She relished the look in his eyes as she turned to pound across the beach and ran into the water. She was too intent on forcing herself to plunge straight beneath the icy depths to take any notice of what Drakon might be doing, but she was curving her arm into a powerful front crawl when she realised he was swimming right beside her, black hair plastered to his head like a seal, his naked body gleaming olive-gold underneath the water. In silent acknowledgement of his unspoken challenge, Lucy set off, racing in a line parallel to the shore, and gave it everything she had. She was the strongest female swimmer she knew, but it wasn’t nearly enough to beat her powerhouse of a husband.
He made it look so effortless and was barely out of breath when eventually she swam into his waiting arms, and he laughed against her wet neck and kissed it over and over again as she wrapped her legs around his back. The exercise had given her immunity against the chilly sea and it felt perfectly natural for Drakon’s hands to begin a sensual exploration of her body beneath the surface of the water. And perfectly natural for her to do the same to him. His mouth was on hers—it tasted salty and cold and her nipples were like bullets as they pressed into his chest. A small butterfly beat of awareness at her clitoris was making itself insistently known and he gave a small groan of pleasure when she curled her fingers around his hardness.
‘I want to do it to you now,’ he whispered.
‘Then do it,’ she whispered back.
He covered her mouth with his seeking lips and Lucy’s brain just went to mush. His lips were on her neck and then her breasts. His hungry fingers were parting her aching folds and as he nudged his moist tip against her, she tightened the grip of her legs around the jut of his hips. She gasped with pleasure as he made that first thrust, tilting to accommodate the huge width of him, and the angle of his penetration made her gasp some more. She came very quickly, glad he was supporting her buttocks as he choked out his own fulfilment, and she could feel the rough rasp of his jaw as his head sank against her shoulder, his mouth pressing against her wet hair.
‘I never thought I’d make love in the sea,’ she said, once she could trust herself to speak again.
‘And your verdict?’
‘It was...okay,’ she said, and he laughed.
‘Just okay?’
She shrugged.
‘Then maybe I’d better do it to you again,’ he growled with soft intent and Lucy only pretended to run away from him.
Afterwards they swam back to shore and dressed with numb fingers, hastily pulling clothes onto their still-damp bodies. But any coldness was forgotten the moment they got back to the heated car where soft blankets were stashed on the back seat and Drakon must have arranged for Spiros to make a thermos of creamy hot chocolate, lightly laced with brandy, which they drank from a shared cup.
‘Drakon?’
‘Mmm?’
‘Did you...did you plan this?’ questioned Lucy suspiciously, surveying him across a cloud of steam.
‘The outing?’
‘The sex.’
There was a pause. ‘Put it this way, I like to cover every eventuality.’ The smile he gave her was automatic but suddenly Drakon found himself looking away from her searching blue gaze to stare at the horizon ahead. He swallowed, still reeling from the intensity of what had happened back there in the water. Not just because it had been outside—he certainly wasn’t a secret exhibitionist craving to be observed in flagrante—and he’d meant what he said when he’d told Lucy that his beach was completely private.
No. It wasn’t that. It had more to do with the closeness he’d felt when their bodies had been locked together in that urgent, underwater coupling. Almost as if they’d been part of the same body. It had felt...unsettling. Disturbing. It had brought with it echoes of the past. Of things happening which were outside his control—and that was a feeling he’d vowed never to replicate. More than that—hadn’t he felt the twist of something unknown in his heart when sh
e’d held her face up to his and he’d started to kiss her? There was something about her sweet enthusiasm which was difficult to resist and that wasn’t the only thing about her which was dangerous. Somehow she’d manged to peel away some of the defensive layers which were such an intrinsic part of his make-up. He’d talked about stuff he usually kept locked away and in the process she’d made him feel as if she’d burrowed inside his head.
He felt his skin icing as he started up the engine and the four-by-four ascended the cliff road, past the rocky outline of the man’s face. Well, it wasn’t going to happen again. She wasn’t going to get any closer than she already had and maybe he needed to show her that, once this honeymoon was over. Despite the thoughtfulness of her Christmas present, which had affected him in a way he hadn’t been expecting, it didn’t actually mean anything, did it? This was never intended to be anything more than a marriage of convenience and it was pretty inconvenient to have a wife who was always prying like that. He was silent on the drive back to the villa and glad when his phone started vibrating the moment they entered the complex and he could excuse himself to deal with a phone call from one of his brokers in New York.
‘I’m not sure how long this will take,’ he called to her, over his shoulder.
‘No worries. Honestly, I’m fine.’ The dreamy note in her voice hinted at inner satisfaction. ‘Take as long as you need,’ she called back.
Left alone while Drakon retreated to his glass office, Lucy wandered around, feeling deeply content. It felt almost as if she were floating. As if she were walking on air. She didn’t even mind her new husband shoehorning in a little work, despite his avowed intention to put business on the back burner during their honeymoon. Who cared if he’d succumbed to a call from his busy empire when this brief time together had exceeded all her expectations? When their interactions as a couple had filled her with the tentative hope that they shared a basic compatibility which could grow, if they nurtured it—and that maybe this marriage could become more than she’d ever dreamed it could be.
She texted Sofia, who informed her that Xander had discovered the use of his hands while they’d been away and had been trying to grab the soft toys attached to the sides of his cot.
Lucy texted back.
Sounds very advanced for a seven-weeker! Can’t wait to see you both tomorrow. X
And it was true. She couldn’t. Funny how you could bond with a tiny baby, even when you didn’t realise it was happening. Even when it wasn’t your baby. Couldn’t they become a real family, she wondered hungrily, even if it was a somewhat unconventional family?
She glanced up as Drakon returned, his expression slightly preoccupied as he walked into the room. ‘Is everything okay?’ she questioned.
‘Mmm?’ He glanced across the room at her as if he had only just noticed she was there. ‘I’m going to have to deal with a conference call a little later.’