“No. I don’t mess around with women who need comforting in the bedroom. That’s not what I’m there for.”
She felt a heavy blush spread over her cheeks. “I guess not.”
She was alternately relieved and disappointed by that bit of news. Relieved, because she didn’t really like to think of her friend as some crass seducer of innocents, and she really couldn’t picture him in that role, anyway.
If he was the big bad wolf, it would be because the woman he was with wanted to play Little Red Riding Hood.
But it was disappointing, too, because that pushed her even farther outside the box that Zack’s “ideal woman” resided in.
Ideal bedmate.
Sure, maybe it was more that than any sort of romantic ideal, but she would like to just fit the requirements for that. Well, really, being the woman he was sleeping with was very far away from what she actually wanted, but it would be a start.
A wonderful, sexual, amazing start.
She jerked her thoughts back to the present, not hard to do with the pitch-and-roll gait of the elephant rivaling a storm-tossed boat. It was a smooth, fluid sort of motion, but it was a very big motion, to match the size of the animal.
It also wasn’t hard to do when she remembered that, as far as their host was concerned, she and Zack were now engaged.
“A tangled web, isn’t it, Parsons?” she asked.
“What was I supposed to say?” he countered. “Ah, no, this is just my best friend that I brought along for a roll in the hay.”
“The truth might have worked. He seems like a nice man.”
“Look, it’s done. I’m sure his assumption works even more in my favor, in favor of the deal, and that’s all that really matters, right? We know where we stand. It’s not like it changes anything between us.”
She felt like the air had been knocked out of her. “No. Of course not.”
They moved through the meadow and down into the trees, onto a well-worn path that took them along a slow-moving river, the banks covered in greenery, bright pink flowers glowing from the dark, lush foliage.
She tried to keep her focus on the view, but her mind kept wandering back to Zack, to his solid, steady heat, so close to her. It would be easy to just melt into him, to stop fighting so hard for a moment and give in to the need to touch him.
But she wouldn’t. She couldn’t. Nothing had changed between them, after all. His words.
There was a reason she’d never made any sort of attempt to change their relationship from friends to more-than-friends. The biggest one being that she didn’t want to jeopardize the most stable relationship she had, the one closest to it being unable to stomach the thought of being rejected by him.
Of having him confirm that everything her mother said about her was true. Of having her know, for certain, that a man really wouldn’t want her because she just wasn’t all that pretty. Her mother had made sure she’d known men would still sleep with her, because of course, men would sleep with anyone. But she wasn’t the sort of woman a man would want for a wife. Not the type of woman a man could be proud to take to events.
Not like her sister. Gorgeous, perfect Lucy who was, in all unfairness, smart and actually quite sweet along with being slender, blonde and generally elegant.
Lucy actually would have looked more like Hannah’s sister than like her sister.
A sobering thought, indeed.
She should make sure Zack never met her sister.
The sound of running water grew louder and they rounded a curve in the path and came into a clearing that curved around a still, jade pool. At least twenty fine steams were trickling down moss-covered rocks, meeting at the center and falling into the pool as one heavy rush of water.
Anong the elephant stopped at the edge of the pool, dropping slowly down to her knees, the ground rising up a bit faster than Clara would have like. She leaned into Zack, clinging to the sleeve of his T-shirt as Anong settled.
“All right?” he asked.
She looked at where her hand was, and slowly uncurled her fingers, releasing her hold on him. “Sorry,” she said.
He smiled, that simple expression enough to melt her insides. He was so sexy. Time and exposure, familiarity, didn’t change it. Didn’t lessen it.
Just another reason for her to leave Roasted. If exposure didn’t do it, distance might.
Zack moved away from her, dismounting their ride first and waited for her at the side of their living chariot, his hand outstretched. She leaned forward and took it, letting his muscles propel her gently to the ground. Her feet hit just in front of his, her breasts close to touching his chest, the heat from him enticing her, taunting her.
“Do you want me to wait for you?” their guide asked.
Zack shook his head. “We’ll walk back. Thank you for the ride. It was an experience.”
He nodded and whistled a signal to Anong, who rose slowly and turned, going back with her owner and friend. She watched them round the corner, a smile on her lips. Yesterday, she was at a beachside hotel in San Francisco, expecting to lose half of her heart as Zack married another woman.
Today she was with him on his honeymoon. Riding elephants.
“An experience,” Zack said, turning to face the water.
“It was fun,” she said.
“Not relaxing exactly.”
“No,” she said, laughing. “Not in the least.”
“Mr. Amudee informed me by phone this morning that this is a safe place to swim. Clean. They don’t let the elephants up here and the waterfall keeps it all moving.”
She made a face. “Good to know. I liked the elephants, don’t really want to share a swimming hole with them. It looks pristine,” she said, moving to the edge, looking down into the clear pool. She could see rocks covered in moss along the bottom, small fish darting around, only leaving the cover of their hiding places for a few moments before swimming behind something else. “Perfect.”
Zack tugged his black shirt over his head, leaving him in nothing more than a pair of very low-cut white board shorts that, when wet, she had no doubt would cling to some very interesting places.
Her mind was a filthy place lately. And the sad thing was, it was hard to regret. Because it was so enjoyable.
“Swimming?”
“No.” She shook her head and gripped her sarong.
“Why?”
“It looks cold.”
He put his hands on his lean hips and sighed, the motion making his ab muscles ripple in a very enticing fashion. “It’s so hot and muggy out here it could be snowmelt and it would feel good. And I guarantee you it’s not snowmelt.”
“It just looks … cold.” Lame. So lame. But she didn’t really want to strip down to her swimsuit in front of him, not when he looked so amazing in his. She was. There was too much of her for a start. She was so very conscious of that. Of the fact that she had hips and breasts, and that she could pinch fat on her stomach.
Zack’s girlfriends had hip bones and abs that were just as cut as his.
“Ridiculous.” He walked over to her and scooped her up in his arms, her heart climbing up into her throat as he did. His arms were tight and strong around her, masculine. Lifting her seemed effortless. His large hands cupped her thigh and her shoulder, his heat spreading through her like warm, sticky honey, thick and sweet.
She realized what was happening a little bit too