Marriage Make-Up & an Heir to Bind Them

by Penny Jordan

  He bent to enclose her in wet heat and the return of excitement was like a blow, bringing up one of her knees. Sweet delight flashed through her, rippling waves of pleasure that didn’t fade, only increased.

  “I want to kiss you,” she admitted as he shifted to tease her other breast. A coiled knot of tension pulled in her abdomen. It made her bold, impatient for the build and release of orgasm.

  As he lifted his head to look at her, he skimmed a hand down, silently asking her to lift her hips so he could push her skirt off. When had he lowered the zipper?

  She complied and he reared up onto his knees, stealing the last of her clothes. Her thighs twitched, locking closed in nervous tension while she stared at the black briefs hugged tight to his hips and thighs. His erection was a thick, unapologetic ridge behind the stretchy fabric.

  He sat back on his heels, knees splayed, hands in loose fists against his thighs. He let out a harsh breath, like he was under strain. “God, you’re pretty.”

  He says it to all of them, she warned herself, but she couldn’t help smiling. The way he studied her with the intensity he usually reserved for spreadsheets, but had that light of excitement and wolfish half smile on his face, seemed like genuine admiration. It affected her, relaxing her and making her want to writhe invitingly—if only she knew how.

  “Will you kiss me again? Please?” She lifted a hand and he let out a gruff laugh as he stretched out beside her, leaning over her.

  “I’ll kiss every inch of you.” He gathered her up to his muscled body and she felt bruised by the hardness of him. He was so hot, so strong beneath his taut, satiny skin. She couldn’t resist stroking his back and shoulders as he kissed her. Their tongues flicked and delved and it felt totally natural. Better than natural. Necessary.

  She did writhe then, moved by instinct, body involuntarily lifting into the stroke of his hands, arching to push her breast into his cupped palm, rolling her face into his caressing fingertips when he dragged his mouth to her neck. Then he was laving her nipple again, bringing the ferocious need into her loins. Mother Nature had a plan, quite obviously. She ached for attention between her thighs.

  If only she knew how to make love as well as he did. He massaged her belly and grazed fingertips along the seam of her thighs, inciting her to relax them open. Then, finally, he was tracing into her wet heat, penetrating easily into the dampness that welcomed him. His caress was so stunningly good. As his thumb rolled over the taut peak of her clitoris, tiny sparks shimmered through her, gathering toward the implosion. She gasped, awed that she could feel this way again, from this deeply intimate touch.

  He shifted, licked under her breast and kissed a trail down her abdomen.

  “Theo,” she panted.

  “Every inch, Jaya.” He left off caressing her and used his damp hand to crook her knee open, pressing a firm kiss to her inner thigh.

  “No, Theo, please don’t.”

  “Don’t be shy.” He came back onto his elbow beside her, his expression so feral and aroused she ought to have been terrified, but his voice was calm and controlled, his hand on her navel soothing. “I am seriously worried about not being able to last once I get my skivvies off. Let me make it good for you.”

  While a nervous giggle bubbled in her at his blunt remark, she knew her limits.

  “This is good for me.” Her voice hitched with deep emotion and she glanced up through stinging eyes, hoping he couldn’t see in the shadowed light how out of sorts she was—enthralled and uneasy, but resolved. “I want to feel you inside me.”

  He muttered a curse, closing his eyes and averting his face.

  Pressing into the mattress, she asked warily, “Are you angry?”

  “What? No. But you’re not helping my control with talk like that. Do you have any idea how long I’ve wanted to be inside you? Years. Since the first time I saw you.”

  He jackknifed off the bed, giving her space as he continued his grumbling tirade while stripping his briefs.

  “You said earlier that you didn’t know I thought about you this way. Well, you’ve never once hinted you did, either. Do you know how sexy it is to hear you want me?”

  As he straightened, she thought, “want” is debatable. She wanted to feel normal. She wanted to feel close to Theo. But that aggressive thrust of masculine power made her apprehensive.

