Every instinct he’d honed in the business world told him she was hiding something, but he had promised to help and he didn’t believe in welching on a deal. It didn’t hurt that it would mean spending more time with a woman who made his libido flare to life with nothing more than a glance. Maybe she really wasn’t upset about his true identity.
Then again, maybe he should cut her a check and hunt down a party planner on the ship or something. That way he could walk away with the good deed and his pride intact.
“Depends. What should I be occupied with in the evening?”
“Oh I don’t know.” She sidled up close, her skin radiating heat, warming him, and slid her sunglasses down to perch on her nose. “We could discuss that lease option.”
He frowned against the sunlight reflecting off her lenses. She might be flirting with him—even acting like she was open to a longer-term entanglement than just last night—but he wasn’t buying any of it.
She had an agenda. And damn if he could resist finding out what it was. A week. That wasn’t long-term enough to be dangerous, and it should be more than enough to satisfy his curiosity. “Then lead on and tell me where to sign.”
…
Mercedes managed to make it to the elevator with her shoulders thrown back and her head held high. She could do this. Really. She had to. Too bad even their brief flirty conversation was one big reminder that, up until she’d found out who he was, she’d enjoyed herself. A lot. More than she had in years. Even though she’d known it wouldn’t last, she’d let herself feel something for Lucas Bellamy.
And now she couldn’t seem to stop. Standing in front of him with the drink, visions of his bare chest flitted in her mind—leading directly to images of biting him, scratching her fingernails down his back, and wrapping her legs around his waist as he thrust into her.
Never mind the memories about their conversations in the Jacuzzi and between bouts of sex. Or the reminders of how easy it had been to talk to him about her hopes for the future. Easy enough that, given time, she might have been willing to talk about real things—things like her past and all the messes that made her who she was today.
About what happened to Marco at the park…
Eva’s plan involved a whole lot of keeping the enemy close but, with the way she’d wanted to touch him at the pool, she couldn’t help but think she might get too close. There was something about Lucas she found almost irresistible. Maybe she’d have been better off just walking away, but as much as she’d turned it over in her head, she hadn’t come up with an alternative to the plan-of-craziness. And that plan meant being a flirt and being the woman he met yesterday—the one who could barely keep her hands off him. She was doing it for the kids. As long as she kept that in mind, she should be able to keep her distance a little.
Lucas eased into the elevator before the doors slid shut. Close. So close. And damn it if she didn’t want the same thing she had last night—for him to shove her against the wall and make her come before they got to their floor. Instead he once again punched the button for deck twelve.
“Dazzles is on eight and nine. What are you doing?” She edged away from him in the elevator. No matter what else, she would not put her hands on him like she’d been thinking about. Distance was good. Smarter.
Too bad he rested an arm against the glass next to her head and leaned toward her. “Maybe you’re fine with wandering the ship in your bikini, but I want to put on real clothes. Especially for a business meeting. Don’t worry; I can play by your rules. The invitation to return to my lair isn’t valid until after dinner.”
“You can invite me any time you like, Mr. Bellamy. Just realize I might not say yes if I’m working. The kids come first; I have a playground to build.” He didn’t even flinch as she said his name. Even at the pool, his reaction was so minimal she couldn’t be sure she’d really seen anything. Had she just imagined him keeping it a secret? This close to him though—remembering the way his hands felt on her skin—she wasn’t sure she’d be able to say no to any invitation he offered.
The elevator doors opened and he stepped out ahead of her, bracing the door with a hand while she exited. “Of course. I’m actually a pretty smart guy, so I’d like to think I’ve learned my lesson where you’re concerned. The kids will always come first.”
At least until her libido was screaming so loudly she couldn’t think anymore.
What was she supposed to do? Lure him to fall in love through sex? This was already going pear-shaped and she hadn’t even made it through the first couple hours. She stopped at her door, fishing the key card from her bag. “Then I suppose we have an understanding.”
Lucas rested an arm against the wall, boxing her in with his body as he leaned in close. “I’m not sure we do, but let me make it very clear. You have my mind and body during the day to do with as you please for your fund-raiser. After dinner, I want to have yours, and I’m planning to lay you out on my dining table and feast on you. Do we have an understanding now?”
Swallowing hard, Mercedes nodded. “Plans are lovely. We’ll see what happens.” With the way heat was pooling between her legs, if she said or did anything else, she’d end up yanking him into her room, and her goal of saving the project would be all but forgotten. Above everything else, that wasn’t an option.
She was clearly in over her head. How was she supposed to make him fall in love if she couldn’t resist his advances? Worse, if she didn’t want to? Time for another emergency call to Eva.
Mercedes was certain Eva and her friends would have some fancy term for the power play she and Lucas were engaged in, but that didn’t matter. The only thing Mercedes needed to know was how the hell to stay on top of their cat-and-mouse game. If she didn’t, this would either blow up in her face or she’d end up drowning in him.
Chapter Six
Lucas strode through the doors to Dazzles and almost tripped over a woman in flowy chiffon and sparkly silver heels. “Excuse me.”
She beamed. “No excuses necessary. Welcome to the class.”
