Chapter 2
Sometimes, life was just too wonderful to bear, Olivia thought as she closed her eyes, the warm, Saint Martin sunshine soothing her skin and helping her muscles relax.
The warmth, the sand, the sound of the surf rhythmically beating against the shoreline…yeah. Life was good. Zeke Steele had brought the beautiful and ecstatically happy Marcy to St. Martin for their honeymoon, which meant that Olivia was here until they decided they were ready to leave. They were scheduled for a week, but Olivia was on standby and the happy couple could decide to leave at any moment. She’d learned to stay close to the airport during her travels unless she was sure that the flight schedule wasn’t going to change.
And best of all, no Pete!
A noise beside her startled her out of her relaxation mode. Lifting her sunglasses, she watched in amazement as Pete dropped a beach chair right next to hers. Too close to hers. He was looking out at the surf, his sunglasses covering his eyes as she surveyed his strong, long legs in the board shorts.
“Gorgeous day!” he said as he dumped his book onto the chair.
She pushed up from her own beach chair, glaring at him. “You know, there’s a whole lot of empty sand down there,” she said, pointing further down the beach. She’d chosen this spot because it was a bit further away from everyone, out of the crowds. Since it was off-season, the beach was unusually peaceful, but there were still some locals that were enjoying a leisurely day at the beach. Enough so that it was fun to people-watch, but not too crowded that it was annoying.
But then he did the unforgivable.
He took off his tee-shirt!
Olivia forgot that she’d whipped off her sunglasses. She forgot to look away. And she forgot to keep her mouth closed as her eyes surveyed the rippling, startling, amazing muscles that packed Pete’s chest, arms and stomach. The man was already tall, but now she knew that he was ripped! Like Adonis ripped!
Wow!
He’d been keeping a lot hidden underneath his pilot’s uniform, apparently.
“Tell me when you’re done.”
Olivia pulled her eyes away from his chest and six-pack abs, trying to understand what he was saying. Why would she be done? Why couldn’t she simply sit her and gawk at…
“Oh!”
She’d been staring at Pete! Good grief, she’d literally been staring at the man with her mouth hanging open!
Snapping her mouth closed, she pushed her sunglasses back on to cover her eyes and turned to face the ocean. The waves! She was here to enjoy the waves! And to read. Darn it, where was her book?
She leaned forward and looked around but Pete was already picking the book up off of the sand, flipping the pages to get the sand out. He then turned it around and looked at the title, then down at Olivia. Despite the heat from the tropical sunshine, she couldn’t hide the blush that stole up her cheeks when the odious man lifted a dark eyebrow above his sunglasses.
With a huff of frustration, she grabbed her book out of his hands and leaned back against her beach chair, determined to ignore the man.
Hard to do, though, when his deep, sexy laughter sends tingles of awareness throughout her whole body.
But she could do it! She would do it! The man was just…a jerk! Olivia wished she had a better word for him, but she was a lady and wouldn’t reduce herself down to cussing.
“What’s your book about?” he asked.
She slapped it shut, her temper firing up. “Listen, I came here to relax and read. Not to chat with you. So if you want to talk with someone, go find another person to annoy. But if you’re going to sit here, then be quiet.”
Another laugh and he pushed his sunglasses higher as he leaned back, absorbing the sunshine.
Okay, so her eyes drifted over his tanned legs. That wasn’t criminal!
“You’re not reading,” he announced.
That got her eyes off of his feet. Why she even considered his feet to be sexy, she hadn’t a clue but…
“Of course I’m reading!” She straightened in her chair. “Go away!”
“You’re not reading, Olivia. Why not just talk to me?”
“I’m reading and this is a riveting book,” she argued right back.
He chuckled and sat up slightly. With one strong, too-tanned arm, he reached over to her. Before she knew what he was going to do, he picked up her book and turned it right-side up, then casually leaned back in his chair. “There. Now you can stop ogling me and read your romance novel.”
