Devious Eyes (A Cane Novel Book 2) Read online

  It’s a rule I’ve had since my eighteenth birthday. Respect comes first.

  I’ve never wanted to break it more in my life.

  Nate is still and has no movement in his hips as I dance in front of him, so I mirror my hand on his hips and rock him left and right as I move in front of him.

  The salsa beat is infectious, and I step back and forth, even around Nate, who looks more uncomfortable with each passing second.

  “Shall we take this to the beach?”

  “I’d rather we didn’t take it anywhere and I get another drink. Or we take it back to my place so you’re naked.” My brows shoot up.

  “No chance.” I pull on his hand and lead him down the wooden treads that guide us out onto the beach. The music is softer here, and there’s more room to move. I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him closer. His fingers grip tighter to my hips, and I press my body against his.

  Salsa was my dance of choice growing up, but all I can think about with Nate is a bachata. “If you want to keep holding my hips like that, you better start moving those feet, señor.”

  He gives me a dirty smile and moves us closer together, so close that his erection presses against me. My eyes widen as I look at him.

  “You asked for that, sweetheart.”

  He follows my lead for a few moments before the music switches from a Latin beat to some dreadful pop song. It doesn’t stop me, though. I’m having too much fun. Nate follows my lead with a few steps, but I’m constantly distracted by the attraction that’s thick between us. It’s intoxicating, like a blanket of lust is forcing us together, ushering us towards the inevitable conclusion of falling into bed together.

  Not tonight, though. Especially after our first interaction.

  The music fades, and I pull away from Nate, although his fingers wind in mine so we don’t lose complete contact.

  “I’m going to call it a night.” The sadness that tinges my voice is honest.

  “Can I walk you back?” There’s clear intent in his eyes that has nothing to do with calling it a night.

  “Thank you, but I’m a big girl. I think I can handle the five-star streets of this luxury resort. I’m out on the water bungalow. Perhaps I’ll see you around?”

  He smiles and looks me over again.

  “Hmmm.”

  This time I can’t hide my grin, and I beam back at him before turning away.

  Every beat of my heart tells me to turn back to see if he’s watching me, but I don’t. That would spoil the anticipation and excitement of what might come in the next few days. Because one thing is for certain, I’ll be making sure I run into Nate again.

  And soon.

  Chapter Six

  My arms power me along through the calm waters, some part of me desperate to find a reason for this adventure into the middle of nowhere, to give it credence. It’s like I’ve forgotten how to just be and relax. And that mystifying woman last night made me feel like an idiot for not being able to do that. She’s infuriated me with her relaxed sense of casual, bare feet replacing the heels I would normally prefer. So much so that I sat at the front of my villa for two hours this morning trying to ‘just be’, but damn if that’s not harder than I thought.

  I sat still, tried to relax in the early morning sun and lounge with an OJ and some fruit. All that happened was I wound myself up into a frenzy of agitated nerves and pressure, all the time thinking about how I should be counting the numbers of last week’s reports or annihilating someone else’s encryption algorithms just in case we needed it. I damn near got the laptop out and did them, barely remembering—screw that. So I jerked off, thinking that would relieve something. It didn’t. And now I’m here swimming because that’s all I’ve got to do to release the tension she’s caused.

  Who the hell is she anyway?

  Gabby.

  Not a whore, that’s for damn sure.

  Christ those hips could change a man’s view on life. I watched them all night, then felt them in my hands as we danced. Danced? What the ever-loving fuck? She made that happen, made me get up in that beach bar and dance to some god-awful music. She dared me like I was a fourteen-year-old without a decent set of balls, her finger playing with her lips as she teased me into it.

  Jesus.

  The thought has me turning over onto my back in the water, staring up into the sky and imagining all sorts of shit that should probably be against the law for women. Maybe it is. Fuck knows, and right now, I don’t give a shit either. This isn’t going to end well, and is not what I came here for, but damn if those lips don’t need something forcing into them.

