Chapter Twenty
A lexandre remained in the pool looking out at the sea laid out like a carpet under the full moon. The rippling water was mesmerizing—a sight which soothed his troubled mind.
And his mind was troubled. It had been since the day he’d heard Raquel confess that she didn’t want him.
As a grown man, Alexandre had never let anything or anyone make him feel inferior and yet, he’d not only felt inferior but unwanted too, when his wife admitted to her sister that she didn’t want him. Her words had sliced through what was left of his heart, and the wound had bled since.
He, who had never wanted affection, found himself desperately craving it. Finding the perfect lover in Raquel, he had thought marrying her would make his otherwise dull life, infinitesimally better. But he’d been so wrong.
Last night, he’d almost slid into her bed when she had asked him to stay.
But he couldn’t bring himself to lose control, not again, when it was his loss of control that had resulted in the accidental pregnancy and the hurried wedding.
He couldn’t bring himself to lie with her and feed his lust, not when he knew she disliked him.
So he had walked away—a painful decision that had his body screaming with frustration.
They’d married so his child could have the protection of his name. And now that they were wed, he didn’t need to impose himself on Raquel. That decided, he made plans to slowly extricate himself from Raquel’s life, not because he didn’t want her, but he feared he wanted her too much.
This morning when he took her to see a specialist, Raquel had been quietly withdrawn.
She’d looked dull and lifeless, and he wondered if it was life with him that was draining the life out of her.
The thought stayed with him through the endless wait at the doctor’s clinic.
When they finally met the doctor, he was assured that morning sickness was an indication of a good pregnancy which made no sense to him.
How could Raquel being sick be good for her or the child?
But when he saw his child for the first time on ultrasound scan, pride like he’d never known before filled him. Tears blurred his vision as he hungrily latched onto the tiny image that was his child.
His child! His flesh and blood! Someone to finally call his own!
His chest had expanded with emotion as he struggled to contain his tears but when he looked over at Raquel, he found her head turned away, as though she couldn’t bear to see his child.
Did she hate his child so much that she couldn’t even bring herself to look at it?
The thought hurt so badly that Alexandre barely remembered stalking out of the tiny room. When she joined him in the car where he’d chosen to wait for her, he drove her home before leaving again, only to drive around listlessly, hoping it would, at least temporarily, cure his troubled mind.
But the aimless driving hadn’t soothed him, so he drove back home.
The house was dark and quiet as he made his way to the guest bedroom which he’d begun to use since his wedding day, and quickly changed out of his clothes.
Certain that Raquel would be asleep, he climbed the stairs to the rooftop pool, where he slid, naked, into the deliciously warm water and began to swim.
But even the rigorous exercise didn’t quiet his mind, and he swam to the edge of the pool, where he looked out at the sea, wondering how he was going to repair his life—and Raquel’s.
Suddenly, the hair on his body stood up as the air around him sparked with electricity.
She was here!
He swirled around, his eyes clashing with beautiful brown ones brimming with tears.
“Why’re you avoiding me?”
Her tearful question had him clenching his fists. He didn’t like seeing tears in her eyes, and he certainly didn’t like the fact that he had made her cry.
“Isn’t that what you wanted?” he shot back, looking over her shoulder.
Finding her clothes bundled at the end of the pool, his eyes immediately flew back to her. There were no straps on her shoulders. Was she naked?
“Why do you say that?” She swam closer, her long hair spreading out around her.
Alexandre felt his control slip as he grappled with the knowledge that she was naked and ripe for taking.
“I heard you speak to Ana on the morning of the wedding.” Her eyes grew wide as her lips parted on a silent gasp.
“You told her you didn’t want me.” He trembled with rage recalling the conversation he’d overheard, but it was lust that hardened his shaft beneath the water.
“If you hate me so much, why did you come to the chapel? Why marry a man you detest?”
“You know why we married.”
“The child, yes. I know.” Her answer extinguished what hope he’d nurtured in his heart. Why had he hoped she would deny saying those words? “Now that the deed is done, I won’t impose myself on you.”
He struck out, swam away from her but she followed him. Hearing her sure strokes behind him, hope flickered anew. Reaching the shallow end of the pool, he turned around, planting his feet firmly on the tiled floor of the pool.
