Harlequin Romance September 2021 Box Set Read online

  Charlie wasn’t judging her. Measuring her. Calculating how to take advantage of her. His moves were an expression of pure truth, of male hunger, of a need they both had. She knew she was strong enough now to quell those voices in her head that caused her to doubt her beauty.

  Remembering one of the mantras learned in therapy, she chanted it inside her head. You are perfect just as you are.

  As the late-night winds wisped over her naked body, his mouth covered hers...until it started to travel once again. The inside of her wrist. The side of her leg. He kissed her breasts. Her stomach. Anywhere he went, she welcomed it. He lifted his head and whispered, “You are more luminous than the Caribbean moon that watches over us.”

  “You’re beautiful, too, Charlie.”

  With that, he put on the condom and moved back up so that he could kiss her mouth as their bodies joined completely, undulating together in the sand, mimicking the perfect rhythm of the tide’s ebb and flow.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  “‘THE COLONIAL ARCHITECTURE is indicative of the Spanish influence in Puerto Rico,’” Luna said, reading from the touring app she’d downloaded to her phone as she and Charlie roamed the picturesque city streets. “Viejo—that means old. San Juan is known for its colorful buildings and cobblestone streets.”

  “Does it say anything about why the cobblestones are blue?”

  “They’re called adoquines, and they’re a waste product of iron smelting that was brought from Spain.”

  The sky was unclouded, the air was clean and Luna Price was the most enchanting being in the universe. In her cotton coral-colored dress and flat brown sandals, she looked like a carefree tourist, blending right in, not attracting notice except perhaps for her simple loveliness. That Charlie had just spent a mind-altering night of lovemaking with a famous actress, no less, seemed utterly surreal in the noonday sun.

  “Shall we look in that shop?” he asked as he presented his arm to help her navigate across the stones and their uneven surface. A bell attached to the front door chimed when they entered.

  “Pretty,” Luna said as she admired the jewelry on display. “I saw a description on the app. These are Taino pieces, the jewelry of the native people in Puerto Rico.”

  “Te gusta?” asked the shopkeeper, an older woman with a friendly grin.

  “Si. Very unique. What are they made from?”

  “Clay, wood and leather.”

  “I like those earrings.” She gestured to a pair that were long and dangly, with beads that seemed to be made out of dried clay.

  “Each has a sun pendant on the bottom,” the woman pointed out.

  “Hold them up to your face,” Charlie suggested. The shopkeeper handed Luna a mirror. She brought one of the earrings to her delicate lobe. Charlie was struck with the impulse to take said earlobe between his teeth as he had last night, but he knew this was not the time or place. In fact, it would be smart if he never took Luna’s earlobe, or any other part of her, into his mouth ever again. Although that sounded to him like an unimaginable fate.

  Oh, how luscious last night had been, the feeling of his bareness in the sea, an organism in the biotic world, in the wild. And, to boot, in the company of the most vital and sensual woman he had ever known. Together they had intermingled in an aquatic dance of kisses and limbs. Then they took their voyage to shore, to the tender sands where they brought each other to ecstasy again and again as the waves provided music for their journey.

  But where was he now? Charlie tried to understand as he watched Luna admire the jewelry. He hadn’t agreed to the M Agency agreement for this, to be totally entranced by a woman who had come here to help with her rehabilitation, just as he had. He wasn’t ready for the real thing with anyone...was he?

  “May I buy those for you, Luna?”

  She giggled a bit before answering. “I have my own money, you know.” Which actually was funny, as she possessed, no doubt, a substantial fortune.

  “I know, but it would mean a lot to me to give them to you.” Words were falling out of his mouth with him not even sure where they were coming from. But he did want to buy the earrings.

  “That would be very kind, Charlie. Thank you.”

  Outside of the shop, Luna took the earrings from the tissue they’d been wrapped in. “I think I’d like to wear these today. Can you help me put them on?”

