Chapter 40
CHAPTER FORTY
I woke tangled in white sheets, the scent of saltwater, expensive cologne, and Titus Hawk all over my skin.
Mm. I felt a shiver of warmth radiate through me, loving how that man worshipped my body and soul all night.
What a phenomenally mind-blowing way to end a five-year dry spell.
The memories of last night hit me slowly at first. His hands, his mouth, and the deep sound of his voice against my ear as he brought me into ecstasy again and again, keeping me there until my body had no energy left.
Then all at once, heat flooded through me so quickly I buried my face deeper into the pillow with a quiet groan.
I was sore in places that made it impossible not to remember every position and the firmness of his hands holding me in place as I came undone violently in his arms.
All. Night. Long. And once more, just as daylight was breaking over the ocean.
The yacht moved gently beneath me as sunlight leaked through the massive windows lining the suite.
I should’ve felt embarrassed that I’d let go so hard and so wild all night long.
But instead, I felt dazed and blanketed in serenity.
No man had ever looked at me the way Titus had last night.
It was as if touching me had become something addictive for him.
I would watch as every ounce of his control kept snapping after each orgasm we shared.
I’d love to say he couldn’t get enough, but we were both guilty in that department.
I swallowed hard, remembering how he’d stared down at me afterward, breathing heavily as he brushed my hair back from my face, as if he couldn’t quite believe I was real.
The surreal part was that I couldn’t quite believe he was either.
I shifted slowly beneath the buttery-soft sheets, and I instantly regretted it.
“Oh my God,” I whispered to myself, feeling the ache between my thighs and my calf muscles trying to spasm.
I was pretty sure I was going to look like the hot mess whose world was rocked last night, while he would most likely appear perfectly composed after absolutely ruining my ability to walk normally today.
A quiet laugh escaped me despite myself. His staff probably saw that sort of thing every morning after he brought some random woman on board to be alone with him.
With those thoughts, my eyes drifted toward the other side of the bed. It was still warm… but empty.
Something unexpectedly disappointing fluttered through my chest before I could stop it.
I exhaled, placing myself in the position of the women who had undoubtedly come before me.
A man like Titus claimed his prize, and once the thrill of the chase and hunt was over, he resumed his daily life of meetings, calls overseas, and running his business.
Men like Titus didn’t build their lives around women. They visited them briefly… then returned to the empires that were waiting for them.
The idea that I’d wake up in his arms was positively ludicrous. I had no one to blame but myself for the disappointment. Last night, however, any attempt at talking myself out of this would have been useless.
It had all happened too fast, and I’d been far too gone to think logically about what the next morning might bring.
Even so, my gaze lingered on the indentation his body had left in the mattress. Damn. If only we had come from the same world, maybe this could have been something that lasted more than a single night.
A soft knock interrupted my thoughts.
“Ms. Veléz?” a steward called gently through the door. “Mr. Hawk asked me to let you know that breakfast is ready whenever you are.”
“Thank you,” I said, feeling weird about yelling through the door, but I wasn’t exactly dressed for company.
The send-off meal of gratitude, I smiled at the thought. Well, at least he was a gentleman about it.
My stomach growled. After the night I’d had, my body was demanding food, and I had no problem eating before someone from Titus’s staff came to collect me from the yacht this morning.
“Shit,” I muttered under my breath. “My overnight bag is in that other room.”
I pushed back the covers, retrieved my dress from where it had been discarded on the floor, and slipped it on. Then I made my way into the massive bathing area of the Madrid suite, and the moment I caught my reflection in the mirror, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“When did we rip this off of me?” I questioned myself, staring at a woman who’d looked like she’d been out all night in a tornado. “This isn’t going to work.”
My nipple was on full display where the side seam of my dress had apparently given up at some point during the night, leaving one entire side of the bodice hanging open and no longer capable of concealing me.
“Talk about a walk of shame. How the fuck am I supposed to go anywhere wearing this shit?” I exhaled, holding my hair in a ponytail, and saw Titus’s navy button-down strewn across a chair by the bed.
I picked it up and examined it. Unlike my dress, it appeared completely intact, which apparently meant it would be my outfit for the trip home.
