And Able (18 page)

Like hell she wasn’t marrying him. It was the best solution, even if she wasn’t pregnant. She needed him and one day soon, she’d see that. “We’ll see.”

“No, we won’t see.”

He just shook his head. “I bought stuff to make dinner, but if you would rather eat in the restaurant here, I bought you clothes to wear, too.”

“You bought me clothes?” She sounded totally disoriented by the change in topic.

Good. Keeping her stunning mind off-kilter just might help his cause.

“Uh-huh.”

“But you don’t know my size.”

“Sure I do.” He could read the tags inside her clothes as easily as she could.

She frowned. “You didn’t need to do that. I could have worn my stuff from earlier.”

“If you want to eat in, you don’t have to wear any clothes at all.” And he let her see with a look just how much the idea appealed to him.

“We can eat in the restaurant,” she slotted in so fast, the words all came out in a jumbled rush.

“If you’re sure that’s what you want.”

“I’m sure, but I don’t see why I can’t wear my own clothes.”

“I bought you a dress.” And he’d had a lot of fun doing it.

“Dresses aren’t really my thing.”

“I wouldn’t say that. You looked amazing at Josie and Nitro’s wedding.” The woman had killer legs.

“She paid people to do my hair and makeup.”

“It isn’t images of your hair that have me waking up hot and sweaty with a boner hard enough to drill through iron ore.”

“You wake thinking about me? Excited…
that
 
way?”

“How can you be surprised after the way we spent the afternoon?”

“Wanting me when I’m around you makes sense, but you’re implying you think of me when you’re at home and stuff.”

“
And stuff
 
is right. When I’m traveling. When I’m on assignments. I think about you a lot, sweetheart.”

“You think about me…
that way
…at work?”

Hotwire rolled his eyes. Was she serious? “Are you saying you didn’t think about me?”

“No.”

He loved her honesty. He’d never known anyone who had that little artifice. She said what she meant. She never played emotional or mind games. Her integrity was part and parcel of who she was and who she saw herself to be.

He got up and grabbed her arm and started tugging her toward the bedroom, where he’d dropped the bags with the clothes he’d bought. “Come on. Let’s get you dressed.”

“I’m perfectly capable of dressing myself.”

“No doubt.” He grinned and winked. “But I’ll enjoy helping.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“You’re that set on eating dinner in the restaurant?”

She pulled away and looked at him with an expression he didn’t like. “It’s not just that. If you try to help me dress, it could lead to other things and I don’t think that’s a good idea right now.”

He stalked her toward the bed and she backed up, her eyes widening. He cupped her cheeks and stopped her retreat. Did she really not understand how impossible it would be to go back to a platonic friendship?

“We’ve got a saying back home, sugar. There ain’t no use shutting the barn door after the cow done got out already.”

“We aren’t on a dairy farm here.”

“I didn’t mean to say we were, but we’ve made the sexiest kind of love. Going back to a platonic friendship would be like trying to play pro football without touching your opponent. It’s a contact sport, sugar, and so is our relationship.”

“I’ve got an even better saying for you…only a complete fool compounds a mistake by making it again.”

“Making love wasn’t the mistake and you can bet your bottom dollar it’s going to happen
 
over and over again
.”

She opened her mouth to deny him and he didn’t want to hear it. So, he kissed her.

For some reason, she’d gotten it into her head that him wanting to marry her made sex between them a bad thing. It didn’t make any kind of sense to him, but one thing he’d learned growing up around the females in his family…the way a woman’s mind worked was not something a mere man could ever hope to understand.

She didn’t respond immediately to his lips, but he hadn’t gotten to where he was by giving up on a battle before the first real skirmish. He gently increased the pressure, encouraging her to kiss him back. She held out longer than he would have, but after a lot of tender coaxing on his part, a small sigh escaped her.

Relaxing against him, she finally responded with the sweet passion that he had become addicted to. He kissed her until he was in danger of laying her back on the bed for another bout of lovemaking. While he would have liked nothing better, he had promised to take her to the restaurant for dinner.

