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“What things do we need to talk through?” His voice was rough-edged.
She’d planned on being calm, cool, and collected. But his question—one that was so full of denial it might as well be a river in Egypt—made her see red.
“Are you kidding me?”
He’d flown up and down the East Coast for over a month just so he didn’t have to be near her. He’d run from her parents on the ferry because she’d been with them. And now he intended to skulk in the garden to avoid her?
Without stopping to think whether it was a good idea or not, she grabbed his arm and pulled him into a secluded glade off the main path. Surrounded by tall hedges, a fountain babbled prettily, a bench beside it. It was the perfect place to yell at him without anyone seeing.
She deepened her voice, doing her best imitation of him. “I have to fly off to Miami. I don’t have time to talk. I’ve got to run here, there, and everywhere to make sure I’m not in the same city as you.” Her entire body was vibrating with emotion. “Okay, so we had sex. But it’s no big deal.” She defiantly ignored the fact that the words didn’t ring the slightest bit true. “We’re both adults. We can handle this. You don’t have to avoid me like I carry the plague. I don’t know why you’ve turned the whole thing on the plane into a federal offense.”
“It shouldn’t have happened.” His voice was low, his tone raw.
She gave a painful snort of laughter. “So that means we can’t even talk anymore?”
“We talk,” he insisted. “I answer every question you have about the foundation, don’t I?”
“Okay, so you talk to me over email or the phone. But you haven’t been to the office since London. You didn’t even let me know you were in town when you worked on Mom and Dad’s deck on Saturday.” She rolled her eyes. “What’s going on with you, Cal?” She flashed back to the heat she imagined she’d seen in his eyes a few moments earlier, and the devil climbed up on her shoulder. “Are you afraid you can’t resist me or something?”
“Yes, that’s exactly it.” It was the very last thing she’d expected him to say. “I can’t resist you. No matter how hard I try.”
Oh. My. God.
Her knees went weak, and her heart pounded. So hard that she thought it might actually leap out of her chest. She hadn’t invented anything in her head. She hadn’t made up the heat or the hunger. Which meant she wasn’t the only one who had been left struggling with unquenchable desire for the past several weeks.
“You should never have come out here to find me.” His voice was deep and harsh. “I should never have agreed to come to the island at all.”
But even as he was listing all the things they shouldn’t do, his hand slid beneath the fall of her hair and wrapped around her nape. His skin was warm, and his eyes were hot as he hungrily drank in the sight of her. Then he devoured her, tasting her, consuming her as if he’d been starving.
For her.
She forgot all about clearing the air. Forgot about burying the past. Forgot every vow to be nothing more than friendly and professional. Forgot how difficult the past weeks had been, how awkward, how weird. Forgot about needing to move forward with a clean slate. Forgot how much she wanted her job and how determined she was not to make another mistake.
All she could think about, all she could feel was Cal. How much she loved his kisses, his touch. How much she longed to be with him again. And how sure she was that this time, things would be different.
They could both see now that there was no point in trying to stay away from each other. They both knew what they shared was too special, too wonderful to ignore.
They would have to find a way to make everything work—from her brothers to the foundation to their age difference.
None of those things mattered anymore. Only this.
Only Cal.
She dropped her shoes, wrapped her arms around his neck, and held on for the wild ride. His hands were all over her, caressing her breasts, slipping down her sides, cupping her bottom, and bringing her tight against him. She could feel every hard inch of why he’d been avoiding her. She pushed her hands beneath his suit jacket, shoved her fingers down the back of his slacks.
Cool air bathed her thighs and bottom as he lifted her skirt. He slid his hands inside her panties, knowing exactly how to touch her. Knowing exactly what she wanted. What she needed.
What she’d been craving every single second since he’d been gone.
She tugged at his belt, his zipper, and somehow they were on the bench, and she was straddling him, her panties gone.
