"Actually, Aunt Viv invited him," she said with a smile in her voice.
"Oh?" He cracked an eye open for that.
"Uh-huh." Alli grinned impishly. "They're both trying to hide it, but Rory and I think they have a crush on each other."
"A 'crush'," he echoed. "I thought crushes were for kids, not people in their fifties."
"Wait till you see them together. Aunt Viv's playing it cool, the regal queen all the way, but poor Carl's a goner."
"Do I need to have a talk with him?"
"Don't you dare!" She pinched his side. "I swear, you think no one but you should have a sex life."
"That's not true." He rubbed his abused ribs. "I just know what men are like when they have sex on the brain."
"Speaking of, how did Jackie react to those pictures of you in the National Enquirer?"
"I don't know. I haven't talked to her since they came out." He frowned over that fact, since, three days ago, she stopped answering her phone or calling him back. Of course, she'd been out in the Gulf the last two of those three days. "I'm guessing she hasn't seen them, or she'd have called to demand an explanation. Had she docked before you left?"
"Just barely. I wasn't able to talk to her, though." Allison looked over at him, smiling. "Patience, big brother. We'll be there shortly."
Chapter 23
Adrian walked straight through the inn, stopping only to hug Rory and kiss Lauren, before stepping out on the veranda. His spirits lifted at the sight of the Pirate's Pleasure tied to the pier. The usual scattering of people milled about the beach. He scanned the area for Jackie, but didn't see her. Then he looked toward the trail that led to Carl's bungalow just as she emerged from the trees with one of the other divers, both of them wearing wet suits.
The sight of her made all the longing and love and just plain missing her well up inside him. He wondered how many eyebrows he'd raise if he walked out onto the beach, scooped her into his arms, and carried her off into the woods toward his house. Did he care?
Allison stepped up beside him and shaded her eyes. "Are they back again?"
"Who?" He followed the line of her sight to a boat trolling just past the mouth of the cove.
"That boat," she said. "It started showing up a few days ago. Right after you were on the Letterman show talking about the treasure. Carl thinks it's treasure hunters. He's been out in the johnboat a few times to explain that if he catches them diving in the cove he'll have them charged with attempted theft of state property. They insist they're just fishing."
"Well, it's possible," he said absently, much more interested in seeing Jackie. "If you'll excuse me." He headed down the hill to the beach. He heard Jackie laugh at something the other diver said. They were halfway to the pier when she looked up and saw him coming toward her.
The smile on her face vanished as she stopped and waited for him to close the gap between them. He barely spared the other diver a nod, his eyes soaking up the sight of her in her yellow and black shorty. Her hair had grown a bit and it framed her face with dark curls.
"Jackie," he breathed, wanting to take her mouth in a kiss that would last at least a decade.
Her hazel eyes narrowed with anger. "Bastard."
The word caught him off guard for half a second. Then he sighed in resignation. "You saw the pictures."
"I did," she said calmly. "And all I have to say is ... you're very photogenic."
"So I've been told." He frowned at the lack of heat behind the words. "In fact, I'm a little sick of hearing it."
"How nice for you." She started to step around him.
"Wait a second." Panic made him slip a hand around her arm. He searched her face for volatile emotions but she only glanced down at his hand, then lifted a brow in mild irritation. "That's it? You see pictures of me with another woman and all you do is toss out one wimpy 'Bastard', then walk away?"
"Adrian," she said, with such icy reserve he wondered where the real Jackie was. "Perhaps you haven't noticed, but I'm not in the mood to talk to you right now."
"Okay, I'll talk. You can listen."
"I don't want to listen, either. I already know the two standard lines men use when they get caught cheating. You're either going to tell me I'm all wrong and nothing happened or you'll say it didn't mean anything, as if that makes it all okay. Well, do me a favor and spare us both the indignity."
He looked at the other man. "Will you excuse us?"
"No!" She jerked her arm free. "Sam, I'm coming with you."
