An Innocent In Paradise

“Oh. Good.” She pulled her hand back. “It’s not her fault anyway. She didn’t realize what a lightweight I am.” She looked away. “Neither did I, I guess. And the drinks were in such tiny glasses, I never thought about how much I might be drinking and…”

The vulnerable look on her face almost did him in and he decided to change the subject. “Grace, do you remember seeing me on the beach last night?”

She frowned again, avoiding his gaze as she licked her lips. “I have a vague memory of that.”

“Are you sure it isn’t more than a vague memory?”

“Why?” she asked, turning to look at him. “Did I say something ridiculous? Should I apologize?”

“Of course not. You were on your best behavior. We had a nice conversation about the moonlight.”

“Oh, good,” she said with relief.

“And then you asked me to kiss you.”

She cringed. “Oh, no.” Then, taking a deep breath, she said, “Apparently I shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near liquor without a keeper. I’m so sorry if I embarrassed you.”

“You’re kidding, right?” He regarded her intently. “The only thing I’m sorry about is that you were too tipsy to take the next step with me.”

She flashed him a look he couldn’t read because of those dark glasses blocking her eyes. But she seemed to dwell on his words, letting them sink in. He hoped so, anyway, because he intended to take that next step as soon as possible.

“What are you thinking, Grace?”

She cleared her throat. “Nothing much.”

He scooted his chair closer to hers. “Are you thinking about that kiss? About what else we could share?”

She didn’t answer, but he could see a faint blush rise on her pale cheeks.

“Because I’m thinking about it,” he said softly, touching her shoulder with his fingers, then trailing a path up her neck and along her jawline. “I can’t stop thinking about it. I want you in my bed, Grace, wrapped up in nothing but me. And once we’re in bed together, I’ll take my time with you. I want to touch and feel every inch of your body with my hands and my mouth and tongue. I want to make you feel everything I’m feeling. I want to make you hot. I want to make you scream.”

Her breath shuddered out and she shifted uncomfortably in her chair. She swallowed hard and murmured, “Oh, God.”

He leaned closer and whispered in her ear, “Say when, Grace. Tonight? Say the word and we’ll be together. Tomorrow night? I won’t wait much longer. I’ve got to have you soon.” Then he bit her earlobe and soothed the bite with his tongue. “Yes?”

“Yes.” She let out a soft moan. “Soon.”

“Good.” He touched her cheek, then stood. His body was tight and hard and he knew he’d suffer for an hour or more because of this little seduction scene. But it had been worth it. Even with the dark glasses covering her eyes, Logan could tell she had been as affected as he and that was, after all, the point. Right?

Smiling, he turned to leave. “You have a nice day, Grace.”

She watched him walk away and had to resist the urge to call the hotel doctor. Her heart was stuttering so wildly from his incendiary words-not to mention that nibble on her ear-that she wasn’t sure it would ever calm down again.

“Wow,” she whispered. The man was potent. Maybe too potent. Because now she had to ask herself, was she ready for someone like Logan Sutherland? She had barely dated in the past ten years and after the debacle with Walter, she’d lost some confidence in herself as a woman. Of course, Logan’s flattering words over the past few days had gone a long way toward helping her get some of that confidence back.

He’d also confused her completely. A few days ago, he’d made it more than clear that he didn’t trust her. Lately, though, he seemed to have changed his mind. And today… She shivered again, then winced when her head pounded in response. Why had he chosen today of all days, to tell her he wanted her in his bed? She had been in no mental shape to argue him out of it. She certainly would have, she consoled herself, if she’d been able to.

But no, even she didn’t believe that.

The memory of his mouth at her ear, his warm breath on her skin, made her feel nearly boneless with the want rampaging through her.

So now the question was, did she trust him enough to, well, allow him to do all those things his whispered promise had suggested?

Just thinking about giving herself up to him caused ripples of lust to waft through her stomach and roam even lower.

Oh, who was she kidding? She wanted him so much, she could barely sit still. She’d never felt this way about a man before, not even Walter. And she had trusted Walter!

“That proves you’re a dunce,” she muttered. She had trusted Walter and he had betrayed her, so how could she base her feelings for any man on the amount of trust she felt for him? She couldn’t, so she might as well throw caution to the wind and do what she wanted to do. And, right now, all she wanted to do was Logan Sutherland. Heck, if she couldn’t have trust, she would settle for lust.

“Yes,” she murmured with a cautious smile. “Soon.”

“He didn’t mean it,” she muttered to herself that night in the bar. She refused to be disappointed, chalking it up to her own naivete when it came to men.

After garnishing four mai tais with pineapple chunks and maraschino cherries, Grace carried the cocktails over to one of her tables and passed them around to her customers.

She’d been on duty for four hours already and Logan hadn’t shown up. After seeing his imposing presence in the bar every night for the past week, she was a little frustrated that he wouldn’t show up tonight. Especially after propositioning her that afternoon.

If he didn’t appear, should she go to his room? But what if he was with someone? Oh, God. She needed to forget he’d ever mentioned anything to her. Forget he’d whispered all those provocative suggestions in her ear. Forget the smoldering lust she’d been suffering all day.

He’d obviously been teasing her.

But why? Was he trying to set her up for a fall? If she came on to him, would he have his excuse to fire her? Was that his plan? If so, it was sneaky and mean.

It wasn’t as if she wanted to work in the bar forever, but she had friends here now and she still cared about doing a good job. She had at least another week or two of spore collection before she would feel right about leaving, so she needed to protect herself against the possibility of losing her job.

So it was settled. She wouldn’t act on her attraction to Logan. She’d already behaved like an idiot with one man. She didn’t need to do it again. Walter had been handsome, too, although nowhere near as gorgeous as Logan. And look where her attraction to him had gotten her.

At least she and Walter had had something in common, for whatever that was worth. She and Logan, on the other hand, had nothing in common. He certainly had no interest in spores-that much was clear. Wasn’t it important to have shared interests? What if he asked her about herself and she mentioned her fascination with biological dispersal and meiosis in the sporangium? His eyes would glaze over and he would zone out.

Of course, Grace was used to people outside of the lab dozing off when she began waxing microbiological. She could handle the general disinterest, although, privately, she didn’t understand why the whole world wasn’t utterly captivated by the subject of Allerian spores and their regenerative properties. But she really didn’t want Logan to do the zone-out thing with her. She wanted him to look at her and see more than a scientist. She wanted him to feel the same pulse-pounding desire that had been charging through her all day.

When she found herself staring out the window near the last table she’d served, she shook herself back to reality. She really needed to concentrate on her job or she’d find herself on the next plane off the island.

Back at the bar, she collected a larger order of ten drinks and arranged them on a tray. After a few deep breaths to keep her nerves at bay, she whispered the words that always helped relax her. “Helium, argon, xenon.”