Fortunately their daughter woke and demanded attention, then a stylist showed up with a measuring tape and color swatches.
“What? Why?” Sirena argued as Raoul took the baby so she could lift her arms.
“We have that red carpet thing in a few nights,” he reminded.
“You didn’t say red carpet! I thought it was a cocktail party.” She hadn’t gained a ton of baby weight, she’d been too sick, but even though she’d started back on the treadmill, she was soft and had bags under her eyes. She’d never clean up like the stunners who usually hung off his arm.
Muddled and anxious, she got through the rest of the day and took some air on the balcony after her bath. A clean breeze off the water had swept away the pollution and the air smelled sultry, helping ease her unsettled mind.
Raoul joined her, making her stomach quiver in awareness. She ignored it.
“What do you think? Should I buy this unit?” he asked her.
“They’re treating you to entice you?” she guessed, then rejected the luxurious surroundings with a haughty shake of her head. “I came out here to see the fireworks over the happiest place on earth and I don’t, so it’s no good. A major disappointment.”
“I’ll make the purchase contingent on their moving the building to the next county,” he drawled.
“Ha!” She laughed at herself. “I guess I should look at a map. It’s just always been on my bucket list to come to L.A., visit the theme parks, wear the ears...I thought I’d at least see the castle and fireworks while I’m here.”
“You can. We’ll be here a week. Take—” He cut himself off.
“Lucy isn’t old enough to appreciate it,” she scoffed, predicting what he had almost said. “No, I can wait for another time.” To avoid his casually rumpled masculine appearance, she looked to the glowing blue of the pool jutting off to the right on their patio, a few steps down. It was surrounded by orange trees in oversized planter pots and twined with pinpoints of white lights. “If we come here again.”
She pursed her lips, wondering if this would become her life. She suspected so and took a second to self-examine.
“Honestly, Raoul? I don’t know if I would have enjoyed the travel half so much if we’d been staying at cheap motels and taking shuttle buses through dodgy back alleys. You live very well. It makes me very tempted to stay with you indefinitely.”
“That’s the only thing that tempts you?” he asked with mild disgust.
“Oh, please! You’re not that insecure.” She was glad it was dark and he couldn’t see how she took in his physique with a swift glance and a hard blush. “You could drive shuttle buses for back-alley hotels and still be appealing. But I’ve been in a relationship for practical reasons. They aren’t as great as they look. I knew from the outset I wouldn’t be with Stephan forever and it made me feel trapped. I don’t want to start something unless I know we can both live with it for a very long time.”
“I hate hearing you talk about him.” He gave her a pointed look that landed like a spear in her heart, sticking and vibrating. “This is the least practical or convenient relationship I’ve ever been in, but I still want it. I want you.”
“You mean you—”
“Don’t,” he interrupted, stepping so close she pressed back into the rail.
She gripped it, heart zooming into flight as his potent masculinity clouded around her like a spell. “Don’t what?”
“Don’t say I only want my daughter. I do, but that’s not why I’m out here. I saw you walk by with this robe clinging to your damp skin...” His nostrils flared as he seared his glance down her front. One hand came out to hook into her belt, tugging lightly.
She should have let him draw her forward, but she resisted and the belt gave way.
Something flared in his silver eyes.
“Raoul.” She meant it as a protest, but it was more an enticing whisper.
“Let me,” he growled, and with slow deliberation parted the edges of her robe. She was naked beneath and he swore softly before murmuring, “You’re so beautiful.”
She desperately needed to hear that. No one ever complimented her and seeing the way he ate up her figure was intensely gratifying, filling up a hollow part of her soul.
The cool night air made her skin pimple, knotting her nipples into tight buds and swirling to the warm places on her abdomen and thighs. A suffusion of heat followed, one incited by the hunger and admiration in his long study of her nude body.
“Raoul,” she moaned again, this time on a helpless whimper.