Olivia tried not to sputter with her fury and embarrassment. She really did! But he was just such a…he annoyed her! He was horrible and she hated him! Goodness she really hated him! Oliva had never hated anyone as much as she hated this man!
And his feet weren’t sexy! They were just feet!
Tossing her book onto the top of her bag, she leaned back and lifted her face to the sunshine, wanting to get a tan. Okay, so she wanted to ignore him, but reading wasn’t working. Taking a nap might work better. Yes, if she could just ignore the man and go to sleep, maybe he would get bored and go bother someone else.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t get comfortable. Not with him right next to her. She was hyper aware of every movement he made. Trying to keep her eyes closed, to completely block the man out of her mind, just wasn’t…
“What are you doing?!” she demanded, bolting upright when she felt his hands on her calf.
“You’re burning, Olivia. I’m putting sunscreen on you.” His hand grabbed her ankle when she tried to pull away from him. But he was too strong and his touch startled her! She could barely breathe, much less fight him on his efforts. So she let him. Her eyes watched, fascinated as his tanned hand moved up and down her calf, her shin. He squeezed more sunscreen onto his hand and pulled her other leg closer, repeating the motions. It would have been hypnotizing if it wasn’t doing things to her body that she didn’t want to define.
Then his hand moved higher, rubbing along her thigh and she jumped up. “I can do that!” she gasped, grabbing her sunscreen from his hand.
He watched her for a long moment and Olivia prayed that he wouldn’t notice how her nipples were tight, pressing against the thin material of her black bikini. She didn’t want him to know what she was feeling. She wanted to…
“Are you sure? I don’t mind.” He paused and…were his eyes zeroing in on her breasts? “In fact, I was enjoying it.”
Olivia’s mouth fell open because…well…because he hated her just as much as she hated him.
Didn’t he?
Surely she was misunderstanding. They fought and snapped at each other at every possibility during a flight, as long as no one else could overhear their zingers. He couldn’t possibly mean that he enjoyed touching her! That just…he couldn’t…she wasn’t….
Olivia shook her head, glaring at him. This about face was just a ploy, she told herself. He was going to do something horrible to her, like…hide her keys. Not that he’d ever done anything like that. Thinking back, the worst that Pete ever did to her was tease her about her regimented ordering of supplies or about how stiff she came across.
Blinking, her lips pressed together in frustration and confusion. She needed him to fight…whatever THIS was…so that they could avoid any misunderstandings. Because right now, his eyes were conveying one, big huge signal that didn’t make any sense.
Grabbing the sunscreen, she twisted the top. “I’m fine. I can handle things.” Because she knew it was the right thing to do, she nodded her head. “Thank you. My legs are a bit pink but I’ll take care of sunscreen.”
He shrugged one of those incredible shoulders and leaned back again. “You could return the favor,” he told her.
She blinked but, thankfully, he couldn’t see her confusion since her sunglasses were once again shielding her eyes from his intense gaze. “What do you mean?”
“I didn’t bring any sunscreen. Can you put some on my legs?”
Oliva looked down at his tanned legs thinking that he seemed to have the kind of skin that didn’t burn. Of course, that wouldn’t stop the sun’s rays from damaging his skin but…
“Here,” she told him and tossed the sunscreen to him. “I have more.”
And with that, she sat back down and grabbed another bottle of sunscreen. Because of her pale skin, she always carried several bottles with different levels of protection. This bottle was a bit higher on the SPF than the stuff she’d just tossed him, but she didn’t care. Anything to keep him from touching her again.
And darn it! She didn’t want to think about touching him!
What game was he playing? She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, trying to figure him out. Unfortunately, all she saw was his big, muscular body and her mind kind of…blanked.
She squeezed out a large amount of sunscreen, rubbing it onto her thighs, arms and stomach. When she started to do her chest, he stopped, turned and watched. “Nice,” he commented and she rolled her eyes. Again, he couldn’t see her derision because of her sunglasses, but she had to believe that he felt the eye roll.
