Page 52 of Modern Romance January 2025 5-8

In the next heartbeat they were slamming into one another, lips fusing in a hot, hard kiss that knocked the breath from her lungs. His tongue swept into her mouth, devouring her delight, then flicked in erotic friction, igniting a firestorm of desire that tightened her nipples and dampened her core. Willow whimpered at the force of need that slammed into her. It battered her so hard she barely felt him lift and carry her off the deck. All she could do was hang on as he carried them deeper into his vessel.

‘Where are we going?’ she asked, despite suspecting his destination.

A light nip at her shoulder sent a decadent shiver through her. ‘To see where else you can be necessary,’ he replied.

A sting of hurt lanced through her, then it was swept beneath a heavier layer of desire as he nudged her closer in definitive demand. Willow leapt up and wrapped her legs around his waist. His eyes darkened.

‘Is this necessary enough?’

His resolute look was weakened by a tiny wave of bewilderment. ‘It’s a start.’ His lips trailed over to the erogenous zone beneath her ear, laved it with deliberately erotic strokes of his tongue.

Then he raised his head, turbulence swirling in his eyes. ‘He doesn’t deserve your consideration, you know.’

She swallowed. ‘Most people don’t deserve how life punishes them, especially when they’re good people who’re awfully wronged. I may not be fighting next to my father, but I’m not joining your war—’

He interrupted her with something pithy and Spanish under his breath, then sealed her mouth with his before she could speak. He was shutting her up. But her words had gotten through, even if he hated her for them.

But as they frantically divested each other of their damp suits, Willow hoped that she’d at least planted a seedling that might offer a path to lessening the burden he’d had to carry.

And also alter his path of total vengeance towards her family.

CHAPTER EIGHT

‘HAVEYOUVISITEDBali before?’

She looked up, surprised by the question. They’d relocated to the third largest salon after making love, with Jario once again monosyllabic. But she’d been fiercely aware of his contemplative looks for the past hour in between the furious taps on his tablet.

She shook her head, the butterflies in her belly fluttering wildly as his gaze raked over her face to linger heatedly on her mouth. ‘The extent of my international travels so far was Cancun for spring break when I was in college, and Los Cabos...last week.’

The tiniest flattening of his mouth greeted the reminder but a moment later he set down his tablet and rose. ‘Let’s change that.’

‘We’re leaving the yacht?’ she asked, amazed.

He’d been reclusive on his yacht for years. Surely, it couldn’t be as easy as stepping off when he chose? And why now? Her heart lurched then flew at the thought that it might have...something to do with—

His face tightened, killing that lofty notion that her presence had triggered some miracle. ‘We’re not going ashore if that’s what you were hoping,’ he said tightly.

Her heart plummeted but she held on tight to her composure. ‘Then where are we going?’

‘There are ways to tour a place without setting foot on it or shutting yourself off within four walls.’ He rose. ‘Come.’

She told herself it was curiosity that made her join him, not the deep compulsion to remain in his company.

He was dressed in another loose-fitting pair of white lounging bottoms and a white T-shirt and she couldn’t take her eyes off his magnificent physique until she realised where he’d led her.

The gleaming top-of-the-line helicopter sat on the H of the helipad.

‘You fly?’

‘Are you surprised?’

A snort escaped before she could stem it. ‘From what I’ve seen so far, there’s not much you can’t do. Except scrub floors. That, I think you’d be absolutely terrible at.’

His mouth twitched and she was slammed by the need to see it bloom into a full smile or laugh. Her stomach dipped at the very idea because she knew it would be amazing.

‘Reverse psychology, especially a half-baked one, is a ploy I’ll never fall for so save yourself the energy, hmm?’

Her own smile burst free. ‘It was worth a try.’