Chapter Six
She was right on schedule. If there was one thing you could count on about Amanda Calhoun, Sloan thought, it was that she’d be on time.
She was moving fast—typically—so he lengthened his stride and crossed the hotel patio to waylay her by the gate leading to the pool. His hand covered hers on the latch.
She jerked away, which was no less than he’d expected. “Don’t you have anything better to do?” she asked.
“I want to talk to you.”
“This is my time.” She shoved open the gate, strode through, then whirled around. “My personal time. I don’t have to talk to you.” To prove it, she slammed the gate smartly in his face.
Sloan took a long, slow breath, then opened the gate. “Okay, you can just listen.” He caught up with her as she heaved her towel onto a deck chair.
“I’m not going to talk, and I’m not going to listen. There’s absolutely nothing you have to say that could interest me.” She stripped off her terry wrap, tossed it aside, then dove into the pool.
Sloan watched her through the first lap. She was mad enough to spit, he thought, then moved his shoulders. So, they’d do it the hard way.
With each kick and stroke, Amanda cursed him.
She’d spent half the night replaying their last scene together over and over in her mind.
It had made her miserable. It had made her furious.
When she’d awakened that morning, she’d promised herself that he would never get the chance to touch her again.
Certainly he would never get the chance to make her feel helpless and needy again.
Her life was just beginning to move along as she wanted. There was no way, no way in hell that Sloan O’Riley or anyone else was going to block her path.
She ran straight into him, a dud torpedo into a battleship. Sputtering, she surfaced to see him standing chest high in the water. Bare-chest high.
“What are you doing?”
“I figured I’d have a better chance of getting you to listen in here than I would if I stood on the side and yelled at you.”
Eyes narrowed, she slicked the hair back from her face. There was a laugh bubbling in her throat that she refused to acknowledge. “The pool isn’t open to guests until ten.”
“Yeah, I think you mentioned that. What you didn’t mention is that this water is freezing.”
“Yeah.” Now she did smile, and there was as much humor as smugness in the curve of her lips. “I know. That’s why I like to keep moving.”
She started off, slicing cleanly through the water.
Less than a foot away, he was matching her stroke for stroke.
He’d stripped off more than his shirt, she noted.
The only thing covering that very long body was a pair of brief navy briefs.
Each time her face went into the water, her eyes slid over to take another look.
His broad shoulders and chest tapered down to a narrow waist and hips.
The skin was stretched taut over the bones there, without an ounce of excess flesh.
His stomach was board flat, and... oh my.
When she nearly sucked in water instead of air, Amanda forced her gaze to skip down several strategic inches to the hard, muscled thighs and calves.
The tough, weathered tan was over every inch of exposed flesh.
His skin gleamed like wet copper. And what would it feel like to run her hands over it now?
To feel those sleek, smooth muscles under her fingers?
How could their bodies fit together now, if slick as otters, they slid against each other through the chill water?
Chill? she thought. The pool was beginning to feel like a sauna. Deliberately she pushed off hard and increased her pace. If she could outrace him, maybe she could outrace her own wayward thoughts.
He was still beside her, matching speed and stroke so that they crossed the pool in a kind of unstudied and effortless harmony.
It was lovely, almost sensuous, the way their arms lifted and pulled at the same moment, the way their legs scissored and their bodies stretched.
.. like making love, she thought dreamily, then shook herself to knock that hot image from her brain.
Amanda kicked in and put all that frustrated passion into speed.
Still, their hands slapped the wall in unison.
She began to enjoy it for what it was, an unstated competition between two people who were evenly matched.
She’d lost track of the laps and didn’t care.
When her lungs were straining and her muscles weak, she gripped the edge of the pool to surface, laughing.
He knew she’d never looked more beautiful, with her hair and face drenched with water and her eyes filled with delight.
More than anything he’d ever wanted, he wanted to pull her against him then, just to hold her while her laughter danced on the morning air.
But he’d made a promise to himself sometime during his own sleepless night. He intended to keep it.
He sent her a friendly grin. “That warmed things up.”
“You’re pretty good. For an Okie.”
“You’re not bad yourself, for a female.”
She laughed again and rested her head on the side of the pool to look at him. His hair was dark with water, curling over his brow and neck in a way that had her fingers itching to play with it. “I like to race.”
