Honestly, she had no right to be upset to find his side of the bed vacant. After all, he’d said he would only stay until she’d fallen asleep. And even though finding the other side of the mattress unoccupied was probably for the best, there was some small part of her that liked the idea of waking up next to him, liked the idea of him wanting to spend the entire night holding her.
Oh Lord, she was in serious trouble here.
No matter how much she wanted him, she never should have handed herself over to him last night at Harry’s. And even though her back deck fire had brought back painful memories, she never should have allowed him to hold her and make her feel warm and safe while she fell asleep.
During their sexual romp on the rooftop, not only had Sean proved that he cared about her pleasures, but after the blaze he also proved that he cared about her well-being. No man had ever made her feel so important or special. While his compassion and thoughtfulness only succeeded in drawing her in deeper, it still didn’t change the fact that they weren’t, and never would be, a couple.
Good God, she was in way over her head, and if she hadn’t signed a contract with J.T. Public Relations to oversee security for the Boys of Beachville Calendar campaign, she might just be tempted to skip town until she got her head on straight and her emotions under control. Then again, when it came to Sean, she was pretty certain that was never going to happen.
When she heard a noise coming from the other room, she pushed back the covers and climbed to her feet. Padding softly down the hall, she listened to Sean talking in soft words.
She rounded the corner to the kitchen and found him whispering into his phone. Not wanting to eavesdrop, she was about to leave, but when she heard mention of his uncle’s yacht, she wondered if the firm wanted another photo shoot on the water. She cringed at the thought of another trip out to sea, knowing how it would affect him.
Unaware of her presence, she watched him for a moment and thought more about the quiet, reflective side of him, a side that was both sweet and caring. Jesus, she was crazy to think that when it came to Sean she could keep things casual.
She needed to get out of there, to get herself as far away from Sean as possible before her heart exploded into a million tiny pieces. She made a move to go, but when Sean twisted around and a smile lit his handsome face, her entire body weakened with need. Lord, the man had the ability to set her on fire with just one smoldering look.
“Good morning.” He placed the phone back on the hook and leaned against the doorjamb.
“Good morning,” she responded. As his jeans rode low, exposing his tight oblique muscles, she tried not to stare. She really did. But he was so hard and sexy that it was damn near impossible not to drink him in.
When she forced her eyes to his, Sean made a face, one that reminded her of a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “Sorry,” he said.
Madison’s head jerked back with a start. “Sorry for what?”
“I didn’t mean to spend the whole night.”
Okay, that took her by surprise. “You spent the whole night?”
“Yeah, I promised you I wouldn’t, and then I did.” He gave an apologetic shrug. “I just woke up.” When he gestured toward the countertop, the delectable scent of coffee reached her nose. “Thought you might like to wake up to a cup.”
His thoughtfulness never failed to warm her heart, but she had no right to feel emotional. She knew damn well what she was getting into when she handed her pleasures over to him. “I would. Thank you.”
“Did you sleep well?” He reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear. Feeling completely self-conscious as he exposed her scar, she was about to flip it back, but when his eyes left her face and travelled the length of her body, some deeper emotion in his expression stopped her. Something tortured passed over his face as he took her in. It was a familiar look, one she’d seen from him before. This time instead of running away, she spent a long time staring back at him, and as she really took the time to decipher the glance he was aiming her way, her heart hammered and she suddenly wondered if she’d been wrong about him. Had she been mistaking that tortured gaze for pity? Could that expression stem from something else entirely? Something like desire?
Perplexed, she frowned and stared at him, suddenly wondering if she’d been reading him wrong all this time. Everything in her gut told her he wanted more from her than just a one-night fling. Her gut had never been wrong before, but did she dare hope?
“What?” he asked.
She shook her head to clear it. “Nothing.”
“You have a strange look on your face.”
“I do?” She tried to school her features as her mind raced, working to sort things through.
He gave her a wink and said, “Yeah, you’re kind of freaking me out.”
With that Madison laughed and pushed past him. Looking for a distraction as her mind raced a mile a minute, she went in search of a mug, but when she spotted a stack of notes on his table, and the words You’ll always be mine jumped out at her, she stopped.
“Sean?” She knew he’d received disturbing groupie letters in the past, and that was the main reason she was overseeing his security, but something else was going on here. “What are you not telling
