Page 41 of Waiting For A Girl Like You (Haven House #4)

H e found her in the kitchen.

The entire lower level stood quiet, with only the light in the media room spilling into the hall. Walking as softly as he could, Rowan found Annabeth standing with her back to him by the fridge.

Sensing his presence, she raised a half-empty bottle of wine by the neck with one hand and two red solo cups in another. “I have our drinks ready.”

Before she could turn around, he was on her. Rushing up from behind, his arms circled around her. “Mine,” he whispered, roughly palming both breasts. “All fucking mine.”

She gasped as his thumbs rolled over her nipples, a moan slipping past her lips when he bit gently at her neck.

Her perfect ass rocked back against his hard-on, and he nearly lost his balance.

Every part of him burned for her. The feel and taste of her again had his brain clicking off and into full static mode, knocking common sense out the door.

He thought about shoving her forward to fuck right on the countertop. It would take only a second. The pretty yellow dress she was wearing would be so easy to lift, allowing him to get them both off with a few quick pumps.

“Are the cameras doing the security thing?” she whispered.

“Not yet. We’ve got time to make it to the boat before it shuts down.” He sucked her earlobe between his teeth, breath hot against her skin. “ But when it does… do you have any idea how hard I’m going to fuck you?”

She twisted in his hold, her mouth slamming against his lips. The kiss was nothing but tongue and desperation, the two of them nearly devouring each other. Her arms wound around his neck as she sought more, completely lost to this burn of insatiable—

“Shit. I’m sorry.”

Ben’s apology had Annabeth jumping a good three feet in the air.

Not out of shame, but because Ben had scared her.

And him.

Standing there with a raging hard-on and half of Annabeth’s lip gloss painted across his face, Rowan stared at his boss, who looked just as uncomfortable over finding himself in this situation.

“Uh. Hey, Ben.”

Ben tried to smile, but it came out looking weird since the man didn’t smile much. Coupled with the fact that he was wearing a pair of pajama pants and a rumpled black T-shirt, he looked even more un-Ben-like, pushing the moment to a level ten on the embarrassment scale.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt. I got an alert about the security system and wanted to make sure everything was okay.”

“Yeah,” Rowan mumbled. He would not cover his dick. He would not do it. He would maintain eye contact. “We’re good.”

Annabeth slinked in front of him as if she could hide the evidence of his arousal, and while it was a poorly executed move, he had to give his woman props for trying.

Ben ignored her, keeping his gaze pinned on the cabinets behind Rowan’s head. “Then why did I get an alert?”

“The cameras are down for a few minutes since I’m running a security check. The guards outside know. Klausen knows. Anderson knows. Samuel knows. Liam and Izzy know. Holden knows.”

Holy hell, he was rambling like a fucking moron.

“The system texts everyone, so everyone—”

“Knows. I get it,” Ben cut him off, his left cheek muscle twitching. “Next time, keep me in the loop.”

“Yes, sir. ”

The three of them stood there with nothing but the hum of the refrigerator packing the long, mortifying silence. A solid thirty seconds passed, and it was Annabeth who broke first.

“We were just going to look at the stars,” she said, weakly waving the wine bottle. “I mean, the cameras are always on, and it just gets to be a lot. We needed… a moment.”

“I think we all do.” Liam hurried into the kitchen, his shirt still off and stitches on his upper arm glistening with Vaseline. “Jamison finished cleaning my wound, and we were going to have a glass of wine. Did you want to join us, Ben?”

“Should you really be drinking while the cameras are down?”

“It’s not totally down,” Rowan said quickly. “It’s just the cameras recalibrating. The doors and windows are secure.”

Ben didn’t seem very impressed with the response. “But yet, you two were going to go outside and look at the stars?”

Jamison darted into the kitchen with her box of medical supplies in hand. She skidded to a stop behind Liam. “Daddy, what are you doing up?”

“I suppose I’m having wine with you four while the cameras recalibrate.” Ben headed for the pantry. “There should be a decent bottle of red in here. Simone used to hide the good stuff behind those enormous bags of cat food she insists on buying.”

Once Ben disappeared into the cavernous pantry, Liam leaned on the counter. Propping his good arm’s elbow on the granite, he rested his chin on his hand and covered his mouth with his fingers. “I’m sorry, man.”

Rowan glared at him. “You suck.”

“What kind of wingman crap is this?” Annabeth hissed at Jamison. “You said it was all planned out.”

“It was!” Jamison hissed back. “You were supposed to be naked on the boat by now.”

