Magnificent Folly - Iris Johansen [16]
Darkness. No moon-silvered beach that night. Even if Andrew was waiting down there, she would not be able to see him from this window.
Andrew was there. She knew he was.
She could race to the beach, into his arms, and he would pull her down in the sand to move over her. He would smell clean and salty, as he had that afternoon; his body would be strong, eager, even frantic.
Lord, what was she thinking? She was no dog in heat. She was a mature woman, who made decisions with her mind, not with her glands. So she needed a man. It didn’t have to be this man. Perhaps Andrew was right about her coming alive again, but it didn’t mean she had to involve herself with a man who was as dangerous to her as Andrew.
Dangerous. The realization came as a shock. Andrew was gentleness and sweet, coaxing words, glowing youthfulness and blatant sexuality. Yet beneath that shimmering exterior she had always been subliminally aware of an iron core of determination that would never relent.
Well, she would not relent either. She took off her cotton robe and dropped it on the rocking chair beside the window. Then she strode briskly to the double bed and slipped beneath the crisp cotton sheets. She would close her eyes and forget about Andrew. She turned on her side, trying not to notice the heavy ripeness of her breasts, the aching emptiness between her thighs.
She would go to sleep and forget how Andrew had looked lolling on the beach rug, his fair hair disheveled, his body tanned and hard and beautiful.
She moved restlessly as lust surged through her.
She mustn’t go down to the beach.
“I missed you,” Andrew said quietly as he threw a pebble out into the surf. “I stayed here a long time thinking about you.”
“I told you I wouldn’t come.” She nervously clasped her fingers together over her knees. “I wondered whether you’d show up this afternoon.”
“Because you didn’t sleep with me?” He shook his head. “Being with you and Cassie means so much to me. It doesn’t matter if I hurt with wanting you. I told you this wasn’t about sex.”
“You could have fooled me.” She could have bitten her tongue as his gaze shifted to her face and he gave her a slow smile. “And you needn’t look so satisfied. What I want isn’t always what I permit myself to have.”
“Did you have a bad night?” he asked, then spoke without waiting for her response. “Me too. But maybe we’ll both have a better one tonight. I’ll be here every night, Lily.” His voice softened to velvet persuasiveness. “Every single night.” He jumped to his feet. “I’m going down to play with Cassie.”
“I suppose you’re going to help her build another sand castle,” she said irritably.
“Maybe.” He rolled up his jeans and stripped off his T-shirt. “Want to join us?”
She shook her head. “I’ve told you my views on sand castles. I’ll sit here and watch.”
He turned and ran like an exuberant child down the sandy, rock-strewn beach toward Cassie.
Lily shifted restlessly on the bed.
She would not get up and go to him. She had resisted the temptation for the last four nights, and she could hold out this night too.
She wouldn’t think about him.
She would squelch her erotic thoughts about him.
She wouldn’t lie awake until dawn again.
Dear heaven, she wanted to go to him.
“Do you ever dream, Lily?”
“Sometimes.” She wished he would move away. She could feel the heat his body was emitting, and it caused the now-familiar weakness to attack her limbs. “Doesn’t everybody?”
“I used to dream a lot when I was a kid. Not so much lately. I had a dream last night that you came to me and you let me love you.”
“Go away.” Her tone was thick with tension. “It’s not going to happen.”
“It’s got to happen. It’s the next step. All you have to do is come to me. Then all that tension will be gone and you’ll be able to be comfortable with me again.”
She moved away from him. “If you’d only stop talking about it, I’d be comfortable again.”
“No, you wouldn’t. It’s too late. Would you like to hear about my dream? It was very explicit. Definitely X-rated.”
“No!” She buried her face on