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They weren’t lovers. They weren’t even friends. They were boss and employee.
And she wasn’t entitled to the secrets of his soul, no matter how much she wanted to hear them.
No wonder he was a workaholic. He’d learned to channel all of his passion, enjoyment, and feeling into his business—since he’d lost what had satisfied him before.
The one loss seemed to have reshaped his whole life. Now the only thing he was willing to genuinely invest in was his work, his company.
He wasn’t even willing to invest in an intimate relationship.
She’d sensed this in him before, but not with such clarity. It made her feel heavy, poignant, aching.
It was just wrong for him to cut himself off from everything else, even something he loved to do as much as surf.
He took her half-eaten slush from her hand when they reached the boardwalk again, so she could brush off her feet and put her shoes back on. Then they walked silently back to the car.
Jake threw away his empty cup, while Anne tried to finish her slush quickly.
He stood watching her with a sober expression, a sheen of perspiration on his skin and his tie just slightly loosened.
“I didn’t mean to be rude back there,” he said at last, as she finished her last sip.
She tossed her cup in the trashcan. “I know. I didn’t think you were.” She sighed as she walked back to the car, where he was waiting by the passenger door. “I just thought you didn’t want to talk to me about it.”
She wasn’t looking at his face, since she was feeling self-conscious again. She was staring at his tie.
It bothered her unduly. Why the hell did he have to wear a tie on a road trip, anyway? Couldn’t he at least have taken his jacket and tie off on the way to San Diego?
She heard him let out a hoarse breath. “It’s not that I don’t want to talk to you, Anne. It’s that it’s hard for me to talk about it at all.”
“I know.” She was so full of emotion and so aware of his presence, just a few inches away, that she was almost shaking. She was still staring at his tie. “I just don’t like for you to not have the things you love in your life.”
She didn’t phrase that quite right. It sounded far too intimate. She felt him stiffen, although she still couldn’t bring herself to look up at his face.
She added, “Surfing, I mean.”
“I know what you meant.” His voice was very low now, very guttural.
She wanted to look him in the eyes, touch him, kiss him. She wanted it so deeply that her hands were trembling with the urge. Because she was so overwhelmed, she couldn’t think clearly. She just needed to distract herself.
So she started to undo his tie, loosening it enough to unknot it. “There’s no reason for you to wear the tie on this trip. It has to be uncomfortable.” She was babbling, but she couldn’t stop herself. “And why don’t you take off your jacket, too?”
He didn’t resist as she slid off his tie and then reached for his suit jacket and pulled it off his shoulders. But he said, “Anne, it doesn’t really matter—”
“It does matter. You don’t have to be uncomfortable on the whole drive. I don’t understand why you think you do.” She opened the back door of the SUV and spread out of his jacket so it wouldn’t get too wrinkled. Then she laid his tie on top of it.
She was aware that he was staring at her, but she still couldn’t stop rambling on. “You’re allowed to be comfortable, you know. You don’t always have to wear this stupid—”
“Anne.” Just the one word. Not even loud or authoritative. It was almost gentle.
But it stopped her completely.
She straightened up again and tilted her head to look him in the eye.
She was already breathless, but she stopped breathing completely when she saw the look in his eyes.
Understanding. Hunger. Need. Desire. Passion. All of it. Palpable in his eyes.
She reached out for him without thinking, responding only to what she saw in his expression.
Then he was kissing her. And she was kissing him back.
He pushed her backward against the car, protecting her with a hand spanning the curve of her head. His mouth devoured her—nothing gentle or mild about the passion with which his lips and tongue moved against hers.
