Ezekiel had just married Reagan in some whirlwind Vegas wedding. The two were so in love, it was almost nauseating and definitely not something Luke believed would work for everyone.
Love sure as hell wasn’t for Luke, and he didn’t have time for any office romance, either.
“Do you want me to get you a drink?” she asked in that sweet tone of hers.
Luke jerked from his thoughts and shook his head. “I can get it. I’ll probably go sit on the patio for a bit for some fresh air.”
Kelly nodded. “Ok. Well, good night.”
She stared another minute, her eyes landing on his bare chest, before she passed by him to go back to her room. It wasn’t until that door closed with a soft click that he released the breath he’d been holding.
Damn it. He was going to have to pull himself together or he’d never make it out of this trip without surrendering to temptation.
Five
Kelly scooped up a seashell and rinsed it off as the tide rolled in. She ran her thumb over the smooth edges and slid it into the side pocket of her beach bag. As a child, she’d always loved looking for seashells when she’d gone on beach vacations with her parents.
That was something she and Luke had in common; they had both lost their parents when they’d been in college. Her parents had died within a couple years of each other, but Luke had lost his at the same time in a car accident.
Even though Luke was an adult, he and his brother, Ezekiel, were raised by their aunt and uncle, Trent and Ava Wingate. That’s how Luke and Ezekiel had slid into the company.
Unfortunately, Trent passed away and a grieving Ava had turned to Keith Cooper...who ended up being the downfall of Wingate, but that bombshell fact didn’t come out until a very carefully placed wiretap.
The downward spiral of the company just seemed to steamroll with one unfortunate event after another between fake charges being brought against them, foreclosures of properties, and the embezzlement. Keith had been behind it all and would certainly pay for his crimes.
Sutton Wingate, the CFO, was doing all he could on his end to make the numbers work, but there just wasn’t a way to bring this company back up from the ashes without some grand new project to give them that boost they needed.
That’s why Ezekiel and Luke were feeling the pressure to make things right and eliminate the black cloud that had been looming over Wingate Enterprises.
The stress had just become too much and while Zeke had Reagan as an outlet, Luke only had his career. That’s when Zeke had realized his brother needed to get away and clear his head.
Between all of the career ups and downs, Luke had been put through the ringer, but so had his personal life with the broken engagement a few years ago. Kelly had never been as happy as when his ex, Lily, had finally gotten out of his life. And as far as she was concerned, Lily had never been good enough for Luke. She’d been much too demanding, not understanding that Luke had an important role in Wingate and couldn’t just take off on a whim. She never cared about Luke’s feelings or his work, she had only cared about how big her ring was, or how fancy their wedding could be or having the grandest house in all of Royal, Texas.
And Kelly couldn’t stand how Lily would look down on her when she came into the office. Like being an assistant was so far beneath a wanna-be trophy wife.
So when all was said and done, the broken engagement was for the best. Luke wasn’t the marrying kind and clearly Lily didn’t see that. Kelly knew exactly the type of man he was...and that’s the sole reason a fling was her only option with the man she was so hopelessly infatuated with.
Moving on down the beach, she slid her toes along the wet sand where the tide kept coming in. She felt another larger shell and bent down to dig it out and rinse it off, too. Although she didn’t know how long she’d walked, so far she’d found five shells that she wanted to take back to Texas. She wanted a reminder of her trip to this beautiful, exotic location.
And her trip with Luke.
That sounded ridiculous and naive, but she was the boss of her own little world and she didn’t care.
She didn’t see Luke this morning when she’d gotten up. Breakfast had been delivered at nine. She’d grabbed some fresh fruit and drank a mimosa before leaving and still hadn’t heard a peep from his bedroom.
Maybe he was hiding or embarrassed after last night. Perhaps he was trying to figure out how to face her since he’d seen her bare ass?
All she knew was she hadn’t missed the way he’d looked at her. The lighting might have been dim, but the raw passion in his eyes had been damn obvious.
He’d been turned on and those tight, black boxer briefs did nothing to hide the fact he’d also been aroused.
Likely seeing any half-naked woman in the middle of the night would cause him to get turned on, but he’d never been turned on by her before...at least not that she knew.
Kelly turned and headed back toward the bungalow. She put on her yellow bikini and only threw on a white wrap around her waist. While she definitely needed less sun on her buns today, she still wanted to go back and get more sunscreen on her upper body.
She rinsed off her feet at the outside shower and left her bag and sandals on the chaise by the pool. The sun was already beating down and she couldn’t wait to build on the tan she’d started.
Being stuck in an office for ten hours a day lately, she hadn’t had much time for catching some rays. Not to mention December wasn’t the best month to try to gain some color in Texas.