Kitabı oku: «One Kiss In... Hawaii», sayfa 4

He wasn’t completely surprised. In Manhattan, he mostly took cabs himself. “What about weekends? Don’t you like getting out of the city?”

Her eyebrows arched over her sunglasses, a cynical smile curving her lips. “Weekends? Is there such a thing at Pearson and Stern?”

“Point taken.” He took out his sunglasses and slid them on before pulling out of the lot. “Is that why you left?”

“I never minded the work.”

He cursed himself for bringing it up. Not so much because she sounded defensive, but the subject only reminded him of his unwanted errand. Luckily traffic was heavy and required all of his attention. So did the GPS. He already knew from studying the map earlier that Hawaiian street names were difficult to differentiate. Too many vowels.

She apparently got the message that he was focusing on driving, but as soon as they stopped at a red light, she asked, “The day I resigned…why didn’t you ask why I was leaving?”

“I was too shocked.”

“You had two and a half weeks.”

David sighed. “I don’t know why. Denial, maybe.”

She didn’t respond, but tied her hair back into a ponytail with something she’d found in her purse. “The light’s green.”

“Thanks.” He started to proceed, but two pedestrians darted into the crosswalk, and he jammed on the brakes.

Mia gasped softly, her hand shooting out to brace herself. “And they say New York is bad.”

“No kidding.” He waited until it was clear, and then accelerated. “I keep forgetting you’ve been here before. I should’ve asked if there’s someplace in particular you wanted to go.”

“Uh, I didn’t get too far out of Waikiki. Or off the beach, for that matter. I had the worst sunburn.”

“I did the same thing freshman year, and I knew better. When I was a kid we spent a lot of summers in Aruba and St. Thomas.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. That Caribbean sun is killer.”

“Where did you summer?” he asked conversationally, then heard an odd strangling noise coming from her. He glanced away from the road long enough to see her burst out laughing.

“The backyard in a small blue inflatable swimming pool.” She patted his arm. “That’s where we Butterfields summered. On special occasions we went to our neighbor’s backyard.”

“All right.” He felt like an idiot. “Consider me duly chastised.”

“You get a pass, but only because you’re not spoiled or a snob.” She paused. “Contrary to what I thought when I first started with the firm.”

He took his gaze off the road long enough to shoot her a look of disbelief. “Totally unfounded.”

“Not from where I sat.”

“On what grounds?”

“Oh, my God, you sound like a damn lawyer.”

He smiled. “Guilty as charged.”

“Okay, no more of that kind of talk.”

“Or what? You’ll fine me for contempt?”

Mia groaned. “The upside is that you do have a sense of humor, corny as it is. It wouldn’t be enough that you’re pretty.”

He choked out a laugh. “Pretty?”

“Oh, come on.” She drew a finger along his jaw. “You know you are.”

All he knew is that if she didn’t keep her hands to herself, he’d end up rear-ending the Jeep in front of them. “Where did you grow up?”

She withdrew, though chuckled softly as if she knew he was trying to distract her. “Upstate New York. Ithaca, not too far from Cornell.”

“But you didn’t go there as I recall.”

“Too expensive. I went to NYU.” She’d moved her hand, or at least she wasn’t touching him. “I’m surprised you know anything about my undergrad studies.”

“I read your résumé.”

“You weren’t there for the interview process.”

“I was in Atlanta overseeing a case.” Good thing. He clearly remembered meeting her on her first day at the firm. One look into those sexy green eyes and he knew he wouldn’t have hired her. “But I was the one who initially flagged you as a candidate.”

“Hmm, I didn’t know.” She shifted, angling her knees toward him. “Why me? You probably had a dozen Harvard and Yale graduates nipping at your heels.”

“We did.”

“So what was it about my résumé that caught your attention?”

He cocked a brow at her. “You were only second in your class, but the top dog had already hired on with another firm in San Francisco.”

“Thanks,” she said dryly. “I happen to know you’re full of it because Lance Heatherton went to work for his father.” She sniffed. “And just so you know, he barely inched past me.”

David smiled at her competitive streak. “Frankly, being second in your class obviously got our attention, but what impressed me more was that you were there on a scholarship, working a part-time job and volunteering with the ACLU and the Legal Aid Society. To me, that shows a lot of character and ambition.”

