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“I needed more reassurance than a look-alike contest. So I confronted him.”
“How did you get past his security guards?”
“I have influence of my own.” He smiled darkly. “Remember the benefit concert we sponsored a few years back?”
She did the quick math and realized Stone would have been in his mid-twenties then. She couldn’t imagine how difficult that meeting must have been. “You arranged that to speak with him?”
“I’m not above using philanthropy for my own good, as well.”
“You don’t need to be sarcastic to cover your emotions.” She slid her hand to his back and tucked her body to his side as if it was the most natural thing in the world to share his burdens. And it was. She drew in the heat and salty scent of him, her senses starved after months without him. “That had to have been difficult for you, confronting him.”
“I didn’t. I got a DNA sample during dinner.”
“What?” She looked up sharply, unable to believe she’d heard him correctly. “You tricked him?”
“Easier than forcing the matter with a conversation where he denied it and I had to prove him a liar.”
He didn’t fool her for a second with this blasé act.
“What did he say when you finally told him?”
“He doesn’t know. Why should he? He slept with a woman he didn’t know and didn’t care enough to follow up.”
“Stone!” She cupped his face and made him look at her. “Maybe he’s changed. Perhaps he has regrets and would like to know you now.”
“I don’t need him in my life,” he said in a cold tone that left no room for negotiation.
“Maybe he needs you,” she suggested. “People are so much more important than money or fame.”
“That’s right. You grew up poor but loved,” he said sarcastically.
Again, he didn’t fool her. She patted his cheek just a touch harder than a love tap. “Don’t be a jerk.”
“Maybe I’m letting my real side show.” He turned his face to kiss her palm, then nipped it gently.
She wouldn’t let him divert her with sex. She slipped her hand back down to his shoulder. “How did we spend so much time together and never talk about these things?”
“You were right in saying I was holding back.”
She couldn’t believe he’d admitted it. “Why are you telling me now? And please be truthful.”
“I’m not really sure.” He snagged a strand of her hair and stroked the length with gentle pressure. “Maybe because there’s nothing left to lose between us. You’ve already ditched me. Why bother working my ass off to impress you?”
“You were working to impress me?” She couldn’t resist smiling.
“Clearly, I failed.” He looped the lock around his finger until he cupped the back of her head.
“Not totally.” She stepped closer, unable to resist the sizzle, especially not combined with the vulnerability he’d shown in sharing what he’d found out about his father. “I did agree to marry you.”
She arched up on her toes and kissed him. How could she not? Her body ached to be with him. They were two consenting adults, alone together, attached to no one else and both so very aware of the price of being together.
His arms banded around her, thick, muscled arms that held her with such gentle power she leaned closer until her breasts pressed to the hard bare wall of his chest. His mouth tasted of the salty ocean and sweet tea, a heady combination for a woman already teetering on the edge of losing control.
She sketched along the hard planes of his back, still damp from his swim and perspiration. So many nights she’d lain awake yearning to be with him again and now those restless fantasies were coming to life. Being away from home gave her the freedom to act on those impulses.
Stone caressed down her back to her hips, molding her closer to him, his arousal pressing against her stomach.
“Johanna,” he groaned against her mouth. “You’re killing me here. If you want to stop, we need to put the brakes on this now. It’s up to you what happens next. How are we going to handle this attraction that’s tearing us both apart?”
She dipped her hands into his swim trunks. “We’re going to sleep together again. Tonight.”
Seven (#u72d34d13-40c7-5cc5-97a4-021f60838f20)
Finally, he had Johanna back in his arms again, even if just for a night. Only a fool would pass up this chance, and he was not a fool.
Taking her face in his hands, he kissed her, fully, tongues meeting and inhibitions gone. A perfect fit, just like before. Familiar and new all at once—their time apart added an edge to the need.
He backed her into the cottage, their bare legs tangling as they walked, notching his desire higher and higher with each provocative brush of skin against skin. Her fingers linked behind his neck as she writhed against him in a lithe dance of desire denied for far too long.
Impatiently, he pushed open the door with such urgency it slammed against the wall. His hands slid low, cupping her bottom and lifting her over the threshold. Once inside the cottage, he set her down, the bamboo floor cool under his feet in contrast to the heat searing through him.
Their bathing suits offered thin barriers between them, but too much right now. He bunched her whispery cover up in his hands and swept it over her head. He’d seen her in her bikini earlier—had seen her in far less—but she still took his breath away. Her simple black two-piece called to his hands, triangles begging to be peeled away.
She smiled with a siren’s gleam in her eyes. “This is usually the point where you drop your Stetson on my head.”
