"And what about that kiss when you first walked in?"
He gave her a rakish smile. "What about it?"
"What did you mean by we need to make this good for Jade?"
He sobered. "I mean, if this marriage is about doing what's best for Jade, then we need to make her believe we're happily married."
She stalked away, then whirled back. "You're just using Jade as an excuse."
Busted. "For what?" he asked innocently.
"You know what. To put the moves on me hoping to get me back in bed."
"When we wind up back in bed it’ll be because you want it as badly as I do."
"You're not even going to try to deny it are you?"
"In fact—" he glanced back toward Jades room "—since Jades asleep now. I'm going to suggest we practice." He took a step toward her.
Her eyes widened. "Definitely not necessary." she said sharply.
"But oh, so enjoyable. Did you like the lingerie I sent?"
She flushed. "Strumpet & Pink. You do know your lingerie, and why am I not surprised?"
He was close enough now to see the pulse jump at the side of her throat.
He smoothed a lock of her hair with the back of his hand, and her eyes sparked before his gaze dropped to her mouth.
He'd always liked her fire. As much as he liked her mouth, in fact. It was full and made for kissing. He remembered all she'd done with that mouth, and nearly groaned aloud.
"You had an amazing collection." he muttered against her lips, "and a fabulous body to go with it."
Then he kissed her sinking into her with a hunger that surprised even him. There was a moment when she didn't react, but then her mouth opened to him.
He deepened the kiss and brought his hand up to cup her breast, feeling the nipple harden through the thin fabric of her bra and top.
Lust slammed into him and just like that he was aroused.
She’d always been able to turn him on faster than any woman ever had and apparently nothing much had changed.
He had to have her. In bed and out. He would have her.
It gave him some satisfaction to be in control—to be calling the shots. It was what he was used to.
But if he didn't stop this make-out session soon, he was in danger of losing it. Tonight wasn't the night for seduction—just for giving her a taste.
Jade was sleeping nearby, and he didn't want to scare Megan off a wedding when he almost had her where he wanted her.
He eased back from their kiss. When he raised his head, he met her lambent gaze.
"Was that kiss supposed to prove something to me?" she asked.
"Yeah. We won’t have any problems convincing Jade." Hell, his body still raged for her and it was only with effort he got it under control.
Her brows drew together. "Of course not. You're a playboy of mythical proportions."
He refrained from gibing about what proportions she was talking about. Instead, he said. "I won’t cheat because my father was a cheater."
That got her attention.
"What?" She stopped, and her brow puckered again. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, my father had an extramarital affair, and we only found out about his twenty-seven-year-old love child at the reading of his will recently. Suffice it to say the news wreaked havoc on the family, particularly my mother."
He filled her in on his family's discovery of the existence of Cassie Sinclair Garrison and her claim on the Garrison fortune.
"You do have problems, don't you?" she said. "The Jefferieses on one hand, and now your father's illegitimate child."
"Don't forget my illegitimate child, but I'm about to fix that situation."
Megan folded her arms. ''So I'm supposed to conclude from the Cassie story that you've reformed?"
Her coolness and continued skepticism ate at him. He picked up his jacket from where he'd thrown it on the back of a chair at the beginning of the evening. "You're supposed to conclude we'll have a real marriage."
He gave her a lingering look—sparks shooting back and forth between them—before he let himself out of the house.
The wedding ceremony was held on a private slice of beach behind the Garrison Grand, where Parker and Anna's wedding had taken place the month before.
A floor had been laid over the sand, and folding chairs had been set up on either side of a makeshift aisle. Off to the side, adjacent to the hotel, was a canopied area that would serve as the location for an indoor-outdoor reception.
Because of the short notice, and the small number of guests, the local media had not caught wind of the pending nuptials.
Now as Megan stood behind Jade and next to her father in the shade of the hotels lobby, waiting for the string quartet to strike up Pachelbels Canon, she was profoundly grateful for the relative privacy.
She was nervous enough as it was.
This week, shed had to break the news to both her family and her employer that she was about to have a hasty wedding to Stephen Garrison.
Her parents and younger sister had known at least that Stephen was the father of her child, though they'd kept a vow of secrecy for the past four years.
Shed simply told them that she and Stephen had reconnected when shed moved back to Miami and that the two of them had realized they were destined to be together.
Her mother had nonetheless worried about whether Megan was making the right decision, but Megan had kept a determined, upbeat front. Her entire immediate family had decided to fly down to Miami for the weekend for the ceremony.
Breaking the news to her coworkers at Elkind. Ross had been a trickier matter. They'd been surprised and even astonished to discover she and Stephen were going to marry. None of them had even been aware that she and Stephen had been involved in the past, because she’d been discreet about her affair with the middle Garrison brother four years before.
She’d had to explain that she and Stephen had reconnected over her work on the Garrison Grand and known immediately they'd made a mistake by parting ways.
Once she’d assured everyone that Elkind Ross would continue to have the Garrison account, and she’d continue to work on it with the utmost professionalism, everyone's initial curiosity at least had been satisfied. Conrad Elkind was even attending the ceremony today along with his wife.
By far the hardest disclosure for her to deal with had been the announcement to the media. She’d helped Stephen draft a public statement that would be released right after the wedding. She’d combed over every word of the announcement of her marriage and the disclosure that Jade was Stephens child.