Author: Bella Andre

“No, you’re right. I did feel like I needed to step into his shoes. And I wanted to. I wanted to help.”

“How did your mother deal with it all?”

“She was always there for us.”

“She sounds amazing,” Nicola said, and then thinking how she would have felt in his mother’s shoes if she’d lost the man she loved and had a family with, said, “She must have shed a lot of tears for him.”

“I’m sure she did, but I never saw it.”

She squeezed his hand tighter. “Did you?"

Marcus was silent for a moment. “Do you remember telling me how you’re willing to put up with the pressures of fame if it means you can play your music for people?” When she nodded, he said, “Making sure my family is happy has been worth any tradeoff."

“You’re the one who’s special,” she told him as her heart broke for him, for all that he’d held inside for so long, and all that he’d had to be for so many people. She knew it was why he was the spectacular man he was today...and yet she wished that it had all been easier for him. “I love how close you are to your family. I don’t know many other people who feel that way.”

“Family is important to you, too, isn’t it?”

“Very.” She’d already told him how much she loved children. Now she found herself saying, “I’ve always wanted a big family of my own. A family like yours, with lots of brothers and sisters who all fight and love in equal measure.”

“How are you planning to balance your career with having babies?”

Nicola shrugged. “I’ve always figured if I want something bad enough I’ll figure out a way to make it work.”

“What else do you want?”

She gave him a wide smile. “This."

She leaned over and kissed him hard and fast before letting him get back to the business of driving them to their secret destination.

* * *

He pulled off the freeway onto a side road and as the terrain grew wilder, after so many days and months spent in windowless studios and concert halls, she turned on the radio until she found a song she liked, then gave in to the urge to roll down her window and stick her head out of it into the sun and wind like a happy dog as she sang along to the catchy Bangles song about walking like an Egyptian.

Marcus never let go of her hand the entire time and as she felt pure joy move through her, she worked to drink it in, to savor the incredible taste of it.

They hit a bump in the road and Marcus pulled her back inside, her rear hitting the leather seat with a thump and a burst of laughter she couldn’t possibly contain. When Marcus started laughing along with her, her entire soul was swept up in the joy on his face.

As a Whitesnake song came on next, she said, “I love oldies stations like this.”

“Oldies are songs from the fifties, not the eighties,” Marcus argued.

Oops, she thought, realizing too late that she’d just inadvertently pointed out the difference in their ages. “You’re right,” she said cheerfully before turning off the radio.

A few moments later he was pulling into the parking lot of a really tiny little store.

“I’ll be right back.”

He returned with a large insulated bag slung over his shoulder. She wanted to ask what was inside, but he looked so much like a little boy with a happy secret that she decided to let him keep it. She’d seen him serious. Intense. Sensual, of course. And caring. But this playfulness was another wonderful layer.

It wasn’t long until he pulled off onto a really rough, really narrow dirt track that required all of his concentration to get them to the bottom in one piece.

She’d guessed that they were heading out toward the coast, but that didn’t lessen her surprise when he helped her out of the car, slung the heavy bag over his shoulder, and said, “Close your eyes.”

Three days ago she’d been afraid of ever trusting anyone again. But trusting Marcus was as natural as breathing. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and was surprised to feel him lifting her off the ground.

Her eyes flew open and she found him smiling down at her.

“You don’t need to carry me,” she made herself say, even though the truth was that she was glad to be back in his arms, to feel his heart beating steadily against her.

“I can’t have you tripping on any branches,” he said against her ear. “Close your eyes again.”

She shivered at his gentle command, even as a devil on her shoulder asked, “What if I don’t want to?”

The look he gave her was so hungry, so full of sensual intent, that her lips actually tingled though he hadn’t kissed them. “Do you really want to find out?”

Her brain screamed Yes, even as fear of the erotic repercussions had her closing her eyes just as he’d asked her to.

He chuckled as she wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled in closer to him. All of her senses came to life as he carried her surely and steadily down the narrow path between the tall pines. She could hear the birds calling to each other from the treetops. She could feel the light breeze brushing over her skin, cooling her where Marcus touched her and made her hot.

“The air smells so good.”

He kissed her forehead in response and with her eyes still closed, she tilted her face up to his, moved her hands to the back of his head and pulled his face down to hers to kiss him.

Giving her one last kiss, he said, “If you aren’t careful, you’ll never see anything but trees."

His low voice, rough with desire, had her more than a little tempted to do just that. But then he was moving again and she let herself be taken to the place he’d chosen just for her. For both of them.

The air around them changed from pine needles to salt spray as he stopped walking and slowly put her down, her back to his front.

“Go ahead. Open your eyes.”

She had spent plenty of time on Malibu beaches these past years that she’d been working down in Los Angeles...but she wasn’t prepared for the incredible sight that awaited her.

