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He opened the fridge and stared at the contents. Larissa had brought groceries on her way home. He reached past the soy milk and grabbed the six-pack of Coors that had been pushed to the back of the fridge. He took the six-pack outside. He stretched out on one of the loungers, feeling the moisture that had developed from the night air saturate his T-shirt. He pulled it off and tossed it on the ground next to the beer.
Tipping his head back, he watched the stars. He remembered one time when Larissa had talked him into going to the observatory. They'd spent the night listening to Dark Side of the Moon and watching constellations.
Damn, that was a long time ago. Sometimes he felt years older than he was.
He heard the scrape of footsteps on the ground and turned to see Larissa silhouetted in the doorway. She wore a nightshirt that buttoned down the front. It wasn't meant to be sexy even though it did leave her long legs bare, but he found it so. To distract himself he took a long draw on his beer bottle. As a distraction, it was a piss poor one.
Jimmy Buffett had the right idea when he'd written "Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw." Just mindless sex with Larissa was what he needed tonight. But he knew in the morning it would have consequences.
He ached for her. And having her here in his house made that ache deepen. He'd never had a woman here overnight. With all the traveling he'd done in recent years, there really hadn't been time for a relationship. Hell, that was an excuse. He could have had a woman the night before and he'd still want Larissa with this gut-twisting need.
He knew he wasn't going to sleep or have anything resembling comfort until they'd spent a few hours in bed together. But he'd agreed to a platonic marriage. He intended to try to honor it.
"Can I join you?" she asked. Her hair hung in waves around her shoulder, tousled and disheveled from sleep. He knew she was a natural blonde, but there were so many different shades in her hair that he used to suspect she dyed it. But dying her hair wasn't something that Larissa would do. She was always very genuine.
"Sure. You want a beer?" he asked, gesturing to the six-pack at his feet.
She shook her head and hesitated near his chair. "Are you getting drunk?"
What would she do if he was? "Nah. Just passing time."
"Are you okay?" she asked. She glanced around for somewhere to sit. The other chairs were damp with moisture. She picked his shirt up from the ground and used it to wipe down the seat of one of the lounge chairs. She dragged it closer to his lounger and put her feet on the bottom of his.
Such small, feminine feet. His looked big and rough next to hers. He wanted to explore all the ways they were different. To strip them both naked and take his time with the exploration.
"Why wouldn't I be okay?" he asked, to distract himself from her sweetly curved body and the images of her body dancing in his head. One night years ago wasn't enough.
"Well, it's after midnight and you're sitting in the dark drinking. Something about that doesn't seem like the confident man I've come to know." She ran her toe up his calf, teasing him. Her toenails were painted a deep luscious red that confirmed what he already knew. There was more to the prim librarian than she wanted the world to see.
He glanced up and realized she'd been watching him stare at her legs. "I can't sleep."
She ran her toes back down his leg and then tucked her feet under her and tilted her head to the side. "Why not?"
"You don't want to know," he said, draining his bottle of beer. He leaned over to replace it in the carton and get a fresh one. He twisted the cap off and offered it to her.
She reached forward and took the bottle. Her shirt gaped open and he had a glimpse of the inner curve of her breast. His body hardened a little more, and he shifted his legs to find a more comfortable position.
She took a long sip of the beer and then handed the bottle back to him with a smile. "I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to know what was keeping you awake."
"I'm hard with wanting you," he said baldly.
"Oh."
"I had a feeling you'd say that. Go back to bed, Larissa, before I forget my good intentions and seduce you."
She stood up and he felt a twinge of disappointment. "Who seduced whom the last time?"
She walked away before he could respond to her. And he watched the smooth swaying of her hips.
* * *
Larissa double-checked her seat belt and waved goodbye to Peter in Miranda Danforth's arms as they drove away. Ten days had passed since she'd let Jake know he was Peter's dad. Tears burned the back of her eyes and she stared out the window until she had her emotions under control. Jake drove away from his parents' home through Savannah and headed to the airport.
Jake's family home was just as luxurious as Crofthaven, but a little smaller in scale. It was also homier. The walls in the family room had been covered with pictures of Jake and his siblings at various ages. And there was a display that was practically a shrine to the trophies Jake had won playing soccer.
