A Bride Worth Fighting For (13 page)

She scooted out from under him and knelt on the floor. While he sat on the bed, she removed his shoes and the rest of his clothing, leaving him stark naked. Then she stood and studied him, her equilibrium and control returning. “Stand up.”

He obeyed.

“Turn around.”

He did, giving her the opportunity to admire his smooth back, tight ass, and lean hips. “You approve?” he teased over his shoulder.

“You’ll do in a pinch,” she tossed back, pinching his ass, unable to deny how hot and shaky she’d become from ogling his gorgeous body.

He spun toward her and lightly pinched her nipple.

Desire streaked through her, filling her core with molten heat. She gasped.

“Turnabout’s only fair.” He knelt before her, sucking on her nipple as he unsnapped her pants. He glided the clothes down her hips just as she had his. Holding her gaze, he stuck his index finger in his mouth and then slid the wet finger over her clit and over her even wetter opening.

She moaned and steadied her hands on his shoulders while he removed her shoes and pulled her pants off her ankles. Then he sat on the bed and studied her body while she trembled with need. Dying for him to drag his finger against her swollen, aching flesh again, she couldn’t even think about her next step in pleasuring him.

“Stand straight and turn around slowly,” he commanded.

Her skin burning with desire, she turned away. While he drank in every inch of her, she bit her lip so she wouldn’t beg him to touch her, to take her. But not voicing her desire made her more passive, putting all the decisions in his hands.

Across the room, the pouch with eleven foil packets still inside lay on the counter. She marched to it, grabbed one, and spun around to face him.

Hands fisted on either side of him on the mattress, he sat straight, his gaze never wavering from her.

She might have been able to amp the desire by swaying her hips and prancing seductively toward him. But, too angry at her inability to push aside her emotional needs, she stormed across the room instead, not stopping until her stomach nudged his chest. She shifted her legs on either side of his right thigh and ground her hot, wet pussy against his leg, grasping his hands before he could slide his finger inside her.

“Gwen, you’re killing me. Let me stroke you. I can’t believe you’re so ready for me already.”

“I want you inside me more than anything. I need you to feel complete.” She bit her lip again, wishing she could take back the raw truth and just say she wanted to screw his brains out.

He tugged her arms, turning her so she sprawled on her back on the mattress. Once again, he loomed above her. “I want nothing more than to complete you.”

Oh God, not tenderness. They would not make love this time. They were going to have raw, hard sex.

“I’m going to ride you,” she reminded him, propping herself on her elbows. “I’m going make us both come.”

His cock and Adam’s apple bobbed in unison. “If you keep talking like that, I’m going to come a lot sooner than you expect.”

“Good.” The thrill of controlling the strength of his desire drove her to the edge of desperation. She rolled him so he lay flat on the bed and sheathed him in the condom. Positioning her knees on either side of his hips, she rose above him and grasped his thick shaft.

He palmed her ass and squeezed. Both his need and her own pulsed through her, hot and dizzying.

She lowered her body, dragging her clit along his cock before bringing him inside her. Inch by inch, she prolonged the deliciousness of him filling her. Tucker’s eyes glazed, and his mouth parted. She leaned over him and traced her tongue across his lips.

He squeezed her ass again, and she pressed down, swallowing a scream. Tucker inside her equaled sheer perfection.

Lifting her hips, she began a slow, sensuous up-and-down rhythm. He thrust in time with her. She reached behind and caressed his inner thighs until he gasped. She rocked harder, coasting her hands over his chest, trying to keep her eyes from closing so she wouldn’t miss a moment of the passion playing out across his face.

“Gwen.” He hugged her, rubbing his naked chest against her sensitive nipples.

She kissed his hungry mouth, still pumping her hips in desperation as lust, passion, and ecstasy overwhelmed her. His body stiffened, and her muscles spasmed. She splintered in every direction, leaving only one emotion in the aftermath.

Love.

She loved Tucker.

What had started as a vast nothingness of a relationship she couldn’t remember and ultimately hadn’t existed had turned into a love as strong as any real-life engagement could hope to be based on. She loved him. But he’d linked up with her to ensure she didn’t sully the natural land areas he’d go to any length to protect.

Well, she’d give him what he wanted. Returning home and carrying on with her plans and her life as if their week at the Wiccan Haus had been a meaningless fling wasn’t an option.

Tucker squeezed her tighter, leaving no space between their bodies. “Lie with me, Gwen. I want to fall asleep to the sound of your heartbeat and your breath on my face.”

She smiled, hoping it didn’t reflect her bittersweet emotions, hoping he was too sated and content to notice the tears in her eyes. She’d stay with him until he fell asleep.

But then she would leave.

Tucker awoke alone. He rose onto his elbows and took in the empty room still bright with the overhead light. “Gwen?”

He stood from the bed and checked the bathroom. Empty. She was gone.

His stomach rumbled. Perhaps she’d gone to raid the kitchen. Their appetites for each other had taken priority over eating at dinner, and he didn’t regret giving in to them.

He doubted the Rowans would send her on another midnight walk, but they tended toward unconventional and unpredictable suggestions. He tugged on his clothes and shoes. He wouldn’t be able to sleep again until he found Gwen. He didn’t want to sleep unless she was lying against him.

Exiting the elevator into the lobby, he paused at the stillness. Combined with the dim lighting, the nighttime silence gave the lobby an entirely different atmosphere than during the day. Even the check-in desk was vacant.

Low voices came from the couches near the grand piano, and he shifted in their direction. After a couple of steps, he recognized the back of Gwen’s head and sighed with relief that he’d found her so easily.

