Finding Harmony (6 page)

She blinked and then squinted in his direction. “Oh!” She
seemed embarrassed as she fidgeted on her bottom. “Rick. For a second I thought…
What are you doing here?”

He stepped closer, looking down at his feet to let her
collect herself. He’d been a jerk to intrude on her solitude. He wouldn’t make
her feel like he was some leering pervert now. He held back a smile. Okay, he’d
leered a little.

“I heard you lived out here and thought I’d stop by.”
Lame.
He held up the beer bottles. “You know. To have a drink and hear if the
Institute had anything new.” He managed to smooth his expression. “May I join
you?”

He waited for her response, watching her face. If Harmony
didn’t completely buy it she didn’t let on. When she blinked and inclined her
head a notch, he knew he was in.

Harmony folded her legs and sat cross-legged. She waved him
over. “It’s a beautiful night but I suppose I could use a cold drink.”

He handed her one of the bottles and sat, his chinos
stretching as he mimicked her position. Nice and comfortable, these pants. He
rested a hand against the dock. It wasn’t made of wood like he’d thought, but
of some kind of recycled plastic planking. He’d seen benches and other things
made of the stuff scattered throughout Cypress Corners. It was smooth against
his palm. No wonder she didn’t mind lying on it.

As he shifted his knee touched hers but he didn’t pull away.
He noticed she didn’t, either. He wished he had shorts on, too. Even her knees
were sexy.

He focused on the night air and the sweet scent of the girl
beside him. He shifted again and drank deeply. Looking out at the lake instead
of staring at her seemed to help the need now stretching his comfortable pants.

“Nice view.”

His comment hung in the moist air.

“I don’t know anything new, Rick,” she said at last.

He shrugged away the tightness in his neck her words caused.
“There’s still time,” he said, more to himself.

They sat quietly for a few minutes. The lake seemed to
stretch on forever, black at the edges far on the other side. Like that night
at the dockside restaurant, he heard all sorts of sounds from the woods around
them. There was a splash to the left and he glanced at Harmony.

Her eyes sparkled for a moment as she sipped her beer. She lowered
her bottle and smiled. “Gator.”

He froze. He didn’t get up and run, which made him feel
pretty good. She didn’t seem worried so he took his cue from her and drank more
of his beer. “I hope he’s not related to last week’s dinner.”

She laughed softly and he turned toward the lake again. Now
was his chance. To get her on his side and push the Institute to make a decision.
To set aside the lust and the unexpected comfort he felt being next to her and
get her to work with him. He had to get the job done, and damn his own feelings
for the girl standing in his way.

He turned and flashed his most charming smile. “Tell me about
your work at the Institute.”

She visibly stilled, then took a sip of her beer. “You want
to know about my work?” She gazed out at the lake for a long moment. “Okay.”

He watched her, seeing irritation and relief as she
obviously resigned herself to the conversation. He’d stepped in it now. “Yeah. I
admit I don’t know much about conservation but there has to be a reason it means
so much to you.”

“I’ve always been drawn to nature. Ever since I was a
little girl. I’m thrilled to be able to do my part to protect it.” She shrugged
and faced him again. “I work for Dr. Robbins, mostly.”

He nodded. “Nice guy. A little vague, maybe.”

“I know he seems absentminded to most but I know better. He
has a big property to oversee,” she said in his defense. “Cypress Corners sits
on over ten thousand acres.”

“I know. Only a piece of it is being developed.” He smiled.
“I read the stuff at the Welcome Center. Even took the tour.”

“The tour? With Tammy?”

“Yeah.”

“She’s the expert at the Center. She seems so efficient and…
polished.”

He blinked, then thought about the plastic sheen to Tammy’s
particular polish. “I guess.”

Her brow furrowed and she ran a hand over that incredible hair.
“I must look just fabulous right now.”

Yeah, she did. But he doubted she’d believe him at the
moment. He kept his mouth shut and ignored the moonlight catching in every wave
and curl trailing down her back and shoulders.

