The Tycoon's Red Hot Marriage Merger (8 page)

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Delicious tingles traveled through Cassandra’s skin and pooled between her thighs. She ached for Marco, could feel herself getting more and more aroused with each sensual touch. She rocked into him. “You’re absolutely sure?” she asked. All she wanted was the feel of his mouth on hers. The rush of his hands over her body, bringing her to life.

Marco stopped kissing her neck and framed her face with his powerful hands. “Patience, my sexy wife.” His green eyes gleamed with unspoken promises of passion.

Her heart drummed against her breastbone.
His wife.
The thought ricocheted through her mind, scattering what remained of her logic. Logic would tell her he only wanted sex. But his words, his simple statement, gave rise to a wild hope that maybe, just maybe, she’d unlocked something he’d long held fortified.

His heart.

He’d already been so kind, so concerned about her when she’d nearly lost everything she had eaten because of her nausea and terror when they had first set sail. He might have talked a big game about revenge and how feelings could never be part of their bargain, but Cassandra didn’t believe him. Not anymore.

She caressed his cheek, the rough stubble shadowing his strong jawline, and danced her fingers along the silver chain circling his throat. “I’ve been told that good things come to those who wait.”

His Adam’s apple rolled. “
Si
.” He turned his face into her palm. “They do.”

Marco’s voice sounded decadently wicked, like warm caramel drizzling down an ice cream sundae. He literally oozed sexuality.

A thousand tiny butterflies took flight low in her belly. He wanted her. She had felt the evidence pressing against her backside earlier. Yet, he restrained himself from pushing too fast when everything inside her clamored for more, more, more.

Because he had honor. Because he respected her. Because he realized how monumental this first time would be for her. And that made her care for him a little more than she had expected.

The late afternoon sun’s rays sparkled and bounced off her matching set of wedding bands. Bands purchased after they’d exchanged their vows. Though he’d forced her to bind herself to him for all eternity, and she had balked, now the sexy side benefits of being this powerful, virile man’s wife sent charges of electricity through her, making her want to claim them..

She lowered her lashes. “I don’t need a big seduction.” Hell she was already primed and ready for him. All he had to do was act. “We could skip the swimming and get straight to business.” Please. For the love of God let him skip the swimming and get to it. Honor was great and so was respect, but she couldn’t bear to wait anymore.

Marco traced a slow line down her neck, pausing his index finger on her fluttering pulse. “This is your first time. And you said it yourself; good things come to those who wait.”

Cassandra swallowed hard. He’d awakened something carnal inside her—even now her so-called body was acting anything but innocent. It was wanton, lusting for Marco.

“You act like that’s a problem,” she said. “But I assure you that I can handle anything you do.”

“I don’t consider your innocence a problem,” he said, brushing his mouth against her cheek. “Just unique.”

“Yes,” she admitted. “But that’s because… because…” She groped for a way to explain how she’d failed to attract the opposite sex in her set. Heck. She hadn’t been on their radar screens other than an outlet for their cruel teasing. She’d disappeared into the shadows as a result.

“Because you never found a man strong enough to possess you?”

She gulped. Even the word
possess
sounded blatantly sensual the way Marco said it. And everything in her body was screaming to become his lover. Now. Not after a swim. But her inexperienced, logical mind was a tiny bit grateful for the reprieve. After all, what if she flopped in the bed like her ex-fiancé had expected? Which had been his excuse for having an affair in the first place.

“I was going to say I never seemed to attract anyone enough to have it lead to,” she said. “You want a passionate woman in bed, but I’m not sure how I’ll react.”

“You have nothing to worry about.” He tipped her chin up to look her straight in the eye. “You’re with me. And you’ve shown me how much your body responds to me. I’m honored that I’ll be your first lover.”

Though she’d hoped for a lifetime with a man who cherished and loved her. At least her virginity wouldn’t be surrendered to some bumbling teenage boy in the backseat of his car. No. Marco had every necessary facility to ensure that her first time would be special.

One she’d never forget, though she knew deep down in her soul that had circumstances been different, another man would have had the pleasure.

Chapter Five

An hour after they had finished eating, Cassandra stared at her reflection in the master cabin below deck. Aboveboard, the ceiling creaked and she heard a splash. He’d given her privacy while she changed. But privacy would get kicked to the curb the minute she joined him. Because this teeny, tiny, itsy, bitsy bikini left nothing to the imagination. Still, Cassandra loved the way the twin triangles of aquamarine fabric covering her breasts highlighted her complexion and brought out lighter shades of blue in her eyes.

She turned and looked at her back end over her shoulder. Her bottom looked fuller and sexier in the bikini Marco had purchased for her in Las Vegas. She didn’t see an inch of the gangly geek that had been ignored by the yacht club’s prep boys. Nope. That girl had disappeared and had been replaced by a sensual, curvaceous woman. For once Cassandra liked how she looked in a bathing suit.

By forcing Cassandra to give up her man suits and practical pumps, Marco had brought forth someone she barely recognized. But she wanted to know this side of herself better. The side she had tucked behind oversized, unnecessary glass frames and hidden behind a computer screen for years.

Tossing her cover up—if one could call the see-through gauzy white fabric a cover up—over her shoulder, she grabbed her tube of sunblock. She’d have to apply more if she was going to survive the day without getting burned to a crisp.

