ma’am. Give me a minute.”
He disappeared into his garage and came out
in his shorts. His body was slick and cut. A thousand memories went
through Krista’s head of the times she felt him and laid her body
on him. The pain shocked through her. She closed her eyes against
it, trying to block out the sight of him.
As the back of the suit was opened, Sean
hesitated. “Krista, I don’t think I can do this. I’ll get
Cassie.”
“Wait, what? Why? What happened?”
“I don’t know if your bathing suit survived
intact.”
“Oh. Can you just get me started and I’ll do
damage control?”
“I…” Krista heard a sigh somewhere behind
her. “Okay.”
The zipper was brought down the rest of the
way. She felt his fingers skim her bare skin, relishing the
feeling.
“Let’s go into the…house so you don’t flash
the whole neighborhood,” Sean said quietly.
Krista’s feet were burning they were so cold.
She wanted to be warm immediately. Surfing at that damn beach was
for ninjas only!
They made it into the surf room, which was
sandy and had drops of water from Sean’s change a minute ago. Once
again, Sean started to take off the suit, little by little, trying
not to touch her skin—trying to keep everything civilized and under
control.
He circled her, his face wary, probably
wishing the room was slightly bigger, and stood face-to-face with
her. He pulled down the top slowly, getting both arms out, inching
it down to her waist. In a daze, Krista saw his eyes feast on her
bare chest, hunger flashing. A hand came up, slowly, not under his
control, reaching for a breast. Krista’s nipples, already
constricted, tingled in anticipation, her body refusing to move to
stop him.
Suddenly he jerked, blinked, and ripped his
hand back down. “Damage control, Krista. Put your top on. Or a top on.” His voice was hoarse.
With a desire for which she couldn’t remember
its equal, she wanted the feel of him, skin on skin; wrapped up in
his body. She closed her eyes. A large part of her didn’t want to
do that to Chet. It was sleazy and not fair—something she abhorred
in others. Jim had cheated on her constantly, and she remembered
the pain of that. She did not want to do that to another. But
another part, one that worried her excessively, was more concerned
about not scaring Sean away. That part realized he was trying to do
the right thing, and policing himself when it should be her
policing him.
That part of her terrified her—because of the
woman she might nearly slip into being, and for how ardently she
wanted Sean, after all this time, from a place in her heart and
soul that she’d never accessed with Chet, or anyone else.
A doomsday cloud hanging over her head,
Krista fished in her wetsuit for her bikini top and hastily tied it
on. Everything covered up, she said, “Kay.”
Sean glanced back down, and kept going. Until
it turned out her bottoms went down with the ship.
“Nope,” Sean said tightly. He stood up and
walked out of the room.
Krista stood blinking and cold as he walked
away. She should be embarrassed. Normal people would be humiliated.
Instead, she was sad. The Sean she used to know wouldn’t have run
away. He would have made a funny quip, sneaked a peak, and let her
fix it. Then he would have finished up.
Krista fished out her bottoms and started to
wrestle the pants down. Cassie came in, saw her, and started
laughing. “Scared away the womanizer with some woman flesh,
huh?”
“It’s not like he hasn’t seen it before.”
“Yeah. He’s a bit squeamish in his old age.
Don’t let that put you off. Here—“ Cassie bent down and helped her
get the bottoms off. “The trick is patience. Yanking and pulling
just gets you aggravated. So anyway, where do you want to go
shopping?”
Krista’s teeth were chattering. “Cassie, I
love you, but I am freezing. Out of the way.”
Krista pushed past a laughing Cassie and ran
for her sweatshirt. Sean glanced up as she came into the