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A burst of laughter and slapping footsteps crashed into her ears, breaking them apart.
Trystan jerked up his head and shifted his grip to cradle her as though the sky were falling down upon them. His heart slammed against her cheek where he tucked her against his chest.
She was shaking with arousal. The world felt tipped upside down.
Into her dazed vision, the German boys came even with them. They abruptly stopped.
“Hello,” Stefan said, cheerfully oblivious.
Karl was old enough to realize they’d interrupted something. He blushed and said a strangled “I’m sorry.”
“No problem.” Flustered, Cloe tried to step away from Trystan, but he only let her turn so he remained behind her. He was using her to hide his erection, she realized when it brushed her buttock. Another hot flush of disconcerted awareness engulfed her.
“Trystan was telling me these berries are edible. I was going to bring a few to the boat for you to try,” she said, trying to regain her composure.
The boys each tried a few, then took off in their footrace to the dam.
Their parents strolled up before she and Trystan had properly caught their breath or managed to meet each other’s eyes.
After chatting briefly with them, Trudi and Renz followed the boys while Cloe and Trystan made their way back to theStorm Ridge.
She rubbed her arms, still trying to put their kiss into perspective. She would love to say she was reacting to her celebrity crush or that he was a practiced playboy, but neither of those explanations rang true. He was great at kissing, but that’s not why she’d exploded with desire. She found him sexy as hell and it continued to intensify as she got to know him. As she began to really like him.
How were they supposed to go back to working together now? The silence between them rang with the power of their kiss. A first kiss was supposed to be awkward and friendly. Something you laughed about. That kiss hadn’t been friendly. It had been a precursor to sex. Great sex. She couldn’t rule out the possibility that, if they hadn’t been interrupted, they’d be screwing each other’s brains out on a bed of moss.
She knew they had to talk about it, but the very last thing she wanted to do was acknowledge it. Or, worse, talk about why it shouldn’t have happened. Ugh. What was he thinking over there? That she was like Yasmine? That she was coming on to him because he was famous?
“I’m really sorry, Cloe,” he said gravely, making her wince that he’d got to the apology first. “I let it slip my mind that you work for me. And that you’ve been in these shoes before.” He swore under his breath. “That won’t happen again. I promise.”
Her shoes felt as though they were on the wrong feet. Her knees were wobbly and her cheeks stung.Please don’t fire me.
“It’s okay. I mean—” She had to clear her throat. All she could think about was how many times the defense team had tried to throw blame back onto her. Why hadn’t she left Ivan if she suspected him of criminal behavior? Why hadn’t she quit? “Yes, I worked for Ivan’s dad, and I felt like breaking up with Ivan would cost me my job and vice versa, but you don’t have that kind of leverage over me.”
“Only Storm,” he acknowledged grimly.
“You wouldn’t.” Would he? Trystan wasn’t manipulative the way Ivan had been. She was sure of it. No, the danger he presented to her was emotional. She didn’t want to be drawn and fascinated by him, but she was. That’s where his leverage really existed.
“I wouldn’t,” he agreed solemnly. “That doesn’t mean you don’t feel like I could, though.”
She stopped in the middle of the lane they were following. On either side were bungalows slowly being swallowed by the forest. A berry bush was growing in the moss beside the chimney on one. Brambles were stretching their tendrils into the open window of another.
“I know I’ve been very meek and weak since I got here—”
“I didn’t say that.” He halted to face her.
“—but you’re meeting me after I finished a marathon. No. One of those ironman things where you swim and cycle until you puke,thenrun a marathon. I learned a lot from that experience. I know how to pace myself. I know how to avoid injury and ignore the pain and dig deep. How to keep my eye on the end goal, which was getting here to Storm. So even if you did try to manipulate me by keeping me from seeing her, I know how to fight back now. It might take me a while, but I would sue the fuck out of you until you had no breath left.”
His brows went up. His tongue ran across his teeth behind his closed lips.
“It’s always nice to know where I stand,” he drawled. The corners of his mouth kicked up in something that might have been amusement, but also approval? “Let me return the favor. As you may have guessed, I’m attracted to you.”
His statement, spoken in such a sensual timbre, went into her like a physical wave, leaving a vibrating sensation in her chest and a searing heat beneath her skin.
“You’re attracted to me,” he continued, not even making it a question, but why would he? She had basically eaten his face ten minutes ago.
That’s all she could think about as she held his gaze—which felt so intimate, so revealing, she was almost in pain as she did it, but she couldn’t look away.
“If we were both in our best place, I’d say let’s go for it. See where it takes us. We aren’t. So let’s not.”
