Miss Impractical Pants (33 page)

The race to the water was exhilarating. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so uninhibited. Lucas plowed right into the bay at full speed with Katie following his lead, squealing as she hit the warm water.

Almost instantly, his large hand covered her mouth.
“Shhhh.
You’ll wake the whole village.”

She nodded sheepishly and didn’t protest as he
waded
them deeper into the dark waters before releasing her. They bobbed in silence, staring at the stars for a very long time, while her mind worked overtime trying to not to think about the fact she was half-naked and fantasizing about—er, swimming with—her boss. She had to break the sizzling silence.

“I’m sorry I screwed everything up between you and Olivia.”

Instead of responding, he studied her with a mysterious gaze that made her knees tremble in anticipation. Then just like that, he dropped to the sea floor, took her face in his hands, and brought her
deliciously close to him. “Katie, you had nothing to do with the problems between Olivia and me. The only thing you’ve done is help me realize I was making a huge mistake.”

She swallowed hard. “Don’t put too much trust in me. I’m a poor guide when it comes to relationship issues.”

“Why would you say that? Aren’t things going well with Jared?” He seemed a little too eager to hear the answer.

She shrugged. “Well, he’s on
my
vacation with another woman.”

“Does that hurt you?” he asked, though he didn’t look like he really wanted to know the answer.

“It hurts my pride,” she admitted. “But I probably brought it upon myself. If I’d been more accepting of him, maybe he wouldn’t be in Thailand with someone else.”

“Tell me about it.”

To her surprise, she did. They stayed in the warm bath until he’d extracted the whole story of her relationship with Jared, right down to the details of Anna chastising her for being too unrealistic, Mr. Scott’s immense dislike of him, and her frustration at having felt pressured, while on the airport toilet, to agree to stay his girlfriend.

Katie stopped, suddenly sick of hearing her own voice. “Wow, I’ve been talking for a long time. I’m sure you’re ready to die of boredom.”

“No, actually there’s still more I’m dying to know.”

“More? I’ve told you everything.”

“Not everything.”

“What more can there be?” She looked down at her hands. “I’m already a giant prune.”

He rolled his eyes at her in mock exasperation and led the way to the beach. Choosing a place to sit in the dry sand a few yards from the water, he pulled her down with him.

“You still haven’t told me if you’re in love with him.”

Katie wrestled with the question. “Isn’t that obvious?”

He shrugged. “Maybe, but I want to hear your answer anyway.”

“It’s complicated—how do I answer a question like that?”

“You answer ‘yes’ or ‘no.’”

“You make it sound so easy. It’s not that simple when you’re having problems.” She was nettled, wrestling between telling the truth and saying what was required of a dutiful girlfriend.

He seemed to be enjoying her reaction, and exacerbated her confusion by scooting closer to her and slinging an arm around her shoulders.

“What if I asked you the same question about Olivia?” she countered.

He pondered for just a moment. “I would tell you that I thought I loved her, but I was mistaken.”

“Oh.”
             

“Now, it’s your turn,” he pressed.

She took a while to formulate her words, but he waited patiently—kind of. His body language was patient, but the spark in his eyes seemed anxious.

“I feel like I
should
love him….”

“So you don’t love him?”

“No, I don’t.”

             
She shivered. A breeze had picked up, and a layer of goose bumps now covered her wet skin. He was so chivalrous: He moved around to shelter her with his body and rubbed her chill-bumps away. Eventually, as his rubbing turned into mindlessly scrawling designs up her arms, he encouraged her head against his chest and she relaxed into him. He wrapped his arms tightly around her. Panic began to squish her lungs.
What is he doing? Is this a pity embrace—a really, really hot pity embrace?
She tried to wiggle from his hold, but he squeezed her tighter.

“Katie, I don’t know what I’m doing either. But it feels right—can’t I just enjoy holding you?”

             
Katie didn’t answer. She couldn’t, not with her heart lodged in her throat.

Chapter Twenty-Five

“Katie, we should go back to the room now. The sun’s about to come up and the village will be waking soon.” Lucas stroked her cheek lightly.

Katie wasn’t asleep, but she was as lethargic as she’d ever been. If it weren’t for her stiff muscles from sitting in the same position for so long, she would be in a perfect state of heaven. She nestled her face into his touch, wishing she could come alive to his purring accent every morning. Then reality set in: This was her boss. Who was probably only being attentive to her because he needed her help getting the Waverlys through Hong
Kong.
She’d do well to remember this—whatever it was—wasn’t real.

She groaned in her attempt to stand, coaxing her reluctant muscles to respond. “I look like a giant sugar cookie,” she remarked, brushing loose sand from her body.

