daring him.
Like a raptor, his black eyes gleamed diamond hard as he ripped the white terry cloth loose. With a shocked gasp she watched, mesmerized, as it fell down his long legs and pooled in an untidy heap beside his bare feet.
His tall legs were planted firmly apart as his hard eyes locked on hers. His full, sensuous mouth smiled wickedly in invitation.
Although she willed herself to turn away, he was so uncompromisingly male, so fully aroused, she was too compelled by him not to look.
“Why don’t you stay and swim, too? We could start your weekends a week early,” he murmured in a low, seductive tone.
Hot color crept into her cheeks. How could just looking at him be so electrifying? If only she could have hidden her admiration. “I…I don’t think that would be wise.”
“We’re way past wisdom,” he murmured drily. “You want to. I want you to. We’re both adults. You start serving your time, maybe I’ll get my fill of you sooner rather than later. I could let you off early…for good behavior.”
Tempted, she trembled as she fought the fierce need to move toward him, to touch him. Her hands clenched. Looking at him took her back to the most glorious, sensual night of her life. He was so virile and handsome she couldn’t think.
She wasn’t that foolish, naive girl any longer. She’d been fiercely independent for years.
But the foolish hopes and dreams of that girl still lurked in her heart, tormenting her. If Summer didn’t turn and walk away, or run-yes, run!-she would do something incredibly stupid, something she would regret for the rest of her life.
Just as she regretted their past love.
Only, she didn’t feel as if she regretted it anymore.
Why not? What was happening to her?
Did some crazy part of her want to try again? Did she really want to risk everything she’d achieved for a second chance with him?
He got you pregnant. When you tried to tell him, he wouldn’t even talk to you.
But how could she blame him for what he hadn’t known?
“I see you’re unsure,” he murmured with a faint, derisive smile.
“I-I’m not unsure,” she said even as the burning desire in his eyes made her feel as if she was melting. “I think you’re a monster, so I-I’m leaving. R-right now. Really.”
He laughed. “Then check with Davis for my phone numbers. Call me if you decide to take my offer so I can tell my pilot and my caretaker. Since I’m a gambling man, I’ll wager that you’ll be here next Friday. We can swim together then. Or do whatever else we feel like. We’ll have the whole weekend to enjoy each other.”
He spoke casually, as if her decision meant little to him. Then he turned and walked away.
Her stomach in knots, she watched him much too hungrily until he vanished behind a wall of shrubbery.
Four
Manhattan
Summer loved Central Park, especially on a sparkling September day when the leaves had begun to turn and a cool front had put a chill in the air.
“Hugh, I’m so sorry I can’t fly out to L.A. this weekend.”
Hunched over her smartphone on a bench near the fountain at Bethesda Terrace during a rare break, Summer chose her words carefully.
Guiltily, she pushed a blond strand of hair out of her eyes. “My brother’s in trouble, so I have to go back to Bonne Terre.”
“But…”
“Truly, there’s nothing I’d rather do next weekend than be with you at the premiere of Kill-Hard.”
“My agent swears it’s my breakout role.”
“I’m so sorry. Truly. I’ll be there Sunday…late.”
After Zach.
When Hugh hung up, seething, she was a little surprised that her guilt was overwhelmed by relief.
At least Hugh’s premiere was one thing she could scratch off her to-do list.
Summer began to flip through her calendar, deleting or canceling other engagements. For the next few weekends she would be doing her own script work, so she could juggle the commute to Louisiana. Later, when rehearsals began in earnest, getting away from New York would be trickier, maybe downright impossible.
She would worry about that later. Zach would probably be tired of her by then anyway.
Daily, hourly, all through the week, she’d resented Zach for causing such immense upheaval in her life. His demand was outrageous, medieval, and she told herself she was furious with him and with herself for going along with him.
And yet, if that were true, why did her breath catch every time she remembered the avid desire in his eyes? Why did she dream of him holding her close every night? Or awaken hot and sweaty from the image of writhing in his arms like a wanton? She would toss her sheets aside, go to the window and stare out at the stars, imagining spending two days and nights with Zach.
Being a man, no matter what he’d said, all he wanted from her was sex.
But what did she want?
She didn’t know. And she didn’t know what she could tell Gram. Summer didn’t want her grandmother to get her hopes up for no reason. Since she couldn’t figure that one out and didn’t want to lie, she wouldn’t call Gram or take her calls until Summer saw her again in Bonne Terre. Until then, Summer would concentrate on her career goals, on developing and playing her roles. It wasn’t healthy to obsess over a man whose sole goal was to punish her.
On Friday, at three o’clock sharp, she met Zach’s pilot. Once aboard the jet, she pulled out her script, intending to figure out her character for the scenes with Hugh scheduled to be shot in L.A. next week.
Normally, Summer chose roles because she felt affection for the character, but in this case, her reasons had been more pragmatic. When she’d complained that she didn’t think she could do a dark, unlikeable sex addict, her agent had pointed out that the money was simply too good to pass up.
So, Summer needed to study her lines and determine how her edgy sex scenes fit into the emotional context of the movie.
But her mind drifted to Zach, making it impossible for her to concentrate on the femme fatale she was to play in Hugh’s film.
Staring out the windows of his Houston office as he held his phone, Zach frowned as his pilot brought him up to date.
“Yeah. She was right on time. Weather looks good until we hit Louisiana. Looks like you’re going to have a nasty drive.” He gave Zach the plane’s arrival time, and the two men ended the call.
Outside, dark purple clouds hung over the city to the northeast. It was only three, but the freeways were already jammed with cars. Impatient, because he’d wanted to leave the city well before rush hour, especially if there was bad weather, Zach thrust his hands into his pockets and prowled his office like a caged cat.
Leroy McEver, the newly hired contractor on Zach’s biggest project downtown, was late as usual. Although Zach was sorely tempted to leave, no way was Zach driving to Bonne Terre without making Leroy understand once and for all that the reason he’d fired Anderson and hired him was that he expected Leroy to stop the constant cost overruns.
But even with pressing business to deal with, Zach was anxious to be on his way to Bonne Terre. To her. As always, his inexplicable need to bed her, even after what she’d put him through, annoyed the hell out of him.
After their love affair had been exposed and made to look ugly in the newspapers, he’d zealously guarded his
