“Don’t worry, I’ll make you six foot three with black hair. No one will recognize you, least of all you. After all, I’d probably lose all credibility if I made my heroine five foot nothing.”
“Five foot one,” she said menacingly.
He grinned with a flash of white teeth in his tanned face—utterly charming. Suddenly, she had to know why he was paying her so much attention. “Why are you being so nice to me?”
“To be perfectly honest, I don’t know.” He paused and looked her up and down. “You’re certainly not my type,” he added, somewhat disparagingly.
“I noticed,” she said drily, and one corner of his lips quirked up with humor.
“No, you’re definitely not my usual type, but there’s something about you,” he mused. “Maybe I see you as a challenge, or maybe it’s an urge to see if I can get a rise out of you.”
“You mean you do it on purpose?” She sat up abruptly and narrowed her eyes at him. She’d been quite aware of how often he got a rise out of her—that it was totally premeditated on his part came as quite a shock. She hated the thought that he could manipulate her so easily.
“Well, you don’t think I’m this annoying normally, do you?” he asked.
“Actually, yes I did.” She smiled sweetly—well, as sweetly as she could manage under the circumstances.
“You have to admit, given our short acquaintance, that I do it extremely well.”
Trouble was, she couldn’t feel annoyed right now with the sun so warm on her skin. She sighed and lay back, ignoring the man at her side and enjoying the moment. Closing her eyes, she allowed the tension to drain away. She’d been so on edge, so worried for the future. But here in this beautiful place, overlooking the sea, she felt almost as if it were a timeout from real life.
As if in a dream, his shadow blocked out the sun. She kept her eyes closed, maintaining the pretense, as his lips came down softly on her own.
The moment had a feeling of inevitability, the sensations all mingled, the warmth of the sun, the residual caress on the sensitive skin of her thigh, those firm, sure lips moving purposefully against her own.
She’d been waiting for this since the last time he’d touched her. Now she relaxed, opened her eyes and her lips at the same time, and stared up at him as his hot, wet tongue slowly penetrated her. He deepened the kiss, stroking the inside of her mouth as the hard length of his body ground her own into the lounger and she gasped.
Zach stilled instantly. “Sorry,” he muttered. “You’re too small. I’ll squash you.”
He pushed himself up onto his elbows, then onto his feet, and Dani bit back a groan of dismay. She didn’t want him to stop. She wanted him to keep going, to carry her away in a sensual haze, so she wouldn’t have to think about the rights and wrongs. Wouldn’t have to consider that she was very likely making a huge mistake that she would regret forever.
Her thoughts were cut off as he picked her up easily and held her cradled against his chest, much as he had after she’d fallen. But now they were both nearly naked and the heat of his skin burned through the thin material of her swimsuit.
He stared down at her, a reckless shimmer in his eyes. “I’ve spent the last five days persuading myself that this is a really bad idea.” His lips curved into a slow smile. “To hell with that.”
He carried her through the doors and into the house and sank down onto the scarlet sofa with her still in his arms. After settling her in his lap, he pressed her down so she could feel the hardness of his erection against her bottom. The sensation shocked her. This was really going to happen.
Should she tell him she’d never actually done it before? No. It was no big deal and would spoil the mood. She had an inkling that he wouldn’t be pleased by the idea of her innocence. Though maybe “innocence” wasn’t the right word.
Besides, she didn’t want to stop.
Her breasts felt heavy, heat curled in her belly, and a little pulse throbbed between her thighs. She might never again get the chance to experience this. A once-in-a-lifetime encounter. Something to remember when she returned to real life.
His hands rubbed lazy circles on her back as though to soothe her, but she didn’t want to be soothed, and she turned her head and kissed the hot skin of his chest, flicked him with her tongue, tasting the tang of salt on his skin.
Zach groaned then lay back against the cushions, dragging her with him, so she sprawled across the lean length of him. Her face rested in the curve where the satin skin of his shoulder met his throat, and she inhaled deeply, filling her nostrils with his warm, masculine scent. She wriggled against him, loving the sensation of the friction against the tips of her breasts. They seemed to swell, become even more sensitive, and she wriggled some more.