Perfect for the Beach (32 page)

Kat groused, “Remind me to include fiancés in that oath next time.”

“Maybe if you’d given two weeks notice, I wouldn’t have had to go around your
girl rules.”

She scoffed, “Would you have let me go?”

“Hell no, but at least I would’ve had fourteen days to talk you out of it. Instead I had to get on a plane and come find you. Do you know I’ve been on this beach for over an hour looking for you?” he yelled, and jammed his clenched fists onto his hips.

He looked as menacing as a sentencing judge, expecting her to be contrite.
Fat chance,
she thought. She slapped her palm over her heart. “Oh, my! A
whole hour,
Sam? I’m so touched to know that I’m worth sixty minutes out of your busy schedule. I suppose I should be grateful you didn’t bill me for your time,” she said sarcastically. “In fact”—she tipped her head and pointed up at him—“I’ll tell you what, Counselor. Go ahead and bill me for your services, and then we’ll consider our association terminated. You can just hop back on that plane and get on with your life.” She squinted her eyes in annoyance now. “And I can get on with mine.”

“Stop being ridiculous, Kat. I’m not going anywhere.”

She growled in her throat. “Me? Ridiculous? What’s ridiculous is that you think coming down here would get me to change my mind. And you’re a lawyer, Sam. There’s a name for your behavior. It’s called stalking, and last I heard, that was illegal.” People were beginning to stare, and though she’d never shrunk away from attention, she didn’t like being chastised.

Sam’s brows furrowed, disbelief marring his features. “You don’t really believe I’m stalking you, Kat.”

She lowered her voice, this time really contrite for thinking it. “No,” she admitted. “You’d never lay a hand on me.”
Much to my disappointment,
she thought wryly. “And you’d never do anything to frighten me.” But she sighed and her eyes burned in frustration. “But I left for a reason, and don’t ask me what it is because I won’t tell you. It’s personal.” He was scowling down at her, eyes drilling into hers, and Kat was hotter than she’d been for the last two hours, basking in the sun. She might try and force herself to bury her feelings for Sam in anger or derision, but the sensations just a look could evoke still burned white-hot. Her skin felt scalded under his piercing gaze. Damn the man!

He gave her one of his “I’m not amused” looks, and waited for an explanation nonetheless.
Well, he can wait until the sun goes down, and comes right back up,
she thought to herself. She wasn’t about to give it to him! Not without betraying what was in her heart. And Kat didn’t want it broken on some stretch of beautiful beach. She would save the anguish for the real world, thank you very much. Her emotions had taken quite a beating these past months because she’d honestly believed that there was something there, and if she waited him out, Sam would see that he had a second chance at happiness if he’d only let himself feel again.

She tipped her head and the sun beat down on her face, but she could see Sam’s eyes stray downward to the way her breasts moved when she squinted and shadowed her eyes with her hand. He might have his hangups, she mused, but he was still a typical, red-blooded male. A little bit of bouncing flesh, and his mind wandered. She almost called him on it, but hunger replaced the frown on his face, and he seemed to forget what he was standing there for. His libido was actually working to her advantage.

“Go home, Sam.” Her body was betraying her in ways she didn’t want him to see. She was hot and aroused under his gaze, and that was so wrong. She’d had to talk herself up to walking away from a job she loved and a man she couldn’t make love her. Now she wanted to be alone and wallow in misery for a while. It was her pity party, and he was ruining it.

His rigid stance softened; like a lawyer, he changed tactics. “I told you, sweetheart. I’m not going anywhere. And I don’t have to be in court again for a week, so I’m free for a while. But then, you know that, don’t you? Before you pulled your Houdini act, you left me my schedule for the next month.”

“I did, didn’t I?” she grumbled, wishing she’d picked a week that he was swamped in work and couldn’t get away. But somewhere deep inside, she wondered why she
had
chosen to quit when she knew that there wasn’t anything stopping him from tracking her down.

Her heart sank. Oh, no! Did she bring this on herself? Did she secretly hope that Sam would come and drag her home?
No!
she thought. She wouldn’t wish this hurt on her worst enemy. Well, yes she would. Maybe her
worst
enemy, but not on herself, Dammit! Her doubt made her angry. “Never say I wasn’t an efficient assistant, Sam Parrish.”

His lip curled. “Your work performance isn’t why I’m here. I think you know that.”

Okay, that threw her. What was he—? No! She wouldn’t let him
do
this to her again, pulling her in, just to turn his back at the last minute. No more! “You just hate not having the last word, that’s all this is. I quit without giving you a chance at rebuttal. I told you, Sam. It’s personal.” She chose her words carefully because it had
everything
to do with him. “It’s
not
your concern.”

“Everything about you concerns me, Kat,” he said quietly, and she felt that shiver race up her spine at his voice, like a caress along her skin. Damn! She was sinking all over again. She could spar with any man with one hand tied behind her back, but when Sam talked to her in that low, intimate tone, she melted like butter.

As much as she wanted to just crawl into a hole and hibernate until spring, forget how wonderful he looked standing over her, his chest and broad shoulders covered with a sheen of sweat, Kat saw that Sam wasn’t going to let her sidestep the issue here. From his guarded look, he wasn’t any happier than she was to be discussing private business with an audience watching the drama. And even though she wasn’t sure how to take that last statement, it would be emotional suicide to be alone with him. She’d say things that she’d been so careful to keep hidden. She couldn’t spill her guts now. Better to be in a public place, where there were plenty of people around and the arousal that always gripped her when he was near would be tempered.

