More Than a Fling? by Joss Wood Read Free Book Online

sayings. But Ross had always vowed to
be as little like his dad as possible.
    Propositioning Ally in the way he had was the kind of thing his
father would do: when Jonas wanted something he used any means he could to get
it. Winning, getting his way, coming out on top was all that mattered to him,
and last night Ross had proved that in certain ways he was still his father’s son.
    He loved and hated that fact. Loved that he had his father’s
drive, passion and work ethic. Hated the fact that he also had his deeply
competitive streak. And his stubbornness.
    His mother was either a fool or a saint for staying married to
him for nearly thirty-five years. How did she do it? Love, she’d once told him,
wasn’t an emotion but an action. When you’d been married as long as they had,
she’d added, sometimes you had to choose to love and to fight for love.
    That sounded too much like hard work, and Ross had yet to find
a woman who interested him enough to consider the possibility of a lifetime with
her. Ally Jones definitely wasn’t a candidate. Besides, even if he was looking
for ‘the one’, he wouldn’t choose a tense, pushy, uptight corporate drone. He’d
left that world behind years ago—and all the stress that went with it; why would
he ever get involved with a woman deeply entrenched in it?
    No, he liked to keep his personal relationships simple and
above all honest. So if he hooked up with someone he always made it clear that
he wasn’t looking for a long-term relationship. One thing was for sure: when he did find Wonder Woman—he was still too busy to
commit the time needed to find her—he’d never let his partner feel she had to
compete with his work for his attention, as he’d had to do as a child.
    Right—enough introspection. Let’s get this
damned apology done and dusted so I can get some work done today.
    He believed Miss Jones was on the beach, the concierge told
him, so Ross walked out through the doors leading to the promenade, flipping his
sunglasses onto his face to hide his eyes from the blistering glare of the
midday sun.
    Standing at the wall, he scanned the beach, which was
reasonably busy for a Thursday in September. Female faces were hidden under
floppy hats, caps and sunglasses, so how was he going to find her?
    By going up to every single woman on the beach and acting like
a pervert, that was how. Perfect. Just what he needed.
    Ross stepped onto the beach, ignoring the hot sand that crept
into his flip-flops as he made his way to the most populated part of the beach.
He looked out to the sea and watched as a woman walked out of the waves and
pushed her wet hair back from her face.
    He instantly recognised that body, its essential bits covered
by fluorescent aqua triangles; he had felt it tremble under his touch last
night. A waist he could span with both his hands, curvy hips, legs that went on
for ever. Ross swallowed, realised that saliva had disappeared from his mouth
and stood still as she strolled up to a beach blanket and dropped onto it,
tipping her elfin face up to the sun.
    A fist grabbed his heart and squeezed. She was utterly,
maddeningly, crotch-jumpingly beautiful and he still wanted her. Probably would
do anything to have her.
    Just for a night...a couple of nights; just to get lost in that
face, that body, the comprehensive femininity of her. And, because he’d been an
utter ass, he probably never would.
    That sucked.
    Ross ran a hand through his hair, gestured to a beach vendor
and bought two bottles of water from the elderly man. Cracking the seal on one,
he took a long sip and headed to the beach blanket where Ally lay back on her
elbows, smiling at two toddlers who were arguing over a spade.
    He sat down next to her, handed her a bottle of water and
jumped right in. ‘Sorry.’
    Ally took the bottle, raised her eyebrows at him and curled her
lip. ‘You think a cold bottle of water and a half-assed apology is going to
work?’
    ‘No.’ Ross twisted his lips in