“Class?” He shot a glance at Mercedes, but she just shrugged, her hips swaying to the music coming from near the expansive windows overlooking the boardwalk.
“Rumba class. We’re just working on the basic rumba box. Judging by her feet, your friend should be able to get you caught up in no time.” She glanced toward the front of the dance floor. “Oh dear. Please excuse me. Brenda, no. The first step is slow…”
“Did you know about this?”
Mercedes sauntered over to him, every part of her body moving in time to the music. Damn. Was there anything she did that wasn’t sexy?
“No. This is where Captain Roberts said to have the fund-raiser and I legitimately thought checking it out was a good idea. The fact that there’s dancing and music is just a bonus in my world.”
Of course it was. He could have watched her forever but the next thing he knew, she was in front of him and placing his right hand on the curve of her hip. She clasped the left. “Put your feet next to mine and step with me.”
“That’s it?” he mocked.
“No, that’s how we’re going to catch you up to the others.” She started moving in a four-count pattern: one, hold two, three, four.
“We don’t have to do the lesson. It’s not what we’re here for.”
“No, but it would be rude to leave.”
Even as he mentally battled the wisdom of dancing with her, his body recognized the footwork as similar in motion to when Rosie had taught him the waltz box step. The timing was different, but the movements were the same. At the very least he wouldn’t make a fool of himself. He locked his frame, keeping his posture rigid as he tried to take over and lead her around the dance floor.
Mercedes stopped. “What are you doing? Robots don’t rumba. This is Latin dance, not some prim-and-proper debutante ball nonsense.” She grabbed both his hands and settled them firmly on her hips as she gripped his ass. “Again.”
Rather than him parading her
around the room, the dance became something else, something intimate. Their hips moved mere inches from each other, nothing but clothes and a wisp of air keeping it from being indecent. Mercedes moved their hands back into position, and he took the lead again, following the music and the motions his body wanted to make with hers. As the song ended, he swept her into a low dip, soaking up the smolder of her gaze hooded with a desire that mirrored his own. Screw working. The club was a club—and it was what they had available to them. They didn’t need to be here. He just wanted to make up for the time they lost this morning.
A smattering of applause erupted and the instructor stepped forward. “You’re a far better teacher than I’ll ever be, Ms.…”
The spell of the moment broken, Mercedes shook herself and stood, running her hands down her shorts. “Thank you, but he’s clearly already been trained. One more thing I didn’t know about him.” She winked at Lucas, but her entire body was trembling now.
“Well, we are having an advanced class tomorrow afternoon. Perhaps the two of you could join in to demonstrate. It’s much easier to teach when I have someone who picks things up as easily as you.”
Mercedes nodded as she rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “We’ll see. Thanks for letting us join in for the tail end of the class.” Ignoring Lucas’s outstretched hand, she trembled again and said to him, “Hopefully the AC won’t be an issue once the place is full, but I think we’ve seen more than enough of the club for now. I’ll slide a note under your door or something before dinner.”
A note? What were they? Twelve? He turned away from the dance instructor. “Or we could…”
But Mercedes was already disappearing out the door. So much for all work and no play. Time to trail his prey and see where she ran when she decided to flee.
…
Her hair pulled back in a high ponytail, Mercedes stood, eyeing the choice of activities. A little girl ran behind her and bumped her to the right, eliciting a laugh. Then Mercedes glanced at what the girl had pushed her toward and she swallowed hard. The rock wall. Maybe a little time spent facing her fear of heights would get her mind off Lucas and how they’d moved so well together on the dance floor.
And off.
Besides, she’d made a promise to Marco. When he’d seen the cruise brochure, he’d ooohed and ahhhed over the activities—until Mercedes mentioned her fear of heights.
“I used to be afraid of all sorts of stuff. Funny how walking on crutches for the rest of my life made those things less scary.” He’d tilted his head and narrowed glittering hazel eyes at her. “You said you wanted to get something for me on your trip? Get me every experience you can—especially the ones that scare you. I can’t do rock walls and stuff anymore. Do them for me.”
She’d promised and now she was regretting the words. Had it been any kid other than Marco…
The line was just long enough to allow fear-tinged sweat to start collecting. A couple minutes later, one of the crew had strapped her trembling body into a harness and slapped a helmet on her head.
“First timer?” he asked as he clipped the line to her waist.
“How can you tell?” Could it possibly be the way she was worrying at her thumbnail? Or had he felt her jackhammering pulse? The wall looked a lot higher standing right here, and it had looked plenty high from a distance. Why was she doing this again? Oh yeah. For Marco and to forget about how close she’d come to kissing Lucas after their rumba. Dance of love. What a brilliant plan that had been.
And now she was staring down a rock wall as an alternative to Lucas Bellamy. Eva’s advice to find a distraction sucked. She was going to have a heart attack and fall right off the damn thing. What a way to go.
“Lucky guess.” The instructor chuckled. “Just remember, you’re attached to this line, and I won’t let you fall and plummet to some untimely death. That sort of thing really doesn’t look good on a résumé, you know?” Well, that was encouraging. Or at least she could pretend it was. Really, his words just made her want to run back to the pool. “Also, use your legs more than your arms or you’ll wear out really fast.”
