CHAPTER FOUR

      Melanie ran halfway down the beach before she realized what a coward she’d been. The bugs, giant roaches of some kind, were gone, their dark cloud moving far away.

      Adam still lay where he’d landed, and she grew immediately concerned. She sprinted toward him. “Adam!” She came to a rushing halt beside his prone body, accidentally kicking sand over his chest and shoulders. He looked like a downed warrior in his headband and dark, snug underwear, with the rest of his magnificent, tanned body bare. She took a moment to observe him unaware, grew even more breathless, then shook herself.

      Her pulse racing at Mach speed, she knelt gingerly beside him. “Adam?”

      He groaned.

      Her heart seemed to drop to the pit of her stomach. “Oh, thank God. Are you all right?” She cradled his head on her lap and touched his jaw. “Adam, can you answer me?”

      He cocked one eye open, stared at her breast near to his face and closed his eye again. “Nice, Mel, real nice.”

      “Adam,” she warned.

      “No, don’t slug me. There’s already a rusty marching band playing on my brain.” He sighed, then added, “Oh, hell, I feel like a fool.”

      Stroking his jaw and chin, she asked, “Why?”

      “It was just a few bugs, Mel.”

      “Ha! They were giant cockroach-looking bugs, and I almost fainted!”

      “Yeah, well, having grown up by the river, I’ve seen plenty of bugs.”

      She shuddered. “Not me.”

      “I know.” He made a smirking face, as if it was a crime not to have lived with bugs. Then he added, “But don’t pass out on me here, because I’m not up to lugging your dead weight up and down this damn beach.”

      Only the very real pain she could see in his eyes kept her from dumping his head off her lap. That, and the picture in her mind of where Adam had lived. Once, when she’d been around sixteen, she’d snuck down by the river to spy on him. Driven by some inner demon, she’d wanted to look at him, to see him. He’d been especially provoking that day, and she’d had some far-fetched idea of finding out more about him so she’d be better prepared to deal with him.

      She’d gotten the shock of her life.

      The outside of the trailer had been as tidy as anyone could make it, almost hiding the fact that it was falling apart. Wildflowers had been planted around the skirt of the trailer in an attempt to hide holes. Melanie, in her misconceptions of the world, had wondered why they didn’t move. It wasn’t long after that she found out Adam’s father had cancer, causing him to miss more and more work.

      Some of the area residents had taken up a collection for the family, and she still remembered feeling ashamed when her parents donated so little, when she’d wanted to give so much.

      It was no wonder he’d always resented her.

      To hide her sudden discomfort and the pity she still felt, she quipped, “You know something, Stone? You’ve got worse mood swings than my mother when she went through menopause. And frankly, she was a royal bitch.”

      He chuckled. “That bad, huh? Well, considering I missed the most important meeting of my life, I spent an hour in the ocean using muscles I’d forgotten I had, my brains have been scrambled twice now, and I’m presently in a position I’ve fantasized over but can’t do a damn thing about, then I’d say I’m justified.”

      Melanie’s heart gave an excited stumble over his words. What had he fantasized? Certainly not about her. He’d never shown her anything but disdain. Sure, today he’d joked about kissing her, but that was just his way of making her uncomfortable. Yet the way he’d said it while eyeing her breasts...

      Carefully, measuring every word, she said, “I can easily take care of your missed meeting, your muscles look...unforgettable to me, your head will feel better soon. Oh, and what did you fantasize about?”

      Her nonchalance didn’t fool him. He slowly sat up to face her, his large body too close, his gaze too intent on her face. She felt herself blushing without knowing why.

      He worked his jaw in thought, then said, “I don’t need you to do a damned thing about the missed meeting, so forget that. But I am glad you noticed my muscles—especially since I’ve more than noticed your soft little body. My head is going to fall off my shoulders long before it stops aching.” He touched her cheek, the line of her jaw. “And you,” he whispered. “I’ve fantasized about you, Mel, about touching you, kissing you.” He leaned closer, his mouth only an inch away from hers. “Those last few years all I could think about was how damned exciting it would be to get you under me.”

      Oh, wow. Her vision clouded, and she had to part her lips to breathe. The heat wasn’t only surrounding her now, it was inside her, a part of her. No man had ever talked to her this way, not even Jerry, and she’d been engaged to him. It was exhilarating and stimulating and...this was Adam. She narrowed her gaze.

      “Are you trying to humiliate me again?”

      He drew back just a bit and stared at her. “Again?”

      “Like in high school, when you asked me out. Oh, don’t look so innocent! I know what would have happened if I’d been dumb enough to say yes. You’d have laughed and told everyone what a fool I was. That’s the only reason you asked me in the first place, isn’t it?”

      He looked equal parts frustrated, angry and hot. “I asked you out because I wanted to.”

      “Oh, sure. And that’s why you suggested we go driving instead of to a school dance or the movies where someone might have seen us.”

      “You’re the one who would have cared, Mel. My reputation was already shot. Folks saw me as dirt poor, no-account, and a troublemaker.”

      “You were a troublemaker.”

      He ignored that little truism. “And you were the town princess, too good for the humble masses. Hell, your mommy and daddy had nothing but contempt for the rest of us, and they would have had me shot if they knew I’d asked you out.” He shrugged, looking awkward for just a moment. “I figured you might go if no one would ever know about it.”

      She stared at him, appalled at his perceptions, feeling sick deep inside herself. He was right in predicting her parents’ reactions. They wouldn’t have been pleased. But to think of Adam as sincerely wanting to date her... Well, that would take a major attitude adjustment. He’d been so cocky back then, as if he’d been unaware of his poverty, of his social circumstances. He’d always seemed so self-contained, unaffected by others, especially by her.

      Could he have felt as vulnerable as she did?

      “Why?” She asked it simply, the question uppermost in her mind. “Why would you have wanted to go out with me?”

      His