Glancing around the beautiful interior, she ran her fingers across the dovetailed maple drawers. The master suite was sumptuously outfitted with regal damasks and silks, and in rich tones of burgundy and gold.

The very suite she’d share with Marco tonight.

Cassandra blinked and stared at her reflection one more time. Then she removed her glasses and placed them on the nightstand next to the bed. Because a girl couldn’t go swimming with them on. And she no longer wanted to hide the woman behind the frames.

Marco’s bronzed back greeted Cassandra’s vision when she stepped out onto the deck. He stood, facing the inlet’s opening yawn to the ocean’s expanse. His years away from the Regatta circuit hadn’t softened him. Instead he looked stronger, more chiseled—like he’d been carved out of granite—and definitely more dangerous. Water rivulets coursed down his broad shoulders and accented his corded muscles. She tracked the rivers rolling down lower into his American style trunks, which clung to his spectacular bottom. Then she gazed even lower, watching it cascade down his long, muscular legs onto the yacht’s deck.

Every erogenous zone she possessed filled with anticipation. She could look at that view all day long. “Marco?” she asked, stepping toward him.

He turned around and his emerald eyes widened. “Wow, you look amazing,” he said.

Cassandra’s heart kicked into overdrive. Thumping, thumping, thumping so hard against her ribcage that she thought it would take flight. She’d never had a man give her that kind of smoldering once over. If he could make her dizzy with one compliment, then she’d probably expire from having sex with him.

She breathed in, held the air in her lungs, then released it molecule by molecule. “How’s the water?” she asked when her pulse slowed to a trot.

“Invigorating,” he said, shaking his golden hair. Droplets of water flew in the air and arced around him. The longer length, along with his thin white scar slashing across his cheek, gave him the look of a renegade.

A very sexy and thrilling rebel.

She moved toward him, mesmerized. Michelangelo couldn’t have sculpted a more beautiful statue. But Marco was all the better because he was made of flesh and blood, sinew and bone.

And, given by his current state of obvious arousal, soon he would be all hers.

“I guess I should go in then,” she said, dropping her cover-up.

He moved closer, framing her body with his, and tilted her chin upward. “You don’t have to rush.”

“I know.” She had a strange sensation of being under his watch—his protection—and a safe feeling enveloped her. “Maybe I should just dive in and get it over with.”

He brushed her cheek with his lips. She could smell the ocean on him, then tasted the salt when he moved his mouth lightly over hers. “I say we take our time—not rushing will make the experience more satisfying—for both of us.”

Heat pooled between her thighs. She had no doubt that Marco would be an incredible lover. “Then we should take our time,” she said. For now she’d settle for a patient partner while she swam in the ocean for the first time in four years.

“
Si
. I want you to enjoy yourself.”

“Well, there aren’t any shark fins so I suppose it’s safe enough,” she said.

He grinned. “You trust me to protect you if one shows up?”

She glanced again at the erection tenting his swim trunks. “The only thing I’ll have to keep my eye on is you.”

“Don’t worry.” Marco raised a brow. “I’m a man of infinite self-control.”

“Trust me, I know,” she said, much to her chagrin. The sun warmed her skin and a light breeze lifted her hair, which she’d kept loose, letting it tumble down her back. “I’m a little freaked about diving into that water, so how about you go in first and test it?”

“Absolutely.”

Marco dove into the water with perfect form, swimming with easy strokes when he broke the surface. And, after a moment, he paused and treaded the waves. “You ready?” he asked.

The deck rocked gently, swaying slowly. The sun glinted, sparkling on the water like a thousand opals, giving it a surreal and magical look. Her nerves continued to shiver and she hesitated, cupping her hand to her brow to peer into the distance.

No sharks. No fins. Nothing threatening to stop her from taking that first step back to the waters she’d walked away from four years ago.

“What’s taking you so long?”

“Ah, just checking for sharks. I don’t want to die before I actually do lose my virginity.”

“There aren’t any sharks in these waters.” Marco held out his arms. “I’ll take care of you if one shows up.”

“My hero,” she said ruefully.

“
Si
, I’m your knight in shining armor.”

Ahead of her was her future. Marco. Grinning and waiting for her to be with him, his rebel mane of hair glistening in the sun wet with ocean water, wild and sexy and dangerous.

But she had already dance with that danger—literally on the floor in his nightclub. The man who had controlled her body with such incredible finesse had the power to protect her from anything lurking deep in the waters lapping the yacht’s edges. Now she had to trust him with more than her safety. Their marriage might be stamped on paper, and trap her into a lifetime bargain, but she had to believe that the passion flaring between them would lead to something more than sexy side benefits.

A bird called, then she jumped.

Chapter Six

Cassandra laughed and landed feet first into the water. The resulting splash and cry moments before she submerged zipped adrenaline into Marco’s extremities. He catapulted into action, diving under the azure ocean waves to swim to her. When he reached Cassandra, he enveloped her and brought her to the surface with a single kick.

Sunlight dappled prisms of color into the droplets of water cascading down Cassandra’s ebony hair. She trembled in his arms and her wide blue eyes had a dash of panic streaking through them. Marco’s heartbeat quickened. Concern mingled with a tenderness he hadn’t expected to feel. “You’re okay. It’s all going to be okay.” He held her lightly in his arms. “Just relax,” he said, though holding her against his body did nothing to chill him out.