Baby Bonanza

Six

Three days later the ship docked in Acapulco.

“Oh, come on,” Mary Curran urged, “come ashore with Joe and me. He’s going scuba diving of all things, and I’d love some company while I spend all the money we saved by having this cruise comped.”

Laughing, Jenna shook her head and sat back on the sofa in the living room of Nick’s spectacular suite. “No, thanks. I think I’m going to stay aboard and relax.”

Mary sighed in defeat. “How you can relax when you’re staying in this suite with Nick Falco is beyond me. Heck, I’ve been married for twenty years and just looking at the guy gives me hot flashes.”

Jenna knew just what her friend meant. For the past few days she and Nick had been practically in each other’s pockets. They’d spent nearly every minute together, and when they were here in this suite, the spacious accommodations seemed to shrink to the size of a closet.

Jenna felt as if she were standing on a tight wire, uneasily balanced over a vat of lava. She was filled with heat constantly and knew that with the slightest wrong move, she could be immolated.

God, great imagery.

“Hello? Earth to Jenna?”

“Sorry.” Jenna smiled, pushed one hand through her hair and blew out an unsteady breath. “Guess my mind was wandering.”

“Uh-huh, and I’ve got a good idea where it wandered to.”

“What?”

“Oh, honey, you’ve got it bad, don’t you?” Mary leaned forward and squeezed Jenna’s hand briefly.

Embarrassed and just a little concerned that Mary might be right, Jenna immediately argued. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Sure you don’t.” Mary’s smile broadened. “I say Nick’s name and your eyes flash.”

“Oh God…”

“Hey, what’s the trouble? You’re both single. And you’re clearly attracted to each other. I mean, I saw Nick’s face last night at dinner whenever he looked at you.”

The four of them had had dinner together the night before, and though Jenna had been sure it would be an uncomfortable couple of hours-given the tension between her and Nick-they’d all had a good time. In fact, seeing Nick interacting with Joe Curran, hearing him laugh and tell stories about past cruises had really opened Jenna’s eyes.

For so long, she’d thought of him only as a player. A man only interested in getting as many women as possible into his bed. A man who wasn’t interested in anything that wasn’t about momentary pleasure.

Now she’d seen glimpses of a different man. One who could enjoy himself with people who weren’t members of the “celebrity crowd.” A guy who could buy silly T-shirts for babies he wasn’t even sure were his. A guy who could still turn her into a puddle of want with a glance.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Mary asked quietly.

Jenna took a long, deep breath and looked around the room to avoid meeting Mary’s too-knowing gaze. Muted sunlight, diffused by the tinted glass, filled the room, creating shadows in the corners. It was quiet now, with Nick somewhere out on deck and the hum of the ship’s powerful engines silenced while in port.

Shifting her gaze to Mary’s, Jenna thought about spilling the whole story. Actually she could really use someone to talk to, and Mary had, in the past several days, already proven to be a good friend. But she couldn’t get into it now. Didn’t want to explain how she and Nick had come together, made two sons and then drifted apart. That was far too long a story.

“Thanks,” she said, meaning it. “But I don’t think so. Anyway, you don’t have time to listen. Joe will be waiting for you.”

Mary frowned at her, but apparently realized that Jenna didn’t feel like talking. Standing up, she said, “Okay, I’ll go. But if you decide you need someone to talk to…”

“I’ll remember. Thanks.”

Then Mary left and Jenna was alone. Alone with her thoughts, racing frantically through her mind. Alone with the desire that was a carefully banked fire deep inside. Suddenly antsy, she jumped to her feet, crossed the room and left the suite. She’d just go up on deck. Sit in the sun. Try not to think. Try to relax.

The business of running a cruise line kept Nick moving from the time he got up until late at night. People on the outside looking in probably assumed that he led a life of leisure. And sure, there was still time for that. But the truth was he had to stay on top of everything. This cruise line was his life. The one thing he had. The most important thing in the world to him. He’d worked his ass off to get this far, to make his mark. And he wasn’t about to start slowing down now.

“If the band isn’t working, contact Luis Felipe here in town,” he told Teresa, and wasn’t surprised to see her make a note on her PDA. “He knows all the local bands in Acapulco. He could hook us up with someone who could take over for the rest of the cruise.”

