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His own body bristled in response, and little licks of lust tormented him for the next thirty minutes while Cara outlined all the problems she’d identified with the previous wedding coordinator’s plans, which he and Elena had approved long ago. Then she launched into an impassioned explanation of ideas involving flowers, honeymoon packages and the pièce de résistance—butterflies. Despite being overly fanciful, Cara was on the mark.
He would have to take all of this into consideration, along with Mary’s report. Tomorrow.
The technicians finally put away their instruments and helped Cara from the chair. As she stood, she wobbled on unsteady legs. Any reasonable man would put an arm around her to keep her off the tile, and Keith prided himself on being reasonable.
She snugged up next to his torso, comfortably, which shouldn’t come as a shock—their bodies knew each other. Intimately. Two years hadn’t been nearly long enough to forget the curve of her waist and how beautifully it nipped in at the juncture below his palm.
Once they cleared the door of the spa, he realized how late it had gotten. The sky was in the throes of a spectacular sunset, bleeding orange, pink and yellow into the horizon in all directions. The water had darkened to deep blue and a cool breeze wafted inland across the sand.
“Nice timing, Mitchell. A girl might think you planned it this way.”
A laugh scraped his dry throat. “As much as I appreciate the compliment, even I can’t control nature.”
She stepped out of his embrace and his side cooled much too quickly. “The spa was nice. Thanks.”
“I’d like to do more.”
“I just bet you would.” She swept him once with an amused glance. “Is this when you were going to casually mention the late hour and suggest we grab a quick bite to eat?”
It was now. “You have to eat sometime.”
“Not with you I don’t.” She whirled and started hobbling off but he caught her easily, backing her up against the side of the building, scant inches separating his chest from her rapidly rising and falling breasts.
She met his gaze boldly as he braced both hands against the stucco on each side of her neck. “Going somewhere, Cara?”
His body, still galvanized from watching her enjoy ministrations at the hands of another, snarled for release to plunge in.
“I have a date.” She licked her lips and he nearly came apart. “And it’s not with you.”
A growl rumbled in his chest. “Cancel it.”
“I don’t want to.”
Stay. I want to spend time with you. Get to know the real you, the person you’ve become.
He leaned in a centimeter and her breasts quivered as she sucked in a breath. “Sure about that? You know it’s only a matter of time before I have my hands on you. Here.” He traced a line down her throat and stopped short of the luscious, mounded V of her cleavage. He’d keep going in a heartbeat if she gave the slightest sign she’d welcome it.
The past, his mistakes, the emotional responses she kept pulling from him—all of that was too complicated. But this heat between them he knew precisely how to deal with.
He pressed closer.
“Take a cold shower,” she advised with raised brows. “Feels like you could use one.”
His erection had obviously caught her notice. It would have been hard to miss. “Take one with me.”
I don’t want to be alone right now.
“Doesn’t that sort of defeat the purpose?” She blinked, breaking their locked gazes. “Let’s cut to the chase. I’m not interested. I can’t begin to understand why you’d think otherwise.”
With the slightest tilt of his hips, he nudged the soft flesh of her abdomen, and those amazing rosy lips parted in a raspy exhale that he felt all the way down to his knees.
“I’m reading between the lines.”
“Keith,” she breathed and lifted her chin, bringing her face to within a millimeter of his. His lungs forgot to function and he flattened both palms against the stucco to hold himself upright. “You know what’s between the lines? Space. Same as what’s between your hands.”
She ducked under his braced arm with ease and walked away. Without limping.
Four
That night, Cara slept poorly. She’d have liked to blame it on Meredith’s vampire-like schedule, but when the sun finally rose, she didn’t have the heart to gripe about her sister’s late-night rendezvous or her 3:00 a.m. return to their room that had sounded like a gazelle learning to ride a bike.
