Intent to Seduce & A Glimpse of Fire

by Cara Summers

  And it left her unmoved.

  When she drew back, she kept a smile on her face. His eyes told her that he at least had enjoyed the kiss.

  “Are you going to invite me in for a drink?”

  “I can’t,” she said, taking care to inject regret into her tone. “Just as soon as I freshen up, I have to race to meet a client. After that I have to prepare for my presentation tomorrow. But I am so looking forward to relaxing on Saturday. The bulk of my business will be over by then.”

  He reached out and ran a gentle hand down her hair. “We’ll relax together. The vineyard will be crowded, but I have a special treat for you. I remember what you said about wanting to go up in a hot-air balloon, and I have one reserved for us.”

  “I’ll be looking forward to it.” Sophie let herself out of the car. At the archway that led into the courtyard of the hotel, she turned and waved. But it wasn’t until the doors of the lobby swung shut behind her that she let out a sigh of relief.

  Or was it regret? No, she wasn’t going to let herself think that way. Dwelling on the fact that she’d switched identities with Mac just so that she could anonymously date a man she wasn’t attracted to was not going to be productive.

  Squaring her shoulders, she strode across the lobby. Sonny wasn’t the only man in the Napa Valley. She would just have to find someone else to date anonymously while she was here. Turning on her heel, she walked back to the small desk where the concierge stood, talking into a phone. The moment he hung up, she beamed a smile at him. “My business dinner has just been canceled. Can you recommend a place nearby where a single girl could have some fun?”

  “Sure thing.” The concierge placed a list in front of her, then began to run down it, adding to the information that was on the paper. By the time he finished, she had two possibilities in mind.

  “Dr. Lloyd…”

  The man had to call the name again before Sophie remembered to turn around. He was tall, blond, casually dressed and wearing the kind of sunglasses that reflected back a mirror image. He held a basket of flowers in his hand. “I came in just as you were talking to the concierge. When I heard your name, I thought I might deliver these personally and save one of the bellhops a trip. You are Dr. Lloyd?”

  “Yes,” Sophie said, digging in her purse for a tip. She handed it to him in exchange for the basket. “Thanks.”

  “No problem. Enjoy the flowers.”

  Sophie couldn’t help but enjoy the scent. She had to hand it to Sonny Falcone. He had all the moves down pat. Maybe her lack of reaction to him was due to jet lag, and she’d feel differently on Saturday. It wasn’t until she got to the top of the stairs that it struck her.

  Sonny didn’t know her as MacKenzie Lloyd. He couldn’t have sent the flowers. Sitting down on the top step, she fished through the blossoms for a card.

  There wasn’t one.

  WHAT IN THE WORLD was she going to come up with next? Lucas glanced down at the present in the hotel gift-shop bag Mac had been carrying around. To call the thin layer of latex he was wearing a bathing suit was a misnomer—unless you were an Olympic swimmer going for the minimum in aerodynamic resistance.

  Turning his head and craning his neck, he attempted to get a view of the back. The suit revealed as much there as it did in the front.

  “Are you ready?”

  At the sound of Mac’s voice, Lucas poked his head out of the cabana. “This suit doesn’t cover much…” Neither did hers. In fact, it left enough bare to have his breath clogging his lungs. The tank top fit tighter than a second skin, and it stopped well above her navel. His gaze drifted over her soft, silky-looking skin to the bottom of the suit—a thin triangle of cloth that barely covered her—

  “You’re embarrassed again,” she said, the amusement clear in her eyes.

  “And you’re definitely not.” Stepping out of the cabana, Lucas took a quick look around the pool area to see how many other men were feasting their eyes on her. The heat had driven most of the hotel guests inside where they were either drinking in the lounge or resting up so they could sample some of the nightlife that Key West had to offer. He and Mac were alone except for the young man behind the towel booth about fifty yards away.

