Private Pleasure (Sun Stroked Book 3) Read online

  Cody’s stomach did a nosedive. She plans on getting engaged. What the fuck?

  Engaged?

  That one word kept drumming in his head. Was Ryan serious? Abby had plans to get married? He swallowed as confusion and anger came at the same time.

  With his mood blackening, his eyes fixed hard on his friend. “She’s getting engaged?” he asked, his voice full of disbelief.

  “I guess. I don’t remember Lauren’s exact words but she wants Abby to have a wild time while she’s here and indulge in an affair with a passionate guy. Something like that anyway.”

  Emotional turmoil swept through him. Was this why she encouraged him not to hold back with her? So she could have an affair with a wild, passionate guy?

  He frowned in concentration. Was this thing between them nothing more than a vacation fling to her? A wild ride before she got engaged?

  Jesus fucking Christ!

  He shook his head in total disbelief and muttered curses under his breath as realization slammed into him. Perspiration broke out on his forehead, despite the chill settling in his bones.

  Tense silence lingered until Ryan broke the balls. Cody watched Ryan work the table. Ryan was speaking, he knew, but Cody couldn’t seem to follow the conversation.

  Son of a bitch. He was a fucking idiot.

  He rubbed his temples. Here he thought Abby was sweet, honest, open, and all the while she’d kept her future plans from him. Now he knew why he’d sensed she was holding something back earlier. He might have allowed himself to believe things had changed for her, if he hadn’t already established that she never broke her plans.

  Goddammit, he knew better than to let her past his barriers, but did that stop him? Hell, no! His resolve had melted like hot butter at her first sweet touch. He braced his hands on the edge of the pool table and worked to sort through things while trying to ignore the pain twisting his heart. He never should have opened himself up. It only allowed hurt inside. Hadn’t he learned this painful lesson already? He should have just left it at sex. Nothing more.

  As he picked up his pool cue, he felt his insides turn to ice and he knew what he had to do. He drew a breath, centering himself. It was time to put her out of his head, and his heart, and forget he ever met her.

  After a late lunch with the girls, Abby made her way back to her cabana. As her gaze strayed to the mountaintop, she wondered whether Cody was watching her.

  Cody…

  Her heart beat at double time just thinking about him. Now that he’d unlocked her fantasies and turned himself loose on her, how could she ever go back to being content with Artie? Back to being a good girl with a mapped-out future?

  She couldn’t, and she damn well knew it.

  Before she met Cody she thought she’d had everything her heart desired, just not what her libido desired. Cody had opened her eyes, and her heart, and showed her that she had neither.

  She took a moment to think about her advice to Danielle. Over lunch, she’d told her friend to talk to Ethan, to let him know how she felt, to be honest with him, even though Abby hadn’t been completely honest with Cody herself.

  Now she knew it was time to take her own advice. She needed to tell Cody how he made her feel, to take their relationship to the next logical stage and tell him everything about her, including her future engagement.

  Abby stepped into her cabana and checked her cell phone for messages. Nothing. She knew she had to talk to Artie, but she needed to talk to Cody first. She hovered near her doorway and waved her arms around, hoping Cody was watching from afar. After minutes slipped by, and he’d yet to show, she decided to go looking for him.

  She tried his cabana first, and then made her way to the hilltop. She stood on the cliff overlooking her private cove. Disappointment settled in her stomach when she discovered that her guardian angel wasn’t perched on the cliff, overlooking the resort. “Where the heck is he hiding?” she murmured.

  Just then Mr. Malik came up behind her. “Abby, I see you’ve ventured off the beaten path. Have you found what you were looking for?”

  She smiled and suspected he knew far more than he let on. “I believe I have,” she said, her mind racing to Cody.

  “Then the magic elixir is working for you?”

  “Yes,” she said, a sudden believer in the magic of the elixir, the magic of this island.

  She’d come to understand that she needed to venture off the beaten path before she found her true heart’s desire.

  She took a moment to think about Cody and his deepest desires. He’d said he wanted solitude, but like her, she suspected that what he thought he wanted and what he really wanted were two different things.

  “Do you feel the chill in the air, Abby?”

  She shot him a perplexed frown. It had to be at least one hundred degrees outside. Before she could answer, he said, “I find the only thing to take the chill out of the bones is the sauna.” With that he turned and disappeared into the jungle.

  She suspected Mr. Malik was giving her some sort of secret message. Deciding to listen, she climbed from the mountain and made her way to the sauna, the same sauna she’d made love in with Cody. She cracked the door, peeked inside and spotted Cody. His arms were braced on the wall. Her mouth salivated and her libido roared to life as she took in his beautiful naked body. God, she wanted him, today, tomorrow, forever.

  Giving in to the impulse, she made short work of her clothes and quietly slipped inside. Moving toward him, she made no attempt at discretion. “Cody,” she whispered, pressing her chest to his back. “I waited for you, but you never came, so I thought I’d come find you instead.” She circled her arms around his waist, needing the intimate contact, loving the new closeness between them.

  When his body stiffened, she tensed as well. Her heart started pounding in her chest, and her stomach knotted.

