Chapter 14
He noticed her all right. Had done that since she first arrived. How could he not? Her perfume, the subtle scent, the essence of her was acutely evident.
He was always aware of her – always – dammit! And that fueled his anger even more if that was at all possible. He had been fighting his demons for the past half hour and nothing was being resolved.
He contemplated, seriously contemplated ignoring her until she gave up and go away, but instinct told him she was not going to be shaken loose that easily. He had glimpsed the determined look on the beautiful face. He was pissed, enraged, and felt foolish. Because he had been on the verge of declaring his love for her.
And his knuckles were sore. He was almost sure they were swollen as well, and he had to stop because he felt as if he was about to collapse.
Gripping the bag to steady it, he was just turning towards the mini fridge to grab a bottle of water when she stepped in front of him. In silence, she handed him the bottle and watched as he twisted the cork and almost finished it.
“I have something to say.”
“Do so and be done with it. I have work.” He was short with her, and it pained him to see the hurt look on her face. He had never spoken to her like that before.
“You’re an ass.”
His brows winged up. “That’s telling me. Are you finished?”
He grabbed a towel from the rack and started mopping his face.
“You’re also a jerk.”
His mouth tightened at that and as he moved to pass her, she sank her fingers in his damp arm and felt his muscles quivered.
“I am not done.”
“I don’t have time…”
“I suggest you make some.” Her fingers dug in even more. She was petite and barely came to his chest. He was all of six feet three inches, and he had muscles. He could easily have moved her out of his path.
But he stood there looking down at her and felt his heart twisting. All he wanted to do was to gather her up and sink himself deep into her and be reassured that she was not interested in her ex. And it burned him that he was so insecure.
“What is it?”
She lifted her chin at the brusqueness of his tone and held onto his arm as if afraid he would leave if she did. “Jason and I deserve an apology.”
“Oh, is that right?” His tone was menacing, hazel eyes icy.
“What you walked into was not what you thought. I have no interest in him in that way. He is a friend. His firm is involved in several of the charities I am responsible for. What we had – he and I, was a childhood crush, and you know more than anyone else that it never went further than that.”
His eyes flared. “I walked in to see you in his arms. It looked intimate to me.”
“Damn you, Robert!” She took a deep breath and strove for patience. “He just told me something devastating and I was offering him comfort, nothing more. My office door was open for goodness sakes!”
“And if I had not walked in at that moment, the hug would have progressed to something more.” His eyes burned into hers. “Do you know what it did to me to see you in his arms?” His hand clamped on hers and pried her fingers away so he could put space between them. “I wanted to kill him for touching you.”
She stared at him in frustration. “Why? It was nothing personal to me. Not like what you’re thinking.”
“Can you say the same for him?” The look on her face told him otherwise. “That answers my question. Now. If you will excuse me…”
“I am in love with you!”
He had turned away from her with the intention of leaving when she made the announcement, and he could not move. Everything in him went still and he could swear that his heart had stopped beating.
“I don’t know how it happened.” She continued huskily. “But it did. I think it started when we were at the cottage. I felt something for you then and when you made love to me…” “She took a shattering breath.
“I swore after my dad died that I would never open myself up to love again, because losing him was too painful. Mother was far from perfect, but my dad – he was my hero. And I told myself that I was not interested in falling in love and getting married.
Until you. God! I love you, dammit, and what you said to me in my office cut me like a sword. I was an uber bitch in high school and yes, I did some terrible things. Things I cannot go back and fix. But you…?” Her voice petered off and for a few seconds, she watched as he turned to face her slowly.
The expression on his handsome face made her weak.
“You love me.” He was not sure how he got the words out of a throat that was so swollen he could barely swallow.
“Yes.”
“You love me.”
“Damn you, yes.”
He swallowed then and even now, he could not do what his heart was prompting him to, and that was to sweep her into his arms and join his body with hers until they were one.
“I was on my way from a very successful negotiation, to tell you that we had acquired a cruise line. One I wanted to share with you, to bounce some ideas and get your feedback. I had plans for later tonight when we both got home.
Candles, roses, wine, seduction.” His eyes were burning into hers. “And on bended knees to tell you that I adore you. That I was so damned tired of trying to be macho and keeping it from you. That I wanted it out in the open.”
“Robert…” Her heart felt as if it was bursting.
“That I have loved you for almost twenty years…,” he smiled thinly when her dark eyes went larger as she stared at him in shock. “That I fell in love with you when you came to my rescue, and I have loved you ever since.”
“Oh God!”
He came to her then, but instead of sweeping her into his arms, he clamped his hands onto her shoulders. “Yes.” He whispered hoarsely.
“You are the only woman I have ever loved. I spent years trying to get over you – I took women to bed to erase you from my heart and it never worked. When I resigned myself to the fact that you were it for me, I worked hard to try and become worthy of you.
But whereas I was bold and risky in business, I couldn’t find the nerve to tell you how I felt. When you came to me wanting a favor, I figured that fate had interceded and given me a fighting chance.”
She could only stare at him, her eyes going moist. This powerful man, this wonderful man who had fought hard to get where he was, had been in love with her since they were teenagers, and it broke her into pieces that she had never noticed him.
