Two if by Sea by Marie Carnay Page B

up at him, full of innocence and trust, and he knew he was a fool. She wanted to know what they were like? What sort of dirty, nasty things they did when she wasn’t around?
    Fine. He’d show her.
    One foot inside the club and she’d run back to her room, cheeks as red as her hair. No way would she want them. No way would she see past the spectacle.
    He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the door. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He tossed it open and strode into the darkness, Daphne’s fingers gripping his own.
    “Where are we going?”
    “You’ll see.” He pulled her past the bar and the people mingling in the dim light. Past the rooms with closed doors and the couples in the shadows.
    The hallway opened into a wide room. “Welcome to the bedroom.”
    “The what?” Daphne squeezed his hand and he had half a mind to shove her out into the middle and let her figure it out on her own.
    Circular beds dotted the space. Filled with pillows and draped in gauzy curtains it was hard to make them out at first. A gasp from beside him told Tony that she had figured it out.
    “It’s an orgy.” Her words came out short and clipped.
    “Yes, it is.” The more his eyes adjusted, the more bodies he could see. People in various states of undress. Legs. Arms. Cries of pleasure. Most of the beds were filled with the sights and sounds of sex.
    On the bed closest to them, two women kissed. A man groped them both. Everyone was naked and aroused and lost in their own moment. It was primal. Enticing.
    Daphne let go of his hand.
    “Have you seen enough?”
    She stepped further into the room.
    “Daphne?”
    “Everyone’s so free. Uninhibited.”
    “That’s what the Stardust is all about. Losing your inhibitions. Taking a break from your real life and giving into your wants.”
    She ran a finger over her lower lip. “Needs.”
    Tony swallowed. Was she…turned on? He inched closer. “Yes.”
    Daphne turned to him, eyes wide and dilated. “I take it you come here?”
    He nodded.
    “With Damon?”
    “Yes.”
    “And women?”
    “Usually.”
    A moan eased into the silence and Daphne bit her lip.
    “Now do you believe me?”
    “About what?”
    “That we’re not good enough for you. That you would never want what we are.” He motioned to the room. “What we do.”
    Daphne stepped toward him and placed a hand on his chest. “Whatever it is you’re trying to do here, it isn’t working. I’ve seen a million times worse than this.” She shook her head. “The things my clients do and cover up…sometimes it makes me sick.”
    Tony frowned. “Do we?”
    “No!” She twisted his shirt in her hand. “Don’t you get it? I’m not disgusted or shocked or any of it. I should be! God knows I should have slapped you the minute you kissed me and demanded to leave.”
    He shouldn’t ask, but he was a glutton for punishment. “What’s stopping you?”
    She paused, fingers wrapped in his shirt, breath hot and fast through her open mouth. “You and Damon. I can’t explain it. I don’t want to. But every time you touch me…” She shivered.
    Tony reached out and trailed his fingers down her cheek. Daphne leaned into his hand.
    “Tell me.”
    “The person inside of me—the one I keep hidden behind a wall—she breaks free. I come alive.”
    Daphne rose up on her toes, her face hovering in front of his. “I don’t know what I’m doing and I don’t know what I’ll want when this cruise is over, but don’t shut me out. Not now. Not when we still have time.”
    Her lips melted into his and Tony stopped fighting. To hell with the future. Daphne was more woman than he could ever hope to deserve and she was offering herself up to him and Damon. They couldn’t turn her away out of fear.
    She wanted to spend the rest of the week tangled up in bed together? He could oblige. They had ten right in front of them and private rooms around the corner.
    He swiped his tongue across hers before breaking their kiss to whisper