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For a moment, Mia almost believed him. Then she took in his chiseled jaw and perfect hair, his tall, buff frame and his dapper English smile. How many other women had come before her? She stalked out of the cabin, managed to get over the boat rail without flashing the entire marina, and went home.
*
Blaine Daniels had never been so abruptly dismissed in his life. Not by colleagues or friends and certainly not by a woman. He had an early charter the next morning, so he decided to sleep on the boat. He stripped down to his boxer briefs and lay down on the tiny bed where he’d made love to Mia Tennyson. He couldn’t sleep, and not just because the cabin was as hot and humid as a sauna. He could smell Mia’s perfume on the pillow. He pressed his face into it. Something tickled his nose. A long dark brown hair.
What had happened? He’d had plenty of quick seductions in his past. Most of the women lingered around, to the point that he was the one making excuses to get rid of them. Not that he wanted to engage in casual flings, but he needed sex as much as any man, if not more. Experience had taught him that he got a lot less trouble if he kept things simple.
He shook his head. He didn’t want to think about any of that. It was too painful. He picked up his phone. He ignored the list of missed called and texts, and deleted four voicemails without listening to them. He pulled up Mia’s phone number.
Text or call? he wondered.
He remembered her disgust at her ex-boyfriends text dismissal. His finger hovered over the voice call option, and then he set the phone down. Maybe she just needed some time to think it over. Maybe she’d turn up tomorrow.
He thrashed and rolled, but he couldn’t get the image of her out of his mind. Her long eyelashes and dimples. Her muscular legs… she must run, or go to spinning classes… or something. And on top of it all, her ass. Perfectly round and just enough to fit one cheek firmly in his big hands. He hadn’t had a chance to pull her on top of him. To hold onto her bottom and look up at her breasts while she rode him…
“Damnit,” he said out loud. “Four in the morning is coming early.” He looked down at his hard cock pushing against his boxers. Sweat ran down his stomach. She’s a woman, he thought. A stunningly beautiful one, but he’d been with beautiful women before. Something about Mia Tennyson wouldn’t let him rest. Maybe it was her honest vulnerability, or the flash of spirit she’d shown in coming out on the fishing trip. She’d shown that spirit again when she walked out on him. Whatever it was, he wasn’t getting any sleep until he at least tried to talk some sense into her.
He picked up the phone and called her number. She answered on the fourth ring. “Hello?”
“Mia?”
“Oh. I don’t want to talk to you.”
Accent gives me away with one word, he thought, but he said, “I’m sorry for today. I know you’re not that kind of girl. It was my fault. I—I just couldn’t control myself around you.”
Silence on her end, but at least she hadn’t hung up.
“Will you give me another chance? To prove I can be a gentleman.”
She sighe
d. “I don’t know, Blaine. I’m in a really weird place right now.”
“I know. I just want to spend time with you.” He found that he meant it as he said it. “Nothing has to happen.”
“It’s not just that. It’s me, too. I…” He could almost see her blushing through her tan. “I’m not sure I trust myself around you.”
He pushed the phone to his face, as if he might get closer to her. “That’s good. We feel the same way—but I can keep us both in line. Let me just get to know you better.”
“I’m afraid I already know you,” she said.
Blaine’s heart stopped in his chest. Could she know? He hadn’t told anyone. Not a soul, in his three weeks in Fort Lauderdale.
She went on. “You’re that handsome guy that always gets the girl. You only want me because I’m putting you off.”
He exhaled in relief. “I’ll be honest with you. You surprised me when you stormed out. But truly, Mia, there’s something different about you. Will you let me find out what it really is?”
His heartbeat sounded loud in his own ears as he waited for her reply. “Okay,” she said. “When?”
“Come to my apartment. Tomorrow evening. No boat to make you sick.”
“Alright,” she said.
He gave her the address and they said goodnight. His mind raced. He had one chance to impress this woman. And prove to both of them that he could control himself.
*
Mia chose a flowy maxi dress for her first visit to Blaine’s apartment. She figured it was pretty but not overtly sexy. She wanted to dampen the fire, not extinguish it. She pulled into the parking lot across from the marina. Sports cars and garish SUV’s surrounded a cluster of high-end condos overlooking the harbor. The buildings were pink and yellow and powder blue, and palm trees marked the stone paths that lead to two-story lobbies.
