."
Whoa! A blast from the past out of nowhere. If she'd had anything in her mouth, she would likely have choked. "During the group's vacation? What did I say?"
He sat back in his chair, his knees spread wide, his unbuttoned shirt hanging open. She wanted to crawl into his lap and bury her nose in his skin, but decided this was not the right time.
No matter that he looked terribly dejected.
Strange. Why would he be dejected over something said so long ago in the heat of the moment and under the influence of rum?
"Then you don't remember."
She finished with the bite of her chicken, then moved to toy with what was left of her salad. "I remember … several things."
"Like what?" He laced his hands over his flat abs and stretched out his legs even farther, hooking a foot around her chair leg and dragging her practically into his lap.
Two could play his game, she mused, abandoning her plate and propping her legs, ankles crossed, over his thighs. "Like the fact that we don't fit well together standing up. Your legs are too long."
He shook his head. "Your legs are too short."
"My legs are not short." She angled them this way and that until Doug did as she wanted and touched her, running his palm from her ankle to her knee.
"Not too short if you're standing over my lap, but for normal vertical sex?" His mouth curled into a deliciously wicked grin. "Definitely too short."
Kinsey tossed her open robe back over her legs, which he'd bared. "Then I suppose we were lucky the veranda had such a sturdy railing."
"Then you do remember."
"I told you I did. Would you like any more chicken?" she asked, not quite ready to give everything away.
But Doug wasn't ready to let it go. "Do you know that I still have that pair of your bikini bottoms? String ties are truly a man's best friend."
She was not going to let him get to her. She was not, was not, was not. She had to let him know he'd met his match if a match was what she was looking to explore. Calm, cool and collected.
Ohhmmm . "Personally, I'm a big fan of those little tiny mesh pockets in swim trunks. The perfect size for stashing a condom."
"Be Prepared, that's my motto."
"Stealing from the Boy Scouts these days?"
"Why not? Thousands of kids can't be wrong."
"Maybe not." She went back to innocently moving lettuce and carrots around on her plate. "I just would've thought you might have more originality about you."
She waited for one beat, two beats, three beats, four, and then she looked up. But the teasing Doug of seconds ago was gone. In his place brooded the Doug from earlier in the evening, the one who'd been fairly hard on himself for missing the meeting with Media West.
Her phone rang again. She ignored it. She wanted to know what was going on behind those intensely focused green eyes. Sure, they could banter and bed their way through a relationship, but she was certain, she knew , he had so much more to offer than a sexual good time.
And if she discovered that all this time she'd been wrong, well, then—
"Aren't you going to get that?" he asked before the phone rang one last time.
She shook her head. "That's what voice mail is for. I'm more curious to hear the voices in your head."
"The ones telling me to haul you back to the sofa?"
That one she wouldn't mind listening to herself. "No, the one that shut you down the second I questioned your originality."
Doug snorted, glancing toward the living room, ignored her question the way guys usually did when they haven't yet worked out the best possible reply in their minds. She supposed that was one thing she liked about him so much.
He was one-hundred-percent-predictable male, even while surprising her constantly.
He finally returned his hand to the leg he'd bared again, stroking her ankle in a circular motion, as if the movement allowed the gears in his head to engage. "The meeting I stayed in Denver to make?"
She nodded. "The one that caused you to miss the one here."
"Yeah. That one." He twisted his hand