Page 43 of A Very Un-Shakespeare Romance
Muffled conversation sounded from the direction she’d gone. Moments later, Summer walked into the kitchen wearing a sleeveless light green dress that stopped mid-thigh. Her long legs made his mouth water before he lifted his gaze to her face. The green of the dress punched up the green in her eyes, and she had her golden locks pulled back in a ponytail that enhanced the delicate curves of her oval face.
She was so damn beautiful she was making his heart knock against his ribs. His hands were starting to sweat, and he thought about what Clarice had said about apologizing. Itwasharder doing it with Summer. He realized why. Because it mattered more, and he wanted her to think well of him. Tim was right. He was fighting with himself, and he was losing.
“I was a prize jerk last night.” He met her surprised look straight on. “I came to say I’m sorry. Again. That’s not usual for me. I’d like to say it won’t happen again, but I don’t make promises I can’t keep. I’m not in the habit of being a jerk per se, but I’m frustrated and a bit restless and…hell, I’m completely out of patience. I want you. I don’t want to. That’s it. Do you want me to leave?”
Her mouth tugged toward a smile before it smoothed out. “I know you don’t want this, but I didn’t expect to be ignored. It surprised me how much that hurt. We barely know each other.”
Her honesty as much as the soft rasp of her voice grabbed him by the throat. He crossed to her, his hand lifting to caress her cheek. “I’m sorry I hurt you. God, I really am. Maybe that’s why we should just call this and go about our vacations. Separately.”
But even as he said it, his fingers slid along her jaw and neck, the softness of her skin this side of heaven. She squeezed her eyes shut, her breath shaky as she leaned closer. Into his touch. “This isn’t what I expected either, you know. Especially you having the power to hurt me. I don’t give that to anyone anymore.”
“I hate that I hurt you, Summer.” He pulled her against him, wrapping his arms around her, desperate to undo what he’d done. “I’m all out of making sense right now. Tell me to stop. Tell me to leave.”
Her hands gripped his sides. “I should. But I can’t. God… I just can’t.”
His mouth swooped down, meeting her raised lips. Then she was gripping the back of his head and kissing him. Their mouths clashed. Their teeth grazed sensitive, urgent flesh. When she tore her mouth away, he caught the gleam of heat in her bright green eyes. Then she rested her face against his chest, sinking into him.
Like that kiss had liquified her knees.
Yeah, that’s exactly how he felt too. Except it had melted something inside him, the fire hot enough to ravage walls he hadn’t known he’d erected. He cradled her tenderly, his mind totally blown. The smell of something floral and beach and woman reached his nose, and he felt the urge to tip her face up and take her mouth again.
Touching her had been a mistake. It had opened a whole other world of attraction, passion, and shit—tenderness—and it was a door he desperately wanted to walk through. One he needed to close just as much.
“The timing couldn’t be more wrong here,” he told her, caressing her back slowly. “My life is complicated—”
“I know,” she interrupted sharply, looking up. “I don’t care.”
The words made his balls draw up. “This can’t go anywhere,” he said gravely.
She inhaled shakily and nodded. “Yet here we are. We’re just going to have to find a way to enjoy it now. Knowing there’s nothing after we leave here. You have your life, and I have mine.”
“I’m here for the girls.” His voice held conviction, thank God. He hoped she could understand without knowing all the details. “They’re my first and last priority. They have to be.”
“That’s the way it should be,” she said, running her soft fingers over the rough stubble of his jaw, which he hadn’t bothered to shave yet. “I won’t get in the way of that. You have my promise.”
She was more understanding than most women he knew. God, he hated lying to her, but that was the way it had to be. Nothing could make him tell her the truth. There was too much at stake. And what would it matter anyway? This attraction needed to have a short shelf life.
“The girls are little, and you saw how much they miss their mother.” He ran a thumb down the middle of her nape, making her shiver, which made him want to find other places that would cause that reaction. “I need to be close to home. In case they need anything. After they go to bed, of course.”
Pulling back, she took a breath, her face suddenly tense. “That’s a little fast for me. Why don’t we have a drink tonight and a walk on the beach? I need you to understand. I don’t do one-night stands, and flings aren’t my usual.”
There was a whisper of something in her tone, something heavy with the past. He wondered what it was, but given his own dissembling, he wasn’t going to press. “All right. We go as fast as you want. Always. You have my word on that.”
“Good.” She laid her hands on his chest, and he covered them with his own, his heartbeat rising again to her touch. “You know…I had no idea what was in store for me when I came here.”
If she only knew. He let his fingers play with the ends of her hair. “Me either. I was just supposed to get out of town with two little girls and my brothers along for company.”
Her mouth tipped up to the right, sexy and adorable all in one. “Clarice might want some time with Billie as well, you know. But he should ask her if he’d like to.”
He glanced off toward the door Clarice had left through, wondering if she was somewhere in earshot. God, he hoped not. “Billie’s pretty pissed I ran you guys off. I was lucky he couldn’t give me the business in front of the girls.”
She brightened. “I have something for them.”
“You didn’t need to do that, Summer,” he said, even though something weird fluttered in his chest at her thoughtfulness.
She left the room briefly before returning, walking back in with a shopping bag from a store he and his brothers had also visited for supplies. She thrust it out and then smoothed her ponytail after he took the bag. “I didn’t wrap them, but...”
He looked inside, his Adam’s apple shifting in his throat. “You bought them wands.”
