Braddock then turned toward her. “Mr. Clancy, I had no idea you knew Scarlett.”
Recognition between the two of them was a dark cloud she hadn’t expected. Scarlett smiled, but couldn’t understand how James would know someone as important as the president of Leviathan Inc. Had James protected Braddock in the past, as security? It was too late to check into James’ background; she had been too determined to get married and forgotten to check who she was getting married to, beyond her phone call to Gabe. Scarlett swallowed and said, “He’s my husband. How did you know James’ last name was Clancy?”
James then tapped his jacket. “Name tag?”
No. They weren’t wearing name tags yet. Braddock was, but Maria Sophies from Claremont Cosmetics joined the party before Scarlett could think too much about it. Braddock immediately introduced her.
“Maria, Mr. Clancy is Scarlett’s husband.”
Maria reached out and kissed James’ cheek. “James Clancy, I’ve been angling for an appointment with your secretary for a year.”
The bodyguard story made no sense now. Maria spent her days in a cosmetic company, the same as Scarlett. She never needed muscled backup normally. Scarlett glanced at James’ profile. The hint of that tribal tattoo on his upper arm peeked out of his shirt. She pursed her lips and took her hands off him. “Appointment?”
He instantly wrapped his arms around her waist. “Scarlett, sweetheart, don’t worry about it. You’re still my number one.”
He kissed her cheek, and that act alone made her insides feel like a pudding.
Maria said, “Scarlett, I wanted your husband to come in on a business that I believe will make us both money.”
“I see, Maria.” She stared at James. None of this made any sense. Her husband couldn’t help Maria in cosmetics.
James kept his hand on the small of her back. “Sweetheart, can I talk to you alone for a minute?”
“Sure.” She air-kissed Maria and James nodded goodbye to Braddock.
They made their way over to a nook overlooking a pool next to the ocean. James stayed close enough to kiss. Her lips tingled in anticipation, but she ignored the sensation in favor of focusing on the matter at hand. “What’s going on, Mr. Clancy? Why would Maria Davies want to work with you? Who are you exactly?”
“Your bodyguard.”
“No. Who did I just marry?”
He then leaned even closer. Her heart raced. “James Clancy, CEO of Clancy Industries.”
Clancy Industries was owned by a man old enough to be her grandfather, and Scarlett had taken the company off her list of investors because he’d been her father’s friend. She’d met him during one of her parents’ parties. “Bernard Clancy died. He had no children.”
“I was his nephew. Growing up, my mother certainly never mentioned Uncle Bernie.”
Her pulse raced. This meant James wasn’t a bad boy at all. He was privileged and wealthy, which was the opposite of what she needed. “You should have told me this before.”
“And what? Have you interview men that can’t protect you?”
Her heart hadn’t been on the line before now—it had just been just a business deal. She rearranged her pocketbook and ignored how close they were. “At least they wouldn’t have hurt my chance to prove myself.”
“What?” His hands settled on her hips, like she was already his. “Scarlett, we’re on a beautiful island in the tropics and you’re getting the chance to negotiate whatever deal you want for your company.”
Not how she intended, though. She met his gaze and tried to explain. “With you as my husband, I’ll get a yes simply through association. For once in my life, I wanted it to happen because of my work and not my family name.”
“It’s still your work, Scarlett. It’s your company and you built it.”
“You wouldn’t understand what it’s like to be considered ‘the girl with daddy’s credit card’ and never taken seriously.”
“No, I wouldn’t. But I don’t think you’d understand what it’s like to go without that credit card and to worry about where your next meal comes from, so we’re even.”
“Don’t act like you’ve ever suffered as CEO of Clancy Industries.”
James came closer, and his lips were less than an inch from hers. Again, her tingles of anticipation for a kiss grew. “Everything I told you about myself was true, Scarlett. I had no idea about my Uncle Bernie until he died. I broke my mother’s heart at fourteen when they sent me to a juvenile detention center to get me off the streets. Without me, I hoped she’d have more food for herself, but then my mother died and I was alone in the world. The Marines were my best shot.”
“James, you should have told me.”
She closed her eyes as his lips met hers. His kiss made her knees weak, and she clung to him desperately. Everything else was forgotten for the moment they touched, and Scarlett thought if he kissed her like this one more time, she’d be addicted. As he ended the kiss, her lips already ached to be kissed again. “And you should have figured out a way to get these appointments without marrying yourself off,” he said.
“Don’t judge me.” She crossed her arms. There was no way out of this now. The ring on her finger showed her determination, and she’d do anything.
He stepped away, but held out his hand. “Scarlett, come here.”
“Why?” Even as she said it, she was taking his hand.
He led her toward the check-in counter. “You’re a complication for me too.”
“How?”
While they waited for someone to serve them and give them the keys to their room, he kissed her again. Fireworks exploded as she forgot where they were.
Then someone, somewhere, said, “Next.”
James ended the kiss. She sucked in her breath. “Wow.”
He squeezed her hand. “Now let’s check in and get settled while I think about what I owe your brother so I don’t do anything more than kiss you.”
