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“No, it’s not that. I just thought you’d had a Daddy in the past. Liv said—”
“Liv doesn’t know everything about me.” The anger bubbling in her veins was completely irrational, but she couldn’t seem to keep it from boiling over. “If you want to know aboutmylife, you should try asking me. Not Liv.”
“I am asking you, princess.”
“And I answered your question, so drop it.”
His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t press. “All right. Consider it dropped.”
“Thank you.”
CHAPTER19
She was lying to him. Even as their conversation moved to more lighthearted topics, the knowledge she’d lied straight to his face settled uncomfortably at the base of his spine, an itch he couldn’t scratch.
It might not have bothered him if it hadn’t been so blatantly obvious there was something she was keeping from him. And that whatever she was hiding had left its mark on her. A painful one, if he was reading her correctly.
Maybe it was wrong to expect her to share her deepest, darkest secrets with him, but dammit, he wanted them. He wanted to destroy her demons, slay her dragons. And he couldn’t do that if she wouldn’t talk to him.
As they finished up their dinner, all he wanted was to take her back to the house, put her over his knee, and paddle her bare ass until she was ready to tell him the truth. But not only was it a morally gray option, he had no doubt she’d tear him to shreds before he successfully spanked all her secrets out of her.
So, he stuck to his original plan.
They did return to the house, but instead of leading her inside, they made their way around back to the beach. Slipping off their shoes, they wandered down to the water.
For a long while, he simply watched her. With her pretty, pink-tipped toes digging into the wet sand, she let her head fall back, a serene smile tilting her lips. The breeze tugged at the ends of her hair, teasing strands loose from the complicated style she’d curled and twisted it into for their date.
And in that moment, he knew why he was so obsessed with learning everything about her. The real reason he coveted her secrets, why he wanted to share her hopes and calm her fears.
Somewhere along the way, he’d fallen head over heels in love with her. And watching her, he knew there would have been no stopping it, even if he’d wanted to. She was the ocean, deceptively calm and playful, but a force to be reckoned with when stirred. She was, by turns, romantic moonlit walks along a calm shore and the pounding waves of a sudden storm.
All his life, he’d loved the sea, been drawn to its fearsome beauty. And so of course he loved her, even the depths of her he had yet to explore.
It nearly sent him to his knees, this need for her. As it was, he had to pause and breathe in deep. The scents around him—both the ocean and the woman—filled his lungs as he waited for his system to settle again. When it had, he moved to her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pressing his lips to the curve of her neck.
With a quiet sigh, she surrendered to him, tilting her head to the side to grant him better access to those secret, sensitive parts of her. He’d battled against her waves for so long, and now he took the time to cherish the stillness of her submission.
“We should go inside,” he murmured, brushing a kiss over the shell of her ear and grinning when she shivered in response.
“But I like it here.”
“All right. But I plan to have my way with you sooner rather than later, and I don’t know how you feel about sand in sensitive places.”
Her laughter filled the air, mingling with the sound of the waves lapping playfully at their feet. If he were a more romantic sort, he might have thought the ocean recognized itself in her, that it was begging her to come and play.
Turning in his arms, she looped hers around his neck, a mischievous smile tugging at her lips. “And if I wanted to stay? Would you make love to me here on the beach, with all our neighbors watching?”
“A tempting offer. But not very practical for what I have in mind.”
Desire lit her eyes and she pressed herself against him. “Then what are we waiting for?”
Cupping her ass with his hands, he lifted her so she was forced to cling to him as he captured her lips in a deep, lingering kiss. For one brutally tender moment, he poured everything he felt for her into that kiss. He bared his soul for her, laid his heart at her feet, the way he never had for any woman before her.
And he prayed she wouldn’t trample it before they were done.
When they broke apart, he released his hold on her and she slid down his body until her toes met the sand once more. His voice was thick with need when he spoke. “Time to go, princess.”
Wordlessly, she nodded, and as one they turned back towards the house. Still silent, they climbed the stairs together, using the keypad to open the doors to the master bedroom.
