Page 12 of So That Happened
She realised she was gesturing wildly at him again, like some kind of madwoman, but he’d got her blood up. She was angry at his insinuation that she was somehow making a mistake with her life choices. This was what she’d always wanted. What else could there be?
‘It makes me happy,’ she finished, picking up her drink and taking a long sip to cover her frustration.
‘All right. I was only asking.’ He held up his hands to her in mock surrender, a smile playing about his lips.
‘What makes you such an expert anyway?’ She straightened herself up on her lounger and felt her dress pull downwards, exposing more flesh than she was comfortable with. She adjusted the top hastily, then tugged the skirt back down from where it had ridden up.
Their eyes met and the air crackled between them.
‘Like I say, I’ve seen it all before.’
His voice was low and ragged and sent chills tripping along her spine. Her head spun as she drank in his penetrating gaze.
This time it was Connor who broke eye contact first. He lay back in the recliner and gazed up at the sky, closing the subject and the unnerving connection.
Josie twisted away, lips clamped tight. What had all that been about? Maybe it had just been a fun game for him, to tease and anger her. To see how far he could push her before she snapped. Her sense of frustration increased, and she had to consciously release her hands from their rigor mortis clench.
This guy was something else. He knew instinctively how to push her buttons. Well, she wasn’t going to let him do it again, that was for sure.
Dumping her notebook and pen on the table, she forced herself to focus on relaxing into holiday mode to show him she was capable of doing it.
‘You know, you really should put some suntan lotion on. That pale skin of yours is going to fry in this heat. You townies have no idea how to live in the sun.’
He was looking back over at her again. There wasn’t a trace of the intensity that had been there a moment ago. Josie was almost relieved. At least she could deal with him when he was being officious.
‘There’s some in the kitchen cupboard,’ he added, turning away from her.
Again, his suggestion felt more like an order, but she knew he was right.
‘I need to do something inside anyway,’ she said, rising from the lounger and sauntering inside, determined to get her own back.
In the bathroom she took out all the products she’d been storing neatly in her wash bag and scattered them around the sink and the edge of the bath, giving her emergency box of tampons pride of place on top of the toilet. After brushing her teeth again, she made sure to leave a good covering of toothpaste scum in the sink. Satisfied with the results, she returned to the kitchen, pulling her now-clean clothes out of the washer and draping them all around the room. Her knickers and bra she hung right over the handle of the oven.
That would do for now.
After grabbing the bottle of suntan lotion from the kitchen cupboard she went back outside and returned to the lounger. Taking her time, she smoothed lotion over the exposed parts of her body, then thumped the bottle down onto the table to show Connor he could leave her alone now.
He grinned at her and inclined his head. ‘Want me to do your back?’ he asked, a twinkle in his eye.
‘No, thanks.’ Just the thought of his touch disturbed her. It was too intimate an act to indulge in with him. There was no way she could handle that; she’d be a puddle on the floor. Plus, she wasn’t ready to forgive him for his comments about her career.
She was so sick of people questioning her choices. Her whole life seemed to have been spent proving herself, over and over again, until she felt dizzy with it. But no way was she going to waste her time trying to explain her work ethic to someone who was plainly more than happy to let others do the hard graft while he swanned off round the world having ‘experiences’.
She’d tell him that if he brought up the subject again. No more Miss Nice Girl. The guy had it coming.
She went to pick up her notepad again, then realised she was about to prove his point about not being able to stay away from working. She could do it. Of course she could. Her hands were only shaking because she was so irritated with him.
Right?
She wasn’t planning on sunbathing out here for ages, anyway. She would stay long enough to show him he couldn’t intimidate her and then she’d go for a walk or something. Anything to be away from him for a while.
* * *
Connor was aware of Josie fidgeting beside him. He smiled to himself. She was obviously finding it impossible to lie still. Not that he could blame her; he’d gone at her pretty hard – but it was so much fun winding her up.
He’d been comfortably winning the conversation until she’d shifted in her chair, giving him a generous flash of the magnificent curves hiding under that dress.
The sight of her long, shapely legs and the sweeping curve of her breasts had thrown him off balance. A vision of himself running his hands slowly along her calves, up over her knees and between her soft thighs, had hit him like a belt to the face and he’d found himself losing his legendary cool. His hands were still trembling from the effort of keeping them still by his sides.
