“I’m not—”
Her protest was cut short when his lips settled easily over hers. His mouth was warm and hard and persuasive, and all Nadine’s resistance faded as surely as the ripples moving slowly to the shore.
Wrapping strong arms around her waist, he pulled her closer and she gasped as they fell to the ground. His tongue found entrance to her mouth, touching and exploring, flicking against her teeth and gums.
A wanton warmth invaded her blood and she opened her mouth even more, tasting him, feeling him, smelling the scent of lake water on his skin. He was hard and male and virile, calling upon a feminine part of her that readily answered.
Her entire body responded to him. Her breasts seemed to stretch the fabric of her swimsuit, and when his chest rubbed against hers, her nipples grew taut and firm beneath the shiny aquamarine Lycra. Hayden groaned and pulled her so close to him that their bodies lying on the sand were pressed intimately together. Her breasts were crushed against his naked chest and her bare thighs fit snugly against his.
A tremor passed from his body to hers, and when he finally lifted his head, his eyes were fired with a passion she’d never witnessed before.
He kissed her again and this time her lips sought his. Desire scorched them, and she felt his hardness pressing into her abdomen. His fingers moved around her rib cage as his lips stole the breath from her lungs. Gently exploring, inching upward beneath her breasts, his hands caressed her.
Moaning, she moved instinctively closer to him and he cradled one breast in his palm.
Somewhere deep in her mind she knew she should stop him, that if she continued kissing him she’d end up in a kind of trouble she’d never even considered, but her body betrayed her and the light, branding touches of his fingers against her swimsuit convinced her that what they were doing was right.
He reached for the knot of her blouse and quickly untied it, parting the cotton fabric before shifting and pressing hot, wet kisses down her neck and into the cleft of her breasts. She arched against him and a wildness deep inside her turned into a molten beast. Her hands delved into the thick strands of his hair, and he ran his tongue slowly up her breastbone, causing her to shiver in delicious anticipation.
There was a dull roar in her ears, the slamming of her heart against her ribs as his fingers rimmed the neckline of her suit. Her breasts felt full and ached for his touch.
“Damn, Nadine, I knew it would be like this with you,” he said, lifting his head. His eyes were glazed and his hair fell over his forehead to cover the scar that cut across one of his dark eyebrows.
She could barely speak. “Like what?”
He smiled, a sexy, boyish smile that touched her heart. “Like there could never be enough.”
“Oh.” She licked her swollen lips, and he kissed her again, harder this time, with a mounting passion that swept from his body to hers. Rolling her quickly onto her back, he threw one leg between hers and she clung to him, kissing him feverishly, dismissing any thoughts of denial. He rubbed against her and she moaned in a voice she didn’t recognize as her own. One hand tangled in her hair while the other scaled her ribs. His lips were everywhere. Kissing her face, her neck, her bare shoulders. And she wanted more. He lowered the strap of her suit and the stretchy fabric gave way, allowing her breast to fall free.
Groaning, he lifted it, touching her nipple with his thumb, while staring at the line that separated tanned skin from the white veined flesh surrounding the rosy tip. “So beautiful,” he said, his hot breath causing her nipple to stand erect. He touched the hard bud with his tongue and Nadine arched upward, forcing more of her breast into his eager mouth. Heat exploded in her veins as he began to suck and she moved against him, wanting more of his touch. His free hand curved around her waist and fitted over one of her buttocks.
She moaned low in her throat.
“Oh, Nadine, don’t do this to me,” he pleaded as he lifted his head and her nipple, suddenly surrounded by air, stiffened with the cold.
“Hayden?” she whispered, and he slammed his eyes closed.
“You don’t want this,” he said.
“I do—”
“Damn it, Nadine, you don’t.” His fingers, still molded around her hip, dug into her buttock, and he swore loudly. “I don’t!” With a guttural sound, he shoved himself off her and ground his teeth together. “Damn it all, Nadine!” he muttered, rolling to his knees and shoving his hair away from his face with shaking hands. “We can’t do this!”
Nadine, suddenly bereft, felt a tide of embarrassment stain her neck. As if coming here and making out had been her idea! “You wanted me to come here with you,” she pointed out.
“Look...I didn’t mean...oh, hell!” He pounded a fist into the ground, then rolled onto his back, staring up at the sky through the pine branches. The bulge in his jeans was still evident, as were the taut muscles of his jaw. “I wanted to be with you. I just didn’t realize that things would get this out of hand.”
“Don’t worry,” she said, hoping to hide the irrational disappointment that burrowed deep in her soul. She should be grateful for his self-control. Lord knew hers had fled. Brushing the sand from her skin and the folds of her blouse, she forced a brave smile. “Nothing happened.”
“Yet. Nothing happened yet. But it wouldn’t take long.” He sent her a look that fairly sizzled. “Don’t try to pretend you didn’t feel it.”
“I think you should just take me back to the dock,” she said, wondering how she could have acted so wantonly. She thought of Trish London and realized that all too easily, she could have been seduced by Hayden. Or was it the other way around? Had she inadvertently started to seduce him? Their newfound relationship was already too complicated and frightening to think about.
“Don’t get the wrong idea,” Hayden said. “I liked what happened between us. It was what I wanted. Or thought I wanted. But...” He opened and closed one fist in frustration. “We should think of the consequences.”
The consequences of getting mixed up with a girl from the wrong rung on the social ladder, she thought with a bitter taste rising in her throat. “I don’t think we should talk about it.”
He shook his head. “And just pretend that what we feel for each other doesn’t exist?”
What we feel for each other. Her throat clogged. “I...I don’t know. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before!”
“Me, neither,” he admitted, and with a shaky smile, drew her into his arms again. She wanted to resist, but when he placed a tender kiss upon her cheek, she melted inside. With a sigh he rested his forehead against hers. “Some mess, eh?”
She almost laughed.
“Come here,” he whispered roughly and tilted her chin upward before capturing her lips in a kiss that was sweet and chaste and so tender, it nearly broke Nadine’s heart.
“What the hell is this?” Ben’s voice boomed through the woods, reverberating through the trees and causing Nadine to jump away from Hayden, but she couldn’t go very far. With lightning swiftness he caught her wrist and held her fast. Ben, nearly six feet of towering rage, strode into the clearing. His near-black eyes snapped with anger.
“Ben, don’t—” Nadine interjected.
“What the devil are you thinking?” His gaze scraped her up and down, and the lines around the corners of his mouth turned white as he stared at her hair and open shirt. Her suit covered her breasts but one strap was still dangling over her arm.
“Oh, God, Nadine, what’re ya doing?”
“I don’t see