Madison reached for the sheet of paper in her pocket and examined the guest list given to her by the public relations firm handling the campaign. She scanned it then looked up at Sean. Even though she was tall, she still had to tilt her head to meet his eyes. But when she did, she wished she hadn’t because everything about him screamed sex and one-night stands.
It wasn’t as if Madison had anything against one-night stands. She didn’t. She just knew that one night in bed with a guy like Sean would be emotional suicide at best—one touch would leave her aching for more. It wasn’t like she had to worry about that happening, anyway. Sex between the two of them would never occur. One, she wasn’t his type, and two, the dry spell since the incident had proven just how undesirable her ugly scar had left her.
She pushed down the lump in her throat and turned her attention back to the list. “You’ll have to check with the project manager on that. My job was to check identification against the list, and Tara’s name was definitely on it.”
When Sean fell silent again, Madison’s body tightened. Tara might be a professional reporter, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t a groupie. Since groupies were a special breed, and weren’t known for calm, logical behavior, she took Sean’s concerned look, as well as Tara’s deadly glare, very seriously.
Madison cocked her head and studied him. “Is there something you want to tell me?”
“No,” he said absently, and turned his attention to the cabin. His body brushed hers as he took a moment to peruse the bedroom—a small space that put them in very tight quarters.
Maintaining professionalism and refusing to think about how close his body was to her, or how that rich sandalwood scent of his fired her blood quicker than a shot of espresso, Madison eyed him carefully, taking in his rigid stance as well as the troubled look on his face. She studied his body language a moment longer and noticed that everything in the way he was avoiding her direct gaze spoke of secrets, and plenty of them. There was something about Tara he was keeping from her, and if she was going to do her job, she needed to be privy to those deep, dark secrets.
She was about to press, but he turned from her, threw himself on the king-sized bed, and let loose a long agonized moan. It reminded her that he was still feeling ill and in need of rest. The questions would have to wait, she decided.
Madison scanned the small room until she found a door leading to a bathroom. She walked into the cramped room, and as she turned on the tap, she caught sight of her mussed reflection in the mirror. Unlike the perfectly styled women abovedeck, not only were her work clothes flat and unattractive, the damp ocean mist had played havoc with her dark curls and left her cheeks stained and ruddy. She quickly tried to fix herself, and then stopped short, deciding her efforts were pointless. A touch-up wasn’t going to change the fact that she wasn’t Sean’s type, and it certainly wasn’t going to erase the scar that made her undesirable.
She grabbed a cloth from the rack, dampened it and redirected her focus. “What’s with the seasickness anyway?” she called out.
“I hate boats,” he admitted.
That gave her pause, especially since his family made their living off the water. Not only were they cruising in his uncle’s rental yacht, his parents owned a whale-watching business that took tourists on deep-sea tours.
“Didn’t you grow up around them?”
“Around them, not on them.”
“So why did you agree to a photo shoot on the water then?”
“I’m a firefighter. I’m not supposed to be afraid of water.”
“You’re afraid of water?”
“No, boats,” he repeated, and she heard a teasing lilt to his voice when he added, “Weren’t you listening?”
Madison grinned as his mischievousness taunted her libido and elicited a shiver from deep within. There was just something about his playful nature that got to her in the most erotic ways.
“Which again brings me back to my original question,” she said, working to keep her voice level. “Why did you agree to a photo shoot on the water?”
“I guess I figured it was time to face my fears.”
Damp cloth in hand, Madison stepped from the bathroom, leaned against the doorjamb, and perused the gorgeous man sprawled out on the mattress, a man who was gracing her with a half smile that had her hormones reacting with urgent need. He looked rumpled and sexy and so damn inviting, it turned her legs to jelly beneath her. Good God, it was all she could do to keep herself vertical in his presence.
Madison diligently tried to appear unaffected as a tremor vibrated through her bloodstream. “And…” she questioned. “How’s that working out for you?”
He gave her a sheepish look. “I still hate boats.”
The discomforted look on his face was both ridiculous and adorable, seducing Madison in the most interesting ways. “Come on, Sean. What’s to hate?”
He groaned. “Don’t ask.”
Intrigued, Madison laughed, enjoying the easy banter between them. Then it suddenly occurred to her that this was the first time she’d really talked to Sean on a personal level. They weren’t friends. Sure, he’d visited her in the hospital after he’d rescued her, but checking in on someone’s well-being wasn’t just in his nature, it was part of his job. He’d been kind and Madison had been polite, if not a little distant, because when it came right down to it, she didn’t want Sean’s pity. Soon he’d stopped
