“I don’t know how I can make any of this better for you, Haley. I can’t even say that I understand, because I don’t. It’s inconceivable for me to think of people treating one of their own kin, someone they are supposed to love, in that heartless, inhuman way.”
Silence stretched out between them as she tried to push her raw emotions down. She’d shared her tale with only one other person, her counselor at college, and it had helped her to see she wasn’t a child of Satan who didn’t deserve to live. Still, it wasn’t easy to get beyond the horrors of her early life.
She hated admitting all of this to Crew, since she wanted him to view her as something more than a child in the shadows, but it also felt good to get it off her chest, to share this burden with another human being, one who wasn’t being paid to listen. As much as speaking with her counselor had helped, the woman had just sat behind her desk taking notes, hadn’t rubbed Haley’s back and let her know it would all be OK. Still, without her, Haley would never have had the confidence to get a job or take this vacation she’d won, or ever been able to approach Crew to ask for his help.
It had taken her years to gain the courage to try to change who she was. She wanted to find a man who would look at her, desire her, maybe even love her. Every romantic movie she’d watched had a hero racing in to save the day, and she’d ached for that, whether it was politically correct or not. She wanted her prince charming to save her.
“So, you decided to change your life, and then you found me.”
“No. Not quite that quickly. It took me years to work up the courage to actually find a man to teach me,” she admitted. “I came here because I won the trip, and I figured this was a good place to find a teacher because it’s an island — much harder for a man to escape,” she finished with a laugh.
“I don’t want to escape you.” The words sounded wonderful, but she wasn’t stupid. They were both caught up in this magical night — in this surreal moment. They would probably both see things in another light once dawn approached.
“You are teaching me to feel different about myself, Crew. I’ve felt things in the last week that I never imagined I would, but this is all just a fantasy, a game I came up with to change who I am. It may work, and it may not, but I don’t want to think past right now. I need to remain in reality.” She pleaded with him to understand. “Let’s not pretend this is something it isn’t.”
After a short pause, he responded. “I will agree to live in the moment if you agree to quit the game and give me a chance. I’m not a bad guy, and though it surprises me to say this, I like you, Haley…a lot. Let’s forget about this other man you wanted to seduce, and focus on having you seduce only me from now on. You’re pretty damned great at it!”
Haley knew there was a reason she should protest — knew she’d figure out what that reason was if she thought about it long enough, but while his hands caressed her, while his warmth kept her sated and secure, she couldn’t find fault with what he was asking of her. After a brief pause, she nodded her head.
“Say it, Haley.” The nod wasn’t good enough.
“I will forget the other guy…for now.” She knew her answer wasn’t good enough for Crew, but at least he wasn’t pushing her.
The two of them lay in each other’s arms for the next hour, or two — they didn’t know — listening to the soothing sound of the ocean waves until the cool evening air had them admitting it was time to go in. When Crew led her to his room that night, she didn’t fight him. She wasn’t ready to let go just yet.
Pulling her into his arms to hold her and nothing more, she felt the first warm stirrings in her untutored heart. But she couldn’t be falling in love with him. She didn’t know what love was, had no examples of it in her life. Her emotions were clearly just in overdrive from everything that had occurred during the day, and night.
Falling asleep with a smile on her face and Crew’s arms wrapped around her, she slept better than she ever had before.
Chapter Sixteen
“Wake up. We’re going to one of my favorite places for lunch.”
Haley felt as if one-ton weights were pressed against her eyelids. Wake up? No way. She was warm, sated, very sore, and unwilling ever to climb from bed again. Maybe if she ignored him, he’d eventually go away. It was worth a shot.
“Pretending to be asleep won’t do you any good. It’s already noon. I’ve gotten in four hours of work and a ten-mile jog on the beach, plus I calmed down my sister on a half-hour-long phone call.”
Crew was sounding way too cheery. “Show-off,” she muttered under her breath. She wanted to throw one pillow at his face, and bury her head underneath another one. She wasn’t budging.
“Haley, I can see your muscles tensing. I know you’re awake.”
“I wouldn’t be if you’d kindly shut up,” she grumbled, savagely twisting her body away from the sound of his voice and snuggling down deeper into the softness of his mattress.
Normally, Haley was a very happy person in the mornings, but she’d stayed up long into the night. And anyway, accomplished seductresses needed their beauty rest.
“I’m taking you to my favorite place on the island to eat. Now get up,” he said before playfully swatting her on her bare behind. She was so shocked, she sat up in bed, clutching the sheet to her chest, her eyes wide as she looked into his smiling face.
This wasn’t the same man she’d met a week before.
“I saw and tasted your luscious curves last night...twice. Why hide them now?” he asked as he sat on the bed and ran his finger along the top of the sheet in an attempt to free it from her grip.
“That was…well, that was…” She didn’t know what she wanted to say.
“Something we will do again and again,” he finished for her.
Haley was in shock. She hadn’t known what to expect this morning, but certainly not this playful, lighthearted Crew. She had expected him to look at her with pity, or not look at her at all, having made his conquest.
“That wasn’t our deal,” she finally said as her fingers clung to the silken sheet — her only protection at the moment. She had a sudden desire to slip into one of her baggy tops and hide away for the next week.
“The deal has changed,” he answered her simply. “If you keep gazing at me with those wide, innocent eyes, looking so delectable, I will have to forget about taking you out, and just ravish you all day instead.”