As soon as she was on dry land she was informing him he would need to find other means of returning to Australia. There wasn’t a hope in hell he was traveling with her.
Tying up
Wind Seeker
in double time, she didn’t look at him as she climbed off her yacht and onto the jetty. A potent wave of freedom rolled over her, followed immediately by agitated anger. She bit back a growl. Damn Peterson. Never would she have imagined a time in her life when she’d feel freer on land than aboard her yacht. Damn him to hell.
She shot the man an angry glare, only to find him watching her from the end of the jetty, a small but thoroughly unnerving smile pulling at his mouth. “Would you like your luggage taken to the hotel?”
His slick question made her blink. “Are you serious?”
He took a step towards her. “Ali, please don’t let my…” he cleared his throat, “…desire for you ruin our relationship. I am sorry for my behavior. Truly. I thought you were aware how much I…how attractive I find you. Please stay at the hotel with me. In your own room of course.” He held out a hand. “Perhaps now you know how much I want…how I feel for you we could discuss a new direction in our relationship. I have much to offer—”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Peterson.” Ali shook her head, her face on fire. “But I think you’ve demonstrated quite clearly the direction you want our relationship to go.” She ground her teeth, her stomach churning. “I shall be staying aboard
Wind Seeker
.”
The man closed the distance between them, his eyes hard chips of angry ice. “You should reconsider.”
Ali stiffened. People never said no to Zane Peterson. His gaze flicked over her face, coming to rest briefly on her mouth before returning to her eyes, the cold anger filling them only seconds ago had been replaced with an all too familiar hunger. “Please, reconsider,” he murmured, smoothing his palms up the length of her arms.
She slipped away from his touch with a step, her flesh crawling. “Not a hope in hell.”
Climbing back aboard
Wind Seeker
, she turned to make sure he hadn’t followed. He hadn’t. Instead he stood on the jetty watching her, that disquieting smile on his lips once more.
A ripple of disgust snaked up her spine and she turned her back on him to tend to her yacht. A prickling sensation scored her back, causing the small hairs at her nape to stand on end. Eyes were on her. She could feel them. Traveling the length of her legs, following the line of her spine. Cold anger sheared into her fraying control. Why didn’t he just leave? For Pete’s sake, the man was a billionaire. Surely that meant he had
some
brains in his head? How many times did he want her to say no?
But as you just pointed out, no one says no to Zane Peterson. Do you think he gives up that easy?
“For the love of god,” she snarled, spinning to face him, “why don’t you just fuck…” The words died in her throat, her heart stopping at the sight of Jack standing by
Wind Seeker’s
stern.
“Can I accept the invitation?” he drawled, his voice cold and flat. “Or am I not rich enough for your tastes?”
Ali couldn’t move.
He was there. He’d come for her.
She opened her mouth, wanting to say something—anything—but nothing came to mind.
Go to him, Ali
.
It doesn’t matter why he’s here. He just is.
She almost took a step. She could already feel Jack’s arms around her, his hands smoothing over her skin, his fingers threading through her hair. Making her feel warm and safe. Taking away her pain. She almost took a step.
But didn’t.
His eyes stopped her, their green depths cold. And angry.
“Why are you…” She stopped, unable to finish the question.
Jack cocked an eyebrow, his face as cold as his eyes. “Why am I here? Really, Ali, you didn’t think I’d let a little girl leave the country with
my
property and not come after her, did you? Besides, I have something to return to your lover.”
Ali blinked. “My what?”
“Shall I accompany you to your hotel room? Or will that cramp your romantic style?”
“My lover?” Ali blinked again, trying to clear her head. What the hell was Jack talking about?
Jack regarded her for a still moment. “Peterson. The man you stood me up for eleven days ago. The man you fled the country with. In my yacht. The man I just watched touching you so—” He broke off. Pulling in a deep breath, he dragged his hands through his hair.
Ali’s stomach rolled. He thought… Jack thought she and Zane… Oh Lord, no. “Jack, I’m not—”
“Why, Ali?” He cut her off, his low voice cut with anguish. “
Is
it his money?”
“Peterson is
not
my lover, Jack. For Pete’s sake, I can’t stand the guy. I race for him, that’s it.” Ali’s hand stole to her neck, the repulsive bite-mark left by Peterson’s attack hidden by her hair. She swallowed at the painful memory. “And this was only a charter.”
Tell him. Tell him what happened.
“Just a charter?” Jack’s laugh was more a contemptuous bark. “Do all your clients touch you like that?”
Ali froze. How did he know?
And then it dawned on her. He was referring to Peterson’s unwanted touch on the jetty only moments ago, not his brutal assault on
Wind Seeker
. She opened her mouth. To set him straight. To explain everything. But Jack didn’t let her speak.
“I’m rich, Ali. You know that. Not as rich as Peterson, to be sure, but still rolling in money. What can he give you I can’t?” He shook his head with a disgusted snort. “God, how clichéd. See what you do to me? I thought…we were…things were going…” He sighed and shook his head again.
“Jack.” Ali stepped from the deck into the cockpit. “Listen to me.” Her heart was in her throat, stealing her breath. “Peterson is nothing to me.
Nothing
.” Her fingers lingered over the bruise for a moment. Should she tell Jack about it? What would he do if she told him Peterson had tried to…
No, it was best she didn’t. She remembered all too well the murderous hate in Jack’s eyes when he spoke to Peterson back in Sydney. What was it he’d said in the clubhouse? They had unfinished business. What business?
Did it matter? The important thing, what really mattered, was that Jack was here. Now.
With her.
Everything else was ancient history.
“Peterson is nothing to me,” she repeated, letting her pain and hope fill her voice.
Jack studied her. Silent. His expression unreadable.
