“Oh, man,” she murmured in wonder. “What an absolutely beautiful sunset.”
“That it is,” Roderick agreed, lazily stroking a hand up and down her back.
Lena struggled not to succumb to his touch. To the sense of peace washing over her. To the romantic perfection of this moment. But how could she not succumb? She was having a once-in-a-lifetime experience that most women could only fantasize about. She’d been whisked away—yes, whisked away—on a romantic luxury cruise with the richest, most gorgeous man she’d ever met. A heart-stoppingly sexy man who’d given her more mind-blowing orgasms in one day than she’d had in several years. Now she was lying in his arms, gazing out at a breathtaking sunset and contemplating three more weeks of pure sensual bliss. It was too good to be true.
Why, oh, why couldn’t they have met under different circumstances?
Would it matter? her conscience challenged. No matter where or how you met, you’d still be an escort, and he’d still be the type of man who’d refuse to share you with strangers, as he put it.
“Hey.”
Lena glanced up to meet Roderick’s probing gaze. “I’m sorry. Did you say something?”
“Nothing important. Why were you frowning just now?”
“Was I?”
“Yeah. You were.”
She shrugged, buying time. “I was just thinking.”
“About…?”
She sighed. “I was wondering what I should tell Zandra when she calls to set me up with a client.”
“Just tell her you’re not available,” Roderick said simply.
“For three weeks?” Lena was skeptical.
“Sure.”
“And you think she’s just going to accept that—no questions asked?” Lena snorted. “You must not know Zandra very well. But, wait, you do. So you should know better.”
Roderick grinned. “Do you want me to talk to her?”
“No!”
He cocked an amused brow at her. “Why not?”
“Because.”
He waited. When she offered no more, he said dryly, “That’s not an answer.”
Lena heaved an exasperated breath. “Do I have to spell it out? I don’t want her to know about our arrangement.”
“I see.” He searched her face. “Are you embarrassed?”
She scowled. “Why should I be embarrassed? I’m not the one who bribed you with sex in exchange for money.”
“Touché.” Roderick grinned.
The man had no shame.
“I can’t tell Zandra about our arrangement because you’re a client,” Lena explained, “and I’ve already violated the agency’s policy by sleeping with you—”
“Sleeping? Is that what you call what we’ve been doing?” Roderick drawled, squeezing her butt.
Heat flooded her cheeks—the ones on her face and on her backside. “You know what I mean,” she snapped, swatting his hand away.
He chuckled softly. “I think you’re underestimating Zandra. If you told her the truth about our arrangement, I know she wouldn’t pass judgment.”
“That’s not the point,” Lena said, striving for patience. “The point is that I’m not supposed to get involved with clients, yet here I am sailing down Lake Michigan with you, coming off my gazillionth orgasm.”
“Gazillionth?” he teased. “You mean you’ve been count-ing?”
Lena rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Why do I even bother?”
Roderick laughed. His arms, strong and heavy, wrapped around her, snuggling her closer to his warm body. “I’m just messing with you, baby girl. I understand what you’re saying. If you don’t want Zandra to know about us, I won’t say a word.”
The way he said “about us” made it sound like they were secret lovers. Which, Lena supposed, they were.
Sighing in resignation, she traced her fingertip along the edge of an amazing pectoral muscle that quivered in response to her touch. “So,” she said casually, “Zandra tells me that you guys go way back.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You grew up in the same neighborhood, attended the same schools, et cetera, et cetera.”
“Yep.”
“She said you’ve been friends forever.”
“Forever.” His lazy voice had a hint of laughter in it. “Is there something you want to ask me, Lena?”
“Well,” she hedged. “It’s just that, well, Zandra’s a very beautiful woman.”
“Very,” Roderick agreed.
“Men come on to her all the time.”
“And you’re wondering why I’m not one of them.”
Lena bit her lower lip. “The thought has crossed my mind. Zandra told me that you’ve always had a platonic relationship—”
“And you find that hard to believe.”
