Suddenly Sexy(28)

He still thought she was a nerd. He'd practically said so. What a way to insult a woman on a date! She thought she'd changed since high school, but apparently she hadn't. She might be older but she was still unmarried, childless, in the same job since college and she was still a nerd.

God, she sounded boring, even to herself. She might as well carry a calculator in her pocket and wear bottle-thick glasses.

It was a stark reminder that in no way would Sam date a nerd. Not for real. Not without the intervention of Pheramour.

She sighed and glanced at him, but he was lost in thought, paddling slowly back towards the bank. She'd give a million dollars to know what he was thinking. Then again, maybe she was better off not knowing. Her ego was fragile enough.

Sam couldn't think. The image of Maddie's perfectly round, plump breasts was imprinted on his brain. He closed his eyes and the weight of warm, full flesh filling his palm helped make the image three dimensional, and very, very real. Wow, she was an amazing woman.

He opened his eyes and glanced at her. Her arms were still crossed firmly over her chest and steam practically rose from her ears. Probably now wasn't a good time to complement her on her figure. Her luscious figure that swelled in all the right places.

Damn, he could kick himself. He shouldn't have tried to get her into the water, and he shouldn't have let those kids get so close.

He half smiled. If he saw them again, he'd have to thank them. They'd got her all wet and it wasn't his fault. Not really. He frowned. So was she annoyed at him or just annoyed at the world in general, especially teenage boys? Or maybe the teenaged boy he’d once been.

He blew out a breath. Women were so complicated. Why couldn't they be like men? Men only thought about three things—sport, sex and food. Not necessarily in that order but all three at once was a universal fantasy.

Something bugged Maddie and not just that she was all wet. Something else, something that held her back whenever things got hot and heavy between them. And that bugged him. Was it to do with ending their relationship? Was this a relationship?

He didn't have a clue. She'd already implied she wasn't interested in dating him exclusively, so maybe that was his answer. She wanted to see other guys. Maybe she already was.

His chest constricted and he sucked in a breath in an attempt to alleviate the pressure. He didn't want to share her with other men. Maybe he should've mentioned that.

He glanced at her. She was really hot, and smart and funny, and cute even when she was mad. Men must be falling over themselves to be with her, so it wasn't surprising she didn't want to be exclusive. Maybe he could learn to share, if that's what she really wanted. At least that way he'd get to keep seeing her.

Then again, maybe not. He wouldn’t share, not her, not ever. Nope. She was his. She just didn’t know it yet.

He touched her arm. "Maddie? You okay?"

She still had her arms crossed over her chest. Probably just as well. They were approaching the bank—their time was up—and she was still damp. He didn't want other men ogling her. There'd already been too much of that today. He was the only one allowed to ogle those beauties.

She looked sexy with her hair tumbling down her back, her flimsy skirt and stretchy T-shirt barely hiding a figure that made his groin ache. When they’d been walking through the market, nearly every man between the age of eighteen and eighty had taken a second look.

"I'm fine," she said.

Yeah right. She was very far from fine. She was still fuming. He could almost hear her teeth grinding.

"I'm sorry, Maddie." If only he knew what he was sorry for...

She sniffed and turned away. Okay, so she didn't want to talk about it. Maybe later.

He docked the boat and jumped out. He went round to her side to help her out but she was already striding off. He jogged after her.

"I'll take you home," he said, not sure what else to say.

She didn't answer.

The hot sun had almost dried her, but that didn't improve her mood. Sam half expected thunder and dark clouds to follow them but it was sunshine all the way. Somehow it didn't seem right.

They drove in silence. At her place, he got out of the car and followed her to her front door but she spun round and blocked his entrance.

"See you round," she said and slammed the door. On his foot.

He howled and swore, probably louder than he needed to, but it got the desired result. She quickly reopened the door and touched his thigh. "Oh, Sam, are you all right? I'm so sorry."

"It'll be better if you let me in."

She withdrew her hand and glared back at him. "Look, it was a nice day. Sort of. Let's just leave it at that."

He was getting the brush off. He hadn't had the brush off since...ever. It hurt. It was also confusing. What had he done wrong?