I slipped the shirt on over the dress, rolled the sleeves, and tied it at my waist in my best attempt to look somewhat presentable. Before leaving the room, I searched for anything that might help tame the complete disaster that was my hair but came up empty-handed.
Well, the natural curls would just have to do. Hopefully, they would conceal my identity from anyone on this yacht if I ever had the nerve to come back and work for the man again.
The upper deck was quiet when I stepped outside, looking for where breakfast was being served. The ocean stretched endlessly around the yacht while morning sunlight danced across the water.
Overhead, seagulls drifted through the warm California air, and faint sounds of helicopters, most likely still filming the damn yacht off the coast, were in the distance.
To my total shock, I glanced over at the outdoor kitchen and saw the man I thought had dropped me hours earlier.
Titus stood near the kitchen area in a fitted black linen shirt, sleeves rolled to his forearms, while speaking quietly with one of the yacht’s chefs.
Excitement betrayed me instantly. So much for pretending I wasn’t absurdly relieved that last night hadn’t ended with him disappearing for good before sunrise.
Before I could regain my composure, my stomach betrayed me as I stood there.
He glanced up the second I stepped onto the deck, and something in his expression softened in a way that made me excited I didn’t protect myself from him last night.
“Good morning, preciosa,” he said.
“Morning,” I answered.
His eyes drifted slowly over me in his shirt, and the look that crossed his face made heat immediately crawl back into my cheeks.
“Tan hermosa,” he said, licking sauce off his thumb.
So beautiful? My ass, I thought.
“Come,” he said. “I helped prepare breakfast because I wanted to treat you to something that would help restore your energy, since I depleted it all last evening.”
I chuckled, following him as he carried two plates to a linen-covered table next to a massive pool, overlooking the bow of the boat and the sea.
“You look suspiciously alive for a man who barely slept.”
A faint smirk tugged at his mouth. “I’m functioning on determination and espresso.”
After I sat, he took the seat across from me. “I left early this morning,” he said quietly, placing a napkin over his lap. “You looked so peacefully asleep that I didn’t want to wake you. I also wanted to surprise you with breakfast.”
I smiled at him and brought the freshly poured coffee to my nose, inhaling its aroma before taking a sip. “Mm,” I said, feeling the coffee’s scent energize me, “this smells delicious.”
“I have creamer and sugar as well, carino,” he said.
“After last night,” I smirked before taking a sip, “I need it black.”
He chuckled, reaching toward the bowl of fresh fruit already on the table. “My staff retrieved these from the local farmers’ market. I will say that I am impressed.”
I took a strawberry and gently took a bite, feeling the juicy fruit explode with flavor in my mouth.
“If you keep making those sounds, my leaving you in bed this morning will start to feel like a terrible decision,” he said with humor.
“Speaking of which,” I said, taking another sip of coffee. “Do you make breakfast for all the women you’ve had in your bed?”
He frowned, momentarily making me wonder if he’d taken my words, which were meant to be jovial, as an insult.
“No,” he said, his expression softening sweetly and sincerely. “Only for the one woman who has captivated me body and soul in ways that I cannot explain.”
I felt heat rush to my cheeks, wishing this new bodily reaction would just stop happening.
That earned a smile from Titus. “And if you must know,” he said, taking a bite of his eggs Benedict, “most women never saw me after the night ended. If a woman stayed until morning, it was usually because I was too exhausted to send my driver for her before sunrise.”
“Damn,” I said. “You say that as if you never left a woman in tears before.”
“They were never left wanting,” he grinned. “Sexually, that is. But a relationship? That was never going to happen.”
“Why am I still here, then?” I questioned before I could think.
“Perhaps I want more,” he said sincerely. “Correction. I absolutely want more with you.” He sat back in his chair and eyed my plate of untouched food. “Are you going to at least try it? I heard it’s better to eat it warm rather than cold.”
I returned his smile and took a bite. “Wow,” I said. “And you don’t cook?”
“No,” he licked his lips. “I have no time to learn the skill,” he grinned. “But for you, preciosa, I most definitely want to take that time.”
“Like making our lunches?”
