Last Resort (59 page)

"that you're pretty inept when it comes to making love without having sex."

Slowly he grinned.

Laughing, she said,

"You made me come twice, you know."

Putting his lips over hers, he said,

"Want to try for a third?"

Her body instantly responded and as his tongue moved into her mouth she could already feel herself starting to melt in the growing heat of passion. But as he rolled on top of her her stomach gave a protracted growl of hunger, reducing them both to laughter.

"Come on,"

he said, getting up from the bed and pulling her after him. Time to eat."

Ts there a restaurant here? I don't have any clothes/

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she said, padding into the bathroom after him.

There's a restaurant/ he answered,

"for which you will need clothes - and you'll find some hanging right there in the closet. I got them in the hotel shop; you can always change them if you don't like them."

He pulled her in front of him and turned her to face the mirror, then wrapped his arms around her waist and looked at her reflection. "There's also room service - that is to say private dining,"

he said,

"for which you won't need any clothes. God, I love you."

Smiling, she leaned her head back on his shoulder and watched him smoothing his hands over her nudity. The light was so soft and flattering she almost felt beautiful as she basked in the warm shades of the room and the stirring sensation of his touch. After a while she raised her eyes back to his and, finding him watching her, she turned in his arms and pulled his mouth down to hers. Then, suddenly realizing that when he opened his eyes he would see her rear view, she began snuffling to one side.

Realizing what she was doing, he burst out laughing and gave her a playful slap on the buttocks. To her shame she felt the flesh ripple.

"You're going to have to get used to me looking at it,"

he said, grinning, as he planted her firmly back in front of the mirror and ran his hands over the delicious fullness,

"because I intend to be doing it on a pretty regular basis."

"Aren't I allowed any inhibitions?"

she protested, her voice faltering slightly as she felt him hardening.

"Uh-uh,"

he said, shaking his head.

"Not with me, you aren't. Want to take a bath before we eat?"

She nodded and letting her go he walked over to turn on the taps.

"OK,"

he said, sitting on the edge of the bath and emptying the Floris bath gel into the water,

"come on over here."

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As she walked towards him he turned to watch her and she felt an incredible glow of pleasure burn through her as she saw the effect she was having on him.

"You know what I want/ she murmured, coming to stand in front of him and putting her hands on his shoulders,

"I want you to bath me and talk to me the way you did just now."

As the steam rose up around them he got to his feet and lowered his mouth to hers. His erection was brushing against her, but when she tried to move closer he turned her away. Then, putting an arm around her waist, he placed a hand on the back of her head and bent her

over the bath.

"Open your legs/ he said softly. As she did as he told her she felt his hands on her buttocks, squeezing the ample flesh.

"I want to look at you like this/ he said, sliding his fingers inside her while with his other hand he scooped up her breasts. Then, letting her go, he stood back.

"David/ she protested weakly.

"You want me inside you?"

he said, pushing his fingers

hard into her.

"You want my cock where my fingers are?"

"Yes/ she gasped, dazed by the lust his coarseness had engendered. "Then say it."

"I want your cock inside me/ she said raggedly.

"Right up inside me. 1 want you to fuck me so hard Oh God!"

she cried as he suddenly rammed himself into her. Then her knees almost gave out as he reached in front of her to tease the most sensitive part of her.

"Tell me you love me/ he growled, banging into her and gripping her tightly around the waist. T love you."

"Tell me again."

T love you, David. I love you."

Reaching into the bath he scooped up the foaming water and began to soap her breasts. Then he pulled out

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of her, turned her to face him and buried his tongue deep in her mouth. Her hand found his penis, but as she stood on tiptoe to put it in her again he lifted her in his arms and stood her in the bath. Then he was in there beside her, his mouth on hers again as he sat on the wide marble slab the other side of the bath and pulled her on to his lap. As he penetrated her he leaned back to rest on his elbows and look up at her. Then they both started to laugh as they realized that neither of them could move.

His smile faded as she squeezed him with her inner muscles then, as he fell back, surrendering himself to her, she manoeuvred herself on to her knees and began to move up and down on top of him.

Looking up at her, he brushed his hands over her breasts.

"Don't ever hide anything of yourself from me, Penny,"

he told her. T love you. I love every god-damned inch of you."

Then pushing his fingers between her legs, he began pumping his hips, watching her breasts bounce over her ribs as her head fell back at the building power of sensation.

"David, I'm going to come/ she cried as his fingers and hips started to move faster.

"I know. I can feel it."

Then suddenly the grip of her orgasm clenched him.

"Jesus Christ, Penny/ he seethed. What are you doing to me?"

"Just don't stop/ she begged,

"please don't stop."

Within seconds he was on the point of shooting into her again. Raising himself up quickly, he folded her in his arms and held her close as the shuddering spasms of his own release ejected the seed from his body.

After a while he looked up at her and smiled tenderly into her eyes.

"You OK?"

he said.

"I think so/ she said, smiling too.

"Do you reckon we should turn off the taps?"

he said.

Laughing, she reached behind her and shut off the water. Then, carefully detaching herself from him, she sank back into the warm, silky suds.

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Tou know what I'm going to do now?"

he said, resting his elbows on his knees as he looked down at her.

Tell me/ she said.

-

"I'm going to order us some food, because if I don't do it now and we carry on like this we're never going to get to eat. And, speaking for myself, I'm pretty damned hungry-'

"Sounds like a good idea to me,"

she said, sinking

beneath the water.

He watched her as she came up, looking at the arch of her neck and the fullness of her breasts as she held her head back for her hair to fall behind her. Then, as her eyes met his, he smiled and stooped over her to kiss her.

She looked so ridiculously happy and was so blissfully unaware of the terrible price he was going to pay for being there that he just couldn't bring himself to tell her. Not yet, anyway.

