A Little Harmless Addiction(22)

He bit out each word. She could hear the desire threading every word.

She drew in a deep breath. “I’m sorry.” She closed her eyes as shamed washed over her. She didn’t need to be acting like this, like some kind of ass.

“Hey.” His voice had gentled. She opened her eyes.

He cupped her face. “I want you. But like I said there are complications.”

Pain and sorrow twisted in her chest. “I’m a basket case.”

He shook his head. “That isn’t so much of a problem, unless you mean by basket case you are going to go all Glenn Close on me and boil rabbits.”

She snorted. “Not hardly. I have issues, but I am not a psycho.”

He nodded. “And when you’re ready to talk about them, you let me know. But the complications I’m talking about are our families. We’re sort of entangled with May working for Chris. And I would hate to ruin a new friendship because we jumped into bed right away.”

She should be grateful, but something inside of her was irritated. She squashed it. She knew she wasn’t ready, knew that it could end up as a disaster if she tried.

“Now,” he said, brushing his mouth over hers again. The simplicity of the kiss stirred more than lust. It had her heart quivering. “I have to go before all my good intentions are forgotten.”

With that he opened the door. “How about dinner tomorrow night? My house.”

“Safety in numbers?”

He smiled and she fought back a shiver.

“Hey, a guy has to be careful. Plus, I think my granddad has a crush on you.”

She laughed. “Your grandfather has a crush on Dee. What time?”

“Six?”

She nodded. “Thanks again for the wonderful day.”

He said nothing more as he shut the door and left her alone. She heard the car start up and drive away as she collapsed on the sofa. She leaned her head back against the pillows and closed her eyes. Damn, the man was lethal. Hot enough to burn her up, and just about sweet enough to make her melt.

She waited for the self-hatred to crash in on her. Ever since her issues with Greg, even thinking about a date had left her feeling lower than scum. Dr. Sawyer had helped her understand that none of it was her fault. Logically, she had known it. All of the gentle counseling she had been through had apparently worked. The guilt didn’t come this time. This time, the only thing she felt was the fading hum of arousal and the knowledge that if she had a chance to go to bed with Kai Aiona, she would definitely do it.





Chapter Five



“What bug’s up your butt?” Vince asked.

Kai barely bit back a growl. But they had passengers coming on board. He was ready to explode. All day long Kai had been a pain in the ass, griping, bitching and snarling at everyone. And he knew the reason.

Jocelyn.

He never knew he possessed the kind of control he’d had last night. He had been within a second of talking her into bed. And he could have done it. He had been with enough women to know that she wanted it. But he felt she might have wanted it for the wrong reasons. And that had never really bothered him before Keisha.

“Hey, boss, why don’t I take over the tour today?”

He nodded and said nothing else. He knew his crew was confused. Hell, he was confused. He didn’t get tied up in knots over a woman he had just met. But he was. She had one of those soulful smiles that knocked him in the gut, and he knew when he got her into bed, that he wouldn’t probably want to leave it for a week.

As he went through the preparations for the cruise, he started to think over his attraction, his need for Jocelyn. He knew better than to get involved with a woman who was hurting, who needed someone to prop her up. Keisha had been like that. Hell, a lot of women he’d dated had been like that. But until Keisha, it hadn’t hurt when she decided to go on her merry way. She had told him two days before she moved back to the mainland. Two days. They had been dating for a couple of months, old high school sweethearts who had started dating again, and he had thought it would be fun to get to know the grown-up version. The problem was she had entangled him. He had been close to discussing moving in together when she’d told him she was moving back to the mainland.

Damn, he didn’t want to deal with that again. Didn’t want to deal with the fact he knew that Keisha was now back with the abusive boyfriend she had been dating before they met. And he couldn’t even blame her for using him. The truth was, until this year, he had never had a problem with it. He was known for mending broken hearts. But after Keisha… Well, he hadn’t dated another woman since.

“You need to watch your temper around the crew,” Vince admonished.