Page 20 of Billion-Dollar Baby Shock

Dion was still grappling with the effect on his body of watching Tara taking off her clothes, stripping down to her underwear. Those slim pale limbs. The curves of her breasts, waist and hips. That copper hair falling over her shoulder. The sassiness in her stance. As if goading him.

He felt tight all over. Since when had he become so tight? And where the hell was Tara? He was waiting for her distinctive red hair to pop up above the water.

Just when he felt as if he might explode, she appeared, popping above the water line. A long way out. She turned back towards the shore and waved and that made something inside Dion snap.

For the second time in the space of a mere week, he gave into spontaneity and stripped down to his underwear and waded into the sea.

It was still a bit of a novelty to him—he hadn’t grown up indulging in the luxury of beach holidays.

Or any kind of holiday. Like Tara, albeit for very different reasons.

He dived under the water and swam out into the sea, the initial shock of the cold fading as the water turned silken around his body. He got to where Tara was treading water, a big grin on her face. He was pretty sure there were more freckles across her nose than there had been a few days ago.

‘What are you doing?’ he asked, noticing that he didn’t feel so tight any more.

‘Testing out your private ocean, what does it look like?’

Dion couldn’t help but smile at her infectious sunniness. ‘And what’s the verdict?’

Tara cocked her head, pretending to think for a moment. ‘I think we’ll be giving it a ten out of ten, for accessibility, freshness and aesthetic beauty.’

Dion swam closer until their legs touched. He saw a flare of colour in her cheeks. Her eyes widened. They matched the sky perfectly at that moment, bright blue. He said mock seriously, ‘Thank you for that. I’ll be sure to let the team know.’

Tara wound her arms and legs around Dion. She was lighter than air, the buoyancy of the water holding them up. Her breasts were pressed against his chest, the sharp stab of her nipples sending his blood soaring.

She looked at him for a moment before touching her mouth to his. It was such a fleeting and sweet gesture that it loosened something else inside Dion. Something hard and obdurate. He slid his arms around her back and turned the kiss into something much less hesitant and sweet.

They treaded water, kissing for a long moment, the water lapping around their bodies.

Dion pulled back. Tara’s hair was slicked back, a dark red.

Her mouth was pink and plump and he needed her now.

Blood was surging to his groin and all he wanted was to slip them free of their clothes and slide into her right there and then.

As if hearing his thoughts, or maybe he’d spoken out loud, Tara said, ‘Can we?’

Dion huffed a tortured-sounding laugh. ‘As much as I’d love to, believe me, I don’t think it’s anatomically possible without drowning.’

Tara groaned. ‘Breathing is so overrated.’

Dion huffed a laugh, surprising himself. Women-lovers didn’t make him laugh. He lay on his back, pulling Tara over him, and kicked his way back to shore. They lay in the shallows, limbs entwined, mouths fused together.

But then Dion pulled back and said, ‘The sun…your skin.’

‘I’m fine,’ Tara said breathlessly, rubbing her leg between his. He looked down at her and almost groaned. Her underwear was completely see-through by now. Hard nipples, pink, pushing against the wet fabric. He could see the coppery red of the curls between her legs.

But that delicate pale skin was a little pink. He stood up, pulling her up with him, and led her up the beach to where trees overhung, providing shade.

He’d grabbed his shirt and laid it down on the soft sand. ‘Lie down,’ he instructed. Tara did, looking up at him. He almost spilled there and then, she looked so innocent but knowing all at once.

He went to strip off his underwear but stopped. She came up on an elbow. ‘What is it?’

He muttered, ‘Protection.’

Relief crossed her face. ‘I’m on the pill.’

He looked at her, the fire in his blood raging with his brain urging caution. Her gaze narrowed on him. ‘I froze my eggs, remember? I was hardly going to risk pregnancy after going through all that effort.’

The fire burned away Dion’s functioning brain cells. He took off his underwear and saw how Tara’s gaze fell on him and the way her eyes widened with a naked feminine appreciation he’d never noticed before. Or had never taken time to notice.

He came down on his knees and, first, pulled down her underwear and dispensed with it. Then he pushed her legs apart. He could see the glistening folds between her legs and leant forward, stroking a finger along her body, making her gasp and twitch.

‘Dion,’ she said a little brokenly, reaching for him.

He came forward then, and guided his body to the entrance of hers.

