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He glances down at me and I very stupidly look up at his gorgeous face. “Don’t forget about taste.”
Swallowing hard, I say, “Right. That too.”
“And even if I can do all those things, I still only believe half of it,” he says, his eyes flicking down to my lips again. Oh my God, is he going to kiss me? Because I wouldn’t say no to that. Wait, yes, I would. Wouldn’t I?
15
When the Brain and the Body Totally Disconnect…
Ty
Oh wow, do I ever want to kiss her. I can’t remember a time when I wanted to kiss a woman this badly. Probably not since I was a naive teenager who didn’t know any better. This woman—this feeling—is nothing but trouble. The smart thing to do would be to excuse myself, get out of this pool, and go the hell back to my room. But I won’t. Not just because I only came out here because I saw her and didn’t like the idea of her being out here on her own, but also because I don’t want to. There’s a defiant part of me that is insisting I stay right here next to her, despite how stupid it is.
I force myself to look up at the sky. “What else do you know about me?”
“You graduated at the top of your class at Harvard business school. You and Dr. Napper were college roommates and you started your company together as soon as he finished med school. The business flailed for the first six years until he came up with the idea for the DNA testing kits. Then things just sort of took off.”
Nodding, I say, “Yes, we were one of those overnight success stories that was years in the making.”
She chuckles a little, then says, “Does it bother you? When people assume it came so easily?”
“It would if I cared what people thought.”
Gwen turns and looks up at me. I can feel the skepticism on her face without bothering to look. “Everybody cares what people think of them.”
“I don’t.”
“Now it’s my turn to call you a liar.”
I glance down at her with a half grin. “What? Did one of your articles suggest I spend my nights stewing over public opinion of me? Because I’d caution you not to believe everything you read.”
“No, you gave it away yourself.”
“How?” I ask, pulling back a bit.
“Because you wanted to explain yourself to me earlier—when there was the mix up about you having your girlfriend followed.”
“I was merely trying to correct a false impression. That kind of thing could start a rumor that would follow me for years.”
“If you didn’t care what people thought of you, you wouldn’t care if they believed a rumor.” Her grin says, ‘Beat you again, sucker.’
Narrowing my eyes a little, I smile back, then shake my head. I let out a sigh and stare up at the stars again. “You’re too fucking smart.” And too fucking gorgeous. And too fucking sexy in that bikini. I haven’t even seen her full body in it, just her bare shoulders and the top of her chest, and even that’s got me undone.
“I’ll take that as a compliment even though I’m not sure that’s how you meant it.”
Just then another meteor shows itself. I point up to it. “There’s one!” Okay, I sounded way too thrilled about that just now. I’m supposed to be playing it cool.
“They’re amazing, aren’t they?” she asks, her voice suddenly all dreamy and doing things to me it shouldn’t.
“Surprisingly exciting.” As in, I better not stand up right now.
We sit in silence for a moment, the tension between us growing thick. Needing a distraction from thinking about all the things I want to do to her, I say, “So after all the articles you read about me, what conclusion did you reach about who I am?”
My mind wanders back to the word ASSHOLE across my forehead. Good, Ty. Think of that. Not what’s happening right now.
Gwen pauses, then says, “To be honest, my opinion of you was on the low side.”
“You probably thought I was a real asshole.”
