With a growl, he took the shirt from her grasp and ripped it up and off his body. A moment later, her fingers were tangling with his as they both went for the ties to his board shorts. He made quick work of the thong beneath her dress, and then he was lifting her hips, his body finding hers and entering her with one long, hard plunge.
Their joining was intense, overwhelming, beautiful. They rose and fell like the tide, their bodies glorying in each other. Caroline reached the peak much too quickly, tumbling over the other side in a long, hard fall to the bottom. Roman followed her, his body stiffening suddenly, his hoarse cry echoing against the night and the whoosh of the waves.
She held him to her, suddenly afraid that he would leave before she’d even managed to pick up the pieces of her soul again. His breathing was harsh in her ear, as if he’d run a great distance. He rolled off her, but she clung to him as he turned, until they were both on their side, facing each other.
He lifted a hand, and then he was pushing her wet hair off her cheeks and throat, tucking it behind her ears. The gesture was unrelentingly tender, and her heart felt as if someone had put it in a vise. She ached with everything she felt, with everything she wanted to say, and yet she remained silent. Afraid.
“You slay me,” he said softly. “In so many ways.”
Her throat hurt. “I don’t mean to.”
“You have never meant to. And yet you do.”
She slid her palm against his cheek. “I think it’s mutual, Roman. I’ve never stopped thinking about you.”
He captured her hand and pressed it to his mouth.
“I want you and our son in my life,” he growled. “I want to figure this out, Caroline.”
“We will,” she said. “Somehow, we will.”
* * *
Much later they lay in bed together, with nothing but the sound of the waves and bamboo wind chimes echoing in through the sliding doors that were open to the night. When they’d come inside from the beach, Caroline had almost expected to go their separate ways in spite of the way they’d clung to each other. This feeling between them was still so raw, so fragile, and she hadn’t thought that Roman would want her in his bed.
But he’d had other ideas.
He’d tugged her toward his room, where they’d showered to remove the sand from their bodies, and then they’d fallen into the plush bed with the filmy mosquito net surrounding it and made soft, sweet love that tore her heart open and made it impossible to hide her feelings from him.
“I love you,” she’d cried as she’d exploded beneath him. He hadn’t said the words back, though her name had been on his lips as he’d followed her into oblivion.
Caroline couldn’t sleep, so she climbed from the bed and went out onto the veranda, where she found a lounge chair and curled up in it. She was wearing one of Roman’s T-shirts and she bent to inhale his scent from the fabric.
Then she lay back against the cushions and stared out at the whitecaps breaking against the shore. The moon was high now, its glow painting the sea with a glittery brush. She curled her toes into the chair and wrapped her arms around her body to ward off a chill.
“What are you doing out here?” Roman’s voice was gravelly with sleep. She turned to him, her heart lurching at the sight of his bare chest—and barer thighs. He’d come outside in nothing but his own glorious skin, and she shivered anew—though not from cold.
“I couldn’t sleep.”
He sat on the lounge beside her and folded her into his embrace. His body was warm and she snuggled closer to him, wrapping an arm around his torso.
“Do you wish to talk about it?”
She closed her eyes and pressed her lips to his skin. “There’s nothing to talk about,” she said.
He tipped her chin up and stared into her eyes. Her heart skipped as she imagined him loving her, really loving her, the way he once had. Was it possible? Would it ever be possible again? Or was she deluding herself, setting herself up for an even bigger fall?
“There must be something,” he said, his voice low and deep and sexy.
She dropped her gaze from his. “I’m worried about a great many things, Roman. None of which I want to waste time talking about tonight.”
“What do you wish to talk about then?”
She looked up again. His eyes were twin flames in the night and she shuddered at all she knew lay behind that enigmatic gaze. “What if I don’t want to talk at all? What if I only want to feel?”
His smile curled her toes. “This can be arranged, solnyshko. But I’d prefer if you’d talk to me first.”
She sighed. How could she ever voice everything she was feeling? “What’s there to talk about, Roman? You already know everything.”
His smile faltered, and her heart flipped. “Not everything, Caroline. In fact, I’d say I have missed much.”
She squeezed him tight. She’d been talking about her father, about Sullivan’s, but she knew what he meant without hearing him say it. Knew what that veil of sadness alluded to. “I have baby books, and videos. I know they aren’t the same, but I want to show them to you when we get back to New York.”
His gaze dropped, and she wanted to cry out. Everything was still so fragile between them that she kept expecting it to crack and fall apart. But he looked up again, his eyes glistening in the night. “Yes. I want to see these.”
She turned her head away as tears pricked her own eyes. “I don’t blame you for hating me.”
He didn’t say anything for a long moment. “I don’t hate you, Caroline.”
She looked at him, disbelief rumbling through her like a storm. “Why not? You lost a lot because of me. Because you got involved with me.”
“I gained something, too,” he said. “I gained a son.”
She curled her fingers into a fist as hot emotion flooded her. “I’m angry with my father. Angry that he sent you away like he did, angry that he made poor decisions at Sullivan’s, and angry that he doesn’t even know me anymore—”
She broke off and bit down on her lower lip. Roman turned her chin toward him. “We cannot change the past. And for your father, we cannot change the future, either. But we can do something about our future.”