“Robert.” Her hands lifted to curl into his wet shirt. “Robert.”
“You love me.”
“I love you.” Her voice broke and she swallowed the lump. “I love you so much and I didn’t know. Please forgive me. I do not deserve you…”
The rest was swallowed up by his mouth clamping down on hers. His arms were like steel bands around her waist, crushing her to him. All the tension he had been trying to get rid of was poured into that kiss.
He didn’t have to pretend or be careful anymore. She loved him. Christ Almighty! She loved him. She was his. Now and forever and the kiss told her that. It showed her that she would always be his.
Her mouth opened beneath his eagerly, her slender body arching, pressing against his. His body was damp, the moisture seeping through his clothing, but none of that mattered. What was important was the passion, the sweet intensity as he held her against him and ravished her mouth.
Dragging his mouth from hers, he held her against his wildly beating heart as he struggled for control. He could not very well push her down on the cold tiles so that he could have his way with her. This was a celebration and it called for tenderness and a bed. Their bed. With that in mind, he lifted her into his arms and carried her out.
*****
Placing her on the bed, he stepped back reluctantly. “I need to shower.”
“I think I will join you.”
“I thought you already had a shower.” He had smelled the intoxicating body wash on her skin.
“Your sweat rubbed off on me.” She tilted her face up, her impish smile coming.
“I can see that.” Taking her hand, he drew her to him and led them into the bathroom.
Stripping off his sodden clothing, he took her hand again and made his way towards the huge shower install with the multi-functioning jets that could be easily adjusted to any setting.
Touching a button, he fixed the temperature to allow the soothing warm water to pour over her skin. Touching another button, he cupped his hand, and the fragrant scent of spring filled the air.
Turning her around, he started with her back, large hands rubbing her skin slowly, sensuously and had her putting. One hand wrapped around her waist, holding her against him so that he could work on her front, starting with her breasts.
“That feels so good.”
“Hmm.” He nibbled at her neck, sipping water off her silken skin.
Sonya felt the lethargy sweeping over her and vying with the fire he was igniting inside her. His hand drifted to her flat stomach and lingered there, and she could feel the evidence of his desire pressing into her. Her head drifted back and his bent in obedience and a desire so raw, so pulsating that he could barely stand it.
Finesse was stripped away to be replaced by force and intensity that swept them along in its wake. The water pouring over them was forgotten and everything else along with the sound of it. As they took from each other.
His hand drifted to the curly hairs covering her womanhood and had her quivering as he stroked slowly and then parted the lips of her vagina to work his magic on her.
He was her first – her only- and she loved him so much that it was like an ache inside her chest. Lifting his lips, he kept his eyes on hers as he turned her to face him. He rinsed them clean of the suds and selected towels to dry them off. When that was done, he swung her into his arms and carried her to their bed.
He wanted her horizontal. Had every intention of carrying out his plan to seduce her. He wanted her crying out his name, reaching the peak with him, while he showed her how much he loved her.
His large hands with their callused fingertips cupped her face, his expression tender. Her eyes were brimming with tears as she stared at him.
“Are those happy tears, my love?” He asked hoarsely.
“What do you think?” She countered. “How could you love me? I wasn’t very nice.” She shook her head. “I was horrible. How could you love me then?”
A smile touched his lips. “How could I not? You were beautiful, smart as a whip and confident. You were cool and haughty and outspoken.” He stoked her cheek and bent his head to capture the tear that rolled down her cheek.
“I could not help myself.” He whispered. “I thought it was just a youthful crush at first and tried to ignore it. But it persisted, grew until I could not bear to see you with him.
When they declared you homecoming king and queen and I saw you dancing with him, I wanted to die. I could not work up the courage to ask you to dance and I thought it was for the good. Having you in my arms would have had me making a fool of myself and at that point I could not afford to.”
“But even when we started meeting at functions…,” her voice was barely audible, “even then, why didn’t you say something?”
“Pride?” He wondered. “Self-preservation? I still thought you were out of my league, and I was still scarred by the past. Something inside me wondered if you would think I was that poor scholarship kid with the hand me down clothing and ugly shoes.”
“I don’t want or need your money.” Her expression was fierce. “Please believe that.” One hand lifted to touch his beloved face.
“I know.” His eyes glittered. “There is something I must ask of you.”
“Anything.”
“Within reason?” He teased.
“Anything.”
“Marry me.”
“We’re already married,” she reminded him.
“No.” he shook his head, expression solemn. “What we had was a fake ceremony that turned out to be real. I had no say in the matter.” He captured her left hand and gazed at the ring. “I want something different for you.”
His eyes lifted to hers. “I want a proper ceremony in a chapel, with you wearing your dream dress. I want a splash so that the world can know that we belong to each other. I want to whisk you away to Europe or the Caribbean for a proper honeymoon. And I want it done on Christmas Day.”
“Robert, darling, Christmas is two weeks…,” her voice tailed off at the indescribable look on his face.
“Say it again,” he urged.
“What?”
“Darling. You called me, darling.”
