A Touch of Persuasion

by Janice Maynard

  Kendra nodded. “Yes, he was,” she murmured, thinking of how happy her father had been when she’d decided to become an optometrist.

  “And I’m very proud of you, too, Kendra.” Slate’s words reined Kendra’s thoughts back in, and her focus was completely reclaimed by him.

  “Thanks, Slate, and I’m proud of you, as well. I understand your internet sales business is doing very well. I always knew that you would be successful one day.”

  A jolt of grief went through her upon remembering that she’d always assumed that she would be at his side when that success came. During those summers she had often dreamed about him moving permanently to Fernandina Beach, building websites and computer databases while he waited for her to complete college. Then the two of them would marry and build a huge oceanfront home—their dream home—on the land his parents had left him, and live happily ever after.

  So much for dreams, she thought. This was the real world, and in the real world dreams didn’t come true.

  “Well, I have to finish my jog so I can open the office on time,” she said, feeling the need to move on and not let her thoughts dwell on what would never be. “Goodbye, Slate.”

  She took off running and refused to look back.

  Slate stood rooted in place as he watched Kendra take off. His piercing dark eyes remained on her until she was no longer in sight. It was only then that he gave himself a hard mental shake. Kendra was determined not to give him any slack, but he refused to let her keep him at bay. She was saying one thing but her body was saying another, and for the time being he decided to go with her body language rather than her words.

  A determined smile tilted the corners of his mouth as he began jogging again. No matter what, he intended to break down any walls she erected between them. If she thought she could avoid him while he was in town she was wrong. He was determined to do whatever it took to get her back, and if he had to conquer her body before he could work his way to her mind, then so be it.

  Seven

  “Why didn’t you tell me that Slate Landis was back in town?”

  Kendra lifted her head from eating her salad and looked across the table at her best friend, Cheryl Wilkins-Huffman. The two of them had been best friends for as long as she could remember, and for years they had shared everything. Kendra was the first to know when Cheryl had fallen in love with Carl Huffman at sixteen, and was godmother to their two-year-old daughter, Carly.

  “The reason I didn’t tell you is that I just found out myself this morning.” After taking a sip of iced tea she added, “Besides, I should be asking you the same question since he’s living at your grandmother’s place.”

  Cheryl bunched her eyebrows. “The resort?”

  “No, the beach house.”

  Cheryl’s face broke into a grin. “No wonder Grandma was acting so secretive a few days ago when I dropped Carly off. Evidently Slate told her not to say anything. I guess he wanted to surprise you.”

  “Well, he certainly did that. I saw him while I was out jogging this morning. At first I thought I was seeing things. He was the last person I expected to run into.”

  Cheryl nodded. “Carl is the one who told me. They ran into each other yesterday at Milner’s Grocery.”

  Kendra took another sip of her tea. “Well, just about everyone has made a point of telling me today just in case I didn’t know. I had at least four drop-ins at the shop this morning, people who suddenly needed their eyes tested, bearing news that Slate was back in town.”

  Cheryl chuckled. “People were counting on a wedding between you two. Your and Slate’s love life held everyone’s interest back then.”

  Kendra shook her head, remembering. “And if you ask me, they’re too interested in it now, although Slate and I don’t have a love life.”

  “Did he say why he came back after all this time?”

  Kendra sighed deeply as she spread more dressing on her salad. “He claims he wants my forgiveness for the way he left.”

  “Will you forgive him?”

  Kendra picked up her fork. “Cheryl, I understood why he left, so there’s no forgiveness needed for that. What I couldn’t accept then, and still can’t accept now, is the fact that not once did he call me in seven years.”

  Cheryl nodded. “He talked to Carl, and from what Carl said Slate had a rough time dealing with Susan Conrad’s death all those years.”

  Kendra shook her head. “But still, he could have called or something. I think I deserved that much since he claimed to have loved me.”

  Cheryl met Kendra’s gaze. “Have you given thought to what his return could mean?”

  Kendra raised an eyebrow. “And just what do you think it could mean?”

  “The two of you burying the past and getting on with your lives.”

  Eight

  “I understand that Landis boy is back in town.”

  Kendra couldn’t help but smile as she adjusted the optometric equipment to put it in place. The person she had seen on the beach that morning was definitely not a boy. No boy had a body quite like that. “Yes, Ms. Martha, that’s what I hear, too.”

  “You haven’t seen him yet?”

  Kendra decided to tell the truth. In this town a lie could come back to haunt you. “Yes, ma’am. I ran into him this morning while jogging.”

  “And?”

  Kendra shook her head. At eighty years old the woman was still sharp as a tack and still kept her mind on everyone’s business. “And it was good seeing him again.”

  Martha Bolden frowned. “That’s all you have to say, young lady?”

  Kendra adjusted the lighting overhead to have a clear view of Mrs. Bolden’s shrewd eyes. “Yes, ma’am, other than to say your eyesight looks just as good as it did last week when you came in for your annual eye exam.”

  The older woman had the decency to smile. “Well, at my age you can’t be too careful when it comes to your sight.”

