The Tycoon's Seductive Revenge(21)
“Cold shower, here I come.” He shed his clothes, did his morning routine and met Ellie on the palatial front porch of the hotel.
With a notepad and pen in hand, she paced the veranda in a hot little skirt and black high-heels heels. At a pillar, she stopped and leaned against it deep in thought, tapping the pen against her lips, biting the tip.
Carter stifled a groan. “Can we get on with this?”
When she glanced up, a dazzling smile lit her face. “Absolutely.”
Could she look more kissable? “What are you writing?”
“A list of things I need to have in place for the dinner tonight. We’re having guests—”
“The mayor and councilman. I heard.”
“Will you join us?”
Will there be powerful, wealthy men there eyeing her sexily? “Yeah, I’ll be there.”
“Great!” She made a check mark on her notepad, flipped it closed and slid it in her suit coat pocket. “Today I want to show you the stables.”
Carter’s expectations plummeted. “Don’t bother.”
“What do you mean?” She paused halfway down the stone steps.
“No investor’s going to keep the stables.”
Her amber eyes flashed. “Excuse me?”
At her show of feistiness, his attraction to her caught flame. He wanted to unleash this fiery passion more than anything. Instead he shrugged. “Any kind of expensive upkeep beyond the building itself is out of the question.”
“Have you even been horseback riding?”
“A long time ago. What I’m saying is—”
“You need a refresher course in the equestrian pastime.” She must have seen his next dismissal coming because she made an offer he couldn’t refuse. “We’ll ride together. Same horse, same view. I guarantee I can change your mind.”
The picture of them riding a horse together, him grinding against her backside as they galloped across the island, invoked endless naughty scenarios he’d like to fulfill with her. “Now all the sudden you want to get romantic and cozy?”
“Who said it was sudden?” The tiniest hint of a smile touched her lips.
“You’re on.” He strode toward her, arms stretched out to pull her to him.
But she slipped past him. “I need to change for this.”
His glance took in her mini skirt, light suit jacket, sexy high heels and silk camisole that barely hid her nipples from his view. “You look perfect to me.”
Undeterred, she rushed into the hotel. “I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll be right here,” he muttered.
Every nerve in his body drew tight, tingling with the need to have her. A hurricane couldn’t move him from that spot with the anticipation of being alone with Ellie riding a horse across the island. At any point he could lift her from the animal, pull her to the ground and act on the raging fantasies plaguing him.
Don’t . His mind threw up a red flag. This isn’t how it’s supposed to play out .
Well, damn his best-laid plans. He wanted Ellie with ferocious desire that threatened his sanity. And his health, he argued, since his heart raced painfully in his chest every time she came near him.
Logic battled back. W ill this make her need you again? Or will you end up needing her?
“Shit,” he cursed under his breath.
Carter would try desperately to hold off making love to Ellie. But his resistance was obscenely thin.
If she made a move on him, he knew he’d take it to the next level in a heartbeat. That didn’t mean he needed her. He just wanted her. So badly he could barely see straight.
“Ready,” her cheerful voice said behind him.
“Great,” he replied without enthusiasm. Let’s get the agony over with .
She patted his shoulder as she struck out toward the stables. “It won’t be that bad. I promise.”
The logistics of two riders taking the same horse took a few minutes to figure out. They settled on an extra-large saddle, one set of stirrups and the largest horse in the stables.
Ellie rubbed and kissed the downy nose of their chosen ride. “Bunny will do the job, right old girl?”
“Bunny.” Carter dropped the reins. “I’m riding a horse named Bunny. That runs completely against my manhood.”
She grinned. “Just kidding. It’s Buck. Bunny is his sister, but she’s pregnant and I don’t want to tax her.”
“You keep two horses in the stable?” That wasn’t so bad.
“Fourteen,” she corrected.
Carter nearly choked. The expense had to be astronomical. “If you’re cleaning bathrooms in your own hotel, how can you afford to keep fifteen horses?”
She slanted him a look. “Most of them belong to the wealthy islanders with summer homes on El Dorado Island. They pay us to tend to them.”