“A little,” she admitted sheepishly. “I mean, Zandra’s gorgeous—”
“She is.” Roderick chuckled softly. “But you have to understand something. I knew her back when she had buck teeth, ashy knees and a headful of wild hair.”
“That’s mean!” Lena protested with a sharp poke to his ribs.
He laughed. “I wasn’t trying to be mean,” he insisted, capturing her hand before she could poke him again. “If you’d let me finish, I was going to say that Zandra knew me when I was just a scrawny kid who needed to grow into his big ears and even bigger head. The point is, she’s always been like a sister to me. I’m proud of the smart, successful woman she’s become, and I don’t dispute that she’s a knockout. But I’m not interested in her like that. To me, she’ll always be sweet, scrappy Za-Za from around the way.”
Lena lifted her head to smile at him. “Za-Za. Somehow that suits her.”
Roderick smiled, sending shivers of warmth down her spine as he nibbled on her fingertips. “Why does any of this matter to you anyway? Would you be jealous if Zandra and I had slept together?”
“Of course not.”
“Liar.”
“I’m not,” she argued, tugging her fingers from his marauding mouth. “I was just curious, that’s all. Things are complicated enough between us. The last thing I need is to be looking over my shoulder because I’m encroaching on my boss’s territory.”
Roderick grinned broadly. “You’re in luck. I happen to be unclaimed territory, so feel free to encroach away.”
Lena laughed. “In your dreams.”
“You have no idea.” He angled his head to nip at her throat, his warm breath tickling her skin. “My last word on Zandra—”
“Yes?” Lena prompted eagerly. Too eagerly.
Roderick drew back, a knowing gleam in his eyes. “Just curious, huh?”
Lena blushed. “What were you going to say?”
He chuckled. “If there’s ever any doubt in your mind about the nature of my relationship with her, just talk to my brother Remy.”
“Remy?”
“Short for Remington.” His lips quirked. “My mother named him after a character from one of her favorite soap operas. Poor guy’s heard every joke under the sun about Remington brand products.”
“Remington…Brand—oh.” Lena grinned sympathetically. “He must have developed a great sense of humor.”
“That, and a mean left hook.”
Her grin widened. “So why should I ask Remy about you and Zandra?”
“Because he’s crazy about her. He staked his claim a couple years ago, and he knows I’d never, as you say, encroach on his territory.”
Lena smiled softly. “That’s very sweet of you. And loyal.”
Roderick shrugged. “We’re twins. We’ve always looked out for each—”
“Good Lord!” Lena burst out, staring at him in wide-eyed shock. “You mean there are two of you?”
He laughed, amused by her reaction. “You make that sound like a bad thing.”
“Not bad.” Just dangerous, she mentally added. It was scary enough that God had unleashed Roderick Brand on the female populace. But a double dose of him? It was inconceivable.
S
he wanted to ask more questions about his twin brother, but Roderick suddenly rolled out of bed, leaned down and swept her into his arms with an astonishing ease that took her breath away and reminded her of just how physically outmatched she was.
Looping her arms around his neck, she murmured teasingly, “Where are you taking me, pirate captain?”
He slanted her a roguish grin. “It’s time for a bath, my buxom wench.”
“Splendid,” she purred. “I’m very eager to show you how good I am at washing backs.”
He wiggled his brows suggestively. “Fronts, too?”
She gave him a coquettish look beneath her lashes. “Of course, master.”
His grin widened. “Then I just might decide to feed you before I ravish you again. And just for the record, Lena,” he added, his eyes glimmering with wicked triumph, “it only took me a day to get you to call me master.”
Chapter Fifteen
Later that evening, they disembarked at Mackinac Island and had dinner at a romantic waterfront restaurant that boasted the best views of the island. Not that it really mattered. They spent more time staring at each other and trading intimate smiles across the table than actually enjoying the scenery.
