by Jaci Burton
She'd really love to get her hands on his body. All of his body. But for now, she'd enjoy this moment and the gingerly way he seemed to touch her, as if he thought she was fragile. Or maybe he was trying to avoid too much contact.
"Everything okay back there?" she asked as he moved down to her lower back.
"Fine."
His voice was tight, his tone clipped, as if he wasn't having the best time putting lotion on her body. Since most men who weren't at all physically attracted to a woman would have no problem putting sunscreen on them, she knew the reason Barrett was uptight about this was because he was attracted to her.
Her lips curved upward in a satisfied smile. This day was turning out better and better.
He finally handed the lotion back to her. "Done."
She turned around, gracing him with her brightest smile. "Thanks. Ready?"
"Unless you need me to rub some of that on your butt."
She cocked a brow. "Would you?"
"Hell no."
She laughed. "Come on. It's blistering hot out here. Let's go cool our feet off in the water."
She wasn't intentionally torturing him, but if he suffered a little and it moved him in the right direction, then she wouldn't mind that.
She wanted him interested in her. And he was definitely showing signs of interest.
So far, so good.
Now she just had to turn up the heat a little.
Twelve
Go to the beach. Who thought that was a good idea?
Oh, right. He had. Barrett made a mental note to do extra squats in the gym tomorrow to torture himself in punishment for this lame-ass idea.
Harmony was a few steps ahead of him as they walked the water's edge, her bright red bikini showcasing every one of her perfect assets.
Mostly, her perfect ass, which was round and curvy, and all he could think about was getting his hands on it.
He should have suggested they spend the afternoon in a frigid movie theater, where she'd have all her clothes on. And maybe a sweater, too.
The problem was, he liked the water, and figured maybe she could relax and unwind, they could have a few drinks and she could eat. He hadn't thought this through to the part where she'd be in a bikini and he'd have to endure seeing all her gorgeous skin exposed.
She bent over to pick something up, giving him an even better view of her ass and causing his imagination to spring into overdrive.
He could already envision gripping her hips and driving his cock into her while she was bent over the sofa in their private tent area, sweat pouring off of him as he made her come, over and over. He could hear her soft cries, feel her pussy clench around his cock as she came.
His cock hardened and he had to banish the images.
Down, boy. Nothing was going to happen, especially out here.
Or, ever. Not with Harmony.
She turned and waited for him to catch up.
Yeah, it was just as bad from the front because beads of perspiration caressed her breast, drawing his focus there and making him wish they really were alone, so he could lick the droplets, pull aside the cups and . . .
"It's really hot out here," she said, pulling his attention away from her breasts.
He cleared his throat. "Yeah. How about we get in the water?"
"Sounds like a great idea."
They turned and headed into the waves. He grabbed her hand as the water lapped at their ankles, then their knees and thighs.
"Oh this feels so good," Harmony said, as they ended up standing waist deep in it.
"Care to dive in?"
She shook her head. "No thanks. You don't even want to know what water does to my hair."
Today she wore her hair straight, though he liked it curly, too. "I'm not even going to ask."
"Good. Don't. But feel free to dive away."
"I'm going to."
He turned and dove into the next wave, coming up feeling a hell of a lot cooler, and hopefully more clearheaded.
Harmony had dipped her body up to her shoulders. How women managed to stand in an ocean with waves crashing over them and not get their hair wet was a goddamned mystery to him.
He made his way over to her and swept her up into his arms.
"Time to get wet," he said, and lifted her up.
Harmony screamed, but she was laughing as he set her body gently into the water. He still held on to her.
"Don't worry. Your hair is safe with me."
She wound her arms around him. "You do not want to see this hair all wet."
"Oh, see, now it's a challenge to see it. What happens to it? Does it stick out all over? Because mine is sticking out all over."
"Yes. It sticks out all over. It's a mess."
"I'll bet it's a sexy mess."
She shook her head. "It is not."
He let her down in the water, but she held on to him, which meant her body slid down over his.
Yeah, still torture.
"I guess if you want to see my hair wet, you'll have to get me in the shower. And to get me in the shower, you'll have to see me naked."
He frowned. "Don't tempt me."
She turned away, giving him one hell of a sexy smile. "Don't you know? I've been trying to do that all day."
She headed out of the water, her hips swaying as she walked onto the beach.
Barrett decided he should stay in. He needed to cool down some.
Get her naked. What the hell, Harmony? Was she playing some kind of game with him?
Then it hit him. Of course. She'd just gotten dumped by her boyfriend. She needed a self-esteem boost, and he'd been nearby right after it happened.
She was rebounding. She wasn't really interested in him at all.
He knew what that was like. He'd been dumped before, and the first thing he wanted to do was lick his wounds and go right after the next available female.
That's all Harmony was doing, hitting on the next available male, which had just happened to be him.
He'd give her a pep talk, tell her she needed some time to heal after her breakup and remind her that she wasn't ready yet.
And he absolutely wasn't the right guy for her--for obvious reasons.
Then they could go back to being friends again, and this crazy sudden attraction he felt for her would go away.