“Well, we got distracted.”

Liam straightened, motioning toward the back door. “Just go. We’ll stall.”

“Yeah, no go,” Rowan whispered. “If I take her outside, Ben will flip the fuck out.”

From the pantry, something crashed, and Ben let out a string of curses. “Why does she have to store this much cat food? ”

Summoned by all the noise, Simone’s bedroom door snapped open. “What’s going on?”

Realizing their perfectly planned idea was well and truly ruined, Liam’s shoulders drooped.

“We’re running a security camera check, and while we wait for the cameras to calibrate, we thought we would have a glass of wine.

Ben woke and wanted to join us, but I think the cat food might have attacked him. ”

Never missing a damn thing and able to smell a lie—even a partial one—Simone took them all in. One. At. A. Time. Rowan would never get used to her. Five, ten, twenty years from now, she would continue to unnerve him in a way no one else could.

“Why aren’t you two in bed?” Simone asked, zeroing in on Annabeth and Jamison. “And Annabeth, why are you in that dress? It’s almost one in the morning.”

“I was cleaning Liam’s wound,” Jamison rushed out. “And Annabeth was taking Rowan outside for fresh air.”

The sounds of dry cat food spilling across the floor broke the tension building, and they all moved out of the way when a dozen or so felines slinked from out of nowhere to see what Ben was doing.

“Damn it, Simone,” Ben shouted from the pantry. “Where the hell are you hiding the good red these days?”

“Third shelf,” she replied, not taking her sharp gaze off the four of them.

“No, the stuff there is crap,” Ben snapped. “I’m looking for the wine you make me ship in by the case from France.”

Ignoring Ben for a moment, Simone pointed at Liam. “You will take care of yourself. If that wound gets infected, I will make you regret it.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Liam was a smart man and knew not to argue. “It won’t happen again.”

“See that it doesn’t.” Simone’s finger swung in Rowan’s direction. “And you. Get some fresh air with Annabeth. Do not wander far and keep a tight hold on her.”

“Won’t Ben freak if we leave the house?” Rowan whispered as they slipped toward the door. “He was already pissed about the recalibration.”

“I’ll handle Benjamin. ”

And just like that, Annabeth yanked him into the cool night air, and they grinned at each other. All the stress and worry melted, giving them a single silent minute of peace.

“Is it off yet?” Annabeth whispered, her voice low so the security detail scattered across the rear patio wouldn’t overhear.

Rowan shook his head. “We’ve got a few minutes. I don’t want to say we should run, but we should definitely walk fast if we want to make the most of it.”

“Then let’s go.” She grabbed his hand and tugged him off the patio, her short legs hustling with determined urgency. “We’re not going to the boat.”

“No?” He let her lead, amused as hell. “Where are we going, then?”

“Guest cottage.”

His grin spread like wildfire. “Ms. Howard, are you saying you would like to seduce me in private?”

“Hell yeah, I do.”

“I am shocked.”

She threw a wicked smile over her shoulder. “I’m not wearing any underwear. I don’t have a bra on. I want to be naked and riding you in less than three seconds after the camera feed is cut.”

Rowan’s steps faltered, but he regained his footing easily. “Anything else?”

“I’m going to need two orgasms.” The smirk disappeared, her demands turning serious. “At a minimum.”

“I’ve always been an overachiever.”

“Speaking of which, this dress has pockets, and I have a handful of condoms stuffed into each. We’re not stopping until the cameras come back on.”

They were passing the large oak in the center of the yard, far enough away that the security team could no longer notice what he was doing.

Cameras were still tracking their movement, so he kept his voice low.

“We’ll use as many as we can, but I want you riding my face before you ride my cock, understand? ”

“No promises.”

They made it to the cottages, hurrying up the porch of the one set aside for guests. The seconds on his phone counted down. “Key? ”

She extracted a key from her pocket and a condom, handing the latter to him. “Get it on.”

Unlocking the door, she yanked him inside right as his phone buzzed with an alert that all cameras were off. The blue lights on the internal cottage cameras switched to red right as the door shut behind them, and Rowan swiped the lock into position.

“Bedroom,” he said, voice ragged.

Annabeth slipped off her shoes and walked backward away from him. In one swoop, she had her dress over her head and on the floor, her naked form illuminated by the moonlight streaming through the windows facing the bayou.

He followed her down the hall, his own shirt lost and his pants undone. In all his life, he had never been this hard. He had never wanted a woman like he did Annabeth. When they reached the main bedroom doorway, he tore open the condom with his teeth and slid it on.