“Ambition nothing, I was exhausted. But I also learned a lot from volunteering.”

He thought for a moment. “I’m going to tell you something that I’ve never admitted to anyone.” He glanced over at her to reassure himself. “The first four years at Harvard, I did the typical spring break things, traveled abroad during the summer, screwed off like the rest of my friends. When I started law school, my father told me I had to start spending break times at the firm, sort of like an intern. I resented it. I figured I’d be working my ass off soon enough. He knew how I felt, but he didn’t say anything.

“That first week during Christmas break I showed up like I was supposed to. I was given a small office, and I mean small. In fact, now it’s that storage closet the admins use.”

Mia issued a short laugh. “Seriously?”

“Oh, yeah. I couldn’t believe it, especially since there were a couple of empty offices with windows.”

“I can see your dad trying to teach you a lesson.”

“He never said a word about it, and I didn’t, either. I thought, screw him. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of complaining. It took me a couple of years, but I figured out that he’d saved me a lot of grief. Ended up, respect was more important to me than being the boss’s son. It never would have mattered how good an attorney I was if I hadn’t earned my place in the firm.”

She stayed quiet for so long that he finally took his gaze off the road to look at her. Had he revealed too much?

Her lips curved in a soft smile. “Thank you for sharing that with me.” She touched his face, innocently enough, but he tensed, because with Mia, there was no innocent touch. It was crazy how easily she got to him. “You missed a spot.” She circled the side of his jaw with the tip of her finger and then moved her hand to the tightness at the back of his neck.

“Good thing it’s a straight shot to Diamond Head, or we’d be lost already,” he murmured.

“Oh, am I distracting you? Sorry,” she said, with a sly smile in her voice. “I’ll try to keep my hands to myself.” She folded them primly in her lap, then slowly, deliberately crossed one shapely leg over the other, effectively snaring his attention.

So that was how it was going to go down. Him trying to put on the brakes, and her doing all she could to make him crack.

5

THEY SKIPPED THE scenic lookout where several groups of people were already stationed, and chose a spot off to the right. Mia inched closer to the edge of the cliff and stared down at the waves slamming the jagged black volcanic rock below. She’d long given up on trying to tame her thick, unruly hair. Between riding with the top down and the stiff breezes that swept off the ocean, the best she could do was keep it secured in a ponytail so that her hair wasn’t whipped into her face.

“Look at those two.” With her chin, she indicated a couple who’d left the lookout and were picking their way down toward the water.

“Did you want to go down for a closer look?”

The words were no sooner out of David’s mouth when water shot out from the blowhole, jetting a good twenty feet into the air. The scene was spectacular, the white spray fanning out in every direction. Though they stood a safe distance away, Mia reflexively leaned back and bumped into David. The adventurous pair below shrieked and scrambled backward, trying to avoid getting wet. Or worse.

Mia shuddered. “The view from here is just fine, thank you.”

He casually slipped an arm around her shoulders, and she sighed and relaxed against him. His skin was warm on hers, his scent spicy and all male.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t get too close,” he said closer to her ear. “Apparently the spray is unpredictable. There’s an underground lava tube that extends into the sea and when the waves crash into it, pressure builds inside the tube. The water can shoot up to thirty feet. Certainly enough to knock someone over.”

Mia pulled away to look at him, disappointment pricking at the pleasure of being held. She’d had the impression this trip had been a last-minute decision. That he’d pulled it together for her. “How do you know all this stuff?”

“I read a few guidebooks.”

“When?”

“Last night.”

She frowned. “You were in a rush to leave my room so you could read guidebooks?”

His mouth twisted wryly. “Right.”

She was instantly sorry for bringing up last night, especially when he lowered his arm and they were no longer touching. Did he think he was rushing her? “I wouldn’t have minded if you stayed,” she said finally.

He kept silent for too long as he faced the ocean. That his sunglasses hid his eyes meant nothing—David was an expert at masking his emotions. “I know, and I wanted to stay.”

“But?”

Sighing, he rubbed the back of his neck. “I was trying to give you some time.”

