Virgin: Undone by the Billionaire. Jennie Lucas
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even as she smiled encouragingly at Emily, Lia couldn’t stop feeling Roark’s presence behind her.
His warmth.
His heat.
He stood behind Lia with nothing but the polished wood pew between them. She could have touched him by lifting her hand a few inches. But she didn’t have to touch him to feel him all over.
She felt Roark’s nearness as she sat back down on the pew next to Andrew. Felt it as the minister performed the wedding ceremony. Felt it as the bride and groom kissed, then rushed happily from the cathedral, their faces glowing with joy.
Watching them leave, starting their new lives together, Lia suddenly felt a pain in her heart.
She was happy for Emily, she truly was. But their love only made her feel more alone. She wanted love like that. She wanted to give her precious baby daughter the family she deserved. A loving home. An adoring father.
Better to have no father than a cold-hearted bastard like Roark Navarre, she told herself fiercely. If he found out she’d had his baby, what would he do? Demand to spend time with Ruby, barging in on their lives? Use custody of her precious daughter as a weapon against her? Introduce their child to an endless succession of his temporary girlfriends and one-night-stands?
He’d already destroyed Lia’s parents and sister. She wouldn’t give him the opportunity to destroy her baby’s life, as well.
She couldn’t let him find out about Ruby. Especially since Roark, of all people, would know the baby couldn’t possibly be Giovanni’s child!
Andrew took Lia’s limp hand and led her out into the aisle, moving from the pews with the other departing guests. She saw Roark and sudden cowardice shook her. She ducked behind Andrew’s slender frame.
Roark stepped in front of them. His dark eyes looked past Andrew, seeking hers with unerring force. “I’ll walk with you to the reception, Lia.”
“Back off, Navarre,” Andrew said. “Can’t you see she’s with me?”
“Is that true?” he said, still looking down at her. “Are you with him?”
She’d been dating Andrew for several months now, and all he’d done was kiss her hand and her cheek. He’d wanted to do more, but she hadn’t allowed it. She kept hoping she’d want him to kiss her, that she’d feel some kind of passion. She knew he’d make a good husband. A good father. He was exactly what she and Ruby needed.
Except he wasn’t.
Lia swallowed. “Yes, I’m with Andrew.” She clasped the older man’s hand more tightly. “So if you’ll excuse us …”
Somewhat to her surprise, Roark let them go. But her breathing had barely returned to normal at the reception held at the Cavanaugh Hotel two blocks away, before she saw him watching her across the ballroom. The same hotel ballroom, decorated with white twinkling lights. But now red poinsettias and green Christmas trees decorated the festive room. She held Andrew’s hand as the just-married couple were introduced to their guests. Sat with him as dinner was served. He squeezed her fingers as they watched Emily and Nathan share their first dance as a married couple.
And all Lia could think about was the last time she’d been in this ballroom. The man who had kissed her then. Who was here again now.
I shouldn’t be holding Andrew’s hand like this. Not when she couldn’t stop thinking about the dark, dangerous man watching her. The man she hated.
The man she desperately wanted.
“Would you like to dance?” Andrew asked, and Lia nearly jumped. Even holding his hand, she’d nearly forgotten he was there. Not trusting her voice, she nodded and allowed him to escort her onto the dance floor.
Every moment she felt Roark watching her. Wanting her. Intending to have her.
The orchestra started to play the next song, and her heart jumped in her chest as she recognized the opening notes of “At Last,” the same song she and Roark had shared during the Black and White Ball, the song that had played the first time Roark had kissed her on the dance floor in front of everyone.
How many men would have been so bold? So ruthless, to want a woman and just kiss her?
She felt Roark’s dark hungry gaze watching her from the edge of the dance floor, and she knew he was remembering it, as well. Her cheeks went hot. She stopped on the dance floor even as other couples whirled around them.
“What’s wrong, Lia?” Andrew asked with concern. “You look ill.”
She backed away. Everything felt so confused. “I’m just feeling a little dizzy,” she whispered, her teeth chattering. “I need some air.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“No. I need a minute—alone.” She turned and ran, desperate to make it out of the ballroom and out of the hotel long enough for a few deep cold breaths. She needed to feel the wintry air to cool her hot cheeks and freeze her heart to the way it was before Roark had returned to New York.
But she was only halfway down the hallway before Roark was upon her. He pushed her into a broom closet. He shut the door with a bang, locking out the world behind them, cloaking the small room in darkness.
“Roark,” she gasped. “We can’t—”
“Have you slept with him?” he demanded tersely.
“Who?” she gasped.
“That old man,” he said harshly. “And all the others who lust after you. How many men have you taken to your bed since I left you?”
She stiffened. “It’s none of your damned business—”
“Answer me!” His hands gripped her shoulders painfully in the darkness. “Have you given yourself to any other man?”
“No!” she cried, twisting beneath his hands. “But I wish I had. I wish I’d slept with a dozen men, a hundred, to get the memory of your touch off my skin—”
He pulled her against him with a hard, unyielding kiss. His hands moved over her silk dress, caressing her backside as he crushed her breasts against the hard muscle of his chest.
Her skin sizzled where he touched. A soft whisper of a moan escaped Lia as she felt her bones melt and her body turn to butter in his arms.
CHAPTER NINE
HAD she ever wanted anyone like this?
Ever wanted anything like this?
As he kissed her, plundering her lips with insatiable hunger, Lia wanted more. She reached her arms over his shoulders and gripped him to her. She could hear the rush of blood in her ears as he flicked his tongue against hers, kissing her deeper still. She felt the strength of his body in the darkness and felt as if she was floating. Flying. Every inch of her body was tense with the agony of longing.
She wanted him so badly, she thought she’d die if he stopped kissing her now….
“I can’t take this, Lia.” She felt Roark’s ragged breath against her skin, the roughness of his cheek against her own. “I can’t take being without you.”
Her breasts were tight, her nipples taut against his chest. His every move caused a new explosion of her nerve endings in her breasts and between her thighs. She felt him hard and ready for her. She closed her eyes in the darkness, swaying against him with a quick, shallow intake of breath.
She felt as if she’d been sleeping her whole life. Waiting for this—only this. Her whole body was exploding like fire.
She’d been waiting for Roark since the day she was born.
“Tell me you’re mine,” he said hoarsely. “Just mine.”
Lia’s