Forgotten Love (Derrien Island Trilogy) (29 page)

Looking at Marcus she saw him wince at her open admiration for Lucas Johnson.

“You do know that he wants more from you than a friendship, don’t you?” asked Marcus.

“I do know and I have always told him where I stand concerning that. He always knew that we could only be just friends and he promised to respect my marriage until I had finished sorting out the details in my mind,” she explained.

“So, what’s changed for him?  I saw him kiss you this morning at the hotel
,” stated Marcus once again feeling a desire to wring the man’s neck.

Natasha blew a gust of air out of her mouth and picked up a seashell and ran her fingers around the
serrated edges.

“I was hoping that you did not see that!
Yes, he has been hinting at having a life with me more than ever lately. I think that he feels threatened by the fact that you are here and he hasn’t made much progress with me. He is always reminding me that I need to finalize my divorce so I don’t mess up my contract.”

“How do you feel abo
ut him?” pressed Marcus further, while filing away the thought that he needed to ask her exactly what kind of contract she signed which required that he was out of her life permanently.

“Truthfully I love him like I would a brother
, but that is all it’s ever been for me!  You are the only one I am in love with and still love in that way.  I am sorry that Lucas is hurt but I have been honest with him from the beginning,” Natasha replied now sifting the pinkish coarse sand through her fingers.

“Today was the first day I felt that I could start a fight in a public place. When I saw him kiss you it was all I could do not to walk up to him and throw him into the waterfall,”
said Marcus honestly.

Natasha could hear how serious Marcus was about the statement he had just made and was glad that he was always the type to think
first and then act.

“I was telling him that I thought that he should go back
to Georgia without me.”

“
Okay, so I need to ask you this, why does your contract say you have to divorce me?”

“It is the image of me th
ey want to portray as this sexy, young, unattached female. They also don’t want any negative publicity around that at least until I build up that image for my fans! At the time I was so excited about being offered a contract and still in denial about us that I just signed it. Lucas said it was a great opportunity and I guess I trusted his experience in these matters. If I don’t have the divorce finalized by my first album launch I will have to forfeit the contract and lose a lot of the money I earned from my singles. I was hoping that my success with those might cause them to reconsider that aspect but I had to fly out here, so I have not had that conversation with them as yet! My album launches in a month’s time!”

“So are you saying that you were willing to divorce me just to get ahead in your career even though you knew you still had feelings for me?” asked Marcus feeling
hurt at her admission.

“Yes and now that I have had the time to really think about all of this I can see how wrong that is,” she said quickly as his expression darkened. “T
he funny thing about all of this is that although I sent the papers to you I hadn’t signed them either. Especially when I got your book I knew that I had to think twice.”

“Do you think we can save our marriage or are our lives too far apart now?” asked Marcus cautiously hoping that Natasha’s answer would
give him the chance he was praying for.

“Marcus, I don’t want the divorce anymore, I want to work things out with you, but I can’t see that happening with us living so far away from each other
or with me in the midst of this binding contract,” said Natasha sighing with frustration.

She braced herself to witness the conflicted look he always wore when she spoke about this but instead he looked back at her and laughed openly. It was not a laugh of ridicule but he was happy. Puzzled by
this new reaction, she was unprepared for him suddenly threading his hand behind the nape of her neck and kissing her passionately. This experience was the complete opposite of what she felt when Lucas tried to do the same thing earlier. Immediately, she felt herself opening up responding instead of retreating and pushing him away. Moving closer to him she straddled his lap as the kiss deepened. It was as if they became lost in their own world, one of reconnection and re-discovery. Marcus ran his hands lovingly along Natasha’s spine and eventually reached up and freed her hair from the comb that held it in place. He had always loved the weight and silky texture of Natasha’s hair and how it felt in his hands.

The feel of Nat’s curvy body pressed intimately against his after such a long time of just wanting her close made him feel like a man who was starving, who just could not get enough.  His lips trailed kisses along her neck and he could taste a mixture of sand and salt but mainly the flavour that was uniquely her.

Forcing himself to drag his mouth away and to regain some measure of common sense, Marcus fought the wild urge that was rising up in him to just throw caution to the wind and to make love to his wife right there on the beach.

“Nat, if we don’t stop now, I
cannot guarantee that I will be able to in a few minutes.”

“I don’t want you to stop Marcus, we’ve been playing it safe for too long and look where it
’s taken us. I’ve been hiding my feelings and now I just want us to be like we were, no restrictions, playful, hopelessly in love, she said punctuating each word by a feather soft kiss to his lips. I want to come out and play with you again Marcus,” said Natasha before kissing her husband’s lips again, this time boldly drawing his lower lip into her mouth and sucking on it lightly. Marcus groaned and tightened his grip around her waist.

It was a secluded beach but he knew t
hat Natasha was not just another local girl anymore and he wanted to protect her privacy from possible scandal and the lens of the unscrupulous paparazzi looking for a story. But if she kept doing what she was doing none of that would even matter. She said she wanted to try again and that was all that mattered. The contract obstacles, the issues about distance and living arrangements were secondary and minor in comparison to that.

“Nat, I promise you that before this day is over I will redefine the word play in both of our vocabularies, I mean that! But not here, you are a rising star and you have to remember that you m
ight be photographed. I don’t pictures of my wife spread all across the Enquirer,” explained Marcus groaning with each word.

Natasha rested her forehead against his and relented,
“You are perfectly right as usual. I need you, because you balance my wild, crazy side”, laughed Natasha. “I love you Marcus Nicholls!”