“Thanks.” Looking up, Mercedes stepped toward the wall and tripped over her own feet. This was stupid. It was a damn man-made cliff-face with brightly colored holds and so much safety equipment kids were scrambling up the thing while their parents snapped pictures from behind the barricade. She shouldn’t be this nervous. She’d like to blame Lucas for the way her stomach lurched but she knew better. Her fear of heights came way before she’d ever heard of Bellamy Enterprises.
Which meant once she got started on the wall, it should keep her from thinking about him. Puffing her cheeks, she blew out a breath and grabbed the first set of handholds.
Do not look down. Just climb all the way to the top, ring that stupid, shiny bell, and then look at where you are. If you can make it up there, you can do anything.
She survived through ten sets of search, settle, push, repeat with the mantra playing in her head. Then the words failed her.
She pushed with her legs and reached a hold with her right hand. She felt the wall with her left, running her palm up and down in an anxious search for something to grab. There had to be a rock she could reach, didn’t there? She hung away from the wall enough to twist her head to the other side.
“Up two inches,” said a gruff voice she knew far too well.
Mercedes jerked back from Lucas’s voice and the motion made the left side of her body sway away from the wall. He snatched at her flailing arm, catching her wrist and drawing her directly to the faux-rock.
Dios. So much for forgetting about him for a few minutes. Not even abject terror could let her pretend he wasn’t right next to her. Had he followed her here or something?
Then she mistakenly took a glance down and her limbs started to shake. Bad enough how far away the deck was, but the ocean… She’d been basically seven or eight stories above the water when she started. Now? It sparkled and glittered, and she was certain she’d shatter like glass if she hit it from this height. She wanted down. Immediately.
“Hey.” Lucas’s voice yanked her from the panic, and she met his deep brown eyes, letting the calmness there soothe her. “I thought you were a badass from the city. You aren’t going to let a silly wall beat you, are you?”
He was taunting her? She’d climbed high enough that going down now wouldn’t be embarrassing. But he sounded determined to have her keep going. “Why…?” She didn’t even know how to finish the question.
His lips quirked into that smile she hated to love. “I plan to ring the bell at the top of my wall. And my gut tells me you don’t want me to beat you at anything.”
No, but… “Are you daring me to finish?”
“More like a bet. If you ring your bell, I donate a hundred dollars to your charity.”
She fought the urge to roll her eyes even as she mentally calculated the distance to the top. “Big spender. Two whole T-shirts.”
“You didn’t let me finish. I’m going to give you a…three-minute head start. You ring your bell before I ring mine and it’s a thousand dollars.”
“And if I lose?” The way her body was shaking with strain, three minutes wasn’t going to be enough.
“We do that other rumba class tomorrow.”
Though she dreaded it, she’d already accepted that she’d need to dance with him at least once at the fund-raiser—and there was that whole stupid making him fall in love plan to consider. Really, there was no way she could lose. “Deal. Start your timer.”
She had her toes on the next rock when he said, “Oh, one other thing. You lose and you owe me a kiss and the truth to any question I want to ask.”
Her foot slipped off, and she bit her lip, forcing herself to concentrate. She had to reach the top first now. Beyond the fact that Better Todays could really use the funds, there was no way on earth or sea she was kissing him on his terms again. Mainly because of the simple fact that she could already taste him on her lips. She coul
d have sex without kissing him…right? Even if she couldn’t, he sure as hell wasn’t getting inside her head. No way. No how.
With the sudden weight of a long-dead monkey hanging on her back, she choked down her fear and set her mind to the challenge in front of her. One move after another had her inching toward the bell at the top.
…
Damn. The charity was either really hard up for cash or Mercedes had something more to hide than he’d expected. Considering she’d already implied she was okay with sex, the kiss couldn’t be the problem. She was hauling that fantastic ass up the wall faster than he’d have thought possible with the way her arms had shaken with fatigue.
And…he’d forgotten to start timing her.
It was almost worth losing the advantage to watch her. But as soon as he’d counted the minutes off, he started back up the wall. She’d never forgive him if he let her win, and he wanted answers. Hell, he wanted a lot more than that, but he’d start with a kiss and a question.
Mercedes was only about five feet from the top, and Lucas was closing the gap with every second. One glance over her shoulder though, and she poured on the speed. It wouldn’t work. His shoulders were just below hers now, and he had a longer reach. No way she’d make that last foot or two before he could.
“Want to call it a tie? I give you what you want and you give me what I want?”
She paused long enough to huff out a breath and smile at him. “No chance, rich boy. You see, you put two of my biggest fears in competition for this little bet of yours. If it kills me, I’ll decide which one wins.”
Before he did more than open his mouth to laugh and tell her he’d collect at the bottom, she bent her knees and pushed off the wall. Her body sailed up, and her fingers closed on the bell rope, swinging it hard. The sound clanged overhead, and Lucas gaped as her hand slipped. The crazy woman…was hugging herself tight as she dangled from the belay line. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes as she squeezed them shut, and she trembled like she was freezing.
Seducing Her Rival Page 7