Tango in Paradise (9 page)

And in that respect, she had to admit her reaction was way out of the ordinary. In fact, she’d never
done anything like it before. After her pride had been destroyed during the harassment trial, April had shied away from all relationships. Gradually she’d learned to trust again, but by then building the resort had taken over her life. Her immediate reaction to Jack had taken some getting used to.

The grin she’d been suppressing slowly spread across her face. Jack Tango liked being in control. She perfectly understood that need. She hadn’t had much chance to put it into practice relationship-wise, but she’d vowed the day she decided to come forward with her charges against Markham that any relationship she did have would be equal risk and aboveboard—with no chance of one person holding the upper hand. It was the only way to remain safe.

Safe. That word didn’t seem to fit Jack. Always cool, sexy, and so damned sure of his charm. But unless she was completely off the mark, her little speech just now had actually made Jack Tango nervous.

The very idea made her skin tingle.

Jack punched his key card into the lock slot on the bungalow door. Once inside he went directly to the kitchen. He methodically began sorting through the contents of the basket he’d packed earlier, forcing himself to concentrate on making sure he hadn’t forgotten anything. It was no use.
He slammed the wicker lid down and paced around the room. After several paths to the window and back he collapsed onto the small couch.

No matter how he tried, he couldn’t reconcile the troubled, skittish woman he’d comforted in his arms on this very couch two days ago with the sexy, confident lady who’d looked into his eyes not five minutes ago and basically stated she wanted him as badly as he wanted her.

He was having a hard enough time figuring out what to do with all these new protective feelings she inspired in him. He’d known from the moment he’d decided to pursue her she’d need the kid-glove treatment. Something was eating at her, and he knew he’d better damn sure take it slow if he wanted to keep her from shutting him out. So what in the Sam Hill was she doing telling him it was okay to all but make love to her under a tree in broad daylight for chrissakes?

Jack groaned and let his head drop back on the edge of the couch. “Women.” Minutes later he opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. “Franklin, you owe me for this one.”

“What does Franklin have to do with this?”

Jack snapped his head up. April was standing in the doorway. “How did you get in here? Never mind, stupid question,” he added, seeing the master card in her hand. It bothered him that he’d somehow lost the upper hand.

“Have a seat.” She lifted her brow just slightly at his curt command, but she moved to sit down, choosing a seat across from him. Very telling. He smiled. Apparently her assertiveness had faded somewhat, along with the arousal. Good.

“Who is Franklin?”

“A friend. Colleague, actually.” Jack’s response was automatic. He was busy watching the light play across her hair, deciding which filter would be most flattering. Nah, she didn’t need any help, she’d photograph beautifully under even the harshest light.

“I remember you blaming him earlier, when I first met you. For being here, I mean. Does it have something to do with your job?”

Jack dragged his attention back to the conversation. He propped his feet up on the coffee table, telling himself he was glad she was providing them both with a reprieve. The new position didn’t ease his discomfort, but maybe he could at least hide his condition from her view.

Reprieve or not, her deep, steady voice made it difficult to forget there was a big queen-size bed in the next room. “My job?” he answered, hoping he remembered the question. “Well, sort of. I guess you could say I tend to be a bit aggressive about my work. Somehow I let Franklin manage to convince me that taking a few weeks off would not bring the world to a grinding halt.”

“So, is it Franklin’s choice of Mexico? Or Paradise Cove? Or do you just miss working and want to get back?”

Jack stopped restlessly tapping his feet together and looked directly at her. Judging from her earnest expression, she wasn’t just making idle chitchat, she really seemed to want to know. “It’s partly being stuck so far away from anything without there being a real purpose for it,” he said quietly. “It’s partly the feeling that I should be working on another assignment.”

“So you don’t miss it as much as you thought you would?”

Jack stilled completely, his gaze pinned on hers. Her ability to cut to the core of things still startled him. She heard things he hadn’t been aware of saying. Until she’d asked, even he hadn’t acknowledged that a large part of the unsettling disquiet plaguing him since he’d arrived here was due to exactly that possibility.