“Those
were the words I wanted to hear,” said Marcus. “I am madly, truly and deeply in love with you too. Are you really here with me in my arms like this?” asked Marcus looking at Natasha with wonder.

“
I am, and this is where I want to be forever,” replied Natasha.

Chapter 18

Natasha could not remember a day when she had so much fun with Marcus. Returning to the hotel had been a riot of laughter and fun as she teased him about having to drive without his shirt back to the hotel.  He did tell her that she had enough clothes when she left the hotel earlier. He had explained that he did not want her to return to her room just in case she changed her mind about coming with him. Then he pretended to be a gallant knight with a medieval English accent trying to win her over with his charm. She could see why he was such a talented and imaginative writer.

As they returned to the
hotel they were so engrossed in each other that they did not notice Lucas sitting in the lobby area on one of the chairs.

“
Somehow I’m not surprised at all!” came a familiar voice which caused Natasha to whirl around and the laugh she was sharing with Marcus became frozen on her face as she took in his hurt expression.

“Lucas, what are you doing here?” she asked with surprise.

“I came to return your carry-on luggage before I made my way to the airport. I think you forgot that you left this bag with me yesterday!” he remarked flatly holding it out to her.

“Yes, I meant to ask you about it this morning but I guess the conversation got a bit si
detracked. Thanks!” she replied taking it from him.

“Natasha, can I speak with you privately?” he asked looking pointedly at Marcus.

“Lucas, I warned you this morning,” replied Marcus.

“Marcus it is ok
ay! You go on up to the room, I’ll meet you shortly.”

“But...,” protested Marcus.

“It’s ok
ay! I need to speak to Lucas privately as well,” said Natasha reassuringly.

Nodding slowly
, Marcus recognized that Natasha needed the space to do and say what she needed to ‘her friend’, but he was only giving her five minutes. Walking slowly backward, he and Lucas exchanged looks, neither was very friendly but this time Marcus could see that Lucas carried an air of resignation. Hoping that he had silently made his point clear once more he turned and walked slowly toward the bank of elevators.

“I see that you two have reconciled,” said Lucas. “I suppose congratulations are in order!”

“Yes, you could say that!”

Are you happy?” asked Lucas.

“I could not be happier right now. I never stopped loving my husband Lucas, I only made myself forget that I did,” replied Natasha.

“He is a ver
y lucky man, a lucky man indeed,” said Lucas enviously with a reluctant nod. “ My flight will be leaving in another hour and a half. I just wanted to say goodbye properly to you because when you get back to Georgia, I am going to need some time before I will be able to relate to you as I did before. You understand right?” said Lucas.

“I do and I’m...”
said Natasha starting to apologize.

“No don’t apologize to me,
” he interjected quickly with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I knew the risks and I ignored them. I still don’t think he deserves you, but I am terribly biased on that point. I know when to accept defeat.”

“Can we ever be friends again?” asked Natasha.

“Right now, I can’t think about that and besides you won’t need me anymore. You have him now.  I also think Marcus would have serious objections to us even continuing this association. Don’t you? I know I would if I was lucky enough to be in his shoes. Look I have to go! Running into you will be pretty unavoidable considering the industry we work in. I am sure you will get your contract settled somehow. At some cocktail party or awards ceremony in the future I’m sure I will see you across the room and I might even come over and say hello. I just need some time now,” said Lucas finally.

Giving her a brief and final embrace Lucas walked out of the Derrien Hilton never once looking back.

As Natasha watched him leave she felt the conviction of a strong lesson in her heart. As she thought back to many of their conversations she realized that she did not want to seem ungrateful for his help so she let them get closer while procrastinating about dealing with how she really felt about Marcus. She was honest with him but it still wasn’t fair and that realization hurt. But it couldn’t be worse than the pain and disappointment Lucas was facing himself.

A pair of strong arms encircled her waist from behind as she felt Marcus nuzzle her neck softly as a reminder that he was waiting for her. So he didn’t leave, she thought with a
knowing smile. Now that he had her in his life again he was not prepared to share her with anyone and that feeling was priceless to her.

“You do know there was no way I was leaving you down here alone right?”
he whispered in her ear.

“I’m beginning to see that!” she confessed.

“Well, unless you want to make a scene down here in the lobby, I have an urgent need to get you upstairs to your room,” he said pulling her back against him so she could feel the evidence of his undeniable arousal.

Heat was emanating from him in waves and a pool of warm desire was spreading in her lower abdomen just in response to the promise in his voice.

Threading her fingers through his, she turned and allowed him to lead her to the elevators and then to her room. As soon as they were inside and the door closed all the passion they restrained on the beach came pouring out.

“Natasha, I
want you right now!” groaned Marcus as he pressed her against the wall near the door and gazed into the mirrored need in her eyes.

Without moving his gaze from hers he lowered his mouth to hers and she tiptoed to close the distance between them. As their lips merged with bittersweet intensity they both allowed everything that was now behind them to fall away. Sliding his tongue past her parted and welcoming lips the kiss deepened as they tasted, sought, tangled and mated with each other again in an intoxicating dance. This was what heaven must be like thought Natasha as spirals of warm current exploded from every part of her body, especially her core. She couldn’t get enough! Her reasons for starving herself all this time seemed to be so ridiculous and petty. Being with Marcus was even better than her supposed dream career. It was why she hadn’t let him go and was on the verge of losing her contract and somehow she didn’t care. This connection was what she needed and if she had it anything else would be possible. Public success and private loneliness and turmoil just weren’t worth it.