Soaked (The Water's Edge #2) (24 page)

“WEST.” I HADN’T
meant to whisper.

Emotions chased over his chiseled face. Desire, uncertainty, determination, tenderness. Blatant want. Capturing my hand in his larger one, he pulled us back a few steps, giving us some semblance of privacy.

He tucked a wayward curl behind my ear. “Sadie.” My name was a caress on his lips.

Our eyes clung, trying to determine where the other stood. Where we stood.

“You didn’t call,” he said.

I shook my head. “No. But I looked for you.”

“I found the paper plane. At the dock, when I got in this afternoon.”

My eyes widened. I’d forgotten about that.

He hooked my pinky finger with his. “Did you mean it? Did you miss me?”

I nodded and bit my lip, suddenly shy now that he was standing right here in front of me. He took another half step, until my breasts rubbed his chest, and he wrapped one strong arm around me, his fingers spreading wide on the bare skin of my back. I swear I felt his breath catch just a little when his hand met nothing but warm flesh. He dipped his head, murmuring in my ear. “You made me crazy, not hearing from you. But then, I’ve been crazy about you since you pulled me from the ocean.”

I sagged against him a little, my hand slipping up to clutch his hard hip.

“I don’t even care that he brought you tonight. You’re mine, and we both know it.”

I moaned softly at the feel of his lips against the rim of my ear, and the tip of his tongue stole a quick taste.

Determined not to let him distract me, I pulled back. “He only brought me because you brought her.”

“Her?” His eyebrows knit with confusion.

“Don’t play games with me. Aubrey. Hailey told me you were bringing her.”

“Ahhhh, so that’s what this is about. You’re trying to make me jealous.” He tugged me closer. “It’s working.” I tried to jerk back to glare at him but he wouldn’t let me put any distance between us. “Sadie, I didn’t bring her. I didn’t bring anybody. I got delayed in St. Augustine and only got in a few hours ago. I barely had time to get myself here. Besides that, I never had any intention of bringing her, no matter what story she told to my grandma.”

“But Hailey sa—”

“I also don’t run all my plans past my sister.”

Relief, thick and heavy, poured through me, and my tense muscles relaxed. He’d come alone.

His hips pressed against mine, and the thickness of his growing arousal was impossible to miss. “I have to mingle for a while, shake hands, do the obligatory networking. But then I’m finding you, Sadie. And we’re going to talk.” His finger trailed down my spine, awakening every nerve ending in its path. “You look gorgeous tonight. No man will be able to keep his eyes off you.” He sounded slightly disgruntled.

“I’ll be waiting,” I promised him, pulling away reluctantly as I sensed the presence of another couple waiting to greet West behind me.

EXCEPT, I BARELY
saw him for the next two hours. He’d gotten involved in several longwinded conversations with paunchy men who had too much money and time on their hands, and I hadn’t been able to get to him. Not that I’d just been standing around spying on him.

No, Grady had kept his word, and I’d made the rounds myself, meeting community leaders and making new connections. Not one of them batted an eye when they heard my name, no one gasped or pulled away in disgust. Aubrey’s campaign to destroy my reputation hadn’t spread as far as I’d feared.

And Nick was there. He found me hovering by an empty table near the edge of the dance floor, taking a moment to clear my head, and handed me a blood orange margarita with a look of pure innocence. “Really?” I’d chided.

He dipped his chin. “In remembrance of a great night. What can I say? The salt air and humidity are bringing back memories.”

“Memories we’re never going to speak of again,” I said pointedly, taking a long swallow of the frozen beverage before setting it down on the table.

He winked, and mimed zipping his lips while I glared at him. “I met with Grady yesterday.” He waited for me to react and when I didn’t, he continued. “He showed me your finished campaign. I’d like to commend you. The images were stunning.” He tipped a slight nod my way. “Almost as good as mine, even.” I rolled my eyes at his ego but he kept talking. “Seriously, Sadie, I wanted to say good job. I’m proud to have my work next to yours for this project, and I’d love to work with you again in the future.”

Slightly stunned by his unexpected praise, I could only gape at him.

Setting his drink down, he scooped up my hand. “Dance with me?”

Glancing around, I finally spotted West sequestered with a small group near the corner of the huge white tent that dominated the yard. Aubrey was next to him.

“Sure,” I gritted, following him to the dance floor. The live band had been playing a wide range of favorites all night, from the Beach Boys and Jimmy Buffet to more current Top 40 hits. While we danced, I couldn’t help but glance at West from time to time. He had shifted positions so he was facing me. The weight of his gaze tracked my movements, but Aubrey was still next to him, so I did my best to ignore him.

“That’s him, isn’t it?”

“Huh?”

“The guy staring daggers at me. It’s the idiot we talked about on the plane. The one who lost you.”

I’d forgotten we’d talked about that. “Yeah. That’s him.”

“Are you still lost? Or has he found you again?”

I wasn’t sure how to answer. Our status was nebulous, murky, awaiting that big bang that would solidify us into being.

“What about you?” I countered instead of answering. “Has anyone claimed you yet?”

He threw back his head and laughed. “Not for more than a night or two.”

I shook my head in mock disgust as we wove around each other, finding an easy rhythm. He didn’t crowd me or try anything inappropriate. In fact, considering our previous encounters, Nick was actually being quite . . . tame.

“Why not?” My question was serious.

His eyes darkened and shifted away from mine uneasily. “Despite my appearances of chasing every hot woman whose path I cross, yours included, I’m not an easy man to get close to.”