He ignored for now the myriad of questions her comment provoked him to consider. Instead he finished answering her earlier question. “But the main reason I was swearing at Franklin when you walked in was because if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have met you.”

April’s eyes widened and she stiffened in the chair. “I wasn’t aware I’d made such a nuisance out of myself.”

Jack leaned forward, swung his feet to the floor, and stood, his motions controlled and fluid. He stepped around the low table separating them. April immediately got up and moved several feet away. Jack halted, his light eyes glittering as they narrowed. “I’d think by now you’d know I’m not going to do anything that isn’t a mutual decision.”

The hurt he’d felt at her retreat lessened considerably when she squared her shoulders and held her ground as he moved to stand in front of her. It took guts, he knew, to try to stare down a man a good foot taller than herself. “I’ve been very careful to go slowly with you.” He felt his lips twitch at the disbelief that crossed her face. “I haven’t done anything without your consent, have I?”

“If you’re not counting the pictures you took of me at the reception, no.”

“The pictures aren’t the issue here.” He stepped closer and felt his body warm as he confirmed that the look in her eyes was one of irritation, not fear. He’d never been more turned on, or more confused, in his whole life. “I want to get to know you. Spend time with you. After what happened under that tree you can hardly deny it’s only one-sided.”

“I wanted you to kiss me back, if that’s what you mean. But I don’t like being made to feel guilty that you’re attracted to me. I didn’t like being attracted to you either; it’s confusing and I wasn’t planning on it. But, at least once I admitted it to myself,
I was honest with you about it. I don’t know if anything will ever happen between us, but I won’t sneak around to find out.”

She was so damn direct it unnerved him. Jack felt as if he were teetering on the edge of a giant, gaping crevasse, tiptoeing along the rim. One wrong move and he’d be swept away forever. “I wasn’t trying to hide anything by bringing you here. I was under the misguided impression you would prefer to continue what we started out there in private. And for the record, you can’t plan everything in life.”

He placed his hands on her hips; the gentle thrust of her hipbones pressing against his big hands made him aware of just how much bigger he was than her. She didn’t try to move or shift away and he gave in to the need to feel her against him. He pulled her closer and slowly shifted her back and forth, his arousal unmistakable against her flat belly.

“You want honesty? This is what you do to me every time you look at me, talk to me. Even when you’re mad at me. I don’t like feeling this way either, April. I don’t like not being in control. But I’m not hiding from it, either.”

April reached up to grip Jack’s shoulders for support, barely drawing enough breath to fill her lungs. His body was hot and hard against hers and she had a sudden desperate need for him to lift her up so that his erection would be pressed against the ache between her legs instead of being wasted
against her stomach. “Jack?” Her voice was a low rasp.

“What,
mi tesoro
?”

My treasure
. The endearment was at once rough with need and tender with concern.

“I do want you.” She gasped as he groaned and gripped her hips tighter, pressing himself more deeply against her. “But, I think …” She looked down at their bodies. How wonderful it felt to finally be this close to him. “I may hate myself for this.”

Jack shifted his arm behind her back so he could tilt her chin with his finger until she looked him in the eyes. “No regrets, April. But stop me now if you don’t intend to finish this.”

“I want to eat lunch first.”

“What?” His tone was the epitome of disbelief. “
Now
you’re hungry? For food?”

“No, not in the least.”

“You’re not the only one confused here, lady.”

She reached up a trembling finger, pressing it against his lips. “I meant it, what I said earlier. I just need to go a bit slower. Does it have to be all or nothing?”

Jack blew out a deep breath, struggling with his need for her, to be on top of her, inside of her. He let his finger trail along the side of her jaw. “It shouldn’t be, no. I’ve known you less than a week and yet it’s taking every bit of my willpower not to
tug you down on this tile floor, lift that skirt to your hips, and do everything I can think of to make you beg me to be deep inside of you.”