No. She had to taste and be his fully. It wasn’t wise—she should go into the conference and mingle—but for right now, she needed all of James first. If she had to, she’d strip naked. “Go ahead and try to forget this is our honeymoon,” she said as they walked to the check-in counter. “I dare you.”
CHAPTER 4
A t the door to the honeymoon suite, Scarlett refused to give James time to even think. She turned the handle, floated in, and dropped her bag on the nearby table. James followed her at a slower pace as she tugged off her cardigan and threw it on the floor. Her shoes came off next, as he closed the door behind him. She turned back toward him, and now they were alone.
Since she’d married him, she’d wanted to know what it felt to be his, entirely. Right now she’d forget everything logical, sane and cold. Nothing mattered except for how she felt about him. Perhaps tomorrow she’d be different, but right now she needed him. She needed to be with him. So she unbuttoned her shirt and let him see a flash of her pink bra.
“I shouldn’t.” He put his hands in his pockets.
Scarlett Hawke decided her life, including her sex life. Outside on the patio, she heard parrots playing in the palm trees. Here, she could do anything she wanted. No one would know. She untucked her shirt and dropped it on the ground. His eyes grew wider as she walked closer to stand in front of him. “I want you.”
“I’ll hurt you.” He stepped away from her.
For once, she wasn’t going to simply walk away and not do anything. Her heart beat faster as she unzipped her body-hugging skirt. If she was going to seduce him, then she had to be bold, despite her nerves practically making her shake. She lifted her chin and met his blue eyes. “I’ll like it.”
“Put your skirt on,” he said, but she could see he was interested.
All her life, she’d been the good girl. Now she wanted him, and nothing was going to stop her. She unhooked her bra and leaned forward, pressing herself to him as she whispered in his ear. “I’m getting naked. I hope you’ll join me.”
She could feel
his erection growing against her, large and throbbing.
“Scarlett,” he said, voiced strained, “I still owe your brother.”
Gabe wasn’t here, and her brother never had a say in who she dated anyway. She wasn’t about to let him have even one ounce of a say now. She kissed James’ cheek and then stepped away to drop her bra. “You’re married to me. I think, for this month, my needs matter.”
He took his hands out of his pockets and stepped closer to her. The smell of his testosterone mixed with pine, making her think of a secluded, woodsy cabin. He wrapped his arms around her. “He’ll never forgive me.”
“And I’ll never forgive you if you don’t.”
Then his lips captured hers. Fireworks exploded inside her and she wanted to follow him to the bed. However, that wouldn’t make her point.
All her teasing had led to this moment. But the moment their lips ended the kiss, she swallowed. Her heart whispered that she was making a mistake right now, and was being impulsive. Drat. She couldn’t shake the idea. So she gently pushed his shoulder and said, “Mr. Clancy. I want a divorce.”
His phone rang, giving her a moment as he checked the screen. She’d have no answer if he asked why she went hot and cold, other than she knew she was wrong.
He stepped back and covered his erection, but as he put his phone back in his pocket, he said, “I figured we were going to have the shortest marriage. You didn’t even blink when I said ‘I do’ with my last name in the ceremony.”
She unzipped her bag and found a blue wrap dress, pulling it on even though the silk material felt rough to her oversensitive skin. “I didn’t make the connection. Clancy isn’t a unique name.”
“Because you have selective vision and me being rich didn’t fit in with your plan.”
She’d dismissed him wrongly because of his clothes and that tattoo of his. Now fully dressed again, she adjusted her necklace and glared at him. She was still hot for him, but he had no right to know that. “Your kiss doesn’t change how angry I am at you. Why did you marry me and let me believe your lie?”
“Because you asked. And if that was you angry, I can’t wait to see you begging for me.”
“Never going to happen.” She’d ignore what had just happened and focus on something else. She rolled her eyes and then picked up two shoes, gold and black, and pretended she had a tough decision to make. “You must get women wanting to marry you all the time.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does. With you at my side, no one takes me seriously.”
She put the gold shoes on the floor, but didn’t put them on. Perhaps now that she’d pushed and then let things relax between them, they might start over again.
“Let them laugh.”
“That’s not it, James. No one will laugh, but I was on a mission to prove my own business skills.”
She sat on the bed, alone.
James adjusted his pants and then sat beside her, patting her on the back like they were friends. “Scarlett, your last name comes with the same baggage as mine does. You are your father’s daughter.”
He had a point. If she’d thought that he was both everything her parents wanted for her and her brother’s friend, there was no way she would have been attracted to him. Her heart whispered that she was lying to herself, but she folded her hands on her lap and turned toward him. “I’ve been seen most of my life as a girl who only spent her father’s money on needless things.”
“And starting a makeup company proves you’re serious?”
Sighing, she stood up and walked toward their balcony. Without a thought, she threw open the doors and looked out at the ocean that surrounded them. James raced outside and stared around for any snipers. She should have waited. Once he was done and closed the door to not let the air-conditioning escape, she stood at the edge, and looked down at the white, sandy beach. “You make money at your passion. My passion is in makeup and fashion, but I can’t sew. I am good at mixing ingredients and chemistry, though, and I designed every product with my name on it myself. It’s not a celebrity endorsement where someone else does everything, I’m serious about my work.”