“On purpose,” I guessed.

“On purpose.”

The song came to an end, and we both turned to retrieve our abandoned drinks. I started to follow up the question, but he shook his head sharply. “Just leave it, Sadie. You passed on your chance to dig deeper.” His face softened, tipping his head toward the corner of the pavilion where West was still locked in conversation. “And the idiot doesn’t look like such a bad guy.”

I snuck a quick peek at West, whose face had turned stormy and tight as he tracked our movements. “He’s not.” Aubrey twisted to follow his gaze and scowled, stepping forward half a step to block his view.

“Should I be worried for my safety?”

“Maybe.” My lips twitched.

His eyebrows rose. “Duly noted. And with that warning, I think I’ll leave you to your drink. It was good to see you, Sadie. Keep up the good work.”

I laughed as he retreated and pretended to keep a wary eye on West. Picking up the half-melted margarita, I joined Hailey, Rue, and Grady at the edge of tent. “Did I miss anything?”

“No,” Hailey mused, looking quite sophisticated in a strapless, tea-length emerald dress. “I’d say things were just getting good.”

I giggled. “What does that mean?”

“Have you talked to West yet?”

“When I first got here. He’s been tied up since then.”

“He might be tied up, but he’s been watching you.”

“Well, yay. How can I untie him?”

Grady spoke up. “I think I can help with that. Sadie, would you care to . . . salsa?”

I WASN’T ENTIRELY
sure what Grady’s plan was—with West or on the dance floor. On the island, we’d practiced to a more authentic Latin beat, but tonight we were making do with a Marc Anthony song. I’ll admit, if I was going to put myself out there on display, I wanted to look damn good doing it. If West was gonna have his eyes on me, I wanted to put on a show he wouldn’t forget. And the selfish, shallow part of me—the petty devil on my shoulder I wasn’t proud of—just wanted to fucking show Aubrey that, for once, it wasn’t all about her.

Even if it was for just one damn song.

After two weeks apart, the first several measures of the song were rusty. I couldn’t find the one beat and was throwing off our rhythm. Grady improvised, adding a little twisting spin to focus my concentration back on him. And purposefully face me away from West.

“You forget,” he murmured as our feet finally coordinated, regaining the syncopated fluidity of the dance, “that there’s someone here I might want to impress as well.” He spun us, dipped me low, and continued on. “Concentrate. We’re only gonna get this one shot.”

I smirked and donned my game face. “Bring it.”

The beat took up residence in my chest, the 4/4 cadence becoming a natural extension of my feet as I followed his lead. We ran through several of the combos we’d learned, with an emphasis on the ones with the flashier moves we knew we can handle.

My face lit in a smile. We. Were. Owning. It.

Grady spun me again, and I must have done something wrong, because my wrist was captured at an awkward angle, keeping me from completing the movement. I lifted my gaze, brows dipping low in confusion, and clashed with the blue-gray storm clouds rioting in West’s eyes. I followed the line of his shoulder down his bicep, past his strong forearm to where his fingers clasped the thin bones of my wrist, not painfully, but enough to make a point.

“West,” I exhaled.

Not lifting his piercing stare from mine, he tipped his chin at Grady, the words somehow both heated and icy at the same time. “You don’t mind if I cut in, do you?”

I tore my eyes from West’s long enough to glance over my shoulder, where Grady tried to smother the mirth threatening to overtake his face. He acquiesced with grace, ever the Southern gentleman. “The lady is all yours.”

The storm clouds erupted, West’s eyes flashing dangerously as they ran over my face, searching for something. A signal? Whatever it was, he seemed to find it and his fingers threaded through mine, tugging me closer, until he was all I could see, all I could feel. I caught a whiff of his salt-and-citrus smell, and my knees weakened a bit, a slip he took advantage of to bring me snug against his broad chest. “Yes. Yes, she is.” He shifted me fully into his iron embrace, molding me to his hard contours. “If you’ll excuse us, I’m going to remind her.”

My eyes widened and my breath caught, even as I instinctively followed his movements. It wasn’t a salsa anymore. No, it was dirtier, slower, but just as sensual, the way his hips rolled and mine followed, our bodies flush and his solid thigh thrust between mine.

The other times we’d danced at Anchor flashed through my mind. The first night we’d been intimate together, when he’d stolen me away from the boy with the British accent. And then again, before I’d left on the trip a few weeks ago. How dancing with him had always been foreplay to wild, frenzied lovemaking

It reminded me of the last time. When love and anger had sparred for control, fighting for the upper hand. Because looking in his eyes, I didn’t doubt that both of those emotions simmered in him tonight as well. The intensity coated the air between us like molasses, thick and dark and sweet.

I lifted my chin in challenge. He wasn’t the only one whose feelings were threatening to boil over. I wasn’t sure if I was more inclined to beat my fists against his chest or yank him closer until I could claim him as mine, publicly and irrevocably, polite society be damned.

If there were other people around us, I was oblivious. It was just him and his touch and the sticky humidity and my pulse hammering so hard, I was sure he felt it in his own chest.

His hand dropped until it rested dangerously low on my back. The other crept up until his fingers tangled in my upswept curls, tugging until I raised my eyes to his, the sting in my scalp skipping down my spine and pooling low in my belly.

My tongue slid out to wet my lower lip, capturing his gaze with that small action. He groaned, his eyes dilated in the waning evening light as they focused on my mouth.