The Tycoon's Red Hot Marriage Merger (9 page)

“Easier said than done.”

Cassandra wiggled and he could see her throat move while she fought to regain her composure. Her skin, wet and slick, slid against his. An electrical current jolted through him, slamming him in the groin. “True.” After all, he had grown hard as granite despite the ocean’s cool temperature. And man, oh man, this self-denial had to end soon or he wouldn’t be able to take it slow the first time he made love—no, correction, had sex—with Cassandra.

Her thigh brushed against his cock and she inhaled a sharp breath. “Sorry.” Cassandra stopped squirming. “I didn’t mean to…” She bobbed with him, chewing her lower lip and glancing away.

“There’s nothing to be sorry about.” He drew her closer. Their arms linked while the waves caressed them as they floated in the water. “You excite me.”

“Excellent, because that makes two of us.” She moved her leg between his thighs and caressed his erection with the subtle change of position. “However, what if I… you know can’t errr, take you? I mean by my current observations I calculate that you’re larger than the average guy.”

They twined round and round, drawing closer and closer until their bodies were almost one. And he had to fight to control the urge to cup her and enact every fantasy he’d had about sex out in the open sea.

Her scent of salt and ocean and sun invaded his senses. And if she didn’t stop nibbling her lower lip, he’d probably lose it right here, right now.
Dios.
He wanted to bury himself in her, make her wild. Cassandra turned him on and made him want things he didn’t expect to want.

And that scared the devil out of him.

He couldn’t afford to lose his reason where Cassandra was concerned. After all, she was his sworn enemy’s daughter. “Trust me. You’ll have no problem.” He moved his lips across her mouth, tasting salt.

She sighed and welcomed his tongue with her own.

His heartbeat accelerated. Blood rushed to his groin and thundered in his ears. Everything in him had one goal. Take her. Take her soon. And then take her again. Oh, he had gotten more than he had bargained for when he’d married Cassandra. Super, sexy side-benefits with a hot woman that no one had bothered to notice or care about until he had come along with his revenge plan. Man, if she hadn’t proposed, he’d never known what he had missed.

But he sure as hell meant to give them both what they craved tonight. In his way. On his terms. Because he couldn’t let her get under his skin and make him want something that he had learned to live without years ago.

###

Cassandra dried herself with one of the plush towels stowed on the main deck. A secret thrill brought a smile to her lips. Marco had clearly wanted her when they were in the water during the half an hour they swam through the cool, gentle waves. The kiss and the sensation of his arousal pressing, throbbing against her pelvis and legs had brought heat low. And nothing, not even the swirling cool water, could make that ache go away.

She’d expected him to do more. Because she wanted him with a ferocity she hadn’t thought possible. But Marco continued to draw her near and pull away. Frustration, along with building sexual tension, had her entire body wired for action. And swimming wasn’t on the list of the things to-do.

Her muscles tensed and every inch of her screamed for relief. No way was she going to let Marco completely control the first time she made love regardless of his ridiculous old-fashioned ideas about deflowering a virgin. After all, this wasn’t the eighteenth century. She was ready. More than willing given her current state of arousal. And she meant to take charge even though she had no idea about what to do.

Mentally, she checked off her reasons for forging ahead with her plan. First, Marco had said she excited him. Second, she had ample exposure to the level of his physical excitement. Third, she might be inexperienced, but she had done her share of reading romance novels and given his days of self-denial she figured he’d reached a breaking point. Heck, seducing Marco couldn’t be harder than calculating algebraic equations.

After all, for reasons that still evaded her logical mind, Marco considered her sexy and he had made no effort to conceal how much he wanted her. Applying some additional female pressure might yield a better result than a chaste sexual encounter. She’d waited a long time for this moment to happen. And now she wanted to feel every element of Marco’s power and sexual expertise without being treated like a fragile virgin.

“Want something to eat?” Marco asked from the chaise where he had parked his teasing behind after they’d climbed back aboard the
Diablo
. “I could make us a snack.”