He broke their lips apart and stepped back. “Maybe you’re right about one thing, anyway…if I help you dress, we’ll never make it out of here.”

She nodded, her breathing every bit as ragged as his. “Where’s the dress you bought me?”

“It’s not actually a dress, but a skirt and sweater, and you don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to. I just thought you might like fresh clothes for dinner is all.”

“If you want me to wear it, I don’t mind,” she said, surprising him. “It can’t be worse than what I wore for Josette’s wedding, but I’m not sure my shoes are going to look all that great with a skirt.”

“I got sandals to go with it.” He showed her a second bag that held a single shoebox.

“They’re not high heels, are they?” she asked, suspiciously eyeing the bag dangling from his left hand.

“No.”

“Okay, then. Um…thank you.” Her expression chagrined, she took both bags from his outstretched hand and disappeared into the bathroom.

The sleeveless white, clingy sweater top and pleated skirt in a black, pink, and white swirl pattern had looked cute on the mannequin, and he’d known it would look killer on Claire. He hadn’t been able to resist buying it, even though he wasn’t sure she would willingly wear a skirt.

He smiled at the thought of her doing so to please him. That had to mean something.

When she came out fifteen minutes later, he was very glad he’d given in to the urge. He couldn’t peel his eyes away from her. “You look beautiful.”

She shook her head, a frown wrinkling her brow. “I look like a girlie wannabe.”

“You are a sexy, beautiful woman. You are not a wannabe anything. Feminine is definitely your style.”

She looked down at herself as if she couldn’t quite believe what she saw. “I would never have bought this outfit for myself, but I like the sandals.”

“The salesclerk assured me you could play basketball in them.” He’d been told they were every bit as comfortable as they were pretty.

“I’ll have to give it a try sometime,” she said tongue in cheek, and he grinned in response.

“I’m glad you approve of the shoes, but as far as the outfit goes—from the sparsity of your closet at Josie’s house, I’d say you don’t make a habit of buying
 
anything
 
clothes-wise for yourself.”

She shrugged. “I have enough to keep me from going naked and that’s all that matters. I’d rather put money toward my computer equipment. You should understand that.”

“Sure I do.” But when they got married, he’d make certain she had enough money for both. He liked seeing her in girlie stuff, as she put it. “But my sister would take a second job if it meant the difference between having enough money to shop for clothes or not.”

Claire gave him a blank look and then shrugged. “To each her own, I guess.”

“You’d best be prepared. She and Mama are going to have a heyday taking you shopping when we are in Georgia. Daddy bought stock in a recent mall development, saying it was because he wanted to get some of that money back.”

“I don’t remember saying I was going to Georgia with you.”

“You will. Your causes are too important to you for you to dismiss a chance of doing them some good with my money.”

She crossed her arms under her breasts, stretching the white fabric of her top over her generous curves. “You’re playing dirty.”

“I’m not playing at all. I want you in Georgia with me.”

“And you think bribing me is the way to get me there?”

“The way that’ll leave you least angry at me, yes.”

“You wouldn’t really kidnap me.”

She didn’t know him very well if she believed that. He’d left his southern gentleman manners behind over a decade before. “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”

She sighed, as if giving up. “All right.”

The relief he felt was all out of proportion. “You agree? You’re coming to Georgia? No more arguments?”

“Not about that, but I’m not sure about shopping with your mother and your sister. I imagine paying you back for these clothes is going to make a big enough dent in my bank balance.”

He frowned at that. “They’re a gift.”

“No.”

“Yes.” He put his hand over her mouth. “No more arguing. Please.”

He loved sparring with her, but he knew where an altercation between them would lead right now, even if she didn’t. And it wasn’t the restaurant.

“I called for dinner reservations while you were in the bathroom. We’ve got to get going if we want to be on time.”

Claire tried to breathe normally as Brett guided her behind the hostess with a hand on her waist. First, he had kissed her stupid back in the suite, and then he’d been giving her looks hot enough to scorch her since she came out of the bathroom wearing the girlie clothes he’d bought.

