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Did she sense a little male jealousy in that question? No, just her imagination. "Hardly. I never date other faculty members."
"Why not?"
"I already told you. I couldn't...do what I do with you with any of them."
"Again, why not?"
She sighed. "Not conducive to tenure to get caught fucking one of the other professors. Besides, what if I started dating one of my colleagues, and it led to sex? Then what am I supposed to do, suggest we engage in a little mutual masturbation or voyeurism? Come on, Michael, be realistic. My tastes sexually run to the, uh, unusual. I'm not a plain vanilla kind of woman."
"Thank God," he said, those intense blue eyes penetrating her defenses.
One of the things she loved most about him was his appreciation for her sexual appetite. He didn't find her desires bizarre at all. "There you have it. I couldn't enjoy a boring sexual routine with a man, and I certainly won't reveal my true nature to anyone where I live."
He graced her with a boyish grin. "So, you're kinda stuck between a rock and no hard place, then."
She giggled at his pun. "You could say that."
Michael put the laptop on the table and approached her, lifting the paperwork off her lap.
She pulled down the nightshirt where it had ridden up her thighs, her body heating when Michael yanked it back up her legs again. He settled in next to her and took her hands in his.
"Serena, how will you ever be happy?"
What kind of question was that? She didn't want to think about happiness. "I am happy."
"Are you?"
"Yes." She wasn't lying. Right now, with him, she was as happy as she'd ever been.
"What about when you go back to Kansas? What then?"
"Then my life resumes, same as it was before I came here."
"And that'll be enough for you?"
Did she have a choice? "It'll have to be."
"That doesn't make sense," he said, leaning back and running his fingers through his hair.
She sensed his frustration, but didn't understand it. Why would he even care how she lived her life, or what happened to her after she left the resort? They weren't involved and never would be.
"What doesn't make sense? That I choose to live my life a certain way, and that you might not agree with it?"
"I think you're hiding. I think you refuse to make the necessary changes in your life so you'll be happy."
She crossed her arms, not liking at all the way the conversation had turned. Why couldn't he just let things be? "Leave it alone, Michael. I've lived this way for years, and it works for me."
He stood and paced the room. "It works for you. No dating, no relationship, no romance. The only sex you get is what you do yourself. That is, until you save up enough money to come to a place like this and let a stranger fuck your brains out for a week. Is that really what you want? Is that the map for the rest of your life?"
Serena stood too, furious at Michael for putting in to words what she'd so expertly denied for so many years. She advanced on him, stopping when they were nose to nose.
"How dare you presume to know anything about my life, or what makes me happy? You don't know a damn thing about me, so just back off!"
"Coward. You just don't wanna face the fact that your life is miserable. And all this time I gave you credit for being smart."
"Are you insinuating otherwise?" she asked, lowering her voice so she wouldn't squeal like she really wanted to.
"You figure it out. For someone who seems to know exactly what she wants from sex, you sure suck at figuring out the rest of your life."
No more. She refused to listen to any more of his rantings. "I don't need to stand here and take this."
"No, I guess you don't."
The air was charged with the tension between them. It enveloped her, sucked her in and made her feel weak.
No. She wasn't weak. She'd never been weak. She knew exactly what she was doing. Her life was her choice. Screw Michael Donovan for making her feel as if she was going about it all wrong.
Without another word she stormed from the room and slammed the door to her bedroom. Mumbling under her breath the entire time she yanked on shorts and a tank top, grabbed her sandals and beach bag and threw open the door.
"Where are you going?" he asked, anger still evident in his tone.
She didn't even make eye contact with him as she walked past. "To the beach. For a walk. I don't know. Out."
She threw open the door to the suite, banging it against the wall in a loud crash. Despite feeling guilty at manhandling the door, she slammed it shut behind her.
If she was lucky, she'd be able to close the door on the doubts Michael had opened.
*
Michael cursed as he stepped outside on the balcony, the ever cooling breeze chilling him.
Fuck. The weather had changed. He could tell by the ominous dark clouds over the ocean that a storm was coming. And Serena was still out there, somewhere.
He'd already checked the beach, the cabanas and the restaurant. No sign of her, and no one recalled seeing her.
She'd left over three hours ago. Where could she be?
He'd even contacted Morgan to see if she'd signed in unscheduled on one of the adventures. She hadn't. He'd been relieved to know that she wasn't experiencing some erotic pleasures without him. And then had proceeded to cuss himself out for nearly fifteen minutes for even caring who she fucked.
But now that a storm loomed near the island, he wanted her back. In the room. Safe.
With him.
And if she wasn't coming back, then he'd damn well go out there to find her, then drag her back by the hair if he had to.
The light drizzle had already started, the wind picking up the droplets and hurtling them sideways onto the balcony.
Michael closed the sliding glass door, grabbed his tennis shoes and ran out the door.
Damn woman. Didn't know enough to come in out of the rain.
By the time he stepped outside the rain had increased. Fat globs of water pelted him as he ran through the garden path. No one was about.
Oh sure. All the sensible people had taken shelter inside.
Not him. He was out here looking for a lunatic. And God help her when he found her.
He slipped his jacket on, thankful he'd thought to grab it as he ran out the door. The temperature hadn't dropped that much, but after all the days of tropical warmth the breeze and rain seemed cold.
Plus, it was really fucking windy. Morgan had cautioned him against going outside, saying the weather report indicated severe weather for the next several hours.
Shit. Just great. He wasn't being insensible. Serena was. And now he had to be out in the pouring rain to search for her.
But where? The island wasn't huge, by any means, but it certainly wasn't tiny, either. Besides the resort area, there were roughly two hundred square miles of island to explore. Not that she'd have gotten that far, but if he had to search the entire island to find her they were both gonna be in deep shit.
By the time he'd checked in every building the resort had, he knew she wasn't anywhere close. Which meant he'd have to follow the walking trail past the resort and into the jungle-like rain forest.
In the rain.
The driving, windy rain.
Shit.
He should just turn around and head back to his room and let her fend for herself. She was the one who'd left in a huff. Let her figure out how to survive in the rain.
If he were as big a prick as he thought himself, he'd do that.
But he wasn't. So he trekked on, past the resort property and onto the walking trail.
At least he had some relief from the rain here. The tall, dense tropical trees and foliage protected him somewhat from the downpour. But the trail floor was quickly filling with water, evidenced by his squishing tennis shoes.
He'd walked for almost an hour, the steady downpour pummeling him. He shivered from the soaking he'd gotten and was determined to tur
n around and call out the experts for help.
Then he spotted it. A little palm frond covered building. Sort of like a beach shack, only a little bigger, with a thatched, sloping roof.
Sitting calmly on the front porch watching it rain, was Serena.
She spotted him, smiled and waved.
Just like that. As if being this far away from the resort was no big deal.
Could he kill her, he wondered? He knew all the ways to do it. He'd done it in his books hundreds of times. Quick, painless--no, he took that back. He'd like her to suffer.
