His eyes traveled over me. “You don't look like somebody who needs a workout. You look amazing.”
His complement filled me with pleasure. I thought he liked how I looked. He was interested sexually, but it always made me giddy to hear him say it. “Thanks. You’re pretty hot yourself.”
That was an understatement, but I didn’t want to give him too big of a head.
We spent the day doing our separate things and getting ready to leave.
The next day we boarded a flight to St. Lucia.
As we took off, Leo took my hand.
Before we had reached our cruising altitude, he was already asleep. I loved that this was becoming something of a habit with us. We held hands on the ascent, and then Leo conked out. I loved watching him. His features were so ruggedly handsome, and while he slept, I could commit the lines and angles of his face to memory without feeling self-conscious.
Suddenly, his brow crinkled with worry, and I hoped he wasn't dreaming about all the bad stuff he was dealing with.
How difficult would that be to find out in your twenties that the man you thought was your father wasn’t?
I couldn't even imagine that.
Considering the situation, I thought he was doing a good job of dealing with it.
I’m not sure I could have been as strong.
Like Leo, I would be furious with my mother and sad about the loss of my father.
At present, Leo seemed consumed with anger, but there had to be something of a loss there as well.
Perhaps he’d dealt with the loss first, during the year that had passed since he found out he wasn’t Ziggy’s son.
It was my fervent wish that our trip to St. Lucia could distract him from the mountain of pain inside himself.
I’d make sure this trip was about fun and enjoying each other.
It was, after all, our honeymoon.
24
Leo
As the car sped away from the airport, I casually draped an arm around Honoré, tucking her into the crook of my arm.
We fit together.
It was something I was becoming more and more aware of every day.
“Where are we going?” she asked, aiming those big brown eyes at me.
“It's a surprise,” I said smugly and gave her a squeeze.
“Okay, I'm guessing it's a good surprise. Is it something we’re going to do? Or where we’re going to stay?”
“All of the above.” I gave her a peck on the lips, and we settled in for the drive, listening to music together, her taking the right earbud and me taking the left.
After about thirty minutes, we arrived at another airport.
“Wait. This is an airport. Didn't we just get off an airplane? And what happened to my security detail?” she asked, looking around.
“Believe it or not, I cleared all of this with them. Where we’re going, you can only get there by helicopter. Wait, that’s not true. You can also get there by boat, but a helicopter will be quicker, give us more time there.”
Her eyes widened. “I can't imagine my security detail going along with this.”
“They’ll probably be there in the shadows. I’ll bet they’ve already scouted and swept the place. Set up surveillance in the trees.” I laughed, picturing some of her burly bodyguards trying to get comfortable sitting up in a tree with a pair of binoculars. “But I requested a couple of days off from the usual nonsense. I figured we could both use it.”
“Hell yeah,” Honoré agreed, placing her hand on my thigh. It felt so good just to have her touch me. I didn't realize how much I'd come to crave just the simplest touch of this woman.
“Gotta take care of my wife,” I said boldly.
We might both be pretending, playing our roles, but it had become more real to me than I could've ever imagined.
Before marrying Honoré, I’d never really thought about settling down or having a wife.
I’d never seen the appeal.
Most of my life, Lucinda had been a widow. Regardless of my paternity, I had never really had a dad.
I was only a little kid when Ziggy died. So I had no memory of his marriage to Lucinda.
In the world I lived in, stable, long-term marriages were the exception rather than the rule. It almost seemed like an archaic endeavor. I could see it if you had kids that it would be a good thing to have an intact family, but until recently, I’d been so far away from thinking about having kids…
Hell, three months ago I was on tour, traveling from city to city where my only responsibility was to show up and play.
It wasn't like I needed to party everywhere I went, bed a different girl every night, but I did what I felt like doing.
And if I was in the mood for a fuck, it wasn’t hard to find.
But ever since marrying Honoré, I realized I’d grown tired of the hangovers and the drama of trying to extricate myself from some of my more clingy one-night stands.
My mother had taught me about using condoms as soon as I was old enough to get a boner.
And not just to use them, but to rinse them out before disposing of them. Apparently my semen could make a woman rich and land me on the hook for the next eighteen years, and there were some crazy scammers out there who’d sell my spunk to the highest bidder.
Because of all that, casual flings were a pain in the ass. My mother trained me to always be vigilant and always expect the worst of people until they showed you different.
But Honoré was different. Once we were married, she had no motive to try to trap me. Hell, I was already her husband.
And it wasn’t like she needed my money.
My fame certainly wasn’t a plus for her. She didn’t need, or want, even more attention focused on herself than she already had. So, for once, I had a girl in my life who I knew had no ulterior motives.
If she was nice to me, it was because she wanted to be. Not so she could get something from me.
And she was fun to be around. In some ways she was extremely worldly, but in others she was like a child who had been so sheltered her whole life that it was a joy to expose her to new things. I had grown extremely fond of her, and now it was difficult to imagine life without her.
