Her hair was blowing in the breeze, but not away from her face. In it. Strands stuck to her lips and with an impatient sigh she brushed it away. Chase grinned in approval.
‘There.’
‘What?’ she asked irritably. ‘Is this some kind of weird fetish you have? Women and hair?’
‘I just like seeing you look a bit more relaxed. More natural.’ He paused, as if weighing his words. ‘Soft.’
‘Don’t.’ The single word came out sharp, a cut. ‘Don’t,’ she said again, and this time it was a warning.
‘What?’
‘Don’t—don’t try to change me. This isn’t about that.’ She couldn’t stand it if he thought he was on some wretched mercy mission, making her relax and enjoy life. He had no idea. No clue whatsoever.
‘What is it about?’ Chase asked calmly. ‘Sex?’
‘Yes. I thought I made that clear.’
‘You did.’ Just as calmly he strode towards the sail and started doing something with it. Millie couldn’t tell what. ‘And I made it clear this would be on my terms. Watch out.’
‘What—?’
She saw something heavy and wooden swing straight towards her face and then Chase’s hands were on her shoulders, pulling her out of the way. She collided with his chest, her back coming against that bare, hard muscle. Her heart thudded and his hands felt hot on her shoulders, his thumbs touching the bare skin near her collarbone.
‘What was that?’ she asked shakily.
‘The boom. I had to tack.’
‘Tack?’
‘Change direction. I should have warned you, but all this sex talk was distracting me.’
She had no answer to that. All she could think about was how warm and heavy his hands felt on her shoulders, how he’d only have to move his thumbs an inch or two to brush the tops of her breasts. How she wanted him to.
‘We’re good now,’ he said, dropping his hands. ‘We should have a pretty nice run. Let’s sit down.’
Numbly Millie followed him to a cushioned bench in the back of the boat. Chase reached into a cooler and took out a bottle of sparkling water, offering it to her before he took one himself.
‘Cheers. Sorry I don’t have champagne to toast this momentous occasion.’
‘So why don’t you drink, exactly?’
‘More doctor’s orders. Reduce stress.’ He spoke with that deliberate lightness again. He wasn’t telling her the truth, or at least not the whole truth.
Millie swallowed and took a sip of water. Her thoughts were racing as fast as the boat that skimmed lightly over the aquamarine sea onto an unknown horizon. What was going to happen here?
‘So. Tell me more about these terms of yours.’
‘The first one is I decide when we do the deed. And where. And how.’
She swallowed. ‘That’s asking for a lot of control.’
‘I know. And I’m not asking. I’m telling.’
The bottle felt slippery in her hands. ‘I’m not really comfortable with that.’
‘OK.’ He shrugged, everything so easy.
‘What do you mean, OK?’
‘The deal’s off, then. No sex.’
She bit her lip. ‘I didn’t mean that.’
Another shrug. ‘You want to sleep with me, you agree to my terms.’
‘You make it sound so—cold.’
‘No, Scary, you’re doing that all on your own. You’re the one who wants to have some hurried grope and then brush yourself off and move on with life.’
‘I never said that.’
‘Am I wrong?’
She looked away. ‘It wouldn’t have to be hurried.’
‘What is this, some milestone? First time you’ll have had sex since you broke up with your long-time boyfriend?’
She kept her gaze on the sea, frills of white amidst the endless blue. ‘No.’
‘Divorce?’
‘No.’
He sighed. ‘Something, though, right?’
‘Maybe.’
‘Fine. You don’t want to tell me. No messy details.’
‘That’s right.’
‘But I’m telling you I’m not interested in some soulless, sordid transaction. If you want that, hire an escort service. Or go hang out in the bar for a little while longer. Someone will pay or play.’
She blinked and set her jaw. ‘As tempting as that sounds, I’m not interested.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because—’ She hesitated. She felt as if he were stripping away her defences, and yet she didn’t know how he was doing it. She kept darting around to cover her bases, but they were already gone. ‘Because I don’t want that.’
He leaned forward, his voice a soft, seductive whisper. ‘What do you want, Millie?’
Reluctantly, she dragged her gaze towards him. His eyes glittered gold and the wind ruffled his hair. He looked completely gorgeous and so utterly sure. ‘I want you.’
He held her gaze, triumph blazing in his eyes, a smile curving his mouth. Damn it. Why had she said that? Admitted so much?
‘And I want you,’ he told her in a low, lazy murmur. ‘Rather a lot. But I want to be more than a milestone, and so we’re doing this my way.’
More than a milestone. Already she was in over her head. She’d been so stupid, convincing herself that she could handle Chase, that he’d agree to some one-night stand. On the surface, he should have. But from the moment she’d met him he’d never been what she’d thought he was. What she wanted him to be.
So why had she pursued this? Why was she still here, still wanting to do this deal? Did she really want him that much?
Yes.
‘Fine. We’ll do it your way. But I want to know what that is first.’
His smile turned to a pie-eating grin. ‘Nope.’
‘Nope?’
‘Nope. Information is given on a need-to-know basis only.’
Her fingers tightened on her bottle of water, her knuckles aching. ‘I need to know, Chase.’
‘I’ll decide that.’
She could not believe how horribly autocratic and arrogant he was being. She could not believe she was taking it. Why on earth was she not telling him to piss off and take her back to the shore? Was there some sick, depraved little girl inside her who wanted to be told what to do?
Or did she just want him that much?
Yes, she did.
‘Fine,’ she said, forming the word through stiff lips. He nodded, no more. She took a sip of water to ease the dryness in her throat. ‘So what now?’ she asked once she’d swallowed and felt able to speak again.
‘You take off your clothes.’
Her bottle of water slipped from her nerveless fingers and Chase reached forward to catch it.
‘Easy there, Scary. I was joking. Right now we relax, enjoy the sun and