breasts and embarrassed by her body’s response to the seductive ogling of her body. She turned her head away to hide the red face she knew she now sported. He did not even try to hide his interest in her, and her body responded instantly, physically to that knowledge. She swore under her breath then quickly walked to the front door and out onto the veranda to take the path to the bike shed. Oh my, she thought as she walked down the steps. Ben Carlson was more attractive then he was when they were younger, and it appeared that she was still attracted to him.
Chapter 4
Benjamin Stanford III, known as Ben for short, followed his step-sister back to their group, but his mind remained on Anne. Ignoring the talk around him, he watched Anne through the window as she climbed onto a bike and took off pedaling down the long drive. She turned out nicely, he thought, admiring the lean muscles of her long legs and the swell of her full breasts as she rode away. That wild mane of dark hair and those light blue eyes only added to the beautiful package that was Anne Petrovic. He could not help being attracted to her. Any man would.
She apparently felt the same way about him if her physical response to his comment and look a minute earlier was any indication. She certainly had no trouble checking him out earlier, too, he reminded himself. He felt his body respond now when he remembered the feel of her lush body next to his when they bumped into each other and the sight of her breasts reacting under his gaze a few minutes ago. He had wanted to reach out to touch them just as he dreamed of doing when he and Anne were younger. She had been the subject of many of his erotic fantasies as a teenager and, no doubt, would be again. He wondered if she would let him pursue her for a little vacation romance this week. He intended to find out.
Not that he was interested in anything long term, he told himself. He had ended a relationship last month with yet another woman who was more interested in his money than she was in him. The last thing he needed was another relationship. He ignored the prick to his memory at the disappointment he felt earlier when he learned that Anne did not live in the Seattle area. He tried to reason away his interest in only a short term relationship, telling himself that if she learned who he really was, she would be like all of the other women. He thanked his luck that people only knew him on the island as Ben Carlson.
Ben's mother had always called him Ben as a nickname because his father was called by the more formal name of Benjamin. Then when his father died from a car accident when Ben was only nine, people started calling him by his formal name out of respect for his father. But, by that time, everyone was so used to the nickname that it did not seem right to call him anything else. Now, he only used his formal name when he signed business documents, but everyone called him Ben. When his mother married Scott Carlson three years after his father died, people outside of their circle assumed that Ben's last name was Carlson as well. This mistake became a benefit when Ben became an adult because it gave him a certain level of anonymity that he used when he travelled.
Turning his attention back to the business at hand, he checked in along with the rest of the party using his assumed last name and handed over a company credit card. Over the years he discovered that to check into hotels using his real name usually led to trouble. Benjamin Stanford III was quickly becoming something of a local celebrity in the Seattle area and most of the West Coast even though he tried to keep a low profile. Ever since he took over the helm of the family business from his mother, who ran it after his father died, he had invested heavily into researching and developing cleaner solutions for the waterways, as well as, expanding the other areas of biochemical uses in manufacturing for which the company was originally known. These investments paid off, and the once small company grew to become a world leader in research, making him an even richer