“You’ve been doing that for nearly three years.”

“This isn’t the same.”

Mia hated that she couldn’t read him. Hated it even more that he had the ability to shut everything out, including her. She stared at his familiar profile, her gaze taking in the proud strong chin, the perfect nose, the sculpted jawline. He was from Pearson stock all right, cultured, reserved, confident.

Maybe what she’d seen at work was all she’d get. Maybe she’d been wrong to think there was another David beneath the layers of breeding that prevented him from being more human.

But then there was last night. That kiss.

No, she wasn’t wrong.

At the memory of his hot, wet mouth covering hers, his tongue plunging in and taking no prisoner, her insides fluttered. He hadn’t been guarded then or reserved. Definitely confident though. He’d be that way when he made love to her.

Damn him, he made her want more. She wanted him naked and sweaty and vulnerable, all of his defenses gone. She wanted him inside her.

She hesitated, but just for a second. “Remember,” she said, “I don’t work for you anymore.”

He’d straightened, suddenly alert. “Look.” He slid his arm around her shoulders again, brought his cheek close to hers and pointed.

Her first reaction was annoyance that he’d ignored her comment, or was trying to distract her. Not that she disapproved of his methods. She snuggled a bit closer and squinted in the direction of his outstretched arm. “What am I looking for? I see some kind of boat—”

“No, to the right. Farther out. Just watch.”

She stood still, barely able to think about anything but his slightly beard-roughened cheek pressed against her skin.

“There.” He hugged her. “Did you see?”

“Only for a second. What was it?”

“I’m pretty sure it’s a whale. Let’s keep watching. It might surface again.”

Her gaze transfixed on the spot, she waited, thrumming with excitement. Their patience paid off. In a matter of seconds, not one but two animals arched out of the sea, making their mark with a jettison of water that echoed the blowhole.

She gasped. “Wow.”

“We’re lucky. I read that this was a good spot for whale watching, but only in the winter. This is the tail end of the season for them to be passing through.”

The reminder that he’d wasted last night reading nearly threatened her improved mood, but she decided she wouldn’t allow it. They were going to talk, but perhaps this wasn’t the place. For now she planned on enjoying the fact that he still held her and that she could feel the steady beat of his heart against her arm.

“I see something else,” she said, keeping her sights on the horizon. “It almost looks like another island. Is that possible?”

“Yep.” He didn’t move, which suited her fine. “I see it, too. When it’s clear enough they say you can see any one of three other islands—the Big Island of Hawaii, Lanai and I can’t pronounce the last one. Starts with an M.”

“I know. These names are crazy. I have no idea how to pronounce the highway we’re on.”

“You mean Kalanianaole?” he asked smugly.

“Like I would know if that’s right or not. That sounded pretty good, though. What’s up with that?”

“I cheated. I listened to the vocal part of the GPS directions earlier.”

“Sly, Pearson, very sly.” She turned enough to rest a palm on his chest, then tilted her head back and gazed up at him, daring him to kiss her.

A tiny twitch at the corner of his mouth was the only reaction she got. But for him, that was something. In his dark glasses, she saw her reflection, saw what a mess her hair was, and sighed.

He nudged her chin up a fraction. “What’s the matter?”

“I just caught my reflection in your glasses. My hair. Yikes.”

He gave her ponytail a light tug. “I like your hair. Especially when it’s down.” His warm moist breath bathed her cheeks, made her heart skip a beat. “You used to start out with it down when you came to work in the morning. It would still be damp.”

She was blown away that he’d noticed that minor detail. It seemed he’d barely spared her a glance unless they were working together on a case. “Your hair would be slightly damp, too, sometimes.”

“Mia, I want—” He closed his mouth, gave his head a small self-deprecating shake. “We’d better get on the road. We have a lot more to see.”

She stopped him from drawing away. “David, please.”

“Look, you’re only here for a week, you’ve made plans with your friends, and here I am butting in.”

“That’s not what you were going to say.”

“No,” he admitted, clearly conflicted about something. “This is more complicated than I anticipated.”

“This? You mean, us?”

He nodded.

