He shook his head. “I’m not interested in Serenity.”
“Not how it looked from the bar.” And she was back to studying her nails.
“You were jealous.”
She stiffened in outrage and glared at him for good measure. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes, you do.” He dropped one hand to her thigh and relished the feel of her sun-warmed skin, bared by her white shorts.
She shivered and tried to scoot to one side, but his other arm wrapped around her waist held her exactly where he wanted her. He continued to stroke her thigh and felt the tremble shaking her slide under his own skin, as well.
Surrounded by guests enjoying the beach, Rico felt as if he and Teresa were alone. Only the two of them in this moment. And hell, it would have been much easier on him if they had been alone. Then he could just stretch her out on the sand, strip her clothes off and give in.
“You are lying again. To me. To yourself.”
She huffed out a breath and squirmed on his lap, which only served to make him harder and her more aware of it. Instantly, she stilled. “What do you want to hear, Rico?”
“The truth,” he said, in a direct challenge. “That you didn’t like seeing that woman with me.”
She laughed, but the sound lacked her usual musical quality and came off as strained instead. “If I were the jealous type, the last five years of seeing your picture in magazines and newspapers, always with a different woman, would have drummed that right out of me.”
“So you tell yourself. And yet…”
Teresa took a breath, slanted her eyes to his and murmured, “Fine. I didn’t like the way she was pawing at you. Heck, she was practically drooling. Happy now?”
Short answer was yes. A longer answer would take more time. At least a couple of hours. In his bed. Even his taste for revenge was muted by the fire inside him. All he wanted, all he could think about, was getting her naked and—if he didn’t stop thinking about it he’d never be able to walk out of the bar.
Reluctantly, he relaxed his hold on her and she quickly got to her feet. She looked down at him and her eyes were bright, her mouth parted as her breath came fast and hard. He caught one of her hands in his and rubbed his thumb across her knuckles. She pulled her hand free a moment later and he allowed it.
“I’ll see you back at the house,” he said quietly. “One hour.”
She swallowed hard and suddenly looked just a little…anxious. “Rico—”
“One hour, Teresa. Then we settle this between us.”
She gave him a brief nod, then moved back to the bar. Alone, Rico stared out at the sea, trying to empty his mind of every wicked thought and desire that raced through it. What he needed was a cold shower, but what he wanted was more heat. Teresa’s heat. The fire he had only ever experienced with her.
And soon he would have it.
Six
Teresa was standing on his bedroom terrace when he arrived. The tropical breeze smelled of saltwater and flowers. The sound of the ocean was like a heartbeat in the distance and the dappled shade from the surrounding trees danced and shifted with the wind that lifted her hair from her shoulders in soft waves.