Page 44 of The Playboy's Most Unexpected Baby

But she was wrong.

It did live up.

It wasbetter.

It was like being carried out to sea, like being swept away by a riptide, and Olivia no longer had the strength to fight it. She folded her body into his, reveling in the feel of his arms tightening around her.

Behind her, she heard the explosion of another firework, but it felt like it had been set off inside her very heart.

Wordlessly, Charlie broke the kiss, leaned over, and blew out the candles on the table. He took her hand and led her toward the center of the yacht, where Olivia knew the cabins were located.

Her blood raced and her heart pounded, and she understood at once where this was heading — what was about to happen.

She didn’t pull away.

He led her into a warm, bright cabin with a large bed in the middle. She looked down at it, then back up at him, aware of the fact that she was trembling despite the warmth of the night.

Charlie pulled her close and kissed her again, and Olivia allowed herself to be carried out to sea on the surge of passion that his touch had ignited within her, knowing that once she crossed this line, nothing would ever be the same.

CHAPTER17

CHARLIE

Oh, God.

Charlie restrained himself from opening his eyes upon first waking up. It was as if some part of him believed that the things he knew he would see when he finally did look might somehow change if he wished them away hard enough.

There was no chance of it. He could feel the gentle rocking of the sea beneath him, letting him know that he had fallen asleep on the yacht. He could hear the sounds of gulls in the air, far too near for him to convince himself that he was on land.

He could feel Olivia’s body beside his — the warmth of her, the softness of her naked skin. They had fallen asleep tangled up in one another, not even bothering to get up to put their clothes back on.

He had woken up this way many times before, but it had never left him with such a cold feeling of dread as it did today.

He felt Olivia stir next to him and knew that there was no putting this off. He was going to have to get up. He was going to have to face her. If nothing else, he had to offer her a ride home. He didn’t know if she needed to get back to Izzy. It was a Saturday, so she didn’t need to take Izzy to school, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. She might have some other obligation.

With a sigh that he tried to suppress, he forced himself to sit up and looked over at her.

She was already awake. He hadn’t realized that. She was lying on one side, looking at him with wide, warm eyes and a soft smile that made him feel like throwing himself into the sea. He was the lowest person imaginable. He couldn’t believe he’d put them in this situation.

This was supposed to be a temporary thing. I wasnotsupposed to start feeling things here.

He turned away from her and maneuvered his way out of bed, grabbing his pants and yanking them on quickly before turning around to face her. He didn’t meet her eyes. He was afraid to see what her response to him might be. “I’m going to go get a drink,” he said. “If you want to get dressed.”

“Do you have coffee on board?” she asked him. “I could go for a cup.”

“Yeah. For sure. I’ll go make coffee.” That would give him something to do, something other than sitting in this room with her and feeling ashamed of himself.

He hurried out of the cabin before she could say anything further and went to the galley. There was a small pour-over there, and he set about heating up some water and getting the coffee ready for the two of them. When he was about halfway through the process, he heard her enter the galley behind him, but he didn’t turn to face her. Not yet. He wasn’t ready.

There was the familiar sound of a chair being pulled out, scraping against the deck, and he heard her sigh as she settled into it. Charlie had never felt so acutely aware of another person in all his life. It was as if his body was attuned to hers, so that he could feel every move she made. It was intense and a little alarming.

He picked up the two cups of coffee, turned around, and set one in front of her.

“Aren’t you going to sit down?” she asked him.

“I should pull up the anchor,” he said. “We should be getting back to shore.”

“Is it okay that we spent the night out here? I mean, you’re not going to get into trouble with the coast guard, are you?”

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