CHAPTER SIX
Sandro stared. “That’s why you couldn’t go home for Christmas.”
She nodded, recrimination clawing at her heart. “Breaking up with your fiancé is bad enough, but when you’re always telling people how to live their life, including how to handle relationships, it’s hard to admit you failed.”
“Who says you failed? If it didn’t work out, he was wrong for you.”
She swallowed. “I’ve tried to convince myself of that, but it’s not working too well. According to all my social media, he was perfect and we were supposed to live happily ever after.”
Sandro had the gall to laugh. “I guess you’ll have to post some updates. Did you love him?”
“Of course! Do you think I’d marry someone I didn’t love?”
“Perhaps, if your reputation depended on it.” He spoke slowly, studying her face.
Her skin heated under his curious gaze. “I’m not that shallow.” She stared out at the ocean. “I admit that it took me a while to fall in love with him, but I could see that he was a good match and over time I grew to really dote on him.”
Sandro lifted a brow. “I don’t think that’s how it’s supposed to work.”
“Says who? People these days rush into relationships with the wrong person. Everything’s about sex. They don’t even take the time to figure out if they’re compatible before they start living together.”
“And you recommend a more clinical approach.”
“Absolutely.” Was he poking fun at her? She couldn’t tell. “You should look at a relationship like buying a new car. Does it have the features I want? Is it going to hold up under the conditions I’ll be driving it in? Will it hold its value? Will it protect me in case of disaster?”
“Will it give me a jolt of adrenaline when I take it on the autobahn?”
She laughed. “That one wasn’t on my list. But of course your partner should excite you.”
“Did Howard rev your engine?”
“Absolutely. He was very handsome.” Damn him. “I got him working out four times a week and drinking a raw-juice smoothie every day. He looked like an Olympic athlete.”
Sandro laughed again. “Maybe he didn’t want to look like an athlete. Maybe he wanted to have a beer belly.”
She blew out. “For all I know you could be right. Not my problem anymore.” She looked at him walking beside her, the wind whipping his clothes against his hard body. “Besides, I can tell you work out. Keeping fit is important.”
“I’m a crazy adrenaline junkie. I can’t sit still. The muscles are simply a side effect.”
“That sounds dangerous.”
“Only when you’re doing it wrong.” His dark eyes glittered. Or was it simply the ocean reflecting in their depths? “Do you ever do anything reckless?”
“Not really. Unless you count attempting to have a relationship with another human being,” she said ruefully.
“I guess you won’t be making that mistake again.” Mischief played around his mouth.
She stared at him for a moment. “Maybe I won’t.”
“You could get a cat instead.”
“Then I’d have cat hair on my clothes.”
“True.” He seemed to be fighting the urge to laugh. “Maybe you could get a stuffed cat.”
“It’s not funny!” Emotion welled in her chest. “Maybe I am impossible. Maybe I’m incapable of having a relationship with anyone.” Tears blurred her eyes.
“I didn’t mean to make you cry.” He had the decency to sound remorseful. “Let’s sit for a minute. There’s a sheltered spot here in the dunes.”
He slid his arm in hers and led her up the beach, which was lucky, as the combination of tears and salty beach air had half-blinded her. She let his strong presence guide her until they were sitting next to each other on the cool sand.
She swiped at her tears. “I did try hard to make him happy.”
“He was a lucky man.”
“Don’t patronize me!” She hated the whiny sound of her voice. “I’m not a child. I’m a grown woman, and I need to face up to my mistakes.”
“We all make mistakes,” he said again in that infuriatingly therapeutic tone.
“Do we? I bet you don’t ever make mistakes.” She couldn’t get herself to sound calm. Emotion that had built up in her in the last few weeks, heck, maybe the last year—or maybe her whole life—exploded to the surface. “Why would you? You’re the handsome prince—the knight in shining armor—who any girl would welcome into her life. I bet you’ve never experienced a single moment of rejection.”
He watched her, bemused, and she fought a powerful urge to slap him hard across his handsome, arrogant face. “Have you?”
Her answer came in the form of a hard, hot kiss.
Sandro’s lips crushed over hers, and her protest evaporated instantly in the fire of his kiss. Her limbs grew weak as his big, strong arms wrapped around her. The warmth of his body enveloped her, and his musky, masculine scent overwhelmed her senses.
For a crazy instant she was able to just let go—of all the pain, the embarrassment, the disappointment, the secrecy, the uncertainty about herself and her future—and lose herself in the fierce intensity of his kiss.
A sudden gust of wind threw sand against them and stung her cheek hard enough for her to pull back. She stared at him, blinking, for a moment. Then her heart sank and shame flooded through her. “I guess you just proved my point.”
“There was a point?” A smile tugged at his wet lips.
“That you’ve never experienced rejection. I’m guessing you assumed I’d reject you and that you could say that, yes, you had been rejected and that we all…that you…that I…” The rush of tears overwhelmed her again.
How could she have been such an idiot? Of course he didn’t actually want to kiss her. No man wanted another’s unwanted castoff. He wanted to give her a chance to reject him so that she could feel.… Who knows what he wanted her to feel.
And now she’d just shown him what a total fool she was.
“My kisses don’t usually have this effect on women.”
“Really?” she spluttered through her tears. “What kind of effect do they have? I’m sure you’ve had opportunity for extensive scientific study.” His lips touched her forehead, and she fought a powerful urge to sink into his strength. “Stop toying with me.”
“I’m not toying with you.” He took hold of her chin in his finger and thumb. “I’m very, very, very attracted to you, and on top of that I find you fascinating.”
He spoke so seriously she was almost tempted to believe him.
“You try so hard to do everything right, to be strong, and you can’t stand for a second that anyone would think that you’re not perfect. Even your own family.”
“I suspect that makes me crazy, not fascinating.” Her voice shook a little.
“I find it absolutely irresistible.”