Her Bad Boy Billionaire Lover (Billionai - By Bretton, Barbara Page 0,5
down, long and tapering fingers moving across the ivory keys. There was something about the curve of his neck, the pure masculine grace of his movements that made her heart swell with emotion.
"What about those shoulders?" mused Sandy. "I wonder if he ever played football."
He wasn't a brilliant piano player. His hands were too large for finesse, his movements too strong for delicacy. The softer notes of the song were trampled over by his extremely male approach. She wondered how a man like that had managed to snare a position on the Sea Goddess. Unless, of course, the powers-that-be had decided every seagoing vessel needed a resident Adonis to stride among the mortals.
She knew all about Adonises. She'd married one. Adonises didn't fare well when it came to real life. When push came to shove, they abandoned the mortal women who loved them and retreated back to Mount Olympus where they could frolic with goddesses.
Turn around, Megan whispered silently. Let me see you....
The lights went up and he turned around and what she'd been dreaming of and dreading and praying for the last six years finally happened.
Jake Lockwood was back in her life.
Chapter Two
Sandy leaned over and touched Megan's forearm. "Are you okay?"
Megan nodded, not trusting herself to speak. All the times she had imagined seeing Jake again, all the elaborate fantasies she had entertained were nothing compared to the reality.
He slid over on the bench, making room for a flirtatious blonde with more than music on her mind. Pain, hot as the blade of a knife, sliced through her. She hated that girl for her easy grace, her laughing eyes, the fact that she sat next to the only man Megan had ever loved.
"He's gorgeous," Sandy breathed as Jake charmed the crowd gathered near the piano. "He has them eating out of his hand."
"He has that talent." Megan's voice was sharp. Clumsily she rose to her feet. "I'm leaving."
"Megan, you can't. It's early. If you don't like the music, we could--"
Things like this didn't happen in real life. Smart women didn't moon over their ex-husbands. And, even if they did, those ex-husbands didn't reappear one day out of nowhere as if conjured from a dream. She needed fresh air, anything to clear her head and snap her back to reality.
She pushed through the crowd near the doorway and stepped outside. The tropical breezes caressed her like a lover's touch, intensifying the painful surge of emotion inside her chest. The only sounds were the click of her high heels on the wooden deck as she made her way aft and the hum of the ship's engine as it cut through the water. Sea spray glistened on the railing. Stacked on the starboard side, white deck chairs made grey, ghostly shapes in the darkness.
She told herself he was a mirage, a trick of lighting, of years of wondering. Nothing more than a potent combination of brandy and loneliness. Tomorrow morning she would wake up and everything would be back to normal. Her body wouldn't ache for his. Her heart wouldn't still beat in synch with his heart. She'd be Megan McLean of The Moveable Feast, on her way to securing the future for her little girl.
Run, a small voice whispered. Nothing good comes of moonlight and stars and the smell of the sea.
But she stood at the railing.
And she waited.
"Don't do this to me, Jake." Her voice broke the stillness of the endless night. "Say something."
He stepped out of the shadows and her heart seemed to stop for an instant. This was no dream. He stood before her and she understood in the deepest recesses of her soul that the power he had over her was absolute. The sea might be calm but she was standing in the eye of a storm.
He was taller, broader than she remembered, so perfectly male in every way that she feared she would go up in flames simply from wanting him.
"It's been a long time, Megan." Her name on his lips triggered a flood of memories.
Open for me, Meggie...don't hold back....
"Still beautiful," he continued, his tone light.
"You sound disappointed."
"I don't mean to." His eyes traveled the length of her body. "Growing up agrees with you."
She bridled at his words. "You might like to try it someday."
He stepped closer. She held her ground, the light of defiance in her eyes.
"You saw me in there, didn't you, Megan."
She shrugged and he caught the scent of roses on her skin. "What if I did?"