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‘Look what I found on the beach is a great opener when the flotsam looks like Kris,’ Kimmie admitted.
She’d tried the conventional kind of relationship and look how that had turned out, Kimmie mused as Kris continued to talk easily to her friends. Perhaps it was time to try something different.
What? Now? Get real! And as if she’d get the chance!
But for someone who had spent most of her life dreaming, and putting those dreams down on paper and canvas, there was no harm in looking, as she watched Kris mingle and charm. He wasn’t predatory, and some of her single female friends were very pretty, nor was he condescending with the men. He was just a great guy...or he appeared to be. Perhaps he didn’t have an agenda and she was just being neurotic, but appearances could be deceptive, Kimmie thought as she remembered Mike.
Around half an hour in, Kris was ready to leave. ‘Do we have to go when you go?’ Kimmie asked, concern building as she noticed how much her friends had relaxed since he’d arrived. They’d been distracted from her troubles by something new, and she was grateful for that because now they could really enjoy themselves without forcing the fun for her sake.
‘Your friends don’t have to go,’ he said, ‘but you do.’
‘Me? I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying with my friends.’
‘Then you can all leave,’ Kris said flatly.
His tone was light and conversational, but the expression in his eyes said something different. ‘Come on,’ he prompted with a gesture.
Was she a puppy to be led away? She might be suffering the aftershock of betrayal, but she hadn’t lost her mind completely.
‘I’m not going anywhere,’ she assured him, digging her feet into the sand.
Of all the reactions she might have expected, an easy smile was not on the list. ‘Don’t you want to come with me?’
A host of forbidden pleasures flew into her mind, but she had the sense to discard all of them. She’d thought Mike was safe, and look what had happened. Kris didn’t even pretend to be the safe option, with that gladiator’s body, tattoos and a single small gold hoop in his ear. He was danger personified.
Wasn’t he exactly the type of distraction she needed right now? It seemed to work for her friends.
Because their emotions weren’t battered and bruised, she reasoned. Standing close enough to Kris to imagine the heat of his sun-warmed body embracing her was warning enough. Warm, clean, spicy—strong white teeth, Hollywood pristine, with the fire of the devil in his eyes? That was everything she didn’t need.
‘I thought you might like to talk some more,’ he said.
She ground her jaw. It wasn’t like her to be indecisive, but it wasn’t like her to take such an almighty risk, either.
‘We’ll just walk somewhere close by and talk,’ he suggested.
Talking was safe, she persuaded herself as they set off down the beach.
Yes, but why would he take the trouble to do that? ‘Where are we going?’
She turned to glance at her friends. They’d noticed her leaving the party, and they’d taken a pretty good look at Kris, who hadn’t even tried to hide himself away, so she felt reasonably confident that she could handle this as they started to climb up the dune.
‘Too fast for you?’ he asked, stopping to wait for her to catch up. With his black stare fixed on her face and his firm mouth curving faintly, Kris was quite a sight, and surely he had to know the havoc he was creating in her fastidiously prepared wedding day body?
She was glad for the chance to catch her breath. Maybe talking to a stranger like Kris would sort things out in her head. There was so much emotion roiling around inside her it was like having a lava plug waiting to blow.
‘Make like Scheherazade,’ Kris suggested, curbing a smile. ‘Keep me entertained and you’ll buy more time on the beach for your friends.’
‘As long as it’s only talking,’ she said warily.
‘Obviously.’
‘Okay then,’ she agreed as they set off again.
‘God, you’re annoying,’ she whispered under her breath as Kris’s smile broke through his reserve. So why was she still here? Because there was annoying and then there was Kris, Kimmie concluded as he held out a hand to haul her up the last few yards of the sand dune.
* * *
Kimmie’s resilience was something else. Stubborn to a fault, he’d never liked a pushover and she would push back. She was out of breath when they reached the top, so he waited before starting down the other side of the dune. Before they disappeared out of sight she shot one last look at her friends, as if to reassure herself they were still close by.