After dinner they strolled hand in hand along the picturesque downtown streets, where the delectable scent of fudge wafted out from every other shop that lined the sidewalks. Lena didn’t protest too much when Roderick tugged her into one of the candy shops to get a sample of Mackinac Island’s world-famous fudge. It was divine, hand-paddled morsels of heavenly decadence. One taste just wasn’t enough. At the shopkeeper’s urging, they sampled a variety of flavors, everything from butter pecan to double chocolate fudge. They laughed quietly as they fed each other, licking fingers and sharing heated looks that made even the shopkeeper blush.
Before they left, Roderick bought a pound of several different flavors to take home to his nieces and nephews. But once he and Lena had boarded the horse-drawn buggy that would deliver them back to the yacht, he dug into the stash, broke off a piece of fudge and slid it into Lena’s mouth. As he withdrew, she closed her lips around his fingers and sucked them clean. Roderick inhaled sharply, his pupils flaring and dilating in the moonlit darkness of the enclosed carriage.
She fed him a morsel of fudge, then licked into his mouth, stealing the melted sweetness off his tongue.
He groaned, dragging his lips from hers to nuzzle her throat. The rasp of his unshaven jaw sent electric bolts of sensation down to her stomach. “I want you, Lena,” he whispered huskily.
She trembled hard. “I want you, too. But we have to wait. We’re almost at the marina.”
“I can’t wait that long.”
She pulled away reluctantly. “You have to.”
“Then touch yourself for me.”
Her mouth went dry. “What?”
“You heard me.” His low, velvety voice was an invitation to sin. “I want to see you pleasure yourself. For my eyes only.”
She shook her head, darting a glance outside at the coachman. “Not here. When we get back to the yacht.”
A devilish gleam filled Roderick’s eyes. He leaned close and whispered in her ear, “If you don’t touch yourself, I’ll do it for you.”
A shiver of desire rippled through her. She stared at him, and had no doubt that he’d make good on his threat if she refused to do as he’d asked. His hand was already easing up her skirt, the heat of his touch igniting every molecule in her body.
She’d never masturbated in front of anyone before. She’d done it plenty of times in the privacy of her own bedroom, but never before an audience. It seemed fitting that her first time would be with Roderick, who’d also given her her very first underwater orgasm. No doubt she’d be experiencing many more “firsts” before the weekend was over.
Pulse pounding, Lena reached under her skirt and panties and tentatively touched herself. Of course she was already drenched. Her body remained in a perpetual state of arousal whenever Roderick was around.
Staring into his eyes, watching him watch her, she leaned back against the cushioned seat and slowly, provocatively, spread her legs. She licked two of her fingertips, which still tasted sweetly of fudge, then slid them into her wet, aching pussy. Her body arched, a soft sigh of pleasure escaping her lips. She pushed her fingers inside as far as they’d go, pressing the hot flesh of her inner walls, following the curve of her pelvis.
Holding her gaze, Roderick settled back against the seat and stretched out his long legs. But she wasn’t fooled for a second by his relaxed pose. She could feel the heat and tension radiating from his body. And when the carriage passed under a streetlamp, she saw the unmistakable bulge of his erection straining against his fly.
The experience of being watched by him was unbearably arousing, unbearably erotic. Slowly, deliberately, she began moving her fingers in and out of her body. Her nipples hardened beneath her blouse, begging for attention. With her free hand she cupped her right breast, tweaking and tugging at the nipple until it felt as tight and achy as her engorged clitoris.
Roderick watched her, nostrils flaring, eyes glittering feverishly. She expected him to pounce on her at any minute, but he remained still, exercising the same willpower that had kept him tied to the bed last night.
Lena shoved her fingers deeper, feeling her wetness leak out onto her hand. Wanting to torment Roderick, to push him to the limits of his self-control, she withdrew her hand and held it up to a sliver of moonlight streaming through the carriage window. When Roderick saw the moisture glistening on her fingers, he sat forward, his fist clenching and unclenching on his thigh.