Now that he had a plan, he headed out of the water.
Thirteen
Harmony had fallen asleep. She wasn't sure if it was her utterly draining morning, or the rotating ceiling fans that had lulled her into a prone position on the sofa, but she opened her eyes to realize she'd conked out, cold. She picked up her phone to see she'd been out for over an hour.
She sat up and realized she wasn't the only one snoozing. Barrett was on one of the chairs, his feet propped up on the ottoman, his arms laced over his stomach. His eyes were closed and his breathing was deep and even. She took a moment to simply admire his beautiful body.
Even asleep, he looked formidable. She wanted to snap some photos of him with her phone, but that would be taking advantage without his permission, and she wouldn't do that. Instead, she leaned back, grabbed her ice water and took a long, slow sip from the straw, enjoying the eye candy. Her mind filled with visuals of stripping naked and straddling him, rubbing herself against his board shorts until he got hard.
She inhaled a deep breath, imagining him taking hold of her hips, rising up to kiss her. The kiss would be hot, passionate, and he'd fill his hands with her breasts. She could already imagine her breasts rubbing against his chest as he rose up only long enough to shed his board shorts, his cock springing up, hard and pulsing.
He'd sit again, only this time she'd slowly lower herself onto him and--
"Stop that."
She startled out of her fantasy, snapping her gaze to Barrett, who hadn't moved but his eyes were now open.
"Stop what?"
"Staring at me like that."
She swallowed past the dryness in her throat evoked by her oh-so-intense
fantasy. "Like what?"
"You know like what." He pushed upright and grabbed for his water, then leaned forward to take a drink, but not before she caught sight of his erection.
He must have been awake longer than she was aware, and he'd caught her staring at him. Had her expression given away her thoughts?
Her lips curved and she leaned back against the sofa and took a long swallow of water, then set the glass down. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You know exactly what I'm talking about, so don't play innocent with me, Harmony. And there's something I need to talk to you about."
"Really. And what is that?"
"Your ex-boyfriend."
"What about him?"
"I think you're not over him yet, and you're only interested in me because you need a rebound."
Men were so clueless sometimes. "Uh, no."
"Really, I totally understand how that happens. You got dumped and you want to jump right back on board with a new guy. It's happened to me before."
Her lips quirked. "You got dumped and wanted to jump right back on board with a new guy?"
"Funny. No. But after a breakup, the first thing I did was get together with a new woman. Like right away. It's an ego thing. I needed to feel wanted, and there's no better way to do that than with another person. The first available person."
"Oh, so you think I latched on to you at Mama's right after Levon and I broke up, and I'm using you to rebound."
"Yes."
"No."
He let out a sigh. "Harmony."
"Barrett, I appreciate you looking out for me and all, but I can assure you I didn't select you as my rebound guy. Frankly, I could have used any random guy to rebound, if that's what I was after. I mean, look at me. It's not like I can't get men."
He stared at her for a few seconds. "Point taken."
"Do you think I'd go through this hassle of choosing you with you being so close to my brother if I didn't really like you? I'd have chosen a different guy to"--she used air quotes around her next word--"rebound."
He didn't say anything, and she knew that she had him.
"Your whole notion of me rebounding is idiotic, Barrett. I'd have to be heartbroken to rebound, and, frankly, I wasn't all that into Levon."
"Oh."
"Yeah."
"I thought you were upset that night."
"I was upset. No one likes to get dumped. We were seeing each other fairly exclusively, you know? But it wasn't love or anything."
"I see."
She could tell he didn't see at all. "I'm not a player. I don't date multiple men. Levon and I had been exclusive for about three months. But I could see the writing on the wall with him well before that night. He had some idiosyncrasies that were beginning to get on my nerves. It was only a matter of time until we broke up."
"But maybe you wanted to be the one to do the breaking up?"
"Not necessarily. Maybe I wanted it to be more of a mutual thing, where we'd sit down and have a civilized discussion about where we saw our relationship heading, and that we didn't see eye to eye on a lot of things, so we should probably go our separate ways. What I didn't expect was his it's-not-you-it's-me speech and how he didn't have time to devote to the relationship so we need to break up bullshit, which wasn't the case at all. I mean, is it too much to expect an honest conversation from a guy?"
"Of course not. But I can tell you're still harboring some hostility over him dumping you."
She stood, irritation rising. "No, I'm not hostile. To be hostile I'd have to care, and trust me, I don't. What aggravated me was his less than honest way of ending the relationship."
"Okay, I think I see your point. You wanted him to sit down with you so the two of you could mutually end your relationship with an honest discussion about why it wasn't working."
"Yes. That's it exactly."
Barrett laughed. "Babe, that's never going to happen. With any guy. First, because we're just not wired that way. If we want out of a relationship, we want out fast. So we're just going to end things, in the least messy way possible--at least that's the way we figure it out in our heads. If we have to make up bullshit reasons for it, we will, mainly to spare your feelings."
She gave him an incredulous look. "Seriously, Barrett? You're taking his side?"