“I left it on my suitcase. Not too many cowboy hats on the beach while a guy’s riding a wave.”
“That’s a damn shame.” She traced the rope tattoo around his biceps, which ended in a lasso loop.
He and his cousins had gotten tattoos together when the twins had turned eighteen. He’d been twenty-one. Johanna had wanted to go with them. He’d forgotten that until just now. She’d wanted to get paw print tattoos on her ankle, but he’d known her parents wouldn’t approve.
Tracing the length of her collarbone, he lifted the diamond horseshoe necklace she wore all the time now. “I would drape you in gems, design entire lines of jewelry dedicated to your beauty.”
“Who knew you were poetic?”
“You inspire me.”
She stroked up his arms. “I’m just as happy with wildflowers and bluebonnets. That day we made love in the open and you covered me in petals is one of my all-time favorite memories.”
“Another reason you’re special. I never have to wonder with you. I know you’re here—or not here—based on me. It has nothing to do with my family or our money.” He plucked the strings behind her neck. The top fell away, revealing her breasts, pert and a perfect fit in his palms.
“You’re a savvy man,” she gasped, her nipples beading against his hands, either from his touch or the cool swoosh of the air conditioner. “I imagine you see through the sycophants right away.”
“That discernment came from practice.” He thumbed along her taut peaks, teasing them tighter until she swayed ever so slightly.
She covered his hands with hers. “You shouldn’t have to wonder about people that way. Thinking of you wondering, learning from practice—that makes me so sad.”
“I definitely don’t want you sad right now—or ever.” He hooked his thumbs in the strings along her hips and snapped them before the thought formed in his mind.
Her swimsuit bottom fell away.
She kicked aside the scrap of fabric. “If I were the sort of woman who wanted to be draped only in jewels, what would you design for me?”
“Ah, now you’re talking.” He let his imagination take flight. “I’ve always liked yellow diamonds for you. I can see long earrings that trail in a sleek, thin cascade to your shoulders.” He skimmed each spot with a kiss. “Each piece would echo the golden lines of your beautiful body. And a long, gold rope chain with a pendant that trails right...here...between...”
His mouth landed along the inside of one curve, then the other. Her breath hitched, her fingers twisting in the band of his swim trunks. Tugging at the elastic, she peeled the damp suit down and off into a pile around his feet.
He stepped out and then swept her up against his chest. “And since the jewelry would be for our eyes only, I dream of you in more erotic designs, as well.”
“Oh, really?” She looped her arms around his neck. “I can’t decide whether to be nervous or intrigued.”
One step at a time, he carried her closer to the white iron bed with a view of the water. “A thicker rope chain would circle low on your waist, resting on your hips.”
“Ah, like a lasso.” She thumbed his tattoo. “That works both ways, you know. I could pull you to me, especially perfect if you wore chaps and nothing more.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Not very businesslike.”
“We’re not in the boardroom.”
“True.” He tossed her onto the mattress.
She landed with an enticing bounce that made all the right parts jiggle just a hint. She stretched out along the puffy quilt, her creamy shoulders propped up by a pile of seashell-patterned pillows.
Part of him wanted to take in the sight of her for hours on end, and another more urgent part of him couldn’t delay any longer. He kneeled on the edge of the bed and crawled up over her, tasting his way up her bared flesh, along her stomach, teasing the diamond belly button ring with his teeth. Higher still, he took her breast in his mouth, rolling the nipple with his tongue until her needy sighs begged him for more, faster, sooner.
He glanced up to see her head thrown back, pushing into the pillows. From the flush blooming over her skin he knew she was close to coming apart. He understood the urgent sensation well and slid the rest of the way up to take her lips, his erection nudging against the slick core of her. Ready. For him. Just as he was ready for her, only her, always her.
With a hoarse growl, he thrust deep inside her.
Gasping, she grabbed his shoulders. “Stone, wait.” She gripped harder, her fingernails digging into his flesh. “What about protection?”
He arched back to look into her eyes. “Aren’t you on the pill?”
“Not anymore,” she said. “Once we broke up and it was clear we weren’t going to reconcile, I stopped taking it.”
She’d thought about reconciling with him? For how long? How many opportunities had he missed to get her back only to lose her because of stubborn pride?
Have her back?
Wasn’t this just about sex now?
All thoughts too weighty for him to consider with his brain muddled from being buried to the hilt inside her again.
He hadn’t packed condoms.... And if they discussed this much further it was going to lead to a serious mood buster of a conversation. He rolled off her with a groan of frustration.