Their argument had done nothing to diminish the sexual tension between them. And he’d kept some part of him in contact with some part of her since leaving the suite.

They’d only had to travel one floor in the elevator, but he’d made the short time a long lesson in seduction. He’d held her nape and caressed her with his thumb in a way that sent tingles all over her body.

Between his touching and sex-laden looks, she felt like a cat dancing on hot bricks. He was probably right that making love again was inevitable. She wasn’t ready to concede that point just yet, though. And his idea that they should get married was totally out of the question.

He might be offering her a future she’d just started dreaming about, but he was doing it for all the wrong reasons. A man should ask a woman to marry him out of desire, not guilt.

He was too hard on himself. It was as if the concept that he was as fallible as the next man was anathema to him. He expected perfection from himself. And the one woman he’d been engaged to had been as close to perfect as they came, from what Claire could tell. Besides which, Brett had loved Elena.

That shouldn’t bother Claire, but it did…especially in the face of his assertion he would never love her.

She couldn’t live up to the other woman’s standard, or even come close.
 
She
 
would not have given up the possibility of a lifetime of Brett’s love for a long shot cause that had already been compromised.

Claire wasn’t that self-sacrificing, but Elena had been and Brett was. She wouldn’t let him sacrifice his future for her. Eventually, he would end up resenting her, especially if she became a bone of contention between him and his family.

And no doubt his overachieving, old-southern family would pee kittens if he tried to make the daughter of a suicide victim and a verified drunk one of them.

She was not going to let that happen…not any of it.

T
 
he hostess stopped at a table that overlooked the ocean. “Will this do?”

“It’s perfect,” Claire breathed, loving the view and approving the fact that the table was not off in a secluded corner somewhere.

She needed all the help she could get in fighting her cravings for Brett. Being in the full view of the rest of the restaurant should help.

A half an hour later, she was questioning her easy confidence. Brett managed to make even the simplest gesture sexy. Not only had he made buttering bread look like it should be an indoor sport for adults only, but by the time he ate three bites of the appetizer, her gaze was glued to his lips.

Memories coursed through her of how those lips felt against her skin.

His legs kept straying to her side of the table, too. He would apologize, but then moved them with a subtle caress that left her breathing erratic and her heart rate elevated. As if it wasn’t elevated enough just by his presence.

They were eating their main course when she gave up and just sat back to watch him. She might not have a lifetime with him, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy the here and now.

“What?” he asked, all innocence, one blond brow raised in inquiry.

“You’re really good at the seduction thing.”

“Seduction thing? I’m merely enjoying my dinner, darlin’.” He smiled and her toes curled in her sandals. “The seducing comes later.”

She shook her head, not buying it for a minute. “You are
 
so
 
trying to prove that I cannot resist you.”

Both brows went up at that. “Can you?”

“Probably not, but I don’t think you are being fair.”

“What’s not fair about eating dinner?”

“It’s the
 
way
 
you eat.”

His leg slid along her naked calf. “You think?”

She stifled a gasp and tucked her legs under her chair. “That smug attitude is going to get you into trouble.”

“In what way?”

“It would serve you right if I insisted on sleeping alone tonight.”

“Are you going to?”

That had been her plan. Things had gotten out of control, and she didn’t see rampant sex helping get them back to manageable levels. However, she wasn’t sure it would hurt, either. Nothing, not even rigid celibacy, was going to undo the fact that they had made love without protection the first time.

She took a deliberate sip of water and then carefully put her glass down. “The jury is still out on that one.”

“Is there anything I can do to sway the vote?”

“Don’t pretend you aren’t already doing it.”

“But I can turn it up a notch, if you think it’ll make a difference.”

The fiend.

“Do that, and I’ll need an asbestos suit to keep sitting here.” She was already hot enough to melt metal. “I’d rather you cooled off.”

“We can go for a swim after dinner. That ought to cool both of us off.”

“In the ocean?” She shuddered. Even in the height of summer, the water was cold enough to numb a person’s extremities.

“In the hotel pool. It’s outdoor and it’s heated. It overlooks the ocean, but there’s a glass wind barrier.”

