“Come on, Lani,” he said, going over to the closet. “Stop pouting and help me pack up your stuff.”
“Just what do you think you’re doing?” She hopped up off the bed and went right over to the closet then stood in front of him, trying to block his view to her stuff. Of course, she was too short for that. The man towered over her which meant all he had to do was look straight ahead to see everything. Her presence was no hindrance whatsoever.
“I’m going to help you pack,” he said as if he did that sort of thing everyday.
“No, you’re not,” she said and jammed her fists on her hips. “Not over my dead body.”
“Okay,” he said, “no problem. We don’t have to do this over your dead body. We’ll just do it over your live one.” And he reached over her head and began pulling her clothes from the racks.
“Stop that,” she shrieked and reached up to try and rip the garments from his hands but he frustrated her even more when he just held them up high, forcing her to jump and even then she couldn’t get the darned things.
After jumping a couple of times and realizing it was hopeless she stopped and resorted to glowering at him. “Ugh, you beast,” she snarled and then, not knowing what else to do, she stormed out of the room and onto the balcony. There she flung herself into the nearest chair and stared out into the night that had now fallen over the land.
It was a good hour before Lani made her way back into the suite. By then Ridge would have probably moved all her clothes over to his room. At this point she didn’t even care. She just wanted to get this so-called honeymoon over and done with so she could get on with her life.
She went back to her bedroom and, as expected, it was bare. The man was determined she should move to his room, so she would. She didn’t give a hoot. As long as he didn’t touch her she didn’t really care.
And then she smiled, realizing that things might actually work in her favor. She’d wanted to torture him, hadn’t she? What better way than to put temptation right under his nose? Laughing to herself she left her old room and, not even bothering to knock, she walked into her new place of abode.
And there he was, lying on top of the bed, hair damp, his hands clasped behind his head. He was watching her expectantly. “Took you long enough.” He didn’t sound angry, only amused.
She walked over to the chest of drawers. “I had a lot to think about.” She opened the top drawer and, as she guessed, he’d already put some of her stuff there. Her intimates. He’d had his fingers on her undies but if that gave him joy she couldn’t care less. As long as he didn’t think that gave him the right to touch her.
But, unfortunately for him, in the next few minutes he would get an unexpected show and boy, would he be tempted to touch. Too bad for him she wouldn’t let him.
Tonight she grabbed bikini panties and a black lace teddy, not as skimpy as the one she’d worn the night before but good enough, and then she was off to the shower. His shower. Now theirs. She gritted her teeth at the thought.
She took her time, savoring the warm spray massaging her back and shoulders, and then she donned her new costume and checked herself in the full-length mirror. The midnight-black silk teddy was in stark contrast to her pale skin, pale from all the hours locked away in the research lab, but the shimmering black material was a perfect match for the shiny-black shade of her damply curling hair.
When she went back into the room Ridge had pulled the covers down and he was still lying on his back but now he didn’t seem quite as relaxed as before. His arms folded across his chest, he was watching her enter the room, his eyes following her as she walked around the foot of the bed and then to the other side. His gaze was roaming over her body, taking her in from head to toe, practically burning into her skin.
When she got into the bed she didn’t slide in with her back toward the middle as she normally would. No, this time she climbed on, making sure to tilt forward, giving her now very tense ‘husband’ an unobstructed view of her br**sts falling against the fabric of her skimpy top.
His sharp intake of breath told her all she needed to know. Ridge Kent was pretending to be unaffected by her display but he wanted her real bad and the evidence was there right in front of her eyes.
Why else would his shoulder muscles flex as he clenched his hands around his elbows? Why else would his nostrils be flaring like that? Why else, for goodness gracious sake, would he have a rapidly rising mound tenting the front of his pants?
And then just as she settled onto the pillow beside him Ridge gave a groan fraught with frustration then rolled away from her and got out of the bed. Without warning he walked away into the bathroom and she didn’t hear anything else until the shower started.
Ridge was mad all right, but he’d asked for it. She chuckled as she remembered his reaction. “Be careful what you wish for,” she murmured. “You might just get it.” ***
It was early, barely six o’clock in the morning but Ridge was up and jogging on the cool sand of Papohaku Beach. If he’d spent another minute with Lani’s warm, sweet-smelling body curled up against his he’d have gone mad.
That is, if he wasn’t already. Who but a mad man would put his own damn self in a prison of torment, living with a desirable woman but not able to touch her, then worsen the torment by bringing her into his own bed? No, you had to be crazy to willingly put yourself in such a fix. And that was exactly what he was. Crazy.
Exhausted from pushing himself hard, Ridge jogged over to a rock jutting out of the sand and dropped down onto it. Still panting, he raised his head to stare at the low-lying clouds tinted red and gold by the emerging rays of the early morning sun, a picture so serene it was in direct contrast to the turmoil that raged within him. Last night he’d had to resort to a quick, cold shower just to get his body to calm down. After enduring a sleepless night listening to Lani’s gentle breathing, conscious of her lying next to him, he’d had to leave her there and escape to the beach just so he could breathe again. And think.
And as he sat there on his rock, a solitary figure on the stretch of beach, Ridge came to a decision. None of this made any sense. The only way he’d be able to preserve his sanity was to put a stop to it.
When he got back to the suite he didn’t even enter the bedroom. That kind of sweet torture, he could do without. For the next couple of hours while Lani slept he hung out in the living room watching reruns of classic comedy shows. He’d always been a fan of ‘The Honeymooners’ and ‘I Love Lucy’ and he welcomed the distraction.