitted for a body-hugging gown, pick out a few outfits, and then take her out for a romantic dinner and dancing. Every man in the room would be jealous and every woman would want to be Haley Sutherland. If she didn't feel alive at the end of the day, he'd be earning a failing grade.
Bright-eyed and smiling, he almost bounced from his office, and was immediately stopped by his head manager, who was able to suppress his surprise at the boss's bizarre cheeriness and was not to be deflected from a discussion of some documents. Typical. But business always came before pleasure, or it should.
*****
Looking out at the ocean waves crashing against the shores of the island had Haley excited to get away from the resort for a while. She'd heavily pursued Crew and been persistent in persuading him to be her teacher, but she felt as if she couldn't breathe while in his presence. The man was so overwhelming - and what was worse, she wanted his touch, wanted more of him.
She enjoyed when he touched her – wanted more of it. She was trying to remember that she'd hired him - was it still hiring him if he wouldn't accept pay? - oh, well, that didn't matter. It was just a technicality.
The point was that she had hired him so she could catch her man, not so she could be caught by her teacher. But she had to remind herself of that every minute she spent with him. And that was a lot of minutes.
How did he manage to run his resort so successfully when he was constantly at her side? He had gathered an amazingly efficient staff, and he did work hard in the morning. And he kept checking in with his employees when they were in and out of the resort during the rest of the business day.
It was the nights that were the hardest. When he held out a chair for her and gently pushed her in, his fingers skimmed over her neck and her skin tingled for long minutes afterward. When the palm of his hand rested on the small of her back or when he whispered evocative words in her ear, oh, her resistance was low. She'd never intended to sleep with him, but her will was breaking.
What would it be like to have a man's hands caress her body, to have his mouth travel down the side of her neck and then capture her swollen nipple, wetting it with his tongue? It seemed that was all she thought about lately.
Before, when she pictured a man lying with her, the images hadn't been nearly as vivid and the face hadn't belonged to Crew Storm. For that matter, the man had always been faceless. She'd never really thought about that fact. It certainly hadn't been the face of Walker, the man she'd believed she wanted so very badly.
Scratch that. She did want him, she did! This was just a matter of her spending too much time with Crew. Of course the man was going to get inside her head.
Crew was dangerously masculine - sinfully, in fact. He was everything she should avoid, but he was her teacher, so how could she stay away? She smiled at the thought. It wasn't her fault if she was just following through on her plan, right? If something did happen between the two of them, it was just Crew teaching her, wasn't it?
If only she didn't have the voice of her grandparents still in her head, making her feel so guilty about her thoughts. She was planning on having sex, so what did it matter if it was with her teacher or the man she intended to pursue? Nothing seemed to make sense anymore.