Page 22 of An Heir Made In Hawaii (Hot Winter Escapes)

It hadn’t just been sex. Not after the glimpse she’d gotten of his tortured past and the man he’d become despite the loss. Not when he had cradled her with such unexpected tenderness one minute, then claimed her body the next with his dominating kisses, his commanding touch. Not when he’d held her gaze, his eyes burning with something that went deeper than mere desire.

You’re imagining things.

She had to be.

She sensed him before his hands clasped her shoulders, drew her back against his body.

“What’s wrong?”

His voice pierced the clamor of the storm. She tensed.

“Nothing.”

“Liar.”

The word whispered against her skin, an accusation without menace, but unfortunately accurate. She wanted to draw away, to hide. To take the coward’s way out.

Except her mother and grandmother hadn’t raised her to run.

“I never saw you and me ending up like this.” She raised her chin up, staring into the heart of the storm. “It’s unsettling.”

He tugged the sheet down enough to bare her shoulders. “Because of the contract?”

Her breath hitched as he dropped a kiss on the skin he’d just revealed. “That’s part of it, yes. But we’re not together, like dating. I’ve never slept with someone I haven’t been in a relationship with.”

His hold tightened slightly. “Oh?”

“Don’t.” Irritated, she turned and faced him, ignoring the frisson of awareness when she realized he was still gloriously naked. “Don’t you pull that macho routine where you go caveman on me because I’ve dared to have one lover while you’ve been strutting around like a damned rooster for years.”

One brow curved upward. “A rooster?”

Her eyes dropped down to his half-erect hardness, then back up to his face. “An apt comparison. There was a rooster that used to strut around the yard back in Missouri. You remind me of him.”

“Should I be flattered or insulted?”

“Both. A rooster mates between ten and thirty times a day.”

Both brows shot up. “That sounds tiresome.”

“I imagine you have a similar history.”

His expression darkened. He tugged her closer, one hand sliding down her back and firmly molding her body to his. An illicit thrill snaked down her spine.

“I haven’t been a monk, it’s true. But even in my more...active days, I didn’t go to bed with a different woman every night or even every week. If I had lunch with an acquaintance or business partner, the tabloids acted like she was a part of my harem. I haven’t been with anyone in months.”

“You and your ex didn’t have a fling for old times’ sake in the Caribbean?”

He leaned back, a satisfied smile tugging at his lips. “Why, Pierce, I do believe you’re jealous.”

“I am not,” she lied. Because, she realized with horror, shewasjealous.

“It’s okay if you are.” The smirk disappeared as he dropped his head. “I am. I almost tossed Adam off the side of that damned catamaran for daring to be close enough to touch you. The thought of anyone kissing you, touching you the way I just did, drives me mad.”

Another tremble wracked her body, this one a deep, delicious quiver she felt all the way from her chest down to the swollen, slick skin between her thighs.

“Why?” she whispered.

“I don’t know.” He grazed his lips across hers, a light caress that taunted, exerted control. “I’ll figure that part out later. But right now, I just want to do this.”

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