Her heart contracted and almost burst so much that it was overflowing. It had slipped out of her mouth, but to him it meant a great deal.
“My darling.” Her voice shook with emotions and his body swelled even more. Bending his head, he seized her lips in a kiss that had her melting against him.
Shifting so that his body was covering hers, he deepened the kiss until there was a sensation of madness surrounding them. Her fingers drifted to his neck and then the bunched muscles of his shoulders and then to his back.
Reaching between them, he lifted his body, his mouth still fused to hers as he guided just the tip of his swollen shaft at her opening. He toyed with her, rubbing, probing, until she felt as if she was going slowly insane. And then when she thought she could not take anymore, he entered her, driving into her until he was completely sheathed.
He somehow managed to take it slow, which wasn’t easy by a long shot. She was tight, wet, and intense. She was holding him inside her in a way that had never happened before. Everything was a first with her and it bowled him over, so much so that he was tempted to be rough, to go fast, to drive into her until he touched her soul.
But he wanted to prolong the exquisite pleasure of being one with her. She was his. This beautiful woman belonged to him, exclusively and he was fiercely possessive about it.
He had almost killed a man for touching her, hadn’t he? He had had to drive off the need to do so and it hadn’t been necessary.
She was here in his arms, on his bed with him deep inside her. He wanted to make children with her. Build a life with her. Making money had been his one true calling, his source of contentment, but never happiness. Now he had found the source. Her.
Ending the kiss, he cupped her face so that he could witness her eyes when she came. He wanted to see her reaction. “Let go, baby.” He urged when he felt her stiffening.
“It’s too much.”
“Just let go, my love.” He drove into her and forced her up and over and felt a thrill of pleasure so intense that it shattered him. Her lips parted as she panted his name and arched her body.
The climax was vicious, brutal and took him along for the ride. He showered her with his seed, watering the mouth of her womb, his long, lean body shuddering on top of hers as he let go of pride, self, pain, insecurities and poured everything he was feeling inside her.
Even when he reluctantly eased off her so as not to crush her, he held her cradled against his damp chest. His heart was still unsteady, his body still shuddering, and the night was far from being over. He would make love to her again, because the craving was still there, eating away at him, consuming his entire being.
He was going to have her several more times before tumbling into slumber.
And he spoke of their wedding.
“You would not have to lift a finger. I have a capable assistant and I could hire a wedding planner. There is…”
He stopped when she placed two elegant fingers over his lips. “I have every intention of planning my own wedding.” She told him softly, her expression still luminous from the lovemaking. “Hire the wedding planner, yes- “A smile curved her lips.
“Because it’s certainly going to take a team to get it done in the appointed time.” She eyed him thoughtfully. “Why Christmas Day, specifically? Does it hold any significance for you?”
He nodded and could not resist taking her lips and kissing her tenderly. “I made my first million on that day. I was in Texas, and it was icy cold. The oil well I was working on, the one I had invested every penny, based only on gut instinct finally came in.
I had risked everything, gathered a few roughnecks to help with the drilling and it had been an arduous few months and the money I saved up was dwindling. I was wondering if I had taken on too much too quickly when the well came in,” he smiled whimsically. “I was twenty-six and it had been a killer journey.”
He used the pad of his thumb to stroke her cheek. “I toasted you with a bottle of expensive champagne. And had the wild thought of finding you and kidnapping you, taking you away from whoever you were seeing. I had seen photos of you with some actor and I knew I couldn’t compete.”
“Robert.” Her voice was aching, her expression regretful. “Please.”
He grinned at her. “No, baby. I did not tell you for you to feel badly, I just wanted you to know why I am, so hell bent on us having a proper wedding and on that day.” His expression turned sober. “Even though I had reached the million-dollar mark, it was a hollow victory, without you to share it with me. Now I have you, darling.”
Tears gave her eyes a shine, before sliding down her cheeks.
“Yes, you do.” She whispered. “And it would be an honor to stand before the world and become your wife for the second time.” Her fingers touched the slight indentation in his strong chin and was not quite steady. “I want your children,” she continued huskily. “A son with your determination and force and a daughter with this shade of hair.”
Emotions swamped him and all he could do was press his face against her neck and breathed in her scent.
“I don’t know how I survived this long without you.” He could afford to be vulnerable – naked – without pride – open before her and he did not care. Lifting his head, he cupped her face, his own eyes bright.
“My love, my heart.” His mouth took hers again. She was not surprised that he was ready for her. Covering her body with his, he drove into her, sighing into her mouth as she wrapped slender legs and took him all the way in.
Later, much later after she had tumbled into an exhausted slumber, her face buried in his chest, he was still wide awake, a smile wreathing his lips. His arms were possessively locked around her waist, one thigh covering both of hers as if hindering her from slipping out of his arms.
His heart was full, his body languid, sated for now. The scent of her filled his nostrils, consumed him. Her skin was lightly moist, her nipples branding his chest. His woman, his wife, he thought whimsically.
He had no idea how he had gotten to this point – a point he had never envisioned. But he was so grateful that he who had stopped believing prayers and miracles, sent one up silently.