His index finger touched the bottom of her chin. His breath puffed, soft and sweet, as his head tilted sideways.
“We can’t,” she murmured.
There was absolutely no doubting his intentions. But she found herself subconsciously stretching up. Her skin flushed hot. Her eyes fluttered closed. Then his lips brushed hers.
His arm snaked around the small of her back, tugging her to him, pulling her flat against his chest.
He swooped down and kissed her deeply. Her body instantly responded. Her arms wound around his neck. Her head tipped sideways. Her lips parted, tongue tangling.
An eternity later, as the blood pounded through her brain and arousal peaked across every inch of her body, Lucas suddenly broke the kiss. His breathing was loud, and she could swear she heard his heartbeat matching her own.
“Turns out,” he gasped, clasping her upper arms firmly and putting some space between them, “we can.”
Embarrassment washed over her.
She bit down on the heat of her lower lip and finger-combed her short hair back into submission, mortified that she let him kiss her, that she’d kissed him back, enthusiastically.
It would have been bad enough if she hadn’t liked it. But oh, dear, she had really, really liked it. She struggled to bring her hormones back into submission.
Like she had while they were jogging, she was completely off her pace, out of control. Her world was spinning wildly around her, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
“That was bad,” she told him, shaking her head. “That was stupid. We are
They absolutely could not go around falling into each other’s arms, kissing each other, getting lost in passion when there were serious issues between them.
It was important they came to an agreement on that.
He didn’t respond.
“Lucas,” she prompted.
His eyes focused on her. “What? You want me to lie?”
Four
Devin had escaped the Demarco mansion first thing the next morning, taking Amelia in her car and heading to Lake Westmire, well away from any possibility of a chance encounter with Lucas. She decided she would check on her plants, pack a few more of Amelia’s clothes, listen to any messages on her answering machine and double-check the fridge for anything that might spoil during the few weeks she’d be away.
Lexi stopped by the house during Amelia’s afternoon nap. She convinced Devin to join her for a catamaran ride across the bay once the baby woke up. Devin was happy with the excuse to extend her visit. She decided that after the sail, she’d give Amelia her dinner, freshen her up in a bath and then let her fall asleep on the way back to the Demarco mansion.
Out on the lake, in her little swimsuit and a cotton cover-up, Amelia sat happily between Devin’s legs, bouncing on the catamaran’s trampoline deck. When the cool water splashed up through the springy, open-knit fabric, she grabbed at it with her hands, giggling when it disappeared from her little fingers.
“Define kiss,” said Lexi, adjusting the main sail with practiced maneuvers as she changed their direction and they skimmed out across the rippling water.
“A regular kiss,” said Devin.
“On the lips.”
“Yes.” Devin wasn’t sure anything else would have been noteworthy. Though she supposed Lucas kissing her on the cheek or forehead would have been pretty weird, too.
“Full frontal hugging?” asked Lexi.
“Yes,” Devin admitted. And, wow, that had been one great hug.
“Groping?”
“No,” she quickly denied.
“But the kiss was good?” Lexi persisted.
“The kiss was great,” Devin confirmed on a huge sigh of frustration. It would probably go down in the record books as one of her all-time favorite kisses. Whatever his ethics, whatever his conduct, Lucas Demarco knew how to kiss a woman.
She compulsively rolled one of the webbing straps on Amelia’s life jacket into a tight spiral, then she let it spring back open in her hand. “But I don’t get why he did it.” The question had plagued her all night long.
“Sometimes guys don’t have a reason,” Lexi offered, swooping some loose strands of hair back from her face as the wind grew stronger. “They take random action. And, when it comes to sex, they’re ruled by their primal brains.”
“Number one, it wasn’t sex. And number two, Lucas is not a random guy.” And Devin doubted his primal brain ruled any of his actions. “He’s logical, organized and compulsively goal-oriented. When he does something, it’s for a reason.”
“Do you really think you need to add paranoia to this situation?” Lexi pushed hard on the tiller.
The boat canted to one side, and Devin braced herself with a rope handle, holding tight to Amelia. “It doesn’t count as paranoia, when they truly are out to get you.”
Lexi rocked her head back and forth, obviously considering the merits of Devin’s point.
“I’ve been thinking,” Devin added, completely convinced that Lucas’s kiss was part of some well thought out, detailed plan to gain an advantage over her. “I’m not going to just sit back and wait for his next move.”
She anchored her white baseball cap on her head. “If all I do is react to his maneuvers, then I’m going to lose. That’s what happened in the temporary guardianship hearing. He had a plan. I didn’t. And it cost me.”
Lexi loosened the sail. “So, what are you going to do?”
“Make a plan,” Devin answered logically.
“No kidding, Sherlock. What kind of a plan?”
“I’m going to need your help with that.”
It needed to be devious, brilliant, but the simpler the better. It needed to paint Lucas into a corner, but he couldn’t see it coming.
“You could kiss him again,” Lexi offered.
“That’s the best you can do?”
“You’d turn the tables on him. You’re a gorgeous woman, you know.”
Devin could see where Lexi was going with this. But is wasn’t something she’d be able to pull off. “I’m not exactly a vamp.”
Lexi’s voice was laced with laughter. “But you could be. You glam up good. I’ll lend you a dress. We’ll do your makeup, get you some sleep-with-me heels, mess around with your hair.”
Devin chuckled in return. “And then what?”
“And then he’s putty in your hands.”
“And…?”
“A little pillow talk. You learn his secrets.”
Devin splashed some water at Lexi. “I’m not going to sleep with him.”
“Of course not. Just, you know, put on some sexy clothes, give him a couple of come-hither looks. If you can learn something useful about Konrad-or about Lucas for that matter-you can take it to court.”
Lexi leaned far back to balance the boat in a freshening wind. Devin tightened her hold on Amelia and shifted her weight to help out. The sail rippled loudly in the wind.
“It might work,” Devin called to Lexi. “I find concrete proof that Lucas and Konrad plotted Amelia’s birth for their own financial ends, and I’m home free.”
Lexi slowed the boat down as they neared her beach. “And if he’s already playing you on the sexual front?”
