LITMIR.BIZ

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ears and winked at him when she turned her head.

      “You shouldn’t have bought them,” she said, reaching up to touch them, stroking the cold, beautiful stones as if they were alive and needed petting. “And I shouldn’t have taken them,” she added.

      “Why not?”

      She blew out a breath and turned her face into the wind. Her hair lifted away and the earrings caught the sunlight, dazzling against her skin. “Because. They’re too expensive.”

      “If you’re insisting on quitting, consider them severance pay.”

      “I already got my—”

      Irritation flamed. “Caitlyn, for God’s sake, it’s a pair of earrings. They look good on you. Enjoy them.”

      She smiled and shook her head just to feel the earrings dance against her neck. “Okay, then. Thank you.”

      A tight knot inside him eased as she accepted the earrings, and he didn’t look too closely at the reason behind his pleasure. After all, what mattered was that he continue seducing her into trusting him so that he could get her back to work. Where she belonged.

      The earrings looked better on Caitlyn than they had in the display case. And as much as he knew jewelry, he knew women better. The earrings had been just the right touch. All women responded to gifts. And spontaneous gifts most of all. She was softening toward him, even if she didn’t want to.

      And judging that the time was right for another move, he made it before she could close up on him again.

      “You can thank me by having dinner with me tonight.”

      Her surprisingly luscious mouth curved in a reluctant smile. “You mean, on purpose? Not just because you happen to show up and chase off whoever else might be at my table?”

      “Do your admirers a favor,” he said, bristling slightly at the memory of just how many of the men at this resort kept homing in on Caitlyn. Despite the fact that he’d introduced himself as her husband. “Give them a night off.”

      “Why should I?”

      He shrugged as if it didn’t matter to him in the slightest. “The question is, why not? You’re not afraid to be alone with me, are you?”

      She should have been afraid. She could feel her insides softening toward Jefferson, and Caitlyn knew she was on dangerous ground. The moment she stepped out onto the moonlit patio to find that he had arranged for them to have a “private” dinner, she realized that the ground was even more dangerous than she had suspected.

      It was a beautiful setting. The full moon shone down from an inky black sky speckled with stars. The ocean’s dark surface reflected the light in hazy patterns and a soft breeze made the flames on the twin taper candles dance and sway.

      Jefferson was standing beside the table, wearing the suit and tie he’d arrived in. His hair was neatly swept back from his forehead and he looked the very image of a rich, powerful playboy. When he smiled at her Caitlyn felt her knees go to water and she deliberately locked them into place to keep from falling onto her face.

      The heels of her sandals clicked against the flagstone patio as she walked to join him. She shivered slightly when the breeze slid across her shoulders, bare in the strapless deep-green-colored dress she’d purchased in the village. Her new earrings hung at her ears and brushed against her neck with every step.

      He’d bought her jewelry. Just as he had all the other women in his life. The ones he’d been trying to seduce and the ones he’d been trying to get rid of. She’d seen firsthand how Jefferson used charm and gifts to sway women into his way of thinking. And she was determined to keep from becoming just one of the masses at his feet.

      Steeling herself with that thought, she stopped beside him and accepted the glass of chilled white wine he handed her. “This is beautiful.”

      “Yes,” he said, his gaze moving over her in a slow, deliberate sweep. “You are.”

      A hum of something electrified stirred within her and Caitlyn had to fight to remember why she wasn’t going to be seduced by a man who had way too many exes already. “It’s not going to work, you know?”

      “What’s that?” He leaned back against the scrolled iron railing and smiled at her.

      “Seducing me,” she said, and took a sip of wine to ease her dry throat. Then she took another sip to try to still the frantic race of her heart.

      “Is that what I’m doing?”

      She hoped so.

      No, she didn’t.

      Oh, hell. Yes, she did.

      “It’s what you always do,” she said, carrying her wine with her as she walked a few steps away from him. Staring out at the ocean, she felt the kiss of the wind, inhaled the scent of the sea and used them both to steady herself. “You’re a generous man, Jefferson, but you buy jewelry for women for two reasons only.” She turned her head to look at him and saw the bemused expression on his face.

      “Is that right?”

      “Yep.” She braced her arms on the cold iron railing, and still watching him, said, “You’re either trying to seduce me or get rid of me. And since we both know it’s not the latter … that really only leaves one option.”

      He walked closer and she caught the tangy, spicy scent of his aftershave. She’d been surrounded by that scent for days now, sharing her hotel room with him, fighting for bathroom space and always, always having his scent all around her.

      “You know me so well, Caitlyn,” he said softly, taking a spot beside her on the rail. His arm brushed against hers, and even through the fabric of his suit coat, Caitlyn felt heat pour into her body from that small point of contact.

      “Better, I think, than you know,” she said.

      He reached out, brushed a strand of her hair back and tucked it behind her ear, trailing the tips of his fingers over her skin. She shivered.

      “Well, then,” he said, “if I’m trying to seduce you … how am I doing?”

      “Not bad,” she admitted, though it cost her, since there was an invisible fist tightening around her throat, making breathing, much less talking, difficult.

      “Let’s see if I can’t improve on things then,” he whispered, and took her wineglass from suddenly nerveless fingers. Setting it down on the table behind him, he turned her in his arms, stared down at her for the longest moment of Caitlyn’s life and then slowly lowered his head to hers.

      She should stop him.

      She knew that she should back away now and run screaming into the night. Kissing Jefferson would only make an unbearable situation that much more difficult.

      But she wasn’t going anywhere, so she told herself she might as well stop pretending otherwise.

      His mouth touched hers. Once. Twice. Soft, quick kisses that jump-started her heart and had her stomach doing dips and spins in heady anticipation. That slight brush of his lips to hers made her feel heat that she’d never known before. Made her want him as she’d never wanted anything in her life. Made her hungry for the taste of him.

      And just when she hoped he would kiss her more thoroughly, more completely, he pulled his head back and she opened her eyes to look up at him. He was frowning and his eyes glittered with an emotion she couldn’t read.

      As she stood in his grasp, every nerve ending bristling, he looked at her as if he’d never seen her before and ran the tips of his fingers along her cheek. “Sweet,” he whispered. “So soft and sweet.”

      His gaze moved over her, studying her as if trying to puzzle something out. But then the moment passed and fire leaped into his eyes. His hands slid up and down her bare arms and his touch was like a flame.

      “Jefferson …”

      “Another

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