  When they’d arrived, he’d introduced himself as Yancey and waved them toward the cabana, all the while assuring them that he’d guard Mac’s duffel bag with his life should they care to swim off to a more private part of the lagoon.

  “Very nice suit,” Mac said.

  When Lucas glanced toward the towel booth, he saw that Yancey was giving him a three-fingered wave.

  “I think Yancey likes you,” Mac said. “In a totally sex-object sort of way.”

  Lucas looked at her. “That seems to be the story of my life lately.”

  “Are you ready to get started?”

  For one moment, he was tempted to grab her wrist and drag her into the cabana. The fantasy filled his mind of how quickly he could have her out of that suit. God, he wanted to touch her—to run his hands over that skin at her waist, pale as moonlight, soft as rainwater. He wanted to taste it. The need ripped at him like a rusty claw as he whispered, “Come here, Doc.”

  She took a step forward, then stopped. “You want to make love to me in the cabana.”

  “You think?”

  “That’s amazing. At least fifty-five percent of the men interviewed fantasize about making love in a place where they might get caught. I thought the number was a little high. Is that one of your favorite fantasies too?”

  Lucas never before would have lumped himself in with that fifty-five percent. He couldn’t ever recall wanting to take the kind of risk that she was talking about. That he was thinking about. But he’d come very close to doing something in that lounge that might have gotten him arrested. Truth told, he was skating on pretty thin ice again.

  It was high time he took another tack. Walking toward her, he stopped when their bodies were almost brushing. Then he pitched his voice low so that only she could hear him. “I don’t want to get caught. I want to make love to you where no one and nothing can interrupt us. I want to take my time and touch every single part of you. Then I want to taste you. The cabana is way too dark. I want to see your eyes when I’m inside you. And I want to stay inside you for a long, long time.”

  Mac released the breath she was holding on a shudder. “You’re trying to distract me.”

  “I’m trying to seduce you.” Unable to resist for a moment longer, he touched her, just the tips of her hair. She’d taken the blond wig off. He much preferred the richness of her own color—a mix of gold and fire.

  Her breath shuddered out again.

  He pressed his advantage, taking a step closer and bringing his body into contact with hers. Only the thinnest scraps of latex separated his flesh from hers. He felt the soft give of her breasts against his chest. She had to feel his hardness pressing against her.

  For a moment, neither of them moved.

  Then she said, “It’s still my turn.”

  “Come back to the room with me, Doc.”

  “I’m not Doc. I’m Fiona—at least, that’s the closest approximation in English.”

  When she responded, her voice was barely a whisper, the sound erotic on the still air.

  She eyed him provocatively. “Aren’t you even a little bit curious about the fantasy I have in mind?”

  Twin desires warred within him. A part of him wanted to haul her over his shoulder and cart her off to the room. Another part of him wanted to indulge her. Hell, a part of him was becoming very curious about what she’d come up with next.

  “It won’t take long,” she murmured.

  Unable to resist a moment longer, he lowered his head and nibbled along her jawline. Perhaps the room was too far away. But the cabana wasn’t. “Come—”

  “And we won’t be in full view of the people in the lounge the way we would be in the cabana.”

  Lucas lifted his head and glanced over her shoulder. Hell, he’d forgotten that the lou
nge offered a panoramic view of this part of the lagoon. If he had dragged her into that cabana, they would have provided quite a sideshow for the hotel guests who were probably watching them even now.

  “You’re a damn good negotiator, Doc. If you ever get tired of working in that lab, I could use a mind like yours at Wainright Enterprises.”

  “You could?”

  The quick leap of surprise and joy in her eyes sent a wave of feelings tumbling through him. It occurred to him that he would do a lot to see it there again. Often. “Absolutely.”

  “You really are—”

  He put his fingers against her lips. “If you say kind or sweet again, you’re going in the lagoon.”

  “Kind and sweet.”

  Before he could shove her, she twisted and dived into the water. He had one clear view of smooth, white cheeks before they disappeared below the surface of the water. It wasn’t a bikini bottom she was wearing—but a thong.

