Her gaze met his. “Let me go.”
He uncurled his fingers from around her wrist but kept his palm to her back. His earthy, spicy scent from his morning run filled her head, reminding her of far too many hot, sweaty encounters with the man who held her. She took it as a warning, channeling a Zen place she didn’t even remotely feel as she curved her fingers into his powerful biceps for balance.
She stood on her toes, pressed her lips to his firm, beautiful mouth in a light pressure that was in no way threatening, then pulled back.
“There.”
Amusement glittered in his eyes. “Try a real kiss, Diana.”
She swallowed the urge to claw his eyes out instead. He was such a bastard. He wouldn’t kiss her that night in his bed, but now she was supposed to kiss him without emotion?
She took a deep breath and focused on the sensuous curve of his mouth that had always fascinated her. A man with a mouth made for kissing had been her initial impression of him, and it hadn’t steered her wrong. Coburn loved to kiss. He used to make out with her for the better part of an evening when they’d worked together on the sofa, before finally carrying her to bed. That was why when he’d refused to kiss her that night, it had felt like a total and complete rejection of everything she was...
Blanking her mind to the low, tight pain that tugged at her insides, she caught his lower lip between her teeth and tugged. It might have been a bit more punishment than pleasure, but he played along, opening up for her. She slid her mouth against his, this time in a caress meant to stimulate. His hand pressed firmer against her back as he gathered her into him, returning the kiss with a steady pressure that signaled his complete acquiescence. She stiffened at the contact, because wasn’t she supposed to be the one in control here? But then again a kiss involved two people, so she had to be okay with that.
Except then the weight of his solid, thickly muscled thigh moved between hers, the power of his corded muscles far too stimulating...
A few more seconds, she told herself, not about to be the one to cut this off so he could accuse her of reneging on their deal. She cupped his jaw in her fingers and dragged her mouth across the sexy contours of his, taking back control of the kiss. He felt like heaven, that was the problem. The soft, seductive, expert caress he gave back was one only Coburn knew how to give, as if he had all the time in the world to seduce her. It was everything she’d wanted when he’d taken her that night in his apartment, every bit of reassurance she’d craved that he was as much under her spell as she was under his.
It shattered her. Sucked her into a maelstrom of emotion she didn’t want to feel—memories of how very good they had been together when it had just been them worshipping how they made each other feel. How nothing could touch her when she was in Coburn’s arms because he was a part of her.
His palm at her back urged her closer into the V of his hard thighs. Deeper and harder the kiss went. When he urged her lips apart with the pressure of his and his tongue sought hers, she moved toward him, sliding her tongue along his in an unhurried, erotic movement she knew he liked. A shudder went through his big body. “That’s it, baby,” he murmured. “More.”
A shiver rocked through her. The way she could make him feel made her feel a little too invincible. Soothed the raw edges he’d left the night he’d set out to prove he didn’t care. Because it made him a liar as much as her.
She fitted her hips to his and rocked against his blatant arousal. The feel of him rubbing against her through the thin barrier of her silk robe sent a bolt of electricity to her toes. The taste of him, that essence that was distinctly Coburn, captivated her, enticed her on, his low growl into her mouth as he palmed her buttocks and held her still pulling a whimper from her throat.
The sound brought her crashing back to reality. She tore her mouth from his and flattened a palm against his chest. “No.”
He let her go. As if he’d made his point. Her gaze landed on his lust-infused blue one. On the rise and fall of his chest as he struggled to get his reactions under control. She bit back the confusion raging through her, threatening to bubble out of her, but it was too late. The satisfaction glittering in his eyes told her he already knew.
“You see,” he rasped, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth, “that is what I am talking about. When you crawl inside of me and it’s so real it’s like you are inside of me, Diana. Tell me you will share that with someone else... Tell me you think it can get better.”
She couldn’t. She could not deny it when she felt so lost.
“Take me home,” she said quietly. “We can work this out, but take me home.”