  Eager, he held the delicacy of Luna’s ear in what felt like the most important job in the world. The earrings looked perfect with her outfit as they resumed their touring.

  They visited Viejo San Juan’s best-known landmark. El Morro or, properly, Castillo San Felipe del Morro, the fortress and military outpost. Construction on the massive structure began in 1539 by Spanish settlers and it was in use until 1961, when the US Army retired it to establish a museum. They walked through the recreations of the barracks and kitchens, which showed how the soldiers there might have lived. From the outdoor top levels, they could see the Atlantic Ocean. Charlie’s gut panged when he envisioned a few days from now, when the week would end and he’d depart for the UK, and she would go in the opposite direction, to LA. The distances of land and sea had never seemed greater to him.

  He surprised himself with the thought that Luna mattered to him now, something he’d never have imagined when he’d first arrived in Puerto Rico. They strolled the vast front lawn of the fortress. He blinked twice to make sure he was seeing clearly and not hallucinating. Dozens of people were flying colorful kites.

  “It’s a local tradition to fly kites on this lawn, according to my travel guide,” Luna said, reading from her app. The kites sailed through the air, held aloft by everyone from squealing schoolchildren to seniors to tour groups in matching T-shirts. “Is something wrong?”

  He hadn’t realized that his emotions had registered on his face. His Amelia had loved kite flying. He could remember many occasions, now parading through his mind, when the weather was optimal and she’d drag him along with her to do so. Selecting one of the half-dozen kites she owned, she’d pile a picnic basket into the car and off they’d go. He always enjoyed himself so much because of her enjoyment of the activity.

  “I can’t wait until we share this pleasure with our children,” she’d said one happy day early in her pregnancy, smiling and caressing her burgeoning baby bump, her kite high. Charlie’s throat tightened as he kept his now glassy eyes fixed on the vibrant display, unable to articulate the aching in his chest.

  But afterward, sitting on a bench in one of the charming town squares of Viejo San Juan, his temperament lightened. His outstretched arm made its way around Luna’s shoulder and they sat watching the pedestrians promenade this way and that. She hadn’t pursued an explanation as to what had bothered him while watching the kites fly. He sensed she knew that in that moment he was being torn down by the past. It was as if she understood. His ease around her was presenting a new world. One that was confusing. One that he certainly didn’t have a map for.

  “Shall we eat?” he suggested after noticing that the sun was moving. It was important for Luna to eat at consistent intervals. “I found a recommendation from the resort’s list.”

  They turned onto a street with the most vividly painted buildings Charlie had ever seen. From mint-green to petal-pink to lavender to pale yellow, with all of the windowsills and trim done in white. Wrought-iron balconies displayed flower boxes. The café had a patio shaded by red umbrellas. He pulled out a white chair for Luna to sit in, then positioned his next to hers rather than across. That way he could be next to her and they could both gaze out to the narrow lane.

  “Everything looks good,” Luna said as she perused the menu. “I’ve read the starter dish of sweet eggplant is really special.”

  “And for the main course, let’s try the steak Fortaleza.”

  “Which means fort.”

  “Beer to drink.”

  When the waiter arrive
d, Charlie ordered, pleased with his pronunciations.

  “Thank you again for these,” she said as she fingered an earring. They had been priced comparably to the beer he’d just ordered, yet he felt on top of the world that she liked them. He had to remind himself that he was the CEO of a billion-pound corporation. Not a barefoot boy infatuated with a pretty girl on a sunny island.

  The food was delectable. The grilled eggplant drizzled with locally produced honey tasted like gold. The steak was sliced open and stuffed inside with ham, cheese, onions and peppers, and served with a creamy mushroom sauce on top. It was exquisite. As was his companion.

  * * *

  “Buena noches,” the catamaran driver welcomed Charlie and Luna as they boarded for their short cruise to Vieques Island after they’d eaten.

  “Buena noches.” Luna greeted the middle-aged man with bulky muscles straining against his white T-shirt and shorts.