He watched her pupils expand as he spoke until the brown was almost swallowed by her black irises. He was fascinated by the convulsing of the muscles in her slender throat as she tried to come to terms with her body’s response to his words. His gaze dropped lower and he had to forcibly restrain himself from lowering his lips to the tightened nipples straining against her thin blouse.

“Pretty amazing, isn’t it?” His voice was deep and dark.

“You have no idea,” she finally choked out. With that cryptic statement, April eased out of his arms and walked to the kitchen.

Jack let her go, very unwillingly, but knowing she’d been right to put a halt on things. She wasn’t the only one who felt out of her depth. He cleared his throat and followed her into the tiny kitchen, leaning against the bar. “If you still want to, I sorta thought we could eat on the beach. I figured you’d know all the secluded spots.” She darted a quick look at him and he added, “And the crowded ones.”

“I think we’d better stick to the public beach.”

Jack relaxed as she smiled, her tone dry, her voice even. He grinned, allowing himself to switch back to the comfortable charm he used to keep people at a distance, and winked. “Just remember,
I still haven’t had my turn at kissing yet. Are you sure you want to risk it?”

He was close enough now to see the quick flare of desire darken her brown eyes before she looked away, and he cursed himself for teasing her. He also made a mental note to start wearing baggier shorts around her. “Don’t answer that.” He grabbed the basket. “I’ll haul the food, you tote the blanket. Deal?”

“Deal.” She scooped up the woven cotton blanket and he stepped aside to let her pass. She headed out the door and down the path without looking back.

April glanced briefly at her watch, then turned her attention back to the action on the beach. She couldn’t believe she’d been playing hooky for two hours. Thoughts of what she should be doing skittered away as she watched Jack’s bare chest expand and the muscles of his arm bunch as he soared into the air and slammed the volleyball down over the net. The referee called a foul and April leapt to her feet, yelling and pumping her fist with the rest of the sizeable crowd.

It wasn’t until she heard herself threatening to fire the ref unless he reversed the call that she realized what she was doing. She cast a quick glance around, but no one was paying any attention to her.
All eyes were riveted on the match, as they had been for most of the last hour.

With a sheepish smile, she plopped back down on the blanket and fiddled with the last piece of mango. After a quiet lunch of tuna salad, fresh fruit, and light, impersonal talk, Jack had offered a walk on the beach. April had declined. Not because she didn’t want to go; she wanted to go very badly. But she’d started to wonder if maybe jack had been right about keeping their combustive reaction to each other behind closed doors. He’d been a total gentleman during lunch, yet her pulse hadn’t slowed down one bit.

She was still intent on keeping everything open and aboveboard, but since she wasn’t sure she could hold his hand for a quiet walk without tugging him into the first empty cabana she saw to finish that kiss, she’d declined. He’d smiled and taken it gracefully. She hadn’t been sure how she felt about that, but since the volleyball game had started right after, she hadn’t had much time to dwell on it. She’d pooped out after the first match, but Jack had continued playing.

She watched his team score on another of his spectacular spikes, then turned to gather up the picnic supplies. As much as she’d appreciated the opportunity to ogle Jack’s hard-muscled physique to her heart’s content for the last hour, she had to get back to work.

She didn’t want to disrupt the game, but she didn’t want to just leave either. She stood and brushed the sand from the white shorts she’d changed into after leaving the bungalow, then felt a warm hand grip her elbow. She tensed as she looked up, but relaxed as she gazed into the now-familiar translucent green eyes.

“Playtime’s over, huh?” His voice was a bit gravelly from exertion, and it had no small effect on her system.

“For me, yes.” She smiled, squinting into the sun. “You go ahead and finish the game, though.”

Jack’s eyes widened in surprise. His large frame blocked out the game, but not the other players’ voices as they called him to come back. He glanced back at them, then at her. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“You
are
on vacation. I can find my way to my office. Go, have fan.” She didn’t add that she thought he could use a bit of mindless fun in his life. But the look in his eyes told her she didn’t have to.

“You’re sure?”

“Consider it a direct order from the CEO.”

A grin split his tanned face and he closed the space between them, shielding her completely from view. “I love it when you order me around. I
will
see you later.”