LITMIR.BIZ

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he asked.

      She was looking out the car window, but he could see her smile widen a fraction. “Just the way I like ’em.”

      “I hate to break it to you, but he’s only after one thing. When you leave Mexico, you’ll never hear from him again.”

      She turned to him, her expression blank. “What’s your point?”

      She wasn’t fooling him with her casual attitude. “I know you, Ivy. You don’t do casual. You’re a commitment kinda’ girl.”

      She shrugged. “Go ahead and tell yourself that if it makes you feel better.”

      “This has nothing to do with me. I don’t care what you do. I just don’t want to see you get your pretty little heart broken.”

      “I think men should be like tissues,” she said. “Soft, strong and disposable. The jealousy is flattering, though.”

      He snorted. “Jealous of what? You’re a complete pain in the ass.”

      “May be, but you still want to sleep with me.” She looked over at him. “Admit it.”

      Great, now she was stealing his material. “Why would I want to sleep with a woman who regrets marrying me?”

      Only after the words were out did he realize how pathetic that sounded. Like she’d hurt his feelings or something.

      Which she hadn’t. He didn’t give a damn what she thought about their marriage.

      She looked out the window and said in a soft voice, “I didn’t mean it.”

      Was that some sort of veiled apology from Miss Perfection? Miss I’m-Never-Wrong. “You didn’t mean what?”

      She fiddled with the strap of her purse, eyes downward. “As bad as things got between us, there were good times, too.”

      “What are you trying to say, Ivy?”

      She took a deep breath, looked up and met his eyes. “I’m trying to say that I’m sorry. I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings.”

      He waited for a sarcastic remark, a caustic dig to pop into his head. Instead he was drawing a blank.

      What the hell was wrong with him?

      Ivy was proud, so he knew that hadn’t been easy for her.

      He settled for, “You didn’t, but apology accepted.”

      “He’s a twenty-two-year-old psychology major,” she said, and it took him a second to realize she was talking about the cupcake on the tour. “Really smart kid. He’s engaged to a lovely girl that he is absolutely crazy about and plans to marry after they both graduate. They’re considering moving to Texas. I told him to give me a call when and if he’s ever looking for an internship.”

      “A bit of advice. Next time you might want to tone down the flirting.”

      “I was not flirting.”

      “I saw you, darlin’. You were most definitely flirting, and laying it on thick.”

      “Okay, May be a little. But you were jealous. Admit it.”

      “If I say yes, will you sleep with me?”

      She just grinned and turned back to the window. “I knew you were jealous.”

      He didn’t see any point in arguing. Once she set her mind to something she rarely backed down. And what the hell, May be he had been a little jealous.

      If anyone was going to sleep with Ivy on this trip, damn it, it was going to be him.

      When they got back to the villa everyone else was gone. Since dinner had already been prepared, they figured it would only be polite to sit down and eat. And it wasn’t so bad.

      Ivy would go so far as to say it was darn near pleasant. Something strange had happened on the ride back from the marina. The tension that had been dogging them since their fight yesterday afternoon seemed to wither away. They seemed to have come to some sort of understanding.

      And she began to think that when he followed her around, incessantly bugging her tonight, it might not be such a bad thing. Since there wasn’t much else to do.

      After dinner he pushed back his chair and stood. “I’m going to call it a night and head up to my room.”

      Sure he was. “It’s barely eight o’clock.”

      “I’m a little tired, and I have some work I wanted to catch up on.”

      Did he really think she was that gullible? That she didn’t know exactly what he was up to? He was pulling the same routine he always did. He would pretend he was going to leave her alone, then dog her relentlessly all night.

      But just to make him happy, she played along. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, then. Sweet dreams.”

      Dillon walked around the table, stopped beside her chair and held out his hand. She looked at it suspiciously. He stood there patiently waiting, and finally she slipped her hand in his. She assumed he meant to escort her from the table. Instead he turned her hand over, exposing her wrist, and he leaned forward.

      Unsure of what he was doing, but curious to find out, she sat motionless. Even though her heart had begun pounding out a faster and slightly erratic rhythm.

      His eyes closed and he inhaled the scent of the perfume she’d dabbed there. The bottle she’d bought in town yesterday.

      He looked up at her, his eyes like a hot spring ready to bubble over. “I like it.”

      Her hand felt small and warm wrapped in his and his breath was hot on her skin. Then his lips brushed just below her palm and tiny jolts of awareness, like little static shocks, rippled up her arm.

      Oh, my God.

      She found herself looking forward to the time he would spend nagging her, and figured, if today was like every other day this week, she wouldn’t have to wait long.

      He let go of her hand, then walked inside. She didn’t doubt that he’d be back in a minute or two. He would find some ridiculous reason he should keep himself glued to her side.

      Yep, any minute now.

      She sat at the table several minutes, then got up and walked to the balcony railing and looked out over the ocean, at the sun sinking slowly below the horizon. Several minutes passed before she heard a noise behind her.

      She couldn’t help grinning. The man was so predictable.

      She wiped the smile from her face and turned to him. “I thought you were going to—” The words trailed off when she realized it wasn’t Dillon, but the housekeeper, preparing to clear the table.

      “Ma’am?” she asked in a thick Mexican accent.

      Ivy’s cheeks blushed with embarrassment. “Sorry. I thought you were…someone else.”

      She scurried past her into the house. The poor woman must have thought she was a loon. Although, compared to Deidre, who scarfed chocolate and had nervous breakdowns, and Dillon, who walked around in his underwear with his winkie hanging out, and the Tweedles—she wouldn’t even go there—Ivy was definitely one of the most normal of the bunch.

      Apparently Dillon was going to wait until Ivy went to her room, or May be he was there already, lounging on her bed. The way he had been when she got out of the shower.

      That was probably it. All this time she’d been waiting for him, he was probably waiting for her.

      She headed up to her room, making sure her footsteps were just heavy enough, so he would know she was coming. The hallway was quiet and dim. Her bedroom door was open, just the way she’d left it, the room dark. No doubt he was going to try to startle her again.

      She stepped in the room and switched on the light, eyes on the bed where she expected him to be.

      It

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