Sand Angel Page 0,4
grips.
It was a lie.
His feelings for her had scared him to death. She’d been so sweet and innocent. His thoughts of ravishing her anything but mild. His taste ran on the kinky side. Something about her made him feel primitive and wild. He’d wanted to tie her up and fuck her until she screamed for him to stop. But he knew he couldn’t touch her—not like that. The seven-year age difference between them had made him feel they were a world apart. So he used his career opportunity as an excuse and left.
With heavy footsteps, she made her way back to her bike, gripped the handlebars and began to push it up the ramp. The muscles in her arms strained. She released a small grunt—of exertion or frustration, he didn’t know.
Zoë was leaving.
Every fiber in his body screamed for him to stop her. It clawed in desperation beneath his skin. His fingers flexed with the need to touch her. Three years ago he had made the biggest mistake of a lifetime.
This was not going to be a repeat performance.
Chapter Two
Perspiration moistened Zoë’s heated skin as she rolled the bike up the ramp of her toy hauler. She hadn’t been prepared to see Drew again. Unwanted memories flooded back. He didn’t have to make contact for her to remember how it felt for his hands to stroke her skin, the warmth of his mouth sucking on her breast or how his cock filled and claimed her. Dammit. She hadn’t even forgotten his spicy scent, the sensual brush of his breath across her neck, the soft, sexy drone of his voice and more devastating—the taste of his kisses.
A shiver raked her spine. All she should be thinking of right now was getting out of there and fast. She tightened her grip on the bike’s handlebars to still the tremor in her hands. Three years she’d worked to erase his memory. She didn’t need this now. Muscles tensed, inflexible boots braced against the ramp, she strained to load the bike that usually boarded easily. But not today.
Nothing was going to be easy today.
The bike abruptly halted. The reverse inertia caught her off guard.
As if the damn thing had a mind of its own, the bike pulled against her forward thrust. She released a tight squeal as the soles of her boots slipped. Arms flailing, balance lost, she began to fall. In slow motion the bike leaned to the side of the trailer out of her reach. With robotic movements she stumbled backward. Just before she struck the ground, two strong hands reached out and pulled her into an embrace.
Zoë closed her eyes. Truth was, if he had loved her he wouldn’t have left. Yet she couldn’t shake the sensation of his arms wrapped around her. Familiar hands that could awaken every nerve ending and make her body sing with joy.
Stop it. Zoë mentally shook the wayward thoughts from her head. He would never be a part of her life. Besides, she didn’t have time for relationships. Her riding career took her all over the United States and sometimes internationally.
When her eyes opened, regret shone in his, or was it pity? Did he think she was still that lovesick woman who wanted nothing more than to spend her life with him? The image of the home, picket fence and Drew’s children she had painted in her mind years ago was bullshit.
She’d been an idiot.
If nothing else, Zoë had her pride. No way would she give Drew the satisfaction of seeing her squirm, of revealing that she still thought of him from time to time. She had to get her shit together and then she’d leave.
“Going somewhere?” Drew’s deep, sexy rumble was like liquid silk against her skin. It smoothed across her flesh and covered her like a blanket on a cold night.
Crap. Crap. Crap. His voice was so provocative it caused her breasts to fill with desire. A blazing flame licked unmercifully at the tips of her traitorous nipples, bunched into hard peaks. She didn’t even want to think about what was going on between her thighs, now moist and slick with need.
Shoulders rigid, she shrugged out of his grasp. Zoë prayed for courage as she slowly turned to confront the man who had broken her heart.
“What’s it look like?” Her voice was brittle, perhaps a little too high pitched. She cleared her throat, as her hands rushed to her hips to hide the shaking that began when his dark blue eyes met hers.
“Like