She took a breath. “Cypress Corners is home to me now. It
has been since I graduated.”

He stared out at the lake as he drank his beer, his eyes
scanning for something. Another splash came from the lakeshore and he started. She
smiled and he shakily returned the expression.

“Once I got my Masters I didn’t want to crowd back in with
my parents in their RV,” she added.

He puzzled over that for a moment.

Harmony smiled. “I know, it’s a little off. Your family
probably lives in a mansion.”

He thought about Bill’s monument to himself and stifled a
shudder. “My father’s house is pretty big.” Big and cold.

“My parents are a little different,” she said. “Their place
is pretty mobile and she cooks at all hours of the day.”

“She’s a chef?”

“Sort of. She makes organic treats for her friends. She also
sells them to gourmet shops near Orlando and on the coast.”

“What are organic treats?”

“I know it sounds like an oxymoron,” she said. “But my
mother makes a tofu cheesecake that you’d swear came straight from New York.”

He shook his head. “Alligator and tofu? Interesting.”

“And turtle.”

He laughed. “Yikes.” He placed his empty bottle on the dock
beside him. “Any brothers or sisters?”

She stilled again. “This conversation is getting a little
personal, don’t you think?”

He slanted her a look. “So?”

“Okay, I admit it’s kind of nice. Sitting here in the
near-dark, drinking beer and talking about something other than plants and
conservation.”

“Or specs or contracts,” he added.

She nodded. “There’s just me. Ariel and Max had me late in
life.”

“Tofu and alligator and you in an RV,” he said. “Where did
you go to school?”

“My mother taught me. An early home-schooler, I suppose. But
I’ll bet I learned more from her than most kids did in the classroom. My mother
has a thing about crystals and auras. The healing properties of being in
balance.” She shrugged. “I guess that’s pretty different from a New England education.”      

He looked down as he ran his hands over his thighs. Home
schooled and living in a trailer. But the way her eyes softened when she talked
about her parents, he didn’t doubt her education beat the hell out of the cold
prep schools he’d attended.

“Not a lot of home-schoolers in Boston when I was growing
up,” he said.

She tilted her head to one side as she brushed a thick curl
over her shoulder. It was an unconscious motion and way sexier than Tammy’s
practiced moves that afternoon. The moonlight now danced over her silky skin,
catching in the hollow of her throat, on her delicate collarbone. She stared at
him, a question in her eyes.

“Did you say something?” he asked.

A smile came quickly. “I asked about your family.”

He chose to take her question where he wanted to. “My
brother Jake is off climbing mountains or jumping off bridges.” Her brows
raised and he grinned.   “He’s into extreme sports. He travels all over the
world, setting up obstacle courses and other places you can push yourself, get
your thrills and break your limbs. My little sister Cassie is off in Europe.”        

“Europe.” She ran a finger over the neck of her beer bottle.
“I’ve never been out of Florida. What’s she doing there?”

He didn’t want to guess what the wild girl was up to. Cassie
was a handful and if Harmony hadn’t read of her recent exploits in the tabloids
he wasn’t going to bring them up. “She’s going to school, supposedly. I get a letter
once in a while.” Truth was, Cassie didn’t seem to want to confide in her big
brother. Maybe Jake had heard something.

Harmony nodded. She took both their bottles and set them
aside. “You miss her.”

He did. Her and Jake. “Yeah. There’s not a lot of time to
get together.”

“Just holidays, then,” she said.

He shook his head. “No. Not even holidays.”

She touched his hand and he realized his fist was clenched
tight against his leg.He pulled back and shrugged. “Bill Chapman’s not a warm
and fuzzy kind of guy. We don’t have a lot of family get-togethers.”        

“What about your mother?”

The question shouldn’t have surprised him. She’d talked
freely about her parents. But he must have revealed something of the hurt he
still felt when he thought of his mother because Harmony leaned toward him,
compassion in her hazel eyes. Damn it, he didn’t want her pity. He sure as hell
didn’t want to talk about his parents.

