When the sliver of her face disappears into the dark, I search the shadows before I take out my phone.
“Soooo,” Danielle says. “Pool?”
I shrug her off and get to my feet. “No.”
She huffs behind me. “But, Knox—”
Her mouth snaps shut when I look down at her, and she slumps back into the cushions, crossing her arms. I’ve never shown an interest or done anything more than tolerate her, so I have no idea why she thinks that will change because she pouts.
None of the ivies hold any appeal to me. Even though they come from rich families, most of these chicks work here so they can screw their way into more money by snagging another employee to marry down the line or hit the jackpot with a guest.
Without Danielle attached to me, I walk to the bar on the far side of the room, giving me the best view of the top of the stairs, and text Leighton.
Missing one hell of a party.
I saw plenty, thanks.
She doesn’t reappear at the top of the stairs, so I send another message.
What did you see?
Her response comes right away.
You touching whoever you want.
My teeth grind, and I toss back the last of my drink before setting the tumbler on the bar top.
I wasn’t doing any touching.
She doesn’t answer this time, and I feel the whiskey burning in my gut. Or maybe it’s her, acting like I run around the resort, sticking my dick in anything hot and wet like so many of these assholes.
If you paid fucking attention, I’m never the one touching.
Except with you.
Another few minutes tick by with me glaring at the screen, waiting for the fucking dots to come. When they don’t, I push through the people in the living room and storm up the stairs to my room. I throw open the door, but Leighton’s not there. Light shines from the bathroom, and I hear the water running.
Images of Leighton naked, soaped up in my shower, flash through my head, and I groan, my cock thickening. I jerked off in there this morning, thinking about her hair wrapped around my fist while I fucked her from behind.
I shut the door when I hear someone coming. I start to reach for the light until I hear Danielle in the hall, her voice whiney.
“I swear he came up here,” she says to someone.
Her friend reassures her as I cross the room to the bed. My head spins from the whiskey, and I crash down on the pillow. I reread Leighton’s message, reminding myself why I’m so pissed at her. And when she comes out, I’ll be here, waiting to let her fucking know it.
Chapter Five
Leighton
When I first step under the spray in Knox’s shower, I sigh. For the past several days, I’ve used the shared showers by the cabins. Lukewarm water and quickly scrubbing down before it turns ice cold has nothing on the multiple nozzles and steam enveloping me now. The heat works its way into my muscles, and the more I relax, the more I forget about all the people below my feet.
Except for one.
I went to the staff party to avoid spending the night in the house alone with Knox. As far as I know, he didn’t show up at a single one last summer, so I thought it was a safe bet. I’d taken a change of clothes with me that way if Kennedy was still in her office when I finished the dinner shift, I could go straight to the cabin. She was, and I did, but Knox ruined the rest of the plan.
Then he brought everyone here.
The music is still thumping when I step out of the shower. I brush out my hair before I notice the missed texts from him. My hand reaches for my phone on the counter, but I stop myself, realizing the ivy was probably hanging on him while he sent them. I remember her from last year. She was the worst, running her mouth all season about her plans to marry Knox and what she would change about the resort once they took it over.
The possibility she might still be all over him downstairs sinks like a stone in my belly, and I leave his message unread.
I pull on my sleep clothes and head straight for bed, not even bothering to turn on the lights. If I do, then I’ll be tempted to sneak to the top of the stairway for another peek, and I’ve officially had enough of Knox today.
But not thinking about him is impossible as I crawl in and snuggle down under the covers. Just like everything else in here, they smell like him even though the housekeeper changed them. I hate how fucking delicious he smells, and I really hate how turned on I am by it.
At least in the dark of my room—his room—I can admit it. If only for a few minutes.
I bury my nose in the fabric, inhaling him.
It took me the entire walk to the house to breathe normally after he pinned me to the wall in the maintenance hallway. I needed to start all over again after seeing him on the stairs and then on the deck earlier.
I know I shouldn’t have let Knox kiss me. He shouldn’t have tried. We shouldn’t have this heat between us, and we most certainly shouldn’t be giving into it. But when his massive body pressed into mine in the hallway, it felt like he was claiming more than my mouth.
Even now, I can feel his strong hands cupping my jaw and the groan vibrating through his lips and into mine. The ache between my legs hasn’t completely gone away since he pushed his big thigh between them. And now, knowing I’m in his bed, it becomes too much.
I trail my hand down to my belly. My chest rises faster as I imagine it’s his fingers on my bare skin, slipping under the waistband of my sleep shorts. They graze over my panties, teasing me through the fabric the way I know Knox would before giving me what I want.
I nudge the drenched fabric aside to drag my fingers over my slick clit. Just being surrounded by everything him makes my head swim, and I can almost sense the heat of his body next to me. When I close my eyes, I swear I hear his breath. My fingers move over my slit, a moan about to tumble from my lips…and then I feel the mattress shift.
Really shift under someone’s weight.
Just as I realize I’m not alone in the bed, the person rolls into me. I rip my hand out of my shorts, about to scream, when an arm drapes over me.
“Quit moving,” Knox growls.
Oh. My. God.
“What the fuck are you doing in here?” I shriek.
I have no idea if he knows what I was about to do, but my cheeks are on fire. I start to scramble out of bed until Knox’s other arm slides under me, and he pulls me back. My body hits his bare chest, and he breathes into my ear, sending a shiver through me.
“I was waiting for you. Only you took forever, and I fell asleep.”
The throb between my legs is so much worse with him pressed into my back, and I swallow, trying to focus on anything else. “What did you want?”
A deep sound rumbles in the back of his throat. “I’m having a hard time remembering at the moment.” He runs his hand down the front of my thigh to my wrist. “But I think we both know what I want now, Leighton.”
“Knox.” My voice comes out a breathy whimper as his lips graze my earlobe, then his teeth.
I need to tell him to leave, but the fingers he’s threading with his were about to be inside me while I thought about him, and now he’s here.