Her pulse raced. Every nerve ending in her body was firing. Her breaths were deep, and yet she still felt as though she couldn’t get enough oxygen. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to hyperventilate or pass out. This was Zane’s effect on her. It was as if the real Allison was no longer in control and some other version of her was pulling the strings. It had been like this since she was thirteen and he was sixteen.
But Zane wasn’t a teenager anymore. And she wasn’t, either. She was twenty-eight years old, and she knew what she wanted. She also knew that the world didn’t go around handing out opportunities. Life didn’t work like that. You had to take what was yours when you had the chance. And as she got closer to Zane’s cottage and watched him climb out of his plunge pool, water dripping from his magnificent, lean and athletic form, she didn’t even have to ask herself what her goal was—she knew it in her heart and in her gut. She wanted Zane’s naked body pressed against hers. She needed his mouth on every inch of her. She had to have him, if only for a few days in paradise. Zane was not “for keeps,” but he could absolutely be “for right now.”
“Hey there,” she said, stepping up onto his patio. She studied him as he toweled off his chest. She’d only seen him with this shirt off a few times, but his shoulders were just as amazing as she’d remembered. Firm and contoured from thousands of hours playing basketball. His chest was even more glorious, with a tiny patch of dark hair right at the center. She wanted to tangle her fingers in that hair. She wanted to kiss him there. She hungered to skim her lips over every inch of his pecs, rake her fingernails across the warm skin of his abs and tease open the drawstring of his swim trunks.
“How weird is this?” Zane rattled her back to the present with the question. In her fantasies, he would have opened with something far more seductive. Maybe something like, Hello, beautiful. Can I help you with your sarong? “We live on opposite ends of the country but we both end up at your aunt and uncle’s resort at the same time?”
“What are the chances, huh? Small world, I suppose.” She couldn’t help but notice his body language—shoulders tight and hands clutching the towel to his chest, as if he was hiding from her. This was all wrong, and she was desperate to change the dynamic. “Can I have a hug?”
“Uh, sure. Of course.” He grabbed his T-shirt from one of the chaise longues by the pool and put it on. He was definitely trying to keep his distance. She might need to take things slow. She didn’t want to scare him off or freak him out. The last thing her already-bruised ego needed was another interaction like the one at Scott’s birthday party. She couldn’t endure it if he pushed her away again. She spread out her arms and gave him the sort of embrace only friends exchange. It was quick and to the point, and not at all what she wanted. Just that one little taste of his body heat left her longing. Her chest ached for more.
“So what are you doing here?” he asked.
“I needed a break, and my aunt is always begging me to visit.”
“Things stressful at work?”
She looked around for a place to sit. “Do you mind?” She gestured to one of two chaises under an umbrella.
“Yeah. Of course. Do you want a beer?”
“I’m good for now, but thanks.” She did want one, but she wasn’t sure it was a good idea. She needed to keep her wits about her while she was trying to suss out where his head was at. They hadn’t talked once since the kiss a few weeks ago. For all she knew, he thought she was a lunatic. “I just broke up with my boyfriend. We were living together, so it was a pretty big ordeal, moving out and all of that.”
Zane sat in the chair next to her and reclined, crossing his legs at the ankle. He had incredibly sexy legs, a mile long but still pure muscle, with just the right amount of dark hair. “I’m sorry to hear that. If you need a shoulder to cry on, I’m a pretty good listener. Plus, I figure I’m forever in debt to the Randall family.”
“For what?”
“Where do I start? Turning around my entire life when I was at my lowest point?”
Allison waved it off. He still clung to a debt of gratitude for her family, but the truth was that Zane had given them a lot, too. He’d never been anything less than a positive presence. For Scott and Allison, who’d had a mostly stable childhood, watching Zane battle through his family’s reversal of fortune had taught them a lot about humility. “Are you kidding me? My parents love you. And obviously Scott is obsessed with you.” Her phone, which she had tucked into her bathing suit top, rang. Things at work were so tenuous right now that she couldn’t afford to turn off her ringer, as much as she wanted uninterrupted time with Zane. “I’m sorry. I should look to see who it is.” She glanced at the caller ID. It was Scott. Did he have some sort of psychic ability to interrupt her at the most inopportune time? For an instant, she considered sending the call to voice mail, but she knew that he would just keep calling her back.
“Speak of the devil,” she said to Zane. “It’s my brother.”
“Oh. Wow.”
“I know.” She answered the call to speak to Scott. “Were your ears ringing? We were just talking about you.”
“What the hell, Allison? You’re down at Rose Cove by yourself and Zane is there, too?”
Of course he’s not only