Ignoring him, she finished rubbing in the sunscreen on her chest, then leaned back against the chair again, determined to finally ignore him.
“You need a drink.”
She shook her head. “I have water.”
“No,” he countered. “You need a real drink.”
Ah! This was more like it, she thought. He was going to tell her how uptight she was. “I’m fine.”
Silence for a moment. Then he said, “You know, you get free drinks if you walk up to the bar topless.”
Olivia lifted her head, then shifted her sunglasses to look at him, wondering if he was teasing her or if he was serious. She wasn’t sure. “You’re kidding, right?”
He shook his head, not even turning to look at her. “Nope. Women who go to the bar topless get free drinks. The sign is right there,” he told her and pointed to the beach bar. Sure enough, when she turned to look over her shoulder, there really was a sign that read, “Topless Women Drink For Free At The Bar”.
Huh!
Turning back, she leaned against the back of her beach chair and pulled her sunglasses back down, dismissing the crazy idea that had popped into her head. Topless. She would have made a sound, but the idea of her walking around topless was ludicrous! “I don’t…”
“I know you don’t.” He was still sunning, not really doing anything but she could see the smirk on his mouth.
She glared at him as she leaned back against her chair, pushing her sunglasses higher on her nose. She wasn’t going to ask.
She didn’t care!
Don’t ask! Just ignore him!
Olivia shifted on her chair. Thought about picking up her book. Anything to help her ignore his comment.
But it was too much!
With a jerk, she jackknifed up, twisting around to look down at him. He looked so tan and strong and muscular…she wanted to just…do something horrible to him!
“What do you think I ‘don’t’ do?!” she demanded angrily, twisting around so he would get the full impact of her glare.
He shrugged one of those frustratingly broad shoulders. “You don’t have the guts to do anything so outrageous as to walk around in public topless.” He even had the audacity to pat her arm. “It’s okay Olivia. It takes a certain kind of daring to go topless.”
Her mouth fell open at his taunt. Again! Was there no end to this man’s insults?
He was using yesterday’s weakness. She’d admitted to her…concerns about flying and he was teasing her now, saying she was too scared to take her top off! Oh, the gall of the man!
Yes, she had concerns about flying, but she’d been a flight attendant for years! She faced her fears every single time she climbed up the stairs to the plane. She banished her fears and did her job and she was very good at her job! She was so good at her job, that she’d landed the position with Steele Industries, one of the coveted private flight attendant jobs! How dare he ridicule her for her fears!
Topless! Phtt! Women didn’t…but as she looked around, several of the women really were walking around topless. It was Saint Martin, after all. Many of the beaches here were topless. The Europeans didn’t have the same hang-ups as Americans did about nudity, thinking it was natural.
But she wasn’t a prude! Yeah, she was sitting on a beach wearing a bathing suit while most of the women weren’t but that didn’t mean…she wasn’t…! Damn him!
To prove he was wrong, and to show him that she wasn’t afraid, she stood up, grabbed her bag – just in case she needed money because the sign was a hoax – and walked several steps towards the bar. With her back to Pete, she glanced over her shoulder to make sure he was watching her, then reached around and slipped the knots of her bikini top off, stuffing it into her beach bag. With a final, defiant look, she continued towards the bar. It took every ounce of courage inside of her to finish the walk up to that bar without her bathing suit top on.
“This isn’t so bad,” she commented. “This is fine!”
Looking around, there were many other women at the bar, and on the beach, who were also topless. In fact, there were more women without bathing suit tops than there were with tops!
“What can I get you, love?” the bartender asked, his sexy Australian accent making her smile. Even better, he barely even glanced at her breasts!
“Just a beer,” she told him, thinking that a beer was the fastest thing for him to pour. Mixed drinks would require a bit more time and she didn’t think she could stomach whatever wine this place might serve. A beer was safe and fast. Sure enough, a beer was set down in front of her, expertly poured with very little foam.