The way Bill had left them, the sad woman his mother had
become. But it was there, questions clear on Harmony’s face, her lips parted to
ask something else about him he wouldn’t reveal. He stared at those lips. Then
he kissed her.

She was as delicious as he’d expected, tasting of beer and
mint and fresh air. Her skin felt moist as he gently grasped her arms. Pressing
forward, he gave her his tongue and let her taste him. She sighed and didn’t
pull away. His hands were on her back, up under her tiny shirt to touch her
skin, as she touched his shoulders. Her fingers played over him, light and
tentative and man, he wanted her.

His goal had been no more questions. No more thinking about
his screwed-up family. In this instant that changed, shifted. The one thing
he’d wanted when he first saw her pounded through him again. To taste her.

His mouth left hers and he kissed the hollow of her throat.
Her pulse was as wild as his heartbeat. He could feel it against the tip of his
tongue.

“Rick.”

Her voice was soft, rich in the thick night air. It reached
into him as her hands worked the buttons of his shirt. Turning, he pulled the shirt
out of his pants and pulled her to him. Her breasts pressed against him and he
groaned softly.

“Harmony.” His voice was muffled through her hair. Man, he
smelled that citrus scent again. He breathed in deeply.         

In an instant she was beneath him, her fingers in his hair
as he kissed her throat again. He closed his hands on her perfect breasts,
stroking, kneading. She arched and he pushed her tank top up out of the way.

A quick glance at her face showed she wanted this contact,
this connection. Kissing one breast, he braced his arms on the dock and pressed
himself against her. One shapely leg curved around his waist, her skin hot and
smooth against his. He could feel her heat through her shorts. Was she wearing panties?
He trembled at the thought of just slipping a finger up under the hem and
finding her wet. Finding her ready for him. Did he have a condom? The thought
whispered to him.

“Rick,” she breathed.

Yes!
He had condoms in his wallet. She moved against
him, close and tight until they moved together. Her boot struck softly against
his butt as she began a rhythm that nearly sent him over the edge. Sweet Jesus
she was just like he imagined. She wanted
him
.

Pulling back, he eased a hand beneath the waistband of her
shorts.

In the next instant she sat up and edged away from him. “Stop,”
she whispered.

He shook his head and tried to catch his breath. There was
no blood in his brain but he was damned if it didn’t sound like she’d said,
“stop.”

“What?” he rasped.

She tried to cover her breasts with the tiny top and he
fisted his hands to keep from tearing it off of her. He could see the fabric
clinging damply, her breasts begging for more of his touch. She stared at him,
clenching her hands in her lap. “No. I… No.”

A second ago she was hot for him, wet and ready and so sweet.
“I don’t get it,” he murmured, as much to himself as to her.

She turned away, her shoulders set. “I’m sorry.”

He sat up as his mind began to focus. She wasn’t a tease. She
hadn’t lure him out to her camp to get him all hot and bothered. That had been
his bright idea. Then why did he feel cheated?

“Sorry,” he bit out. “You’re sorry. We almost make love
and—”

She whipped her head around to face him. “Make love?”

He welcomed the anger cutting through his sexual frustration.
“What did you think, Harmony? I just wanted sex? That I came out here to screw
you?”

She flinched, but her eyes flashed at him. “Didn’t you? Drinking
beer and asking about my job. Cozying up to me by getting me to talk about my
family.” She gave a little snort. “I almost fell for it.”

He blew out a breath. “Don’t deny you wanted me. Just ten
seconds ago you almost came. I felt it.”

She stood and grabbed up the beer bottles. For a second he
thought she’d crack him over the head for that last bit of genius. But instead she
turned and stalked away from him.

“Good night, Rick,” she said.

He watched as she entered her cabin and slammed the door.

“You wanted me, Harmony,” he called. “As much as I wanted
you!”

He heard a muttered something, most likely a curse, but the
door remained shut. He looked down at himself, his body still eager for
something it wouldn’t get tonight. It wouldn’t be a curse that made sleep
difficult tonight.

He squeezed his eyes shut. “Well, damn.”