looking deep into her eyes. ‘Happy birthday, Sandy.’
She saw warmth mixed with wariness—which might well be a reflection of what showed in her own eyes.
Silence fell between them. She was aware of her own quickened breathing over the faint hum of the air-conditioning. Felt intoxicated by the salty, so familiar scent of him.
Now.
Surely now was the moment to kiss him? Suddenly she desperately wanted to feel his mouth—that sexy, sexy mouth—on hers. To taste again the memory that had lingered through twelve years away from him.
She felt herself start to sway towards him, her lips parting, her gaze focusing on the blue eyes that seemed to go a deeper shade of blue as he returned her gaze. Her heart was thudding so loudly surely he could hear it.
But as she moved he tensed and took an abrupt step backwards.
She froze. Rejection again. When would she learn?
She stepped back too, so hastily she was in danger of tripping backwards into the room. She wrapped her robe tighter around her, focused on the list of hotel safety instructions posted by the door rather than on him. A flush rose up her neck to sting her cheeks.
She couldn’t think of a word to say.
After an excruciatingly uncomfortable moment Ben cleared his throat. ‘I’ve been sent on a mission from Aunt Ida to find and retrieve you and take you to the hospital to meet with her.’
Sandy swallowed hard, struggled to make her voice sound light-hearted. ‘Sounds serious stuff. Presumably an urgent briefing on the Bay Books project?’
He snapped his fingers. ‘Right first guess.’
She smiled, knowing it probably looked forced but determined to appear natural—not as if just seconds ago she’d been longing for his kiss.
‘Let me guess again. She’s getting anxious about filling me in on how it all works?’
‘Correct again,’ he said. ‘I promised to return with you ASAP to complete the mission.’
‘Funnily enough I have no other pressing social engagements in Dolphin Bay.’ She turned and started to walk back into the room, then stopped and looked back over her shoulder at him. ‘Do you want to come in while I get dressed?’
His glance went briefly to her open neckline. He cleared his throat. ‘Not a good idea.’
She blushed even redder and clutched the robe tighter. ‘I mean... I didn’t mean...’ she stuttered.
‘How about I come back to get you in half an hour?’
Her voice came out an octave higher. ‘Twenty minutes max will be fine. Where will you be if I’m ready earlier?’
‘Downstairs in my office.’
‘Pick me up in twenty, then.’
He turned to go.
She swallowed against the sudden tension in her throat. ‘Ben?’ she said.
He swung back to face her, a question on his face.
‘Thank you for the Snickers. I won’t say I’ll treasure them for ever, because they’ll be devoured in double quick time. But...thank you.’
‘You’re welcome,’ he said. ‘It was—’
Afterwards she wondered at the impulse that had made her forget all caution, all fear of rejection. Before she could think about whether it was a good thing or not to do, propelled by pure instinct, she leaned up on her bare toes and kissed him lightly on his cheek.
Then she staggered at the impact of his closeness, at the memories that came rushing back in a flood of heat and hormones. The feel of his beard-roughened cheek beneath her lips, the strength of his tightly muscled body, the out-and-out maleness of him. She clung to him, overwhelmed by nostalgia for the past, for when she’d had the right to hold him close. How could she ever have let go of that right?
His hands grasped her shoulders to steady her. She could feel their warmth on her skin through the thick cloth of her robe. Swiftly, he released her. He muttered something inarticulate.
Reeling, she lifted her head in response, saw the shutters come down over his eyes—but not before she’d glimpsed something she couldn’t read. It could have been passion but was more likely panic.
Bad, bad idea, Sandy, she berated herself. Even a chaste peck is too much for him to handle.
Too much for you to handle.
But no way was she was going to let herself feel ashamed of a friendly thank-you kiss. She was used to spontaneous expressions of affection between friends.
She forced her breath to steady, tilted her chin upwards. ‘See you in twenty,’ she said, praying he didn’t notice the tremor in her voice.
* * *
Ben stood back and watched as Sandy talked with his great-aunt in her room at the brand new Dolphin Bay Memorial Hospital. He might have known they would hit it off.
On doctor’s orders, Ida was lying flat on her back in her hospital bed. She’d been told she had to hold that position for six weeks to heal her cracked pelvis.
Sandy had pulled up a chair beside her and was chatting away as if she and Ida were old friends.
Why, although they were talking about authors and titles of favourite books, did he sense this instant alliance could mean trouble for him? Trouble not of the business kind—hell, there was nothing he couldn’t handle there—but a feminine kind of trouble he was not as well equipped to deal with.
Sandy was laughing and gesticulating with her hands as she spoke. His aunt was laughing too. It pleased him to see a warm flush vanquishing the grey tinge of pain from her face.
‘What do you think, Ben?’ Sandy asked.
‘Me?’
‘Yes. Who is the primary customer for Bay Books?’
He shrugged. ‘People off the boats looking for something to read? Retirees?’
His aunt nodded. ‘They’re important, yes. But I sell more books to the telecommuters than to anyone else. They’re crazy for book clubs. A book club gives them human contact as an antidote to the hours they spend working away on their computers, reporting to an office somewhere miles and miles away.’
Ben rubbed his hands together in simulated glee. ‘All those people fleeing the cities, making a sea-change to live on the coast—the lifeblood of commerce in Dolphin Bay. They’re buying land, building houses, and spending their socks off.’
Sandy wrinkled up her nose in the way he remembered so well. It was just as cute on her at thirty as it had been at eighteen.
‘That seems very calculating,’ she said.
‘What do you expect from the President
