His sure words, the flat-out statement that she enjoyed being his plaything for him to move and command however he liked, should have upset her.

But they both knew that it didn’t.

Suddenly feeling like she was on a boat that had lost its anchor and was drifting slowly but surely out into the middle of the ocean, she blurted the one question she hadn’t been able to figure out the answer to in the time they’d been together.

“How did a gorgeous, successful, great guy like you get to thirty-six without a wife and kids?” Quickly realizing she’d come at it all wrong when he went stiff beside her, she added, “I mean, considering how good you are in bed, I would expect women in wedding gowns to be knocking on your door all the time.”

That earned her a small smile. “Exactly how good am I?”

“Now you’re just fishing for compliments.” She laughed, then added, “Really freaking good.”

The surf crashed bigger and higher than it had before and she made a move to run, but Marcus wouldn’t let her get away from the cold water that came up almost to her knees, bared in her short jean skirt.

“That’s cold!” she protested.

“I like seeing you all wet.”

“You have a dirty mind,” she told him, but the breathiness in her voice gave away the fact that she did, too.

“You’re right,” he said, that dark, hungry look pinning her where she stood in the sand, causing her breath to catch in her throat. “So here’s what my dirty mind wants, Nicola. Take off your clothes.”

She looked up and down the empty beach. “Are you crazy?”

“Only when I’m with you.” He raised an eyebrow. “I’m waiting.”

Oh God, she could hardly breathe at the thought of stripping down here for Marcus.

“If someone comes—” she began, before realizing, “No one is going to come to this beach, are they?”

“No,” he confirmed. “It’s completely ours today.”

She had spent enough time with really wealthy people—worth a heck of a lot more than a pop star like her—to know keeping a huge stretch of coast completely private was entirely possible.

She was about to reach for the hem of her tank top when she realized what he’d done. She’d asked him a personal question and instead of answering it, he’d thrown her off by using her own body—and the endless desire she had for him—against her.

She smoothed her hands down on her hips. “I’ll make you a deal.”

“A deal?"

She lifted her chin and said, “Yes,” glad to catch the hint of smile playing around the edges of his lips at her defiant response.

“You have a beautiful backside, Nicola. I’ve been looking forward to seeing it bent up over my knees.”

Shockingly, he wasn’t the only one.

Trying to push the senselessly erotic vision out of her head, she said, “Don’t keep changing the subject,” in her toughest voice.

She was rewarded with the sweet sound of his laughter. “Such a fierce little kitten.” He caught her fists before she could knock them into his chest. “Go ahead. Make me a deal."

“I’ll take my clothes off if you’ll answer my question about why you’re not married yet, or even in a relationship.”

The laughter left his eyes so quickly she almost cried out at the loss. And yet, even though she knew this was supposed to be no-strings, even though she knew she shouldn’t be straying away from the safe zone where only their bodies were involved, she knew it was already too late.

Her heart was in. Way in.

She wanted to know more about Marcus. Needed to understand how he’d come to be the man he was.

“My girlfriend cheated on me. I caught her the same day I went to that club.”

She’d known things had gone badly with his ex from comments he’d made before, but couldn’t stop her eyes from widening.

“She cheated on you?”

“I’ve never screwed around on a woman.”

“No,” she said quickly, “I know you would never do something like that. I just can’t understand what woman in her right mind would cheat on you. You must be so angry with her.”

“I was,” he admitted, “but then I realized that she actually did us both a big favor.”

“How?”

“We weren’t right for each other.”

Even though she knew the answer might kill her, she had to ask. “Did you love her?”

“I thought I did.”

Ouch. It shouldn’t have hurt to think of Marcus being in love with someone else, but it did. A lot. Which was why it took her longer than it should have to realize he hadn’t actually said he loved his ex.

“Wait, you thought you did? So is that a yes or no?”

He frowned, shook his head. “No. I only loved the person I wanted her to be. But that wasn’t who she really was.”

“I know exactly how that is,” she said before she could catch herself.

“You do?”

Six months fell away in the span of two simple words from the sweetest man she’d ever known, and she knew if she talked about Kenny she’d probably end up crying all over him and making a complete idiot of herself.

“I do.”

He tipped his hand beneath her chin and made her face him. “Whoever he was, whatever he did to hurt you, he was the world’s biggest idiot.”