The band they’d hired in L.A. was proving to be more trouble than they were worth. With their rock star attitudes, they were demanding all sorts of perks that hadn’t been agreed on in their contracts. Plus, they’d been cutting short their last show of the evening because they said there weren’t enough people in attendance to make it worthwhile. Not their call, Nick thought. They’d been hired to do a job, and they’d do it or they’d get off the ship in Mexico and find their own way home.

“Got it,” Teresa said. “Want me to tell the band their days are numbered?”

“Yeah. We’ll be in port forty-eight hours. Give ’em twenty-four to clean up their act-if they don’t, tell ’em to pack their bags.”

“Will do.” She paused, and Nick turned to look at her. They were standing at the bow of the ship on the Splendor Deck, mainly because Nick hadn’t felt like being cooped up in his office. And he couldn’t go to his suite because Jenna was there. Being in the same room with her without reacting to her presence was becoming more of a challenge.

The last few days had been hell. Being with her every day, sleeping down the hall from her at night, knowing she was there, stretched out on a king-size bed, probably wearing what she used to-a tank top and a pair of tiny, bikini panties-had practically killed him. He’d taken more cold showers in the last three days than he had in the past ten years.

His plan to seduce Jenna and then lose her was backfiring. He was the one getting seduced. He was the one nearly being strangled with throttled-back desire. And he was getting damned sick of it. It was time to make a move. Time to take her to bed. Before they got the results of that DNA test.

Tonight, he decided. Tonight he’d have Jenna Baker back in his bed. Where he’d wanted her for the past year.

“Boss?”

He was almost surprised to hear Teresa’s voice. Hell, he’d forgotten where the hell he was and what he was doing. Just thinking about Jenna had his body hard and aching.

“What is it?” He half turned away from the woman and hoped she wouldn’t notice the very evident proof of just how hungry for Jenna he really was.

“The lab in Cabo called. They faxed the results of the DNA test to the lab in L.A.”

“Good.” His stomach fisted, but he willed it to loosen. Nothing to do about it now but wait for the results. Which would probably arrive by tomorrow. So, yeah. Tonight was the night.

“Do you want me to tell Jenna?”

Nick frowned at his assistant, then let the expression fade away. Wasn’t her fault he felt like he was tied up in knots. “No, thanks. I’ll do it.”

“Okay.” Teresa took a deep breath, held it, then blew it out. “Look, I know this is none of my business…”

“Never stopped you before,” he muttered with a smile.

“No, I guess not,” she admitted, swiping one hand through her wind-tousled hair. “So let me just say, I don’t think Jenna’s trying to play you.”

He went perfectly still. From the shore came the sounds of car horns honking and a swell of noise that only a crowd of tourists released for the day could make. Waves slapped halfheartedly at the hull of the ship, and the wind whipped his hair into his eyes.

He pushed it aside as he looked at Teresa. “Is that right?”

She lifted her chin, squared her shoulders and looked him dead in the eye. “That’s right. She’s just not the type to do something like this. She never did give a damn about your money or who you were.”

“Teresa-” He didn’t want to talk about this and he didn’t actually care what his assistant thought of Jenna. But knowing Teresa, there was just no way to stop her. An instant later, he was proved right.

“-still talking. And if I’m going to get fired for shooting my mouth off,” she added quickly, “then I’m going to get it all said no matter what you think.”

“Fine. Finish.”

“I didn’t say anything when you fired her, remember. I even agreed with you to a point-yes, Jenna should have told you she worked for you, but from her point of view I can see why she didn’t.”

“That’s great, thanks.”

She ignored his quips and kept talking. “I didn’t even say anything when you were so miserable after she left that it was like working for a panther with one foot caught in a steel trap.”

“Hey-”

“But I’m saying it now,” she told him, and even wagged a finger at him as if he were a misbehaving ten-year-old. “You can fire me for it if you want to, but you’ll never get another assistant as good as I am and you know it…”

Gritting his teeth because he knew she was right, Nick nodded and ordered, “Spit it out then.”

“Jenna’s not the kind to lie.”