  “Have you been enjoying your stay in Puerto Rico?”

  “Si, the food is delicious and today we toured the city.”

  “You are in for a very special night.”

  As they left shore, the speed at which they channeled through the water had the wind whipping through Luna’s hair and against her skin. It felt extreme and adventurous. As it did having Charlie beside her. He had made such impassioned love to her the night before it still reverberated through her. Yes, he was a man who had endured the most unspeakable agonies, which still overtook him and attacked without warning—as she’d witnessed this afternoon, under the pleasant skies as the two of them had watched the kite flyers—but perhaps because of his pain, rather than in spite of it, the fervor that they shared in the sand last night had shot to her core. He was a realist, he didn’t pretend like everything was perfect, didn’t live in fantasyland. Popularity and approval had no meaning to him. She respected him. And he had made her start to believe in something that she’d never dared to before.

  As they arrived on the small island, she looked forward to seeing a famed Puerto Rican attraction, the brightest bioluminescent bay in the world. At the shoreline, the kayaks and wet suits they’d reserved were waiting. Once ready, under the starry sky, they paddled with oars into the center of Mosquito Bay. Like many visitors to Puerto Rico, they’d come to see one of nature’s most unusual displays. Millions, maybe billions, of tiny microorganisms lived in the water of the bay. And when the water was disturbed by the oars of a kayak, or even by a hand through the waves, the organisms lit up, creating a light show. It was an environmental phenomenon, and the sheer brilliance was hard to believe. Luna gasped at the sight.

  “How stunning,” Charlie called out, turning back toward Luna from his position in the front of the kayak. With other people in kayaks or boats all around them, the explosions of light came from every direction, radiant bright blue erupting from the still black water.

  “How can this be?”

  “The natural world is humbling.”

  Temporarily holding his oar in only one hand, Charlie reached his other hand behind him to grab hold of one of Luna’s so that they could be joined while experiencing this marvel. After they took it all in for a few minutes, he lowered their clasped hands into the water beside the kayak and splashed, so that they could provoke the light with their own hands. They sprayed light toward each other, laughing at the miracle of it.

  Oh, Charlie, she thought. How was she ever going to forget this week? To move on as planned, and go back to California and the pressures that had done so much damage to her? She’d been unprofessional in her exit a year ago. Desperate, she’d left that set even though production had almost begun. She’d inconvenienced the rest of the cast, the crew, her agent and all of her team, and cost the studio a lot of money. Even if the year she’d spent in recovery made her question whether she still wanted to stay within the Hollywood machine anymore, she had to at least return to make good on the contract she’d signed. The dreams she’d sometimes had about making her own movies, expressing her art in way that she was in control of, seemed out of reach until she cleaned up the mess she’d left. Maybe she was ready to leave the industry entirely. Go back to Kentucky, perhaps? Help her parents with the ranch as they grew older? Invest in a business? Whatever the case, she had to return to LA first and see everything through.

  As planned, she’d leave Dorada and all that had happened there behind. Leave Charlie behind. A man who she was beginning to think she might like to stay near, and not just in Puerto Rico... In his own awkward way he’d made her feel completely accepted. Made her imagine a lifestyle she had never dared to consider.

  Last night, after they’d brought each other pleasure upon pleasure with their bodies and, she had to admit, their souls, they’d stretched out in the sand and looked up to the sky. He’d reached for a beach blanket to cover them and they rested, spent and hazy. She got lost in thought about different roads her life could have taken and sensed Charlie’s mind had gone to a similar place. It was comfortable to be beside him.

  After a while, though, it had gotten cold, and she was sleepy so they went back into the villa. She hoped he’d join her in the bedroom, where they could sleep in a lover’s embrace. But he’d said he wasn’t tired and wanted to check on some work. They shared a sensuous kiss good-night, yet she retreated to the master suite alone with a ring of sadness through her bones.