  I palm my dick, amused that it’s waking up again, and smile into the sky above me as I drift. Whatever this tension is this morning, she’s part of it. Maybe it’s that quirky smile of hers that had me lapping it up like a puppy. Or maybe it was the way she spoke about something exciting, all the time drowning some sorrow she wouldn’t admit to into her mojito’s. She barely showed it, but it was there nonetheless. A sad frown, a lilt of unease. Seems we’re both broken by something, both escaping a past we’re not talking about. And maybe that’s for the best in the long run. Whatever the hell happens when I find her again is not going to last. This isn’t love and commitment, not that I’d know how to do that anyway. This will be fucking and diversion.

  Probably what we both need.

  “You’ll drown if you keep doing that.” Her voice rings in my ear.

  I spin at the sound of her, my hand immediately loosing my cock as I lower my legs to tread water. She’s there, about six feet off, a jet ski between her thighs and the tiniest bikini I’ve ever seen covering not much at all.

  “You stalking me?” I ask, swirling the water around me to keep me in line with her.

  She snickers.

  “Might be. A girl’s got needs.” She smiles wider, a wink following the move as I slowly make my way over to where she bobs. “Looks like you do, too.”

  “You’ve got no clue what I need, Gabby.” She quirks that look at me again, intrigue lifting her cute smile to something I could play with for hours. “Damn sure you could help me out with it, though.”

  “Presumptuous much?” I smile at her snarky answer, interested in how she’ll handle the actuality of what’s going to happen here.

  We stay like that for a while, her bobbing about, the water moving the ski around, and me just watching her and waiting for some kind of permission to show her exactly what my mind wants to do with her.

  “How about we start with lunch then?” she eventually says. Lunch. I nod and start swimming away from her back towards the villa. “Where are you going?” she asks.

  “To get changed?”

  “Oh no. This lunch requires nothing but the two of us.” She opens her arms out. “Just like this.” I wait in the surf, dick still enamoured at the thought of her as I gaze at the curves on display. “But I’m driving.” Is she hell. I frown. “Oh, stop it. Come on. Can you get on from there? Or are your arms already tired?”

  The look of her giggling to herself as she stares makes me forget everything else for a minute. She’s nothing like anybody I’ve met before. Somehow bright against this sky regardless of the sun’s rays beaming behind her. Dark olive skin. Toned everything. Latino heritage that shines through in all her curves, chocolate coloured hair only heightening that as it tumbles down her cheeks. And those soulful eyes that have me almost begging for a taste leading to her smile? They’re full of something I’ve not seen for a long time. Warmth. “Nate?”

  “Alright, I’m coming.” I slowly make my way to her and try to work out how to get up onto the ski without pulling her off it. The thought has me grinning, ready to do exactly that as she reaches an arm down for me to grab onto.

  “Please don’t tell me you’re thinking of anything juvenile?” she says, latching onto my skin, her long nails scraping the flesh. “You’ll lose, Nate. I can guarantee it.”

  Something about the way she lowers her pretty voice as she says it has m
e gazing at her lips, wondering what the hell she thinks she can do to me. Her eyes narrow a little. “I’ve spent years dealing with big bad wolves.”

  For some reason, I don’t doubt it.

  My foot hits the tread step, my hand reaching over the other side as I push up and let her weight counter balance mine. She heaves with more strength than I thought, given her size, helping me with little effort.

  “You got a right hook as strong?”

  “Might have. Don’t tempt it out of me.” She smiles back at me as she lifts her elbows up, wiggling her fingers for me to grab on around her waist. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid to touch me now you’re up here?”

  Hardly. My instant grasp on her skin and quick pull back to rest her against my dick have her gasping out a breath. I shove into her, sliding closer, my lips a breath away from her ear.

  “I’m not afraid of anything, Gabby. Haven’t been for a very long time.”

