The Scandal (Billionaire's Beach Book 4) - Christie Ridgway Page 0,67

I wasn’t at my best today because at the end of the month it’s the fifteenth anniversary.”

Her eyes widened and her body stilled. “Of…?”

“Felipe’s death.” He tried to keep his tone matter-of-fact. “Usually…usually it’s a hard time of year for me.”

“Joaquin.” Sara slid closer and put her hand over his. “I didn’t know.”

“Yeah. Usually my old buddy Mick Hastings and I get together for a couple of days and drink ourselves into numbness. Our way of coping.”

Sara squeezed his hand. “But?”

“But this year Mick isn’t coming. I got the phone call this morning, right before Renata and Martin arrived.”

“Oh, dear.” She hesitated, then shifted, drawing one knee onto the mattress to better face him. “When that day comes, even if Mick isn’t here, you don’t have to be alone.”

Her sympathetic gaze felt like a comfort he didn’t deserve. Closing his eyes, he fell back onto the bed. God, he was tired. “Based on my behavior today, I think we all might agree I’m better alone, actually.”

“Your mother—”

“I apologized to her.”

“Did you?”

“She didn’t deserve what I said. I usually keep myself on a tight leash when it comes to Renata, but tonight…”

“I think she feels remorse for the past.”

“Yeah, she does. And dredging up old hurts won’t change what happened. But I think she’s changed. Essie made me see that. Not only did she tell me our mother regrets that she left Felipe and me, but then there’s Essie herself. Despite her little tantrum at the dinner table—”

“Teenager stuff.”

“Yeah. I talked to her, too. She thinks Zachary wants to break up, which is why she was so keen on getting to see him.”

“Oh, poor Essie.”

“I think she’ll survive no matter what happens. She’s a resilient kid, and Renata and Martin have her back. I can tell now that I’ve seen them together.”

“I agree.”

Joaquin opened his eyes to see Sara stretched on the bed, too, elbow propped on the mattress, head in her hand.

That face. Those bright eyes, the lush mouth. He reached over to stroke her cheek. “Which brings me to you. I shouldn’t have insisted you be part of that dinner.”

“It’s all right.”

“It made you uncomfortable. I never want to make you uncomfortable.” He caressed her soft skin again. “Who knew I needed a butler?” he mused aloud.

“Patrick.”

He smiled. “You’re funny.” An emotion rolled through him that he couldn’t name, and he had to touch her again. “Let me…” His fingers drew down her neck to linger where her pulse beat. It thrummed against his fingertips, and he saw a flush turn her face a lovely pink. Suddenly, he wasn’t so tired.

Suddenly, he had other wants besides sleep.

“Let me take you to bed, Sara.”

“We can’t have sex with your parents in the house,” she declared, clearly flustered by the idea.

He smiled. How he enjoyed a flustered butler. His finger traced the tailored lapel of her adorable pajamas, prim, like he knew she wasn’t once he got her naked. “I don’t want to have sex. Instead let me make…” What was the best way to say it?

With a gentle push, he took her to her back and then rolled on top of her. “Let me make sweet with you, Sara.”

“Joaquin…”

But it wasn’t a protest or a refusal, because she threaded her fingers in his hair and drew down his head so they could kiss.

And kiss they did. Sweet, as he’d promised, and as if they had all the time in the world. As if kisses were an end unto themselves.

She must have just bathed because her skin was fresh with that special Sara-scent. He buried his nose against her throat and breathed her in, the fragrance soothing him. Her touch tended to his raw emotions, and he hoped he returned the favor, his hands gentle and slow. As he undressed her, he cherished each new section of skin bared to him—the slope of her breasts, the ticklish skin over her ribs, that place between her navel and her mons.

He lingered there, spreading kisses from hipbone to hipbone and watched while she undulated, clearly enjoying his attentions.

Then she flipped him to his back and it was her turn to undress and explore, but without the urgency of their other couplings. She played with his hands, inspecting each finger and rubbing them against her lips as if memorizing his texture and his taste.

In the quiet of the night, between the kisses and sighs, Joaquin became aware of the sound of the ocean’s waves. In the past weeks he’d become accustomed to their constant