She shrugged. “My friend Tina always manages to make life interesting no matter what. And I plan to emulate her.”
She swung her foot, gently—nervously?—yet her smile told him that she noticed how his gaze clung to those endless legs. Apparently, she was enjoying his attention.
In person, Emma was intoxicating, like the drink, so sweet you didn’t notice it sneaking up and seducing you.
“This will be my voyage of discovery,” she said.
Fortunately, another round of drinks arrived to cool him off and he took a large swallow. “What are you hoping to discover?” he asked flippantly, expecting a flirtatious answer.
But she looked pensive for a moment, chewed on her lower lip and then answered very sincerely. “How to be myself and a little more. I just want to crank up the volume. Do you ever feel as if there’s something missing from your life and that you might find that something if you were just willing to seize an opportunity?”
Hell yes. Sometimes, at the end of a ten- or twelve-hour session in front of a screen, where he’d only interacted with other human beings via e-mail, he would sit and wonder whether this was the kind of solitary life he wanted. “Yeah, I do.”
She sighed. “I’m not sure what I’m missing. But whatever it is, being here with you makes me feel good.”
He watched as Emma pulled the large frosty glass toward her and took a healthy swig of the concoction. She took out the umbrella and sucked on the pineapple slice. He ignored his drink, looking at her so intently he wondered if she could feel him wanting to explore her lips first with his avid gaze and then his mouth.
He knew he should be honest and tell her that he wasn’t a local.
Would it kill the romantic mood? Or would it be better to play along and see what she had in mind?
She looked up, heat in her gaze.
He definitely wanted to let this ride.
Emma felt as if this handsome local was gazing into her very soul. It was as if they’d already been intimate and he hadn’t even touched her or kissed her. And it didn’t make any sense. She tried to talk, stumbled, but finally managed, “Um, does this have cocoa in it? I have to admit I’m addicted to chocolate.”
“Yes, it’s a sort of an island milkshake,” he told her.
“It’s good. Delectable in fact.”
He stroked her hand, his touch gentle yet his skin a little rough, and his warmth sent a shiver through her.
“So how are you going to start this project? Pumping up the volume?” His voice curled around her, seeming to pull her in closer.
She took another deep drink and leaned towards him, then sighed. It felt good to be this close to an incredible guy who obviously found her intriguing.
“You do have a plan,” he prompted.
She sat up. She’d been leaning so far over she was practically on top of the table. “Of course I have a plan.” A long sip of the milkshake soothed the niggle of embarrassment. He even understands about the plan. A girl’s got to have a plan if she’s going to get anywhere.
“What’s the first thing on your list?” It seemed as though he was teasing her now.
“I’m going to explore some aspects of myself that have been…inhibited.” She told herself that she was only drunk on his attention.
He looked so intense. Those dark eyes were especially intriguing because a golden band circled his pupils like a little halo of light in the dark.
“That sounds incredibly intriguing.”
She reached out to stroke his bare fingers. “I’m not feeling inhibited right now,” she told him truthfully.
He reached up to rub a piece of her hair between his fingers, brushing her sensitive ear as he did so.
Her heart paused mid-beat, and she couldn’t seem to breathe. Why couldn’t he have been a passenger on the cruise?
“What were we talking about?” she muttered.
This pickup thing had been so natural, but what did she do now? She wanted so badly for him to kiss her. How did she signal him? And where would he touch her?
And then what?
This stuff was harder than a job interview, even if what she wanted to do had nothing to do with talking.
“We were discussing how a person shouldn’t become complacent, that they should, well, rock their world.”
“That’s a nice thing to say but I’m not very good at that.” Emma’s brows furrowed as she concentrated. “Just ask my friend Tina. I’m too low-key for that.”
“You seem like a woman capable of doing anything she wants, Emma.”
To hide the way her lips trembled at his compliment she took another sip of the milkshake. The rum slid down so easily, warming her from the inside, while his words warmed her from the outside. She was getting so hot. Had she ever wanted a man to touch her this badly? Her nipples were so sensitized that she could feel every brush of the material of her blouse.
“I wish you were on the cruise, too…I mean it’s going to be great.” She desperately needed him to kiss her. Surely she’d come to her senses once he kissed her.
“I’ve never wanted anything so much.” He stroked her hand and smiled. A smile she just wanted to dive into. What if I love it when he touches me? What if I don’t want him to stop?
“Are you okay?” he asked solicitously.
Sometimes he sounded so American. Were those alarm bells going off in the distance? “Where are you from?”
“I didn’t tell you where I was from, querida.”
Now that sounded exotic. Did she honestly care where he was from?
She sighed. Touched his hand.
He smiled at her as if she were dear to him, as if she could confide in him. “Why the sigh, querida?”
“Lost opportunities.” She tilted her head. “Did you ever want to be someone else?” The question hung between them. More honesty. If she didn’t quit the sappy stuff, he’d probably walk away. She bit her lower lip nervously.
His gaze clung. “Tonight I want most of all to be able to tell you that I’m a passenger on the cruise.”
“Wouldn’t that be nice.” She sighed again. “Don’t even tease me about that.”
He looked thoughtful for a moment and then he grinned. “I know, I’ll be a pirate, kidnap you and sail away. I’d tie you up in silken bonds and make you very, very happy.”
Now that was an image. She leaned towards him again. He did resemble a pirate; she’d thought so from the beginning. “Role-playing never occurred to me.” Except in my fantasies. “Do you do much role-playing?”
“All the time. I find it enjoyable to add an element of fantasy to life and…love.”
Was he blushing? It was hard to tell in the flickering light. She eyed him over her glass. “I’d really like you to kidnap me but I’ve got to get back to the ship.”
“Ah, the cruise ship, an excellent place to find adventure.”
“It’s the captain’s cocktail party tonight,” she said, then added before she could take it back, “but I’ll be thinking about you.”
His eyes gleamed and he put her at ease by saying, “I hope so, because I won’t be able to stop thinking about you.”
“It’s