A bark of laughter shot from his throat.

“Okay, fine, she didn’t tell you she was an employee. But that was one mistake. Remember, I knew her then, too, Nick. She’s a nice kid with a good heart.”

He shifted uncomfortably because he didn’t want her to be right. It was much easier on him to think of Jenna as a liar and a manipulator. Those kind of women he knew how to deal with. A nice woman? What the hell was he supposed to do with one of those?

“And,” Teresa added pointedly, “I saw the pictures of your sons-”

“That hasn’t been confirmed yet,” he said quickly.

“They look just like you,” she countered.

“All babies look like Winston Churchill,” Nick argued, despite the fact that he knew damn well she was right.

“Yeah?” She smiled and shook her head. “Winston never looked that good in his life, I guarantee it. They’ve got your eyes. Your hair. Your dimples.” Teresa paused, reached out and laid one hand on his forearm. “She’s not lying to you, Nick. You’re a father. And you’re going to have to figure out how you want to deal with that.”

He turned his face toward the sea and let the wind slap at him. The wide stretch of openness laid out in front of him was usually balm enough to calm his soul and soothe whatever tensions were crowded inside him. But it wasn’t working now. And maybe it never would again.

Because if he was a father…then his involvement with those kids wasn’t going to be relegated to writing a check every month. He’d be damned if his children were going to grow up not knowing him. Whether Jenna wanted him around or not, he wasn’t going anywhere. He was going to be a part of their lives, even if that meant he had to take them away from their mother to do it.

The ship felt deserted.

With most of the passengers still on shore exploring Acapulco, Jenna wandered decks that made her feel as if she were on board a ghost ship. That evening, she was back in Nick’s suite and feeling on edge. She’d showered, changed into a simple, blue summer dress and was now fighting the fidgets as she waited for Nick to come back to the suite for dinner.

Funny, she’d spent nearly every waking moment with him over the past few days, feeling her inner tension mount incrementally. She’d convinced herself that what she needed was time to herself. Time away from Nick, to relax. Unwind a little, before the stress of being so close to him made her snap.

So she’d had that time to herself today and she was more tense than ever.

“Oh, you’re in bad shape, Jenna,” she whispered as she walked out onto Nick’s balcony. She was a wreck when she was with him, and when she wasn’t, she missed him. Her hair lifted off her neck in the wind, and the hem of her dress fluttered about her knees. Her sandals made a soft click of sound as she walked across the floor and she wrapped her arms around herself more for comfort than warmth.

From belowdecks, a soft sigh of music from the ballroom reached her, and the notes played on the cool ocean breeze, as if they’d searched her out deliberately. The plaintive instrumental seeped into her soul and made her feel wistful. What if coming on this trip had been a big mistake? What if telling Nick about their sons hadn’t been the right thing to do? What if-she stopped her wildly careening thoughts and told herself it was too late to worry about any of that now. The deed was done. What would happen would happen and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it now.

She sighed, leaned on the balcony railing and stared out at the sea. Moonlight danced on the surface of the water in a shimmer of pale silver. Clouds scuttled across a star-splashed sky, and the ever-present wind lifted her hair from her shoulders with a gentle touch.

“This reminds me of something.”

Nick’s deep voice rumbled along Jenna’s spine, and she had to pull in a deep breath before she turned her head to look at him. He stood in the open doorway to the balcony. Hands in his pockets, he wore black slacks, a gleaming white shirt and a black jacket that looked as if it had been expertly tailored. His dark hair was wind ruffled, his pale eyes were intense, and his jaw was tight.

Her heart tumbled in her chest.

“What’s that?” she whispered, amazed that she’d been able to squeeze out a few words.

He stepped out onto the balcony, and with slow, measured steps, walked toward her. “The night we met,” he said, taking a place beside her at the railing. “Remember?”

How could she forget? She’d been standing on the Pavilion Deck of Falcon’s Treasure, the ship she’d been working on at the time. That corner of the ship had been dark and deserted, since most of the passengers preferred spending time in the crowded dance club at the other end of the deck.

So Jenna had claimed that shadowy spot as her own and had gone there nearly every night to stand and watch the sea while the music from the club drifted around her. She’d never run into anyone else there, until the night Nick had stumbled across her.