He took a sip of coffee. “Yes.” His eyes stayed on me a moment too long, and I quickly turned my attention back to my breakfast. There was something about the way he looked at me that made it impossible to concentrate on anything else while he sat across from me, and my food was bound to get cold if I kept getting caught in the tractor beam of his gaze.
Titus leaned back slightly in his chair, sipping his coffee and watching me for a long moment before speaking again.
“How has it been five years?”
My fingers paused lightly against my coffee cup. “Since what?”
“The man before me.”
“Jesus. You are direct, aren’t you?”
“We wouldn’t be on a yacht like this if I weren’t,” he answered with a smile.
The warmth in my chest cooled slightly. I hadn’t expected this conversation this morning.
“What made you think to ask?” I asked carefully.
Titus’s gaze held mine steadily. “You don’t move through the world like a woman who trusts easily.”
I said nothing.
“I’ve watched how you command rooms,” he continued calmly. “At one time, you put the staff of this yacht—and even me—in their place. I can see how you keep people at a distance while still charming them. Even with me, you rejected me at every turn.”
“I’m sure I’m not the only woman smart enough to do that,” I shrugged.
He gave me a cute expression. “No, preciosa, you are truly the only woman I’ve encountered who has rejected me, in business and in pleasure. Until last night, when you made me lose control in ways I never thought possible.”
“So,” I answered with humor, “it’s just my personality, I guess.”
“No,” he answered, eyes searching mine. “Women don’t learn to guard themselves that carefully without someone teaching them to. I’m convinced you’ve spent years teaching the world not to mistake your softness for weakness.”
“And?”
“And I’m trying to understand how a woman spends five years alone after leaving whoever was foolish enough not to keep you and give you everything you could ever desire.”
I laughed softly under my breath, though there wasn’t much humor in it. “You assume I’ve been alone?”
His expression never changed. “I know you have.”
The confidence in that answer annoyed me, mostly because part of me knew he was right.
I looked back down at my coffee.
“Who was he?” Titus asked, pouring more coffee into my cup.
I hesitated, not because I wanted to protect the bastard, but because talking about him always left me feeling stupid afterward.
“He was an international property developer,” I admitted at last. “I met him years ago while planning an event overseas.”
Titus stayed silent, focused entirely on me.
“At first, the man was…” I searched for the right word, “…easy to fall for.” My fingers absently traced the warm ceramic mug. “He remembered details and flew me places. He made me feel important.” I smiled faintly. “I genuinely thought he loved me.”
Something dark flickered briefly behind Titus’s eyes. “And then?” he asked evenly.
I swallowed slowly. “And then I found out there were other women.”
Silence settled heavily between us.
“He had entire relationships in different countries,” I continued quietly. “Different villas. Different lives. Apparently, every woman believed she was the only one.”
Titus’s jaw tightened.
“He didn’t just cheat,” I whispered. “He made me feel cheap and disposable.”
The ocean moved softly around the yacht. For the first time all morning, Titus stopped looking amused and teasing across the breakfast table. Now he looked like a man trying very hard not to picture someone hurting me.
“What was this man’s name?”
I hesitated briefly before answering. “Eric Mueller.”
Something flickered behind Titus’s eyes. “The hotel developer,” he said calmly.
I looked up at him. “You know of him?”
“Only professionally.” Titus set his cup down. “He moved through a few European circles years ago.” I watched his expression carefully. There was no tension or insecurity in it. If anything, Titus looked mildly unimpressed by the memory.
“He was arrested some years ago, wasn’t he?” Titus asked.
Leave it to Titus Hawk to remember the scandal rather than the man.
“Yes,” I answered quietly. “Embezzlement.”
He exhaled, then smiled warmly at me. “A damn fool for treating a woman like you the way he did,” he said. “But, selfishly, I am eternally grateful to him. Now, I have this chance to prove I’ll be the last man you’ll love.”
“Declarations already, eh?”
“I don’t say things I don’t mean,” Titus said. “Especially to women.”
I sucked in a breath. Strangely, I wasn’t instantly fearful of him, pushing him and his charming words away.
“Does this frighten you?” he questioned.
“It should,” I answered truthfully.
He rose. “Come with me,” he said quietly. “I’d rather spend the morning helping you forget another man’s mistakes.”