Beauty And The Brooding Billionaire (South Shore Billionaires 2)

* * *

Bran drank in the scent of her hair, something soft and floral that mixed with the salty tang of the sea. She was so warm, and so very, very generous. What she’d said about her childhood was surprising. He’d imagined her having this warm and picture-perfect family, completely well-adjusted and loving. But she’d had her share of heartbreak, too, and yet she still found a way to be...open.

It took a certain strength to be able to do that. And something special to make him respond to it, after months of numbness.

Jennie would have liked her. It should feel odd to have such a thought, but somehow it wasn’t. Jennie had had that sweetness wrapped in strength, too.

It felt so good to be held.

H

e pulled her closer against him, let his hand glide over her back, touching warm skin. God, so good, the touch of another human being. She responded, slipping her hands beneath the hem of his T-shirt, and he could feel the gentle marking of her fingernails on his back. He groaned with pleasure, moving his hand down her ribs, his thumb grazing the tender skin between breast and waist through the soft material.

“Bran,” she whispered, and his body came alive.

He lowered his head and nuzzled at her ear, pleased when goose bumps erupted on her skin. She tilted her head, and he touched his lips to the soft skin of her neck, up to her jawline, over to her lips, which were slack and waiting for him. The kiss was a wild and wonderful thing, full of passion and acknowledgment of their attraction. She stood up on tiptoe and wrapped her arms around his neck; he lifted her up off her toes and held her flush against his body as he plundered her mouth. Her hands sank into his hair and his pulse leaped. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to lay her down on the sand right here and now. At Jeremy’s house. He understood now why his lighthouse was the perfect spot for a tryst. A little ocean, some moonlight, add a lot of desire and things had a way of happening.

Her chest heaved with her breathing, and he placed his hand over her heart. He was shocked to discover she wasn’t wearing a bra as her small, firm breast pressed against his hand.

His control was on shaky ground.

So he lifted her up in his arms, cradling her close, and started walking toward the water.

He was nearly to his knees when Jessica figured out what he was doing. She pushed against him and started to laugh and protest at the same time. “Bran! No! You are not going to throw me in the water!”

He grinned. “Throw? No. But we need to cool off, and there’s only one way I can think of to do that.”

She struggling against him some more, but suddenly she was laughing too, and the sound filled his heart with something that felt...joyful. Water splashed up over his knees as the waves rolled in. It was cold; there was definitely going to be some temperature shock. But nature’s equivalent of a cold shower was in both their best interests right now.

“Bran!” she exclaimed, as a wave rose up and touched her bottom, making her arch against him.

He laughed, the sound rumbling in his chest before erupting into the evening air. His shorts were wet now, and another step had them in up to his waist. “Ready?” he asked.

“No!” She squealed and twisted in his arms, laughing the whole time. “You are not going to drop me into the ocean. You are not—”

He took one more step, then let her go with a splash. And then he dove under, hoping to cool his jets.

When he surfaced about ten feet away, Jessica had come up and was still spluttering and wiping her hair away from her face. She looked so indignant that he burst out laughing. The look she turned on him was positively venomous, and then she started toward him. When she was five, maybe six feet away, she started splashing him, the water hitting him in the face and he had to stop laughing to keep from getting a mouthful. Instead he turned, stepped toward her and yanked her close, where she couldn’t splash anymore.

“You. Are. Incorrigible.” She was still laughing but said the last word on a sigh. He kept his arm around her and she kicked up from the bottom, pointing her toes up through the surface. “I can’t believe you did that.”

“Me either.” He let her go, and they bobbed around in the water for a few minutes. His cargo shorts were heavy and his T-shirt uncomfortable, and his legs were already starting to go numb from the cold. Still, he found it hard to be sorry. It had been so long since he’d done anything impulsive or...or fun. Kissing Jessica and then taking a plunge in the Atlantic had been both.

Her dress billowed around her, moving with the waves as she ran her fingers through her hair, which was far darker now that it was wet. It made her skin glow in the moonlight, and her eyes shone at him. Quick as anything, she ducked under the water, the tips of her toes giving a little splash like a mermaid. When she surfaced, she was several feet away, standing hip deep in the water.

The fabric of her dress clung to her skin, highlighting every curve and point, and his mouth went dry. Perhaps a dunking in the sea hadn’t been the best plan after all.

Sex would be a mistake. For both of them. Wouldn’t it?

To distract himself, he swam out until he started to get tired, and then turned to come back. Jess was treading water a few hundred yards away, as if waiting for him. He swam in, and then they went to shore together. The exertion had helped expend some of his restless energy, and when they got to the shore, they hurried out of the water and onto the beach.

“Come up to the boathouse and towel off. You must be freezing.”

No more than she was.

The slow, meandering walk of earlier was replaced by quick steps in the sand, and a shorter angle to the path leading away from the beach. Jessica stopped and grabbed her shoes, and when she stood he noticed her lips were blue from cold. He was shivering, too. The days had been summerlike, but the nights were still chilly and being soaking wet made it even worse. In the space of a few minutes, they were at the boathouse. He stood on the mat while she disappeared into the bathroom and returned with two big, fluffy towels.

She scrubbed her hair and rubbed it over her arms and legs. He did the same. And wished her dress wasn’t quite so see-through. It wasn’t helping his resolve to keep things nonsexual.