The Return of Antonides: Christmas at the Castello(9)

Besides, she did want to go sailing.

And with Lukas? Well, this had been Matt's idea. Not hers.

* * *

He was playing with fire. Lukas knew it.

But he'd never been one to play it safe. And he hadn't started this. It  had been Matt insisting that he take Holly to the prom. What should he  have done? Said no?

So he'd done it. He'd done everything Matt would have done-taken her to  dinner, danced every dance with her, put his arm around her in a  crowded restaurant to make more room for her friends. And if he had  heightened his own desire with every touch, well, he could see desire in  Holly, too.

He had seen the way she'd looked at him tonight. Her cheeks had been  flushed, her nipples had become hard pebbles beneath the midnight silk  she wore. Lukas was twenty years old, not a virgin. He knew something  about the response of women's bodies when they were aroused. Holly had  been aroused. By him. And God knew he was aroused by her.

He should take her home. She was Matt's girl. Not his. He had no right.  But what if she was making a mistake marrying Matt? What if she wasn't  as in love with Matt-as committed-as she believed she was?

Don't go there, Lukas told himself.

But he couldn't bring himself to take her home. He'd offered her a  sail. It wasn't betraying Matt to take her for a sail. Lukas put the car  in gear and headed toward the marina.

Halfway down the dark, narrow highway, Holly said, "I can't."

Lukas, shoulders tense, turned his head sharply. "Can't what?"

"Go sailing! How can I in this dress?"

He breathed a sigh of relief. "No problem. There's stuff on board.  Shorts, T-shirts. Jackets. You can wear something of Martha's. It'll be  fine."

She swallowed. "Oh. Well, good." She didn't sound wholly convinced.

Lukas expected she would find another reason to call a halt to things.  But as he kept driving, Holly was silent. She sat very still the rest of  the way.

The marina parking lot was virtually deserted, allowing him to park  next to the ramp leading to the dock. Some cars were still there because  people had taken their boats out for the weekend. But no one was  around. Lukas started to lead the way down the ramp, then realized that  Holly had to pick her way carefully because she was wearing high heels.

He went back and swept her up into his arms.

"Lukas!" She wriggled against him.

His half arousal went to full-on just like that. His jaw tightened. "You want me to drop you? Stop squirming!"

"I can walk," Holly protested.

No. He wasn't relinquishing her now. He strode down the ramp, getting a  faceful of hair and a breath of citrus shampoo for his effort. "Hold  still!"

"I am!"

She was. He was the one who was moving, causing her body to rub against  his. Lukas swallowed a groan. By the time they got to the boat and he  let her slide down his body to put her feet on the deck, he was in a  state of temptation and torture both. It was worse to let her go.

"Martha's stuff is below," he said gruffly, leading the way down to the  galley where he pointed to one of the tiny bunk rooms. "Put on a  bathing suit. We can go for a swim."

Holly looked at him, startled. "Swim?"

"There's a beach just on the other side of the shop." Lukas jerked his  head in that direction. "We've got a couple of hours to kill before it  starts to get light." He could think of other more pleasurable ways of  killing that time, but he knew better. He needed cold water. Lots of it.  Now.

He thought she would object, but after a second's hesitation, Holly nodded. "Good idea."

When she disappeared into one room, he went into the other and stripped  off his clothes, grateful for the cool night air on overheated skin.  Then he dragged on a pair of board shorts and went back up on deck where  he stood staring up at the sky, his body rock hard from a combination  of desire and tension, as he wondered again what the hell he was doing  with his best friend's girl.                       
       
           



       

"Just doing what he asked me to do," Lukas muttered aloud. Matt would  have kept her out all night, he reminded himself. It was what you did  after prom. It was a tradition. Matt wouldn't have taken her for a sail,  though. Matt had nothing to take her for a sail in.

No, Matt and Holly would have been doing something else entirely. Lukas  cracked his knuckles fiercely, trying to avoid thinking about Matt and  Holly making love when he so badly wanted to do it himself.

It was almost a relief when Holly climbed back up the steps. Except the  sight of her-even in Martha's sensible one-piece maillot-was enough to  cause his self-control to slip another notch. Even the fact that she had  a towel draped over her shoulders with the ends hanging down in front  shielding her breasts from view didn't help. Her long legs were bare and  tempting in the moonlight.

Lukas sucked in a breath and jumped back onto the dock without waiting  for her. "Come on," he said over his shoulder and headed back toward the  parking lot and the beach on the other side of the closed shop as fast  as he could.

The whole place was deserted. But the moon and the lights in the  parking lot illuminated the steps so that finding their way down to the  beach was easy enough. He walked ahead, needing the space, only stopping  to wait for her at the edge of the water.

She didn't come. Instead, when he looked back, Holly had spread her towel and was sitting down.

"Sunbathing?" Lukas, self-control fraying badly, couldn't keep the edge from his voice.

"Guess so." Holly pulled her knees up toward her breasts and wrapped  her arms around her shins. "Don't let me stop you. Go on in."

Lukas stared at her. What the hell was she playing at? Maybe she knew  he was coming undone and was giving him a wide berth. "Suit yourself,"  he growled. Then he turned and ran, flinging himself under the incoming  wave.

The shock of the cold Atlantic in the middle of an early May night had  the desired effect. By the time he broke the surface, he breathed a  little easier. A glance back told him that Holly had stood up and was  walking to the water's edge. He caught a glimpse of a long, lissome  shape in the moonlight. Then she began to run into the water. He heard a  shriek, then she dove under-and surfaced bare inches from him.

So much for dampened ardor. Lukas swallowed a groan.

"It's freezing!" Her teeth were chattering.

He resisted wrapping his arms around her. "You'll warm up. Come on.  Let's swim." He took off, swimming away from her as he'd always done,  never letting her catch him. And Holly swam after him.

Minutes passed. Half an hour. They did laps. They swam in lazy circles.  Lukas finally slowed a bit to allow her to come alongside where she did  the sidestroke, all the while keeping her eyes on him.

Lukas couldn't take his eyes off her. He should say something about  Matt. Something to deflect his awareness, but nothing deflected his  awareness of the girl swimming mere feet away. It reminded his fevered  brain of one of those nature films they had showed in school, the ones  that euphemistically described the mating rituals of exotic maritime  animals. Not a useful train of thought. But apparently the only train of  thought he had. It was all he could do not to reach for her.

"You're making me crazy," he muttered at last and abruptly turned to swim back toward the beach.

"What?" Holly sputtered. "What's wrong?" He could hear her splashing  after him, but he didn't wait. Lukas needed space. He needed distance.  He needed to stop wanting what he couldn't have. He didn't stop moving  until he was back on the boat.

Then he turned to see Holly hurrying up the beach and across the  parking lot after him, her towel wrapped around her shoulders. Her teeth  were chattering like castanets when she finally reached the boat.

"Why didn't you say you were cold?" Lukas demanded. "You can take a  shower." He slipped down the steps below deck and jerked open the door  to the head. "There's plenty of hot water. Lots of towels. Get warm,  I'll be on deck."

He changed swiftly into another pair of shorts and a sweatshirt,  resolutely ignoring the sound of the shower and his imagination's notion  of Holly's naked body beneath the spray. Instead, he made himself focus  on getting the boat ready to go. He was checking the mainsail when he  heard Holly's footsteps.

"What did you mean?" she said. Her voice was quiet.

He turned around then. She was wearing shorts and a baggy sweatshirt of  Martha's that hit her midhip. They had never struck him as remotely  sexy when Martha wore them. Put Holly in them and it was a different  story. Lukas crouched down, showing sudden interest in the mast again,  in case his interest in Holly was more obvious.