Before she could read L
ucas’s delinquent smile, he spra
ng toward her, pouncing like a puma, and clasped her underneath his arm like a rugby ball, running the distance into the deeper part of the water.

She came up sputtering, wiping wet hair and seawater from her face in the same quick movement, no longer groggy. “Ha, ha, I get it, no more sugar cookie—very funny.” She took a swipe at the water, sending splashes his direction.

There wasn’t much space between them, but he drew even closer to her, still wearing his roguish grin. He locked on her gaze and the grin vanished. For a split second, she saw two emotions countering within him: certainty and uncertainty. But despite his opposing thoughts, he wasn’t retreating. His eyes were exploring her in a way
that made her skin prickle with anticipation. She had lost the ability to move. She was paralyzed by…fear?
Desire?
Yes.
His actions were slow, offering her the opportunity to withdraw, but she was all the more mesmerized by his deliberate pace. With no space between them now, the warmth of his breath stopped hers altogether. His smile was timid as he held her head and gazed into her eyes. She knew he was searching for something that would call him off. He must not have found it. He traced his thumbs down her neck and out across her collarbone, gathering up long strands of hair that intersected with his path and brushed them behind her back. Moving to her shoulders, he replaced each satiny bra strap with a tender kiss as he slid them down her arms.

She couldn’t quite catch her breath and had to be satisfied with shallow gasps of air.
Holy crap! Holy crap! This can’t be good.

But it was good. So good she lost control of her neck. Her head fell back against her shoulders and he took advantage of her vulnerable throat. Her knees buckled, but he drew his hands down her back as her body dipped and secured both her legs around his waist, removing her bra in the process.
He’s not only good, but tricky
. As he rounded his hands over her bottom, she remembered to be thankful for the extra buoyancy the saltwater gave her.

With both arms he wrapped her body tightly to his. She almost died when her bare chest pressed against his, not because he was her boss or her pseudo cousin, but because her hormones were on fire…a serious, four-alarm fire. She felt like she was back in high school—not that Christopher would ever have allowed her to get this hot and heavy with a boy back then.
STOP THINKING ABOUT CHRISTOPHER!
Lucas laid a few more lingering kisses on her neck, her jaw, her ear, until she could barely remember her own name.

Somewhere not too far away, a fisherman chuckled something out loud. “Loov-
a bird-es
,” it sounded like through the Slavic of his accent.

“We need to get out of here,” Lucas breathed, his lips pressed to her ear.

Still grappling with her senses, she nodded.

Dropping down to set her on her feet, he pulled away. The sensation of the subtle breeze that replaced the heat of his body made her aware—
very
aware.

“Where’s my bra?” she whispered. “It’s gone!” She was sure the few early risers starting to speckle the beach were zeroing in on her nipples.

“It’s okay, don’t panic.” He helped her scoop around in the water, to no avail. He brought her close against him again, protectively. “Let’s just go—we’re starting to make a scene.” His whispered tone was calm and reassuring. Rising from the water, he clutched her against his dripping body to guard her from the curious onlookers and carried her up the beach to their room.

Once the curtains were drawn, he reluctantly set her down and moved away—but not before stealing a glance at her exposed breasts. On impulse, her arms flew up to cover herself. He looked away, embarrassed.

Idiot!
she
admonished herself. She was still high on pheromones and her mind was a hallucinogenic blur, but she knew she had only an instant to recover before the awkwardness became
irrevocable. Pushing her confusion aside, she dropped her arms and flashed a wicked smile.

“Someone is being a naughty cousin.”

He turned back to her. This time she let his eyes linger wherever they liked. His
laugh tolled throughout the small room. “Only because you are very irresistible, Rabbit.”

He scooped her up and tossed her onto the mattress before barreling down beside her, the bed protesting against the rough landing.

“Wait!” she squealed as his hands picked up where they had left off. “I need to brush my teeth first!”

With a soft grunt and a roll of his eyes, he acquiesced, complaining only a little when she snatched the throw blanket from the foot of the bed and wrapped it around her body before bounding from the mattress.

“I just realized…I still don’t know how we got here,” she said as she rummaged through her bag.

“I…I was on your flight. I followed you. I took Mum’s place,” he admitted sheepishly. “After we landed…you passed out in the airport.” He groaned, throwing his head back against the mattress as if he were trying not to relive the ordeal. “It scared me half to death.”

“What? I don’t remember….” Her hand rose to touch Bartholomew, who seemed to have grown smaller during the night.

“I called Dr. Woods. He told me that you most likely had a concussion-jetlag-exhaustion combo, and the most practical thing was to keep a close eye on you and let you sleep it off. Then Mum called to make sure we’d made it all right. She was in a right snit with me that
she wasn’t here t
o take care of you.” He shook his
head, no doubt imagining the scolding he was going to receive.