Countering His Claim

by Rachel Bailey

  “Depends on how quickly we find one.” A frown line appeared between her brows. “But I’m not sure what this would achieve—I already understand the concept.”

  He placed his upturned palms on the table. “I’ve given you the commitment of three weeks and an open mind while you tried to convince me that your plans for the Cora Mae are best. It’s a reasonable expectation that you would do the same. I don’t even need the three weeks. Just a couple of days.”

  She blew out a breath and nodded. “I’ll make some inquiries with the doctors who cover for Cal and my holidays, and see when they’re available.”

  “I appreciate that.” His shoulders relaxed. He was surer than ever that this was the best plan for everyone. Convince her the Cora Mae would be better as a floating hotel, and do it quickly, before either of them formed an emotional attachment to the other.

  * * *

  That night, Della went back to Luke’s cabin after dinner. They’d been invited to dine at the captain’s table, and had agreed that their intimate relationship should stay private while so much rested on their negotiations about the Cora Mae. So she’d sat through the torture of not being able to touch him through an entire meal.

  Well, more precisely, they hadn’t touched where anyone else could see. But those long white tablecloths were excellent cover for questing hands.

  “Coffee?” he asked, his eyes betraying a lack of interest in the drink.

  “No, thanks.” She bit down on a smile, but it escaped, anyway.

  He loosened his tie. “Tea? Wine?”

  “Nope.” She took two steps closer, until she was within touching distance.

  “So, there’s nothing you want?” he asked mildly.

  Her hands rested on his chest, reveling in the solidness beneath the crisp white shirt. “Oh, there’s something I want. Something I’ve been desperate for all night.”

  “They’ll serve anything you ask for at the captain’s table,” he said, one hand cupping her cheek. “What could you have possibly wanted that they couldn’t provide?”

  “This.” And she kissed him, slowly, thoroughly, the way she’d been dreaming of since they’d sat down at dinner. Her conversations with passengers and other crew had probably been muddled, given that most of her focus had remained on the man who sat beside her, no matter who she was talking to. All she’d wanted to do was this. Just this.

  Without breaking the kiss, he lifted her into his arms and carried her up the stairs to the bedroom, letting her slide down his body just inside the door.

  She leaned into his neck, inhaling the scent of him as she caught her breath. “Nice move, Luke.”

  “Here’s another one.” He walked her back a step until her shoulders bumped against the wall. “Now kiss me again.”

  She lifted her face and met his mouth with hers, showing him all the passion that welled up inside her when he was near.

  “Della,” he said, his voice ragged. “I want to see you when I make love to you.”

  Her blood turned to ice. Didn’t he realize how impossible that was for her? Tension flowed into her limbs, the rigidness almost painful after the lovely lassitude of only moments ago.

  Slowly, she withdrew her arms and wrapped them around her waist. “Isn’t what we have enough?”

  “What we’ve shared has been amazing.” He leaned in, his lips so close to her ear that she could feel the warmth of his breath. “But I want to see your face when you slide over the edge. I want you to see me when I’m inside you.”

  Her eyes drifted closed, imagining the scene he described. She’d do almost anything to be able to see his face in those moments, too. Almost anything. But certainly not what he asked.

  She turned her head and focused on the night sky through the window. “I’m sorry, Luke, I just can’t.”

  With a finger, he turned her face until his eyes filled her vision again. “You don’t think I can handle the way your body looks,” he said softly, but with an undercurrent of accusation. Perhaps even hurt.

  “If I’m…”

  “Exposed,” he supplied.

  She nodded, accepting his word choice. It was important he understood that this was no whim, that what he asked was simply not possible. “I won’t be able to relax. I’d be too self-conscious to enjoy what we were doing.”

  She saw understanding dawn in his eyes and began to relax.

  “Okay, new plan,” he said and gently touched his lips to the tip of her nose. “Leave the dress on.”

  He kissed her again, tenderly, and while she was distracted, he slid his hands up under her skirt, lingering over the satiny skin of her inner thighs, then hooked his thumbs in the elastic of her lacy panties, peeling them down.

  “You’ll leave my dress on?” she asked warily, watching his progress with removing her underwear.

  “I swear.” He lifted one of her feet, then the other, so she could step out of her panties. “It’s not my preferred option, but at least I’ll be able to see your face.”

  The possibility unfolded before her like a shining jewel. If she could trust him to keep his word, she’d be able to see him during those intimate moments, to connect with him on a deeper level, to watch his release. Her pulse began to race.

  As Luke stood, she wrapped her arms around his neck. “If I’m consenting to the lights on, do I get a reward?”

  “What do you want?” he asked with a lazy smile.

  She undid the knot in his tie and slid it out from his collar, then threw it across the room. “All your clothes come off.”

  “That’s hardly fair,” he said, chuckling. “I’ll keep one item, like you are. And technically you have two, since there’s a bra under that dress.”

  “Nope, they all come off.” She touched her tongue to her top lip, and watched him watch the action. “In exchange for the lights.”

  He blinked slowly, the corners of his mouth twitching. “You drive a hard bargain.”

