Turbulent Kisses (5 page)

Chase and Ethan drove to the airport, the early hour, and his sour mood from the day before overshadowing everything else. His mind had remained on Pearl, and the humiliation and confusion her resistance had caused him, since his brother had left him alone at the Lighthouse Bar the night before. He’d come up with a dozen ways to break through the barrier of her resistance. All he needed was another shot.

He was Chase Paxton. The hottest womanizer ever. And no woman could withstand his charm for long. She’d fall – and soon.

That’s what he made himself believe, but deep down in his heart he knew it wasn’t a game anymore. It had to be her or no one.

“So, you still mad you got shot down?” Ethan teased him.

“I didn’t get shot down. It was just a short delay. I’ll get her, don’t you worry about it.”

“Yeah. I don’t think so.” Ethan yawned and stretched his arms up over his head.

“Well, since you’re leaving, I guess you’ll just have to take my word for it.” A little wining and dining, and she’d come around. He wanted to sleep with her, and if he had to play nice to get there, he could do that.

Hell, if he’d be honest with himself he’d see that he wanted much more than one night with her. But every time those emotions surfaced, he pushed them back down. Too scary. Non-committal was easy. Nobody got hurt in the process.

He dropped Ethan off at the airport and headed back to Sandy Beach. During the drive, he spent the time devising a plan of attack and decided that he could give a little if it got him what he wanted. Her body in his bed. Or hers. He wasn’t particular. Then, he might be able to get her out of his head. This fixation with her was scaring the hell out of him.

As soon as he got back to his parents’ house, he changed into his running gear and took off for the beach in the hope of seeing her there. But he didn’t. Which actually was a good thing, because his plan included courting her, not sneaking up on her on the beach.

In the evening, he carefully chose a pair of dark jeans and a super-tight shirt showcasing his muscled torso. The sleeves stopped just above the thickest point of his biceps, and he knew for a fact that women would drool over him in this outfit.

But before walking to the Lighthouse Bar, he stopped by the flower shop and bought a huge bouquet of yellow-orange roses and Gerber daisies. Pearl didn’t stand a chance in hell to resist him.

Sure enough, she was there. Sitting alone at a hi-top. In winter, the Lighthouse Bar was the only decent place with music to go out to. He scanned the room and saw at least three men ready to hit on her. His jaw clenched.
No way. She’s mine.
The force of his reaction surprised him.

He approached her slowly, turning on all the charm he could muster. “Hey Pearl.”

She looked up at him, her beautiful grey eyes slightly confused when she saw the flowers in his hand. “Hi Chase. Meeting someone?”

“They’re for you.” He handed her the flowers and had to hide a grin when she was clearly surprised.

“For me? Thank you.” Her face softened as she took the flowers and carefully placed them on the table.

“Care if I join you?”

She shrugged, so he took that as an affirmative and sat down on the stool beside her. “So. What’s new?”

“Nothing. You?”

“Not much. I took my brother to the airport in Chicago earlier today, but other than that, not much going on around here.”

The waitress brought him a beer and he took a sip of it, watching her carefully until she finally sighed and asked, “So, do you and your brother always hit on the same woman?”

Chase laughed at her straightforwardness. She definitely was a woman after his liking. “Sometimes.”

She held his stare. “You’re really not my type. I’m not even sure what happened the other night. It was clearly a mistake. As I’m sure you noticed.”

I’m not your type? Then who was moaning with desire and ripping off my shirt?

That must have been the biggest lie in the world, because as he continued to keep his eyes trained on hers, he could see the shimmer of desire in them, hidden beneath the attempt to look nonchalant.

He’d been in the game long enough to know when a woman wanted him.

And Pearl did.

A lot.

He deliberately touched her hand with his thumb, and she gasped in response. But when she didn’t move her hand, he took that as an invitation and slightly grazed his fingers against her soft skin. The sparks ran up his arm and down his entire body. Holy crap, that woman turned him on.

