LITMIR.BIZ

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You’re the tech guy, but also the one they call on to make the hard sell.” She took a breath and Sean just stared at her. “You live in a rehabbed water tower in Sunset Beach California and you love your sister-in-law’s cookies.”

      He frowned and took a long drink of his beer. Sean didn’t much care for being researched. And he really didn’t care for what she had to say next.

      “You don’t do commitment,” she said, still tapping her fingers on the tabletop. “You’re a serial monogamist—one woman only until you move on to the next one. Your exes all speak highly of you though, so that tells me you’re a nice enough guy despite the fact that you can’t maintain a relationship.”

      “Excuse me?”

      “The longest relationship you had was in college. That lasted nearly nine months, though I couldn’t find out what happened to end it—”

      And she never would, Sean thought, deciding he’d had enough. Beautiful or not, she was starting to annoy him.

      “That’s it. I’m done.” He leaned across the table and stared into those beautiful, sea-blue eyes of hers and said, “I’ll get the land and I’ll do it my way. I’m not interested in your schemes, babe, so try them on somebody else.”

      “Wait. Just … wait.” She gave him a wide-eyed look out of those beautiful blue eyes and he felt himself weakening. “This is coming out all wrong and I know it. I’m sorry if I offended you.”

      “Not offended,” he assured her. “Just not interested.”

      Melinda felt a quick jolt of something like panic. She’d completely messed this up and she didn’t want to risk having him turn her down. So she took a long breath and said, “Just, give me a chance to start over, okay?”

      He gave her a wary look, but he didn’t stand up and walk out, so she took that as a good sign.

      God, where should she start? Funny, but she’d been planning on ambushing Sean King since she’d first heard about his upcoming visit weeks ago. Hence the research, she thought wryly. But in all that time, she’d never really considered how she was going to explain all of this without sounding like a complete loon.

      “Okay, let me back up a little. The thing is, I’ll come into a trust fund once I get married. With that, I can live my own life. Don’t get me wrong here. I love my grandfather. He’s a sweetie. But,” she added with a helpless shake of her head, “he’s really old school. He thinks women need to be married and having babies. Period. And he’s relentless in trying to find a husband for me. I just thought, if I could get one on my own terms …”

      “Okay,” he said. “I get that. I guess what I’m wondering is again, why me?”

      “Because this benefits both of us,” she said, warming to her subject. At least he was listening. “You get the land. I’ll get the trust fund, and then we’ll both get a divorce.”

      He scowled a little, still unconvinced, so Melinda took a wild shot. “I could … pay you for your time.…”

      Instantly, anger flared in his eyes. “I’m not going to have you pay me to marry you. I don’t need your money.”

      That reaction told her she’d made the right choice. Heaven knew there were millions of men who would have been more than happy to take her money. But Sean King was so wealthy in his own right, her trust fund, though immense to her, was probably nothing more than spending money to him.

      Still, it spoke to his character that he was offended at the idea of her buying his services.

      “Okay, but you and your cousin do want to build a hotel on Tesoro?”

      “Yeah,” he said.

      “And to do that, you need the land.”

      “Yeah.”

      “To get the land, you’ll need me.” When he didn’t look convinced, she said, “I know you don’t believe me, but you should. You’re meeting with Grandfather in the morning, aren’t you?”

      He nodded.

      “Great. Then why don’t we have dinner tonight? We can talk more about this and maybe I can convince you.”

      He gave her a slow smile that was hardly more than a slight curve of his mouth, but she felt the impact of it slam into her. Sean King oozed charm and sex appeal. The man was bristling with testosterone and Melinda felt a shiver of appreciation shoot through her.

      Oh, this could get dangerous, she told herself.

      “Dinner, huh?” He set his beer down and nodded. “Okay. I never turn down an opportunity for dinner with a beautiful woman. But I warn you, I’m not interested in being married.”

      “I know,” she told him. “That’s why you’re perfect.”

      He shook his head and laughed. “I can’t decide if you’re crazy or not.”

      “Not crazy,” she assured him. “Just determined.”

      “Beautiful and determined,” he murmured. “A dangerous combination.”

      Heat flashed through her veins in spite of the fact that she didn’t want to be attracted to him. She ignored the warmth still blossoming inside her and said, “There’s a restaurant in town. Diego’s. I’ll meet you there at seven.”

      “I’m agreeing to dinner,” he said with another half smile. “Not marriage.” He stood up and looked down at her. “Diego’s. Seven.”

      When he walked away, Melinda watched him. He was tall and lean and moved with a kind of lazy grace that men with lots of confidence seemed to adopt. Sean King was more than she’d expected.

      She only hoped he wasn’t more than she could handle.

      “Lucas, what do you know about Melinda Stanford?” Sean spoke into his cell phone as he stood out on the end of the pier, watching the fishing boats head into the harbor.

      “She’s Walter’s granddaughter.”

      “Yeah, I know that much.”

      “Well, what else is there?”

      Way too much to go into over the phone, Sean thought. “Did you meet her when you were on Tesoro?”

      “Briefly,” Lucas said. “But then, my whole trip was brief. Walter said ‘No’ so fast, I didn’t even get to unpack my bag before I was on the launch taking me back to civilization.”

      “Right.” Sean nodded thoughtfully and kept his gaze fixed on the ocean.

      “So what’s this about?” Lucas asked. “Problem already? The great Sean charm not working?”

      “In your dreams.” Sean laughed, turned around and headed back down the dock. “I told you I’d get the land and I will.”

      “Yeah … good luck with the old man. I think he got a charm immunization.”

      “We’ll see,” Sean said.

      Diego’s was small and bright and popular with both locals and tourists. Seafood was the specialty and it was served at small, square tables decorated with brilliantly colored tablecloths that shone like jewels in the candlelit atmosphere. Patio dining offered more privacy, as there were fewer tables and those were spread far apart, but even the customers who stayed inside had a breathtaking view of the ocean and the pristine beach through a wide bank of windows. Moonlight glowed in the night sky and dazzled the water with silver light.

      A sigh of a cool breeze slipped in off the ocean and danced around Melinda as she sat on the patio. Fall weather on Tesoro was capricious at best. Warm during the days, the nights could be cold or as it was tonight, almost sultry.

      But then, Melinda thought, taking a slow sip of her ice-cold wine, maybe it wasn’t the weather making her feel hot and uncomfortable. Maybe

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