  Without turning to face her, he bit out, “Abby. You need to leave.”

  The coolness in his tone took her by surprise. She ducked under his arm and came around to face him. When she saw the pain and ice in his eyes, she knew something was wrong.

  She held his gaze. “What is it, Cody?” she pressed, refusing to let him bury his emotions again, to go to that place where he shut the world out, shut her out.

  “I just want solitude, Abby. I already told you that. It’s my deepest desire, remember?”

  Anger coiled in her gut. Why was he doing this? Why was he pushing her away and denying the connection they’d made?

  “That’s bullshit, and you and I both know it.” She widened her stance and held her ground. “I’m not going anywhere until you talk to me. I’m not giving up on you, or what’s between us.”

  For one agonizing minute, he stood there staring at her. Then, his expression wary, he said, “No? Maybe you should be talking to your fiancé about this instead of me? Heck, maybe you should even be fucking him instead of me, too.”

  She drew a surprised breath.

  Cody scoffed. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” He stepped back, leaving cold where there was once heat. “Don’t you have plans to make, Abby? And since I know you never break your plans…”

  “Cody, wait.” Oh, God, she couldn’t lose him now, not when she’d just found him. “He’s not my fiancé.”

  Cody shook his head. “Okay. Your soon-to-be-fiancé, then.” He grabbed his clothes and reached for the door handle.

  “Someone recently told me that great things can happen when I break my plans.” Her words stopped him. He turned back to face her, his eyes moving over her face.

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning, my plans have changed,” she rushed out. “Yes, I was planning on getting engaged. I can’t deny that.” When Cody narrowed his eyes and waited for her to go on, she said, “You see, Cody, when I came to this island I had my future all mapped out, but I was on the wrong path. You showed me that.” She took a step toward him and grabbed his hand. “I was also ready to live a life without passion, believing passionate men existed on
ly in my novels, but after what we shared, after you opened up and showed me that wild, passionate men really do exist, I knew I couldn’t go through with it. I veered off the beaten path, and what I found” - she stopped to jab her finger into his chest - “made me realize that I never really had what my heart desires.”

  His face softened. “And now?”

  “And now I have what my heart desires and what my libido desires, too,” she said, hoping to lighten the mood.

  He moistened his lips. “I’m what your heart and libido desire?” he asked, his eyes darkening with need.

  “Hell yeah!”

  He shook his head, still holding back. “Abby, are you serious? Because I couldn’t take it if you weren’t.”

  “I have no intentions of getting engaged, Cody.” When she still felt his reserve, she rushed on. “Ever.”

  He frowned and seemed to take an extra-long time to contemplate that. Then after a moment he said, “Not ever?”

  “No.”

  “Really?” He blew a heavy sigh, and paused before adding, “I’m sorry to hear that.” She shot him a confused look. “What? Why?”

  “Because someday if I ask you to marry me, I’d want you to say yes.”

  She threw her head back and laughed out loud, her heart soaring with joy. “Oh, I will, on one condition.”

  Cody pulled a condom from his swimsuit, and then dropped his clothes onto the floor. He stalked closer to her. His eyes grew dark with lust. His breath grew shallow.

  “What’s that?”

  She tapped his heart. “I don’t want you to bury anything in here anymore.”

  Cody scooped her up in his arms and laid her out on the cedar bench. He tapped his chest. “I won’t bury anything in here.” He climbed over her, quickly sheathed his cock and positioned it at her entrance. His mouth twitched. “But I sure as hell plan on burying something in here. Daily.” In one quick thrust, he drove into her.

  “Oh, God, that feels so wonderful,” she cried out as he sank his cock all the way up inside her.

  She raked her fingers through his hair and caught his glance. Everything in her reached out to him, and what they’d found together. “I guess the elixir really did work for me, Cody. All my desires are fulfilled.”

  “Mine, too,” he murmured. “I guess it wasn’t really solitude I was looking for, Abby. It was love, life and laughter. And you gave it all back to me.” As he pumped into her, making sweet, passionate love, he brushed her hair back and said, “You were wrong earlier, calling me your guardian angel after I rescued you.” His lips found hers for a slow, simmering kiss, and then he said, “Because, Abby, it was you who rescued me.”

  Epilogue

  Malik

  Malik stood on the makeshift tarmac, ready to greet the three high-powered, New York City CEOs as they exited the aircraft and began their two-week stay. He rubbed his goatee and took his time to let his gaze rake over each man, studying every detail, and strategizing his plan of action.

  Although all three men had come to the island to unwind and destress, Malik knew they were all going to find more than just a little R & R while on vacation, especially since the Playhouse Palace models were on the exclusive island for a tropical sun and sand photo session.

  He turned his attention to Danielle, Lauren and Abby, along with their partners, Ethan, Ryan and Cody, as they all prepared to board the plane and begin their lives together. The men were free to go now that they fulfilled their rehabilitation obligations and were considered healed by their superiors.

  After a round of handshakes, hugs and thank-yous, Cody spoke up. “How did you know?” he asked, furrowing his brow. “How did you know what we all wanted and needed?”