“I remember,” she said, risking a sidelong glance at him. She shouldn’t have. He was too close. His eyes too sharp, his mouth too lickable. His scent too rich and too tempting. Her insides twisted and she dropped both hands to the cold, iron railing, holding tight.

“You were dancing, alone in the dark,” he said, as if she hadn’t spoken at all. As if he were prompting her memory. “You didn’t notice me, so I watched you as you swayed to the music, tipping your head back, your hair sliding across your shoulders.”

“Nick…”

“You had a smile on your face,” he said, his voice lower now, deeper, and she wouldn’t have thought that was possible. “As if you were looking up into the eyes of your lover.”

Jenna swallowed hard and shifted uneasily as her body blossomed with heat. With need. “Don’t do this, Nick…”

“And I wanted to be the lover you smiled at. The lover you danced with in the dark.” He ran the tip of one finger down the length of her arm, and Jenna shivered at the sizzle of something deliciously hot and wicked sliding through her system.

She sucked in a gulp of air, but it didn’t help. Her mind was still spinning, her heart racing and her body lighting up like Times Square on New Year’s Eve. “Why are you doing this?” she whispered, and heard the desperate plea in her own voice.

“Because I still want you,” he said, moving even closer, dropping his hands onto her shoulders and turning her until she was facing him, until their bodies were so close only a single lick of flame separated them. “Because I watched you standing in the moonlight and knew that if I didn’t touch you, I’d explode. I want you. Just as I did then. Maybe more.”

Oh, she felt the same way. Everything in Jenna clamored at her to move into him. To lean her body against his. To feel the strength and warmth of him surrounding her. But she held back. Determined to fight. To hold on to the reins of the desire that had once steered her down a road that became more rocky the further along she went.

“It would be a mistake,” she said, shaking her head, trying to ignore the swell of music, the slide of the trombone, the wail of the saxophone, that seemed to call to something raw and wild inside her. “You know it would.”

“No,” he said, sliding his hands up, along her shoulders, up the length of her throat, to cup her face between his palms. “This time would be different. This time, we know who we are. This time we know what we’re getting into. It’s just need, Jenna.” His gaze moved over her features, and her breath caught and held in a strangled knot in her chest. “We both feel it. We both want this. Why deny ourselves?”

Why indeed?

Her mind fought with her traitorous body, and Jenna knew that rational thought was going to lose. The need was too great. The desire too hot. The temptation too strong. She did want him. She’d wanted him from the moment she first saw him more than a year ago. She’d missed him, dreamed of him, and now that he was here, touching her, was she really going to turn him down? Walk away? Go to her solitary bed and pray she dreamed of him again?

No.

Was she going to regret this?

Maybe. Eventually.

Was she going to do it?

Oh, yeah.

“There are probably plenty of reasons to deny ourselves,” she finally whispered. “But I don’t care about any of them.” Then she went up on her toes as Nick smiled and flashes of hunger shone in his eyes.

“Atta girl,” he murmured and took her mouth in a kiss that stole her breath and set her soul on fire.

His tongue slipped between her lips, stealing into her warmth, awakening feelings that had lain dormant for more than a year. His arms slid around her waist, pulling her in tight. Jenna lifted her own arms and linked them around his neck, holding him to her, silently demanding he deepen the kiss, take more from her.

He did.

His arms tightened until she could hardly draw breath. But who needed air? Jenna groaned, moved into him, pressing her body along his, and she felt the hard length of him jutting against her. That was enough to send even more spirals of heat dancing through her bloodstream.

Again and again, his tongue dipped into her mouth, tasting, exploring, divining her secrets. She gave as well as took, tangling her tongue with his, feeling the molten desire quickening within. He loosened his grip on her and she nearly moaned, but then his hands were moving, up and down her spine, defining every line, every curve. When his palms cupped her bottom and held her to him, she sighed into his mouth and gave herself up to the wonder of his touch.

“I need you,” he whispered, dropping his mouth to the line of her jaw, nibbling at her throat.

She turned her head, allowing him easier access, and closed her eyes at the magic of the moment.