“Wow.” It sounded really neat. And swimming in a public pool had to be safer than eating an intimate dinner for two with a man who could seduce a woman with the way he buttered rolls. “I wish we could.”

“Why can’t we?”

“I don’t have a swimsuit.”

“Sure you do.”

She groaned. “You bought me one of those, too?” There went her nest egg to tide her over while she looked for a job. “But we never said anything about going swimming.”

“A man can hope.”

“I suppose it’s a bikini.”

“There’s another kind of swimsuit?”

“Yes,” she said in exasperation. “The modest one-piece or tankini…the kind I usually wear, not that I go swimming all that often.”

Which had to have been glaringly apparent when she gingerly climbed into the shallow end of the pool while he dove in at the deep end and swam the length with sure strokes.

She wasn’t even very good at dog paddling, so she played in the shallow water while he swam several laps without stopping. Some teenagers were playing a dunking game, and yet, Brett never bumped into any of them.

The kids climbed out and headed for the hot tub just as he went under water about halfway down the pool. In the gathering darkness, she couldn’t see where he was.

Suddenly, he erupted out of the water in front of her, spraying her with cool droplets. “Why don’t you swim with me?”

“I don’t know how.”

“But you said you wanted to come swimming.”

She smiled. “Not everyone swims in a swimming pool. I like playing in the water.”

The second she said it, she knew it was the wrong thing to utter.

His expression took on predatory intent. “Do you, now? What a coincidence—so do I.”

“I don’t think we’re talking about the same kind of playing.” And it certainly wasn’t the kind that would cool her off.

He crowded her up against the pool wall, his big body blocking out her awareness of anyone and anything else. Even the cool water around her only registered on a periphery level.

His hands cupped her face. “Do you want me to teach you how to swim, or would you rather
 
play
?”

Oh, man. He really was lethal. “What sort of play did you have in mind?” she asked in a husky voice she barely recognized.

His hand slid down her back and cupped her bottom through the bikini pants. “I’m sure we’ll think of something.”

“In a public swimming pool?”

“We could always go back to the room.”

It was tempting. Incredibly so. She wanted to just melt against him, but the lure of learning how to swim shimmered in her mind. It was something she had always wanted to do, but had never gotten the chance.

She put her hands against his wet chest, the warmth there making her fingertips tingle. “Would you really teach me to swim?”

His expression took on that same cast it had when he helped her study. “Sure. How come you never learned?”

“No opportunity.”

“It’s about time you did, then.”

She licked her lips. “Yes.”

He swung her up against his chest and she gasped in shock. “Brett! What are you doing?”

But it was obvious what he was doing. He was carrying her to the deep end. Right in the middle.

“This might be a good time to tell you that the sink-or-swim approach to anything, including swimming, itself has never appealed to me.”

He smiled down at her and shook his head. “Don’t you trust me, darlin’?”

“When you talk in that honeyed drawl, I’d trust you to do anything.” No doubt to her detriment.

“Is that right?”

She sighed and rested her head against his wet chest. “Yes.”

“Hold your breath, Claire.”

“Why?”

“Just do it.”

“Okay.” She took a deep breath and held it.

He let go.

She dropped in the water and expelled her breath in shock. She started sinking before she could even yelp.

Strong hands immediately pulled her to the surface. “The first thing to remember when you’re learning to swim is that oxygen is buoyant…”

An amazing hour followed during which he rarely took advantage of the scanty nature of her swimsuit and made a genuine effort to teach her to swim. By the time they called a halt, she was executing a rudimentary forward stroke and could float on her back very nicely.

She held onto the edge of the pool and grinned at him. “That was great! Thank you.”

“Thank
 
you
, sugar. Watching your body move in that scandalous bikini was better than a wet dream.”

“I can’t believe you said that.” She sent a wave of water cascading over him with the sweep of her hand.

He didn’t so much as grunt, but moved in with the silent speed of a shark. He landed hard against her and she lost her hold on the side of the pool. She grabbed on to his shoulders so she wouldn’t sink, the scandalous bikini and his swim trunks no real barrier between them.