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Chapter 24

When Penny finally awoke the following morning, after a night of almost unbroken sleep, she found herself alone in the bed. Pushing back the sheet, she picked up a discarded towel from the floor and wrapping herself in it, wandered out on to the veranda. David was standing at the edge of the sea, his hands thrust deeply into the pockets of his shorts. Seeing him, a quiet intensity stirred in her heart. The crystal waves lapped smoothly over his ankles as he stared out towards the horizon. The sun was already high in the sky, shedding its warmth over the spectacular beauty of the island, deepening the turquoise-blue of the sea, making the white sand sparkle and the vivid green of the palms glisten. Even after all the tender and passionate moments they had shared, it still seemed incredible to her that they were there and that they had had to go through what they had to find each other.

She smiled sadly to herself. She still didn't know yet what he had been through, but something had happened since she'd left, that much was clear, and she had the distinct and uneasy feeling that, despite Christian's arrest, they hadn't yet seen the last of him. She knew that David had deliberately held back on this the night before, wanting to lose himself in the euphoria of their love-making and, like her, pretend for a while that the rest of the world was simply a place to which one day they might 465

return. She had no way of knowing what history he and Christian shared, but she knew he would tell her, was probably, even now, trying to find the right words. She wished there was something she could do to help him, but apart from letting him know that she loved him and that, no matter what, she would be there for him, there was nothing else she could do. Maybe, once he'd told her, there would be more, but she knew she must allow him to tell her in his own time and not push him.

She watched him as he lowered his head and walked a few feet along the shore.

The fact that she could sense his turmoil so strongly, and that it was the role she had played that had brought them to where they were now, was causing a dreadful guilt to close around her heart. But now wasn't the time to indulge herself in her own emotions, for this was no longer about her, it was about David and Christian and Gabriella. Most of all, though, it was about David, and since it was too late to change whatever had happened, or what she herself had done, all they could do was go forward together, face whatever still had to be faced, and hope that one day soon they would be able to put it all behind them.

Turning back into the pleasing coolness of the casita she went into the bathroom and, dropping the towel, stepped into the shower. No amount of speculation was going to make her any the wiser, but there was nothing she could do to stop the thoughts chasing each other through her mind. A part of her wanted to resist ever knowing what had led up to the night on the pier, but an even stronger part was preparing to deal with it in the best way she could for David.

When, a few minutes later, she stepped out into the bathroom she found him standing in the doorway, watching her. Under the dark scrutiny of his eyes the heat of desire pulled through her.

T love you,"

he said hoarsely.

"I love you too,"

she said, injecting such feeling into the

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words that for an instant his eyes seemed to dull with pain.

Picking up a towel he walked over to her and using it to pull her to him he kissed her tenderly on the mouth.

"I just ordered some breakfast/ he told her,

"and then... Well, I guess we'd better talk. Do you feel up to it?"

he added, looking searchingly into her eyes.

"Yes,"

she nodded.

Smiling, he wrapped her tightly in his arms.

"How did I ever get to be this lucky?"

he whispered. Then, with a dry, bitter laugh, he added,

"How did I ever manage to fuck up the way I have?"

"Did you?"

she said, prising herself gently from the embrace and looking up at him.

Tep, I sure did,"

he answered flatly.

"Well, there's a relief."

She smiled.

"I was beginning to think you were invincible and I'm not sure I know how to handle invincible. Fuck-ups: now, those I can handle."

"Then I hope to God you can handle this one,"

he said as the fleeting humour in his eyes faded.

In that moment, when he looked at her that way, she truly believed that there was nothing she couldn't handle. It was only in the weeks and months ahead that she came to doubt her ability to be strong for him, but by then she was dealing with so much more than either of them could have foreseen.

Their breakfast of coffee, croissants, fresh papaya and mango was served on the veranda, by which time Penny was wearing the pale-lilac sarong dress he had chosen for her the day before, with her hair brushed back from her face and tied with a ribbon that matched the dress. As he looked at her he felt the tremendous power of his feelings tightening his heart. Not only was she a very special woman, she had a very special kind of beauty, one that shone through from the very depths of her soul, lighting her clear, blue eyes with honesty and courage and the kind of integrity that made him want to shield 467

her from all the sordid cruelties of the world. He smiled to himself as he thought of how she would laugh if he told her that.

They drank and ate in silence as butterflies flitted and glittered in the sunlight and the haunting song of a hoopoe bird carried on the breeze. Apart from the hotel staff they hadn't seen another living soul on the island.

"Well/ he said finally,

"I guess I've got to begin somewhere, but believe me when I tell you that no one comes out of this with a halo, least of all me."

He laughed mirthlessly and looked down at his coffee. That's an understatement if ever there was one/ he muttered, almost to himself.

"Anyway, in a nutshell, I had an affair with Christian's wife and one way or another I've been paying for it ever since."

Penny waited, watching his eyes move out over the sea as he began to relive the past few years of his life.

"It wasn't the first time I was unfaithful to Gabriella/ he said,

"nor was it the last, but it was the only time it ever got to me the way it did, and, well, I guess it was the closest I ever came to leaving her. The only reason I didn't was because she was pregnant with Jack, our younger son.

If she hadn't been, well, I'm pretty sure I'd have gone. I say pretty sure because I still don't really know. I loved Gabriella, I was crazy about her from the day we met, but it didn't stop me cheating on her, even while she was pregnant. She knew about most of my affairs. God only knows why she tolerated them, except I was rich and Gabriella worships at the altar of the Almighty Dollar. That's not to say she didn't love me, because I know she did. She also loved being married to a man who was British and when I had affairs I was, on the whole, pretty discreet. But with Jenny Mureau it was different and Gabriella knew it. Jenny was wild and crazy and so god-damned beautiful..."