The wind kicked up several knots and the bound mainsail’s canvas snapped against the ropes. Her heart kicked against her sternum and blood rushed through her veins. Snack? He wanted to eat a snack? Oh, Cassandra’s frustration levels had peaked to a new high. “I’m not hungry.” All she wanted to do was snack on was
him
. And on every delectable gorgeous inch of his skin, sliding her tongue against his washboard abs and lower, where the sprinkling of bronze hair just above his board short’s waist band lead to a treasure trove of all-man down below.

Though the sun had descended to the top of the horizon, Cassandra picked up her sunblock and walked to the chaise parked next to his. She allowed herself the luxury of drinking in Marco’s long, muscular thighs and the lovely bulge tenting them. Yes. A little more feminine pressure would be just the trick.

It had better work because the heat pooling between her legs had increased to scorching levels. “Could you please rub my back?” She bent and gave him a full view of her cleavage, giving him the tube. “I don’t want to turn into a French fry during our honeymoon.”

A muscle jumped in his oh so square jaw, much to her satisfaction. “Sure.”

His low voice and deepening accent sent a shiver of expectation up her spine, raising goose bumps on her flesh. She had definitely achieved a result in phase one of Operation Seduce Marco.

“Thanks.” Cassandra sat on the chaise next to Marco and turned onto her stomach, making sure to wiggle her bottom to keep the momentum going. She heard his sharp intake of breath, and smiled into the crook of her elbow. “Be sure to cover every exposed inch.” And if he wanted to reveal more of her skin in the process she wouldn’t resist.

Marco rubbed the lotion across her back in smooth circling movements. “Absolutely,” he said. “How’s this?”

Thousands of tingling sensations traveled through her body and pooled in her sex, making her wet with need. She loved the glide of his warm, strong hands against her. “Perfect, but I’d like my entire back protected,” Cassandra said, inhaling the aroma of the coconut cream and Marco’s crisp masculine scent.

His hands faltered a beat.

“Is there a problem?” she asked in as sweet a tone as she could muster.

“No,” he said, then slowly, ever so tantalizingly slowly, he edged his fingers under the string that tied her tiny bikini top and tugged until they no longer held the twin triangles in place.

Everything blazed to life. Her nipples tightened into taut buds and when he smoothed the cream alongside the swell of her breasts she moaned into the plush cushion cradling her face. No man had ever seen her breasts, let alone touched them. And oh, how she yearned to feel Marco’s hands on hers. But still, her inner geek worried that he’d run back to Vegas for a quickie divorce if she acted on her impulse to turn around. But her inner vixen kicked the geek in her to the curb. She had come this far and oh my god she didn’t want to stop.

“You okay?” he asked

“I’m great,” Cassandra said, her heart thumping loudly in her ears.
Do something sexy. Make him see more than a virgin. Make him so crazy that he won’t stop.
She rolled over and propped up on her elbows, holding her skimpy top in place. “You ready to take off the front?”

His dark green eyes locked onto hers and her bones turned to liquid. “
Si
,” Marco said.

“You promise to finish the job?” she asked. Because she couldn’t take another minute of sexual frustration now that her body screamed for his touch, his possession. And for relief from the years of pent up desire she’d banked while studying, working, chasing elusive regatta championships.

His full lips twitched into a wickedly sexy half smile. “You have my word on it,” he said, framing her with his arms.

Her hormones high fived each other and all her woman parts screamed hallelujah. Score one for the math geek. That no man had ever wanted her before—that her former fiancé had accused her of having zip sex appeal to justify his affair—paled in comparison to knowing that this magnificent hot man would be her first lover.

“Good,” she said. “Then I won’t need this anymore.”

With bravado born out of intense need, Cassandra loosened her bikini top’s halter tie and bared her breasts. Waiting, oh the waiting, for his reaction during the scant moment of silence afterward.

Marco leaned closer, stroked the underside of her breast, and briefly brushed his mouth against hers. “You’re beautiful,” he murmured into her ear, his breath hot and ragged. “And you’re driving me insane.”