  She doesn’t look back at me or show a visible reaction; she simply tightens her muscles around the machine and accelerates hard, damn near forcing us both off the back. I laugh, amused at her antics, and cling on until the speed peters out to steady. It gives me time to look back at the shore, starting to appreciate its worth. It’s beautiful here. Tranquil. Long white beaches melt into the water, the forests rising up into the canopy of trees and mountains behind. I could be happy here. Lost still, but happy. I can feel it in my guts as the ski swerves over the light waves, some element of calm finally settling in and giving me a sense of peace from the endless risks that have been my life.

  “So, what do you do when you’re not on holiday?” she asks loudly, breaking me of my musings. I look at the back of her neck, following the line of it down to the string of her bikini, and smile.

  Juvenile.

  “Accountant.” I let go with one hand and raise it up to run my fingers over her shoulder. She shudders, shooting a sharp look back at me before looking forward again. “I’m all about numbers and decisions.” I keep caressing and wait for any sign she’s saying no to me. She doesn’t, not one part of her. She moves her neck around instead, letting me glide over the skin and follow her curves downwards until I reach the dip in her back. “Wouldn’t know anything about juvenile behaviour.” Her head turns a little, mouth open. “I’m steady, dependable. Nine ‘til nine every damn day.” My hand flattens against her as I crawl it back up and under the bikini string. She’s so soft, hard lines of bone moulding into supple flesh. I close my eyes and feel her skin rather than see it, letting the air breeze across me as we carry on, then tug on the tie. “Are we going somewhere secluded?” She shivers, her back undulating under my fingers. “’Cause I’m thinking this is coming off, Gabby.”

  She giggles. I feel it in her back as her eyes search the coastline for something, hands turning the ski towards a sharp cliff that juts out into the ocean.

  “Getting ahead of yourself again? All good things, Nate.” I look at the formation in front of us, gazing at the way it falls gracefully into the sea below. “We’re going around there. And I don’t want to be exposed when we get there.” She looks back, a sexy smile curving her mouth. “Behave.”

  I keep rubbing anyway, barely restraining myself from carrying on with my delinquent thoughts as she steers us, crashing through the loose waves, until eventually she rounds the headland. A small cove comes into view in the distance, no access down to it other than from the water. High cliffs surround the expanse, jagged rocks and trees framing the periphery.

  “See?” she says, pointing down to the shore. I follow her arm, finally seeing what she’s pointing at as it comes into range. “Lunch.”

  A table and chairs have been placed there, one man standing by the side of it who lifts his arm and waves as we approach.

  “Stylish. You trying to romance me into sleeping with you?”

  She giggles again, head shaking as she slows the ski down towards a wooden jetty that juts out.

  “You really don’t need to. I’m up for it. Begging isn’t required yet.”

  “You’re funny. I didn’t realise accountants were funny.”

  I frown. “We’re not. I’m being serious.”

  The ski rides up to the side of the jetty, the man already there to grasp onto the rope she slings at him. He smiles at both of us as we clamber off, and he nods at her.

  “It’s all there, mademoiselle. We’ll be back at three. Anything else I can get you?”

  “Thanks, Manuel,” she replies, wandering off along the wooden boards without a care in the world. “No, you can go.”

  The ski roars off almost immediately and leaves us alone. All I’m interested in is her, and I watch the way she sways along, commanding every curve she’s got without any thought of hiding her assets. I’m damn well drooling by the time I catch up with her, about ready to rip that bikini from her skin before we get to the food.

  “Drink?” she says, handing me a cocktail.

  “What is it?”

  “Don’t know. I’m taking risks.” She quirks her head at me. “Presumably accountants don’t do that, though.” She sucks on the straw in her other hand, pulling it into her mouth with her tongue. “Or do they, Nate? Take risks? You said you weren’t afraid.”

