chided. He lifted his head, gulping in deep breaths, hating his loss of control and almost hating her for causing it. He’d never let a woman affect him so deeply. He fumbled for a cigarette. It was because she was a virgin, of course. She didn’t know what she was doing. She was experimenting, and her innocence caused her to do things that a more experienced woman would know better than to try.
“Damn you!” he burst out, half laughing, half groaning.
She was still leaning against the door where he’d left her, breathless but smiling. He was as vulnerable to her as she was to him, she knew now. That was encouraging. Perhaps he did feel drawn to Bess, who was more or less using him to salve her tortured ego, but his emotional involvement with the other woman wasn’t total. It couldn’t be, or he wouldn’t hunger so for Elissa. For perhaps the first time in her life she consciously felt a surge of pride in her own womanhood, in her ability to reach him. Her love life had been strictly fantasy until now, but King made her feel fiercely female and totally unafraid of him or anything he might do.
“Chicken,” she purred.
He whirled, his black eyes narrowed in a face that was drawn with pain.
“What in hell are you trying to do?” he demanded.
“Lure you into bed with me,” she said softly. “Come on. I dare you,” she taunted with her newfound confidence.
He just stared at her. He had the cigarette in his lips now, but lighting it was another matter. He couldn’t seem to hold the flame steady, and that brought a string of bitter curses to his lips.
She only smiled, coaxed the lighter from his lean fingers, flicked on the flame and held it to the cigarette.
“Proud of yourself?” he asked coldly. He smiled, but not happily.
“Proud of what I can do to you, yes,” she confessed gently. “You seem so reserved at times, so unapproachable. It’s nice to know you’re human.”
“You almost found out exactly how human,” he muttered.
Her eyes searched his, and she sighed softly. “I tingle all over. That was so sweet.”
“Not for me,” he said through his teeth.
She watched his face, frowning a little. “I don’t understand.”
“I know.” He took a deep draw from the cigarette and turned away, walking down the beach.
She followed, puzzled. “Can’t you talk about it?”
He reached out, drawing her gently against his hips. His voice at her temple was slow and thick with discomfort. “I ache for you,” he whispered. “Badly. Have you forgotten what we talked about, how after a certain point it’s difficult to pull back?”
“I wasn’t going to stop you,” she reminded him.
“We couldn’t very well make love on the beach in full view of my family!” he burst out. “Where’s your mind tonight?”
“I don’t know.” She sighed. “I ache in places I never knew I had, I’m burning up with desire, and here you are, fully capable of putting out every fire I’ve got, and you’re complaining that you’re in pain.”
He couldn’t help it; he burst out laughing. “Oh, my God,” he moaned.
She threw up her hands. “I offer you myself, no strings attached, and you walk off in a snit.”
“Your parents would be ashamed of you,” he pointed out.
“My parents don’t expect me to be superhuman,” she shot back. “God made bodies, you know, so I guess he expected that people would want to enjoy them occasionally.”
“Although you’d rather do so with a ring on your finger,” he prodded.
She shrugged. “Yes. But that doesn’t cool me off any.”
“Cool, the devil.” He flung the cigarette away and lifted her suddenly, carrying her into the surf. “I’ll cool you off.”
He dumped her into the next wave. She spluttered and struggled to her feet, her dress plastered to her body, her hair in strings down her back.
“Wild animal!” she raged.
“Sexy baggage,” he returned. “Want to hit me? Come on. Try it.”
She took a swing at him. He sidestepped, and she went down again, and before she could get up he was in the water beside her, holding her down.
There was a look in his eyes that she’d never seen, and the sheer strength of his hands excited her. “You can’t very well wear it like that, can you?” He laughed softly as he felt her bedraggled dress. “Let me help you out of it.”
“You can’t! Not here!” she gasped, looking around wildly.
“Yes I can,” he shot back, and he began unfastening the soaking dress.