Johanna sat up with a gasp. “Wait.” She snapped her fingers. “I saw some in the honeymooners’ welcome basket on the bedside table.”
Crisis averted. Thank heavens the staff had assumed they would need the romance special basket. He stayed on his side while Johanna raced into the living area, and yes, he enjoyed the hell out of the view. He’d dreamed of her, but fantasies couldn’t come close to the reality of being here with her.
The sound of rustling carried from the next room before she returned. Grinning, she held a condom in one hand and a plump pear in the other. She sank her teeth into the fruit and tossed him the square packet. He snatched it out of midair then grabbed her wrist to tug her back into bed with him.
Laughing, she settled on top of him and pressed the pear against his mouth. He took a bite, then set the fruit aside to have her. Johanna. His again.
He flipped her onto her back and thrust inside her. Gasping, she closed her eyes and welcomed him with a roll of her hips. Her legs wrapped around him, her heels digging in and urging him deeper, faster, leaving no room for misunderstanding. She wanted him, too, with the same hungry edge. He kissed her hard and insistent, the taste of pear mingling with the sweet warmth of her.
He knew her body as well as he knew his own. He’d made a point of learning each sensitive spot and how to tease her pleasure higher. And she’d done the same for him.
Touch for touch, they moved in synch with each other. Her hands roved a restless path until perspiration dotted his forehead in spite of the ocean breeze gusting through the window.
Wind chimes sang louder and louder as if kicked up by a spring storm. He whispered in her ear about husky fantasies built during nights apart, silver links binding them together, jewels hidden and found. Her panting replies—her yes, yes, yes riding each gasp—stoked the fire in him higher until his whole body felt like molten metal in a flame.
And just when he thought he couldn’t hold out any longer before the heat consumed them both, Johanna flew apart in his arms. Her cries of completion rolled free, as uninhibited and natural as the woman in his arms. The sweet clamp of her body pulsing around him sent him over the edge with her.
As wave after wave crashed over him, he held her closer, absorbing her aftershocks as he slowly came back down to earth again. His arms gave way, and he rolled to his side, taking her with him.
With the wind kicking up a humid breeze and rain pattering outside, he willed his galloping heartbeat to return to normal. Except his hammering pulse wasn’t cooperating. With each slug against his ribs, he knew.
He couldn’t give Johanna up again, but there wasn’t a chance in hell she would stay with him if she knew the worst of what he’d held back, the reason he absolutely could not fulfill her dreams and become the father of her children.
* * *
Johanna woke up to an empty bed.
She stretched under the Egyptian cotton sheets, the scent of lovemaking mingling with the ocean air blowing in through the window. Barks also echoed from outside along with the rumbling bass of Stone’s voice shouting a ramble of “fetch” and “good girl.”
The sun climbing high into the sky told her she’d slept in, not surprising since they’d made up for lost time throughout the night. In bed, in the shower, moving into the kitchen for food, then making love against the counter.
Her body carried the delicious ache of total satiation. Although she knew the moment she saw Stone, she would want him all over again, and she couldn’t help but want to look her best. She shoved her hands through her tangled hair, which must be a complete mess since she’d gone to sleep with it still damp.
A quick glance at the clock had her rolling to her feet and racing to the bathroom. A fast washup later, she wrapped her hair and body in fluffy towels and opened the closet.
The packed full closet?
She stared at all the clothes that hadn’t been there the night before. Tags showed they were all new and in her size. Stone had been busy. He’d ordered her a whole new wardrobe for the rest of their trip. He’d heard what she said about feeling uneasy and in his own way he was trying to ease that worry for her.
The barking dogs gave her only a moment’s warning before Stone walked into the bedroom. So much for dressing up. She secured the towel around her and tugged the other off her head, shaking her hair free.
She skimmed her fingers along the rack of clothes. “You didn’t have to do this, but thank you.”
“Glad you’re happy.” He captured her hand and pulled her close. “And just so we’re clear, it doesn’t matter to me what you’re wearing. In my eyes you’re magnificent.”
“Thank you.” She arched up for a kiss. “You’re one good cowboy, Stone.”
“I’m trying, lady, I’m trying.” He kissed her good-morning thoroughly before easing back. “I did hear what you said about going to formal functions before, and it’s killing me to think you ever felt uncomfortable.”
“I know a person’s worth doesn’t have anything to do with their bank balance.”
“Damn straight.” He dropped to sit on the foot of the bed, pulling her into his lap. “I imagine that’s part of my grandmother’s plan here, too, giving me a reality check when it comes to family values.”