Her nerve endings tingled and an exquisite sensation tugged low beneath her legs. Never had she felt more adored, wanted, desired. “Join the club,” she said. “You’ve been driving me nuts for days. Let’s fix that now.” She wound her arms around Marco’s neck and pulled him down.

His bare chest’s light dusting of hair abraded her sensitized nipples while she sought his mouth. When they finally fused their lips, all pretense of holding back had evaporated. God. She loved the way he tasted—like man, and sun, and paradise on the tip of the horizon. Promises continued in the slide of his tongue against hers, the sensation dizzying her and making her hunger for more.

Over and over, they kissed while they explored each other’s bodies. She ran her hands down his broad back, caressing the smooth skin covering powerful muscles, then swept them over his very fine, chiseled butt.

His cock grew harder between her legs, and electricity charged through her. She writhed her pelvis, the wanting building and pulsing in her clitoris so intense she thought she would die if he didn’t touch her, take her, now.

Marco squeezed her taut nipples between his index finger and thumbs, and they zinged tiny bolts of need throughout her body. Cassandra arched, desperate to feel more. More of his hands on her, more of him making her feel so hot, bothered, desperate for release from the exquisite tension tightening and coiling low.

“Marco, you make me feel so…”
different, wild, untamed.
And alive. So incredibly, sensationally alive that she wanted to ride the hot slide of heat waving through her until she no longer cared where she crashed.

As long as she crashed alongside Marco.

“You’re so damn sexy.” Marco paused long enough to tug her bikini bottom off and cup her. “I can feel you reaching the edge. You’re so fucking close. I want to take you there.” He lowered his head and sucked a nipple into his hot, wet mouth, sliding his finger along the seam of her folds.

Cassandra’s brain deserted her 100-percent. She scraped her fingernails up Marco’s back, then twined them through his hair to anchor him, never wanting to let him go. Oh, how he made her feel. Nothing else mattered but the sweet sensation of his tongue licking her nipples one by one and the waves pulsing from her clitoris while he played with the bundle of nerves.

“Marco, oh my god, Marco, don’t stop.”

He released her engorged nipple and looked up, his mouth curving into a wicked sexy smile. “I’m just starting,” Marco said and he licked his way down low, then lower still.

Heat fired. That and the unbearable, yet amazing desire, to hold onto the edge of reason… to maintain control for fear of losing herself and never returning. “Marco, you can’t…”

Again he gave her that sexy, delicious decadent smile. “Oh, but I can,” he said before lifting her legs over his shoulders and spreading her slick folds wide. “And I want to.” He slipped a finger inside her and swept his tongue across her clitoris.

He sucked and kissed her intimately, pushing another finger into her slick sex, filling her and giving her such sweet, tingling sensations she wanted to cry. No one had ever given her something this selfless, this precious. And her heart melted, joining her body’s thrumming pleasure. Pleasure that built with each stroke of his tongue, each drive of his fingers into her, bringing her closer and closer to a precipice she had never known.

She struggled to rein in her release, twisting her fingers into Marco’s hair. “Please. I don’t… I can’t…” Because letting herself go that far might mean never returning to sanity.

Marco peered at her from below, his emerald eyes gleaming hot while he drove his fingers into her faster, deeper, harder, rubbing his knuckles against her throbbing clit. “Come for me, Cassandra. Don’t hold back.”

“Marco,” she cried. “I can’t…”

“Oh, but you can,” he said before locking his mouth back onto her sex and licking her pulsating clit while pumping his fingers all the way to the hilt.

He loved her with his mouth and hand, giving her everything that he had to offer without demanding in return. Her heart no longer had a way to fight the emotions Marco had unlocked, and her body no longer had a way to fight the maelstrom of sensations building on wave upon wave of intensity. Finally, Cassandra reached the apex of reason, and her orgasm whipped through her, starlight bursting behind her eyes until she flew over the edge and into the abyss of the unknown. And the ocean heard her cry, scream Marco’s name, while she clung to the one lifeline that remained.

Marco.

Only he had the power to set her free. And only he had the strength to bring her back to herself.

Chapter Seven