make a start back.’
‘Stop.’ She reached for his jaw and ran her palm over his cheek. ‘Do we need to think about work right now?’
Her legs made little swirling kicks around him. He could feel the rhythmic movement, and a need to have her wrap those legs around his hips almost overwhelmed him.
He should have turned and swam away then. He should have listened to the voice in his head reminding him of what she’d said. But he did neither. Instead, he put his hand on her waist and pulled her closer. And, yes—it was a perfect fit for his palm. ‘What do you want to think about?’
‘Actually, I don’t feel much like thinking at all.’ She looked up from beneath long eyelashes adorned with droplets like a hundred tiny diamonds highlighting the flashes of colour in her eyes and the intensity of need.
His heart was raging a wild tattoo in his chest. Because even though he was lame at reading signals, he was pretty sure he knew what this one was saying. And, for the record, Lola was nothing like the others. She was special. Unique. ‘What do you feel like doing?’
‘I want to kiss you again.’ She wriggled closer into his open arms and slanted her wet mouth against his, and all thoughts of work and conflicting signals, and all the reasons to stop fled from his brain. He dragged her hard against him and kissed her back.
She tasted of salt and the sea, she tasted fresh and hot and hungry. As she entwined her legs with his he pushed his fingers into her hair, cradled her head and relished the press of her glorious curves against him. Her hand ran down his back as she moaned into his mouth, fingernails grasping at his skin.
Slowly he nipped along her bottom lip then kissed along her collarbone to the soft hollow at her throat, and she tilted her head back and laughed.
‘God, Jake, I’ve been dreaming about this.’
‘You too?’ He tugged the zip on her neoprene and slowly freed her breasts, slid his palm over one as he took her mouth again. Beneath his fingers her nipples contracted to tight buds and he coaxed them, first gently stroking then—reluctantly leaving her mouth—he was licking them against the rise and fall of the ocean.
It was like a crazy dream—a beautiful woman, a deserted beach, the reach and grasp of a delicious need that spiralled through him.
‘Oh, yes.’ She pulled his mouth from her nipple and cupped his face, anchoring him to her, deepening the kiss, hard and wet, pulsing in time with the waves. The kiss became urgent, the need for her almost frantic. He was so hard. So hard for her and she knew it as she wriggled against him and groaned with pleasure.
Laughing, she wrapped her legs around his hips, and as she did so, something wrapped tight around his heart and tugged. The light sound of her carefree laughter, the sway of the ocean waves, the rush of adrenalin and heat filled him with more than desire. He wanted her, too much.
It would have been so easy to slide back her bikini bottoms and thrust into her there, but reality began to seep into his brain. There was no future in this, and Lola was the kind of woman who would want the fairy-tale future in the end. Regardless of what she may say or do now, he couldn’t promise her anything apart from a good time and a goodbye.
She was fresh and untainted, she was something new and good. And, when it came down to it, he wasn’t. Not where women were concerned. He didn’t want them to cloud his vision, to distract him. He had a lot to achieve—a debt to repay. He didn’t want to have to consider another person.
Lola deserved to be considered.
He pulled away and held her wrists. ‘Lola, we need to stop this.’
‘Yes, God, my legs are killing me, treading water. Let’s get to dry land...and then...you know...there’s not a soul on the beach and I see a secluded place...’
He shook his head. ‘Let’s talk once we get to the beach.’
‘Talk?’ She almost flinched, the hit to her gut was visible, but she slowly absorbed it. Her smile slipped as she realised what he was saying. For a second he thought she was going to agree with him, but she hit her open palm hard on the top of the water so spray arced over him. ‘You know what, Jake? You are so damned annoying.’
Then she started to swim hard towards the shore.
After a minute or so she stopped and turned to him, breathless, angry, legs kicking beneath the surface. ‘I don’t get it. I don’t get why you do all that and then listen to whatever it was in your head telling you to stop. Because I know you want to kiss me, Jake. I know you want to fool around and I do too. So why the hell—? Ow! Oh. Wow.’ She gasped sharply, then again as her face contorted in pain and she started to thrash under the water. ‘Go. To. Hell—Ow! Ow!’
‘Lola? What’s wrong?’
‘I—? Leave. Me. Alone.’ She bobbed under the water, grasping at her leg. When she resurfaced she was blinking back tears, pressing her hand to her mouth and trying to stay afloat.
Jake’s heart hammered. ‘What’s wrong? Lola, what’s happened?’
‘Something stung me. Bit me? Ow...’ Her face was pinched and he could see she was fighting pain. ‘Oh, what the hell do you care anyway?’
‘Quite a damned lot, actually.’ The reality of that gave him a powerful thump to his solar plexus. This was not the time for arguing or playing stupid games.
‘CALM DOWN. TAKE A deep breath. Breathe, Lola. And again. That’s it. Good. It’s okay. I’ve got you.’ Jake’s arms wrapped round her as he kicked hard towards the beach. Her leg felt as if someone was holding a hot poker against it, the burn ripped through the flesh to the bone. She clung on to his shoulders as he powered through the waves.
She just wanted the pain to stop. I will not cry. ‘Jellyfish? D’you think it’s a jellyfish? Are there more? Don’t get stung too.’ She had to shout over the roar of waves and the rush of white noise in her head, though it came out like a panicked, high-pitched squeal.
‘I didn’t see anything swimming around... But, then, I was distracted...’ He hauled in oxygen, breathing hard as he bore the weight of the two of them. ‘Could be anything. Lola, keep still.’
‘It hurts.’
‘I know it does.’ And he was there for her, holding her, saving her. Regardless of what he’d said about the kissing. He was there, she’d remember that—once she’d got over the pain and the humiliation of being rejected. Again.
In no time at all they reached the beach and he laid her on the sand at the water’s edge and bathed her leg with cooling seawater. His eyes had lost the heat she’d seen before, but there was something else there—concern, hesitation. ‘How’s it feeling now?’
‘Okay. And stop being so bloody nice to me.’ It made things a million times worse, and made her like him even more.
‘First time anyone’s ever complained about me being considerate.’ His tone was kind and patient, in contrast to hers.
‘That’s because you’re