Around them, music swelled and the ocean breeze held the two of them in a cool embrace. Moonlight poured down on them from a black, starlit sky, and when Nick lifted his head and looked down at her, Jenna was trapped in his gaze. She read the fire in his eyes, sensed the tautly controlled tension vibrating through his body and felt his need as surely as she did her own.

“Now. Here.” He lifted his hands high enough to take hold of the zipper, then slid it down, baring her back to the night wind. Then he pushed the thin straps of her dress down over her shoulders, and Jenna was suddenly glad she hadn’t worn a bra beneath that thin, summer fabric.

Now there was nothing separating her from his touch. From the warmth of his hands. He cupped her breasts in his palms and rubbed her tender, aching nipples until she felt the tug and pull right down to the soles of her feet. She swayed into him, letting her head fall back and her eyes close as she concentrated solely on what he was doing to her.

It was everything. His touch, his scent filled her, overwhelming her with a desire that was so much more than she’d once felt for him. In the year since she’d seen him, she’d grown, changed, and now that she was with him again, she was more, so she was able to feel more.

“Beautiful,” he said, his voice no more than a raw scrape of sound. His gaze locked on her breasts, he said, “Even more beautiful than I remembered.”

“Nick,” she whispered brokenly, “I want-”

“I know,” he said, dipping his head, taking first one hardened nipple, then the other into his mouth. His lips and tongue worked that tender flesh, nibbling, licking, suckling, until Jenna’s head was spinning and she knew that without his grip on her, she would have fallen into a heap of sensation at his feet.

He pushed her dress the rest of the way down, letting it fall onto the floor, and Jenna was standing in the moonlight, wearing only her high-heeled sandals and her white silk bikini panties. And she felt too covered. Felt as if the fragile lace of her underwear were chafing her skin. All she wanted on her now was Nick. She wanted to lie beneath him, feel his body cover hers, feel him push himself deeply inside her.

She loved him. Heaven help her, she still loved him. Why was it that only Nick could do this to her? Why was he the man her heart yearned for? And what was she going to do about it?

Then he touched her more deeply and those thoughts fled along with any others. All she could do was feel.

“Please,” she said on a groan, “please, I need…”

“I need it, too,” he told her, lifting her head, looking down into her eyes as he slid one hand down the length of her body, fingertips lightly dusting across her skin. He reached the elastic band of her panties and dipped his hand beneath it to cup her heat.

Jenna rocked into him, leaning hard against him, but Nick didn’t let her rest. Instead, he turned her around until her back was pressed to his front and she was facing the wide emptiness of the moonlit sea.

He used one hand to tease and tweak her nipples while the other explored her damp heat. His fingers dipped lower, smoothing across her most tender, sensitive flesh with a feathery caress that only fed the flames threatening to devour her.

Jenna groaned again, lost for words. Her mind had splintered, no thoughts were gathering. She was empty but for the sensations he created. He dipped his head and whispered into her ear, “Watch the sea. See the moonlight. Lose yourself in them while I lose myself in you…”

She did what he asked, fighting to keep her eyes open, and focused on the shimmering sea as he dipped first one finger and then another into her heat. Jenna’s breath hitched and she wanted to close her eyes, the better to focus on what he was doing, but she didn’t. Instead, she stared unseeing at the broad expanse of sea and sky stretching out into infinity in front of her and fought to breathe as his magic fingers pushed her along a road of sensual pleasure.

He stroked, he delved, he rubbed. His fingers moved over her skin as a concert pianist would touch a grand piano. Her body was his instrument, and she felt his expert’s touch with a grateful heart. Again and again, he pushed her, his fingers stroking her from the inside while his thumb tortured one particularly sensitive spot. And while Jenna moaned and twisted in his grasp, her eyes locked on the shimmering sea, she let herself go. She dropped any sense of embarrassment or worry. She pushed aside every stray thought of censure that leaped into her mind, and she devoted herself to the sensory overload she was experiencing.

“Come for me,” Nick whispered, his voice no more than a hush in her ear. His breath dusted her face, her neck, while his fingers continued the gentle, determined invasion. “Let me see you. Let me feel you go over.”

