Page 91 of A Beach House Beginning

Blast him! It had been far easier to tell herself she couldn’t possibly be interested in a man like him before he’d shown all these other facets that proved her wrong.

“Okay,” he finally answered. “You’re attracted to me, but nothing has changed. Good to know.”

She sighed, feeling foolish all over again. “I get the impression you’re a man who likes to get his own way.”

He leaned a hip against the fence post and crossed his arms over his chest. “Guilty. I’ll admit it. I do like to get my own way. Sorry. So does that make me particularly unusual among the men you know?”

A half laugh slipped out before she could jerk it back. “No. Of course not. Quite the opposite, in fact. Most men do, I’ll give you that. But not only do you like your own way, you also strike me as a man unaccustomed to hearing the wordno. I think maybe you wanted to show me what I was missing. Why else would you kiss me?”

She had never noticed he had a little indentation on the side of his mouth that quirked when he was amused.

“Why else?” he asked dryly. “And did I?”

“I’m not stupid,” she said, though of course it was a blatant lie. Only an idiot would think she could kiss Jace McCandless and be content with one little kiss.

“You’re gorgeous, successful, loaded and just about the sexiest man I’ve ever met,” she went on. “OfcourseI know what I’m missing! That doesn’t change one thing about what I said the other day—that I’m not interested in some kind of...of fling with you.”

He opened his mouth and she braced herself for arguments. Instead he closed it again and gazed out at the horses for a long moment, now just silhouettes in the gathering darkness.

When he finally turned to her and spoke, she had the definite impression he had originally intended to say something else.

“It might surprise you to know that I didn’t have any ulterior motive by kissing you. It was one of those just-can’t-help-myself moments. I’m not sorry for it, though. Not one damn bit. I should probably confess I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

Again she fought down the impulse to be flattered. “All the more reason for me to ask you to leave me and my family alone.”

She was such a coward. Could he tell how much the idea of falling for him terrified her? Oh, she hoped not.

“You don’t trust yourself very much, do you?”

She flushed. “Wh-what do you mean?”

He shrugged. “I said I would probably try to kiss you again. But if you have such strong objections—as you apparently do—there’s no reason you have to let me.”

She released a relieved sigh. He didn’t suspect exactly how weak she really was inside, how she was just another kiss or two away from falling hard for him, like every other woman he’d ever met.

With supreme effort, she forced herself to give him a cool look. “My life is in chaos right now, Jace. I’m sure this is a shock to that profoundly healthy ego of yours that we’ve discussed at length, but did it ever occur to you that maybe I have better things to do with my time and energy than spend my limited free time fighting you off?”

He laughed so hard the horses trotted over to investigate. “Fair enough. But what about Ellen and Hope? They’ve invited me to visit again, and I’d like to come.”

“Why?”

He shrugged. “I like being with them. Today was just about the best day I’ve spent since...well, in a long time.”

The wise thing would be to tell him not to come around. It was the easy road, the comfortable one.

But she couldn’t deny that Hope seemed to try harder at relearning skills when Jace was around. If he motivated her to work harder, surely Christa could control herself around him.

“I guess I’m okay with that.” Cool evening air swirled around them, and she shivered a little, with the oddest feeling that she had just made a terrible mistake.

She scrambled to regain her footing. “I need to set some conditions, though.”

“Such as?”

“If I feel that spending time with you is detrimental for my daughter—hindering her rehab progress in any way—I will insist on no future contact. I want your word that if I believe it’s in Hope’s best interest, you’ll agree to stay away.”

“Just on your opinion alone?”

“I’m her mother,” she said bluntly. “Right now my opinion is the only one that matters.”

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