  Malik spread his arms wide. “It wasn’t me, my child. It was the magic elixir.”

  “You certainly made a believer out of me,” Cody said, laughing as he pulled Abby tighter into his embrace. “To the elixir,” he said loudly and glanced at his friends.

  “To the elixir,” they all joined in.

  After the three couples boarded the plane, Malik walked his new guests to their cabanas and extended a dinner invitation before making his way back to his own quarters. He had to admit, he was most pleased that his last guests had all fulfilled their sexual desires, as well as their hearts’ desires, but little did they know that the magic elixir had had nothing to do with it.

  Their strength to heal and seek out their deepest desires had come from within, with a little bit of guidance from him, of course.

  Malik walked to his tap and poured himself a glass of cold water. He held it up in salute, stepped up to his open window and watched the plane take off. “To the elixir,” he whispered, his words floating away on the breeze.

  Afterword

  Thank you so much for reading, Sun Stroked, Private Pleasure. I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I loved writing it. Be sure to check out books 1 & 2, Seaside Seduction, and Deep Desires. Please enjoy this excerpt from Yours To Take.

  Interested in leaving a review? Please do! Reviews help readers connect with books that work for them. I appreciate all reviews, whether positive or negative.

  Happy Reading,

  Cathryn

  Yours To Take

  “Please tell me you’re not serious?”

  Jaw slack, and hands planted on the small round table, Rebecca Andrews stared at her three best friends, hardly able to believe what they were suggesting.

  Lilliana James closed her palm over Rebecca’s hand and gave a reassuring squeeze. Even though the lights had been dimmed in their favorite New York piano bar, a place where they all convened after a challenging day in the courtroom, Rebecca didn’t miss the sympathy in her friend’s big brown eyes when she said, “Come on, Becs, you know as well as I do that you need a vacation.”

  “It’s not a vacation she needs,” Melanie Collins piped in, running her fingers up and down the crystal stemware in a highly suggestive manner that had Rebecca’s thoughts careening in an erotic direction. She smirked and added, “What she needs is to get laid. Plain and simple.”

  “Good, God,” Rebecca murmured under her breath, hoping like hell no one in the near vicinity could hear her tell-it-like-it-is friend.

  “Don’t even try to deny it,” Melanie challenged playfully, her eyes gleaming with mischief.

  As their conversation headed south—literally—Rebecca fished her olive out of the martini glass and gestured the bartender for another, having decided then and there that this was the perfect occasion to overturn her two two-drink rule. Hell, who could blame her for wanting to consume copious amounts of alcohol after discovering her well-meaning friends wanted to send her to some sort of sex club on a private island off the coast of Nova Scotia?

  She chewed on her olive as her glance went to the tickets on the table—one for a resort called Freedom, the other for the private charter that was scheduled to fly her there first thing tomorrow. Groaning, she took in the other patrons seated around them, many of whom were colleagues, their identities masked by the lounge’s dark lighting and intimate seating. She leaned forward, desperate to keep this embarrassing conversation private, and arched an accusing brow. “How long have you three been scheming this up, anyway?”

  “Just a few weeks now,” Melanie answered.

  Rebecca did the mental math, her thoughts rewinding to three weeks ago, then shook her head, suddenly understanding what this was really all about. “Look, Jon didn’t break up with me. I broke up with him.” When her rebuttal was met with silence, she desperately searched for an alliance in the group. Her glance met Sophie’s and she cast her a pleading look.

  But Sophie simply shrugged and said, “Just like you broke up with Justin, Matthew, Phillip…”

  “And we know, we know,” Melanie said, rolling her eyes. “You just weren’t compatible.”

  Rebecca held her hands up, palms out. “Okay, fine. I get it. You’re saying I’m too picky.” She frowned, and added, “It’s just that…well, we weren’t�
��they weren’t,” she paused, unable to put in to words what she truly felt. How could she explain what was missing from those relationships, when she couldn’t identify it herself?

  She took a moment to consider the men from her past. Not only were they successful, kind and generous, they were also deeply considerate lovers. A woman in her right mind would jump at the chance to date any one of those men. She sighed inwardly. Okay, perhaps the problem really did lie with her, and she was the one who wasn’t in her right mind. But she just couldn’t seem to find a man that suited her.

  If only she could figure out what it was that was lacking…

  Oddly enough her thoughts drifted back to last year’s trial against Montgomery Charters, specifically to Quinn Montgomery, owner of the airline, and one of the world’s youngest, self-made millionaires. Rebecca always prided herself on being calm, cool and collected, inside the courtroom and out, but there was just something about that man’s steely command that threw her off her game. Whenever she met those intense black eyes from across the table, eyes that looked like they could see into the depth of her soul, something always compelled her to shy away. She wasn’t sure what it was about the powerful tycoon that had her reacting in such a peculiar way, she only knew that he had the ability to rattle her hard-earned control, and because of it, she needed to keep her distance.

  The bartender stepped up to the table with fresh drinks, and as his presence pulled her thoughts back to the conversation at hand, Rebecca shook her head, wondering why she was thinking of the powerful and enigmatic Quinn Montgomery after all this time.