Her breath caught. “Do you mean that?”
He looked so serious. “I do. Marry me, lyubimaya moya. Let us have the life we should have had together in the first place.”
A week ago, she’d refused to consider marrying him. But so much had changed since then. Her feelings for him were raw, overwhelming. And it was so very tempting to agree this time.
But if she said yes, if she took this slice of happiness, would it last? Or would the fall to the bottom be even longer and harder than it had the first time?
“I’m scared, Roman. What if it doesn’t work out?”
He sighed. “Then we will deal with that if the moment comes.”
She shivered. That was something she didn’t want to think about it. She pulled him down to her, until she was pressed full length to his amazing body. Until she could feel the heat and hardness of him, feel her blood stirring hot in her veins in answer.
“I don’t want to talk anymore,” she said, as dread threatened to crush the dreams she’d barely begun to have. “Kiss me, Roman.”
His body responded, growing impossibly harder against her flesh. His breath hitched inward. “This conversation is not over, Caroline,” he said, his lips only a whisper away.
She arched against him, desire a heavy drumbeat in her veins. Roman held himself still as the ocean washed against the beach and the bamboo chimes tinkled in the breeze—and then he cursed softly and took her mouth with his.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Is Carol Pregnant? Rumors of an Island Wedding...
THE PRIMARY LESSON Roman had learned about love was that it didn’t last. In his experience, it wasn’t strong enough to overcome adversity. Yet here he lay, beside the woman he’d once loved more than the world, and his insides were twisted into knots at what he was feeling.
He’d held her in his arms and called her his love. Not that she knew what he’d said, but he did. The words—lyubimaya moya—had slipped out before he’d realized they were even there. Hovering like a tiger waiting to pounce, they’d caught him by surprise and torn shreds into his heart.
How could he mean them? How could he let himself be that vulnerable again?
How could he possibly love her?
He didn’t know, but feared that he did. He also feared, on some level, a repeat performance of five years ago. She’d said tonight she loved him—but did she mean it? Did she want him only in order to rescue her stores? Was that what this was all about?
He didn’t know. But then he thought back on the last few days together, on the way she tried to ease his relationship with Ryan, and every instinct Roman had told him the answer was no.
Yet the questions swam in his head anyway. The past was like a serpent, coiled and waiting to strike.
Roman shoved a hand through his hair and forced out a breath. Chert poberi, this was supposed to be simple. His plan had been to return to New York and rip Sullivan’s out from under the high and mighty Sullivan family. To make them pay for all the heartache they’d caused him.
Except he’d realized that wasn’t the solution, no matter that he’d carried that very thought with him, let it drive him for years now.
Caroline had been as much a victim of the situation as he had. Her parents had forced her to leave him, and then forced him out of the country to prevent her from going back on her word.
As if she would. He looked down at her, curled beside him, and felt a pang of pride and desire. She was fierce and she did what she thought was right for those she loved. Even at the expense of herself. Would he have acted any differently than she had if faced with the destruction of so many lives?
He knew the answer was no. He would have done whatever it took. Just as she had.
He ran his fingers over the satin of her skin, smiled when she sighed and snuggled closer to him.
This felt right. Being with her. Being with Ryan. Roman wasn’t betraying his mother’s memory by giving up the idea of ruining Sullivan’s. He knew she wouldn’t have wanted him to do such a thing anyway. She’d been a gentle soul. Too gentle. It had been her greatest weakness and her ultimate destruction.
He grieved for her, but he couldn’t blame anyone else for the consequences of her choices. He had to let it go. He had to move forward and embrace his future.
He turned on his side and tucked Caroline against his body, curving himself around her. She wriggled her hips against him and his body reacted, hardening instantly. She came awake—or perhaps she’d been awake—her hips moving more deliberately now, tormenting him.
“Are you planning to use that?” she asked almost breathlessly.
His mouth found the place where her neck joined her shoulder. “Would you like me to?”
In answer, she moved a leg forward, exposing her sex for him. He entered her from behind, filling her until they both gasped.
It was some time later when they collapsed into sleep, bodies curled around each other as if they feared being parted during the night.
* * *
Caroline sat in the office overlooking the beach and tried to focus on the phone calls she’d been making since 6:00 a.m. Outside, she could see Ryan playing on the sand. Blake sat in a chair beneath an umbrella, a cool drink beside him and a book in his hand.
She hadn’t seen Roman since early this morning, when he’d woken her with kisses and caresses as the sun rose in the sky over the Caribbean. He’d told her he had business to take care of at the resort and that he’d be back later today. She glanced at her watch, realized it was after three in the afternoon, and wondered when he would return.
God, she was so pitiful, wanting him so much even as she worked harder than she’d ever worked in her life to keep her company from defaulting, and him from winning what he’d come to take away from her in the first place.
Not that she believed he would destroy Sullivan’s now. No, she knew he was smart. He hadn’t built a huge, multibillion dollar conglomerate out of nothing by being stupid. He would not demolish her stores just to satisfy a thirst for revenge if it wasn’t smart business to do so.