“I take you seriously.” James put his hand on her back, and his touch sent a jolt through her. If he kissed her here, it would be idyllic.
She stared at his lips. “Doubtful.”
He sighed and then turned toward the ocean. “No one in years has seemed more genuine or determined to me, and you had no idea what I inherited.”
“I’m losing my mind.” She shouldn’t be thinking about kissing him, not after the lesson she’d tried and failed to teach him in there. Now it felt like her actions had teased herself more than anything else. She leaned against the white awning of the balcony to peer down again. The view really was beautiful and she could not say she was disappointed.
He turned. “Nothing dinner and a few glasses of wine won’t help you with. Would you want to get to know me over dinner?”
Being friends with James would be good start, and she needed to drop all the assumptions she’d made about him. Besides, the investor she most wanted to meet was older and probably not going to mingle in the early evening. Spending the rest of the evening with James would be good. She nodded. “Sounds lovely. Tomorrow we’ll find my investors, as the conference officially begins then.”
“Good.” He opened the door to go in.
The last thing she’d do was let him control her entirely. She lifted her nose, smelled the scent of testosterone and home, and said, “Get changed. I’ll order us room service.”
He went to take a shower while she ordered the food. She also tidied the room, picking up the scattered aftermath of throwing her clothes everywhere. Once she was done, she heard the shower turn off and someone knock on the door at the same time. She called out to James. “There’s someone at the door.”
If someone wanted to kill her, knocking on her hotel room door and getting her to open it would be a rather easy way. She hugged her waist, sat near the desk, and felt cold until James opened the bathroom door. He strolled past her, wrapped in nothing but a towel.
The sight of him warmed her. She turned away so he wouldn’t see how she was affected by his presence. Being attracted to her temporary husband was never part of the plan.
James checked the door, then let in a hotel employee, who pushed in a cart with food dishes. She stood up from the desk and walked to the small patio table to direct the server outside.
They were in Grand Bohemia. For one night, she could let the breeze brush against them, and hope that it might quell her growing libido. The other thing that might stop her dreams of James was the real version of him and not the fantasy she’d constructed in her head. Maybe he ate with his mouth open or had some other disgusting habit.
She tipped the server and he left. Once the door closed, Scarlett watched as James inside the room riffle through his bag, pull out some clothes and stepped into a pair of sweat pants without any underwear and pulled on a light green shirt. She clutched her pendant and pretended not to watch.
Alone, for dinner. She hugged her waist and pretended another kiss wasn’t exactly what she wanted. Outside on the patio, as the sun set, they were about to eat a candlelight dinner. She swallowed and stared at the table when he returned. “James. I’m sorry. I thought you were just a cute but broke bodyguard and then I was so angry at my brother.”
“I should have told you who I was.”
“Yes, then I wouldn’t have teased you. It wasn’t my best laid-out plan.”
He massaged her arms and she lowered them.
“You confuse me,” he said.
“I have been hot and cold. I can be nicer.”
“I liked that you had no idea who I was.” He sat back. “It’s just that everyone knows me these days, so it was refreshing when you told me exactly what you thought I was.”
“If Bernie was your uncle, then you’re a billionaire ten times over, like my dad and my brother. I wanted to break free of them.�
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He hugged her and she let him hold her.
Neither of them moved. In his arms, she felt like the world disappeared.
“At least your family loves you. I never knew my uncle or my father. They don’t matter.”
She looked up and stared at his chin and face. He was right, she always knew that her parents adored her. “Do you blame them for your mother being poor?”
He let her go. “Yeah, I guess I do.”
“James, life is life.” She stepped away from him and toward the ocean in the distance, warm air kissing her skin. It only made her body more wanton, and her nipples would have shown through her dress if not for the bra she’d snuck on while picking up her clothes. Right now she needed to help him. “We can’t change the past. If I could, I know I’d be more like my sister Olivia and at least appear to be more of a problem-solver than a party girl.”
“Scarlett, you’re many things, but I’d bet money you solve your own problems. Who are you here to meet and why?”
This couldn’t be clearer. Their relationship was based on business, and she needed to remember that. He led her to the table and pulled out her chair for her.
“I’m here to meet Max Shepard,” she said as she sat down. “He’s the former CEO of FactorM cosmetics. Right now, though, let’s eat. I’m hungry.”
He slipped into the seat opposite her. “Me too, for more than food.”
Between those blue eyes of his, the candlelight, and the waves crashing onto the beach below, tonight was going to be a night anything might happen. Right now, she just wanted James to throw the food aside and kiss her.
CHAPTER 5
Scarlett gazed at James from across the table. He was everything she never wanted, with the body and soul of the man she always dreamed of. Her face blushed as she remembered his muscular frame, fresh out of the shower, strutting past to open the door.
She picked up her glass of wine and lowered her lashes. “I’m glad we’re starting over. I know you’re friends with Gabe. How did the two of you meet in the Marines?”
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