Jared wasn’t a man who opened up often—if at all. Yet he’d opened up to her. Told her things she knew, just knew, he’d never revealed to anyone else. That meant something. That meant a lot of somethings.
She picked up a pencil then made the necessary notes in her ledger regarding the day’s charter. She closed the book and rubbed her temples, knowing that her headache had nothing to do with Blue Sky and everything to do with Jared. No matter where she was or what she was doing, he was there. It was as if he had decided to put out an all-strike attack on her senses. And he was winning the battle. She tried to avoid him, but he made that impossible. Twice, he’d caught her in the hall after a shower. She’d thought she was alone, that she was safe to dash the short distance from the bathroom to her room. But the minute she’d opened up the door, covered only in a towel, he was standing directly in front of her. His gaze devoured her like she was a candy store of pure sin, and he wanted to taste every last piece.
And it didn’t end there. Whenever they were together, his body had a habit of accidentally touching hers. Though something told her those were no accidents. His arm would brush against her side as he reached for his coffee. Every so often, he’d show up in her office and lean across her shoulder to see what she was working on. His warm breath fanned across the back of her neck, his chest pressing against her back.
In the evenings, he’d insist on joining her on the couch. As they talked about the business, his shoulder would rub against hers, and the hard length of his thigh would press against her thigh. Each touch was a shockwave that went straight through her. When she finally escaped him and reached the safety of her room, she realized they’d talked very little about the business and more about her. Without her even realizing it, he had a way of steering the conversation until she ended up confiding things to him she hadn’t told anyone else. Not even Steven. She rubbed her hand across her forehead again and closed her eyes. She couldn’t explain it or even understand it. How had he made her open up and let him in that far to her soul?
Except for the night on the beach when she’d held nothing back, Jenny had thought she’d done a good job of hiding her reactions to him. But last night had changed all that. She’d been sitting on the couch when Jared had walked into the room. Earlier, he’d built a fire in the large river rock fireplace. The fire snapped and popped, and rain pattered against the windows. The warm glow from the fire and the single lamp near the couch had been the only light in the room. She’d started to get up, to head to her bedroom, because being near him was her own personal kind of sensual hell. But as she stood, he took hold of her wrist. Gently, he turned her hand over and lightly ran his fingertip across her palm, caressing a scratch she’d gotten earlier that day.
“What happened here?” he’d asked, the firelight softening his strong jaw and warming his blue eyes.
Her heart had beat a little faster, and she’d gotten light-headed as his fingertip traced the outline of the cut. “Nothing,” she said, feeling a pull in the pit of her stomach. She wasn’t about to admit to him that the knife she’d been using to cut her sandwich had slipped when she’d heard his voice. That’s all it had taken, just the sound of his voice for her to lose all concentration.
“Looks like it needs a Band-Aid.” And then he’d raised her palm to his mouth and lightly kissed the small sore. The feel of his lips against her skin had nearly sent her over the edge once more. A tingle had started in her palm, then spread up her arms, across her breast, until it pooled deep in her belly. The moment she’d recognized the feeling for what it was—pure, undiluted desire—she’d snatched her hand away.
For so many years, her dreams had been filled with a sandy-haired man with an open smile and twinkling green eyes. But lately, as she twisted and turned in bed at night, Steven’s image was replaced by another’s: a man with hair