“Race? Is that what we were doing? I thought we were just taking a nice, leisurely swim.”
She tossed water into his eyes, then stood. “I have to get in.”
“Are you going to let me talk to you now?”
The laughter faded from her eyes. “Let’s just leave it,” she suggested, and hitched herself up on the side of the pool.
He laid a hand on her leg. “Mandy—”
“I don’t want to argue with you again. Since we’ve actually managed to get along for five minutes, why can’t we just leave it at that?”
“Because I want to apologize.”
“If you’d just—” She broke off to stare at him. “You what?”
“I want to apologize.” He stood to put his hands lightly on her arms just beneath her shoulders. “I was out of line last night, way out, and I’m sorry.”
“Oh.” Disconcerted, she looked down and began to rub at the beads of water on her thigh.
“Now you’re supposed to say, all right, Sloan, I accept your apology.”
She looked up through wet, spiky lashes, then smiled. Things were suddenly too comfortable to cling to anger. “I guess I do. You acted like such a jerk.”
He grimaced. “Thanks a lot.”
“You did. Spouting off threats and orders. Then there was all that steam coming out of your ears.”
“Want to know why?”
She shook her head and started to rise, but he held her in place.
“You brought it up,” he pointed out. “I couldn’t stand the idea of you being with someone else.
Look at me.” Gently he cupped her chin, turning her face back to his.
“You triggered something in me right off. I can’t shake it. I don’t much want to.”
“I don’t think—”
“Thinking has nothing to do with it. I know how I feel when I look at you.”
She was losing fast. The quick skip of panic couldn’t compete with the flood of pleasure. “I have to think,” she murmured. “I’m made that way.”
“Okay, well here’s something new for you to think about. I’m falling in love with you.”
Panic was more than a skip now, but a hard slap. It darted into her eyes as she stared at him. “You don’t mean that.”
“Yes, I do. And you know it or you wouldn’t be sitting there looking like a rabbit caught in the high beams.”
“I don’t—”
“I’m not asking how you feel,” he cut in. “I’m giving you my side of it, so you can get used to it.”
She didn’t think she would, ever, any more than she would get used to him.
Certainly it would be impossible to get used to the feelings shooting off inside her.
Is this what love was? she wondered. This edgy and bright sensation that could turn warm and soft without warning?
“I don’t—I’m not sure how...” She let out a huff of breath.
“Did you do this just to make me crazy?”
It helped to be able to smile. “Yep. Give me a kiss, Calhoun.”
She twisted and slid wetly out of his hold. “I’m not kissing you again, because it erases every intelligent thought from my head.”
Now he grinned. “Honey, that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.” When he rose smoothly from the pool, Amanda snatched up her towel. She snapped it once, hard enough to make the air crack.
“Keep back. I mean it. You either give me time to figure all this out or I aim and fire. And I aim below the belt.” There was both amusement and challenge in her eyes when she tilted her chin. “You don’t have a lot of protection at the moment.”
He ran his tongue around his teeth. “You’ve got me there. How about a drive after you get off work?”
It would be nice, she thought, to go driving with him up into the hills, with the windows open and the air streaming. But, regretfully, duty came first.
“I can’t. C.C.’s shower’s tonight. We’re surprising her when she gets home from work.” She frowned a little. “It’s on your list.”
“Guess it slipped my mind. Tomorrow then.”
“I have the final meeting with the photographer, then I have to help Suzanna with the flowers. Not the next night, either,” she said before he could ask. “Most of the out-of-town guests will be arriving, plus we’ve got the rehearsal dinner.”
“Then the wedding,” he said with a nod. “After the wedding, Calhoun.”
“After the wedding, I’ll...” She smiled, realizing she was enjoying herself. “I’ll let you know.” Grabbing her wrap, she headed for the gate.
“Hey. I haven’t got a towel.”
She tossed a laugh over her shoulder. “I know.”
Late that afternoon, Sloan stood out on the lower terrace, making sketches of the exterior of The Towers. He wanted to add another outside stairway without disturbing the integrity of the building. He stopped when Suzanna came out carrying two wicker baskets pregnant with spring flowers.
“I’m sorry.” She hesitated, then tried a smile. “I didn’t know you were out here. I’m going to set things up for the shower.”
“I’ll be out of your way in a minute.”