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“You asked me to come here,” she said softly.
“You asked me for help,” he spun around then, his eyes locking to hers accusingly.
“Yes,” she nodded jerkily. “For help. Not to be blackmailed into pretending to be your girlfriend.”
He glared at her, silently, for a long moment, his expression giving nothing away. He was tense and he was angry. She didn’t know how she was going to crack through the hardness that had overtaken him, but she knew that she had to. “Nothing comes for free, Ava,” he lifted a finger, running it over her cheek, before dropping it to her breast and circling her nipple.
Her traitorous body responded instantly, a shiver of anticipation running down her flesh. It angered her, that he could stir her desire even as he spat derision at her feet.
“At least now I know your price.”
*
He stared at the stars with a sinking feeling in his gut. Every blink brought her face to mind. The hurt there. The pain.
And then, the knowledge he’d done that.
Guilt feathered through his body, at the way he’d tormented her. At the way he’d accused her of little more than prostitution when he knew that what they’d just shared had moved her as much as it had him. Damn it! It wasn’t about love, it wasn’t about anything emotional, it was a purely physical lust that had driven them into bed. A lust he should have been able to control!
Only watching her all night, seeing her charm his parents and grandfather, seeing her smile and laugh and lean close to him, knowing that tiny red dress hid a body that was almost naked, tension had stretched between them, and finally snapped.
He’d sworn when she’d come to the island that he would control this – that he’d show her how over her he was. Last night had been an aberration; a mistake. One he wouldn’t and couldn’t make again…
CHAPTER NINE
ADDIE WAS A BUCKET of nerves. How could she be anything but? She’d hardly slept. Their fight kept chasing itself around and around her head, and in the end, she’d given up on sleeping altogether. Only being awake didn’t mean she didn’t think about Guy. It just meant she thought about him with more clarity and precision.
She had to talk to him – to insist he listen to her explanations. She couldn’t tell him about her mother – she would never betray that confidence – but she could explain about her father and Greg. She could make him see what she’d been running from on the night she met Guy.
And she had the perfect way to get through to him.
They were going to look at the pirates’ caves. Surely that would leave them alone, secluded, and he would have no choice but to listen to her. Because deep down, surely he wanted to know the truth? Surely he wanted her to find a way to make him understand, so that he could get past the fact she’d lied to him?
She’d lied about her name! Her job! But everything else she’d told Guy had been the truth.
She gnawed on her lower lip as her own brain dismissed that. No, she’d lied about a lot of things. Little tiny fibs that hid the truth of her heartbreak, because she hadn’t wanted it to colour what they shared.
Guy was the first purely-good thing she’d ever known. Was it wrong that she’d wanted to revel in that pleasure? To simply enjoy the happiness of what they were without the complications of her loss?
Addie dressed with care, pairing a bikini with a simple cotton t-shirt and a pair of white shorts that just barely covered her bottom, and slid her feet into elegant, gold sandals. Her hair she pulled into a loose braid. Other than a little sunscreen on her nose and gloss on her lips, she didn’t bother with makeup.
Butterflies were dancing inside of her stomach as she made her way through the yacht, in search of Guy. He wasn’t in his room, or the large lounge area that had panoramic views of the island.
With a small frown, she took the stairs, moving onto the deck.
And almost bumped right into Guy! He swore in his own tongue, a curt word, as he reached a hand out to steady Addie. Her eyes flew to his, panic in them, her heart in knots.
“Guy.” It was just a croaky sound of acknowledgment. “I was just coming to look for you.”
“You appear to have found me,” he said cynically, dropping his grip on her arm and moving backwards, allowing her the space to move properly onto the deck.
Her smile was tight. “I wasn’t sure what time you wanted to leave. I wanted to tell you that I’m ready when you are.”
Guy frowned. “Ready?”
“For the pirates’ caves?”
He pulled a face of surprise. “You aren’t serious?”