He pulled down the cups of her bra, and lavished each peak with attention, sucking and flicking and nipping at the taut peaks.

She was urging her hips towards him but he kept pulling back slightly, torturing her, torturing them both.

Eventually, Tara dug her hands into his hair and pulled his head up. She glared at him, cheeks on fire with need, eyes burning like two aquamarine gems.

‘I need you, now ,’ she growled, and it was the sexiest thing Dion had ever heard.

He stopped torturing them both and entered her with a smooth thrust, watching how she sucked in a breath and her eyes glazed over.

Had any woman ever turned him on this much?

No. He pushed that disturbing revelation aside and focused on the tension building between them until they were feverish with it, both straining to reach the peak, and as much as Dion would have loved to hold out as long as possible, he couldn’t.

He barely managed to wait until he felt Tara’s body tighten around his before the contractions of her orgasm pushed him over the edge and he fell too, down and down and down to a place where nothing much mattered but this .

* * *

Tara had never felt such a sense of deep peace. The air was the perfect temperature, warm without being oppressive. The shade protected her from the sun. The sound of little insects stopped and started again. The scent of the earth and pines and sea and… sex filled her nostrils.

She was lying on the sand, spent. Limbs heavy with a delicious languor. Dion was lying beside her. They were naked. Or, mostly. Her bra was somehow miraculously still on.

Dion’s eyes were closed, his lashes long on his cheek. Tara’s heart clenched because she couldn’t help but imagine him as an adorable young boy, full of potential and love and then to have it so cruelly crushed by his neglectful mother and his absent father.

At least Niko wouldn’t suffer the same fate.

No matter what happened between her and Dion, Niko would have two parents who adored him.

Tara knew it was a difficult concept for Dion to get used to, and that he probably hadn’t really thought through the reality of having a son, but she could see how he was starting to bond with Niko and it was lovely.

The sun was lower in the sky now and Tara became aware of sand in places where it shouldn’t be. She realised there was a trail of clothes from the seashore to where they were.

Had they really just made love on the beach? Dion sat up. ‘We should get back.’

Niko. Tara immediately felt guilty. ‘Yes, Maria will need a break.’

Dion stood up in an enviably fluid motion, and, totally unselfconsciously, he walked back to their clothes and picked them up.

Tara drank in his tall, powerful form, still not quite able to believe that she held interest for a man like him.

She also felt ridiculously shy as he handed her her trousers and the waistcoat. Crazy, after what they’d just done.

Contorting herself, she tried to dress without displaying too much flesh, which was next to impossible. When she was fully clothed she stood up and saw her pants on the sand nearby. Face flaming, she picked them up and put them in her pocket.

She grabbed the discarded hat too, and felt thoroughly sandblasted and more dishevelled than ever as she followed Dion back up to where her shoes lay. She picked them up and slipped them on and they walked back through the main building.

They got back into his car and Tara clamped the hat on her head to try and hide her face from the security guard who let them out. She felt sure that it must be emblazoned onto her forehead what they’d been doing.

Dion was quiet on the journey back and the lines in his body were tense. Tara asked a little hesitantly, ‘Is everything okay?’

He glanced at her and back to the road. ‘Fine, I just hadn’t planned on taking you on the sand like some sort of…animal.’

Tara could see that pride in the line of his jaw. It obviously mattered to him that he behaved with decorum…to counteract his upbringing? Prove he wasn’t unsophisticated?

‘You can blame me if you want. I led you astray.’ When he didn’t respond right away, she said, ‘I enjoyed it.’

The line in his jaw relaxed a little. ‘I let you lead me astray. My control seems to vanish when I’m around you.’

It won’t last. His voice in her head.

She said lightly, ‘Just as well this kind of thing doesn’t last for ever?’

‘It doesn’t.’ He sounded determined.

When they got back to the villa they heard the sound of Niko crying. Dion had stopped the car and was out and walking into the villa before Tara could catch up.

She saw Maria, walking up and down with an inconsolable Niko, and watched as Dion reached for his son, taking him into his arms. Niko stopped crying almost immediately, his little head falling into the crook between Dion’s head and shoulder.

It almost took Tara’s breath away—so much had begun to change between father and son in the space of days.

She walked in and Maria looked at her, clearly upset too. ‘I couldn’t settle him. I don’t know why—’