“You’re lying. You want me. Just admit it.” He gave her his most seducing grin, daring her to deny the truth.

Pearl tore her eyes from his stare and glanced around the bar before she responded, “Every woman in here is swooning over you. Why don’t you go and pick up one of them?”

“Hm. Maybe because you’re the one I want. There’s no other woman like you in this room.”

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “How many of them have you already slept with?”

When he shrugged, she raised her brows and asked, “All of them? You’ve slept with every single woman in Sandy Beach?”

Chase chuckled. “Except for my sisters and my brother’s fiancé. Yeah, probably at some point.”

For some reason the mention of the word fiancé seemed to get her hackles up and her grey eyes shot fire.

“What’s wrong?” Chase asked.

“The same brother who hit on me is engaged?”

He laughed. “No. That would be Grant. Remember, I have three brothers and two sisters. Well, Grant is the one with a fiancé, not Ethan.”

“Oh. Sorry. I can’t imagine having that many siblings. I’m an only child.”

Chase took another drink of his beer. “So, you didn’t have to share your boyfriends or your shoes. My sisters would be jealous.”

“They share boyfriends?” she asked with disbelief. He kind of liked the way she looked shell-shocked. Despite her hard-nosed attitude, she was a sweet girl. Too sweet for his own good.

“Not at the same time. In fact, I’m not really sure why we’re talking about my sisters when I’d much rather be talking about you.”

When she didn’t say a word, he moved closer to her and caught her intoxicatingly sexy scent in his lungs. “I love your grey eyes, the way they call out to me like the ocean on a windy day.”

She didn’t respond or smile, but watched him carefully and he searched her face, letting his eyes become a caress as they traveled down her body. “And I love your gorgeous body, the way you have control over every devastatingly beautiful inch of it.”

He moved even closer and pushed a strand of hair from her ear before he leaned down and whispered, “And I love your short hair.” His fingers grazed along her cheek and her lips. The temptation to kiss those luscious pink lips that slightly parted beneath his touch was intense, but he resisted. Not yet. He wasn’t there yet.

“But most of all, I love your kissable mouth and all the quick-witted responses it’s dishing out.”

He could feel her body melting with his charm attack. Her delicately chiseled features had softened with every word he’d said and he could feel the tension leaving her body. To be replaced by an entirely different tension.

“Want to dance?”

“No.” She turned away.

“Want to go someplace else and pick up where we left off the other night?” he asked boldly.

She laughed. “Not happening, bud. But why don’t we order another beer and you tell me about kitesurfing. You can leave off the many admirers I’m sure you’ve collected over the years.”

Chase grinned at her and began to tell her about his fascination with his sport. Her reactions confirmed his suspicion that she must be some top athlete herself, but he was wise enough not to question her.

He might be a self-centered jerk at times, but he was sensitive enough to have noticed that she’d changed the topic of their conversation away from herself to him.

So be it. He could talk all night about himself and his sport if that was what she wanted. Anything to make her feel safe and comfortable with him. With every minute, the sexual tension between them rose to almost unbearable levels and it took all his self-discipline not to ravish her right there and now.

“Well, it’s getting late. I should probably head home,” she said as the band took a break.

It was now or never, so he rushed to make his next move. “Want to work out with me tomorrow morning?”

She scrunched her cute little nose and seemed to think about it. “Make it tomorrow afternoon, and I’m in.”

“Done.” Chase gleamed with anticipation and she gifted him a smile. A smile that lit up her eyes, and he wanted to drown in them, to stay inside her eyes forever and never surface back to the real world.

But her next words catapulted him back into the cold world of reality.

“I’ll work out with you, but we do things on my terms. If you can’t agree to that, I’ll be gone before you can blink.”

That woman was a lot tougher than he thought. But he actually enjoyed her resistance, because he was always up for a good challenge and the prize would be so much more rewarding if he had to work hard for it.
The game was on.

Anything too easy was just that. Easy.