The blue-green water was so vibrant her brain could hardly believe it was real, that it hadn’t been painted just for them. And the way the surf crashed on the tall, craggy rocks that rose up on either side of the fine, white sand of the beach reminded her of the parts of New Zealand she’d managed to see during her past shows there.

“Marcus,” she said with wonder, “this is beautiful.”

His arms tightened around her and he nuzzled her. “I’m glad you think so.”

She’d been given expensive bouquets, fancy dinners, even jewels, but only Marcus would think to give her the simple joy of a day at the beach.

She had to turn into his arms, had to tell him how she felt with more than words. She kissed him softly, slowly, then said, “Thank you for the best day I’ve ever had."

The sun was right above them and it was barely noon, but she already knew nothing could touch the joy she felt from being all alone with Marcus in one of the most beautiful settings in the world.

He looked down at her, his eyes dark with the need she knew had to be reflected in her own. “Are you hungry yet?”

She was, but not for food. Just for him. For the chance to savor every one of these precious hours with the man who was stealing her heart one beat at a time.

She shook her head and kicked off her ballet flats. “Ah,” she sighed with pleasure at the warm sand squishing between her toes. “It feels so good."

Marcus had sat down on a nearby rock to take off his shoes and socks and roll up his pants, and she was surprised when he pulled her down onto his lap and kissed her. Just as abruptly, he put her back down on shaky legs and grasped her hand in his to begin walking down the long stretch of completely empty beach.

“You like doing that, don’t you?”

“Yes, I like kissing you.”

“No,” she said, “lifting me off my feet. Carrying me around. Pulling me down to kiss you whenever you get the urge.” She turned to him with a mock glare. “I think it goes hand in hand with the telling me what do stuff.”

He didn’t let go of her hand as he lifted his to run the back of one knuckle down her cheek. “You like it, too.”

His sure words, the flat-out statement that she enjoyed being his plaything for him to move and command however he liked, should have upset her.

But they both knew that it didn’t.

Suddenly feeling like she was on a boat that had lost its anchor and was drifting slowly but surely out into the middle of the ocean, she blurted the one question she hadn’t been able to figure out the answer to in the time they’d been together.

“How did a gorgeous, successful, great guy like you get to thirty-six without a wife and kids?” Quickly realizing she’d come at it all wrong when he went stiff beside her, she added, “I mean, considering how good you are in bed, I would expect women in wedding gowns to be knocking on your door all the time.”

That earned her a small smile. “Exactly how good am I?”

“Now you’re just fishing for compliments.” She laughed, then added, “Really freaking good.”

The surf crashed bigger and higher than it had before and she made a move to run, but Marcus wouldn’t let her get away from the cold water that came up almost to her knees, bared in her short jean skirt.

“That’s cold!” she protested.

“I like seeing you all wet.”

“You have a dirty mind,” she told him, but the breathiness in her voice gave away the fact that she did, too.

“You’re right,” he said, that dark, hungry look pinning her where she stood in the sand, causing her breath to catch in her throat. “So here’s what my dirty mind wants, Nicola. Take off your clothes.”

She looked up and down the empty beach. “Are you crazy?”

“Only when I’m with you.” He raised an eyebrow. “I’m waiting.”

Oh God, she could hardly breathe at the thought of stripping down here for Marcus.

“If someone comes—” she began, before realizing, “No one is going to come to this beach, are they?”

“No,” he confirmed. “It’s completely ours today.”

She had spent enough time with really wealthy people—worth a heck of a lot more than a pop star like her—to know keeping a huge stretch of coast completely private was entirely possible.

She was about to reach for the hem of her tank top when she realized what he’d done. She’d asked him a personal question and instead of answering it, he’d thrown her off by using her own body—and the endless desire she had for him—against her.

She smoothed her hands down on her hips. “I’ll make you a deal.”

“A deal?"

She lifted her chin and said, “Yes,” glad to catch the hint of smile playing around the edges of his lips at her defiant response.

“You have a beautiful backside, Nicola. I’ve been looking forward to seeing it bent up over my knees.”

Shockingly, he wasn’t the only one.

Trying to push the senselessly erotic vision out of her head, she said, “Don’t keep changing the subject,” in her toughest voice.

She was rewarded with the sweet sound of his laughter. “Such a fierce little kitten.” He caught her fists before she could knock them into his chest. “Go ahead. Make me a deal."

“I’ll take my clothes off if you’ll answer my question about why you’re not married yet, or even in a relationship.”

The laughter left his eyes so quickly she almost cried out at the loss. And yet, even though she knew this was supposed to be no-strings, even though she knew she shouldn’t be straying away from the safe zone where only their bodies were involved, she knew it was already too late.