"The hell you are," Adrian said. "Jackie, if you want to yell at me for what you think I did, fine, but I'd rather do it in private."
"I don't want to yell at you," she said through clenched teeth.
"Oh, yes you do. You've had, what, three days to stew over those stupid pictures?" He relaxed a bit, seeing the flash of anger in her eyes. Some real reaction, finally. "At this point, I imagine you want to do a lot more than yell. So, go ahead. Get it out of your system. Call me every name in the book. Then, when you've calmed down, I'll tell you all about my relationship with Shawna."
"So you admit it? Just like that?" Her face crumpled with devastation. "You have a relationship with her?"
Sam looked from her to Adrian and back again. "Uh, look, I'll just be going."
Jackie's body began to shake while she waited for Sam to get out of hearing range. Then she turned to Adrian, clinging to dignity by a thread. If he brought her to tears, she'd hate him forever.
"Are you ready to listen?" he asked.
"No! I don't want to listen. I don't want to talk. I'm so angry, I don't even want to look at you!"
"You're not angry, you're hurt."
"Hurt? You wish, bucko. I am mad at you for being a sorry liar, and at myself for being foolish enough to believe you when you said ..." Her breath hitched. "When you said I was special to you. But apparently not special enough to keep you from ... to keep you ..." Her lungs locked up. "Look, just back off and give me time to get over this, and maybe we can salvage some shred of friendship ---"
"I don't want to be friends." He stepped in front of her and tried to rest his hands on her arms, only to have her knock them away.
"Well, we're sure as hell not going to continue as lovers." She got in his face and lowered her voice. "Because I'll tell you something, Adrian St. Claire, I do not share. You want to sleep with every starlet in Hollywood, go ahead, but do me the courtesy of breaking up with me first." She poked his chest to emphasize her words. "Because if I ever again catch you with another woman, I swear to God, I'll cut your balls off!"
"Ever again?" To her surprise, he flashed that devious grin of his. "So we are going to continue as lovers."
"No we're not." She pulled away. "Because I'm never speaking to you again, much less sleeping with you."
"Of course you are. As soon as you finish yelling at me, we'll talk all you want, then make love, because you look really hot in that wet suit."
"Are you trying to provoke me?"
"Beats waiting for you to cool off on your own. How about we continue this at my place? Preferably naked and in bed."
"Grrr!" She stomped her foot. "I don't want to talk to you! I want to hit you!"
"Okay. If it gets your anger out of the way faster, go ahead, take a couple of swings at me."
"You're not listening, you jerk!" She shoved him back a step.
"Well, you're not listening to me, either, so we're even. Now come on, take a swing."
"Don't tempt me!"
"I'm serious, Jackie. Take your best shot."
Throwing her hands up, she tried to stalk away.
He quick-stepped beside her like a boxer, taunting her with his fingers. "Com'on. Try to hit me. I dare you."
"Stop it!"
"No. Com'on. Give it a try."
She turned away, then whirled back, her fist flying toward his face. He blocked the punch with his forearm and her temper exploded. She swung again and again, with him blocking every blow. In frustration, she tried a twisting
kick toward his rib cage, only to find herself taking a face dive into the sand. Rolling, she sprang into a crouch, and charged like a mad bull. He sidestepped with ease.
Her breath heaving, she turned back, and found him laughing. "This is not funny! I hate you!"
"No you don't." He smiled. "You love me. Or you wouldn't be this mad."
With a cry of fury, she swung again. He caught her wrist and used her own momentum to flip her over his back into the sand, where she landed flat on her back, staring up at a perfect blue sky with her breath coming like a steam engine.
Tears prickled along her lashes. She squeezed her eyes shut as he dropped beside her, pinning her wrists with his hands and trapping her legs with one of his.
"Had enough?"
She waited until she had her tear ducts under control, then opened her eyes to glare at him. "What the hell was that?"
"Tae kwon do."
"I thought you did yoga?"
