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Soft moonlight reflected in his eyes and, while she couldn’t fathom their expression, she knew hers must be horrified.
“Like hell.” She blinked, wondering where that rapid retort had come from, the quick comeback almost shocking her as much as her eager response to his kiss.
To her amazement, he chuckled, a deep, rich sound that had no right warming her. “I suppose I should say this is my fault and that kiss was way out of line.”
Her head snapped up, her stare accusing. “You’re right on both counts, but you’re not going to apologize, are you? You’ve been charming the pants off me ever since I issued that stupid dare, so the way your warped mind works, you probably think that kiss was inevitable.”
“Charming the pants off you, huh?” He lowered his gaze to her dress and she blushed before jabbing a finger at him.
“You’re incorrigible, you know that?”
“So I’ve been told.”
He grasped her finger and lowered it, taking the opportunity to hold her hand, strumming the back of it with his thumb, soothing her anger when she was just getting worked up. Anger was good, anger was distracting, much better than focusing on the other emotions whirling through her: like wonder and awe and a soul-deep yearning to feel half as good now as she had for those brief seconds in his arms.
Zac eyeballed her. “What do you want to hear? That I’ve wanted to kiss you for days? Damn straight. Do I want a repeat? Hell yeah.”
A few of Jax’s parting shots echoed through her head: frigid, frosty, aloof, cold. How could she be any of those things when a kiss from Zac set her alight and he wanted a repeat performance?
But it couldn’t happen again. Not when Jax’s other parting comments still resonated: how their relationship had been a bit of fun, nothing serious, a fling. She’d given him her heart, he’d given her a case of male stage-fright for the next eighteen months and there was no way she’d ever get involved with a guy again without having the relationship parameters spelled out at the start.
As if a transient sailor who lived his life at sea would be interested in anything more than a fling.
She yanked her hand out of his and folded her arms. “A repeat is not an option.” She frowned for good measure, her old prickly exterior firmly back in place. “It was a mistake. Just forget it.”
He shook his head, the hint of a smile curving those incredible lips she’d never forget. “Impossible.”
She had no idea if he was referring to not repeating the kiss or forgetting it, but no way was she asking for clarification.
With her head a riotous confusion of thoughts and her heart a frightening jumble of emotions, she knew she had to escape. Fast.
Her usual shyness wasn’t justification for this desperate need to run. Uh-uh, this had more to do with the growing horror she’d totally embarrassed herself by kissing him like a sex-starved vixen and a deep, unshakeable fear she’d like to do it again.
“I have to go,” she muttered, not waiting for a response as she kicked off her shoes, scooped them up with trembling hands, and dashed across the sand, wishing she could flee the memories of her insane response to his kiss as easily.
ChapterFour
Lana tossed and turned all night, courtesy of a tall, handsome sailor with piercing blue eyes who commanded her dreams in explicit erotic detail.
Sleep-deprived and grumpy, she rolled out of bed at six, needing an aerobics class more than ever to work off some of her pent-up frustration. It worked at home when she had to unwind after dealing with missing freight or junior staff with non-existent people skills, so why not here?
Zac had kissed her.
And she’d responded, losing control for an insane moment in time, lowering her guard for a pair of persuasive blue eyes and a dashing smile.
She never allowed any guy to breach her defences, not since discovering Jax’s deception and the aftermath, when he’d dumped her and trampled her hopes for a future in the process.
It was why she didn’t indulge in fancy clothes or makeup or snazzy highlights in her hair. She was comfortable in her old skin, secure in using her bland appearance as a protective mechanism to ward off guys wanting more than she could give.
But Zac didn’t seem to care. For some inexplicable reason, he saw past her dreary dresses and shabby chic, as if he saw the real her; a woman with needs, a woman who wanted to break free of her conservative mold but was too damn scared to try.
How ironic, that when he’d caught her off-guard with that kiss and she’d given in to temptation, her burgeoning confidence gained from the dance class and the perfume purchase retreated faster than a fleet under siege.
Now she had to deal with the aftermath of that scorching kiss and her cringe-worthy sex-starved reaction to ensure she forgot it and made damn sure it never happened again.
Once dressed, she headed for the gym. Exercising was familiar, cathartic, and would burn off the energy buzzing through her body since she’d lip-locked Zac. She needed to stop dwelling and replaying it in her head. It had happened, she couldn’t take it back, so she needed to move on, protective armor firmly in place again.
Determined to stop brooding, she strode into the small gym crammed with about twenty ladies of varying shape, age, and attire, warming up on exercise bikes and treadmills. Some of her tension dissipated at the familiarity and she found a space, dropped her towel, and started stretching. She was midway through a hamstring stretch, her leg resting on a bar with her head almost touching her knee, when the instructor entered.
