by Susan Napier;Kathryn Ross;Kelly Hunter;Sandra Marton;Katherine Garbera;Margaret Mayo
They’d both drifted back to sleep after their early morning lovemaking, and in her dreams, Jayne had never had to let Adam go. He woke her the second time with a sweet kiss and a joining that was so deep and forceful that she felt certain he’d branded her soul. Once their heartbeats had settled down, he’d urged her into the shower, promising her a surprise.
The craft that Ray and Didi had provided was a high-speed motorboat. Adam was like a kid with a new toy. He raced it into the surf away from the island, doing tight turns and making sea mist spray over them both.
And Jayne was definitely surprised. Adam seemed years younger out here. He was more at home on the ocean than anyplace she’d observed him. This seemed a more natural side of him.
He was wearing his swim trunks and sunglasses, his head tipped back to the sunshine. She wore only her bikini, because once they’d left the marina, Adam had refused to allow her to wear the cover-up she’d brought.
Neither of them had discussed the future or her position within Powell International, and Jayne wasn’t sure how to plan her next step. So she was doing something decidedly un-Jayne and ignoring the urge to make a plan around this. Because if she started planning it would mean that she’d given up on the fantasy of making him fall in love with her.
And after last night it was clear to her that she had no other goal. She scanned his strong, muscled body, watching him control the vessel and remembering his hands on her body.
“Why are you staring at me?”
She blushed and he raised one eyebrow, then slowed the boat. She was sitting in the captain’s chair and Adam stood next to her, his powerful legs braced as he maneuvered across the water.
“You seem very at home on the ocean,” she said at last.
He shrugged. “I am.”
“Still dreaming of sailing away?” she asked lightly, remembering what he’d said on the beach. And she wondered if he dreamed of doing so alone or if now she was there with him.
“Sometimes.”
“Now?”
He shook his head. “Not with you at my side. Want to try piloting the boat?”
“No,” she said.
“Chicken.”
“Ha. I’m not scared to learn how to drive this boat.”
“Prove it.”
“I don’t have to prove it. I’m too self-confident to rise to your bait.”
“What if something happens to me and you have to find your way back on your own?”
“I brought my cell phone.”
He killed the engine, dropped the anchor and spread his arms wide, and she couldn’t help but imagine him as Poseidon, king of all he surveyed. “There’s something about being at sea.”
“Yeah, fish smells and motion sickness.”
He rested his hips against the railing of the boat and crossed his ankles. “The next time some woman tells me I’m not romantic…”
Jayne tried to laugh, but the thought of him with another woman wasn’t a comfortable one. So she forced her mind away from that. Instead she stood and smiled sweetly at him before pushing him overboard.
He came neatly to the surface. “Oh, you’re going to pay for that.”
“Is the boat safe here?”
“Yes, my practical Jayne, it is.”
“Good.” She dived overboard, bobbing up next to him. She’d no sooner surfaced then she felt his hand on her thigh, strong sure fingers slipping under her suit to caress her. She stopped treading water for a minute and he gave her a wicked grin before tugging her under.
That dirty dog, distracting her with sex! They played a rough-and-tumble game of dousing each other, but each brush of his body against hers made her want him locked deep inside her again.
After twenty minutes had passed, she surfaced and glanced around to find Adam. When he reappeared, she swam behind him, wrapped her arms around him and whispered the most deliciously sexual things in his ear until he grabbed her wrist and hauled her back to the boat.
As soon as he got them both out of the water, he laid her down on the bench seat at the back of the cruiser. “Get naked.”
He stripped off his own swimsuit and watched her. She’d shed her top but was still struggling out of her bottoms. He reached for the fabric and tugged it down her legs. Then he lowered himself to her, kissing her as he slid deep inside. She wrapped her legs around his hips and held on to him. “Talk dirty to me again, chère,” he murmured.
She did, telling him in explicit detail what he did to her and what she wanted to do to him. Her words lit a raging fire inside Adam. Their coupling was fast and furious.
In the aftermath, she clung tightly to him, her mouth resting on his chest. He tasted faintly of the sea and of man.
He cradled her in his strong arms, slipping one of his thighs between hers. One hand cupped her breast and the other her hip. The boat rocked them gently and the sea breeze cooled their flushed bodies.
“I don’t want to sail away. I’m enjoying myself too much.”
“Me, too,” she confessed.
He drew his finger down her cheek and under her chin, tilting her head back for his kiss. He lingered over her mouth for a few minutes and when he lifted his head she wanted to pull him back to her.
“I’m glad. Did you bring that treasure map?”
“Ray gave us one as we were leaving. Are we going hunting for our heart’s desire?”
Something warm lit his eyes, and though she knew it wasn’t practical and made no sense, she couldn’t help thinking that Adam had found what he’d been searching for in her.
Adam and Jayne dropped anchor in a small cove. He took ashore the picnic lunch that the hotel staff had provided and then returned to carry Jayne to the beach.
