“What?” he asked. He couldn’t tell what had made her so excited.
“Are you really so used to this much wealth that you don’t see what’s right in front of you?”
Blake looked at the yacht gently bobbing at the dock in front of them. Was what she’d said true? Did he really not notice these things anymore? That wasn’t something that pleased him. There’d never been a time when he was poor, but he still appreciated all he had. Or did he really? When it came down to it, was there any more excitement left in his life?
If there wasn’t, there would be now. He decided it was time to create some. Instead of going to his own boat, he moved her toward the one she was admiring.
“Let me show you the inside,” he said, once again taking her hand as he helped her aboard the nearly two-hundred-foot vessel.
“I didn’t know private boats were made this big. Does this belong to you, Blake?”
He decided not to answer that question yet. “Many people own large boats. They become a sort of second home. You can live on them if that’s what you choose,” he told her.
“Sort of like Tom Hanks in Sleepless in Seattle,” she said with a nervous giggle.
“Well, his wasn’t quite this size.”
“Yeah, that’s true.” Her voice was hushed as they climbed on board.
He tried to see the boat through Jewell’s widened eyes as they passed top-of-the-line furniture and exquisitely laid tables. Blake was more than ready to claim Jewell again. He rushed her through the boat and stepped inside what seemed to be the main stateroom.
She gasped in delight. The walls were mahogany; wide-open windows and gleaming glass doors led out to a private balcony. The ceiling was gilded; it was as if they were floating in a classic English country house. The room had in its center a huge four-poster bed that he was going to get her into — if he made it that far.
“Jewell…,” he said, and she didn’t hear him. “Jewell…,” he said again and she turned, her face the picture of awe.
“Sorry. What?” she asked, looking around the room again.
Walking up to her, he placed his fingers beneath her chin and backed her against a built-in bookcase filled with rare books, books he’d love to explore at any other time.
“I’m going to peel your clothes away, piece by piece, slowly and completely, and then I’m going to take you hard and fast. And then we’ll start all over again and do it all night long. I can please you in ways no one else ever could.”
“But…this…here?”
“Right here. Right now.” Blake pressed body up against hers, letting her feel how ready he was to take her right this instant.
“This is your boat, isn’t it?” She looked around nervously, as if finally realizing that the décor wasn’t exactly his style.
“Why would you ask that? Are you afraid of being caught?”
“Yes,” she said nervously, looking away from him over to the door he’d shut firmly behind them.
“That’s part of the appeal,” he told her, and his excitement built.
“Why are you doing this right now? Why here?”
“Because I can.”
Jewell’s eyes widened. His body pulsing with need, Blake grabbed her for a kiss she wouldn’t soon forget. He knew he’d never get enough of this woman. And, surprisingly, he didn’t want to.
Chapter Seventeen
Fire and ice. Jewell was frozen to the spot when Blake took her into his arms, but she was also burning up. His body was an exciting new world that she wanted to explore, wanted to know so much better than she already knew it. She couldn’t resist this man, and she was tired of trying to.
The air weighed down on her lungs, and her entire body throbbed with desire. His power, her loss of control, the pure lust shining from his eyes should have disgusted her, should have filled her with fear. They hadn’t. She was his.
After he pinned her against the bookshelves, all she could do was reach for him, desire him, crave him.
“This is why you’ll eventually see things my way, Jewell. You are as powerless as I am to resist what is happening between us,” he said before sinking his teeth into her shoulder, making her cry out in pain and pleasure.
“Stop talking,” she panted. She was trying to get her brain to work and she couldn’t. Had he just said he was powerless? Before she was able to focus on that, his hands smoothed down her backside and made her forget all about his words.
“Do you want to stop?” he asked, and she didn’t know whether he was bluffing or not, but no, she didn’t want to stop.
She might just perish if they even thought about it. She wouldn’t say that, though. Instead, she slid her hand down between them and she cupped him, desperate to feel the raw power residing between his legs.
“You can keep silent all you want, Jewell. Your body talks plenty for you,” he said with a laugh. That laugh turned into a gasp as her fingers squeezed his thick staff.
As he continued seducing her, her clothes began falling away. Her shirt was now lying on the floor, and her jeans a puddle at her feet, leaving her standing before him in only the thin lace of her panties.
He stepped back and gazed reverently at her. “You are so unbelievably gorgeous.”
She wanted to repeat those words to him as he unbuttoned his shirt and let it slide downward, revealing his magnificent chest. Then he undid his belt and the top button on his pants, and her mouth watered in anticipation of seeing him in all his naked glory. But he didn’t undo any more buttons, making her want to scream.
“Lie down on the bed,” he demanded. “Leave your panties on, but spread your legs for me.”
“No.”
His brows rose at her refusal.
“You finish undressing first, Blake.”
“That isn’t how this works, Jewell. You do what I say,” he told her, his eyes burning.
“Maybe I want you to do what I say,” she replied. Her own boldness stunned her.
His lips turned up. “I love it when you fight me, Jewell,” he said, then he moved toward her with lightning speed, spun her around, and trapped her hands behind her back.
“Let go,” she told him fiercely. She knew better than to challenge him, but it wasn’t fear she was feeling anymore; it was pure, unadulterated excitement.
She heard the low whoosh of his belt slipping through the loops of his pants, and then she felt him wrap the soft leather around her wrists.
And now she felt a sliver of fear, too. “What are you doing, Blake?”