She noticed that he nodded out of the corner of her eye.
“That’s okay. I understand completely.”
She didn’t like the laughter in his voice. “What do you understand?” she said, stopping again to turn and face him.
He looked at her lovely face, liking the fire in her beautiful blue eyes. “I understand that you’re attracted to me but for some reason you don’t want to have anything to do with me. I’m guessing it has to do with the kiss the other night and the uncontrollable passion we seemed to ignite off each other.”
“I don’t…” she tried to finish but the words just wouldn’t come. It had been uncontrollable.
“I know, you don’t know what to do about it,” he said and took a step closer. “It’s a little amazing, isn’t it?”
Alana took a step backwards, flustered by his closeness. She could smell his aftershave and liked it. “No, I don’t…” she couldn’t finish. He was too close to her and his words rang true. She was terrified of him.
Alana didn’t want to deal with a relationship again. She’d been in one relationship that had ended in disaster and embarrassment. She couldn’t go through that again.
“Don’t worry. We’ll take it slow,” he said softly.
“No, we won’t,” she said and took a deep breath. “I don’t want to see you again. It has to be that way. I’d appreciate it if you’d respect my wishes on this.”
“That won’t work,” he said and his hand reached up to smooth a stray lock of blond hair that had fallen across her face.
“It has to work,” she said angrily, her hands fisted at her sides. “Look, Gus, I have some important things to accomplish and I don’t need this,” she sputtered, waiving her hands between their bodies, “whatever it is, to happen.”
“Too late,” he said, smiling at her loss of control. He could tell she was angry and he liked it. He liked her showing some emotion instead of just ignoring him. He also liked the fact that he could rile her so easily. It showed him that he affected her just as much as she affected him.
She stomped her foot in frustration, which only caused her heel to hurt. “Nothing is too late. We just need to stop being around each other.”
Gus nodded shook his head, his eyes sympathetic. “Are you telling me that you haven’t thought about that kiss every day since it happened? Are you telling me that you haven’t dreamed about it, woken up in the middle of the night wondering what it would be like between us?”
He looked down into her eyes and saw that she was about to deny it. “Don’t lie,” he said and pressed his finger over her mouth. “I can see the truth in your eyes.”
“Ehh! Stop it,” she said, shaking her head at the image he was creating in her mind. Everything he said was true. She had dreamt about their kiss. She’d woken up almost every night for the past six nights thinking about him and wondering if it could have worked out if things had been different, if she’d been a different person without her past. But she couldn’t overlook what she knew, what she’d already experienced at the hands of selfish, arrogant men. She wouldn’t put herself back into that kind of position again.
Putting a finger to the middle of his chest, she emphasized her words, “Look, I don’t need you in my life. I don’t need any man. So just leave me alone!”
She realized she was shouting and she stopped, looked around to see if anyone was close enough to hear her. When she realized they were far enough from everyone, including the servants and caterers, she was relieved. Alana stepped back, wanting to put some space between the two of them. He made her crazy!
“Leave me alone,” she said again, in a softer tone, but with just as much heat.
“Alana wait,” he said and reached out to stop her. But she whipped her hand away before he could grab her and took a quick step back. “No, you don’t understand,” Gus said, and chuckled softly, “You’re about to…”
“Gus, don’t you touch me!” she said and stepped back again.
“Alana, please, you really don’t understand what is about to happen. Just look behind you…” but it was too late. She’d backed up to the edge of the pool and the only thing he could do, the only gentlemanly thing to do, was to grab her around her waist and pull her towards him.
The plan would have worked if she hadn’t lost her temper and pushed against him with all her might. Unfortunately for both her pride and her chiffon dress, by the time she realized what was happening, it was too late. She was falling backwards into the crystal clear waters of the swimming pool. Her yell of shock was drowned out by the water swallowing her up.
Alana came up sputtering and furious. “Oh!”
Gus leaned down to the pool level and smothered a laugh. “I’m sorry, I tried to warn you.” He reached down and offered her a hand to pull her out.
The water was very cold since the nights were about sixty degrees lately. The sun didn’t have enough time to warm up the water so she was shivering. She reached out for his hand, grateful for his assistance out of the pool.
He easily lifted her out of the water, then reached down and swung her up into his arms, carrying her into the house as if she weighed nothing.
She was too embarrassed by her temper and too cold to resist his help. In fact, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, trying to get some of his heat. The chiffon dress didn’t provide any protection against the cool breezes now and the dress was plastered against her skin.
“You don’t need to carry me,” she said, but was shivering so badly that she could barely get the words out.
“That’s okay,” he said as he entered the house. “I like carrying you. I can touch you freely and you aren’t pushing me away. Must be progress, right?” Gus didn’t wait for a response which was good since she was too cold to give him one. He had entered into the back of the house but the grand center staircase was easily visible. He strode confidently up the stairs. “Which way?” he asked, standing at the top. There was a hallway in each direction with several doors but no indication as to which door was hers.
“I can make it from here,” she said and wriggled to get down. “Thank you for your help. And I apologize for losing my temper. It rarely happens,” she said with as much dignity as she could muster under the circumstances.