Virgin: Undone by the Billionaire: The Innocent's Dark Seduction / Count Maxime's Virgin / Untamed Billionaire, Undressed Virgin. Jennie Lucas

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      And as he lowered his head to claim her lips in a fierce, bruising kiss, God help her but she couldn’t deny him what he wanted. The heat and force of his embrace overwhelmed her senses. As he stroked her body, untying the back of her halter dress and dropping it to the floor, her longing was so sharp it edged between pleasure and pain.

      He lowered her to the enormous bed. He looked down at her. He pulled off his jeans and silk boxers. She heard the roar and crash of the surf outside their open window, the warm breeze blowing in the hibiscus-scented air.

      Then he possessed her roughly, without tenderness. But as she gasped with the joyful force of her pleasure, she could have sworn she heard him whisper her name as if it was torn from deep within his soul.

      They settled into a pattern of sorts over the next four days.

      Busy with work, overseeing the extensive remodel and expansion of a luxury resort on Hanalei Beach, Roark ignored her during daylight hours.

      In the evenings he would come home for an elegant dinner prepared by the mansion’s chef. He spoke courteously with the staff and pleasantly with Mrs. O’Keefe. His handsome dark features glowed as he played with Ruby and read her a story before putting her to bed. But it was as if Lia didn’t exist.

      At least not until dusk.

      She existed only to pleasure him in the dark. And every night it was the same. No tenderness. No words. Just a fiercely hot possession taken by an unloving lover.

      Roark came home early one afternoon, and as usual it was as if Lia were invisible. Lia watched him play with the baby on the private white sand beach, helping Ruby make a sand castle. When it grew too hot, he cradled the baby against his tanned, naked chest and carried her into the ocean to feel the water against her skin.

      For a moment, the baby looked nervous and glanced back at Lia, as if considering whether to cry and reach her arms for her mother.

      “You’re all right, little one,” her father said to her softly. “You’re safe with me.”

      Ruby looked up at him, and her expression changed. She didn’t cry for her mother after all. Instead, she clung to Roark, giggling as her toes splashed in the water.

      No one could resist Roark Navarre for long.

      Watching them, Lia, sitting alone on the beach in the perfect sunshine of a Hawaiian day, felt her heart break a little more.

      He was punishing Lia. Cruelly. Deliberately taunting her with what she’d never have.

      And what she was starting to realize that she desperately wanted.

      His attention.

      His affection.

      His love.

      Lia tried to tell herself that she didn’t care. The next day she went on a catamaran with Mrs. O’Keefe and Ruby, circling the island to see the sharp black cliffs of Na Pali, known as the Forbidden Coast. As the crew set up fresh pineapples, papaya and mango with chocolate croissants and a full breakfast, Lia sat with Ruby, who was wearing a baby-size life jacket. She stared out at the ocean.

      Bottle-nosed dolphins followed in the wake of the boat, and in the distance she could see sea turtles swimming in the warm water. The brilliant Hawaii sun was hot against her skin. It was paradise.

      It was hell.

      Tonight I won’t let him take me, she promised herself.

      But when he came to her that night after she’d fallen asleep, waking her with his lips against her mouth even as his hands reached beneath her nightgown to stroke her naked body, she trembled and obeyed.

      Not because he forced her.

      Because she could not resist.

      Some nights he didn’t even bother to kiss her, but tonight he did. She heard the thwap-thwap-thwap of the ceiling fan above them as he pulled off her nightgown and panties in the darkness. She couldn’t see his face. She could only feel his hands, rough and seductive against her skin. She felt her body start to rise, even as her heart split in her chest.

      “Please,” she cried hoarsely. “Please don’t do this to me.”

      For answer, he kissed down her naked body, nuzzling her breasts. She felt the rough hair of his legs against hers, felt his hard muscles against her soft body. Her body cried out for his touch, like an addiction she couldn’t control.

      Stroking her hips, he spread her legs and tasted between her thighs. Her breathing became shallow, quick gasps.

      She wanted him. Wanted this. So much it was killing her.

      But it wasn’t enough. She wanted more.

      She wanted all of him.

      She was in love with him. In love with the man who was so loving to their daughter. Who for one afternoon had been kind to her, as well.

      She’d fallen in love with her tormentor. Wasn’t there a name for that?

       Marriage.

      “Please, just let me go,” she whispered. “Roark. Just let me go.”

      A trick of moonlight traced his cruel, sensual mouth as he gave her a smile.

      “You’re my wife. You belong to me.”

      He thrust into her, and she gasped as her whole body arched to meet his with the shock of unwilling pleasure. And she knew she loved him. Wanted him. Wanted everything.

      She loved a man who only wanted to punish her.

      And as he left her to sleep alone, she knew she’d just lost herself, body and soul, in hell.

      The next morning she was surprised to see him at the breakfast table. Drinking black coffee and reading a Japanese-language newspaper, he didn’t even bother to look up when she sat down across from him.

      Then he said, “We’ll be leaving for Tokyo today.”

      Leaving Hawaii? Lia should have been relieved. She should have been thrilled.

      Instead she felt sad. These four days could have been a romantic honeymoon. A chance to make a wonderful memory as a family. Instead she would look back on their days in Kauai and remember only pain.

      “Tomorrow’s Christmas Eve,” she pleaded, ignoring the painful lump in her throat. “Couldn’t we at least stay here until …”

      “We leave within the hour,” he said coolly. And, throwing the newspaper down on the glossy wood table, he left her to eat alone, and salt her own bitter coffee with tears.

      CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

      CHRISTMAS morning, their luxurious Tokyo hotel suite was filled with mountains of presents organized and wrapped by Roark’s personal staff. The bright silver Christmas tree decorated in blue had also been designed by his staff. Everywhere they went, they were serviced by the vast network СКАЧАТЬ