believe the depot is there,” he said in that flat uninflected tone he had. He motioned behind her.
But she didn’t follow the gesture. She was too busy wondering if it was the marshal’s training that had taken the South out of his voice, or just time spent away from home. When the drawl had crept into his voice earlier, even for those few words, the effect had been potent. It was every bit as commanding…but had an added lush underpinning that made her think of—well, the exact thing she’d been thinking of since she’d climbed in the Jeep. Or since he’d climbed out of it.
God, maybe she should have gone to the nightclub last night after all. Maybe rubbing bodies with some sweaty, mostly naked beach hunk was what she needed to dull this sudden sharp edge of need.
“Thanks,” she said, realizing she’d once again let the silence spin out. He was staring at her, his expression unreadable. When he didn’t say anything, just kept looking at her, she rushed on. “If you’ll help me get the death machine out of the back, I’ll return it, then hop the water taxi over and be back as fast as I can.”
The look of disappointment was brief, so brief she’d have missed it entirely had she not been looking at him as intently as he was looking at her. But he was really nice to look at. And not just his hard face and wide, welcoming smile. His body, even in regulation pants and polo shirt, was rugged-looking and fit. Definitely…inspiring.
“Why don’t you let me handle the scooter return?” he said easily, covering his disappointment over…what? she wondered.
Had he expected she’d invite him to the resort to wait there while she cleaned up? And why did he want to go? To ogle the surroundings—and the guests? Or to, perhaps, ogle her up close and personal? She shivered a little at the idea and quickly slid out of the Jeep to cover her reaction. One thing she already knew about Sean Gannon—he didn’t miss much.
“I’d offer to have you come over to the resort to wait, but they don’t allow unregistered guests to—”
He raised his hand and smiled, his expression open and easy now. “No, that’s fine. I’m okay here.”
Maybe she’d imagined the look of disappointment. He certainly looked as though he didn’t care one way or the other. “Okay, then. It’s just…I thought…” She shook her head. “Never mind.”
His smile flashed wider and he shifted his weight, but didn’t move closer. Still, somehow it felt as if he was. “I’ll admit that I can’t shake this feeling that as soon as I let you out of my sight, you’ll vanish. Like a mirage or something I just dreamed up.”
The sincerity of his tone made her pause. So…he did care one way or the other. Her skin warmed and her heart tripped just a bit faster. “I’m no mirage. And I won’t stand you up.” She smiled. “Besides, a Patrick ruling is never vacated.”
“I’ll remember that.” He slid out of the Jeep and dislodged the scooter from the rear before she could search out any deeper meaning in that statement. He rolled the scooter around to her side of the vehicle. “I’ll handle this and be waiting right here.”
“Wait, you’ll need the ticket stub and the—”
“No, I won’t. Trust me, you’re not only going to have no problem returning this, you’re going to get a full refund for the rental price, as well.”
“But—”
“Consider it your half of dinner. But you shouldn’t have to pay for a broken-down rental.”
She didn’t bother to argue. Partly because he was absolutely right, although she’d have probably just mentioned the malfunction to the attendant and let it go at that. She listened to arguments all day long in her professional life. She wasn’t about to have one on vacation. But mostly she dropped the issue because he had this set to his jaw that told her it wouldn’t have done her any good to argue anyway.
“Thank you,” she said sincerely, then grinned. “And may I say that when you play Good Samaritan, you’re really thorough.”
“I believe in always being really thorough,” he said. Again, with no overt inflection to any word he’d uttered.
And yet she had to resist squirming in her capris. Probably it was just her overheated imagination. Or the overheated air. Or both. Then he smiled and she thought, Or not.
“Me, too,” she finally said. It was the best she could manage, because he was still holding her gaze with that direct one of his own.
They both continued to stand there, neither one of them making the first move to walk away.
A bell clanged, announcing that another water taxi had just docked and was taking passengers.
“I should go.”
He merely continued to stare.
“The water taxi—” She didn’t even try to finish when he propped the scooter against the Jeep and silently stepped closer to her. The rest of her breath left her when he lifted his hand. What would his touch feel like? she wondered as her pulse began to thrum inside her body.
She sucked in a small gasp as he almost brushed her cheek…then slid off her sunglasses instead. She wasn’t sure if she was disappointed…or close to climaxing.
“There,” he stated quietly. When she raised her eyebrows in question, he smiled. “I had to know.”
“What?” she breathed.
“Blue or brown.”
She absently realized he was talking about her eye color. It was hard to think straight with him standing so close, almost touching her, and with her dying to know what it would be like to have him touching her, wanting, needing to know, ridiculously so. And all she had to do to find out was to reach up on her tiptoes and—“Did you win?” she said abruptly.
“Win?” he repeated, though he didn’t sound as if he really cared what she meant. He was too busy gazing at her, so directly…so intently.
“The b-bet,” she stammered, hearing her voice dip down an octave or so. “Blue. Or brown.” Her breath was shaky as he shifted another infinitesimal fraction of space closer. “Did you? Win?”
“Yeah,” he said, his voice a shade deeper, a shade less flat. “I did.”
They were talking, but it was becoming rapidly apparent that the words themselves weren’t important as there was another dialogue going on entirely. The kind that didn’t rely on speech for communication.
“Good,” she said, the word barely more than a breath.
“I have another.”
“Bet?”
He merely nodded.
“About?”
“This.” He leaned his head down and just like that he pressed those incredible lips against hers. Not demanding, but not at all tentative. Just testing…exploring…finding out…whatever it was he needed to find out.
And it seemed the most natural thing in
