Ally Blake - Untamed Billionaires - Marriage - For Business or Pleasure? / Getting Red-Hot with the Rogue / One Night with the Rebel Billionaire

‘Oh, wow.’

She glanced around the room, at the wooden shelves stacked high with trophies, several motorbike helmets in one corner, old leather jackets in the other.

‘This room hasn’t changed.’

He shrugged, somewhat embarrassed. ‘I never stay out here. My life’s in Noosa now. I guess Papa was too busy running the place when he was alive to worry about changing the bedrooms.’

Did he know his voice changed when he spoke of his father? Deepened? Softened? As if caught up in good times.

She envied him that, had always envied him the easy, close relationship he’d shared with his dad. It was one of the reasons she’d liked hanging out here so much; that and the mean lasagne Papa used to cook.

‘I love this place. Do you really need to sell?’

A momentary shadow clouded his eyes before he blinked and it vanished.

‘It’s not fair to let it run down. And I just don’t have the time to do much out here.’

‘Why don’t you hire a manager? Farm hands? Get the plantation up and running again?’

He shook his head, the tiny indentation between his brows a sign she was butting into business that was no concern of hers.

‘You know what this place meant to Papa.’

He didn’t have to add ‘and to me’. She could see his reluctance to sell in his clenched jaw, in his rigid neck muscles, could hear it in his tense tone.

‘All the more reason to keep it, bring it back to life—’

‘It’s time to let the place go. You of all people should understand the power of memories and the need to move on from the past.’

Oh, yeah, she understood the need to move on all too well. As for memories, her good ones were all focused on Nick and, rather than push the issue about the farm, she needed to start creating new ones.

‘Yeah, I get it.’ Her gaze caught a flash of silver hanging off the mirror. ‘Hey, is that the medallion I gave you?’

He followed her line of vision, the slight pink staining his tanned cheeks a dead giveaway he’d rather forget the fact he’d kept a girly trinket.

‘Maybe.’

She rolled off the bed, evading his arms as he made a lunge for her.

‘It is! I can’t believe you kept it all this time.’

‘Like I said, this room has been untouched since I left it.’

Her heart expanded as she slung the delicate chain on her finger, tracing the outline of the star on the medallion with her finger.

‘You know why I chose a star, don’t you?’

He shook his head and she dangled the chain on her finger a second longer before rehanging it on the mirror.

‘Because you hung the stars and moon for me back then.’

He came up behind her, slid his arms around her waist and held her close.

‘And now?’

‘Let’s find out.’

She turned in the circle of his embrace, ready for his kiss, every cell in her body crying out for him, only him.

His mouth moved over hers, hot, challenging, and she matched him, their kisses deep and long and luscious, the type of kisses to melt a body and sear a soul.

If they’d kissed like this all night long she would’ve been happy, but she didn’t want to settle. Not tonight.

Tonight she wanted those stars and that moon.

‘I want you so much,’ he murmured, trailing his lips down her neck as his thumbs nudged the underside of her breasts, toying with her, teasing her, before drifting upwards to circle her tight nipples through the silk.

Her head fell back on a moan as he deftly flicked the clasp on her shoulder and the Grecian dress slithered down her body in a rustle of silk, its caress almost as erotic as Nick’s hands.

‘Jeez,’ he muttered, his gaze raking her from head to foot before resting on her breasts, the naked need in his eyes sending a tremor of unbridled lust shooting through her. ‘You’re even more gorgeous now, if that’s possible.’

Smiling, she tugged on his jacket. ‘Still the sweet talker.’

He shook his head, his dazed expression vindication he found her mature body just as appealing as the lithe teenager she’d once been.

Sliding the jacket off his shoulders, she started working on his bow tie. ‘But for now, less talk, more action.’

‘You want to see some action?’

His scorching kiss had her grateful for the edge of the bed bumping the backs of her knees as she collapsed onto it, happily watching as he shucked off the rest of his clothes in record time.

‘I like those,’ she said, pointing to the black boxers that had been haunting her dreams ever since she’d glimpsed them on their wedding night.

‘And I like those.’

He toyed with the top of her white lace thong, sending a river of heat straight to her core.

‘But not enough to keep them on.’

He whipped them off and tossed them over his shoulder, his eyes glazing as his gaze roamed her.

‘Come here.’

She held her arms out to him and he entered her embrace in a second, the touch of his bare skin against hers sizzling hot.

He kissed her, laved her, delved his fingers into her until she was panting for release, clutching at him, crying out his name, sobbing her need when the mind-numbing tension climbed and spiralled and shattered into a million shooting stars.

She couldn’t think, couldn’t speak, and she whimpered when he left her for a moment to rip off his boxers and roll a condom on.

‘I’m right here, sweetheart.’

‘Where you belong,’ she said, a second before his mouth claimed hers and he lay on top of her, sliding inside with a smooth, powerful thrust that made her gasp.

He filled her, completed her and she wrapped her legs around him, tilting her hips to encourage deeper contact.

Then he moved, sliding in and out, every move sending shards of exquisite pleasure firing through her, making every nerve ending sit up and cry for more.

And he gave her more.

He drove into her, his chest rasping her sensitised nipples, his tongue mating with hers, his rhythm taking them higher and higher until he stiffened and cried out her name, shuddering into her.

Brittany had no idea how long they stayed locked together, their heart rates slowly calming, their breathing soft and ragged.

She didn’t mind his weight, didn’t mind the slick of sweat between their bodies.

She’d asked for the stars and the moon.

Nick had delivered the whole damn solar system.

SLEEPING with Britt had been a bad idea.

Not that there’d been much sleeping involved.

Their cataclysmic night had changed everything.

‘This place hasn’t changed a bit,’ she said, tugging his hand as she ran towards the river’s edge, leaving Nick no option but to follow.

And follow he would, to the ends of the earth if she asked, for last night had shattered any illusions he had about this marriage being all business.

With every kiss, with every caress, with every gut-wrenching moan, she’d stripped away the years, catapulting him straight back to a time he was so crazy for her he couldn’t see straight.

Nothing had changed, absolutely nothing.

Even that was a lie.

Ten years ago, he’d been a fool, kidding himself all he felt for Britt was lust.

Now he knew the truth.

What they’d shared had never just been about lust; it was more than that, so much more.

And their night of passion had hurtled him back a decade, to a time he couldn’t get enough of her, to a time where his heart clamoured towards her while his head reeled back with the implications of trusting a woman.

‘Do you miss Jacaranda?’

She stopped, alerted to the seriousness of his question by something in his voice as he waved towards the river, trying to distract her.

It didn’t work, for she reached up, cupped his cheek, her simple touch as catastrophic as if she’d reached into his chest and squeezed his heart.