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For the first time ever, she admitted out loud that it had been a need for comfort and closeness and safety that had driven her to work at Velamar after her parents had died. Then, when success had come upon her, she’d found excuses to not run on ahead into the unknown. She had held on tight to her position at Velamar, holding herself back by only taking on short-term outside contracts.
In turn, he told her of his decision to drop out of college and how disappointed his parents had been—how he had almost gone back just to please them. But he had known he would never have been happy in the perfect corporate tower with his perfect brother, as much as he wished he could have been. There had always been something wild in him—something that needed the open sea and the pull of adventure.
Sailing had always been his first love, so he’d bought his first yacht, and the tabloids’ ‘Playboy Pirate’ had been born—a result of uncertainty and youthful pride.
A companionable silence fell between them and Dani realised that she’d always known there must be a lot more to Valerio Marchesi than anyone saw. He wasn’t just the party-mad reprobate the media painted him as. Perhaps on some level he had purposely harnessed that image as a means to control his fall from the supposed grace of the Marchesi dynasty—to defend himself from the possibility of failure. It was strangely comforting to think that perhaps she wasn’t completely alone in her fears.
Dani watched as Valerio began to pack away the remains of their food and tried not to focus on the swirl of emotions warring inside her. She was grateful to him for giving her this perfect day, but it wasn’t gratitude that had her skin heating as he lay back on the blanket and let out a deep sigh of satisfaction.
They hadn’t really talked about the night before and what it meant. Suddenly she found herself wondering if maybe he wanted to draw a line and leave it as a one-night stand. It would be understandable, considering the complications that carrying on would mean. But seriously...how was she ever going to look at him again without remembering all the things they’d done?
His body was an impossible distraction. He already looked more tanned and vital after only a few hours in the strong afternoon sunshine, and the pale blue linen shirt he wore only served to draw more attention to the impressive power of his shoulders and biceps. A memory of having those arms around her the night before rose up, her skin tingling with an electric current as she forced herself to look away.
‘You have the most expressive features—did you know that?’ He spoke softly, with a smile in his voice. ‘What were you thinking just now?’
Dani looked back to see his sunglasses were off and the sun and sea were reflected in his cobalt-blue eyes. She cleared her throat, finding her mind blank and all her snappy retorts having deserted her. This man made her brain malfunction. She should be furious—should use that anger to stop herself from diving into this crazy fire that felt as if it was just waiting to explode between them again at any moment.
They were going to be married, for goodness’ sake. This inconvenient attraction was fast turning into something deeper. The man was a drug—one taste and she couldn’t think of anything but her next hit. But she couldn’t torture herself like this. That way lay only danger and pain.
She bit her bottom lip, standing up and climbing down to the cockpit to grab a bottle of water in a vain effort to cool herself down. She heard him approach from behind.
‘I told myself I’d let you lead the way—but, Dio, Daniela... I want to kiss you again.’ He spoke softly. ‘I haven’t been able to think of anything else all day. Have you forgotten so easily?’
Her breath was shaky as she braced her hands on the smooth surface in front of her. ‘I don’t think I’ll ever forget...but we both know this is a bad idea, Valerio.’
Warmth pressed against her from behind...the barest touch of strong, calloused fingers on her hips through the fabric of her dress. She closed her eyes, preparing herself to turn round and tell him that they had to be sensible. Then his lips traced featherlight kisses along her nape and she felt her traitorous body leap to attention. She pressed back against him, feeling him hard and aching, exactly the same way she felt deep inside.
She turned in his arms, her mouth finding his like a homing beacon, needing to taste him, needing all of him.
Afte
r a minute they were both frantic with need and tearing at one another’s clothing. Her brief, momentary panic at being out in the open, where anyone could sail past and see them, was quickly overcome by his wicked whispers to enjoy the risk. So she did.
She leaned back against the side of the boat, spreading herself wide for him, letting him know that she was his for the taking. She was all his.
His guttural groan was almost enough to push her over the edge as he grasped both her thighs, his fingers like a brand on her skin as he forced her even wider to accept his length. His lovemaking was primal, and frantic with longing, as though he too felt as if at any moment one of them would come to their senses and bring things to a halt.
She felt the swaying movement of the boat underneath them as he thrust hard and fast, taking her closer and closer to heaven. As she came, she looked up at the sky and let out a sound of pure abandon, not caring who heard her.
After a second, slower exploration of one another, Valerio helped her back into her clothes and insisted she sail them back to the small dock at the villa. His powerful body behind her guided her the whole way. And as she helped him gather their things and finish docking, she felt laughter bubbling in her throat at the fact that not only had she sailed a boat and deep-dived off one in a single day, she had also had two very public orgasms on it too.
‘Something funny?’ He raised a brow, offering her his hand as she stepped off the wooden pier onto the soft pebbles of the beach.
She smiled. ‘I can’t remember the last time I just felt...happy.’
‘I’ll never look at that boat again without remembering you, spread out against the mahogany deck with the glow of another orgasm on your skin.’ He pulled her close. ‘How many is that now? Not nearly enough yet.’
His use of the word ‘yet’ seemed to break a spell of sorts. It seemed that both of them had remembered there was a time limit on whatever it was that they were doing. She bit back the words on her tongue—the urge to ask him when it would be enough. When it would be over.
They both knew that there was no room for casual sex in their arrangement, that they had to get a handle on this. Besides, she wasn’t sure ‘casual’ even began to describe the need she felt when he touched her.
She had agreed to share a home with him when they got back to Europe—but to sleep in a bed alone, knowing he was separated from her by only a thin wall. She shut her eyes against that unwelcome reminder of reality.
‘I’m not ready for today to be over yet,’ she whispered against his chest as she listened to the sound of the waves crashing against the pebbles on the shoreline.
‘Who said it was over?’ Valerio smiled. ‘You may have tackled your fear of open water, but you have far from learned your lesson about pleasure.’
‘I’m pretty sure I have bite marks on my neck that contradict that statement.’ She laughed as they began the tortuous climb back up the cliff steps to the villa.
