He rubbed his chin. "The truth is, until this year, I was never in my house and lived like a ghost."
She leaned closer to him. "Where were you?"
He lifted his eyebrows. No one had asked him that question in a way that he felt he should be honest. He had avoided Mitch Morgan. He whiffed her sweet scent.
"Anywhere Morgan Enterprises needed me, and I ensured I was always needed somewhere."
A sigh came out of her lips. "So you stopped running this year."
“My father died. His funeral was the best day of my life, though Victoria returning might have been your worst.” He reached behind her and took the wine bottle back from where she had placed it.
“I was fine.” She crossed her arms fast. “I’m happy your family reunited.”
His eyebrows arched. "I'm pouring us wine so we can sit here and wait for the moon."
She dropped her hands back to her side. "And you're changing the topic."
He uncorked the bottle. "No, here, with you, my heart isn't racing anymore."
He handed her a glass and then poured some for her. "Thank you."
He fixed his own drink and then clinked his glass with hers. "I should be thanking you."
She sipped her drink, but her gaze stayed on him. "You were running from your life. I was going to say I avoided my life too. I knew after I left the Marines I was supposed to do something with my life. Dad and my stepmom loved Colt and told me to marry him. So I broke down and thought they must be right. But I couldn't pack my bags. I knew that life on his farm wasn't the life I wanted."
He sipped his glass. Calmness now radiated out of him. "What do you want?"
She shrugged. "I wish I knew. That has always been my issue. I can make up a long list of things I don't want to do, but what I want to do is a different question. Living on a farm never sat right in my gut."
Belle scared herself from living. Something held her still. He sipped his drink and pressed his case. "Forget work. If there was one thing you've always wanted but never done, what is it?"
She shook her head. "Are you seeking to fulfill my wish and avoid your mother?"
A smile broke out on his face. She read that right. "Possibly, but answer the question."
"So many things are racing in my mind." She massaged one of her temples as if she could stop her thoughts. "Unlike yours, my mother cannot come back from the dead."
"True." He sipped his drink. "So pick something possible."
She then followed suit and sipped hers. Then she leaned closer to him, and he could smell her again. "I can't. Three keep circling, and no, you cannot fulfill these today. One is that I've always wanted to go to Paris with a man I love. I don't know what it is, maybe all those movies I've seen with the Eiffel Tower, but I want to go there with whoever my future husband will be.”
“We can...”
“Let me finish. Two is that I do want to get married, but I want to do it because I feel the need to shout 'yes' in my heart and not because it's expected of me. Finally, three is that I want to travel by donkey up a mountain."
He blinked. "A donkey?"
She gulped her glass. "I didn't want to be cheesy and say I want a family. I feel like I'm asking for the moon and stars while wishing and dreaming never get you much."
His entire face grew hot, and he stared out at the moon that grew higher in the sky. "I'm not the guy for you then."
"Don't worry about it. I told you it was all nonsense." She covered her lips and shook her head as she stared at him. "The second I said marriage or family, did your heart race?"
His collar grew tight, but he leaned closer to her. "Yeah, I guess it did."
"Then I'll stick to the donkey answer." She sat straight in her seat. "Donkey's aren't scary."
"Slightly smelly though." He licked his lips. "Belle, you're someone who makes me feel good about myself. I like the man I am with you."
"But?" She sat straighter.
He licked his lips. She truly was beautiful. "Why is there a but?"
She gripped her seat. "There is always a ‘but.’"
“But...” He gulped his drink. Then he reached out and took her glass. "I never wanted a wife or to get married. I wanted what my father instilled in me to die out. No one else should have to question every action."
"What's inside you that's so bad?"
His face had a slight tick. "That I can think like him, act like him, be like him. I could become so controlling that I lose touch and seal my fate as he did."
"That is impossible."
She made no sense. He swallowed. "How?"
"You're too sweet to be so evil. You see the options and don't choose his path."
He reached for her knee and leaned closer. "It's a constant struggle. I know how to get what I want, no matter the cost."
She wrapped her arms around him, and he kissed her. The apples mixed with the sweet wine made her the most succulent woman on the planet. He tugged her closer. He had to have her. She set him on fire.
She sighed as he stopped. Then she rested her head against his. "Wow, that was some kiss."
She made him feel alive. The sparks in his soul demanded he have her again. He stayed still. "Do you want me to take you home?"
“Let’s not sail for days right now. I was looking forward to your party on New Years.” She pressed her chest into his, and the sensation grew butterflies in his stomach. "Right now, I want to enjoy what happens next."
He wrapped his arms around her, kissed her nose and then led her to the door. "My bedroom is this way."
"Perfect."
She was right. Right now she was perfect and just what he needed.
Chapter Eighteen
Belle stretched. The yacht moved with the waves, but the engines were silent. Peter's chiseled body lay beside her, and he was still and warm. She untangled her arm and stared outside. They were docked somewhere. She shook him and kissed his forehead.
"Peter, it's morning."
He sat fast, but then grabbed her hand. He stared at the sun, like he was telling the time, and then nodded.
"I'll get you to the hotel and join you there this afternoon."
She stared at his profile. "Will you go in and see your mother?"
His quick intake of breath told her she had surprised him. "No, I have a board meeting. The moment it's over, I'll come find you."
"You should make time for your mom too. She's waited for you most of your life, knowing you were with your father." He flinched so she stretched and changed the topic. "But I should go find my friends and make an appearance. They must think I ditched them."
He stood and picked up his pants. "You were helping me. Take Em to the spa or someplace nice. Wait for me."
"Yes, boss."
"It was a suggestion."
"Just don't want you thinking anymore that you'll turn evil at a drop of a dime."
"So you called me boss?"
"Yep, and you didn't get mad."
He cocked his head, unsure what to say. Then they both sped through getting cleaned up and dressed.
As they were leaving the ship and heading toward the waiting limo, she grabbed his arm. "How will you find me?"
He tilted his head. His eyebrows lifted as he lifted his mobile. "I have a phone."