Mia didn’t try hiding her frustration. “We’re in Hawaii. I don’t work for you anymore. We’re obviously attracted to each other. What’s complicated about that? It’s only one week, David, and then we go back to our respective lives.”

He flinched slightly, something she’d never expected. Had she hit a nerve? Was he worried that she’d want more from him than he was willing to give? His life was already full, between work and social obligations that went with being a Pearson. If the rumors were true, his mother not only fixed him up with dinner companions to attend company functions, but family gatherings, as well.

A sudden and truly awful thought struck Mia.

“We both know what I’m going back to,” David said, his voice bringing her out of her dark thoughts. “But what about you? What’s life going to be like for you now that you’ve left the firm? Shelby mentioned something about a business?”

This time, she drew back and focused on the waves that had gotten choppy, spewing whitecaps toward the rocky shore. There was one huge reason why he’d be hesitant to engage in no-strings sex.

Without looking at him, she asked, “Are you seeing someone?”

“What? Jesus, no.” He made a sound of disgust. “Of course not. Where did that come from?”

“I figured that’s why you’d backed off last night. Why you seem kind of skittish.”

He snorted. “Skittish?”

“Poor choice of word maybe, but I’m pretty sure you know what I mean.”

“Come here.”

At the way his voice lowered to that sexy rasp, she sucked in a breath and shot him a sidelong glance. Her heart started to race as she slowly swiveled back toward him. Taking her hand, he drew her close. His arms went around her, and he locked his hands at the small of her back. She was certain he was about to kiss her. Instead, he moved his mouth near her ear.

“If I told you what I want to do to that body of yours,” he whispered, his jaw grazing her sensitive skin, “you’d run as far and as fast as those long sexy legs could carry you.”

Her brain went numb. She had no clever retort. The rest of her body sprang to life, blazed with excitement. There was no place for her arms except to loop them around his neck. Leaning into him, she felt the beginning of his arousal.

He took her lobe between his teeth, nibbling lightly, and then briefly pressed the flesh between his lips before nuzzling the side of her neck.

A stiff wind whipped off the sea and buffeted them. Already mentally off balance, Mia pressed her entire body against him, trying to steady herself. He was broad and solid, so much more than she would have guessed a week ago. With a deep inward sigh, she relaxed her hand and dragged her palm over the contour of chest muscle beneath the green tennis shirt.

“Ah, Mia,” he murmured against her warm skin.

There were still people using the lookout, cars whizzing past them on the highway. Did he even remember where they were? Did she care? How could she? This was David. This was what she wanted.

Her lips parted, and he pushed his tongue inside, kissing her with a sweeping thoroughness that made her forget everything.

They broke apart only when a noisy minivan full of children pulled off the highway and parked not far from their rental. David straightened and finger combed his hair. Feeling like a guilty teenager who’d been caught making out, Mia tugged at the hem of her shorts and adjusted the front of her blue tank top. It didn’t seem to matter that she wore a bra. Her nipples were tight and hard and testing the elasticity of the fabric.

“We should go,” she said, averting her eyes so that she didn’t have to meet with the white-haired van driver’s disapproval.

“Just a minute,” he said, concentrating on something on the horizon.

She swung her gaze toward the open sea. “Another whale?”

David noisily cleared his throat, sounding as if he were trying not to laugh.

“Oh.” She spotted the problem. They really were going to have to do something about that swelling.

They waited until the gang was clear of the van and headed for the lookout before David used the remote to unlock the BMW’s doors.

“Where to next?” she asked breathlessly.

He stuck the key into the ignition. “You have a swimsuit under that?”

“I do.” She had on bottoms, anyway.

“Good.” He exhaled a long breath. “Maybe we can find someplace to cool off.”

SO MUCH FOR STAYING in public to prevent him from stripping off her clothes and kissing every inch of her. David mentally shook his head as he guided the car onto the highway. He hadn’t checked the GPS but he already knew that as long as he stayed on the coastal road they wouldn’t get lost.

He was acting like a damn kid, unable to curb his libido. Hell, he had more pride and self-control than to put himself—or Mia—on display. In fact, he took pride in his self-control. How messed up was that? And acting the way he had in front of a carload of children? He wasn’t himself. He was never reckless. It didn’t matter that no one here knew him. That wasn’t the point. He knew. Worse, Mia knew.

