4. Drake

CHAPTER 4

Drake

S he's shaking her pretty head even as I drag her into the crowded room.

"No! No way! I'm too old for this, Drake!"

I don't know why she thinks that she's old. She's beautiful. She's in the prime of her life. All of her lush curves just emphasize that womanly beauty.

"Stop saying that, cara Mia! You are not too old for anything! You're letting your ex live in your head and tell you these bad things. Let him go and just have fun!"

"You're crazy," she huffs and blows out her cupid's-bow lips.

"About you…maybe. It's more fun to be crazy than let people tell you that you're dull and boring and you don't matter."

Her gleaming silver eyes stare up at me. "How did you know that's what he said?"

I shake my head. "That's what all men who aren't confident in themselves talk. They want to make you feel like less than yourself. So that they can feel superior to you. Like you don't matter. You're nothing."

She shivers and goosebumps dart up and down her soft arms. She rubs them and moves away from me. "It's like you were in the room," she mutters.

I don't have to be in the room. Her ex sounds like a lot of the guys I know on the race car circuit. Arrogant users who just want to make themselves feel better.

"Let's go! You're not changing my mind. We're going to dance and have fun and forget about that lying, cheating son of a bitch! Trust me!"

"Famous last words," she growls as I drag her through the crowd to a tiny millimeter of unused space. The real estate in here is packed. It's like every person on this ship decided to come out tonight and party the night away.

But none of them look like my girl. Her pale skin gleams in the peekaboo light of a disco ball turning over our heads. Her dark hair flies around her head like a live thing. Her hands lift over her head slowly and she moves her wide hips slightly, like she's afraid she'll shock the hell out of herself or me.

I lean towards her. "How long has it been since you went dancing, Harmony?"

She grimaces. "Not since I was way the hell younger and skinnier than I am now."

I don't like that. Not at all. I grasp her hips and tug her tight into me, enjoying her little squeak of surprise. Her eyes fly up to meet mine, wide and startled. Buried in those silvery eyes is a curtain of smoky desire and I can feel the little pinpricks of her nipples pressing into my chest.

She's turned on. A smirk tilts my lips because I love knowing that my little angel is as into me as I am her.

I lean down and growl into her ear, the thumping, pulsing beat of the music making me move as close to her as possible. Her breath catches.

"Baby girl, I don't like it when you talk about yourself like that. I think your body is amazing. Your curves are fucking delicious but that doesn't matter to me as much as the way you smile, the way your smoky eyes light up when you're about to smack me down for some comment you don't like, the way your perfectly pink lips smile when you look at me. So don't take about yourself like that or I'm gonna haul your pretty ass back to my cabin and spank it."

Her pale cheeks flush and I can see her breath coming faster. "You shouldn't say things like that, Drake. I already told you that we're not getting together so you're sure as hell not gonna ‘spank' me."

My lip curls and I can't stop myself from pulling her closer. Her hips lean into mine and I hold onto that plush ass of hers. My hands cradle her curves so close you couldn't slip a piece of really thin paper in between us. "I think that you like that idea more than you'd like me to think." I let her push her hands up on my chest and shove me away slightly.

For now.

Her light, musical voice is breathless and she licks her lips. "I don't know what you're talking about. I think you're deluding yourself."

I lift her up in my arms and she growls, "put me down."

I shake my head, knowing that I'm pushing my luck but unable to stop messing with her. Just a little.

I love the way she snarls at me like a little tigress about to take a swipe at me.

I didn't know I had such a strange streak in me. But I love it when she gets mad and pissy. Turns me the fuck on in a big way.

"Nope. If I had my way I'd toss you over my shoulder and jog back to my cabin and then fucking make you sing my name all night long. But since I shouldn't do that, I'm not letting you go."

She sighs and her full breasts push into my chest. "You are demented."

I throw back my head and laugh and then bring her face right up to mine. Her eyes widen and I can see little sparkles of icy blue around her steel gray iris. She's so damn close and so damn perfect that my cock is absolutely aching to bury myself in her sweet as hell pussy.

I know every damn thing about her is perfect. I know as soon as I have her I'll never be able to let her go.

Which is why we're playing this little game now. Our little dance where I move in and she backs away.

I want her to realize that I'm not going anywhere. I'm never letting her go. I'm serious as a heart attack. I know deep down in my soul that she's mine.

Even if the whole damn world spiraled out of control and I lost sight of her, I'd search every nook and cranny of this planet until I found her.

And I would find her. I couldn't fail. She's my heart, my soul, my everything.

My heart belongs to her. She's burned into my brain like a permanent picture of perfection.

My perfect woman. The love of my life and the future mother of my children.

Maybe. Because if she doesn't want more children, I'll be sorry that we won't have little miniatures of she and I but she's enough for me and she always will be.

I just have to woo her skittish little heart. I don't have much time but I will use every sneaky, conniving trick in the book to prove how much she means to me.

I knew it as soon as I saw her, heard her voice. Her age doesn't matter and neither does mine.

I love her.