“Thanks,” she replied with a choked voice. “How much?”
The bartender laughed. “On the house, love!” he replied, then moved away to another customer.
Olivia breathed a sigh of relief, but then realized she would have to turn back around and walk to her beach chair. It was one thing to walk topless when strangers might see her. But could she walk back to her chair while Pete watched? She stared at her beer, realizing she hadn’t really thought this whole “dare” thing through very well. Oh no!
No way could she let him win though. She’d gotten this far, time for payback.
Instead of walking back, she took a sip of the beer and smiled. He was probably just waiting for her to turn around. Pulling out her top, she tied the two knots, tugged the triangles back in place and turned around.
Sure enough, Pete was watching her. And she could see the furious expression in his eyes now that she’d foiled his plan.
Sitting down in the chair, she swung her legs forward and picked up her book.
“That’s cheating,” he grumbled and leaned back against his chair, but he wasn’t relaxed any longer. Not even close! He might be staring out at the ocean, but she could still sense his anger at her trick.
Olivia smiled, feeling powerful now. “Yeah. I cheated. Sue me.”
She noticed that his teeth were clenched and, when she glanced over at him, she realized that he was slightly erect. Hmm…!
Her mouth went a bit dry at that observation and she took a long sip of her beer.
Then another. When his erection actually increased, she continued to drink, watching it. Fascinated.
“If you keep staring, you’re going to have to do something to fix it,” he growled.
Olivia glanced at him, realized that he was watching her as she watched him and was horrified. She pushed her glasses higher, then guzzled down more than half the beer. When she lowered her cup, she leaned her head against the chair but then jerked upright when he grabbed the cup from her. In maybe one swallow, he downed the rest of her beer.
“Hey! That was mine!”
“Go get another one,” he told her, then stuffed the empty cup into his backpack so it wouldn’t blow away with the breeze.
Pete was furious. And so turned on, he could barely think rationally. Seeing Olivia in that bathing suit was…incredible! To date, he’d only seen her in that starched, stiff uniform. Looking at her now, all of her lush curves on display for him to peruse and appreciate…it was hell and heaven.
He wasn’t getting any sleep for a while either! Not with the image of those full, round breasts and her long, pale legs now burning in his mind. Those breasts were…hell, she was magnificent!
Just watching her walk over to that bar, he’d wanted to race to her and cover her up, hating the fact that other men got to see her breasts! And when she’d turned around – with her bathing suit back in place – he’d almost roared with the sexual frustration burning through him. She’d beaten him at his own game. Serves him right, he thought and shifted.
Then when she’d stared at his hardening member as if she wanted to…damn! Just thinking about the way she’d stared was making it worse!
Rolling over, he hid his body’s reaction to her perfect figure, his fury still hotter than the sun beating down on his back. Damn her! He wanted to lift her up into his arms, carry her back to their hotel and make love to her until there was no more anger between them. He wanted to taste her, to feel her body throb around him and…
Damn it! This was just making things worse!
Thankfully, she fell asleep at that point and he could finally get his body back under control. Swimming. Now why hadn’t he thought of that earlier? A cool dip in the ocean would get things back to normal.
He stood up and walked out into the surf, then dove into the blue water. Pushing himself hard, he swam out deeper, then moved along the shoreline, not stopping until he felt the burn in his muscles. When he finally walked out of the surf, he was surprised at how long he’d been swimming. Damn, he’d needed the break.
Then he looked over to where she was still sleeping, her luscious breasts barely contained in that bathing suit top. It wasn’t that the top was so skimpy, it was just that her breasts were very lush. And perfect. And…
Olivia hadn’t moved and the sun was now hotter, right at the pinnacle of heat for the day. Walking over to one of the vendors, he paid the guy for a beach umbrella but before the guy put it up for him, he took the umbrella himself and walked over to where their two chairs were set up.