  I take the glass from her and pull the little cocktail umbrella out. The blue liquid blends into white, ice cubes clinking about as I draw the straw to my lips. “Careful. It could be poisoned.” I hover, watching her stare, and remember all those early years when Quinn told me to watch my back, never drink something unless you’d got it yourself. I shake my head, pushing the stupidity to the back of my mind. She doesn’t even know who I am, let alone want to kill a Cane.

  “I don’t think so,” I reply eventually. She smiles slightly and raises the drink to her own mouth again, still rolling that damn tongue around the edges of it. “You’re just trying to get me drunk so I’ll sleep with you.” I suck a large amount down, all the time watching her watch me. “Told you. You don’t need to.” She backs away a step, the coy tease still evident in those lips. “Before or after we eat, Gabby?” I ask, moving forward. “I’m thinking before. Get it out of the way so we can get to facts and…” I look her over again, “…figures.”

  She smiles wider and places her drink on the table, hands reaching behind her back for the strings on that scrap of material.

  “You sure? I’m not stopping once we start.”

  “Holiday fling.” Her fingers pull the strings out to the sides. “Everyone should have that, shouldn’t they? Something exciting?” I wet my lips, teeth dragging over them as she lets go of them and begins reaching for the strings on the bottom half of the bikini. “Sin compromiso. No second names. No love. Just...”

  “Calculated fucking.”

  She gasps at the remark and stops untying the bikini, a slight hesitancy I’ve not seen from her before at my words.

  “You’ve got a dirty mouth for an accountant.” I walk closer, putting my own drink down and reaching for the ties myself as I pull her into me.

  “Mind, too. It’s fucking filthy in here.” My fingers yank at the string, one hand sliding into the back of the bottoms to squeeze that peachy ass hard enough that she flinches. “You still want some?” She doesn’t answer me, just stares, mouth open a little at my handling.

  It’s answer enough for me.

  My hand turns her neck to the side, lips dragging over it before I’ve thought any more. I’m ravenous for her, and she tastes so damn good, like sun-drenched beaches and sin. Salt lingers in my mouth, mingling with the unique flavour of her. I slide lower, nudging the material out of the way so I can get to her nipple and suck it into my mouth. Her hands find my hair, a low moan sounding out as I rim the hard peak and pull it into my teeth. She gasps at that, nails digging into my scalp and winding this swollen dick up.

  “Nate?”

  “Mmm.” Fuck, she feels like silk in my mouth.

  “Quickly.”

  I lift her before she makes another noise,
hands manoeuvring her down to the water’s edge as she grips on and tries to pull my mouth to hers. My head rears back, ready to feel my dick inside her and nothing more.

  Calculated fucking. She agreed. Nothing more.

  We roll, lips roaming over any skin on offer as I push my shorts off and throw them up the beach along with the material she’s removing. It’s frantic all of a sudden, fingers and hands grasping at limbs as the water sluices over our bodies.

  My teeth sink into her shoulder, part of me desperate to taste those lips on offer as my body writhes under her nails. She’s harsh and soft, grasping for whatever she feels like with no hesitation, her own desperation making me want more of this than I should. We’re like two teenagers in a back alley, desperate and needy for something we’ve never done before. It’s confounding, winding me up further as my mouth gets closer to hers.

  She suddenly lifts my chest off her somehow, bracing me up so I look down at her, and then fucking slaps me.

  What the hell? I glare in response, my dick just about ready to attack her for the move.

  “You’ll never forget that,” she snaps out breathlessly, hands pulling me back down on her. “Get on with it.”

  Jesus.

  I push her legs further apart, roughly handling her body with as much angst as I dare let out. She deserves it after that slap, and it only seems to heighten her mood anyway, channelling every damn thought I’m having about her to triple into mindless filth. Dark nights, long fucking days. My dick burns with the images, nudging at her exposed wet pussy and damn near pleading for entry as she squirms and writhes.

  “Shit. Condom.”

  “I’m good. We’re good, now get on with it already.”