by Dianne Drake
But not any more. Sarah Collins, retired doctor, forced herself to stay uninvolved.
“I don’t believe that,” he said. “I was there this afternoon. Remember? I saw you under the bus, saw the way you held onto that child and protected him. Saw the way you wouldn’t leave him even when your own life might have been in danger. So you can tell me you’re uninvolved all you want, but those are words, Sarah, that I wouldn’t trust as far as I could throw them.”
“Why does it matter to you?” she snapped, as she started to scoot around to the other side of the booth. It was time to leave. Time to retire to her cabin and figure out what she was going to do. Stay, or leave the ship? Michael was becoming too personal, and if she wasn’t careful, she’d get personal right back at him. She was seriously considering it. He was more tempting than anything in a long, long time and that’s what scared her, because part of her really wanted to give in to the temptation. A big part of her did, anyway. “Why do you even care what I do, or how I feel? If I say that I’m not involved with Delroy, who are you to question me…no, accuse me of lying about it?”
Michael grabbed her by the arm before she could scoot to the other side of the circular booth. “I’m not sure who I am, Sarah. Not sure why I care. But I do.”
She wrenched free. “Well, don’t. People who care for me end up…” She didn’t finish her sentence. Instead, she got up and walked away. Just like she always did now.
CHAPTER FIVE
SARAH stared up at the row of coconut palms on the hill above the fruit plantation. She was totally isolated from the other cruise passengers who’d come ashore here in Jamaica. That was by design, of course. While people were running off to go rafting and bird watching, she’d decided to wander off on her own and stay away from the main flurry. Theirs wasn’t the only ship in dock at the moment, and there were tourists everywhere, but she never considered herself a true tourist, so traveling along the dusty roads by taxi to destinations no one else cared to see suited her just fine.
The ship would be there for twelve hours to give its passengers an opportunity to experience Montego Bay both during the day and at night, when it came alive in ways only Jamaica could come alive. But by the time evening rolled around she intended to be back on ship and, truth be told, the only reason she’d come ashore had been that twelve hours in dock seemed like such a long time. She wanted to avoid Michael, and that would be hard to do on a practically empty ship, as they kept bumping into each other on a full ship.
The ride was jarring as there were giant potholes in the road, but Sarah barely noticed as her attention wasn’t on where she was going. The taxi driver, a friendly man named Frank, was trying frantically to engage her in some way, talking incessantly about the countryside as they bumped their way from place to place, and she responded politely in the places that called for a response, although she just wasn’t in the mood. So after two long hours of a tour she wasn’t interested in, she asked Frank to drive her back to the ship, where she paid him a generous tip and went back to her cabin.
What was the nature of her latest discontent? The list was getting longer, she feared, and Michael had taken his place on it. Maybe at the top of it.
Two hours after her return to the ship, two hours of fretting and pacing the confined space of her cabin, always on the verge of a panic attack, Sarah decided to go out in search of a bite to eat. Something, anything, to get her out of that cramped space. Her first thought was the karaoke bar. Michael would be on duty so she wouldn’t bump into him there, and at this late hour of the afternoon no one would be singing. So it would be a perfect place to be alone. Yes, perfect, she thought as she hurried down the corridor to the elevator.
After she punched the button, she stared at the floor, folded her arms across her chest and waited several seconds, until the doors parted. When she looked up, Michael standing in the center of the elevator, grinning at her. “Margueritaville,” he said. One simple word and nothing else.
“Isn’t Margaritaville a song?”
“It is, but I said Mar-guer-itaville, not Mar-gar-itaville.” He gestured her into the elevator, but she stepped backwards as the doors started to close. Undaunted, he punched the “open” button, then wedged himself against the right door so it wouldn’t close again. “I heard you’d come back early.”
“I saw everything I wanted to see,” she said. Everything she could see, with her thoughts so scattered. She was restless, and the reason was standing directly in front of her, looking so handsome she wanted to melt into his arms like she had that first day, only this time doing it on purpose. “One place is pretty much like another, and I did exactly what I wanted to do.”
“Well, you ought to take a look at your face because, judging from the expression there, you haven’t done anything you wanted to do in a long time.”
“Why me, Michael? Why do you keep coming after me?”
As the elevator alarm started to sound, he stepped off. “I’m not coming after you, Sarah. But it’s a pity that you isolate yourself so much you can’t accept a simple gesture of friendship when it’s offered.”
“Is that what this is? A simple gesture of friendship? Because you’ve got hundreds of other people on the cruise who are probably clamoring to be your friend, and I’m the one who’s not. Yet here you are, forcing something on me that I simply don’t want.”
Rather than being put off by that, as she’d expected he would be, he stepped even closer to her. So close she could smell the slight muskiness of his aftershave. “Your shell isn’t as hard as you think it is, Sarah. I’m a student of human nature, and as you’re saying one thing, your eyes are saying something entirely different.”