  He came back to cover her, a practiced knee pressing her legs open as he settled on her. She stiffened, waiting for the breach, but he only cupped her face and set a soft kiss on her upper lip.

  “Did I kill the mood? I didn’t mean to. This is the most bizarre night of my life.”

  “That sort of flattery restores it,” she teased, because this was the considerate Theo she recognized. Even so, she was hyperaware of the hard, thick muscle pressed so close to her vulnerable folds.

  Rather than laugh, he released a sigh that was hot and damp against her cheek. “I’m grateful you’re here, Jaya. All the crap outside these walls...It can’t touch us right now. I hope you feel like that, too. I don’t want to be the only one finding escape.”

  “You’re not,” she assured him, shivering in nervousness, but certain this was what she wanted: escape from her past. “I’m using you, too.”

  “Good.” He kissed her, the familiar press and pull drawing her back toward the arousal that had been simmering under her last-minute nerves. When he rocked his hips he furrowed open the softness of her, finding and reawakening her to pleasure, she jerked, surprised by the spike of desire.

  His big body overwhelmed hers, but there was a sense of safety here, too. His chest rubbed hers, stimulating her nipples. His thighs were tense and abrasive, but she couldn’t help stroking his legs with hers, oddly entranced by the sensation, inadvertently parting her legs and opening herself with the movement.

  Her undulations brought him to her entrance. A whimper of mixed emotion escaped her, but she cradled his head and stroked the back of his neck and lifted her hips into the pressure, making this happen.

  She braced for pain, but there was only a tremendous sense of fullness as he slid into her. Her muscles tightened instinctually, but that only heightened the friction—the sweet, delicious friction—of his burying himself deep into her body.

  A shudder of reaction took her.

  He squeezed her in constrictor arms, rocking himself deep and tight against her body, sending glittering sensations through her as he whispered, “Already? That’s okay, I’m really close, too. Come for me. Let me feel it.”

  She caught back a sob, not hurt, not ready to orgasm, but shattered emotionally by how complete she felt. Pride in herself almost burst her apart, making her cling to him, wanting this moment of perfection to imprint in her mind forever.

  After a few seconds, when she only stayed very still beneath him, he murmured, “Together then?” against her temple. His hard arms caged her as he withdrew and returned. “Tell me when.”

  Pure white light seemed to expand in her as he fit himself to her depths.

  “Oh, Theo.”

  “Yeah.” He thrust again, deeper. Like he wanted to lock himself into her forever.

  It was fantastic. Sweet and primal and delicious.

  And not enough.

  “Don’t stop,” she gasped.

  “Never.” He kept moving, his hips meeting hers with more force.

  Sensations danced with giddy promise through her. She couldn’t speak, could only brace for another pulse as he returned again, his muscled tension a gathered force over and around her. Like a storm building.

  She panted, greeting each thrust with an arching welcome of her hips. Thought receded and she embraced pure womanhood, primitive and earthy and natural as they mated. His scent was perfume, his groans behind his gritted teeth music. She smiled at her power over him and herself, reveling in the dance. Cries built i
n her throat as the silver threads of crisis gathered. Her hand went to his buttock, nails digging in as she tried to push him deeper, needing just a little more. She was so close.

  Sweat adhered them and they struggled in ecstatic perfection, almost there, almost there...

  Orgasm ripped through her and her ragged cry was pure liberation. Absolute completion as her body shuddered and clasped at his.

  He let out a fierce shout of his own. In her trembling sheathe, his thick shaft pulsed, filling her with volcanic heat. She closed her arms and legs around him and willed this union to last forever.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Present day...

  AS HE SETTLED onto the tarmac Theo eyed the waiting limo. Jaya was smart enough to wait for the blades to slow before leaving the car, but he was anxious to see her. He told himself it was the babies he was worried about, and whether he’d have the help he needed in caring for them. It had nothing to do with the gnawing ache that had stayed with him during the eighteen months since he’d made love to her for hours before she’d hurriedly dressed so she wouldn’t miss her flight.

