“I could have my diving instructor give you a tour of the coral reef?”
Mason snorted.
“You could—”
“Let me be clear, Charity.” His jaw clenched and unclenched. “If none of your alternatives have you and me spending time together, it will not work.”
Our eyes locked, and we stared at each other. My stomach quivered in excitement and chaos. The knot around my heart jerked painfully.
No. No No.
This wasn’t the time or place to decipher his words or what he meant by them. My feelings may be fussy, but one thing was clear: Mason had the power to make me surrender.
Paul’s voice came on the microphone, “Now up is the beautiful McKenzie.”
I reluctantly broke eye contact and faced the stage. It was the distraction I needed. As McKenzie coiled her long braid around her index finger, a twinge of jealousy hit me. McKenzie looked like she came right out of a magazine with her long legs and slender figure.Shewas Mason’s type. Hadn’t he kissed her? “I bet you wished you’d bid on her.” The words left my mouth before I could stop them.Shit!
“Why would you say that?”
I avoided looking at him, wanted to ignore his question, but my mouth was on something tonight. “Weren’t you two a thing ever since the party on my father’s yacht? I saw the kiss. You were really into it.”
“If you’re going to spy on people, the least you could do is stick around until the end. She kissed me without my consent. When I was through with her, I bet she never tried that shit on anyone again.”
“Oh. Then that means when you bid on me —”
“I got the wom — date I wanted.”
CHAPTERTHREE
MASON
Itossed my jacket, then my tie, onto a chair on the balcony and headed for the beach instead of following Charity into the house. The car ride to her father’s beachfront home was tense and filled with explosive silence.
The words almost slipped out of my mouth, revealing that she was the one I had been longing for. I gritted my teeth, feeling the ache spread through my jaw.
I was pulled toward her like metal to a magnet, but I knew if she discovered my feelings, she would bolt. Or that time or distance hadn’t dampened how I felt, but super charged my hunger, she would tell me to go to hell.
If I was a believing man, I’d say Charity was the missing puzzle piece to my soul.
But there couldn’t be an ‘us.’
Can there?
Just the thought had my heart racing.
What the hell am I doing?I had one job, check on her, then leave, yet each passing second blurred the lines between us.
I didn’t want to go. Ihadto, and I prayed that a night at the Filth Den was enough to sate my desires for Charity. Frequent visits kept me sane, made staying away from her bearable, but it was too long since I’d taken a lover, and even longer since I’d played.
Sitting on the wooden beach chair, I removed my shoes and socks, sinking my bare toes into the sand. The cool night air was exactly what I needed to clear my head before going inside, because sharing a roof with Charity was going to be pure torture.
I closed my eyes, letting the gentle breeze ruffle my hair. I needed a strategy. My success in running the best law practice in New York was because of my extensive study of my opponents. I took quick stock of my situation. Avoiding Charity for two days was out of the question. She wasn’t a child, and I didn’t play games. She was angry with me, but I could use anger.
I snap my eyes open when she passed me wearing the skimpiest bathing suit I’d ever seen. The tightness in my stomach had everything to do with the hypnotizing sway of her ass.
“Where are you going?” Except for the light reflecting off the back porch and the lighthouse in the distance, the beach was dark.
“To cool off.”