With a mighty thwack, he stabbed the sand, pushing the pole deep into the sand to hold it steady. Then he adjusted the shade to ensure that Olivia was completely covered before settling back down next to her.
She slept through the whole thing.
Sitting down, he checked his cell phone just to make sure that they hadn’t been called back to fly Zeke and his new bride somewhere else, then settled back to read.
Olivia woke up feeling much better than she had in a while. But then sat upright. Sun! Her pale skin!
When her eyes focused, she realized that she was actually under a beach umbrella that completely shaded her from the sunshine. Who…?
She looked at Pete who was still next to her, sleeping with his cell phone in one hand and his book covering those amazing abs, held down with his other hand.
Had he done this? Had he protected her from the sunshine when she’d been too foolish to do it herself?
A tenderness hit her, throwing her off guard. No one else would have done something so sweet. And he’d even had the foresight to keep his phone in his hand so he’d be woken if the call came in for them to fly out again.
She didn’t like it, but she had to admit that the man was incredibly considerate. And…well, he was pretty gorgeous. She already knew that he was meticulously responsible and careful, but the other two…this afternoon had added a whole new dimension to her understanding of the man.
Darn it! She wasn’t supposed to find any admirable qualities in him other than his ability to smoothly fly a plane! What was he doing? Why was he being all sneaky and…and…nice?
Looking around, she realized that it was later than she’d thought. Most of the other sun-worshipers were already gone from the beach, heading back to their homes or hotels. The sun was much lower in the sky and, looking at her watch, she realized that it was after five o’clock.
She stood up, debating whether to wake Pete up or just leave him here. The smarter thing to do was to just leave, stay away from him. He’d been dangerous before with all of those lovely muscles. But her eyes took in the beach umbrella, perfectly set up so that the shifting sun wouldn’t touch her more tender skin – and something hit her. She couldn’t just leave him.
So instead, she packed up her beach bag then reached down to touch his shoulder lightly.
Before she could pull away, his hand whipped out, grabbing her wrist.
Olivia thought about pulling her hand away, but her mind couldn’t send the message to her arm. Relentlessly, he pulled her closer, tugging her down so that she was sitting next to him on the beach chair. For a long moment, they simply stared at each other. She felt her heart beating, her mind unable to understand what was going on.
Her eyes dropped, staring dumbly at his mouth, wondering what it would be like to be kissed by Pete. Would his kiss be hard? Soft? Coaxing? Demanding?
She wanted to know! She wanted to understand this man.
But at the last minute, a plane’s mechanical whine interrupted and they both looked off to the left. Sure enough, a giant plane was landing about three hundred feet from where they were sitting.
Thankfully, the sound broke the spell and she jerked upright, standing up and moving further away from him. Despite the space between them, they continued to stare, the tension building. For a long, pregnant moment, she wanted to sit back down, to finally find out what it would be like to be kissed by Pete.
In the end, she turned around and almost sprinted up the beach to the pathway that led to their hotel. They were in separate rooms so she hurried along, slamming her hotel room door as soon as she was inside.
Breathing heavily, she closed her eyes, her mind trying to make sense of what had just happened. Okay, so the man had done one nice thing for her. That was no reason to kiss him! No reason why she should feel like she needed to do something outrageous!
But all was okay. She hadn’t made a fool of herself by kissing him. She’d gotten away. Now she just had to stay away!
Taking a deep breath, she leaned her head against the cool wall. Everything was fine. She was fine. She hadn’t made a fool of herself by kissing a man she didn’t like.
Dumping her beach bag on the floor, she flipped her sandals off and headed into the bathroom. Shower. She needed to wash off the sand and sunscreen. Once she was showered, everything would be back to normal and the ridiculous thought of kissing Pete would be banished from her mind forever.
Dinner. Reading. Quiet night. She’d shower, head to the hotel dining room for something quick and easy, then come back up to her room to relax and read. Good plan!