Page 9 of Wild Promise

Melina

My old Honda shuddered to stop in the driveway of my family home.

I’d rushed to get here, pushing both the speed limit and my poor engine, but now that I’d arrived, I couldn’t make myself get out. With my purse on my lap and both hands locked around the steering wheel, I sat staring at our run-down house, waiting for my heart to settle.

What the hell was I doing?

I’d left work early, without telling anyone, jeopardizing both my credibility and career. Sure, it was only one hour, my bosses were understanding, and I could make up the time. Still, I’d never acted so irresponsibly in all my life.

Never…except that one other time.

But that was the effect of Zane light-my-panties-on-fire Alexander, wasn’t it?

I’d known it was a risk to walk into The Summit while he was working. I’d known better, and I’d done it anyway. In my panic to find Lydia, my feet had foolishly carried me right into the path of the one man who’d single-handedly ruined my desire for all other men.

Damn him.

Why did he have to be so attractive?

It didn’t matter that he wasn’t my type or that his man-whore reputation genuinely disgusted me. Whenever he was around, every practical thought left me.

One glimpse of his broad shoulders, his dazzling smile, that confident swagger he performed like he was born with it, and I was nothing but a puddle of hormones. The state of my panties after running into him proved it. But that wasn’t even the worst part.

Nope. The worst part was that I knew what I was missing because I’d already had a taste. One glorious, mouthwatering taste.

It happened a year ago, not long after I’d lost my mother.

Maybe it was the grief. Maybe it was my best friend insisting I needed to get drunk and stop isolating myself. Or maybe it was just the lure of the irresistible man paying attention to me. Whatever the reason, I’d ended the night with my hands up his shirt, admiring the solid cut of his bare abs, while exploring his mouth with mine.

I hadn’t even been that drunk. Tipsy, yes. Reckless, absolutely. But I’d known exactly what I was doing and could have stopped it at any time.

I just hadn’t wanted to. Hell, I was the one who’d started it.

And not just because he was insanely gorgeous and I was an emotional mess.

No, I’d done it because I liked him. Because when he found me crying alone on the back porch, he hadn’t treated me like I was an inconvenience.

He could’ve ignored me. Could’ve escaped back inside to the party and pretended he hadn’t seen me falling apart. Instead, one look at me and he understood exactly what I needed. The comfort of someone steady enough to hold me together for a little while.

And he had.

He’d wrapped my freezing body against his and listened while I poured every ugly piece of my grief into the dark. When I curled closer, he held me tighter. And when I kissed him, he consoled me with his wicked tongue.

He’d been solid, warm, and impossible to forget.

Which was exactly why giving in to that temptation again was such a terrible idea. An impossible one.

His last name alone guaranteed that. The Alexanders owned the entire resort, along with the endless list of rules, including the strict no-fraternization policy.

I refused to become the woman the whole town whispered about. I would not lose my job and be known as the pathetic employee who tried to sleep her way into a promotion all because I had a crush on the owner’s son.

My life was already complicated enough without adding Zane do-me-now Alexander to the list.

Then why did walking away from him hurt so much?

With a sigh, I shoved the thought of him aside and forced myself out of the car. My family needed me. That was the bottom line and the only thing that mattered.

“I’m home!” I called into the empty hallway, shrugging out of my coat with a shiver.