The Right Choice(31)
Author: Carly Phillips

Aid those in need. Did he realize how similar his goals were to her own? “Sort of like the reason for my column.”

“How so?”

She didn’t realize she’d spoken aloud. “So many kids have no one to talk to. I hope at least one person is able to make a tough choice because someone cared enough to listen.”

During the worst period of her life, no one had been there for her. No one had listened. Her mother had refused to discuss the tragedy or the impact on their lives, leaving a teenager to cope alone. She couldn’t turn to her obviously grieving father, and besides, her anger at him wouldn’t allow her to. She hoped some teenager used her column to vent feelings he didn’t feel free to express at home.

“We’re some pair.” He chuckled aloud. “We sound like avenging angels.”

“I’m no angel. I’m just making sure no kid thinks he has to go it alone.”

“Like you did?”

Carly pushed herself to a sitting position and stared. She wanted to lash out, to shout at him. Stop finishing my sentences. Stop reading my mind. He was getting too close and it frightened her. “How…”

“Educated guess.”

Obviously she was easy to read. Mike brushed the grains of sand from her back. After this roll in the sand, she’d need another shower. Unwilling to drop the subject at least until she learned what she wanted from him, Carly glanced over. “So what are your reasons for playing the Good Samaritan role?” Some deep, dark secret like her own? she wondered.

“Nothing I haven’t already told you. When you grow up without, you tend to overcompensate. This latest escapade with Pete drove that point home.”

At the mention of her ex-fiancé’s name, she waited for the pain of betrayal to surface. It never came. Relief, pure and sweet, flooded her. “How so?” she asked Mike.

“He thinks money and power will make up for all he missed. He doesn’t realize that material wealth won’t replace love.”

Why had he chosen that particular word? She whipped her head around expecting to meet his potent gaze. Instead, Mike was staring out at the ocean, one hand rubbing his right shoulder hard.

She studied him. His muscled physique created waves of longing, but what did she feel for this man that was so different than anything she’d ever experienced? Was it to be savored as something special or feared as an extension of her father’s legacy? It was about time she found out.

Her future was at stake.

“So Peter’s looking for money and power to make him happy.” Which cemented what she’d already known—the reasons why he’d gotten and remained engaged to her. “But what are you looking for?” she asked Mike. “All the travel, the danger—are you running?” she asked softly.

He didn’t respond.

She placed a hand on his arm. “I think you are.” Which made them very much the same, Carly thought sadly. “The question is, when will you stop?” When would she?

He remained silent. The answer was locked inside him, she thought. And like her, he’d have to face his private demons. Sooner or later.

* * *

Mike stood in the entryway to Carly’s kitchen, eavesdropping on his chef for the evening. She stood, hands on her hips, staring into an oversized lobster pot.

“Call me a coward, but I can’t do it.” She brushed her bangs off her forehead with her fingers.

He grinned as she glanced from the wriggling lobster on the counter to the boiling pot on the stove. “Can’t do what?” he asked.

“Drop live lobsters in there. I thought I could, but I can’t.”

Mike glanced at the counter where two lobsters moved languidly in plastic bags. “Dinner?”

“Only if we boil them alive.”

He chuckled. “Why don’t you go outside for a while? I can handle things in here.”

She glanced into the steaming pot. “They scream.”

“What?”

“When I was younger I went to a friend’s house for dinner. Her older brother took a lot of pleasure in informing us that if you listen carefully you can hear their high-pitched screams before they die.” She shuddered.

“You don’t believe that.”

“Not anymore, but I did. I was ten. I had nightmares for weeks.”

“Boys can be cruel.”

“Yeah. So can men,” she said.

“I’ll give you that.” He leaned over and kissed her soft cheek, then gave her a playful swat on the behind. “I’ll handle this.”

“I owe you one.”

He met her gaze. “And I fully intend to collect.”

She turned for one last look into the lobster pot .Mike snuck up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his face in the expanse of skin at her neck. Her vanilla-like scent was permanently etched in his dreams. Reality was much sweeter.

She stiffened at his initial touch but relaxed against his insistent nuzzling at her ear. His hands splayed across her stomach. Every ounce of willpower he possessed went into keeping them below the round swell of her br**sts. He pressed his lower body into her back and was greeted by her soft moan of pleasure in response.

He wanted to turn her around and bury himself inside her. He wanted to see her face when he entered her heat for the first time. He wanted all those things and more. But he didn’t deserve them. Not when he couldn’t give her all she so obviously needed.

He wanted to step back but needed her warmth and closeness for a minute more. Then he’d let her go. A yellow gauze dress ended above her knees and her bare back had turned a deep bronze courtesy of the sun. Her skin felt warm and welcoming to his touch.

He steeled himself to back off, but she turned. Any progress he’d made dissolved like a sand castle under a crushing wave. Eyes glazed and face flushed with desire, she looked disoriented and unsteady. He reached out a hand to support her and immediately noticed that her ni**les were drawn tight beneath the flimsy fabric.

Without conscious thought he brushed one distended peak with his thumb. She swayed toward him, and damned if her knees didn’t almost buckle. Control deserted him, and all good intentions along with it. Any thoughts he’d had of restraint vanished. He knelt down and replaced his hand with his mouth, suckling her through the material of her dress. She braced herself by grasping the handle of the stove.

He bit down lightly. She murmured his name at the same time her legs gave out completely. Mike reached for her, supporting her until she was able to stand on her own.