She flashed him a smile that didn't reach her eyes. “Don't be. It's not your fault that the board of directors thinks I'm borderline incompetent, and it's not your fault Chris decided to help me”―she held her hands up crooked her fingers in air quotes―“by hiring you behind my back.”
“That's not what I'm talking about and you know it,” he said, stepping closer, close enough to catch the scent of her, soft, floral, and all woman. “I owe you an apology for how I ended things between us. I said things to you that were unforgivable, things I didn't mean―”
“Don't.” She spat the word out in a harsh whisper. Her face had gone cold and pale as marble, her full lips thinned to a tight line. “I don't want your apologies, or any other reminders of my own stupidity. If this is going to work at all, you're going to do exactly what I did and forget anything ever happened.”
“Carla―“
“Oh come on,” she said with a laugh, having recovered some of her bravado. “Sure your sudden appearance caught me off guard, and I'd prefer not to be stuck working less than fifteen feet away from you. But do you really think I'm still hung up on a stupid summer fling we had when I was eighteen? It was nothing. I was over it by the time you left the lake.”
If that was true―and he seriously doubted it―then she'd been in a hell of a lot better shape than he'd been in. “It wasn't nothing,” he protested.
“It was less than nothing,” she said. She put her palms on her desk and leaned forward, her dark eyes narrowed in a fierce glare. “As you were so careful to point out, we were just hooking up. How significant could it be?”
Chapter 3
Carla snuggled further under the blanket as the cool night breeze ruffled through her hair. The lights of the Las Vegas strip glimmered in the distance, but here, in the middle of the Nevada desert with an ocean of stars shining brightly above them, it felt like she and Sam were a world away from their lives in the suburbs surrounding the hustle and bustle of the strip.
“I've never seen so many stars,” she whispered, in awe of the lightshow sparkling above them. “At home there's too much ambient light from the strip to see them clearly, but out here you can see everything.”
“Mm hmm.” She felt a tickling sensation low in her belly as Sam slid a leanly muscled arm around her waist and pulled her closer. She shivered as he brushed her hair over her shoulder and nuzzled his mouth into her neck, kissing and sucking in a way that made her go hot and shaky all over,
“I can see Scorpio,” she said, trying to pretend she wasn't going crazy inside. “And Cassiopeia.” Her breath caught and her eyes fluttered closed as Sam's teeth closed over her earlobe followed by a soft flick of his tongue against the tender skin.
Before Sam, she'd never known it could feel so good to have her neck and ears kissed. She sighed and arched her neck back to give him better access.
“I know where you can find the Big Dipper,” he murmured and pulled her hand down to the front of his jeans.
“Stop it,” she said in an embarrassed whisper and snatched her hand away. Still, the feel of him, the hot, hard thickness of him felt seared into her palm.
Sam let out a low chuckle and pushed her down into the blanket. He kneed her legs apart and settled in between, fitting him to her so she could feel him there, hot and hard. He rocked his hips, making her gasp at the friction.
His mouth covered hers, his tongue thrust between her lips to slide against hers. Carla threaded her fingers through his thick, dark hair and drank him in. There was nothing she didn't love about kissing Sam.
Unlike the other boys she'd fooled around with before, Sam knew exactly what he was doing with his lips and tongue. Maybe it was because he was three years older.
Or maybe it was all the experience he'd had up until now...
She sucked his tongue into her mouth and shoved the thought from her mind. Sam was with her now, as he had been from the second night the summer employees had shown up for work at the Lake Mead Resort and Marina.
Carla had seen the way all the other girls had looked at him. She knew he could have taken his pick. But from the moment she'd arrived he'd set his sights on her. Carla had known him both by reputation and through his friendship with her cousin Chris, but until this summer Sam O'Connell had barely given her the time of day.
But now...
A little sound of pleasure escaped her throat as she felt Sam rub right up against her most sensitive spot. She widened her knees and rocked back, feeling a thrill shoot through her at his answering groan.
“One of these nights,” Sam said between soft, sucking kisses, “you're going to let me do this with your clothes off.”