One Night Of Consequences Collection. Annie West
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leaving now?
So he felt something. Even if he was running from it. Something that was at least physical.
Her hart hammered, echoing in her head, making her temples pulse.
Maybe she did matter to him, like that, at least a little bit? Maybe. Yes, she knew men were excited by women but this had to be personal. It had to be about her, at least a little bit. Did he think she was sexy?
She followed him to shore, scrambling onto the sandy ground, her feet picking up grains of dirt, clinging to her toes. She shook her foot out, grateful to have something else to concentrate on for a moment.
She looked back up and saw Zack, his eyes on her, his jaw locked tight.
She swallowed hard and grabbed her sarong. “So we’re having dinner out tonight?”
“Yes,” he bit out. “I have to go and pick up a package down in town and then I’ll meet you back up at the villa. The car will be by around seven.”
“Okay.” She wished she could come up with something better than the bland, one-word answer, but she just couldn’t.
Something had changed. The air around them seemed tight, the way Zack looked at her new and strange. And for the first time, she felt power in her beauty, in her body.
And she wondered if maybe he could want her. If she could be the sort of woman he wanted.
Maybe tonight she would actually try.
It was criminal. The dress that Clara was wearing should be illegal. She certainly shouldn’t be allowed out in public. It was tight, like that black, second-skin swimsuit, accentuating curves that, until this afternoon, he hadn’t realized were quite so … lush.
Breasts that were round and perfect, firm looking. They would overflow in his hands. And her hips were incredible, nothing like the androgynous, straight up-and-down supermodels that were so in style. Not even like Hannah, whose image he was having trouble conjuring up.
Today, at the river, with her body pressed against his, wet and slick, soft and feminine, he’d had a reaction he really hadn’t counted on. He hadn’t counted on touching her like he had, either. Exploring the elegant line of her back. Holding her to him. It had been a big mistake.
Getting out of the water, in front of his best friend, sporting an erection inspired by her, hadn’t really been his idea of a good time.
He put his hand in his pocket, let his fingers close around the velvet box that was nestled there. The one that Hannah had had rush delivered to the resort. Because it was the right thing to do, or so she’d said. He hadn’t really cared whether he got the engagement ring back or not. But he could use it.
The thing with Amudee, his assumption, had been unexpected. But Zack was good at reading people and the older man’s delight at the thought had been so obvious, there had been no way he would disappoint him. Not with so much riding on things going well this week.
His other plans had all gone to hell. He wasn’t sending this one there with the rest of them.
“What exactly is that?” he asked. They were in the car, being driven up to the main area of the resort, and being closed in with her when she looked like that and smelled, well, she smelled sweet enough to taste, was a bit of torture.
“What?” she asked.
“What you’re wearing.”
Her cheeks colored. “A dress.”
“But do you … call it something?”
“A dress,” she said again, her voice low now, dangerous.
“It’s a nice dress.”
She looked straight ahead. “Thank you.”
The car stopped in front of an open, wooden building that had all the lights on despite the late hour. There were people sitting at a bar, musicians set down in the center of the seating area, and dancers out on the grass, candles balanced on their hands as they moved in time with the music.
He opened his door and Clara just sat, her posture stiff. “What?”
“Now I’m not sure if I should go back and change.”
“I don’t even want to understand women,” he said.
“Why?”
“You just changed into that dress, so clearly you thought it was a good choice, and now you want to change back?”
“Because there must be something wrong with what I’m wearing. Although, you didn’t seem to have a problem with my bathing suit, and it showed a lot more than this.” She put a hand on her stomach. “It’s too tight.”
His body hardened. “Trust me, it’s not. Every man in the bar is going to give himself whiplash when you walk by.”
She frowned. “Really?”
She looked … mystified. Doubtful.
“Did you not look at yourself in the mirror?” he asked, completely incredulous that she somehow didn’t see what he did. That she didn’t realize how appealing a dress that was basically a second skin was to a man. It showed every bit of her shape, while still concealing the details. Made him feel desperate to see everything, the tease nearly unbearable.
She looked away from him. “That’s the trouble, I did, and I chose to wear it anyway.”
“What makes you think it doesn’t look good?”
“You reacted … funny.”
“Because I’m not used to seeing so much of you. But what I can see is certainly good.”
“Really?”
He took a lock of her silky hair between his thumb and forefinger. A mistake. It was so soft. Like he imagined the rest of her would be. “Didn’t I tell you any man would put up with your snoring for the pleasure of having you sleep with him?”
His eyes dropped to her mouth and he felt an uncomfortable shock of sensation when, for the second time in the past hour, she stuck her pink tongue out and slicked it across her lips, leaving them looking glossy and oddly kissable.
Clara felt like there was someone sitting on her chest, keeping her from breathing. The knot of insecurity that had tied up her stomach was changing into something else, something dangerous. A strand of hope she had no business feeling. A kind of feminine pride that didn’t make sense.
Zack was a charmer. He could charm the white gloves off a spinster, and what he was saying to her was no different. Empty charm that had no real weight behind it. It was easy to say that some other man would like to share her bed. It didn’t mean he did. Or that anyone he even knew would.
All right, in reality, she knew how men were about sex. If she was willing to put out they wouldn’t care if she had a pinch of extra flesh around her middle, but that wasn’t really the issue. She didn’t want to be a second choice. Second best.
She was even second-guessing the physical reaction Zack had had to her down at the river. Because that could simply be a man overdue for sex. Nothing more. She’d made it personal because she’d been desperate for it. But in reality, he was supposed to be here, with his wife, having lots and lots of sex, and he wasn’t. But she doubted he’d forgotten.
She was tired of being in the shadow of someone else. Even tonight, she was the consolation prize for Zack. Rather than spending the night with Hannah, he was with her, watching traditional dancing instead of having hot, sweaty, wedding night sex. Ah, yes, all fine and good for him to say those things to her, but he wasn’t really backing it up.
She forced a smile. “You did. All right, let’s go … drink or something.”
He chuckled. “Sounds like a good idea to me.”
They both got out of the car and walked over to an alcove, shrouded in misty fabric,