He should’ve stayed in the boat and continued to survey the island from the sea. He should be checking on neighboring property that might be available for sale. He should be concentrating on work, but he didn’t want to.
“I could have walked.”
“I know,” he said. His arms felt empty without her, but he didn’t tell Jayne that. He had the feeling she saw too much, anyway. He set her on her feet and together they spread out the blanket and food. Because Adam didn’t believe in drinking and driving—even a boat—he didn’t drink any of the wine that was in the cooler.
Jayne was careful to steer the conversation away from personal topics and onto current events, which they both shared similar views of, and movies, which they didn’t. The sappier the storyline, the more Jayne liked it. And she wasn’t above arguing with him to make a point.
There was a gleam in her eyes as she asked him about his favorite book. Though he liked true crime and biographies, he didn’t want to debate his personal choices anymore.
“Lord of the Rings,” he said.
“Finally. I thought we had nothing in common.”
“I can’t believe you like those books, Jayne. They aren’t sappy enough.”
“You’re in trouble now, honeybun.”
“I’m scared,” he said.
She dived for Adam, mercilessly tickling him. They wrestled on the blankets until somehow she ended up under him. Then he couldn’t resist lowering his head and kissing her mouth. The fact that he had rights to her seductive lips pleased him.
He lifted his head after long moments and then sat up.
“Adam?”
“I want to know more about you,” he murmured.
“What do you want to know?” she asked. Jayne sat up in turn, leaning back on her elbows.
He traced the bottom edge of her tattoo with his finger. “You never told me about this. You said you got it when you were seventeen. Why?” He’d never noticed until now that there was a core of herself that Jayne kept hidden. Adam had the feeling she was dancing just out of his reach, and that no matter how many times he claimed her body, part of her soul remained untouched. But she’d scored him deeply with her presence in his life and he wouldn’t tolerate not affecting her as strongly.
“My mom has one simila
r to it. But it’s a fully open flower.”
“Why isn’t yours?”
“I’ve always wanted to be her opposite.”
Adam tugged the side of her suit down so that he could see the entire design again. There was something very restrained about Jayne’s tattoo. “Tell me about your mom.”
“She’s sophisticated and chic. She always has the hottest new car. She’s well traveled and speaks three languages fluently.”
“Is she American?”
“Yes, but her father was from Colombia. She started modeling when she was fourteen.”
“Do you look like her?”
“I have her eyes and that’s about it. She towers over me and she’s very voluptuous.”
“Then you get these from her, as well,” he said, cupping her full breasts.
Jayne batted his hands away playfully. “I guess. We don’t really have that much in common.”
“Why not?”
“She is a rich man’s mistress.”
“Are you sure it’s not a relationship?”
“Very. She’s living with Hans for six months. It’s her standard arrangement. You have that in common with her.”
“My arrangements usually don’t have a time limit,” he said. He tried to imagine what kind of upbringing that would be for a child. Especially one as sensitive as Jayne.
Adam stood and seated himself behind her. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her back against his chest. “What about your dad?”
“I don’t know him.”
Her neck was tempting him once again. It was long and slim and very elegant, and she tasted sweeter there than anywhere else. Did she really? he wondered. Deciding to test his theory, he bent and nibbled at her shoulder.
“Does he know about you?” Adam asked. It was one of his fears, and why he was also so careful when he slept with a woman. The thought of having a child out there he didn’t know about made his gut clench.
He didn’t particularly want kids, which was why he had short-term affairs. He knew that children needed a father who’d love and protect them, a dad who would dedicate himself to his family. Adam had dedicated himself to business and a quest for vengeance against a man who was no longer alive.
“My mother left him before I was born. I saw him only once.”
She shuddered in his arms and Adam tightened his grip around her, wanting to protect her from painful memories. “What was that like?”
“You don’t want to know.”
“Of course I do,” he said. He didn’t understand it, but he needed to know everything about her.
“I…I hid in my closet. And he tried to talk to me but I wouldn’t come out.” She rubbed her arms, because she couldn’t seem to stop shaking all of a sudden.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I was a mistake neither he nor my mother had anticipated.”
“Someone called you a mistake?”
“Not in so many words. But I felt like it.”
He lowered them both to the blanket. Curling himself around her, he carefully made love to her, trying to erase the memories of her childhood with his body. He knew in his heart that any kind of relationship that he might propose would be intolerable to Jayne. She needed a man who could commit himself to her and brand her with his name and his ring.
Adam refused to acknowledge the desperation in his actions as he brought Jayne to one shattering climax after another. He found he was sated himself only when she was covered with sweat and calling his name in a hoarse voice.
And after his own orgasm ripped through him, leaving him shattered and weak, he cradled her close to his body and prayed for something he couldn’t put into words.
Chapter Nine
Adam docked the boat smoothly that afternoon. Ray waited for them in the marina lounge. The rotund little man smiled when he saw them and offered Adam a cigar.
