The Ruthless Gentleman

“Hey, I thought you’d go back to the yacht last night,” Eric said, taking my hand as I stepped into the boat. “You weren’t at dinner.”

I frowned as I turned to see Phil had disappeared. I hadn’t told him anything, yet he’d twisted it and made me feel bad.

“Avery?”

I turned away to look at Eric. “Sorry, yeah.” Should I tell Eric about the approach from Phil? Maybe he’d approached other members of the crew while they’d been ashore. What had they told him? Was Hayden under surveillance or something?

“Did the guy I saw you with get lucky?”

It took me a couple of seconds to see which dots he’d connected. Eric had assumed the man I’d been approached by was my lover. I’d not thought about what I was going to say about where I’d been last night. I’d been too wrapped up in the shadows of last night, still drunk on Hayden’s touch, to think through my excuses and get my story straight. I shrugged. “You can’t ask me that,” I said and winked at him.

Eric clearly hadn’t recognized the guy, so perhaps Phil had only approached me. I’d mention it to the captain so he could remind everyone to take their duty of confidentiality seriously. I wasn’t sure if I’d tell Hayden. I’d not revealed anything to Phil but whoever he was, he’d intimated that I had. I hated the thought Hayden might get the same impression, might believe I wasn’t on his side or didn’t have his best interests at heart.

I knew the truth. But would he believe me? Or was it better to just keep quiet?

Twenty-Four

Hayden

“Can anyone here play chess?” I asked as I wandered into the galley. I was waiting for a phone call from the U.S. and had forty minutes to kill. As the deal progressed, the bulk of the work I needed to do had tapered off and I became increasingly reliant on the lawyers to move things along.

Three people turned to look at me, and though Avery kept her head down, the blush in her cheeks was all the attention I needed.

“Not me. I’m a card man,” Neill said.

“I can set you up with a Jet Ski if you like?” Eric offered.

I shoved my hands in my pockets. “I only have forty minutes.”

“Avery, you do that thing on the board. Isn’t that chess?” August asked.

Avery looked up. “Backgammon,” she said simply.

“That will do,” I replied. I enjoyed the thought of some one-on-one time with Avery, even with the rest of the crew milling about. “Come on, Walker.” I turned and headed to the smaller salon and dining room, where the games were kept.

“What are you doing?” Avery hissed, bending to pull out the red leather backgammon set from the sideboard.

I frowned. “Killing some time until the next draft of the agreements is circulated. What’s the problem?”

“Main deck?”

“Sure, do you want a drink? Skylar,” I called, and she popped her head out of the galley. “Can you get me a glass of water please? Avery, what do you want?”

Avery glared at me, so I shrugged. “That’s fine, just the water.”

Taking the backgammon set, Avery headed out to the main deck.

“You can’t offer me a drink like I’m your guest, Hayden. It’s weird.”

“It’s weirder that you’re at my beck and call after . . .”

I’d woken up to an empty bed this morning, but I couldn’t remember having fallen asleep. We’d fucked until we were both raw and exhausted, but neither of us had talked about what happened next. I hadn’t told her that this didn’t feel like a one-time deal for me.

I couldn’t remember ever knowing I’d want to fuck a woman again before I’d fucked her for the first time. These feelings and experiences were new. Different. Avery was different.

“It is what it is,” she said, sliding the fastening of the case open and laying the board flat on the table. “I have something I need to tell you later,” she said as she pulled out the red and cream counters and began arranging them on the board so they were completely aligned.

I knocked her hands out of the way. “Stop. I’m red.”

She shrugged. “That’s fine.” She nudged my hands away, trying to place the red counters on the red and cream triangles in front of me. “Did you hear what I said?” she asked.

I stroked my hands over hers. “I can set out my own counters.”

“You don’t like me doing things for you?” she asked.

“I like you doing things to me,” I replied, remembering how her eyes watered when my cock hit the back of her throat.

She sank her teeth into her bottom lip and her blush told me she was remembering the same thing.

“Hayden,” she whispered.

Christ, she was so fucking sexy when she blushed. So innocent. So perfect. I took the red counters from her hand and linked my fingers through hers. Our eyes locked and for a few seconds the rest of the world melted away. A horn from another boat sounded and she pulled away, trailing her fingers along mine as if she was losing my touch reluctantly.