  “And they come off now. Before we start.”

  A slow, lazy smile spread across his face. “I need to watch you closer next time we discuss the Cora Mae. You have hidden negotiating talents.” But he stepped back and quickly dispensed with his shoes, socks, trousers and shirt.

  She reached out, letting her fingers dance across his skin. With the lights out the past few nights, she’d been blocked from seeing his body. Such a shame considering the shape of him. She’d seen his bare chest the day they’d swum at the Bay of Islands, but seeing it up close, being able to touch it… A hot shiver ran down her spine.

  “And the rest,” she said, her voice uneven. “My underwear’s already gone.”

  “I’ve changed my mind.” He stepped forward, pushing her back into the wall, and claimed her mouth. The kiss was hot, demanding, and she gave herself completely to its power. His hands roamed down her sides, exploring her curves beneath the fabric but leaving the dress in place as he’d promised.

  He wrenched his mouth away and rested his forehead against hers, their breath mingling. “I can’t wait to see more of you,” he whispered.

  With hands that moved an inch ahead of his mouth, he made his way along the line of her jaw, down her throat. Pausing at the sensitive place where her neck sloped into her shoulders, he gently abraded her skin with his teeth, sending sparks of desire through her system.

  Unable to reach much of him as he dipped lower, she moved impatiently, stroking from the strong column of his throat down to his biceps. When his knees touched the ground, he looked up, the whole world in his eyes. Nothing could have prevented her from smiling down at him.

  He gripped one of her ankles and slid a shoe off, followed by the other, then his hands slid up her legs, spreading them a little farther apart as he went. Finding the hem of her dress, he bunched it in his fingers and kept on traveling, exposing new fles
h inch by inch. When he reached the juncture of her thighs, his hands trapped her hips firmly against the wall, and he placed a delicate kiss there. Then his tongue flicked out and found the core of her. A moan ripped from her throat, just as his lips joined in.

  Her breathing choppy, she managed a mangled version of “please,” not sure exactly what she was asking for. Luke continued his work regardless, his tongue circling and sweeping, driving her slowly crazy. She dug her nails into the muscles of his shoulders, needing something to anchor herself as her bones melted into nothingness.

  His hands pushed her harder against the wall, his mouth merciless. She writhed, arms flung out to the wall behind her, hands looking for purchase as reality dissolved.

  “Luke,” she gasped, then pleasure pulsed sharply through her and she imploded.

  He moved up her body until he stood, holding her against him, supporting her as she came back to earth. When she could breathe again, she opened her eyes to find him looking at her.

  “Thank you,” he murmured.

  She coughed out a laugh. “I should be thanking you.”

  “Feel free,” he said and grinned. “But I was thanking you for trusting me in the light.”

  She ran her hands over his bare shoulders, luxuriating in the polished smoothness. “I’m glad I did.”

  “Mmm, I think that should be, I’m glad I am trusting you, Luke,” he said, using a hand under her knee to lift her leg and wrap it around his hips.

  A shiver raced across her skin. “Oh, yes. I am, Luke. And I’ll be glad for as long as you want me to.”

  He dug his fingers under the waistband of his boxer shorts and came out with a little foil packet that he presented to her with a flourish. “Excellent.”

  She looked down at the waistband of his boxers then back to his face. “How long have you had that in there?”

  “About a minute and a half.” He pushed the underwear down his legs and kicked it away. “I dug it out of my trousers just before I stood up.”

  “I like a man who thinks ahead,” she said as she took it from his fingers. Pushing him back an inch to give herself some room, she ripped the packet open and rolled the protection along his length.

  “You also might like this.” He lifted her and wrapped her other leg around his hips so she could lock her ankles behind him. Only the thin cotton of her dress bunched around her hips lay between them.

  “Like?” she said on a gasp. “This is fast becoming one of my favorite things.”

  His hands supported her, positioned her, and as she felt the tip of him seeking entrance, her eyes drifted closed.

  Luke stilled. “Open your eyes,” he said, his voice deep and rough.

  She lifted her lids and found his gray eyes locked on her. “Better,” he murmured. “I’m not missing out this time on seeing your eyes when we’re joined.”

  He began to move again, small movements, merely nudging her, building anticipation until she couldn’t stand it any longer. She braced her back on the wall behind her and reached down to find him, then guided him into her as she sank down.

  Air hissed out from between his teeth, but he didn’t lose eye contact.

  The feel of him filling her while watching his face in the fully lit room made something shift in her chest. The times they’d made love in the dark she’d known it was him, of course she had, but perhaps there had been some little corner of her brain that had played dumb, thinking if she didn’t see him she wasn’t breaking the vows she’d once made to her husband.

  But here and now there was no denying this was Luke she had her thighs wrapped around. Luke thrusting into her. Luke with his fingers biting into the flesh of her hips as he moved her to his rhythm. And she didn’t want anyone else. Only him. Only ever Luke.

  “Della,” he groaned, his body vibrating with tension. He changed the angle of her hips and sparks shot through her entire body. Driving her fingers through his hair, she dragged his mouth down to hers.