  His gut knotted. She’d seen him with his defenses blown apart by the family strife he’d been trying all his life to wall off. He’d never been as unguarded with a woman as he’d been that night, usually focusing strictly on the physical pleasure of his encounters and saying as little as possible.

  With her, he’d reveled in the cessation of emotional pain. When she’d left him to the silence of the suite, he’d blamed his plummet back into misery on the return of his dark memories from childhood, but there was more to it. He used to look forward to Bali; he hated it there now. He missed her.

  And he couldn’t imagine how she’d react to this. He glanced back to the passenger cabin, able to see through the open door that his nephew had fallen asleep. His niece stared wide-eyed from a tear-stained face, startled into silence by the return to solid ground and the new noises of shutting down the chopper.

  “I’ll be right back,” he told her, not sure if his words had any impact. He dropped outside to tether the machine. He’d fueled here in the past, so the hangar wasn’t unknown. He still didn’t like leaving his machine without prior arrangements. Choice, however, had been pitched into the Med when he’d flown out to the new Makricosta cruise ship only to see a gunner boat approaching from the horizon.

  His brother-in-law, Gideon, had been all smiles on his arrival, bringing the babies to have a look at uncle’s helicopter. The second Theo had delivered the news he hadn’t wanted to share over the radio, Gideon’s hand had bit into his arm. “You have to get them off this ship.”

  Not only did Theo have no idea what would happen to his sister and older brother, or their spouses, but what in hell would he do with two babies? Especially if this turned into a permanent situation?

  Forget the worst-case scenarios, he reminded himself. Deal with the moment at hand. By his estimation, he had to perform triage for twelve to twenty-four hours before he’d receive new information that would allow him to make a fresh decision.

  The limo driver came around to open the back door. Jaya emerged.

  Until he saw her and his tension bled away, he hadn’t realized how fearful he’d been that she wouldn’t come.

  The rotors had slowed to listless circles, but he was still struck by a sensation of wind gusting him off his feet. She was wearing her hair shorter, just long enough to touch her shoulders and it had a wave in it he’d never seen before. He liked it better than the tight, sleek bun. She looked younger and more carefree.

  Sexy.

  Not to say she wasn’t looking professional and confident at the same time. Her suit was tailored and chic, the scarf at her throat familiar. A deliberately distancing touch, he wondered, since it was not Makricosta colors?

  Are you going to tie me up with it?

  Do you want me to?

  She’d run her fingers through his hair and he’d almost died. Hell, he’d been so needy it was demoralizing.

  She smoothed her hands down her jacket, the navy and ice-yellow smart and flattering on her slender figure. Her big, round sunglasses stayed firmly in place as she waited by the open door of the car, not approaching.

  He motioned her to come into the interior of the helicopter. After a brief hesitation, she walked forward.

  “Mr. Makricosta—”

  He paused with one foot on the step and looked back at her, his ghostly reflection in her lenses a picture of one shielded face confronting another.

  “Theo,” he corrected, tempted to stand here until she said it, which was inane. If he’d had one plan when—if he ever saw her again, it was that he’d pretend they’d never slept together. Unfortunately, he kept hearing her whispery gasps of his name, lightly accented, in his dreams and wanted to know if he remembered it right.

  “Would you please tell me what is going on?” A hitch of panic entered her tone as he let her question launch him up the steps and into the helicopter. She followed, protesting, “I can’t go anywhere. I have commitments. Work and....”

  She didn’t finish, making him wonder what other commitments, but he didn’t press her. “You got my text. You know I need a room. Somewhere no one will expect me to hole up. When I said this was an emergency—”

  He indicated the two babies. He’d had the white leather seats outfitted with child harnesses so he could transport his siblings and their children, but the babies looked ridiculously tiny in the first-class armchairs.