He leaned closer to her and said, “Okay. Tell me your rules.”

She put up one finger. “No touching. No kissing. No sex.”

Whoa.
He almost doubled over. That was like the full package. She was so earnest, and not a word of what she was saying was okay with him. He wanted to touch her. Definitely to kiss her. And at some point, he was going to sleep with her.

But looking at the militant look in her eyes, he did what any man on a mission would do; he nodded and agreed.
She wouldn’t last long and then we play by my rules again.

“See you tomorrow. Bye.” She slid off the stool and left the bar without another glance at him.

Chase felt once again like a waterlogged rat.

Disappointed.

But he also felt the thrill to prove her wrong.

She’d essentially shut him down again, but for some reason, every time she did so, he wanted her even more than before.

They were kneaded from the same dough, and he’d prove to her they were made for each other.

Pearl walked home, lecturing herself the entire way.

She’d been determined to stay clear of Chase. In fact, she’d been doing fine in the bar, minding her own business.

Enjoying the live band.

And then he’d walked in the door with flowers and
BAM
…like a moth to a flame, she’d been unable to resist him. It wouldn’t have taken much more and she’d thrown herself into his arms.

Darn it, how she longed to feel his embrace again, to get lost in the sensations he evoked in her. To dive deep down into his chocolate brown eyes, right into his very soul.

Yes, she’d seen right through his tough guy act. He’d been trying to play things so cool when he’d complimented her, but she could sense it was all an act. Underneath the wall of ice he presented the rest of the world was a huge heart. A heart she wanted to crawl inside and never leave again. But that was not an option.

No matter how wonderful he was, she didn’t have the time or mind capacity for a boyfriend. So why had she been stupid enough to agree to workout with him tomorrow? Self-torture? Just the thought of him flexing his immense muscles brought all her girlie parts to life. Y
ou’ve had brighter moments in your life than when you accepted his offer to work out together
.

She got ready for bed, trying to convince herself she had nothing to be excited about, even though her body knew better. She’d go run with the guy for a bit and then come home. No harm done. And she needed to work out tomorrow anyway, so it really wasn’t a big deal.

But it was.

***

The next morning, she got up and drove to the hospital in Milwaukee for her checkup. She was hoping to get a green light to up her game and practice seriously again.

Dr. Kane examined her knee carefully and sent her over for another CT scan. She waited with bated breath as he checked the scan an hour later, smiling nervously when he nodded and pronounced her healing right on schedule.

“So does that mean I can begin training again?” she asked.

“I don’t see why not. Now, don’t overdo it. I still don’t think you should compete this coming season, and I don’t want to see you push too hard and end up damaging things again before they can heal all the way.”

Pearl pushed his comments about her season aside. She didn’t want to hear any of that. If there were even the slightest chance to compete, she’d go for it. It was her life.

“Thanks doc. I’ll take it easy.”

He pinned her in place with his penetrating stare. “Like I haven’t heard that a million times before. As soon as you’re out of this door, you’ll ignore my warning.” He sighed. “But it’s your body, you get to decide. So, before I let you go, are there any concerns we haven’t addressed?”

She shifted from one leg to the other. “Well, hm, yes. I’m still not able to straighten my knee all the way out. I can almost get there, but not quite.”

Dr. Kane examined her again and then shook his head. “It’s not going to happen overnight.”

Pearl raised her voice in exasperation. “What can I do to hurry things along? I have to be able to completely straighten my leg. When you do what I do, if there’s even a little give in the tendons, the impact of hitting the water is too strong to withstand.”

She envisioned herself hitting the water feet first and her leg flexing with the impact, coming all the way up to hit her chin, and knocking her out cold. She’d seen other divers do the same thing she was worried about, and the obligatory rescue scuba divers had been forced to save the unconscious diver. Not something you wished for your worst enemy.