“No.” He crossed his arms over his chest, his expression hard and implacable. “This is where we learn to sacrifice for the greater good. We leave our selfishness at the door and give our child the future he or she deserves. And the first step of making that happen is learning to understand each other because we clearly never did.”
She stared at him, knowing on some level he was right, but afraid to admit it. Afraid what this might mean for her sanity to try again with Coburn...
His mouth flattened at her continued silence. “I’ve had clothes put in your closet, including a bathing suit. I suggest you put one on while you think about doing the right thing. I have some cooling off to do.”
Her gaze dropped to his rampant masculinity straining against the confines of his shorts. It should have made her feel better to know he’d been as caught up in that as she had. Instead, she felt confused and on the verge of tears. She swallowed the feeling of helplessness that invaded her as she watched him walk away, so familiar and yet such a stranger to her now.
Her mind was too full to think, the late-morning sun already so hot the silk robe was sticking to her body like a glove. She wanted to thumb her nose at Coburn, to protest by going to her room and staying there, but the thought of being inside instead of on the breezy beach was intolerable. It seemed there was no way out of here.
She put on one of the bikinis hanging in the closet in her room, grabbed a protein shake from the well-stocked refrigerator in the kitchen and went down to the beach. A perfect stretch of golden sand stretched in front of the cottage, bounded by two high cliffs that rose in a dramatic collage of crashing waves, sparkling sun and rough-hewn rock. It was a view that must have cost its owner millions.
She wondered what Arthur Kent would think if he knew Coburn was holding her prisoner here. Would he care? Or would he bow down to the Grant influence as everyone else on this godforsaken earth did?
Frustration seared her bones. She stalked past Coburn, who was just a blip in the turquoise water, his powerful arms cutting a path through the sea far out in the breakers. Who did he think he was? He could not do this to her. And yet he was.
She kept walking until she reached the end of the cove. Stowing her empty protein shake on a rock, she went for a dip in the sea. The warm water slipped over her limbs like a silken gift from heaven. Something like sanity returned as she flipped over on her back and floated on the waves. She stayed there for a long time, her negative emotions draining away with the lull of the surf and the sun.
A villa sat perched on top of the cliff, sparkling in the sunlight, looking so ethereal surrounded by the clouds it brought to mind a house of the gods straddling the earth and heavens. Did it belong to Arthur Kent? It certainly would be the view she’d choose.
Perhaps Coburn would introduce her to their hosts when they returned on the weekend. If she hadn’t found a way to do smoke signals and get herself rescued before then...
Her mouth curved. At last finding something amusing about her intolerable situation, she pulled herself out of the water and went to sit on a big rock to dry off. Leaning back on her palms, she contemplated the endless horizon of blue. Allowed herself to consider what Coburn was proposing. She couldn’t deny reconciling with him and bringing up their baby together would provide the optimal environment for their child. Studies had shown that children were better off in families with parents who stayed together as long as the situation between the couple was on a reasonably agreeable footing. What changed that prognosis was when the relationship became toxic; when the environment was more harmful to the child’s well-being than beneficial. Then a couple was better off separating.
She thought about what Beth had said about her and Coburn. That sometimes the most passionate relationships were the ones that burned out the brightest because of the intensity of the emotion involved. It was so true for them. They had never had a middle ground. It had always been highs and lows: one minute they were completely wrapped up in each other, the next they were at each other’s throats.
Because they had refused to compromise. Coburn had been right about that. They had both been too selfish, too wrapped up in their own desires to want to give.
She closed her eyes against the brilliant power of the sun. As altruistic as she’d like to believe her work, as much as she hadn’t had any choice in the crazy hours her residency had demanded, she had a choice now. Surgeons had families. They made it work. Yes, having a baby put a dent in your career. No matter what the Pollyanna types liked to say, motherhood slowed your ascent up the ladder. She’d heard male doctors make comments in the surgeon’s lounge about dilettante mothers who didn’t take their careers seriously. There was a stigma about it in the still-chauvinistic surgical community.