  While they’d been negotiating, everyone in the lounge had been treated to the view.

  She was driving him crazy, and he was going to put a stop to it. He followed her into the water.

  MAC BROKE the surface for air at the same time that Lucas did. The water was cold, and she’d needed the shock of it. She couldn’t have held her own much longer—not with his body, his mouth touching hers. Especially when she could see that wild, reckless gleam in his eye. For just a moment—one glorious moment—she’d seen that he wanted to carry her off. And she would have gone.

  The thought alone had the heat moving through her again. She hadn’t known she had the power to make a man look at her that way. Treading water, she twisted to face Lucas.

  The wild, reckless look had disappeared.

  “That bathing suit is indecent,” he said. “Do you realize that everyone sitting in that lounge must have had their eyes glued to your…your…”

  “Do you think so? I never thought I’d ever have the courage to wear it. And I was right. I didn’t.”

  “You did wear it. You’ve got the damn thing on.”

  Mac shook her head. “No, Sally was the one who put it on, under those outrageous clothes. Just as soon as I decided to be her, I suddenly had the courage to put it on. I didn’t even have to go out on that balcony again.”

  His gaze narrowed and he stared at her for a long moment. “Who the hell are you?”

  His question was a cue if she’d ever heard one—and her chance to bring that look back into his eyes. Moving closer, she said, “I told you. I’m Fiona now, a mermaid, and I’ve just lured you into the water.”

  “You’re a…mermaid?”

  He didn’t sound at all convinced. Or even interested. Beneath the surface, her legs tangled briefly with his. “In the survey, over forty percent of the men said they had erotic dreams about mermaids. I find that very curious, don’t you?”

  Underwater, he trapped one of her legs with his. “Not particularly.”

  “Well, I’ve given it some thought—from a scientific viewpoint.”

  “Ah, and you’d like to share your conclusions.”

  In a swift movement, he trapped her other leg.

  A strange wave of helplessness moved through her.

  “Mermaids are exotic, different, and the stories of them date back to primeval times. Part of their allure could stem from that.” The feeling of helplessness was growing, she discovered. They were touching nowhere else—just where his legs trapped hers in a vise. But she was very much aware that his legs were stronger. Her heartbeat was accelerating, and it was getting more difficult to breathe. “Then there’s the fact that man came out of the water and will always be lured back to his origins.”

  “Sounds like a lot of scientific mumbo jumbo to me, Doc. I think my reality’s a lot better than your fantasy.” Quite suddenly, her legs were free, but he had her hand and was pulling her toward the edge of the lagoon.

  “Wait.” What had she been thinking? She’d been spouting off her research, and he was seeing her as Mac. That was the problem. “That’s not the real reason I think that men have erotic dreams about mermaids.”

  “I told you, Doc. I’ve never thought of making love to a mermaid.”

  She moved closer so that their bodies were just brushing beneath the water. “Think about it now. Just how would you do it?”

  His gaze narrowed. “What do you mean?”

  “How would you make love to a mermaid? Maybe you couldn’t—I mean, in the normal way. Certain important parts of her body are…another species.” Lifting her hand, she drew it across his shoulder, over his throat, and slowly down his chest to his waist. She let her fingers rest just where skin gave way to the thin material of his bathing suit. “Right about here is where she changes. However, there are certain very specific ways in which she could pleasure you.”

  “Yes.”

  “Why don’t you let me show you?”

  For a moment, he said nothing, but she felt his grip tighten on her hand and saw the carefully guarded expression in his eyes change. This wasn’t the recklessness she’d seen before, but something else—a raw hunger that she felt her whole body respond to. In that moment, she realized it could go either way. If he pulled her with him out of the water, she wouldn’t resist. She would go back with him to the suite.

  Finally, he let out the breath he’d been holding. “Not here.”

  She ran her fingers lightly along the waistband of his suit before she drew her hand away. “I have a more private place in mind. C’mon.”