“Go ahead, Adam. I want to try my hand at the treasure map, now,” Jayne told him.
“I’ll go with you.”
“Are you sure?” she asked. The Adam she’d come to know as her boss would never pass up an opportunity to meet with a prospective buyer.
“Yes,” he said, and there was a conviction in his expression that warmed her heart.
Ray waved them off, and Adam took her hand. He led her up the path toward a cave in the hills where the treasure of La Perla Negra supposedly resided.
“Why are you doing this? I know you don’t care about the treasure,” Jayne stated.
“Maybe you don’t know me as well as you think you do.”
“That’s doubtful. After all, I’ve been overseeing your office for almost a year now. I think I know the kind of man you are.”
“What kind am I?”
She wanted to keep things light, but every action that Adam had taken today had been something out of a dream. No, not a dream—her secret desires. The romantic picnic and their lovemaking had made her feel as if there was hope. That her love for Adam wasn’t necessarily one-sided and that the future might hold more for them than she’d ever dared imagine.
“You like the finer things in life.”
“True. What else?”
“You’re very determined and stubborn.”
“Not that you share that trait.”
“Be quiet. I’m the one talking here.”
“Sorry, chère. What else were you going to say?”
“I think you might be lonely and that you’ve found a way to disguise that from the world. Those gorgeous mistresses of yours give you the illusion that you have a successful life.”
He stopped on the path, dropping her hand. She wondered if she’d gone too far. But then he cupped her face and lowered his head, sipping at her lips as if they were a fine wine.
“You’re right. But I have my reasons,” he whispered.
“What are they?”
“I don’t want to ruin any illusions you might have of me.”
“You won’t,” she said. Nothing could dim the love she felt for Adam. It was strange to think that when they’d left New Orleans he’d been her fantasy lover, and now he was the real thing.
He led her to a wrought-iron bench facing the resort, and beyond it, the ocean. “When I was fourteen my dad ran off with his secretary, leaving Mom and me on our own.”
That explained Powell International’s policy against workplace romances. Jayne wondered if Adam even realized he was trying to protect the families of all his employees from the same hurt he’d endured. Did he realize he couldn’t?
“That must have been hard,” she said.
He shrugged. “Mom had never worked a day in her life and was totally lost. She locked herself in her room and cried for three months. I took a job at a fast-food joint and started working to support us.
“I made a vow, Jayne, to never hurt anyone the way my mom was hurt.”
Jayne slipped her arm around his waist and held him tightly. “What about you? Didn’t your father’s leaving hurt you?”
“No. I was almost a man. Strong enough to stand on my own.”
But Jayne sensed he hadn’t been. For all his demanding nature at work, Adam was still an extremely fair boss. He valued his workers and took a personal interest in their lives, especially those on his executive staff.
“Fourteen’s still a boy,” she said.
He hugged her close to his side. “You sound so fierce. Going to beat up everyone who’s hurt me?” “If I could.”
“Oh, Jaynie. Don’t care too deeply about me. I don’t think I could endure hurting you.”
“Because I care so deeply, you won’t.”
“I will. I’m not meant for…happily ever after.”
“That’s crap. Everyone is meant for bliss. You’re just afraid because your parents’ relationship went sour.”
“Everyone? I don’t see Mr. Right in your life.”
She pinched him because he’d angered her. He was Mr. Right, and if he’d just open his eyes he’d see it.
&nb
sp; “Ouch,” he said, rubbing his side.
“Come on. Let’s find that treasure.”
She started down the path, trying to gain control over her emotions. Adam grabbed her arm, stopping her.
“I didn’t mean it that way. I just…I’ve tried marriage before.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Not many people do. She left me for a man she worked with. We’d only been married six months.”
“Oh, Adam,” Jayne said.
“Don’t pity me. I expected it to happen and it did. Modern people aren’t meant for marriage. It’s an institution that’s outdated.”
“You don’t really believe that. You’re just lashing out.”
“What are you, an amateur shrink?”
“Ha! You know it’s true. I have a hard time with relationships because of my mom. And because I’d never talk to my dad. I wanted to, you know?”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I was so afraid of him. I figured he’d left before my birth because he didn’t want me. And I was so scared that once he saw me he’d remember that and leave.”
Adam tightened his arm around her. He muttered something under his breath that she couldn’t understand, but she felt safer than she ever had before. And a certainty that they were meant to be together.
They found the treasure chest just inside the cave. Inside were polished stones carved with the resort’s logo. There was an incantation on the wall that visitors were supposed to repeat for the next three days after being at the cave, and then they’d find their heart’s desire.
Jayne reached for a stone and then pivoted to face Adam. “Aren’t you taking one?”
“No. I don’t believe in all that mumbo jumbo.”
“This from the man who has a voodoo doll on his desk.”
“That’s a joke and you know it.”