  Yeah, especially if you think you need to start seeing something, Kendra thought as she shut down her equipment. She glanced over at the clock. She had an hour left before closing time. After Martha Bolden left, Kendra went back into her office to make notations in several of her patients’ charts. Unless she had another walk-in she was through for the day.

  She couldn’t help but remember her conversation with Cheryl at lunch and the comment her friend had made about her and Slate getting back together. At the moment she was trying not to feel anything for him, although her mouth was still tingling from the effects of his kiss. She leaned back in her chair and remembered how Slate had kissed her as though there had not been seven years of separation between them, and how easily her body had responded.

  The tinkling sound of the bell over the front door rang out through the office and caught her attention. The young woman she’d hired over a year ago as her assistant had left after Kendra’s last scheduled patient. Walking out of her office, Kendra stopped dead in her tracks when she saw who her unscheduled patient was.

  Slate Landis.

  She swallowed as their eyes met. He stood in front of her display window; in the ray of sunshine that illuminated his features, as well as his physique in the tank top and cut-off jean shorts he wore, he looked totally stunning.

  An awkward silence hung over the room while she tried to regain her composure. She cleared her throat. “Slate, what are you doing here?”

  He stepped away from the window and gave her a warm, cheerful smile. “I’m here for an eye exam.”

  Nine

  Kendra’s face tilted into a frown. Not for one minute did she believe Slate needed his eyes examined, especially considering the way those eyes had checked her out this morning and were doing likewise now. She leveled her gaze on him. “And when was the last time you had an eye exam?”

  He shrugged. “I can’t rightly recall at the moment. Probably not since the last time your father gave me one.”

  Kendra sighed. “All right, then, follow me.”

  He gave her a huge smi
le. “Sure thing.”

  When they reached her office she closed the door behind them. “Please sit in that chair while I locate your chart. Do you know if glaucoma ran in your family?” When he sat down Kendra couldn’t help but notice how well his solid frame fit the sturdy chair.

  “As far as I know, it didn’t.”

  She nodded as she pulled his chart out of the cabinet. “All right, but I think I’ll give you a glaucoma test, as well.”

  “Whatever you think is best.”

  She raised an eyebrow. What she didn’t think was best at the moment was the two of them alone in her office. “Just sit back and relax for a moment while I get the equipment in place.”

  “All right.”

  Kendra leaned close to him to bring the slit lamp near his face. Her head began swimming when she took a sniff of his aftershave. It was such a masculine fragrance. Already her body was responding to his smell, his proximity.

  “Rest your chin here and please read the line farthest to the bottom that you can.”

  “All right. I believe I can read the letters on the very last line.”

  “Okay then go for it, left to right.”

  “Well now, there’s an E for ecstasy, an S for sex, a P for passion, an O for org—”

  “Just saying the letter will do.”

  “If you prefer.”

  “I do.”

  “Okay. The remaining letters are T and F.” He smiled. “I had good words lined up for them.”

  She shook her head, grinning. “Yes, I bet you did.” She pulled the optical machine away from his face and jotted some notes in his chart.

  “So what do you think?” he asked.

  She thought that if she didn’t get him out of her office, and soon, she would lose her ability to think, at least rationally. She was trying to remain professional but he was making it downright difficult.

  “I’ll let you know after your glaucoma screening,” she said, setting up the tonometer.

  The procedure was over in a few minutes. “You have twenty-twenty vision, which is surprising considering the type of work you do. You evidently monitor the amount of time you spend in front of your computer screen, which is a very smart thing to do.”

  He nodded then stood. “Is the exam over?”

  “Yes.”

  “Am I your last patient for today?”

  She raised an eyebrow before answering. “Yes, why?”

  “Because of this.”

  And for the second time that day she found herself being pulled into his arms.

  Ten

  For the second time that day she didn’t resist him. With smooth precision he had pulled her into his arms and took her mouth with the ease and experience of a man who knew what he wanted and what it took to get it.

  Kendra was helpless to do anything but follow his lead, especially when her body was rejoicing at being held so tight to a man it had an affinity with, and when she felt his firm erection touch her belly she opened her mouth fully under his.

  He thoroughly explored her mouth with his tongue, making her weak with desire and her body consumed with need. She felt his hands touch her backside, bringing her even closer to him. She began giving him bold strokes of her own.

  Passion, the likes of which she hadn’t felt in over seven years, took over, sending her mind reeling and her body burning. His kiss was filling an empty space that had been hollow since he’d left. And now her body was saying just what it wanted and whom it wanted it from. When one of his hands left her bottom to cup her breast, teasing the tip with his thumb, she moaned deep within her throat. She remembered the first time he had touched her this way and how the feel of his hands on her breasts had heightened every nerve in her body—just like it was doing now.

  The blasting sound from a car horn drew them apart and for endless moments they just stared at each other, trying to get their breathing under control.

  Finally, Kendra spoke. “You can’t just go around kissing me whenever you feel like it, Slate.”

  To prove he disagreed, he leaned over and kissed the tip of her nose and instinctively her body moved closer to his. “I can’t?”