  She pushed away from the edge, slicing the water with smooth, clean strokes. The waterfall she’d spotted from their balcony was on the other side of the hotel from where they were. The length of the swim would give her time to plan.

  There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that once they reached the cave, Lucas would make good on the promise she’d seen in his eyes and felt in his body’s response to her. She’d been playing with fire for about as long as he was going to allow it. And if the truth be told, she wanted to be burned.

  So what was causing the tight ball of fear to form in her stomach? Hadn’t she proven to herself that if she could focus on the fantasy, she could do all the things she’d discovered in her research?

  In the bar when she’d been pretending to be Sally, she hadn’t even had to plan anything out step by step. Everything she’d done to him had felt so natural because…she was Sally?

  Or was it because he was Lucas?

  She knew exactly when he drew beside her, even before she felt the brush of his hand along her shoulder and down her back. His touch was familiar, exciting, and with each lift of her right arm as she swam, she could see him. The lean muscled arms, the broad shoulders, the narrow waist and the…

  She hadn’t had a chance to appreciate before how he filled out that tiny bathing suit. Every time her face went into the water, her eyes homed in on the same target. Not that she hadn’t vividly pictured him in her mind when she’d chosen the suit in the gift shop. But the reality of Lucas, nearly naked and well within reach, had the fear in her stomach turning into something else.

  She really wanted him. As a biologist, she could dismiss what she felt as lust. But as a woman, she was very much afraid that it was personal.

  As successful as she’d been in becoming Sally the hooker, Lucas had always been Lucas. There was that kindness, that sweetness that embarrassed him. More than that, there was the feeling she got when he looked at her—that he saw her as no one else ever had. He already knew her secrets, and they didn’t frighten him away.

  But it was dangerous to dwell on that, dangerous to want…

  No, it was much safer to concentrate on the fantasy she was about to create and slip into the persona of Fiona.

  Dragging her gaze away from Lucas, she checked her surroundings, then increased the speed of her stroke. The moment she rounded the curve, she spotted the churning in the water that told her the waterfall and the little rock cave were just ahead.

  She summoned the image of a la
dder into her mind. All she had to do was take it one step at a time. The first step was to create the mermaid fantasy. Concentrating, she focused on the water beyond Lucas. Though the lagoon was man-made, every effort had been made to create a facsimile of the real thing. Concrete in the shape of rocks lined the walls, and in the shade created by the palm trees on either side, the water was a deep, exotic blue-green. Shafts of sunlight lightened the color at intervals.

  Slowly, inevitably, her gaze fastened on Lucas again. It was almost too easy to imagine that this was a man she’d rescued from the sea. She watched the steady ebb and flow of muscle beneath his copper-colored skin. He was so different from anyone she’d known before—so fascinating.

  How often had she swum to the surface to watch him? Then the watching had turned to wanting. How she’d longed to touch him, to run her hands over that sleek, smooth skin. And now that she’d finally lured him to their destination she could reach out and…

  Desire struck her then, so sharp and so piercing, she nearly doubled up from the ache. Oh, it was altogether too easy to fantasize that she was a mermaid, and Lucas was the human being she was prepared to give up everything for.

  Touching him once on the shoulder, she angled to her left and swam ahead of him through the tumble of water and into the small cave.

  FOR A FEW SECONDS after he’d made it through the waterfall, Lucas thought he’d entered another world. The inside of the cave was small, the light dimmed and filtered by the curtain of water falling from the rocks overhead. Mac was sitting on one of the ledges that lined the walls, the lower half of her body submerged, her hair and face drenched with water. She looked like a creature of the sea—some primeval goddess that men would have followed anywhere.

  And she was beautiful. Why hadn’t he noticed that before? The ache that had built the whole time he’d been swimming beside her twisted low in his body and began to spread. For a moment he couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. He could only want, and the torture was exquisite.

  He watched, still mesmerized as she lifted one hand out of the water and beckoned.