Lena felt a surge of wicked satisfaction. Gotcha, she thought.
She licked her fingertips, tasting herself before sliding her fingers back into the warm sheath of her body. Smothering a groan, Roderick slid down on the bench and spread his legs as if he could no longer keep them together, as if his erection had grown so massive inside his dark pants that he couldn’t contain it. His reaction excited and electrified Lena, made her feel powerful and primitively erotic. When he began rubbing himself, she almost came apart.
Leaning her head back against the seat, she closed her eyes and worked her fingers faster, alternately thrusting them inside and running them in tight circles against her swollen clit.
Soon she was panting, and so was Roderick. The harsh rhythm of their breathing nearly drowned out the clattering of the carriage wheels and the clip-clopping of the horses’ hooves.
Opening her heavy-lidded eyes, Lena saw that Roderick had moved closer to her on the bench. A current of electricity ran from his body to hers. As they stared into each other’s eyes, Lena imagined him sinking to his knees in front of her, burying his mouth between her legs and sucking her clitoris as only he could do. She imagined wrapping her legs around his neck, holding him tightly in place as he laved and licked her, feasting on her pussy as if it were dipped in the finest imported chocolate.
And then she imagined his long, hot tongue thrusting deep inside her.
That pushed her over the top.
She cried out and dissolved, shivering from head to toe.
As the violent spasms gradually tapered off, she slumped against the seat and grinned weakly at Roderick.
Without a word he reached over and took her hand. As she stared at him, he drew her slick fingers into his mouth and sucked hard, his eyes closing in helpless ecstasy.
She almost lost it again.
When he’d sucked her fingers dry, he kissed them one at a time, then splayed her hand over his thudding heart and leaned his head back against the seat. Her belly quivered at the sight of his huge erection tenting the front of his pants. She wanted to unzip him, take him down the back of her throat and finish him off.
But she resisted, exercising patience. She could see the bright, glittering lights of the marina just up ahead. The gleaming white hull of the Native Sun towered above the other docked boats.
She sighed. “I think I’m going to buy sha
res in that fudge shop.”
“Hell,” Roderick growled thickly, “after tonight, I’ll buy the damn company.”
Chapter Sixteen
When Lena’s cell phone rang early the next morning, she was sleeping so soundly that she almost didn’t hear it. When the ringing finally registered in her brain, she felt a dagger of alarm that made her bolt upright, then snatch her purse off the floor and fumble out her phone. Her heart knocked when she saw her sister’s number.
“Morgan?” she answered alertly.
Morgan began, “Don’t panic—”
Which was the absolute wrong thing to say, because it kicked Lena’s heart rate into full-fledged alarm mode. “What is it?”
“There’s been an accident at the retirement home.”
“What happened?” Lena demanded, her voice sharp with fear.
“Poppa’s been injured. He broke his arm and—”
“What! How the hell did that happen?”
“I’m not sure,” Morgan said quickly. “I’m on my way to the hospital right now. I told the retirement home I’d call you myself. For some reason they couldn’t get through to your cell phone. You must be somewhere with spotty reception.”
Guilt assailed Lena. “I’ll meet you at the hospital as soon as I can get there.”
“Okay.” Morgan hesitated. “Where are you anyway?”
“I’ll tell you later,” Lena evaded. “But do me a favor and call me when you arrive at the hospital. I want an update on Poppa ASAP.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Morgan promised.
Lena disconnected, her hand trembling as she clutched the phone, her thoughts racing a mile a minute. “Lena.”
She whipped her head around to see Roderick propped up on one elbow, watching her with a concerned expression. “What happened?” he asked gently.
“There was an accident. My grandfather broke his arm and—oh, God! I don’t even know if that’s the worst of it! I didn’t let my sister finish. I have to call her back.” She was already speed-dialing Morgan’s number. When the call went through to voice mail, she cursed in frustration.
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