“I can hardly love you and leave you in forty-eight hours, can I?” he said instead.
“Forty-eight?”
Oops. “Twenty-four,” Jack corrected himself. “I meant twenty-four.”
“You scared me there for a minute.”
He gave her his most congenial smile. “Wouldn’t want to do that.” Then he nodded to the glass balcony door and the view beyond. “How about a swim?”
She turned to follow his gaze.
He crossed the room to open the doors, implicitly bidding her to follow him onto the wide veranda. “Take a look down there.”
She joined him to lean on the rail, between a pair of twin loungers at one end of the veranda and an umbrella table set up for four at the other.
He heard her suck in a breath as she gazed at the Mediterranean-style courtyard. The lighted pool was embraced by pillared fountains, terra-cotta tiles, tropical trees and sculpted shrubbery. It was peaceful and deserted this time of night, and the patterned pool bottom wavered through the mist rising from the heated water.
“It’s almost midnight,” Kristy whispered. “Are we allowed?”
He shrugged. “We’re high-rollers in a complimentary suite. You think they’ll stop us from taking a swim?”
“My swimsuit’s still in the plane.”
Had the woman never heard of shopping? Had she never heard of butler service? As if a tiny thing like a swimsuit would stop them. There was a phone on the table between the two loungers, so Jack picked it up and pressed zero.
The voice on the other end was prompt. “Yes, Mr. Osland?”
“Any chance we can get a couple of swimsuits up here?”
“Of course. I’ll have the butler bring up a selection right away. The sizes?”
Jack covered the mouthpiece. “Size?” he asked Kristy.
Her eyes went a little wide. “Uh, four.”
He nodded. “Women’s four and men’s thirty-two.”
“Thank you, sir. Someone will be right up.”
Jack replaced the receiver.
Kristy glanced at the phone. “Just like that?”
“Just like that,” said Jack. Then he couldn’t resist giving her an impish grin. “I’m hoping you get a bikini.”
She eyed him up and down, a frown on her face that made him self-conscious. “I guess it’s not quite the same for women.”
“What do you mean?” Was it an insult?
She gave him an exaggerated shudder. “I mean, the thought of any man in Spandex.”
He took a couple of steps toward her. “Did I mention I work out?”
“I’m sure you’re perfectly gorgeous under that suit.” Then she stilled as her own words obviously registered.
He was torn between making a joke and making a move. Deep down, he knew he shouldn’t do either.
Still, he was suddenly aware of the way her eyes sparkled in the moonlight and her hair framed her face in gentle waves. That elusive perfume wafted through his senses once more. And everything inside him screamed at him to kiss her. Under normal circumstances, he’d definitely take the expression on her face as an invitation.
But these were not normal circumstances. He was on a mission. And he didn’t dare scare her off.
He settled for brushing a wisp of her hair from her face. Her cheek was soft under his fingertips. Her lashes fluttered at the contact, and it was more than he could do to ignore the signal.
He subconsciously leaned forward, and she tipped her head to one side.
The knock on the door saved him.
Jack forced himself to pull away, his voice husky with burgeoning desire. “Our suits are here,” he stated unnecessarily.
Kristy drew in a breath, and gave her head a quick shake. “Right.”
He squeezed her hand gently, in silent acknowledgment of what they both knew had almost happened. Then he stepped into the suite and answered the door.
The butler handed him three women’s and three men’s suits on silk padded hangers. Jack tipped the man and sent him on his way.
Then he turned to find Kristy back inside the suite.
“Pick a bedroom,” he invited, refusing to let himself look too deeply into her eyes as he handed her the women’s suits.
She motioned to the closest door, the smaller of the two rooms. Again, Jack was surprised when her actions didn’t fit his expectations. Either their almost-kiss had truly rattled her, or she didn’t care about sleeping in the plush, four-poster bed in the main bedroom.
Either case was intriguing.
IN THE COOL evening air, the pool water was chilly against Kristy’s legs. A sultry breeze blew over her aqua, one-piece suit as she gradually made her way down the sloping stairs.
Jack on the other hand, executed a neat dive into the deep end, his shimmering form moving swiftly underwater toward her. He broke the surface, coming to his feet and raking back his dark hair with spread fingers.
“Feels good,” he announced, looking slick and sexy in the diffuse garden lights.
“Feels cold,” she responded, especially in comparison to the heat building inside her at she stared at his broad, bare chest.
He took a couple of steps forward. “Need help getting in?”
She reached out and gripped the handrail. “Don’t you dare.”
His grin was wide, showing straight, white teeth and bringing out a small dimple in his left cheek. His dark eyes sparkled. “It’s easier if you do it fast.”
She took a step down another stair. “I don’t need your help, thank you very much.”
She should have been worried about the cold water. And she was. But her mind also went immediately to Jack’s slick, wet hands against her own bare skin, and her blood pressure took a jump.
She put her foot on the bottom of the pool, the water coming slightly past her waist.
He closed the distance between them. “My sister always screamed when I threw her in, but in the end she thanked me.”
“I’m not your sister.”
“You think I don’t know that?” His gaze darkened as it dipped to take in her suit.
Her entire body clenched in reaction, reminding her all over again that he was sexy and smart and funny, and women around the world adored him. She definitely wasn’t going to sleep with him. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity to flirt a little.
He shifted even closer in the waist-high water, and her mind waged a split-second war. Wrestling around in the pool at midnight was quite a ways past flirting. But then, he was only going to dunk her, not ravish her. Despite his joking innuendo, he had been a perfect gentleman all evening.
Still, they’d almost kissed on the balcony. And Kristy wasn’t a complete fool. So, just before his fingertips brushed her skin, she did a surface dive, scissoring her feet, propelling her body away from him and into the deeper water.
“Chicken,” he mocked as she came up for air.
“I prefer to take care of things myself,” she responded, pushing her wet hair back from her face.
His