My Daring Seduction. Isabel Sharpe

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СКАЧАТЬ give her pills for what ailed her, couldn’t prescribe spending time with him as the perfect cure, wasn’t trained to perform emotional plastic surgery to erase her internal scars.

      He could only let her know he was there, willing to listen and to do what he could to help, prod occasionally, but never push or she’d get her back up and whatever progress he’d made gaining her trust would be undone.

      Why the hell was he doing this to himself? Why hadn’t he just found another red-blooded wild woman to make his life easier and a whole lot more exciting?

      Maybe because he’d counted on changing his life by coming home and more of the same no longer appealed.

      The slide of the glass entrance door made him jerk his head up and peer at the shape entering the pool area, a flood of adrenaline letting him know how much he hoped it was Lindsay.

      The figure approached and he had to keep himself from frowning disappointment. Not Lindsay. Shorter, curvier, wavy hair. Adele, whom he assumed was another friend of the Robinsons.

      “Hi.” She spoke softly and came to stand at the edge of the pool. “How’s the water?”

      “Perfect.”

      “Perfect’s good enough for me.” She slid in gracefully, swam a leisurely circumference, then came back toward him, smiling. In the dim light her pale shadowed face made her look like the star of a black-and-white movie. Water droplets sparkled on her forehead and shoulders. She was undeniably beautiful—high cheekbones, almond eyes, lush curving lips. He instinctively gathered his legs under him as she drew closer, ready to move out of reach. The look on her face was purposeful, her eye contact pointed, but he wasn’t interested in staying in temptation’s way, because…

      Because why?

      He kicked off and swam a lap, then another, plowing through the water as if it deserved punishment. What kind of loyalty did he owe Lindsay? He wasn’t supposed to date his boss any more than he was supposed to date his patients in California and he’d had no trouble there steering clear of any and all offers. Why hold back from Adele? Lindsay could be dating four other guys for all he knew. Was he going to keep himself away from all other women while she showed next to no interest in getting close to him?

      Except…

      He did affect her. He knew he did. The way she fought her attraction, tried to deny it and got so flustered, had only made him more determined to wait her out until she surrendered. That might sound cavemannish except as much as he wanted her to give in, he wanted what could happen between them afterward even more. He wasn’t a hit and run type of guy—unless the woman made it clear that was all she wanted.

      It could be all Adele wanted.

      He pulled up to the wall back at the shallow end next to her, breathing slightly hard, probably more from emotion than exertion.

      “Thought you were running away.” Her low voice echoed in the glassed-in room; she flicked her fingers so water splashed his face.

      “Why would I want to do that?”

      “I can’t imagine. I don’t bite.” She smiled and tilted her head coyly, wet hair shaped close to her head so her stunning cheekbones stood out farther. “Unless you want me to?”

      “Hmm.” He stalled for time, hoping the battle didn’t show on his face. “That is an interesting idea…”

      “Then how about it?”

      “Maybe. Someday.”

      “Someday.” Her disappointment was clear. “Not tonight?”

      He sighed. Why not tonight? Why the hell not? Why turn down a warm willing female because of a cold unattainable one?

      Because his thoughts were full of Lindsay tonight. And the night before that and God knew how many nights before that or how many nights stretching out ahead.

      As a doctor, he had to tell himself the obsession was unhealthy. Not to mention it was turning him into a monk.

      “Not tonight.”

      “No?” Adele lunged unexpectedly toward him, caught hold of his shoulders and wrapped her legs around him. The movement brought her incredible breasts out of the water, the perfect rounds pushed toward each other and toward him by the astonishing mechanics of her skimpy top. “You’re su-u-ure?”

      He uh…thought he was sure. His mind had been sure, but his body was suddenly less so.

      “It’s not a good time for me. There’s another woman…”

      “At work.”

      He frowned. “What makes you think that?”

      “Just a guess.” She unwrapped her legs from around him. “What’s going on there these days anyway?”

      He shrugged. He found it strange that his job held such interest for her. “The usual.”

      “Seems like the place is doing pretty well.”

      “Seems like it is.” He pulled back from her hands still clinging to his biceps, ducked under the water one last time and climbed out to find his towel. Time to go back to his parents’ house. Talking about Chassy with Adele wasn’t worth getting too little sleep for.

      “I’ll see you around.”

      “Sure.” She smiled at him from the pool. One thing he’d say for her, his rejection hadn’t upset her much. He liked that about her. Attraction, dating and mating were all about success and/or rejection. Too many women took it too personally when he simply wasn’t wired to want them. Of course he hadn’t thought he was wired to want someone like Lindsay.

      He raised a hand in farewell and started for the changing room. It struck him that Adele always showed up after he got there and always left after too. He didn’t even know where she lived. Maybe he should ask next time he ran into her. In case he came to his senses and decided he could use a few nights of pure fun.

      He glanced back one more time as he left. Adele was in the center of the pool, clinging to the raft, lips pursed in a kiss that turned into a fountain of water exiting her full lips. He grinned, waved again and she smiled wickedly, a half-naked, sexual-fantasy-come-true she-devil in the moonlight…

      And he’d turned her down.

      2

      BY THE TIME TANYA SHOWED up for the Martinis and Bikinis party, Lindsay was ready, standing by the entrance to the curtained back room where their monthly meetings were held, offering a smile and a tiara with flashing red hearts.

      Valentine’s Day was nearly two weeks away, but she’d gone with a Love or Lust? theme, alternating garlands of red-and-white paper hearts with the tackiest Lust item she could find, a similar-size garland of shimmering gold-and-silver penises that made her both cringe and want to giggle.

      The Valentine’s Day tree, a slender trunk with bare branches painted white, she’d decorated with demure cutouts of wedding splendor—brides, grooms and assorted wedding loot—alongside models from a Victoria’s Secret catalog and colorful depictions СКАЧАТЬ