  In the center of the plush bed, surrounded by pillows and bedding, she’d convinced herself it was for the best. Someone who pretended for a living should surely know not to get sucked into the charade. This week with Charlie was simply what it was intended to be. Thinking of it otherwise could only lead to disappointment and pain. Even if she was willing to reconsider her own oath, his was to never love a woman again. She doubted he’d go back on his word to the memory of his family.

  * * *

  “That was just extraordinary,” Charlie said when they got back to the villa after the bioluminescent bay. “I think I’d like to return to Puerto Rico someday.”

  “Soon it will be time to go home.”

  “For you, the word home must have two separate meanings.”

  “Home is Los Angeles,” she affirmed. “I really do have a gorgeous house in the hills. Panoramic views, lots of light. I’m very fortunate.”

  “Why doesn’t that sound convincing?”

  “I’m apprehensive about going back. I hope I’m strong enough for all of it this time.”

  “It seems like you’ll be returning with your eyes wide open.”

  He made her feel so reassured. What would it be like to have someone on her side, by her side, all the time? While her team was loyal, she’d never let anyone in that close. She’d never dared because there had never been anyone who wasn’t affiliated with Luna Price, the commodity, rather than just plain Luna Price, the woman. That she’d begun to think Charlie was that one elusive person—the exception to the rule—was a hazardous game. Even if she was ready to let someone in, Charlie wore his tragedy as a barrier. He wasn’t going to let go of what had come to define him. And he was entitled to that, if that was what he wanted.

  But tonight was different than last night’s parting. Tonight it came as a shock when they were standing between the living room and the bedroom and he backed Luna against the doorway and pressed himself into her. Trapping her with an arm on either side of her head, he kissed her with a verve that made her knees tremble. Forcing his whole body against hers, she felt his arousal in full strength. He ground into her with force. “Luna,” he rasped in her ear. “Luna.”

  The unadulterated eroticism ran purple through her veins. To be so desired stirred her profoundly and her body yielded to his. Their lips met, tongues desperate for more. Then, all at once, he lifted her into his arms and carried her to the previously unchartered kingdom of the master bed.

  * * *

  When Charlie felt the glow of sunlight on his eyelids, they clicked open. His sur
roundings were strange. He’d become accustomed to the grooves of the sofa cushions, where he’d been laying his bones at night, and the play of light and shadow from that vantage point. He knew he was still in the villa, with the wafting scent of the courtyard flowers and the sounds of morning waves just steps away. The silky warmth next to him made his head turn in that direction. Luna, curled toward him, eyes closed, was a sight to behold.

  He realized that of all the extraordinary things that had taken place since he’d come to Puerto Rico, what happened last night beat them all. Not the surreal show of nature’s lights on Vieques Island. Not even the sizzling lovemaking that he and Luna had engaged in. No, the most surprising turn of events was that Charlie had slept. Slept! All night!

  He’d forgotten what a rested body felt like. With each breath, oxygen traveled to the far reaches of his bloodstream, which hadn’t received any in a decade. The pervasive tightness across his forehead was gone. The little niggles of aches that he’d sometimes spent the night distracted by were imperceptible. His muscles were relaxed but invigorated. His mouth ticked up in approval.

  “Good morning,” Luna cooed as her eyes opened and she stretched her arms above her head.

  A quick check of Charlie’s phone confirmed what he’d already suspected. “Buenas tardes. It’s afternoon already.” Yes, he’d slept not just through the dark hours, but well past the first light of dawn.

  “Hmmm,” she sang, a tiny murmur that reminded him of some of the sounds of pleasure that had come from her throat last night. Sounds he most definitely wouldn’t mind hearing more of.

  He brushed away errant golden strands in front of her face and his fingers lingered in her luxurious hair, intertwining the locks in his fingers. It was something he thought could occupy him for hours. “What do you want to do today?”

  “According to our itinerary, tonight we’re going to a rum tasting. And to hear live music and have dancing lessons.”