She kept silent, letting him relive the memories, hoping that he would find a way to soften the hard ache inside him. But when his eyes refocused, she saw the raw pain reflected in them.
‘I’m not a father, and I probably never will be. But even I know those things are easy to do when life’s a smooth sail. The true test comes when things get rough. I find it hard to believe that my brothers and I were ever in any way special to our parents when they turned their backs on us when we needed them most. He could’ve saved me, Inez—’ He stopped abruptly and her heart clenched with pain for him.
‘How?’
‘One simple phone call to warn me and I wouldn’t be here…I wouldn’t be afraid of going to sleep each night because of hellish nightmares…’ A deep shudder raked his tall frame.
‘Oh, Theo,’ she murmured. He leaned into the hand she placed on his cheek for several seconds then he pulled away and tilted her chin up.
The vulnerable man was gone. ‘This changes nothing. I am what I am. Do you still want me?’
She swallowed. ‘Yes.’
Something resembling relief swept through his eyes. ‘You have half an hour and a lot of head-clearing air before we’re back on the boat. I suggest you use that time to think carefully about whether you want this to go any further. Because, once we cross the line, there won’t be any going back.’
CHAPTER TEN
THEO THREW THE REINS of the launch to the waiting crew member and turned to help her out. Her bare feet hit the landing pad and she swayed a little when the boat rocked.
Contrary to her thinking he would rush her back to the boat after his pronouncement, Theo had taken his time walking her back down the streets to the promenade and onto the beach that led to the pier.
Hell, he’d even taken the time to help her out of her shoes so they could walk along the shore.
But the plaguing doubt that perhaps he didn’t want her as much as her screaming senses craved him evaporated the moment she looked into his eyes.
Burnt a dark gold by volcanic desire, he stared down at her for several seconds before he demanded in a hoarse voice, ‘Well?’
She licked her lips and watched his agitated exhalation. ‘I still want you.’
‘Are you sure? There will be no room for regret in the morning, Inez. I won’t allow it.’
‘I’m not drunk, Theo. Besides, I wanted you this morning and I wasn’t drunk then. Or last week, or the first night we met.’
His nostrils flared as he dragged her close on the deserted lower deck. ‘That first night, you felt what I felt?’
An impossible attraction that had no rhyme or reason? ‘Yes,’ she answered simply.
He swung her up in his arms and strode into the galley and down the steps into his large, opulent suite. Somewhere along the line, her shoes fell from her useless hands. She knew they had because her fingers were buried in his hair, and her mouth was on his by the time he kicked the door shut behind them.
Their tongues slid erotically against each other as they explored one another, his forceful, hers growing bolder by the second. Because she knew he liked it, she nipped his bottom lip with her teeth.
His deep growl echoed inside her before he pulled away. Eyes on hers, he slowly lowered her body down his sleek length. Hard muscles and firm thighs registered against her heated skin and even after her feet hit the plush carpet she held onto him, fearful she’d dissolve into a pool of need the moment she let go.
‘I need to undress you,’ he said raggedly.
Unable to look away from him, she nodded. The dark purple knee-length dress was form-fitting and secured by a side zip. After a couple of minutes of frustrated searching, she laughed and pointed to the hidden zip beneath her arm.
With a dark curse, he lowered it and tugged the dress over her head.
He dropped the dress. He swallowed. Then he stared so hard she stopped breathing.
‘Thee mou, you’re so beautiful,’ he groaned.
The feeling suffusing her was different from her reaction to the incandescent hunger in his eyes. It was pleasure that he liked what he saw, that he might well pardon her for her inexperience.
Eager to experience more of the feeling, she reached for her bra clasp.