“Why are you scowling?”

He tossed her a glance, noticed the gaping neckline of her top, and gripped the steering wheel tighter. “I’m sorry about back there.”

“I’m not.”

He shook his head. “That was inappropriate.”

“Wait,” she said. “I want to be clear. Do you feel that way because somebody saw us, or because it’s me you were making out with?”

He cringed at the term. “Both.”

She made a low growling sound. “You do not get to say that. Not after that kiss last night, or for that matter, after what you whispered to me earlier.”

“I know. I know. I’m sorry for all of it.”

“First, I’m pretty sure you’re speeding,” she said, and he checked. She was right.

He eased his foot off the accelerator, even more irritated now. The highway was starting to wind, and he had no business being distracted from his driving. Having Mia sitting beside him was dangerous enough.

“Second, you’re here in Hawaii, not at work. You’ve already shown your hand. You can’t run hot and cold on me. It’s not fair.”

He smirked at that. She was inarguably right. Her impeccable logic was part of what made her a good lawyer. “I didn’t think I should jump your bones without taking you out on a date first.”

Mia chuckled. “Okay, now we’re getting somewhere.” She sighed. “For God’s sake, I hope today qualifies as a date.”

He cocked a brow at her. “This is an interesting new side to you.”

She laid a hand on his thigh, close to his crotch. “Back at you.”

He hissed in a breath. If she was waiting for a comeback, she’d be disappointed. She hadn’t actually put her hand where he’d like it, but his body reacted anyway. “Um, for the sake of our well-being, I think you might want to keep all your body parts on your side of the car while I’m driving.”

“So, pull over.” She chuckled again, sounding completely satisfied with herself as she tucked her hand into her lap, wiggled around—more to drive him crazy, he suspected, than to get comfortable—and laid her head back against the headrest. “I’m ready for a swim.”

“So am I,” he muttered, and steered them off onto a turnout. “So am I.”

She quickly straightened, her lips parting in surprise, her eyebrows arching above her sunglasses as she stared at him through the dark lenses. Good. She thought he’d called her bluff.

Ignoring her and trying to quash a smile, he consulted the GPS.

“Are we lost?” she asked.

“Nope. I think there’s a beach nearby where it’s not too rocky to swim.” He turned on the GPS’s audio, and they listened to the voice pronounce the odd-sounding Hawaiian street names. “Did you get that?” he asked.

Mia started laughing. “If you’re counting on me, we’re never going to get back to Waikiki.”

Her cheeks and nose were pink, and although he’d applied sunscreen earlier, he figured he probably had gotten too much sun himself. He reached over to the glove box, his arm grazing her breasts in the tight confines of the car. Hearing her sharp intake of breath, he smiled to himself.

“Here.” He tossed her the tube. “You can use some on your face and shoulders.”

She squirted the white cream onto her palm, then removed her glasses and slathered the sunscreen on her face, shoulders and arms. Looking over at him, the sun shining in her face, her green eyes so beautiful, they sparkled like emeralds, robbing him of oxygen. “You, too,” she said, her gaze lowering to his mouth and lingering. “Take off your sunglasses.”

She waited for him to do as she asked, then squeezed more sunscreen into her palm. Using her fingertips, she smoothed the cream across his chin, dabbed it over his cheeks and down to the tip of his nose.

“Thanks.” He rubbed in the leftover white spot on her chin.

“I’m not done with you,” she said in a throaty voice that got to him in a not so surprising way. “Look down.”

He frowned, automatically glanced at his fly, then smiled to himself when she applied the sunscreen to his exposed nape. When she was finished, he asked, “Done with me now?”

“Not even a little.”

He looked up. Their unguarded eyes met. Something so primal stirred inside him that he didn’t know what to do.

She was wrong about one thing. He hadn’t shown his entire hand. He hadn’t told her the firm wanted her back, and that he’d been ordered to do anything to make that happen.

But he’d been wrong, as well. Wrong not to tell her up front. He knew what he had to do. He didn’t like it, and didn’t much like himself for agreeing to do it. But his feelings changed nothing. The firm needed her.