Soon we boarded a helicopter and flew out over the sea. I had chosen a helicopter because Honoré had enjoyed it so much in Iceland. She got a real kick out of it. So much so that I considered maybe we should have one. There was certainly enough money in the coffers. The only question was—where would we keep it?
Then I’d remember we were supposed to break up after all this, but I couldn’t see that happening. Not really.
As we flew over the islands, Honoré grew more and more animated.
“Oh, Leo, it is so beautiful here. Why didn’t we come to St. Lucia first? This is so lovely, we could've spent our entire honeymoon here.”
I gave her a meaningful glance. “But then I wouldn’t have seen the Northern Lights with you, and that’s something I’ll never forget. Among other things.”
She squeezed my hand. “True. That is a memory of a lifetime. But I love the Caribbean.”
We looked over to see the two famous Pitons, green mountainous spires sprouting out of the ocean.
“Those are awesome!” Honoré practically squealed, and I was glad I’d brought her here without the cameras and the entourage. I wanted her all to myself.
In another ten minutes, the helicopter landed on a small field, and we disembarked. After thanking our pilot, I took Honoré’s hand and led her toward the plantation-style house that stood about a hundred yards away.
“Leo, what is this place?”
“You know how people rent Airbnb’s when they go on vacation?”
“Yes.”
“Well, this is kind of like our Airbnb. I arranged ahead of time to rent this house.”
“It looks more like an estate to me.”
I shrugged. “Well, I saw it online, and I couldn't resist it. It looked like the perfect getaway. It’s on a private island.”
“I know, right? You hear that word—private?”
She nodded.
“It's got everything we could want—a boat, jet skis, a cook, and a cleaning person will come in once a day for a few hours so we don't have to completely fend for ourselves. Did I mention it has a beach?”
“A beach? Where? I'm dying to see this.”
“Come on then.” I pointed to the steps, and we practically ran toward it.
The house was elevated in order to deal with potential weather hazards, so to get to the entrance we had to run up a bunch of steps. Once we got to the top, I inserted my key into the front door, and we walked inside.
Damn, the place was gorgeous.
The first thing we saw as we stepped onto the tile floors was the breathtaking view showcased by two stories worth of windows overlooking the ocean.
After oohing and ahhing over the great room, Honoré was drawn to the back of the house where the doors opened up onto an elaborate outdoor space. Trellises covered with fuchsia bougainvillea decorated various levels leading down toward the beach.
On one level, an infinity pool seemed to disappear right off a cliff into the gorgeous view below.
Another level sported a tiki bar and outdoor kitchen.
“Wow! It has everything you could ever want,” Honoré called out, skipping down the steps so that I had to pick up the pace to keep up with her. It warmed my heart to see her so excited.
When we got to the bottom, there were a couple of hammocks under the shade of some trees, then only a few steps away was the edge of the beach.
Honoré was already taking off her shoes and stepping onto the sand.
Feeling the sand sift through her toes, she let out a moan. “I love the feel of sand between my toes. It's one of my favorite things.” She closed her eyes and enjoyed reveling in the sensation.
The look of bliss on her face gave me other ideas, so I slipped off my shoes and joined her.
We walked down to the water and dipped our feet in.
“The water’s perfect. A little cool but not bracing.”
The wind whipped past, and Honoré’s hair blew through the air, and she’d never looked more beautiful.
“This really is perfect.” She brushed her hair out of her face. “Where's our luggage? I would love to get my suit and go swimming.”
“Who needs a bathing suit?”
Honoré looked shocked. “You've got to be kidding me.”
I shook my head, and she continued to look at me as if I’d lost my mind.
“What about the paparazzi?”
“Why do you think I booked us a place so private? So we could do whatever we want. There's no one coming out here. I promise you that.”
“But seriously, Leo. This is kind of how we got ourselves into this trouble in the first place. My security people have got to be somewhere around here. Where are they?”
“Okay, you got me. They are monitoring us via a boat, but it's on the other side of the island, and someone will be with us tonight. But they're staying the hell out of the way, and I promise you they're not here now.
“I just heard the helicopter leave. Didn’t you hear it? They probably put our bags in the house, and everyone is gone. It’s just you and me.”
Honoré remained skeptical, but I started taking off my clothes.
By the time I got down to my underwear she said, “You’re serious. You're not worried about someone getting photographs of this, or my security seeing you?”
“No. Anyway, you're a married woman. The paparazzi are hours away, and I seriously doubt you would get in trouble if your security knew you were skinny-dipping with your husband.”
It was as though a light bulb went off over her head.
And with a gleam of defiance in her eye, my bride started to undress.
25
Leo
“Here, let me help you with that.” Honoré had on a long, flowing dress, and it didn't take long to get it up over her head. I tossed it aside, leaving her in her bra and underwear. I never really understood the difference between that and a bathing suit anyway, but I was a guy. What the hell did I know?