  “You have kids?” she screeched, standing taller in the low-ceilinged inner lounge of the Eurocopter.

  Androu jerked awake and began to wail. Evie broke down into renewed tears.

  “Nice going,” he shot at Jaya.

  She stared at Androu, seeming to go yellow beneath her natural mocha tone. “How old is he?” she hissed.

  “They’re not mine,” he ground out, resisting a weird guilt attack even though he’d taken pains—and it had been painful—to ignore her messages and reinforce to her that she didn’t have any claim on him. “Help me get them into the car.” He handed her Androu and turned to unstrap Evie.

  She took the boy into her arms like a natural, which he’d known she would be, even though her lips were so pale and frozen he wondered if she’d ever smile again.

  It wasn’t in her to take out her feelings on a child, though. The first time he’d seen her, a blond German boy’s pale hand clutched in hers, he’d recognized her strong maternal instinct and liked her for it. Today she soothed Androu as she carried him outside where the change of scenery calmed him.

  Evie remained stiff in his arms, inconsolable. They slid into the limo like bank robbers after a heist and the driver pulled away.

  “You might have told me so I could have had proper car seats installed. This is dangerous, Theo.”

  Damn. His name sounded better than he remembered and made him hunger to hear it against his ear.

  “So?” she prompted. “Who are they?”

  “Can he be trusted?” he asked in a murmur, nodding at the driver. “Because I couldn’t risk a phone call that might have been heard over the radio. I was texting one-handed—” He was interrupted by Jaya’s sudden query to Evie.

  “Pyaari beti, do you have to use the potty?”

  Evie’s distressed face nodded vigorously.

  For the second time today, Theo’s mind blanked with panic. She was on his knee!

  “Oscar—” Jaya turned to say, but the driver was ahead of her, already slowing outside the terminal building.

  “Wait—” Theo said as Jaya plunked Androu onto the cushion beside her and scooped up Evie.

  “There’s no waiting at her age. What is she, two?” She was out the door as the limo halted, the little girl wrapped onto her hip like a monkey.

  Theo clenched his teeth and did the math on di
scoverability. He didn’t dare let himself calculate the odds on Jaya stealing the toddler. He made himself believe he knew her better, even though he didn’t. Not really. Not when he’d treated her the way he had.

  Sleeping with Jaya had been wrong.

  He wasn’t a man who got anything wrong. Mistakes were a luxury he had never been able to afford.

  Something about Jaya eroded his discipline, however. Two years ago, he’d started allowing himself to fantasize about an employee. Then he’d begun finding reasons to stay an extra day in Bali, to review reports he could generate himself. He’d rationalized a one-night affair and taken her to bed knowing it was not just unwise and bordering on unethical, it was downright stupid. She was sweet and generous, not the worldly, here-for-a-good-time kind of woman who would forget him as quickly as he forgot her.

  God, he wished he could forget her.

  The best he’d managed was not to return her tentative few calls. It had been a cruel-to-be-kind favor in her best interest. Not that he expected her to see it that way, but he had warned her they had no future. Surely she wouldn’t hold a grudge when he’d been honest about that much?

  Skipping his gaze between Androu, who was turning himself and scooting backward off the opposite seat, and the terminal doors that remained closed and reflected the black windows of the limo, he evaluated how much of a chance he was taking letting Jaya whisk Evie into public.

  This airstrip catered to private aircraft belonging to celebrities and Europe’s high society, which meant most people would have very little interest in anyone but themselves. It was a tempting place for paparazzi to hang around looking for the shot of their career, though. Evie’s parents were scrupulous about keeping her out of the limelight. Dressed in her hotel uniform, Jaya would be dismissed as a flight attendant or a nanny. Since Evie’s almond eyes and black pigtails didn’t match either her adoptive father’s blond hair or her mother’s green eyes, the chances of anyone recognizing her were narrow.

  It was still an interminable wait as Androu rocked his still learning feet across the short expanse to clutch at Theo’s knee. “Mama,” he said.