Palm closing around it, she pulled the tube of sunscreen out and slapped it into his hand. With a brilliant smile, she tried to distract him. "So, have you been to the buffet for dinner yet? It’s absolutely divine."
Damien frowned, and even with the sunglasses shielding his expression, she could tell his gaze had landed on her stomach. Was he putting two and two together – her belly, the magazine… Mandy’s heart started racing, her palms sweating, her cheeks burning from more than the Caribbean sun.
"I haven’t made it to the buffet, but I’m glad you’re enjoying it. Lots of desserts?" His words were polite, casual, as he tossed the sunscreen from hand to hand.
Mandy realized with dawning horror just what his words implied. Oh, that was just lovely. He thought she was fat! Two and two in his head hadn’t equaled pregnancy. He thought she’d been hitting the dessert table too hard. Allison was right – men didn’t notice anything.
Except hard nipples.
"Turn around," he said, clearly no idea he had offended her.
Bloody idiot.
She gave him her back. "Yes, the desserts are marvelous. You’re going to have to roll me onto the plane."
A breeze kicked her hair across her lip, and she pried the strand off as she heard lotion squirt into Damien’s hand.
His chair squeaked as he scooted forward on it. "That’s good. You look better than when I first met you. I guess it was the flu, but you looked kind of thin. You seem healthier now."
Fatter. That’s what he meant.
Mandy rolled her eyes behind her sunglasses. Then tensed when his hands landed on her shoulders, smooth and cool with lotion. Big hands, confident hands, that glided across her skin with strong strokes, his thumbs skimming along behind his fingers.
Damien had leaned over closer – she could hear hi breathing, smell toothpaste and the coconut scent of th sunscreen. "And people think I’m tense. Relax, Mandy."
He had no idea what he was asking of her. If she relaxed really and truly relaxed, she’d sink in to his touch, sigh an< moan and revel in the feeling of a man’s strong but gentl hands caressing her.
It was hell being stoic all the time, and she wasn’t evei doing a very good job of it. And Damien was so gorgeou and competent and broad-shouldered, with those delectabl baby blues.
He skimmed her spine, sending a shiver rolling throug] her and setting her inner thighs burning with desire.
She groaned, a long, low sound of abandonment.
Damien knew he was pushing into dangerous territory Hell, he’d jumped into a fucking volcano.
His plan to avoid Mandy had just failed. And then some After shutting himself in his hotel room for two straigh days, working like a fiend, and intermittently wonderm what Mandy was doing, and what she was wearing, he’i needed some fresh air. It had been a happy coincidence tha ten steps on the beach and he’d found Mandy lying in ; chaise lounge, reading a magazine.
Except he supposed it didn’t count as a coincidence at al since he had the funny feeling he would have paced up ani down the beach like an expectant father until he’d foum her.
Even so, he hadn’t meant to put his hands on her. Tha had been an impulse. A stupid one. A head-up-his-ass im pulse.
But she had looked so good.
Every imagining he’d had of Mandy wearing a bikin hadn’t prepared him for the sight of her stretched out in ai army green scrap of nothing bathing suit. He had alway pictured Mandy as thin and fragile, probably because she’i had the flu when they first met.
But she wasn’t thin and bony and untouchable. She was curvy and lush and delicious, with full breasts straining the tiny triangles and making his mouth water. So he’d pressed an excuse on her to rub his hands all over her back and shoulders.
And she was groaning.
He felt like doing the same.
Instead, he said, "Do you want to go to the buffet together tonight? The room service is really slow, and I need to get out a little anyway."
Her head fell forward. "I’d love to. I’m sure the older couple I’ve been shadowing would like some time alone. Though they did say I remind them of their daughter Annie, who’s off at university. The one they told me in the next breath is something of a screw-up."
Damien chuckled and refilled his hands with lotion. "Lift your hair and I’ll get your neck." He leaned forward until his mouth was near her ear, his fingers tracing her clavicle bones. "I owe you an apology. I asked you on this trip impulsively and never considered the inconvenience to you."
That was probably the first time ever that he had admitted a wrong to one of his assistants. But he knew it was true. He was harsh and inflexible sometimes, and thought only of himself.
Mandy’s elbows were out as she piled hair in a bundle on her head, and he spoke right over her shoulder. A little push forward and he could skim his lips along her jaw, kiss that dimple in her cheek that appeared when she smiled.
"While I accept your apology, I have to say it’s very relaxing, actually, which is something I really needed. I’ve been under a bit of stress lately."
He paused. "I heard your boss is an ogre."
She laughed. "That’s not what I meant. I like working for you, believe it or not. There’s just been some personal… issues I’m dealing with."
Lord knew he could understand that. But she’d said she didn’t have a boyfriend or a husband, so before rational thought could intrude, he tugged on the tie that held hei bikini top in place.
She grabbed the front of the top to hold it against her and made a sound of distress. "What are you doing?"
Taking a dip in that volcano. "I can’t get under the strings with the sunscreen." Which was true. But he also wanted to see her bare back, touch all of her, imagine what it would be like to take Mandy as a lover, to undress hei like this in heightened anticipation, both of them breathing hard and wound tight with sexual interest.
Sort of like he was right now. He moved his hands over the whole of her back, kneading her muscles with his thumbs.
"Oh, okay," she said, sounding a little unnerved. "But be careful. I don’t have the sangfroid of some of these women strolling around topless. I’d prefer to keep my breasts an alluring secret."
That they were.
With no excuse to linger, he retied her strings with sticky fingers. "There, all set to fry."
Mandy turned to him and held her hand out. "Your turn."
He settled back in his chair. "Turn for what?"