"I do a lot of things." He released one wrist to brush sand from her cheeks. "Now, are you calm enough to talk?"
"I just have one question." Her eyes started stinging again and her voice went weak. "And if you lie to me, I'll never speak to you again. I can take the truth, whatever it is, just don't he to me."
"I won't lie to you."
"Did you sleep with her?"
He looked her straight in the eye. "No. For two reasons. One, I'm not her type."
"Give me a break, Adrian. You're every woman's type."
"She's gay."
"What?" She blinked at him.
"You are not allowed to repeat that, by the way, but that's why I went out with her. With Shawna, I don't have to worry about getting mauled ---well, not usually. We met at a party my first night there and became instant allies, sort of Us against Them."
"Them?"
"The people who treat you like a slab of meat to be packaged and sold."
"But if she's gay, why was she hanging all over you?"
"She'd just had a huge fight with her lover about coming out of the closet. Shawna wants to, but the lover keeps arguing it will hurt her career. So she called me up, crying her eyes out, and asked me to go dancing so she could blow off steam. I didn't realize she'd use the evening as a chance to get back at her lover by playing up to the paparazzi. Sort of like saying, 'You want people to think I'm straight, how's this'?"
"You didn't look like you were objecting."
"No, I wasn't." He sighed. "Because I understood why she was doing it. She's a nice person, Jackie, who needed a friend."
"That is so like you." She didn't know whether to cry or try to hit him again. "Why do you have to be such a nice guy?"
"Because, at the time, I thought all I had to do was call you and explain. I thought you knew me well enough to realize that I don't lie to women. When I said you were special to me, I meant it. And it really hurts knowing you automatically believed the worst without even talking to me.
She blushed at the accusation, knowing he was right. "What's your second reason?"
"You." He cupped her face, and just that simple touch was enough to make her yearn for him. "I don't want anyone but you. If nothing else, the past weeks have made that clear. Every time I turned around, people were offering me everything you can imagine, some things beyond imagining, but all I wanted the whole time I was out there was to have you with me."
"You mean that?" Those damned tears came back, and this time she couldn't blink them away.
"I do." He smiled gently as a tear rolled toward her temple and he brushed it away.
"I still don't want to move to L.A."
"I know." His face hovered above her, blocking out the sun as his thumb strummed along her jaw. "We'll talk about that later. Right now, I only need this." He lowered his head and kissed her.
At the familiar taste of his mouth, she wrapped her arms around his neck, holding tight, needing him so much it hurt. He tilted his head to deepen the kiss. Heat rushed through her as she molded her body to his, desire building with frightening speed.
He trailed kisses over her face. "God, I want you," he rasped, stroking the curve of her waist and hip. "Two months is way too long to do without you."
"Agreed." She freed one leg to wrap it around his thigh, pressing into him and finding him hard. He kissed her deep and hard until her body quivered.
With a groan, he lifted his head and glanced toward the crowded pier. "I really think it's past time we go someplace private."
Nodding, she let him pull her to her feet. She started to brush the sand from her body, but he grabbed her hand and took off at a fast walk. They headed for the jogging trail, their steps quickening as they turned onto the smaller trail that led up the hill to his house. By the time they reached the porch, they were running.
He pulled her to him, kissing her as he opened the door, skillfully playing her mouth. With one arm about her waist he lifted her as he stepped inside, then turned and pressed her against the door, closing it. He stared at her, his eyes intense. "I have some things I need to tell you, but first ---" He unzipped the wet suit. "I want you naked."
"Adrian!" She laughed at his eagerness.
"Right here. Right now." Taking hold of the wet suit, he started working it down her arms.
"Wait." She dropped back against the door to see his face. "What happened to patience and anticipation?"
His heated gaze fell to her breasts as they sprang free. "Sometimes fast is fun, too."
The suit trapped her arms, giving him free rein to cup her breasts. Her nipples hardened against his palms and a moan escaped as her head arched back. "Oh yes, fast definitely ... works for me."