"I'm not taking anyone's side. If you ask me, the man was a dick. I usually try to be as honest as possible throughout a relationship and don't set up a woman with any unrealistic expectations. And when it's over, it's over. But I can guarantee you the last damn thing I'm gonna want to do is sit down and have a long-ass conversation with a woman about why it's over. That tends to lead to accusations and recriminations and tears on the woman's part. No man wants that. It's best to just cut the cord and be done with it."
She stared at him for a few long seconds, then shook her head. "I do not understand your species. At all."
"Ditto."
He didn't seem at all upset, while she wanted to take one of the very colorful decorative pillows on the sofa and throw it right at his damn head.
Deciding she needed a break from men in general, she packed up her things in her bag. "I'm going to the room."
"Are you hungry?"
She shoved her sunscreen in the bag. "No, I'm not hungry. I'm pissed."
"Want me to go with you?"
"Oh, hell no. The last thing I want or need right now is you." She slung her bag over her shoulder. "You can hang out here, or in the water, or at the gym, but honestly, Barrett, I need some space from you for a while."
He looked confused.
"Okay. Like . . . for how long?"
She rolled her eyes. "Awhile."
She walked across the sand toward the hotel entrance, shaking her head.
Maybe Barrett was right and she needed some space to think about men in general. Because right now getting involved with any man--Barrett included--seemed like a giant waste of her time.
Men were obtuse, made no sense, and clearly did not care about women's feelings.
All men.
Okay, so maybe Barrett had gone too far in his discussion with Harmony, but if he'd succeeded in pushing her away, it had been the right thing to do.
Right?
After all, that had been his intent. To make her see that she was possibly attracted to him only because she was on the rebound from her breakup with her ex-boyfriend, and she needed some time to honestly think about what it was that she wanted.
Only now she was pissed at him, and that part he didn't like.
They'd had fun today. At least after her bout with hypoglycemia this morning, she'd eaten and relaxed and they'd managed to have a good time.
Now he'd gotten her all riled up, and that part he hadn't intended.
Plus, it didn't sit well with him that she'd lumped him into the category of "all men are assholes."
He wasn't an asshole. He could be brutally honest with a woman at times, and he'd managed to piss off a few, but he'd never lied to a woman in his life and he didn't intend to start now.
But this was Harmony, and she was . . . different.
He was going to sit here awhile and let her have her space.
Then he was going to try the talking thing again, maybe this time with a touch more tact.
Fourteen
After going up to the room and taking a shower that cooled her down, followed by some quiet time with a great book, Harmony found her mood improved dramatically.
She'd blown up at Barrett for no reason whatsoever. What could have been a highly enlightening conversation on the relationship differences between the sexes had turned into her throwing a tantrum because Barrett refused to see things her way.
That wasn't how she normally behaved. She was typically levelheaded and saw the other person's point of view in a discussion. She might not agree with it, but she was always willing to listen.
So what the hell had gotten her so emotional?
She laid her book down and stood, walking ov
er to the balcony to look out over the water.
She knew exactly why. Because he wasn't playing her game. He was trying to get rid of her and she didn't like it. She'd flirted with him, and to a certain extent he'd flirted back, but for the most part, he'd held his ground--rather firmly, much to her frustration.
She might think he wasn't interested except she knew better. He'd sprouted some rather impressive erections around her. Biology, sure, but a man who wasn't interested in a woman didn't get hard around her.
And he'd definitely gotten hard around her. She wasn't a naive kid. She was a woman, and a woman knew when a man was interested.
It was just his stupid man code rearing its ugly head. And while she appreciated all that nobility crap and his dedication to her brother, she was going to have to stand firm if she wanted Barrett in her life.
Resolve firmly in place once again, she changed out of her shorts and tank top into a sundress, fixed her hair and applied makeup.
Then she left a note for Barrett and headed downstairs.
Figuring a couple of hours should have been enough time to leave Harmony alone, Barrett made his way up to the room. When he opened the door, he peeked his head in first.
"Harmony?"
No answer. Maybe she was in the shower, so he stepped in and shut the door.
The bathroom door was open and she wasn't in the room.
Huh. He walked into the room to find a note on the pillow.
Barrett--
I'm downstairs in the bar. Why don't you clean up and come meet me?
H
Okay, so maybe she wasn't pissed at him anymore. That was a good sign. He took a quick shower and changed clothes, then headed downstairs to the bar. He saw Harmony sitting at the bar chatting with some dude. The guy wore shorts and a button-down shirt. Looked to be a vacation type. Only he had no wife or family with him. He was a big burly guy with short, spiked blond hair and lots of muscles.
Harmony laughed at something the guy said and the guy laid his hand over hers.
Okay, enough of that shit. He walked over to the bar. Harmony saw him and smiled. The dude smiled, too.
Whatever, buddy.
"Hi," Harmony said. "Barrett, this is Ted Lester. He works here at the hotel. Ted, this is Barrett Cassidy."
Barrett shook his hand. "Ted."
"Barrett. You play for the Hawks, right?"
"Yeah."
"Big fan."