The Return Of Antonides. Anne McAllister
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She wriggled against him.
His half arousal went to full-on just like that. His jaw tightened. “You want me to drop you? Stop squirming!”
“I can walk,” Holly protested.
No. He wasn’t relinquishing her now. He strode down the ramp, getting a faceful of hair and a breath of citrus shampoo for his effort. “Hold still!”
“I am!”
She was. He was the one who was moving, causing her body to rub against his. Lukas swallowed a groan. By the time they got to the boat and he let her slide down his body to put her feet on the deck, he was in a state of temptation and torture both. It was worse to let her go.
“Martha’s stuff is below,” he said gruffly, leading the way down to the galley where he pointed to one of the tiny bunk rooms. “Put on a bathing suit. We can go for a swim.”
Holly looked at him, startled. “Swim?”
“There’s a beach just on the other side of the shop.” Lukas jerked his head in that direction. “We’ve got a couple of hours to kill before it starts to get light.” He could think of other more pleasurable ways of killing that time, but he knew better. He needed cold water. Lots of it. Now.
He thought she would object, but after a second’s hesitation, Holly nodded. “Good idea.”
When she disappeared into one room, he went into the other and stripped off his clothes, grateful for the cool night air on overheated skin. Then he dragged on a pair of board shorts and went back up on deck where he stood staring up at the sky, his body rock hard from a combination of desire and tension, as he wondered again what the hell he was doing with his best friend’s girl.
“Just doing what he asked me to do,” Lukas muttered aloud. Matt would have kept her out all night, he reminded himself. It was what you did after prom. It was a tradition. Matt wouldn’t have taken her for a sail, though. Matt had nothing to take her for a sail in.
No, Matt and Holly would have been doing something else entirely. Lukas cracked his knuckles fiercely, trying to avoid thinking about Matt and Holly making love when he so badly wanted to do it himself.
It was almost a relief when Holly climbed back up the steps. Except the sight of her—even in Martha’s sensible one-piece maillot—was enough to cause his self-control to slip another notch. Even the fact that she had a towel draped over her shoulders with the ends hanging down in front shielding her breasts from view didn’t help. Her long legs were bare and tempting in the moonlight.
Lukas sucked in a breath and jumped back onto the dock without waiting for her. “Come on,” he said over his shoulder and headed back toward the parking lot and the beach on the other side of the closed shop as fast as he could.
The whole place was deserted. But the moon and the lights in the parking lot illuminated the steps so that finding their way down to the beach was easy enough. He walked ahead, needing the space, only stopping to wait for her at the edge of the water.
She didn’t come. Instead, when he looked back, Holly had spread her towel and was sitting down.
“Sunbathing?” Lukas, self-control fraying badly, couldn’t keep the edge from his voice.
“Guess so.” Holly pulled her knees up toward her breasts and wrapped her arms around her shins. “Don’t let me stop you. Go on in.”
Lukas stared at her. What the hell was she playing at? Maybe she knew he was coming undone and was giving him a wide berth. “Suit yourself,” he growled. Then he turned and ran, flinging himself under the incoming wave.
The shock of the cold Atlantic in the middle of an early May night had the desired effect. By the time he broke the surface, he breathed a little easier. A glance back told him that Holly had stood up and was walking to the water’s edge. He caught a glimpse of a long, lissome shape in the moonlight. Then she began to run into the water. He heard a shriek, then she dove under—and surfaced bare inches from him.
So much for dampened ardor. Lukas swallowed a groan.
“It’s freezing!” Her teeth were chattering.
He resisted wrapping his arms around her. “You’ll warm up. Come on. Let’s swim.” He took off, swimming away from her as he’d always done, never letting her catch him. And Holly swam after him.
Minutes passed. Half an hour. They did laps. They swam in lazy circles. Lukas finally slowed a bit to allow her to come alongside where she did the sidestroke, all the while keeping her eyes on him.
Lukas couldn’t take his eyes off her. He should say something about Matt. Something to deflect his awareness, but nothing deflected his awareness of the girl swimming mere feet away. It reminded his fevered brain of one of those nature films they had showed in school, the ones that euphemistically described the mating rituals of exotic maritime animals. Not a useful train of thought. But apparently the only train of thought he had. It was all he could do not to reach for her.
“You’re making me crazy,” he muttered at last and abruptly turned to swim back toward the beach.
“What?” Holly sputtered. “What’s wrong?” He could hear her splashing after him, but he didn’t wait. Lukas needed space. He needed distance. He needed to stop wanting what he couldn’t have. He didn’t stop moving until he was back on the boat.
Then he turned to see Holly hurrying up the beach and across the parking lot after him, her towel wrapped around her shoulders. Her teeth were chattering like castanets when she finally reached the boat.
“Why didn’t you say you were cold?” Lukas demanded. “You can take a shower.” He slipped down the steps below deck and jerked open the door to the head. “There’s plenty of hot water. Lots of towels. Get warm, I’ll be on deck.”
He changed swiftly into another pair of shorts and a sweatshirt, resolutely ignoring the sound of the shower and his imagination’s notion of Holly’s naked body beneath the spray. Instead, he made himself focus on getting the boat ready to go. He was checking the mainsail when he heard Holly’s footsteps.
“What did you mean?” she said. Her voice was quiet.
He turned around then. She was wearing shorts and a baggy sweatshirt of Martha’s that hit her midhip. They had never struck him as remotely sexy when Martha wore them. Put Holly in them and it was a different story. Lukas crouched down, showing sudden interest in the mast again, in case his interest in Holly was more obvious.
“You said I made you crazy.” She had climbed up on one of the benches and was almost on eye level with him.
Lukas shrugged awkwardly. Was he supposed to tell her he wanted her? That he was crazy with longing for her—and she was engaged to his best friend? He put a hand back and rubbed between his shoulder blades and said the only thing he could think of. “You always argue.”
“I didn’t argue tonight!”
He grunted. “Most times you argue.”
“So do you.”
Lukas scowled, unable to dispute that. He turned his attention back to the mast. “We can go soon. Should begin to get light in half an hour or so.”
He thought she might go away, look out to the east for signs of dawn. She didn’t. She watched him. Then she asked, “Why did you agree to take me to the prom?”
“You know why. Matt asked me to.” He flicked a quick glance up at her, then picked at a bit of loose brightwork with his thumb.
“Is that the only reason?”
His brows drew down, and he scowled at her. “Why else would I do it?”
Holly shrugged awkwardly. “I don’t know. I just...wondered. Sometimes...” She stopped and looked away, staring out across the dark water. “Never mind.”
Wondered what? Don’t stop there! But