“What’s up?” Carter asked when he spotted the distressed scowl on Sean’s face.
Grinning like the bad ass, son of a bitch he was, Cole gestured toward Madison, who was currently walking around the pool table with her two best friends, Allison Cooper—Carter’s girl—and Haley Jones, a “good girl” Cole had been crazy over since high school, but had been too chicken shit to do anything about.
Cole tipped his bottle toward Sean. “What’s up is that our man here has finally met his match.”
Carter followed Sean’s gaze, then shook his head, perplexed. “So what are you doing sitting here with us then? Go get her, for Christ’s sake.”
Sean scrubbed his hands over his face. “It’s not like that with her.”
“Want to enlighten me?” Carter asked, arching a curious brow.
“No.”
Cole glanced at Carter and shook his head. “Sean can have any girl in this place.” He grinned and added, “Hell, he probably already has. So why do you think he’s going after the one he can’t have?”
Because he didn’t want just any girl, goddammit.
He wanted one. And the fact that she didn’t want him in return had his stomach knotting, his heart pounding and his cock refusing to settle for anything less.
But what the hell could he do about it?
Honestly, Sean had no idea what he’d done to make her hate him. They didn’t run in the same circles and he’d never really taken notice of her before. Last year’s accident had changed everything for him, and in no time at all he found himself wanting to get to know her. When he’d visited her in the hospital and had seen the depth of her strength and the breadth of her courage during a difficult recovery, it didn’t take him long to discover she was different from any other woman he knew, and it was that difference that held his attention, and quite frankly fascinated him.
“Maybe he likes the challenge,” Carter piped in. “You know what they say—you want what you can’t have.”
Sean watched Cole’s glance drift to Haley. Unfettered want passed over his eyes before he quickly blinked it away and raised his bottle in salute. “Yeah, here’s to wanting what we can’t have.”
As Carter turned his attention to Cole’s leg, and the two began talking about the recent soccer injury that cut Cole’s professional season short and brought him back to their small town for the remainder of the year, Sean turned his focus back to Madison.
When she bent over the pool table, his mind went on an erotic journey and there was nothing he could do to tame his hard-on. Christ, he wanted her. Wanted her so badly he could barely think straight.
As her sensuous body held his attention, awareness and frustration flared through him and he took a moment to think more about the sexy security specialist who, on a personal level, refused to give him the time of day. Hell, maybe Carter was right. Maybe he only wanted her because he couldn’t have her. Or maybe he wanted more.
Either way, he knew he had to find out.
Sweat collected on his brow as he continued to watch her, watch the way she moved around the crowd, unaware of his observations. What he’d long ago discovered was that beneath that tough exterior there was another side of Madison. A side she kept hidden from everyone, including herself. He’d seen that side in her earlier tonight when she was gazing out over the ocean, her gorgeous brown eyes full of warmth and longing.
What he noticed the most was that beneath her guard, Madison was soft and sensitive, full of heat and passion and goddammit, he wanted to be the guy to peel away the layer and ignite the fire beneath the ice.
If only she’d let him.
As he entertained the idea, a low rumble sounded in his throat and he decided then and there it was damn well time to find out what she had against him.
Madison walked around the pool table alone while her friends went off to refresh their drinks. Deciding it was the perfect time to confront her, he climbed to his feet, pushed through the crowd and made his way toward her.
With her back to him, she continued to shoot balls, oblivious to his approach. Sean cut across the room, but when he stepped up to her and pulled her back against his chest, her shoulders tensed and her muscles stiffened.
Fearing she was about to lay him out flat on the floor, he said, “Easy, Madison. It’s me.”
As her body tightened even more, her feminine heat warmed his blood, and it took every ounce of strength he possessed not to bend her over the pool table and take her right there. There was something so unique and beguiling about Madison that he couldn’t help but wonder if fucking her would get her out of his system, or would it simply draw him in deeper?
Instead of acting on his urges, he summoned his control, purposely put his mouth close to her ear and in a suggestive voice whispered, “So you like playing games do you, sweetheart?”
In a slow, easy movement, Madison twisted around to face him, and the alarm on her face let him know he’d caught her off-guard. Sean’s heart nearly stopped when he took in the gorgeous sight of her dark eyes and the long brown hair that framed her beautiful face. Unable to help himself, he touched a wayward curl as it ran along the column of her neck, going lower and lower until it dipped into her cleavage. As he stroked the strands between his fingers, he pictured her on top of him, teasing his naked flesh with those long soft curls. He drew a breath to center himself and knew, without question, she was the most sensuous woman he’d ever set eyes on.
When their glances clashed, and the control she kept so close momentarily crumbled, something flashed