“Pearl, we’ve talked about this. You will be able to fully stretch out your knee. But it’s going to take time. Normally, I would say to give it a year, but I know you don’t want to wait that long. You’ve been doing a good job of keeping up with the basic therapy. If you keep on this track, you might get full extension back in two or three months.”

Two or three months? I can’t wait that long.
She could feel her blood leaving her face and would have stumbled if she hadn’t already been sitting.
No way. I’m not going to give up. I’ll prove it to everyone, including him, that I can do this.

He must have seen her desperation, because he said, “Look, why don’t I give you the name of a terrific physical therapist. I know for a fact she has openings in her schedule and she might start seeing you right away.”

Pearl smiled. “Thanks doc. I appreciate that. I just want to get this behind me and get on with my life.”

He lay a hand on her shoulder as he left the room. “You will, but baby steps before giant leaps. You’ll get there. Now, anything else that’s bothering you?”

She grimaced and pointed to her leg. “What about the scar? Can anything be done to make it less ugly?”

Dr. Kane turned back to look at her. “There are several treatment options available. You should probably talk with our specialist for plastic surgery and scar tissue. Give me a moment and let me see if he’s available.”

He stepped out of the room, and left Pearl alone with her thoughts. She had tried to convince herself after the surgery that the scar wasn’t going to be that bad. But it was. Even though she didn’t consider herself to be vain, the thought of thousands of people seeing her scar as she stood atop the platform made her cringe.

She couldn’t even bear the thought of Chase touching it, how was she going to handle the pitying looks she knew hundreds of people would be sending her way? No way.

Besides, every time she looked at the scar, it reminded her of the truth. The injury wasn’t caused by a training accident.

A few minutes later, Dr. Kane returned with another man who introduced himself as Dr. Barkin.

He looked at the scar and said, “I can definitely work with that. It would be best to start treatment right away, especially since it’s winter right now. You can’t get direct sunshine on this area once treatment has started.”

“What about water?”

The doctor shook his head. “Not for at least three days after each treatment.”

Pearl looked at both physicians, realizing she would have to make a decision.

Treat the scar.

Or train for the season.

There was no way she could do both. She already knew which way she would decide, but she thanked him anyway. “I need to think about it. The season is only three months away…”

“Pearl, I’ve already told you I don’t recommend you compete this season,” Dr. Kane interjected, before he turned to his colleague and said apologetically, “I’m sorry, I have to run, Russell. Keep me updated?”

And in Pearl’s direction, he said, “I’ll see you next week for another checkup, okay?”

She nodded absentmindedly. Tears filled her eyes and she bit her lip in an effort to hold back her emotions. She must have been visibly upset, because Dr. Barkin lowered his voice as if he was talking to a small child. “Look, why don’t you sleep on it and talk the choices over with your friends.”

At the mention of friends, she winced.

The doctor kindly asked, “Do you have any friends in Sandy Beach you can discuss this with?”

“Not really.” Why in the world did she have to start sobbing now? She was a brave and tough woman, for god’s sake. She could do this.

To her mortification, the friendly doctor seemed to believe she couldn’t cope on her own. “I’m sorry, I have to be in surgery in five minutes, but you look like you need a friend. My fiancé and I live in Sandy Beach, and you are invited to our home for dinner this evening. Allison is a superb cook, and I don’t know if you like babies or not, but we have one of those as well.”

Pearl opened her eyes wide at his invitation, but she was fragile enough to readily accept his unusual offer. “Are you sure she won’t mind?”

He smiled at her. “Not at all. We can talk more about your future, and that will give you a chance to think things through this afternoon. No pressure, but I strongly suggest you discuss such an important decision with someone.”

She agreed and left the hospital. While she normally prided herself on being in charge of her own destiny, she was actually glad to be able to discuss said destiny with some other people. Hopefully, by the time dinner was over, she would have a better idea of the road she should take.

On the drive back to Sandy Beach, she put in a CD with her favorite rock band Electric Flow and listened to its stellar song “Get Me Some More” at full volume.

Everything would be all right.