  He kissed her hungrily, then pulled his mouth back a couple of inches, and she took the chance to fill her screaming lungs. His chest heaved in and out, but his gaze didn’t waver. Taking her higher, higher, to a place just out of reach, higher. Luke was whispering, eyes still on her, telling her she was beautiful, that she drove him crazy with want, saying her name. Then she burst free. Free of everything but this man. Within moments, Luke convulsed in her arms, his eyes only closing in the final moments of his pleasure.

  Minutes—hours?—later, he released her legs and they stumbled to the bed. Despite her exhaustion, a joy deep down bubbled away and she snuggled against his side, completely relaxed. Supremely content.

  Yet, as she lay in Luke’s embrace, a dark cloud moved over her heart. Was she falling in love? Her skin grew cold. For everyone’s sakes, she hoped not—despite being a good man, Luke had told her today in Nouméa that he didn’t want a true relationship. He wouldn’t want to be loved. And after experiencing the utter devastation that could come from loving someone, she would never open herself to the possibility again. If she let herself love Luke and she lost him, if he left her, it would kill her.

  Glancing up at Luke’s strong profile as he dozed, she mercilessly squashed down the joy that had been building. She simply wouldn’t let herself love him. She’d enjoy all he had to offer, then leave with her heart intact when they parted. Simple.

  The dark cloud continued to hover, making a mockery of her naïveté, but she determinedly ignored it and nuzzled in closer to her lover’s side.

  Nine

  Three days later, Luke unlocked the front door to his Melbourne penthouse apartment and ushered Della inside. Fortunately, one of the doctors who often covered for Della’s and Cal’s holidays had been available to meet the ship and fill in, so Luke had quickly arranged their trip to his hometown. It was only fair that she could see what he wanted to transform the Cora Mae into before she made her decision.

  They’d flown in from Samoa this morning and he’d spent the afternoon at his office. He’d wanted the time to sign contracts and other paperwork that had been waiting for him while he was cruising the South Pacific—to clear his plate so he could devote tomorrow to Della and the Cora Mae.

  Della had spent the afternoon with her parents before Luke had picked her up and brought her back to his home. He’d only spoken to her parents briefly, but he’d liked them, and knowing they’d been friends of Patrick’s made him like them all the more.

  He pulled his front door shut behind him and carried his and Della’s bags through to the main bedroom, rolling his shoulders to ease the tension. All the good effects from his time on the Cora Mae had dissipated the moment he’d stepped back into the Marlow Hotels office and the weight of responsibility had come crashing back down.

  When he came back, Della was standing near his sofa, taking in the room. “This doesn’t seem very…lived in,” she said.

  Loosening his tie, he glanced around his living room. “I don’t spend much time here. Most of my day is at the office, and I usually spend time off with friends. Also I travel a fair bit, checking on the hotels.”

  Della drifted across to the floor-to-ceiling windows that showcased the city below. Twilight had descended and Melbourne was bathed in its magical glow. It was his favorite time of day, and one of the reasons he’d bought the apartment.

  Yet it was the woman standing in front of the window who claimed his attention. He crossed to her, wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and glanced at the view over her shoulder. The feel of her against him brought a satisfaction to his blood that he never would have predicted.

  “It’s beautiful,” she said, leaning her head back on to his shoulder.

  “Not as beautiful as you.” Gently, he turned her in his arms and captured her lips, his heart beating faster from the simple kiss. “I’m looking forward to making lov
e to you in my bed,” he murmured. A primal, possessive need deep down inside him wanted to make love to her here, in his home.

  She shivered and smiled. “That’s a plan I can agree to.”

  “But first, I’ll feed you,” he said on a sigh, and pulled away from her special brand of temptation. “I’m afraid my cooking skills are confined to breakfast, so we’ll have to order in.”

  She blinked at him. “You cook breakfast?”

  “Omelets, scrambled eggs with grilled tomatoes, pancakes—I have a full repertoire. Just no dinner.” Partly because he was rarely home for dinner. “Have a look through the menus beside the phone and choose anything you’d like. I just need to check a couple of things.”

  He’d been working while aboard the ship, though not as many hours a day as he’d usually put in, and the pile of work waiting for him today was evidence that he’d relaxed a bit too much. That had to end.

  As he opened his laptop and waited for it to fire up, his gaze was drawn back to Della. She was in his kitchen, ringing the local Indian takeout. Something shifted in his chest. She looked good there.

  He’d never had a woman in his apartment before; he didn’t like the complications it brought. The expectations it might engender. But Della was different. Mainly because he knew she didn’t want a life on the land, so she wasn’t thinking she could turn him into a long-term prospect.

  He rubbed a hand over his jaw. No, it was more. There was something about Della herself. Her presence made him feel different inside. Perhaps it was that he could be more himself with her. She—

  Heart fisted tight, he stopped himself before he could get carried away. He didn’t need a woman to make him feel anything. He didn’t need anyone.

  He repeated his golden rule under his breath. Never be distracted by a woman; never rely on anyone.

  They were lovers, and he would have her in his bed tonight, but he wouldn’t indulge in any flights of fancy about what they had together.