I wanted to take her right there, but before I could get my hands on her, she dashed into the ocean, giggling with the freedom of being almost naked.
“Hey, you forgot to take off your bra and underwear,” I said, stripping my underwear off and throwing it onto the sand.
“Catch.” She unhooked her bra and tossed it to me. Then covering her breasts with her arm, she ran out into the foamy surf, still wearing her panties.
I tried to catch the bra, but it fell into the ocean first and got soaked. I pulled it out and dropped it onto the sand, but by this time she was swimming away from me.
Fortunately, I was a good swimmer, closing the distance with only a few strokes.
“Where do you think you're going?” I teased.
Her smile was radiant and for the moment, she wasn’t a princess.
She was just a beautiful girl on an island, and she was the one I wanted.
I took her in my arms and captured her mouth, exploring every inch of her and holding her so tight.
“Leo,” she sighed as her breasts pressed against me.
I could feel her nipples harden against my chest, my cock springing hard against her pelvis.
“God, I want you,” I growled.
In response, she lifted her legs and wrapped them around me.
With one quick jerk, I ripped her panties off and let them float away.
Her eyes widened with surprise then darkened with passion, and she lifted her hips and impaled herself on my rod.
She felt so fucking exquisite.
Having sex with Honoré was more than just physical. It was like the cementing of our connection with each other, and it meant more to me than I could've ever imagined.
As I held her close, our bodies rocked against the waves, my cock moving inside her. I wished that moment would never end.
Her mouth reached up to kiss me, and I felt like I could drown in this ocean inside this woman and die a happy man. The smell of the sea breeze mixed with her delicious scent that was all Honoré filled my nose. The slick buoyancy of the water only enhanced our pleasure. When she swung her head back, I could sense she was getting close.
“God, you feel so good.”
I plowed up into her with strong, powerful strokes, making her whimper.
“That's it. Come for me, Honoré.”
My words seemed to be a trigger, and she clutched my back.
Her face filled with a beautiful grimace, the kind of face that said “You’ve completely wrecked me, and I loved every fucking minute of it.”
There was something extra filthy about bringing a precious little princess under my thrall, and I couldn't get enough of it.
It reminded me of something I wanted to ask her tonight at dinner.
Now that she had wrung out her orgasm, I held her close to me and pumped into her as hard and fast as I could, like a fucking jackhammer. The sloshing of the ocean made it all the more sensual, and it didn't take me long to ejaculate inside her.
We clung together for several minutes, just enjoying the water and each other.
Seagulls flew by, squawking their little song.
The sun shone bright on our skin as waves lapped against our bodies.
“I wish you could just stay inside me like this all the time.”
There was something so sweet and poignant about the way she said it that it touched my heart.
“Me too.”
And I tried to stay inside her as long as possible. But finally, a big fish swam by, and Honoré screamed and quickly untangled herself from me.
“Did you see the size of that fish?”
I laughed. “Yes, but it wasn’t going to hurt you.”
At that moment the sun hid behind a cloud, and as the wind whooshed past, it grew cold all of a sudden.
Honoré
started swimming for shore. I beat her there, but before she got out of the water she faltered. “Oh my God, we need some towels. Where we can dry off?”
“At the house?”
With a huff, she gathered her bra and dress off the sand and sprinted for the house, giggling all the way.
I followed a few feet behind her so I could enjoy the view.
As I watched her run in the sand naked as the day she was born, I made a point to remember how pretty she looked.
How free.
Not exactly the princess of Martinovia that the outside world saw.
This was the version of Honoré that only I got to see.
With a full heart I marveled that she was mine, and I intended to keep it that way.
* * *
That night we got settled into the house.
The first thing we did was find a pair of fluffy, white bathrobes and put them on after we came in from the beach.
Staff members had already been there that day, and they’d left a simple dinner of sandwiches and fruit. I’d sent ahead a list of things we might need, so the pantry was stocked with our favorite snacks, and a bottle of Honoré's favorite champagne chilled in the wine cooler.
When I went to retrieve it, she cooed, “My favorite. You remembered.”
I smiled to myself. Definitely getting points for remembering my wife's favorite drink.
That night we fell asleep holding each other.
I slept like a baby, which is usually how I sleep after traveling.
The next morning, I made sure the cook fixed Honoré’s favorite breakfast—the little egg in the cup the way she liked it, along with a plate of strawberries with cream.
The radiant smile on her face told me I was doing a good job spoiling her.
An hour later, a motorboat came to meet us on the other side of the island, which gave us the chance to walk around to the other side and explore.
The interior of the island was like a tropical forest with all the lush, green foliage of a rainforest and the noises that go with it. We held hands and hiked through one section where we saw several colorful birds and an opossum scampering up a tree.
Royal Wrecker: Barnes Family Romances Book 4 Page 13