Sunset Seduction - By Charlene Sands Page 0,28
of the pool. The scent of Sweet and Wicked drifted to his nose. Beads of water caressed her body. Lamps beat down and glowed over her beautiful, soft skin. He itched to touch her, to untie the top of her suit and fill his hands with the spillage. A tremor of need ran through him.
“You called me over to the bed.”
“I didn’t know it was you, darlin’.”
“I didn’t know that,” she whispered. “I thought you knew who I was.” The softness of her words traveled over his skin.
From what he did remember, she’d pretty much rocked his world that night. In the morning, he’d woken up sated and smiling and ready for round two, but his mystery woman was gone. He was left to wonder who she was. She’d plagued his thoughts ever since.
The whole thing was beyond wrong.
“It was a mistake. It shouldn’t have happened,” he told her.
“It wasn’t a mistake.” Her quiet defiance lifted her chin. “It wasn’t planned, but it wasn’t a mistake.”
“Audrey Faith. Look, I know you had a bad breakup and that you weren’t yourself that nigh—”
“I’m not Audrey Faith anymore, Luke. I’m Audrey. I’m an adult and I knew exactly what I was doing when I climbed into your bed and made love to you.”
Luke squeezed his eyes shut and drew oxygen into his lungs. Hearing her admit to seducing him got his juices flowing. He was turned on, big-time. Not his proudest moment, but he couldn’t force his memory to shut down. For weeks he hoped to hell he’d remember. Now, those flashbacks wouldn’t go away. She’d been stark naked and straddling him in the dark, her hair whipping about her face in a frenzy, the scent on her lips and her soft skin driving him wild.
She stood on the second step of the pool, a mass of long, golden hair tumbling past her shoulders, her soft dewy skin moist and glimmering under the lamplight. Her eyes were big and round, the expression on her face fragile enough for him to choose his words carefully. “Audrey—”
“Do you know what it does to a woman not to have a man remember her?”
His throat worked and he swallowed hard, recognizing the injury in her voice. He did remember the act, just not the woman performing the act. He knew that wouldn’t make her feel any better. Luke stumbled through his next thoughts. The whole Audrey package made him a little dizzy. And a whole lot of nervous.
He should be angry at her for showing up on the ranch and not telling him the truth immediately. He should be scolding her for letting it go this long, for having sex with him without protection. How the hell did she know that he hadn’t been sleeping around? And why had she run off in the morning without a word? Now that was an argument he could sink his teeth into.
But he didn’t want to fight with her. He didn’t want to scold her like a child. Clearly, she wasn’t one. That had become obvious the second he spotted her in the pool. She’d hidden her beauty under scratchy straw hats and youthful ponytails and baggy clothes.
Luke viewed her differently now. But that wouldn’t serve him too well. He was mentally knocking himself upside the head. Because she tempted him like no other woman had. She was clearly off-limits, but he couldn’t stop the memories from bouncing around his feverish mind. Or put a halt to nerves that were stretched thin by his physical reaction to her.
Now he had the correct face to go with the memory of that night.
And the newfound recollection was worse than the mystery.
The hell of it was, he would never forget making love to Casey’s sister, a woman he had always tried to protect.
“I was drugged up and not thinking clear. But you,” he began, pointing his finger, looking deep into her wide, expectant eyes, “you should’ve…” But he couldn’t follow through on his reprimand. He dropped his hand suddenly. Hell, he wasn’t her teacher or her brother. He took another gulp of air before admitting…he was her lover.
“I should’ve what?” she asked with a hushed breath.
Luke flicked his gaze over her curvy body. That red thong was messing with his head. He was a man first and foremost and Audrey was killing him in small doses.
He shook his head. “Nothing.”
Audrey stepped out of the water, coming up from the last step to plant her feet on solid ground. Even her toes were