She sat between Cemil and Sage on the couch. Cyrus sat in a chair alone, perpendicular to her. Sarka sat across from her brother. And Rekkus paced like a caged animal. Something serious must have happened to bring everyone together in a conference.

Frustration filled him that Gwen hadn’t sought his counsel first. After sharing every inch of their bodies, they surely had reached the point of sharing confidences. Even if he couldn’t have helped her, he would have stood by her side and supported her. The possibility she hadn’t felt the same connection he had in bed sent a shiver through him.

“I know my request is unusual,” Gwen addressed the Rowans. “But I could be good for your resort. I have hotel management experience, and I enjoy helping guests get the most out of their stay. I’ll be an asset to your team.”

What the hell was she requesting? He took another step closer.

“Nobody’s denying you’re good at your job. We respect and admire your talents,” Cemil said gently.

“But you’re our guest,” Sarka said. “When your stay is up, you have to go home with the rest of the guests.”

“Not every guest goes home,” Gwen said. “Dana was allowed to stay.”

“Because she’s my mate,” Rekkus growled.

“And the writer—”

“That was an extraordinary circumstance,” Sage said.

“Why does my case have to be any less extraordinary?” Gwen’s voice broke. “Your resort is a dream come true. I want to live and work here and help give your guests the best experience possible.”

Tucker’s heart clenched, and he had to reach for the wall to steady himself. She didn’t want to return with him. She wanted to stay while he left. He might never see her again.

No, if she stayed, he would come back.

But, even using all his vacation time, they’d only sneak a week here and there, too few and far between. Why had she never mentioned wanting to stay? He sure would have liked to have had that information before he’d lost his heart.

“Your life is in the human world,” Cemil said.

The human world? Was he alluding to that paranormal stuff they’d tried to scare him with when he’d slept outside?

“I don’t know what you mean,” Gwen said. “We’re all human. We’re all part of the same world, even if this island is so cut off from the rest of the world, you can almost forget other places exists. That’s the beauty of it.”

“That’s my point,” Cemil said. “We can’t let you stay here and hide from the full potential of your life.”

“What potential?”

The devastating sadness in her voice stole Tucker’s breath. She bent her head, so he could no longer see her over the back of couch.

“I have nothing waiting for me there.”

“You have me,” he said.

Her head snapped up and around, wet tear tracks on her cheeks, her lips parted.

He wanted to kiss her. But kissing and making love to her wouldn’t keep her by his side. He needed to appeal to her true passion. He pushed away from the wall and sucked up his courage while burying his own needs.

“We can partner together and create a resort that includes a nature preserve.” If he’d voiced the idea when she’d discussed the need for a partnership earlier in the day, maybe desperation wouldn’t be clawing at his throat right now. Selling her on the proposal was his last chance to remain part of her life.

“I can teach people about conservation and what they can do to preserve the wild places on earth while you give them the vacation destination and restfulness they crave. We’ll connect them to the land, give them a passion and a purpose, and help them find their center.” He’d found his center and now could do nothing but stand before her and wait for her to accept him or tell him he was too late as she slipped away.

Gwen rose to her feet, steadying herself against Cemil’s arm before facing him on her own. Her eyes widened, and her trembling lips curved upward. His plan appealed to her. They could turn her dream into a reality while buying him time to make up for his mistakes.

Then the brightness in her eyes vanished, and her expression turned bleak. “I’m sorry. I can’t.”

He stepped around Cyrus’s chair and planted himself in front of her. “Can’t what?”

“I can’t partner with you, Tucker.”

He lowered his eyes. He’d been prepared to fight for her acceptance, but she left him no weapon to fight with. She didn’t want to share anything with him, and he had only himself to blame. “I betrayed your trust by faking our engagement. I know. I never meant to hurt you. That doesn’t excuse what I did, but—”

“I’m not holding a grudge about the fiancé thing. I can’t partner with you because I love you. And unless someone can give me amnesia—” She cut her gaze toward Sarka.

Sarka rolled her eyes.

“So I can forget the way I feel,” Gwen continued, “I’m not going to be able to work with you as a partner without my heart breaking every single day. And I’m not strong enough to live with that kind of continuous pain.”

“Gwen.” He wrapped his arms around her.

She flinched.

The instinctive reaction cut him to the core, but he didn’t let go. She might not have hope anymore, but he did—enough for both of them. “You’re a couple of years ahead of my master plan. The resort and conservation goals are all secondary. My real goal is to hang around you every day until you fall in love with me as much as I already love you.” His voice broke.

“You love me?” She pulled back, tears shimmering on her lashes.

He smoothed his hands over her hair. “I do.”

“But your feelings for me were a lie, just part of the fake engagement. You don’t trust me.”

“I didn’t trust myself around you.” She’d laid herself bare to him, and he was determined to come clean as well. “I thought I had other goals, but they were just a smoke screen—a good one, though. I even deceived myself. The truth is I fell in love with you the very first time I laid eyes on you dancing at that silly Christmas party.” He stroked his finger down her cheek. “Marry me, Gwen, and we’ll be life partners and business partners right from the beginning.”

A smile trembled on her lips and then spread across her face, the shine in her eyes now from pure joy. “I’m going to enjoy negotiating and sealing deals with you. But I’ll make this first one easy. Yes.”

She touched her lips to his while the Rowans slipped from the room. The Wiccan Haus had fulfilled its promise of spiritual and emotional healing more completely than Tucker had ever dared to dream.

He kissed Gwen with all the love inside him, sealing their happily ever after. He’d fought through his baggage and her injury to claim his bride. She was a bride worth fighting for, his bride.

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