Water sluiced off his body as he stretched out his arms and laid them on the rim of the pool, waiting to see what she was up to.
His eyes gleamed with unholy heat when she swam up to him, and came to stand in front of him, not caring that her breasts were now exposed as she stood unsteadily in the shallow water.
Water glistened on her upper torso, but the brown beaded tips of her breasts held his attention as they hardened into tight nubs right in front of his eyes.
“How much of our conversation did you hear?”
He tore his eyes off her breasts and looked at the slip of a woman who dared to question him. A glimmer of admiration sparked inside him. She was every bit worthy to be a Monteiro wife. She was beautiful and—brave.
“Enough to know that you didn’t want to marry me.” He couldn’t keep the disappointment out of his voice, and it angered him that he was feeling quite vulnerable.
Water lapped around him as Raquel stepped closer, her breasts brushing against his chest, sending heat spiraling through his naked body and yet, he maintained a facade of control, when all he really wanted to do was haul her against him and crush her mouth under his.
“If only you’d heard the rest of that conversation.”
His eyes glinted when she tilted her head and looked at him. Her lips were moist and parted and he wished they would stop this verbal sparring and get down to business.
“Why? What would I have heard?”
His throat became dry as heat leapt in her eyes, flushing her cheeks dark.
She reached out and slid her arms around his shoulders, an action that lifted her out of the water, exposing her breasts fully.
Hot lips scorched his skin as she kissed his throat, her breasts pressed tightly against his chest, the hardened tips poking his flesh while she clambered atop him, her slender legs wrapping around his equally naked body.
****
R aquel let out a moan as his naked flesh met hers, his shaft jerking against her belly. She wound herself around him, her limbs tightening around him, fearing he would push her away.
“Kiss me, please,” she begged shamelessly. “Please, I want you. Please...”
His lips slammed down on hers, kissing her with such voracious hunger that she could do nothing but submit to him.
Her body burned as he cupped her bottom and encouraged her to rub her feminine flesh against his rock-hard abs.
Throwing her head back, she let out a keening moan as first tendrils of pleasure brushed her insides.
The water was warm on her body, but cool wind brushed against her naked torso, making her shiver against the heated body of her husband.
A tongue prodded her lips and swept into her mouth, while an equally hot and heavy shaft slid into her moist channel. The double penetration had crying out as she came on his turgid flesh, her fervent cries filling the air as she rode his shaft, while he sucked on her tongue.
The waves of pleasure seemed to be never ending as her breasts heaved and her body trembled against his.
His mouth left hers and moved down to her breasts which he began to suckle hungrily, sending another wave of pleasure crashing over her.
Raquel held him tightly, her limbs manacling him in a tight grip, fearful that she would be swept away by the waves of pleasure crashing over her, but Alexandre wasn’t done with her.
As soon as she climbed down from the dizzying heights of pleasure, he carried her out of the pool, his length hot and heavy inside her, to the nearest daybed.
“Looks like we’ll consummate our marriage on a daybed,” he muttered thickly, almost angrily, embarrassed that he didn’t have the wherewithal to carry her to their bedroom.
He was hot and hard, and wanted her now!
“I don’t care,” she moaned as he laid her on the daybed before sliding out of her and on to his knees.
Thrusting her legs apart, he feasted on her intimate flesh, drawing out yet another orgasm from her before lifting her and taking her place on the daybed.
“Ride me, wife.”
Raquel rode him with wild abandon, her wet hair clinging to her shoulders and her breasts, the ends brushing his thighs, the sensations further hardening his already turgid flesh.
She fed him her breasts, encouraging him to suckle her as she rode him hard, her breasts jiggling in his face as she raced toward another orgasm.
His lips slid off her breast as his hands moved down to cup the small mound beneath which lay his child. The visual evidence of his child triggered his own climax and he thrust up, seeking his release, just as Raquel came noisily above him.
It was a hot and fervid coupling, one which shattered them completely and Raquel fell against his chest, struggling to catch her breath. Beneath her, Alexandre wrapped his arms around her as he succumbed to the most peaceful sleep he’d ever had.