She snapped her head up, glaring at him. “So, what is it you want from me, Michael? Sex? Is that what this is about? I’m the lady you’ve chosen to fulfill your needs on this particular cruise? Or maybe I’m the challenge you’ve picked to conquer? Are you taking bets on the outcome? Because if that’s the case, how about we go back to my cabin, then you can strip me, throw me down on the bed and do whatever you want to satisfy that urge, or win that bet, and we can move on from there? You can go find your next conquest and I can do what I came on this cruise to do.”
Anger sparked in Michael’s dark eyes, but just for a second before his usual genial expression returned. “Apparently, I have a higher opinion of you than you have of yourself. Which is a pity, Sarah, because it’s got to be miserable living the way you do, always pushing people away. Especially since that’s going against your true nature.”
She straightened her shoulders, still trying to hang onto her defiance, even though it was beginning to slip away. “You don’t know a thing about my true nature.”
“I know you’ve called to check on Delroy several times. That tells me something about you.”
“You don’t think I have the right to be concerned?” she snapped.
“The Sarah you’re trying to be wouldn’t be concerned. The Sarah I think you are would be. So you tell me, am I close to your true nature?”
This was crazy! She didn’t have to argue with him. Didn’t even have to speak to him, yet here she was, standing in a deserted corridor, pulse rate rising, breath coming shorter and shorter, nipples probably hardening, all because Michael made her respond in ways she’d thought dead a long time ago. She hadn’t been with a man since Cameron, hadn’t dated, hadn’t kissed, hadn’t even been alone with a man, and she did recognize her starving biological urges. Especially in her crazy responses to Michael. But that’s all they were. Urges. She could control them.
She hoped.
“My true nature, Michael, is what I want it to be. It’s whatever suits me at the moment.”
A wicked little grin played across his face, on his lips, in his eyes. “So when you invited me to your cabin to let me throw you down on the bed and strip you naked, was that your true nature? At least, true for that moment?”
“You’d be disappointed in my true nature,” she said flatly, tryi
ng to avoid the way he was baiting her now. It wasn’t a sexual thing, but he was trying to goad her into something, and she didn’t want to be goaded.
“I hardly think so, Sarah. But that’s not why I came looking for you.”
So this really wasn’t an accidental encounter. Her heart did skip a beat knowing that, which was why she had to fight even harder now to keep herself under control. “Whatever it is, you shouldn’t have,” she said stiffly. “And just so you’ll know, I don’t date, don’t get involved with men—”
“You think that’s not obvious?” He chuckled. “You wear it like a banner. It’s on your face, in the way you hold your body, the way you pull back even from people passing by you who are paying no attention to you whatsoever. Look, Sarah, I can respect the distance you want. I don’t know what caused it and I’m not going to ask because I do believe that people have the right to be the way they want to be.”
“And in your opinion, I’m being miserable. Is that it?” she snapped.
“Are you?” Before she could respond to that, he thrust out his hand to stop her. “No, don’t answer that. It’s none of my business.”
She studied him for a moment, not sure what to make of this little quibble between them. It wasn’t so much that they were arguing as establishing their ground rules. But for what? And for some reason, she didn’t believe the boundaries being imposed were all about her. Michael kept his distance, too. His boundaries were as obvious to her as hers were to him. Which made this safe. So, maybe that was good. She liked him, and at another time in her life would probably have gotten involved with him.
For now, though, two people with strong boundaries worked. It broke up the monotony in her life, gave her that medical connection she still hungered for, and there was the added bonus of his company. She enjoyed it. Sexual attraction had definitely been in short supply in her life lately, and she did recognize it for what it was.
In other words, this alliance was safe, and safety was all she really wanted. “Tell me again why you came looking for me?”
“Margueritaville,” he stated, like he had the first time. “I thought you might like to go there with me.”
“Aren’t you working?”
“I’m off duty for the next eight hours, and there’s this nice cantina I try to get to here whenever I have the time. Good food, great music. And just so you won’t consider this a date, I’ll be going there even if you don’t.” A wide grin spread across his face. “And we’ll take separate taxis, if that appeases your need to keep this casual.”
How could any one man be so infuriating in one breath and so absolutely irresistible in the next? Even though she’d never heard of the place, all she wanted to do now was go to Margueritaville with Michael. In fact, she wanted it so badly it was like this was the only thing she’d ever wanted to do. “How about we take one taxi, and split the fare?”
“If you pay the taxi driver’s tip,” he said, still grinning, but more with his eyes now. Which caused goose-bumps to go wild up and down her arms.
“Both ways?” she asked, trying to keep a straight face, because his smile bought out a smile in her. “Because that doesn’t seem fair to me.”
“Sounds like we’ve got something to argue about in the taxi, doesn’t it?” he said, then spun around and punched the elevator button. “I’ll meet you on the dock in fifteen minutes.” There were no gallantries after that. Michael merely stepped into the elevator and engaged himself in chat with a young couple who were clinging to each other so tightly it made Sarah think they might be honeymooners. He didn’t look at her as the doors started to close, didn’t acknowledge her in any way. Professional demeanor, she thought as she stood there, watching him, even doing some bold-faced admiring that he could see if he looked at her. Then, in the very last instant before the doors came together. Did he actually wink at her?