Ali waited in the cockpit, wanting nothing more than to go to him. But she couldn’t. Jack would have to come to her. She needed that.
The moment stretched on, unbearable. People walked past the jetty, casting them curious looks, but Ali didn’t care. Her throat tightened and her pulse pounded. He had to believe her. He had to.
“Tell me you’re not lying, Ali.” The command was a raw plea, Jack’s eyes haunted.
She shook her head. “I’m n—”
Before she could finish, Jack crossed the bulwarks, climbed into the cockpit and took her into his arms. He kissed her, his lips almost hesitant on hers. His tongue traced the inner line of her bottom lip and then flicked lightly at her teeth, a request to explore her mouth more. She complied, a heat radiating through her body as she opened her mouth under the expert touch of his lips. She met his tongue with hers, enjoying the sheer adulation that reverberated through her at the intimate contact.
This was how she was meant to feel. Blissfully happy. Vibrantly alive. This man made her feel this way. Jack had
always
been the one to make her swell with life. With burning pleasure.
He was the only one.
Her hands found their way to his hair, tangling in the silky blonde strands at his nape. She craved his kiss, needed it. She wanted to be branded by his lips. By his body. She moaned, soft and low in her throat. He’d come. Not to reclaim his yacht, but to reclaim her.
And she was his. Blissfully, utterly and completely his.
Another raw moan fell from her lips and she pushed her hips harder to Jack’s, feeling the burning length of his rigid desire against her belly. It was undeniable and it made her whimper.
His own hands raked her back. He slipped them past the waistline of her shorts to cup the cheeks of her butt, his strong fingers kneading her flesh with such fierce hunger Ali felt like she was turning into liquid. Hot, smoldering liquid.
Jack moved his lips to her jaw, teeth nipping a line along the sensitive bone structure until his tongue flicked at her earlobe, sending wave after thrilling wave of squirming pleasure into the pit of her stomach. Pooling heat in the crux of her thighs. She dropped her head, wallowing in the sensations overtaking her senses. God, how did he do it to her? “Jack.” His name left her lips in a breath. “Please…”
If he didn’t take her below deck soon, she’d melt into a moaning pool of wanting hunger.
Jack continued his dizzying exploration of her bottom. Sending her to the brink so quickly she wanted to rip the clothes from their bodies and impale herself on his burning length there and then. Who’d have thought only hours ago her flesh had crawled from Peterson’s repulsive touch? Jack’s hands, moving over her with just as much savage intent, filled her with a burning passion so hot the hideous memory was razed so thoroughly the only sensation left smoldering through her was pure, sensual desire.
His lips wandered over her face and jaw and throat, finding the sensitive dips and pulses with deliciously torturous accuracy.
Snaring a handful of his hair, Ali tugged his head up, wanting to feel his lips on hers again. Wanting his tongue to mate with hers once more.
“Damn it, Ali.” The words were a guttural groan, his gaze burning with passion as it locked with hers. “If we stay in the cockpit we’ll be arrested for indecency.”
The implication behind his words pushed against Ali’s belly, his desire and intention a rock-hard insistence that sent her pulse into wild flight. His breath was harsh and ragged, a testament to the tenuous control he was exerting. A control Ali wanted him to lose. She wanted him to be lost in her, and she in him. She wanted to feel him plunging into her. She wanted to surround him, to take his strength into her very centre.
Taking her hands from his hair, she laced her fingers through his and began moving towards the companionway, never letting her eyes leave his. She wanted this more than she could express. If Jack asked her to vocalize how much she wanted it, she couldn’t. All she’d be able to do was place his palm against her heart and let him feel its accelerated rhythm.
He allowed her to pull him towards the cabin with no resistance, his face serious, his eyes intent. Ali shivered at the hunger smoldering in their green depths. It ripped through her, along her veins, stabbing into the core of her being until each breath pulled her closer to the edge.
She’d hungered for him, wanted him for so long. Since she was a girl of seventeen. For his strength and love and company. For the warmth he created, the sense of security his presence instilled in her.
She’d loved him for so long. Had wanted to be loved by him since the beginning of forever. And he did. She could tell. Because what burned more brightly in his eyes than sexual desire, was love.
Dropping his hand, she slipped into the dimness of the cabin, body tingling.
She was in love with him, and he her.
Exactly how it was meant to be.
Chapter Seven
Jack watched Ali disappear into
Wind Seeker’s
cabin. He pulled in a deep breath, trying to regain some control. He needed it. If he were to follow Ali into the stateroom right now, at that very moment, he’d tear off those bewitching shorts hugging her bottom and enter her so thoroughly and he’d erupt after just one thrust. His need for her had reached fever pitch. Beyond his ability to comprehend.
All it would take was one touch of her hand, one taste of her skin and all control would be lost.
He’d longed for this moment for four years. He’d tried his best to deny it, had tried to bury the memory of Ali in his work, the arms of other women, but it was pointless. His body wanted nothing but her. His
heart
wanted nothing but her. And now that the moment was finally here, he wanted it to last forever.
So he paused, pulling the humid air into his lungs, struggling for control.
There were things they needed to discuss, things still hanging in the air between them. But none of that mattered. He desired her. He needed her. He hungered for her.
But above all else, he loved her.
For now, what he needed to know was that she loved him as much as he loved her.
They’d rediscover each other in the belly of
Wind Seeker
and then he’d take her back to his hotel and they’d stay there until they learnt every dip and curve of the other’s bodies all over again, learning every idiosyncrasy and quirk of their personalities.
And then, when they returned to Australia, he’d ask her to be with him for the rest of forever. He’d even design a yacht for her. The
Alixia 1
. A new yacht for her growing charter.
Jack smiled, his body thrumming with the most intoxicating mix of physical and emotional contentment.