  “No, you can’t,” she whispered softly, yet at the same time tilted her mouth up to his for another kiss.

  He greedily obliged her, and she shivered from the onslaught of his mouth again. Reaching out, she captured the hard muscles of his shoulders beneath her fingers and reveled in the feel of his mouth working magic on hers. She had to be stronger the next time, her mind reasoned, but right now she needed this. She wanted this. A part of her had forgotten the pleasure a woman could find in a man’s arms. Especially when those arms belonged to Slate Landis.

  Moments later, he slowly pulled back his mouth and met her gaze. “Have dinner with me tonight, Kendra,” he said in a low, husky voice.

  It was on the tip of Kendra’s tongue to deny his request. She suddenly felt the need to get herself together before she did anything else with him she might be sorry for later. But when he began placing butterfly kisses around her mouth, she lost the fight to resist.

  “Yes, I’ll have dinner with you.”

  Eleven

  “If you’re so against going out with Slate tonight, Kendra, then why did you agree to do it?”

  Kendra turned away from her mirror, met Cheryl’s gaze and frowned when she thought about the kisses she and Slate had shared that afternoon in her office. “Let’s just say he caught me at a weak moment.”

  Cheryl chuckled. “Yeah, I can just imagine how he did it, too, since I know just how ripe you are for the picking.”

  Kendra placed her hands on her hips. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Just what I said. As your best friend I know what you’ve been getting and what you haven’t been getting, and the one thing you haven’t gotten in over seven years is laid.” Cheryl arched a dark, slanted eyebrow. “Unless you’ve been holding back and not telling me everything.”

  Kendra’s frown deepened. “I’ve told you everything you needed to know. And you’re right, there hasn’t been anyone since Slate, which is why I’m so tense about our date tonight.” She dropped down on her bed. “I want him pretty damn bad.”

  “Then get him. Seven years is a long time to be deprived.”

  A groan rumbled deep within Kendra’s throat. “Yeah, tell me about it. But I can’t let Slate think he can waltz back into town after all this time and pick up where he left off.”

  “And I agree, but what’s wrong with letting him see firsthand what he’s been missing all those years? I say you should fight fire with fire. Turn the tables on Slate and have him at your mercy for the next week.”

  Kendra leaned back on the palms of her hands, tipped her head and met Cheryl’s gaze. “Are you suggesting that I engage in an affair with him?”

  Cheryl grinned. “Yes, an affair of the most passionate kind, and when the week is over, just walk away. It’s a fantastic idea unless…”

  Kendra frowned. “Unless what?”

  Cheryl regarded her speculatively. “Unless you’re afraid that you won’t be able to walk away because a part of you still loves him.”

  Cheryl’s words struck deep, and Kendra swallowed as she felt a tight knot in her throat. “I’m not in love with Slate.”

  “Then you don’t have a thing to worry about, but as your best friend I suggest that you make certain of your feelings. You and Slate had a very special relationship and although you haven’t mentioned him much over the years, I’d always felt the reason you never allowed yourself to get involved with another man was because you still loved him.”

  Kendra lifted her chin. “If you thought that then you were wrong.”

  Cheryl nodded. “If you’re sure, then there’s nothing for you to worry about. You’ll get the sexual fulfillment you need and still walk away with your heart intact.”

  Kendra liked the thought of that, and the corners of her mouth tilted into a beguiling smile. “I can handle that. Let the fun b
egin.”

  Twelve

  Slate knew he was in deep trouble the moment Kendra opened her door. His gaze took in the outfit she’d chosen to wear. It was a black, clingy number that flaunted everything it was supposed to conceal. The way the dress fit her body reminded him of just how enticing all of her body parts were, covered or uncovered. The dress ended way above her knees with slits on both sides showing long, gorgeous legs. He swallowed deeply. There was no doubt that tonight would be one he’d remember for a long time.

  “Come in, Slate. I just need to grab my purse,” Kendra said, reminding him that he was there for some reason other than to stand in her doorway and ogle her.

  “Yeah, sure,” he said, stepping inside then watching as she disappeared into the back. He wiped the sweat from his brow with his hand. Things were heating up already. He glanced up when she reentered the room.

  “I’m ready,” she said, placing the strap of her purse on her shoulder. “And you never did say where we were going.”

  He gazed into her dark eyes and responded. “I thought it would be nice if we drove to Jacksonville. I heard there’s a nice seafood restaurant on the Intercoastal Waterway there. And I know how much you like seafood.”

  Kendra’s smile widened. She was glad he’d decided not to take her to any place local. The town was already buzzing about them.

  “Sounds great, but first I think we should get this out of the way,” she said taking a step closer and wrapping her arms around his neck. “Since our day started out this way we may as well stay on a roll, don’t you think?” she whispered silkily before joining her mouth to his.

  She wanted to show him that he could get just as good as he gave. Closing her eyes, she settled her body against his, immediately feeling him get hard against her. When he opened his mouth beneath hers she slipped her tongue inside and decided to play “catch me if you can.”