He took hold of the pool edge on either side of her. “You’re going to pay for that, sugar.”

“I am?” Acting on instinct, she brought her legs up and locked her ankles behind his back. The apex of her thighs settled just above the waistband to his shorts. His muscles there immediately clenched and he made a sound that was part growl, part moan.

She smiled. “And just how are you going to make me pay?”

His head lowered until his lips were a breath from hers. “I’ll think of something.”

“I’m sure you will,” she said softly with as much seductive promise as she could conjure in her voice.

Then quickly, using her hold on his torso to leverage herself above him, she shoved down on his shoulders, leap-frogging over his body to land in the water behind him.

She popped to the surface just like he’d so recently taught her and burst out laughing at the sight of him doing the same thing. Her dunking maneuver had been a complete success. The look in his eyes promised retribution, and she turned to make a mad scramble for the stairs at the shallow end.

She didn’t make it.

Strong arms lifted her from the water. “That was sneaky, Claire.”

She was too busy laughing and gasping for air to answer.

He flipped her until she landed cradled against him, her arms and legs locked firmly against his strength. His triumphant smile sucked more air out of her than the swimming had.

“You’re gorgeous,” she sighed, not having meant to say any such thing.

“Compliments are not going to win you mercy,” he informed her, but the warmth in his blue gaze said otherwise.

She was completely helpless in his arms, and yet she wasn’t worried at all. “Maybe I don’t want mercy.”

“I’m not falling for that ploy again.”

She batted her eyelashes in a way she’d never done before. “What ploy would that be?”

He lifted her and leaned down so once again their faces were so close she could feel his breath. “The
 
wouldn’t you rather kiss me than dunk me
 
gambit.”

“Wouldn’t you?” she asked, her voice husky with genuine desire.

“Any sane male of the species would, but a man can’t have his woman thinking she can get around him so easily. It’s bad for his self-image.”

“Like that would ever be a problem with you,” she scoffed. “What if I told you that nothing you could do would tarnish your image as a bad-ass former mercenary tough enough to get the job done, no matter what it is?”

He took a deep breath as if inhaling the fragrance of her skin, not chlorine fumes from the pool. “Then I might have to kiss you anyway.”

“Consider yourself told.”

The words were barely out of her mouth when his lips slanted over hers with enough heat to make the moisture on her skin turn to steam. He was so darn good at this stuff. He devoured her mouth until she was moaning against his lips and trying to free her arms so she could touch him.

She heard a wolf whistle and his hold on her loosened. Relief that her arms would be free surged through her. Only, instead of getting a chance to touch the muscular body so temptingly close, she found herself tossed in the air and landing with a splash in the pool.

She came up spluttering and laughing, her feet easily touching bottom. She heard more laughter and saw that the teens had exited the hot tub and were whistling, laughing, and calling out encouragement to her or Brett, depending on if they were girls or boys.

She looked from them over to Brett.

He looked ready for a frontal attack, but she was too smart to go for a payback gambit she was sure to lose. She had something far more effective in mind.

She waved at the teens and smiled sweetly at Brett.

His eyes narrowed in instant alertness.

His toss had left her closer to the steps, and she started backing toward them now. “Amazing how effective a dunking can be to cool a person’s urges. I’m so chilled, in fact, that I think I’ll go warm up in the hot tub now that it’s empty.”

Brett moved toward her, his expression revealing that he’d latched on to her weapon of choice immediately.

“I’d be happy to warm you up.”

“Oh, that won’t be necessary. Why waste a perfectly good hot tub moment for
 
something else
?”

The teenagers were laughing as they spilled into the rec room off the pool area. A couple of the boys called advice to Brett over their shoulders while the girls called, “You go, girl,” to Claire.

She climbed out of the pool, adjusting her swimsuit with downright provocation before tripping over to the room with the still-bubbling whirlpool.

Brett came in just as she was lowering herself into the steaming water.

Their skirmish momentarily forgotten, she moaned in pure bliss at the feel of it surging around her. “This feels so good.”