Shannon grew warm just thinking about it. “Corrie was too young, and what the heck was he thinking, wanting to marry her to begin with?”
Avery was silent.
Shannon looked over at her friend.
“Like I said. You’re attracted to the man. If you weren’t, you would have blown all that stuff off and not given him another thought. Inside, you want to know the answer to those questions, and I bet you’ve been thinking about what the preschool executive will be wearing the next time you see him.”
“If I see him.”
Avery just laughed.
Chapter Eleven
Victor was pretty sure if he looked up the word voyeur in the dictionary, he’d find a picture of himself staring back.
Shannon was naked.
Full-on, head-to-toe, in-the-buff naked. No peeking into windows to see it either. Quite by accident, he’d caught a glimpse of her lean backside as she’d slid into the water. But sitting in the shade of his balcony, hidden by a windblown palm tree, he waited patiently for the woman to emerge again. Nothing accidental about that.
He doubted the women knew they were being watched, or they’d have kept their suits on. Well, Shannon would have. He wasn’t sure about her friend.
A decent man would have looked away.
He kicked his feet up and watched.
The view was worth it.
Long and lean, with legs that went on forever. He wasn’t close enough to see the color of her nipples, but the shape of her breasts stirred heat deep in his belly.
He shouldn’t be attracted to her.
But damn it . . . he was.
It’s physical, he told himself. A rebound attraction.
Taboo, even.
He wanted to refresh his drink, which he’d finished in one gulp once he realized who he was staring at, but he wasn’t about to miss it when she emerged from the pool. So not only was he a voyeur, he was masochistic.
The woman got under his skin. Called him out at every turn. In short, she irked him. If he’d had a sister, he imagined she would be just as annoying. But then he wouldn’t be looking at his sister naked.
Bad analogy.
Maybe his best friend’s girl.
But then he’d be violating the man code . . .
Never mind. She was just Shannon, the sophisticated female who called him on his shit without invitation.
Damn, she was something to look at. Strange how seeing her naked from across the span of the hotel’s beach made him take a better look at her other features. Or maybe a second look. He’d noticed her beauty on the airplane but dismissed the woman after she gave him crap about his phone call.
It had been important.
Although for the life of him he couldn’t remember what the call was about now.
He needed to pee.
Victor shifted in his chair and ignored his bladder.
Shannon moved to the other side of the pool but didn’t get up.
“I’ve been reduced to a thirteen-year-old,” he said to himself. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen a naked woman before.
But this was Shannon. A woman he would never have an opportunity to see nude.
She was the one parading around a public place in the buff.
Maybe parading was a slight exaggeration . . .
He really needed to pee.
Ten minutes later, with his knee shaking up and down like a kid holding his goods and hopping on one foot, Victor gave in and left his vantage point for the bathroom.
He’d never peed so fast in his entire adult life.
When he returned, both women were standing outside the pool, wrapped in towels.
He cursed the universe but did so quietly. He wasn’t about to give up his location and make the women think they didn’t have complete privacy.
Oh, no. He would be out there watching every chance he could.
He wore linen . . . or something like linen. White pants fit for the beach and a soft gray shirt that floated on his shoulders. He leaned against the edge of the reception desk at the front of the hotel, arms crossed and searching the people walking by.
“Is that Victor?” Avery asked at her side.
Shannon nodded.
“Mmm, mmm.”
Shannon bumped Avery’s side in an effort to stop her obvious appraisal.
“Dylan did well,” Avery said.
“I never had a doubt.”
A few steps closer, and Victor twisted his gaze their way.
They both wore dresses that showed off the sun they’d managed to get after a day on the beach.
Acutely aware of his evaluation, Shannon found her heart skipping.
“Do you hear that?” Avery asked.
“What?”
“The buzz.”
That man is a bee to your flower. Once again Shannon nudged her friend.