Snapping out of her trance, she turned abruptly and found Reese's eyes full of lust and his pants tenting impressively.
She wanted to tell him this wasn't part of the deal. That she wasn't going to consummate their fake marriage, but her mouth was dry and her mind busy imagining what his bare chest looked and tasted like, so no words came out. She simply stood, holding her dress to her breasts, where his eyes currently rested.
"No matter what happens, Merina, make me a promise." He looked scary serious, which she didn't like.
"No promises."
The corner of his mouth lifted. "Just one."
As much as she wanted to turn and run to her closet, she didn't.
"Someday," he said, lifting a finger and drawing it over the swell of her right breast, "promise you'll show me that tattoo. It's been driving me crazy since you stormed into my office soaked to the bone and I saw a hint of color through your shirt."
"My…tattoo?" Last thing she expected him to say. It infused this interaction between them with even more tension.
He reached for his top button. "When you're ready."
Before she could satisfy her own curiosity about whether he had chest hair or not, he turned his back and strode into his closet on the opposite side of the room.
She huffed, left with no other choice but to finish the job he'd started and shimmy out of her clothes to change for their yacht honeymoon.
Chapter 9
With one last wave to friends and family, amidst polite clapping, and thankfully for her hair absolutely no rice throwing, she and Reese made their way to the dock at the back of his house. A boat that looked more like a mansion floated regally in the moonlight, a fancy cursive name on the side.
"Luna," she read. "Like moon?" Her hand was hooked on Reese's arm, and she had no trouble navigating now that she wore a comfortable white summer dress. He'd changed into trousers and an oxford button-down. He'd left the top two buttons undone, giving her a peek of his chest hair. That had fried her brain for a few precious seconds.
"Named after my mother."
"Oh." His raw openness took her by surprise. "It's a pretty name."
Reese was quiet save for their footfalls on the wooden dock. He helped her board Luna and she couldn't help thinking she'd left one mansion and climbed onto another. Pristine white and black and gold—Reese's dominant color scheme she was seeing—on the outside and more of the same inside. She entered a lush living room that gave way to an expansive kitchen. A corridor to the left featured more rooms.
Master and attached bath at the back," he said as he closed the door behind them. "The other has a desk and computer and a smaller bed."
Wow. The massive space had shrunk by half with his heat blanketing her back.
"I don't mind the smaller bed," she said.
"You're in the master," he stated, edging by her for the kitchen. He opened a cabinet and came out with a bottle of liquor. "No one can see in these windows." He gestured around the room at the tinted glass. "There are room-darkening blinds in the bedrooms to keep the sun out if you want to sleep in. No matter what we do, we have complete privacy when we're on the water."
No matter what they did. Didn't that just introduce multiple inappropriate thoughts?
"Your things are already in the master suite," he said, pouring a few inches of the liquor into a glass. "Scotch?"
"Seriously, I can take the smaller room."
He drank, pressing his lips together as he swallowed. Her gaze lingered at the strong column of his neck for a few beats. He looked like he belonged in this opulence, even in his casually unbuttoned shirt, sleeves pushed over his elbows.
"I don't sleep much," he said.
"Something we have in common." The second it was out of her mouth, she realized insomnia wasn't the only thing they had in common. Green Eggs and Ham was another. And scotch. "I prefer Glenlivet," she said, tipping her head to the bottle of Macallan scotch on the counter.
His eyebrows rose in blatant surprise. Yes, it seemed they had more in common than just the physical. A factor that threw both of them for a bit of a loop.
"Mind if I use the bathroom first? My mascara is starting to feel like flypaper."
"Help yourself. I'll steer us out and anchor, then I have some work to do."
She nodded and turned to the corridor.
"Merina?"
She looked back at the delicious man in the kitchen and wondered why she hadn't yet crossed the living room to taste the scotch on his lips.
"Penelope suggested we take in the sunrise on the deck. For potential photographers."
"Oh. Yes, good idea." Sunrise with Reese Crane on his yacht. Was she dreaming?
"I'll wake you."
His warm promise followed her all the way into her bedroom.
* * *
Morning came, and for all the sleep she'd gotten, she may as well have stayed awake the entire night. She'd watched out the bedroom window at the waves left in the wake of Luna, while thinking through the day. She was married. Reese Crane's wife. Her diamond ring had glittered in the moonlight that made its way through the windows, making her consider what the future would be like. What life would look like when she divorced and went back home to live with her parents.
Wait, no.
She didn't have to move back in with them. She could move out into that apartment like she wanted. She'd make a clean, guilt-free break, and she'd have plenty of money saved, given she wasn't paying rent any longer.
She'd finally fallen asleep for a few hours and woke to a light tap on her door.
"Merina, five minutes. Did you get the text?"
"I'll be right out," she told Reese. Her raspy morning voice wasn't anywhere near as sexy as his. She reread the text in her phone and sighed. Penelope had sent instructions in the middle of the night. Minimal makeup, respectable but sexy pajamas, coffee optional but would add a nice touch.
Romantic, Merina thought with a sarcastic chuff.
Penelope hoped a reporter with a long lens would snap a picture and put it online, or heck, maybe even sell it to the Trib, preferably with a complimentary headline. Merina had no idea if John Q. Public had bought hers and Reese's relationship, but even if they didn't buy it today, they would eventually. She wasn't going anywhere until the board put him in charge and she saw the Van Heusen in her name.