From This Moment On

“That’s the plan,” he said, and then after he moved her even closer to him, “How’s this working?”

“Mmm, pretty good. But,” she held out one arm, “I still have goose bumps.” He pressed first one kiss, and then half a dozen, up her arm. “You’re only making me shiver more,” she said in a husky voice and he lifted his mouth from her soft skin.

“Maybe this, then?”

Their eyes held as he took her in one hard stroke.

“Oh.” Her eyelids fluttered at the pleasure of coming together. “Yes. Just like—” Her words broke off on a gasp of pleasure as he angled his hips to stroke over the most sensitive parts inside her.

Being with Nicola like this was as natural, as unstoppable as the tides. There was no ebb and flow to his desire for her, only a constant crashing of need and want that kept dragging him deeper under her spell.

Her eyes glittered with emotion as she looked up at him and he could feel the dangerous pull of more than just bodies coming together in that moment as she held onto him, the sun illuminating her stunning beauty, the golden hue of her smooth skin.

For all his sensual demands, Marcus knew damn well who was really in charge. Nicola had owned him from that first moment in the club when she’d looked into his eyes and claimed him.

She’d had his body from the first, but he’d been so sure his heart—his soul—were safe. That no woman could possibly touch him.

So then, why did being with her like this touch him as nothing ever had before?

And when, he had to helplessly wonder, had hot sex with his beautiful pop star turned into making love, out on a beach beneath a sun that felt like it was shining just for them?

Chapter Seventeen

Laughing together as they put on their clothes over wet skin, they walked hand in hand up the beach to sit on the soft sand and plunder the contents of the bag Marcus had put together at the small Point Reyes corner store.

Nicola loved being with Marcus like this, sharing meals and sitting together, their legs touching as they ate and kissed between bites. She was frankly amazed to find that their picnic was in some ways even more intimate—and scary—than making love in the ocean had been.

When he’d been holding her, driving her insane with his kisses and caresses, she’d been so close, barely another kiss away from spilling what had been growing deep within her heart. But now, she had a feeling it might not take more than one of his beautiful smiles to send her all the way over the edge, way past no-strings to turning into one of those girls she’d teased him about earlier, wearing the wedding dress and knocking on his door.

Somehow, despite the fact that she was having the best day of her life, despite how sweet he’d been when he was telling her that her ex hadn’t deserved her, she needed to remember to keep a firm hold on her heart at all times.

“So,” she asked as she tore another chunk of bread off and dipped it in the red-pepper hummus, “how do you know about this place?”

“This was my father’s favorite beach.” She followed his gaze down the beach to a pretty cottage perched on the rocks. “His best friend from college owned that house and this stretch of sand.” A shadow passed over his face as he said, “Joe died a few years ago. He left my mother this place in his will, told her his best memories had been of all of us playing on the beach when we were kids. And that he hoped our grandkids would play like that one day, too.”

Nicola had to move closer to Marcus, had to take his hands in hers and hold them over her heart as though she could give hers up for his if it meant she could take away all of the pain he’d had to deal with at such a terribly young age.

“Tell me about your father.”

“He was great. There was never a day when we didn’t know how much he loved us, how glad he was to have us all. Even when a bunch of us were fighting and yelling and calling each other names, he would sit back and let us work it out until we reached the point of no return.”

“What did he do then?”

She was pleased to hear him chuckle softly. “He’d walk into the room and say ‘It’s over.’”

“That’s it?”

He shot her a crooked grin. “He walked softly but carried a big stick.”

“Sounds a lot like you.”

“I used to think so.”

“What do you mean? You don’t think you’re going to be a great father?”

“I used to think that. I’m pretty much over the whole wife and kids thing right now.”

There was absolutely no reason for his statement to hurt her. But the fact that the pop star he’d been boning could never possibly be under consideration for that role made her feel—for the very first time since she’d met him—cheap.

The sudden pain that slashed in past her breastbone made her careless enough to call him on what he’d just said. “So, just because some bitch you were dating cheated on you, you’re giving up on having a family?”

His eyes flashed a warning that she decided to ignore. What the hell, the hole she was digging was already so big she could pretty much bury herself in it. Why stop now? Especially if she was never going to see him again come Monday morning. She might as well try to help...even if Marcus really didn’t want her to.

Yes, she decided, it was a purely altruistic thing she was doing by pointing this out to him. It wasn’t at all that he’d hurt her and she wanted him to pay for it.