His voice was a temptation. Because she was so close to a climax. Her knees trembled. Her body weakened even as it strove to reach the peak Nick was pushing her toward. Her breath came in ragged gasps, her heartbeat thundered in her ears and the tension coiling within was almost more than she could bear. And when she thought she wouldn’t survive another moment, she cried out his name and splintered in his arms. Her body shattered, she rode the exquisite wave of completion until she fell at the end only to be caught and held in his strong arms.

Jenna dropped her head onto his shoulder, swallowed hard and fought to speak. “That was-”

“Only the beginning,” Nick finished for her and picked her up, swinging her into his arms and stalking back into the suite. He was teetering on the edge of reason. Touching her, feeling her climax roar through her, sensing her surrender, had all come together to build a fire inside him like nothing he’d ever known before.

Seduction had been the plan.

But whose?

He’d thought to use her, feed the need that she’d caused, then be able to let her go. Get her out of his head, out of his blood. But those moments with her on the balcony only made him want more. He had to have her under him, writhing beneath him as he took her.

She lay curled against his chest, in a trusting manner that tore at him even as it touched something inside him he hadn’t been aware of. She was trouble. He knew it. Felt it. And couldn’t stop himself from wanting.

From having.

In his bedroom Nick strode to the bed, reached down with one hand and grabbed the heavy, black duvet in one fist. Then he tossed it to the foot of the mattress and forgot about it. He laid Jenna down on the white sheets and looked at her for a long moment. The moonlight caressed her here, as well, sliding in through the wide bank of glass that lined his bedroom suite. A silvery glow coated her skin as she stretched like a satisfied cat before smiling up at him.

“Come to me, Nick,” she urged, lifting both arms in welcome.

He didn’t need a second invitation. Tearing off his clothes, he joined her on the bed, covered her body with his and surrendered to the inevitable. More than a year ago, their first encounter had ended in his bed. Now, it seemed, they’d come full circle.

Nick ran his hands up and down her body and knew he’d never be able to touch her enough. He drew a breath and savored her scent. Dipped his head and tasted her skin at the base of her throat. Her pulse jolted beneath his mouth and he knew she was as eager as he, as needy as he.

He touched her core, delving his fingers into her heat again, and she lifted her hips from the bed, rocking into his hand, moaning and whispering to him.

His body ached and clamored for release. Every inch of him was humming, just touching her. Lying beside her. Jenna. Always Jenna who did this to him. Who turned him into a man possessed, a man who could think of nothing beyond claiming what he knew to be his.

With that thought, Nick tore away from her arms, ignoring the soft sound of disappointment that slipped from her throat. Tugging the drawer on the bedside table open, he reached in, grabbed a condom and, in a few quick seconds, sheathed himself. Then he turned back to her, levering himself over her, positioning himself between her thighs.

He gave her a quick smile. “Last time we forgot that part and look what happened.”

“You’re right,” she said, reaching down to stroke his length, her fingers sliding over the thin layer of latex in a caress that had Nick gulping for air. “Now, will you come to me?”

He spread her thighs farther apart, leaned in close and locked his gaze with hers as his body entered hers. Inch by inch, he invaded her, torturing them both with his deliberately slow thrust.

Her hips moved beneath him, her eyes squeezed shut and she bit her bottom lip. Reaching up, her hands found his upper arms and held on, her short nails digging into his skin, and that was the last straw. The final touch that sent Nick over the edge of reason.

He pushed himself deep inside her and groaned at the tight, hot feel of her body holding his. His hips rocked, setting a rhythm that was both as old as time and new and exciting. She held on tighter, harder, her nails biting into his flesh with a stinging sensation that was counterpoint to the incredible delight of being within her.

Nick moved and she moved with him. Their rhythm set, they danced together, bodies joined, melded, becoming one as they reached for the same, shattering end that awaited them. He stared down into her eyes, losing himself in their depths. She met his gaze and held it until finally, as he felt her body begin to fist around his, she closed her eyes, shrieked his name and shuddered violently as her body exploded from the inside.

His own release came a scant moment later, and Nick heard himself shout as the tremendous relief spilled through him again and again, as if the pleasure would never end.

When he collapsed atop her, he still wasn’t sure just who had seduced whom.