His mouth closed over one nipple as he peeled the wet suit away. She wiggled, helping him as she pulled his shirt free and over his head. He kicked out of his shoes and stripped off his pants.
"Bedroom," she gasped.
"Too far." He pinned her back against the door, his hands running over her body. Thankfully, he didn't need to stop for a condom, since they'd covered that issue over the phone. The thought of having him naked inside her for the first time made her tremble even more.
She wrapped her arms around his neck as he hoisted her up and her legs went around his hips. He pressed his hard, bare length against her heat, rubbing back and forth.
"Oh yes. Please," she gasped.
"Mmm, one of my favorite words." He kissed her neck as he teased her with his body, rubbing against her, driving her mad. "First, say you want me."
"Of course I want you. Now, please, now." Her eyes squeezed shut as she lifted herself, trying to take him inside.
"Say you love me."
"I love you," she echoed mindlessly, willing to say anything. He plunged, driving deep, and hit some magical spot that made stars explode. With a gasp, her eyes flew open. "Oh, God, yes. Right there."
He drew back and plunged again and again, with dead-on accuracy, until she shattered apart with only his arms holding her together. He thrust once more and held, his big, muscular body shuddering with the force of his own climax.
His grip loosened, and she instantly tightened her arms and legs, afraid she'd drop to the floor. But then he had her again, cradled against his chest as he carried her. Before the stars had cleared from her head, he'd pulled the covers back and lowered her to his bed. He settled beside her, gathering her in his arms.
Oh yes, she remembered as he nuzzled her neck, the cuddling part. A smile curved her lips as she tried to decide which she liked better, explosive orgasms or snuggling afterward.
One of his hands smoothed down her side, cherishing her with tender affection.
A tie, she decided. A definite tie.
He lifted his head, his gaze caressing her face as if memorizing every detail. She blushed, imagining how she must look, like a cat who'd just finished a whole bowl of cream.
He smiled back, looking equally content, and mumbled something in a lazy voice.
"What did you say?" she asked, drifting.
"Marr
y me."
Chapter 24
His heart in his throat, Adrian watched for Jackie's reaction. This, he realized, was far worse than all the other uncertainties combined. For several long seconds, she just kept smiling as if floating in a dream. Then her eyes went wide.
"What!"
"Marry me."
She scrambled out from under him and pressed her back against the headboard. "Ohmygod! I can't believe you said that. What do you mean, marry you?"
Okay, maybe he could have timed this better, but he was committed now. "You know, exchange rings, take vows, grow old together. Marriage. It's not a new concept."
"I know what it is, but you don't spring something like that on a person without warning."
"Jackie," he said slowly, since she looked ready to crawl up the wall to get away from him. "This can't be that big a surprise. I've been chasing after you for eight months."
"I thought you wanted sex."
"Of course I wanted sex. But that's not all I want. Come on, didn't the fact that I call you ten times a day clue you in to something? Do you have any idea what my phone bill has been like since I met you?"
"You want to marry me to save money on your phone bill?"
He gave her a don't-be-stupid look. "That and the fact that I love you."
The air left her lungs in a rush. "Whoa." She looked around, swallowing hard. "I think ... I'm going to be sick."
She sprang from the bed and raced for the bathroom.
Alarmed, he went after her, but she slammed the door in his face. He stared at the panel, taken aback. Of all the reactions he'd imagined, having her throw up wasn't even on the list. Instinct told him to ignore the closed door and go help her, but he knew she wouldn't want him to see her bent over a toilet.
A minute later, he heard the commode flush and cracked the door to peek inside. He found her sitting on the floor, her head back against the wall, her eyes closed. Getting a washcloth, he wet it and took it to her.
"You know," he said, sitting on the edge of the tub, "you do wonders for my ego."
"Your ego is just fine." She hiccuped, and pressed the washcloth to her mouth. A rush of tears filled her eyes. "No one's ever said that to me before."
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