“Too intimate?” he asked slowly. “Do you want me to pretend that I closed my eyes? I didn’t, Nikki. I couldn’t. I wanted to look at you.”
Her eyes opened straight into his, and she felt tremors in the very fiber of her soul as she met that dark, quiet gaze.
“How fortunate for you,” he said under his breath, “that you’re half-fried, Miss Blake. Because if you weren’t, nothing in this world would save you from me right now.”
Her lips parted on a gasp that never got past them. Her heart felt as if it were going to strangle her with its wild beat.
Cal bent, brushing his mouth lightly, tenderly, over her eyes, her small, pert nose. There was a tenderness in the caress that she’d never expected from a man like him.
His fingers traced her soft mouth and he sighed heavily. “My God, you’re tangling me up like seaweed. Do you realize that?” he growled.
“I’m not trying to,” she replied, forcing a smile. “I won’t get in your way. I’m sorry about this afternoon. I promise, it won’t ever happen again. Okay?”
“It didn’t even dawn on me what you meant until I got back to my room,” he murmured, ignoring her little speech. “About my meeting. Nicole, that waitress used to work for me in this hotel. She left to marry the man who opened the restaurant. She’s just helping out today because one of their regular girls was sick.”
She looked thunderstruck. “Oh,” she managed.
His face clouded. “And despite the opinion you seem to have of me, I don’t seduce the hired help. When I want a woman that badly, I can afford one who knows the score. I don’t have to resort to pickups.”
She felt ashamed, of her suspicions and her unfounded jealousy. “I’m sorry,” she said genuinely. “It was none of my business, and I had no right—”
His finger pressed against her lips. “You want me,” he said quietly, putting it bluntly. “That gives you the right.”
“Cal...”
“And I want you,” he added, his hard face, his eyes, enforcing every word. His fingers contracted in her hair. “Oh my God, I want you, Nicole!”
Her lips trembled. She couldn’t find the words to answer him.
He drew in a harsh breath and stood up, bending his dark head to light a cigarette. He moved deliberately away from the bed, staring at the carpet.
“I don’t know what to say,” she murmured miserably.
“There’s nothing to say. I’ve tried every way I know to ward it off, but it’s like a damned tidal wave.” He made a contemptuous gesture, blowing out a cloud of smoke as he turned to face her. “I don’t want marriage,” he ground out.
“I’m not asking you for anything,” she said, her eyes as soft as the words.
“If we spend much time around each other,” he replied, “I’m going to ask you for something. I’m going to ask you for that perfect body that you’ve never given to a man. And you won’t lift a finger to stop me. Will you, Nikki?” he added curtly.
She eased onto her side with a sigh, drawing the towel against her like a security blanket, her eyes sad as they looked up into his. “No,” she admitted painfully. “I’d welcome you. You knew that from the beginning. But afterward...” Her eyes lowered.
“Twenty-five years of conditioning don’t go away easily.”
“I realize that.”
She shifted, wincing as the sunburned skin protested. “What do you want, then?”
He laughed shortly. “That’s a hell of a silly question.”
She smiled in spite of herself. Her eyes traced every line of his body, his face almost worshipfully, loving the hard, smooth lines of it. He scowled at the look.
“Don’t worry.” She laughed gently. “It’s just infatuation. Or desire. Or both. I wouldn’t know how to trap you.”
“I feel trapped,” he said shortly. He finished the cigarette and stubbed it out in an ashtray. “It might be a good idea if we don’t see each other for a while. Are you sure you want to cut your vacation short?”
“Yes,” she agreed sadly.
He glanced at her. “Your birthday’s coming. I’ll pick you up in Ashton. I want to take you to New Orleans for some Creole food. As I remember, you told me that was your favorite.”
That shocked her, that he should remember something so trivial. But she was learning that he remembered a lot of things that most people dismissed as too trivial. Small, dreadfully important things that endeared him to his staff. To her.