Margueritaville turned out to be a pleasant town sitting right on the coastline. It was nearly dark when they arrived, but lights twinkled from every window along the street they traveled, giving the place a nice, welcoming feeling. It was congested, though, with tourists making their way down the coast to see the little town with the name that so closely resembled the popular song. “So which came first,” she asked Michael, “the town, or the song?”
“The town, by a long stretch, and they’re enjoying the popularity of their name now.”
“How did you find it? By the name, like everybody else does?”
Michael leaned forward on the seat and gave the taxi driver instructions to turn at the next corner. They did, straight into a dark little alley. “Marguerite is my mother’s name. I saw it on the map first time I came down here, and when I had the chance, I came here to have a look.”
Halfway down the alley, Michael tapped the driver on the shoulder, and the cab came to a stop under a single light jutting out from the wooden building. True to their agreement, he paid his half of the fare, then jumped out of the cab, leaving Sarah to pay her half, as well as the driver’s tip. Although, in his defense, he did go around and open the taxi door for her. But rather than offering her a hand as she climbed out, he stood back. More distance, she thought, and she wondered if that was on account of her wish to keep up the boundaries or his.
“Why are we going in the back way?” she asked, following him to the door.
“Less crowded.”
“Like your booth in the karaoke bar?”
“You mean the booth you choose for yourself when you can beat me to it?”
He held the door open for her as she passed by him. Once inside, she ran straight into the wall, it was so dark in the corridor. “Don’t they use lights in here?” she asked, backing away from the wall and thrusting out her hand to locate where she was and which way to go. But what she encountered, rather than another wall or obstacle, was Michael’s chest. Strong, muscular, her palm flat on his chest, she drew in a ragged breath, but didn’t remove her hand. Instead, she kept it there as his chest rose and fell with a breath. Then another breath. Then another.
Finally, she pulled back, but before she could pull back from him more than an inch or two he took hold of her wrist, and she was overcome with a rush of sexual twinges like she’d never felt in her life. Not with anybody.
All from an innocent touch in the dark!
Yet she made no move to pull away from him. Instead, she fought to keep her breathing steady as he pressed his way past her in the tight little hallway, pushing her back against the wall for that instant as their bodies met. And in that moment crazy, aroused thoughts ran through her mind… She wanted to, right there, like she’d never wanted to with any man in her life. Wanted to even more when she felt his hand skim up over her ribs and slide its way under the knit top she was wearing—the one Clarice had given her that she’d vowed never to wear again.
Sarah bit her lip to keep from sucking in a sharp, loud breath because she feared the least little sound would break this spell, and she didn’t want it broken. Barriers were down, and she didn’t know for how long. And while they were down she wanted everything from Michael that she could have.
Tilting her head to the side, she felt the nuzzle of his lips just at that tender spot where her neck and shoulder connected, and the liquid heat from something so simple melted down through to her very core, arousing her to the point that she pressed her hips against his, and felt his erection hard against her. She gasped, in spite of her resolve to be quiet, and that only intensified the pressure on her as he ground into her even harder.
Sarah was ready for him, in this dark little nook, even as her eyes were adjusting and she could see the outline of his body so close to her, pushing harder in such intimate ways. The feel of his fingers pushing away her bra to find her nipple, the feel of his lips on her jaw…
Somewhere in the distance the sound of shattering glass broke the mood, and Michael backed away from Sarah as quickly as Sarah adjusted her disheveled clothing. “Sounds like a tray of bar glasses,” Michael said roughly, then
cleared his throat. “Bet somebody’s going to pay for that.”
The liquid heat still flowing everywhere—through her breasts, between her legs, Sarah was able to answer only with a nod and something that amounted to a squeak. This was…incredible. Incredible and stupid! She was about to do, well…anything, everything, with Michael in the back hallway to a bar. That wasn’t like her. She’d never been wild like that. Never been driven to the point of such extreme desire that it would compel her to do such an impulsive, crazy thing. Worst of all, the heat wasn’t going away fast enough. She still wanted Michael. “Do they have tables here?” she asked, finally finding her voice. “Because I need a margarita in a big way. Two of them!”
Michael chuckled. “Can you imagine what would have happened if we didn’t have boundaries?”
“I understand hormones and lust,” she said stiffly.
“If that’s what you want to call it.” He took hold of her hand once more, but this time pulled her along the corridor until they entered the kitchen, where he greeted the cook, a man named Emilio, an assistant cook called Juan, and a large woman—not large in weight so much as stature—all decked out in multicolored scarves and large, jingling gold hoop earrings and bracelets. The woman had dark, smooth skin and bright eyes.
“I wondered when you’d be getting ’round to see me, man,” she said to Michael. “I knew da boat was in, but I’ve been waiting all day to see the doc, and I was gettin’ disappointed he wasn’t comin’.”
Michael dropped Sarah’s hand and rushed over to give Evangeline, the proprietor of Evangeline’s, a big hug. “Do you think I’d miss the chance for some of your jerk chicken?”