Caroline sighed. She felt as if they were gaining an understanding of one another, as if the past was not so fearsome or unconquerable as she’d believed.
Oh, it still frightened her, definitely. She’d watched her life fall apart so many times in the last few years that it was hard to suppose it wouldn’t again. Especially when happiness seemed to be within her grasp.
She closed her eyes a moment, swallowed. It would be all right. She firmly believed she and Roman could be reasonable and work through their issues like adults. They had a child together. If nothing else, they had to think of Ryan first.
Today, she honestly believed they could do that. A week ago, not so much.
Caroline set her cell phone on the desk. The spreadsheets open before her showed a better picture than they had just two weeks ago, but it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t going to be enough. She had to admit that now. She’d found investors, squeezed profits, but it simply wasn’t enough to make the payment due.
They were going to default.
It hurt, but she had to accept the truth. Tomorrow, barring a miracle, Sullivan’s would belong to Kazarov Industries. She still wasn’t quite sure how she felt about that. Sad, scared, angry—a host of emotions boiled inside her at the thought of her family legacy passing into hands other than her own.
Her mother would be devastated. Her father wouldn’t even know. Caroline watched Ryan upend a bucket of sand on the beach and Blake get up and go help him build a sand castle. She pushed back from the desk, determined to join them for a few moments in the hopes it would help her stress levels. Her phone rang before she reached the door.
She turned and went back to get it. It was her CFO. “What’s up, Rob?”
“You aren’t going to believe this,” he said, his voice sounding as if someone had just told him he’d won the lottery, “but we have another investor. We’ve done it.”
Her heart began to pound. “What are you telling me?”
“We’ll have the money, Caroline. Kazarov won’t win.”
She sat back in her chair as her body went numb. “You’re sure?” It didn’t seem possible, and yet...
Sudden joy suffused her. But sadness followed hard on joy’s heels. Which was stunning.
My God, she was actually sad that Roman was going to lose! She blinked at the incongruity of her feelings while Rob filled her in on their last minute savior.
“European investment group,” he was saying. “Looking to expand their holdings in the States...”
The rest trailed into a buzzing in her ears as she tried to process everything. Sullivan’s was going to continue. Under her leadership. Roman wasn’t absorbing anything, breaking anything, selling anything.
She shook herself, forced herself to get her head back in the game, and began to grill Rob about the details. By the time the call was finished, she wanted to shout with joy. She wished that Roman was here so she could tell him.
How odd was that? The person she’d just defeated was the one person she most wanted to share this news with.
She shot up from her chair, her nerves suddenly on edge from the rush of adrenaline. Pacing, she punched in Roman’s number and waited. He answered on the third ring.
“Roman,” she said, when his beautiful voice filled her ears.
“Yes, my angel?” he replied, his voice full of warmth that tugged at her and made her want to wrap her arms around him.
She clutched the phone tight, wanting to say the words, but realizing she couldn’t. She couldn’t tell him like this. It had to be in person. “I was just wondering when you were returning.”
“I’m on my way now,” he said, and her limbs filled with delicious languor as she imagined their bodies entwined on silk sheets. “Is ever
ything okay?”
“Never better,” she said, though her heart pounded recklessly. “But hurry. I want you.”
He chuckled softly and said something that made heat pool in her belly. Ten minutes later, she heard the slam of a car door, and she rushed to the front of the house. Roman came up the steps wearing a suit, which surprised her, since she didn’t remember him leaving in a suit this morning. Then again, she’d been half-asleep when he’d left.
Her heart turned over with love for him as he swept her into his arms and kissed her thoroughly. Caroline wrapped her arms around his neck and arched her body into his. He made her feel gloriously alive when she’d been numb for so long.
Her nerves throbbed with tension in spite of her happiness. The last time she’d been so happy with him, everything went wrong.
She told herself there was no one here to force her to walk away this time. This time, she was in control. This time, for better or worse, it was her choice. And his.
She shuddered and ground her hips against him until she found what she sought.
Oh yes, he was ready for her.
“What has happened to put you in such a good mood?” he asked, kissing a trail down her neck before he took her hand and tugged her toward his room.
“I’ll tell you later.” She kicked the door shut behind her and turned him until he was against it. Her fingers went to his buttons, slipping them open expertly. “First, I have needs that require assuaging.”
Roman laughed as she spread his shirt open and pressed her mouth to his golden skin. “Then I’m your man.”
The tables turned quickly after that. He had her naked within moments. But instead of hauling her to the bed, he used the closest surface he could find, turning her until she was bent over the arm of the couch in the sitting area, her bottom high in the air, her body open to him.
He gripped her hips and slid into her while she arched her back and tried to get closer to him.
And then they were sailing into oblivion, his body hot and hard inside hers, playing her as if she were an instrument that only he knew. Caroline didn’t last long. Within moments, she’d fallen over the edge of pleasure and tumbled deep into an orgasm that had her panting and gasping and begging him to make it last.
A Game With One Winner Page 14
