I Married a Billionaire: Lost and Found(3)

"Shhh," he said, at last. "I think you're violating the quiet rules."

"I think I already violated the quiet rules last night," I said, pushing his dripping hair back from his forehead. "Thanks to you."

"Well, the staff has been courteous enough not to mention it," he said.

"I don’t suppose that has anything to do with the giant piles of money they've come into lately."

"Guilty as charged," said Daniel, his arms still wrapped around me tightly. "I'm generous to a fault, darling. Do you think you can find it in your heart to forgive me, or should I do penance?"

"Yes," I said. "Well - no. Both?"

He laughed, then lifted me up onto the side of the pool and sat me there, his eyes sparkling. "You know, Maddy." His fingers hooked around the waistband of my panties, and I lifted my hips obediently so that he could pull them off and toss them aside. "Sometimes I think about what would have happened if I'd never met you."

It was an odd thing to say - to contemplate - while I was sitting there, bottomless, the coolness of the tile seeping into my naked flesh. What if we'd never met?

"You'd be living in Canada, I guess," I said. "Or married to someone else."

He shook his head. "I wouldn't have trusted anyone but you."

For some reason, that was what made me blush.

"Okay," I said. "But I have no idea why."

"Really?" he said. His eyes had grown darker. I shook my head as he lowered his, looking up at me as he kissed my inner thigh. It was the eye contact that killed me, every time. I shuddered, my legs instinctively parting further for him.

"No," I exhaled, wanting to look away, but utterly unable to. "I don't."

"Why don't I believe you?" His lips curved up into a smile that made something deep inside me ache. "You really never noticed?"

I swallowed hard, shaking my head.

"I noticed you the minute you walked into the office," he murmured. "You had your hair in a little ponytail, and you must have been out in the sun because the freckles on your nose were very dark. I've always liked freckles." He stopped, smiled. "You had a spring in your step, and I thought to myself, she must be new here."

I laughed.

"And then," he said, nodding, "then I saw that - I saw you smile. I heard you laugh, for the first time. I saw your dimples." He touched my cheek to illustrate his point. I felt my face grow red again. Growing up, I'd hated my dimples. I always thought it meant that my cheeks were too fat.

"And I thought to myself, if only I could be with a girl like that." He was looking at me very earnestly now, refusing to break the eye contact.

"So you devised a cunning scheme to trick me into marrying you," I said, smiling. "Very clever, sir."

"You were trustworthy," he said, ignoring me. "I could see it in your face. I never would have chosen anyone else. I don't know what I would have done if you'd said no."

"I can never say no to you."

It was almost startlingly true, although I wasn't sure I'd ever said it in so many words. Before I had a chance to process it, he lowered his head and went to work.

No matter what was going through my mind, his tongue never failed to make me forget it all, if only for a few minutes. I gripped the edge of the pool.

I was trembling within a few moments, arching my back, biting my lip hard to try and stop myself from moaning. Quiet rules, quiet rules. He made it nearly impossible. We're never coming to this stupid resort again. Only places with walls, so I can scream as loud as I want to.

My legs were kicking sluggishly in the water. I finally let out a little noise I couldn't suppress - and suddenly, his hand came up and clamped itself over my mouth. I let out a muffled squeal in protest, but I was in no position to argue, really.

When the coiling pleasure finally exploded in my stomach, I was actually grateful for the way his hand dampened my scream. As usual, he'd been right.

He climbed out of the pool, dripping all over the tiles on the side, and stripped off his shirt. I lay there expectantly, but after he undressed, he walked over to the closet and started sifting through it for something new.

"Um…" I said, unsure if he was playing some kind of game, or if that was really all we were going to do. "Did you, uh, want to…"

"Later," he said, smiling. "We have somewhere to be."

I shook my head, getting up and pulling off my wet bra to change into something a little more practical.

***

"Somewhere" turned out to be a snorkeling expedition along the coral reef that was just down the beach from our hotel. I had to laugh at the sight of him all decked out for it, squinting on the white sand beach through a pair of huge plastic goggles, with the plastic tube shoved in his mouth at a jaunty angle. I was sure I looked equally silly, but I wasn't a dignified billionaire tech mogul. But once we were underwater, I forgot to even look at him anymore - the reef was so beautiful, with the colorful fish swirling around it, that I could hardly tear my eyes away. We were told not to touch the coral reef, as it was fragile despite its appearance and a single, light touch could cause permanent damage. It was hard to resist the urge, but after a while, I found myself content to just look.