He cocked his hip and crossed his arms. “You might as well just come talk to me, Kat.”

She pressed her lips together, not ready to concede yet. She still had some fight left in her.

“All right then. We’ll do it here. But I can guarantee you won’t like what I have to say.”

Her eyes shot to his. “Like what?” She was the wounded party here. She hadn’t done a thing but love a man who couldn’t love her back.
Gimme your best shot,
she thought.

He smirked. His lip curled and she knew she’d made a grave mistake in underestimating this man.

“Oh, I don’t know … maybe we should talk about your penchant for flirtatious behavior in the workplace.”

Kat’s mouth dropped open. She was actually speechless. The blood drained from her face. He didn’t actually believe that
she
was guilty of that, did he? Her eyes burned again, holding his gaze as she finally found her voice. “Don’t do this, Parrish. You won’t like where it leads either.”

He met her challenge, one brow raising. “What have ya got, sweetheart?”

“I’m
not a tease.”

If they weren’t so angry at each other, Kat might’ve laughed at the way he went rigid, furious and offended. He actually staggered back like he’d been struck.
“I’m
a tease? You’ve got to be kidding,” he said. “If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be in a constant state of—”

Kat scrambled up off the lounger and slapped her hand over his mouth. She took her cue from the state of his arousal and stopped him before everyone within shouting distance could hear him finish that sentence. She was glad to know that she wasn’t the only one who suffered from those hot, hungry looks, but enough was enough. They’d embarrassed each other enough.

“Okay, okay. Uncle! You win. We’ll talk in private,” she muttered through tightly clenched teeth. Touching him in any way was delicious, and Kat fought the pull, chanting to herself that he’d just played dirty pool and she wasn’t going to forgive him for it.

Her hand stayed clamped over his mouth as she looked around again. Great. They were making a spectacle of themselves. Not that she usually gave a damn. She just didn’t like doing it so scantily clad.

She gasped, clapping her eyes on Sam when his tongue flicked out and tasted the soft pad of her palm. His normally slate blue eyes were as dark as a brewing storm now, and his nostrils flared as he breathed. He was still coiled tight as a spring, but Kat recognized that look, and it wasn’t anywhere near annoyance anymore. She swallowed hard, feeling the weight of that stare wash over her.

He reached up and tugged her hand away from his warm lips. “Oh yeah,” he said huskily. “We
definitely
need some privacy right now.”

He let go of her hand and she curled her fingers around her damp palm.

Bending down, he stuffed her book, tanning oil, and wrap into her bag. He literally tossed it to her as he folded her beach chair and set out her sandals for her to slip into. “Better put them on. When you step off that towel, you’ll feel how hot the sand is.”

She dutifully did his bidding as he scooped up the towel, too, shaking it gently, starting up the beach. “Let’s go, Kat. I’ve come a
hell
of a long way to have this …
discussion.”

She wasn’t sure how to interpret the way he put the emphasis on the last word. She’d said all she was going to say about the job, and if it was anything else, well then, he’d had ample opportunities before, and he’d always been the one to call a halt. But she supposed that she should let him have his say. The sooner they were alone and he understood that she was through with the games of cat and mouse, the better. Unless of course, he threw her down on the bed and made passionate love to her. She snickered silently.
You’re the weak one, Kat. Not him,
she thought. She let Sam think she was easy. He still loved his late wife. Even the need for physical satisfaction wasn’t enough for him to indulge in a one-night stand.

More’s the pity,
she mused, her gaze following him as he marched up the incline toward the boardwalk. She didn’t realize she’d sighed in delight until he turned, saying, “Are you coming, Kat? Or are you going to stand there and admire my backside the whole day?”

Kat felt the flush travel up her neck and cheeks as she straightened her shoulders and stomped down on the arousal that had pushed its way past her resistance. She looked up at his face. She wished she could deny it. But she
had
been staring at it. “On my way, Sam,” she chortled loud enough for his ears, but under her breath, she murmured, “You arrogant jerk.”

Chapter Two

Sam felt the blood pumping through his veins as he waited for Kat to reach him on the boardwalk. He’d been searching for over an hour on the beach, but when he almost gave up, discouraged that he’d never find her, he’d heard her voice, clear as day. And when he’d turned, there she was, up on the sand, watching him. He’d felt her eyes on him. He couldn’t believe that was
his
Kat in that incredibly enticing teeny bikini. She was reclining in a lounger among the hundreds of sun-soakers blanketing the sand.

He’d had the sun to his advantage; it was at his back, and she’d had to squint when she looked up at him. And when she realized who was standing over her, well, her expression was priceless. But even as he railed at her for her desertion, he’d suppressed a shudder, envisioning how she’d look under
him
in that same position.

But now, as he watched her trudge up the incline, he didn’t feel as in control as he had when she was peering up at him from the beach chair.

She had this seductive sway to her walk, though he knew it wasn’t meant for him. It was just part of everything about her that brought out all things male in him. The breaths she took pushed her full breasts against the skimpy bathing suit top. They weren’t overlarge, but they bounced slightly as she made her way toward him. She was doused in tanning oil; beads of perspiration rolled down between her slight cleavage, and he wanted to hustle her along, away from the crowd on the beach. Her appearance, along with the enticing coconut scent and her own sweet essence, aroused him more than he would’ve imagined. Sam felt like he was drowning in desire for her.