He groaned and stepped closer, shod feet bracketing her bare ones. His hot hands sought her waist and circled to her back, pulling her into contact with his clothed body.
She let her head fall back and met his open mouth with her own, moaning at how wrong this was, but she wanted it so badly. Her hands eased their death grip on the rail and rose to stroke over his shoulders, following the rippling flex of his shoulder blades as he swooped his hands over the small of her back, cupped her naked bottom and pressed her aching pelvis into firm contact with the ridge of his erection.
There was no buildup, no mental debate as she wondered if her desire would catch. Everything about this man turned her switches on. All he had to do was touch her. Her hips tilted, seeking more intimate contact with his hardness.
He thrust his tongue into her mouth in a bold claim, cupping the side of her face to hold her for his devastating kiss. She pulled him into her, wanting more, loving the stroke of his restless hands, the way he clasped her breast and gently crushed and massaged and softly bit her lips before he lifted his head.
“Bedroom,” he said, starting to pull her with him.
She came to her senses and pressed a hand to his chest. “We can’t.”
“Why not?”
For the life of her, she couldn’t think of anything but feeling him inside her, but that’s all it would be. Physical feelings. For him. As much as she wanted the release, she knew she’d never be able to keep it that dispassionate.
As he read her rejection, his expression shuttered. With a feral noise, he lurched away and grasped the rail to the lower balcony and vaulted to the pool deck below.
“What—?”
He landed between a pair of loungers, took three long strides and dove straight into the pool.
Sirena slapped a hand over her mouth, astonished as she watched his blurred image move with surprising speed down the length of the pool, all underwater. He was halfway back before he rose to gasp for air.
“What on earth are you doing?” she cried.
“What the hell are you doing?” he shot back, kicking himself to the far edge and hefting himself onto the ledge. Yanking at his wet shirt, he struggled out of it and dropped it beside his hip with a splat. “Get inside or I’m coming after you and this time I’m not stopping.”
She spun and ran to her room, where she hugged a pillow and told herself she’d made the right decision.
Even though it felt like the stupidest choice in the world.
* * *
“Sirena!”
It was about time. Odious man. First he made her so crazy she spent the night hating herself for not sleeping with him when she would have hated herself more if she had. Then he left without writing a note, giving no indication of where he was going or when to expect him back—although he had prepared the coffee machine so all she had to do was push the button. But that didn’t excuse barging in here, yelling her name when she was trying to settle their daughter.
“Sirena, where—? Oh, here you are.”
She glared at him. “She was almost asleep.” She lightly bounced the baby to ease her drowsy eyes closed again.
“I’ll take her,” he said, moving forward in that battleship way of his.
“Fine, take her. Maybe she’ll sleep for you,” she muttered, grouchy because she needed a nap as badly as the baby. Maybe going to bed with him now....
Shut up, Sirena.
“I don’t want you to drop her,” he said, “when you see who I brought with me.”
She sidestepped to see a young woman in the doorway. She was blonde, slender, achingly sweet-looking in her innocent way, yet tall and curvy without a hint of the preadolescent she’d been the last time Sirena had seen her.
Allison’s soft brown eyes pooled with giant tears while a great, mischievous grin widened her mouth. She thrust out her arms. “Me,” she burst out. “Surprise!”
A scream built in Sirena’s throat and locked it, making pressure expand so hard her eyes filled. She choked, trying to gasp a breath, and began to shake. She wanted to move forward, but her knees started to sag.
Raoul caught her, swearing under his breath. “I should have warned you, but I didn’t want to build expectations if anything went wrong—”
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” she babbled, wanting to lean into him, but forcing her legs to take her weight. She passed through a thick mist that was pure sparkle and magic. As she reached the familiar yet very grown-up sister she hadn’t seen in the flesh for so long, she realized her cheeks hurt because she was smiling bigger than she ever had in her life.
“You don’t look this tall when we talk on my tablet,” she managed to joke even as a sobbing laugh rattled her voice. Her arms wrapped around her baby sister.