last place she should be.
That she couldn't turn away from him. Not for anything on earth.
"God, Meggie...." His large thumbs moved across her nipples and she bit the inside of her lip to keep from crying out as her nipples grew taut at his touch. He lowered his head. His dark hair was cool and silky against her skin, his mouth hot as he encircled her nipple.
She arched against him, fingers threaded through his hair. Before they had come together in heat. The heat was still there, and the passion, but there was something else between them now. Something she couldn't put a name to but recognized in the way her body responded to him, in the way she wished this moment never had to end.
Suddenly it struck her as a terrible waste that she knew so little about the man who had been her husband. He'd seemed dangerous to her at nineteen, as wildly powerful as a force of nature and just as unpredictable. He was filled with ideas, crazy schemes to make a million dollars. She'd never wanted for anything in her life and his ambition made her feel as if she should apologize for having the good fortune to be born rich.
What a shame it was that understanding had come too late to do them any good.
Not that it mattered. This wasn't about renewal. It was about putting the past behind her and building a new life, a life with a man who would be a husband to her--and a father to Jenny.
Two things Jake Lockwood could never be.
#
Megan opened her eyes to find herself alone in bed.
"Jake?" She raised up on one elbow and smothered a yawn.
"Don't get up." He stood near the open porthole, naked except for a pair of jeans that rode low on his hips. "It's not even dawn yet."
The sight of him, splendid and male, in the shadowy blue light of the bedroom awoke in her a hunger so sharp and intense she found it difficult to breathe. "Wh-where are you going?"
"Topside. We dock in two hours."
"A dawn piano recital?"
He slipped into his shirt. "I do more than play piano."
"A regular jack-of-all-trades," she observed sleepily.
"You do what you have to do," he said, reaching for his shirt. "You have a problem with that?"
"No," she said, meeting his eyes. "I admire it."
He sat down on the edge of the bed to put on his shoes. "I didn't think you admired much of anything about me, Meggie."
She touched his arm. "What's wrong? Last night was so--"
"Last night was last night," he said, standing up again. "We'd both be smart to keep things in perspective."
"My perspective is fine," she snapped. "We were looking for great sex and we found it"
"You know," he said, "I was wrong. You haven't changed. You're still the same sharp-tongued--"
She threw her pillow at him. "Shut up! I don't care what you think of me. Your opinion doesn't matter."
She was naked. Angry. Wild-eyed.
Naked.
He stopped in the doorway, blood heating in his veins.
"Jake...." Part warning, part invitation.
"Shut up," he said, striding toward her. "Don't say anything."
She was in his arms in a heartbeat. Passionate. Warm. Demanding. She knew what he wanted before he did. He backed her up against the wall. Her hands found the zipper on his fly. She wrapped her legs around his hips and he plunged into her aching body with an urgency that bordered on brutal. She loved every second of it.
Their lovemaking was fierce. It wasn't about tenderness. It wasn't about desire.
It was about something that shouldn't be happening, something they were powerless to stop. It was about the girl she'd been and the man he was and all the failed dreams that would haunt them for the rest of their lives.
"What are we going to do?" she asked as he dressed for the second time that morning. "This is--"
"Incredible," he said, zipping his pants.
"And out of control."
"That's the point, Megan. We have two more days to let it run its course before we're back in Miami."
"What if it hasn't run its course?" The words were out before she could stop them.
"It will have. We're wrong for each other, Meggie. Always have been. Always will be."
"I know," she whispered. "I know."
She wondered what he would say if he knew they had a child. A beautiful little girl with his eyes and his laugh and his passion for life.
They might be wrong for each other, but they had done something terribly right when they'd created Jenny.
"...meet me this