‘Some people might expect a jilted bride to sit at home sobbing,’ he observed, steadying her as she slithered down the slope.
‘But I’m not at home,’ she pointed out, ‘and I’ve got guests to entertain.’
‘You’ve succeeded, as far as I can tell, so stop beating yourself up.’
‘Who says I’m doing that?’
‘I believe I did.’
‘So I can’t hide anything from you?’ she queried with a lift of her finely drawn brow.
‘No,’ he said flatly, ‘so don’t even try.’
He led the way to one of nature’s indentations in the sand. ‘This will do,’ he said. ‘Feel free to unburden yourself.’
‘Just talking,’ she said again with a warning look.
‘There’s nothing else on the table,’ he assured her.
Who are you, just Kimmie? he wondered. And where did you learn to stand up for yourself like this? The unicorn inked on her shoulder backed up her story of being an artist, a creative, a dreamer, and not his type at all. He went for older, more experienced women who knew the score. They used him as he used them, for sex and pleasurable outings, no strings attached on either side.
‘I am going to pull you up on something,’ she said as they settled down in the dip of sand.
‘Only one thing?’ he murmured dryly, starting to get the hang of Kimmie’s thinking.
‘Yes. If you read the small print on the sign, it describes this area as a wildlife reserve accessible only by permission of the owner, so what are you doing here?’
‘I have permission but, unfortunately, not on me at this moment.’
‘As I can see,’ she said, cheeks pinking up as she pointedly avoided looking at his almost naked body. ‘It just doesn’t seem fair that you can come here and we can’t.’
‘Change the subject,’ he said.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I’m bored with that topic.’
‘Oh, well, I’m very sorry about that—’ She gasped as he caught hold of her. ‘And what are you doing now?’
Staring into her eyes, he held her just far enough away for Kimmie to imagine he was going to kiss her. She was romantic enough to believe it and that could be useful if he decided to progress this. Thinking about his uncle’s diktat that Kris should find a bride fast, it was hard not to laugh out loud. He couldn’t imagine his uncle had someone like Kimmie in mind. Bright, independent and very much with a mind of her own, he doubted she’d see much merit in marrying him.
Marrying him?
What the hell was he thinking now? He didn’t know her well enough. Yes, he could get to know her, and he had no doubt that would make his uncle happy. Succession planning, Theo Kaimos had said before Kris left Athens for Kaimos. It’s time you stopped tomcatting around and found yourself a d
ecent woman. Kris didn’t want to disappoint the man who’d brought him up like a son, but he had pointed out that the type of woman his uncle had in mind didn’t just drop out of the sky.
Maybe they washed up on a beach?
Dismissing that thought, he turned his attention back to Kimmie.
* * *
Kris hadn’t kissed her, and now she felt such a fool because she’d been so sure he was going to. Worse, she’d been going to let him. Her emotions were all over the place. Was she destined to be a victim of circumstance forever, or would she grab hold of life again at some point and drive forward?
‘Where are you going?’ Kris asked as she stood up.
‘Back to my friends.’
‘But we haven’t started talking yet.’
‘Maybe I’ve changed my mind.’
‘And maybe you shouldn’t do that.’
He sprang up too, and his hands were gentle on her shoulders. Just for a moment she wanted to sink into that feeling. It felt so good to have someone strong who might actually listen to what she had to say, someone who might take hold of her if or when she was falling. But that was another fantasy, though this was what she’d been longing for all day, a quiet place and a chance to think things through. Getting away from people who knew her too well was actually a relief. However hard her friends tried to hide it, she knew they felt sorry for her and the last thing she needed was pity. What she needed was to work things out, get back on her feet, and get back out there fighting. Her plan to dance wildly and party like a demon until the sight of Mike and Janey going at it like rabbits had been ejected from her head was pathetic, and wouldn’t have helped. It would just have made her feel worse.
And this wasn’t a mistake? Kimmie thought as Kris’s customary rock-hard expression softened a little in a way that suggested he might kiss her when he judged the moment right. Naturally her body thought this was a great idea, and only common sense was left behind.
