“You know the reason they invited you for a drink was because Dave didn’t want to go back to his room quite yet.” She didn’t blame Dave one bit. Over the last ten years, she had learned that Beth was even more competitive than her brother, and she made no effort to conceal that behavior. In fact, Penn had a real suspicion it was the reason Dave fell in love with her in the first place.
“I got that after a few minutes.” Cole laughed. “It took some coaxing to get him to leave the bar.” He pushed off the doorjamb and walked into the bathroom, past the glass shower stall, and sat on the edge of the Jacuzzi tub. Resting his hands casually on either side of his body, he said, “Your whole family, even the in-laws, are…intense.”
She scoffed. “That’s a nice way of putting it.” She let herself relax. “Needless to say, family game night was, and still remains, a nightmare.”
She turned back to the mirror and picked up her gloss before swiping the applicator across her lips. “Was your family competitive?” she asked.
He gave her his best are-you-kidding-me look. “Have you met Neil Harrison?”
She knew all about his brothers. She worked with them every day. He didn’t have to school her in their behaviors and quirks. “Not your Madewood family, your real family.” Shit, Penn. Could you be more insensitive? “I mean…your biological parents.”
His face instantly grew serious. “The Madewoods are my real family.”
She’d hit a nerve. But he wasn’t getting off that easy.
She gazed at him in the mirror, her foot tapping on the tile. When her eyebrow quirked up in a challenge, he conceded. She got a mumbled answer.
“I don’t remember.”
She was calling bullshit on that. But she wasn’t going to pry. At least, not yet.
They were off to family dinner, which, for a change, she was actually looking forward to. Not just because Cole would be by her side. This time, she could finally show them her true competitive nature. She now had the means to put her money where
her mouth was.
“When you won that challenge, it was the best I’ve felt around my family in a really long—” She stopped and looked up to face him. “Ever.”
Thirty years old, and it had taken this long for her to truly feel like a winner. And she hadn’t even won the race herself.
She took a deep breath. Now was not the time to get mopey. She had plenty of time this week to prove she could win on her own. And with Cole here to support her, she knew she could do it.
Silence grew between them until he stood and wandered over to the vanity.
He fiddled with one of her eyeliners sitting on the counter, twirling the stick, his hand getting closer and closer to where hers rested on the vanity. Personal space had always been an issue for Cole. Until he set foot on this island. Maybe harmless flirting didn’t mean the same thing in a tropical paradise.
His fingers brushed the side of her hand and she gasped. Then, intentionally, he stroked the top of her hand. “Your skin is so soft.” His was hard, roughened from the years spent with his hands preparing food.
He turned and reached out, his index finger drawing a line across her bottom lip. She couldn’t help it; she shivered. A full-body shudder that started at the base of her spine and tingled its way up. She hated that he had such an effect on her. It made it impossible to keep her desire for him in check.
She looked up, deep into his eyes. Silence hung between them, and in that moment, they communicated more than any conversation they’d ever had.
Desire, plain as day, danced in his eyes. She knew it by the way his chest heaved, the way his eyes zeroed in on her breasts… And she’d bet her entire savings if she pressed her palm to his chest, his heartbeat would be going a mile a minute.
But there was no chance for her to respond. No chance for her to even register what was about to happen, because it just…happened.
His lips smashed down on hers, and he groaned into her mouth. It vibrated through her body, settling low in her stomach and awakening the parts of her she’d been trying so hard to keep undercover.
He was an expert with his lips and tongue. Their mouths tangled together in a frantic rhythm, and when his hand pressed against her lower back to pull her close, exactly where she had always longed to be, she moaned into his mouth. Every inch of her skin ignited at the direct contact. Her nipples were hard, and there was no hiding it when they rubbed against his chest.
This was how she’d always imagined kissing Cole Murphy would be like. The all-consuming explosion of two bodies desperate for more.
But then he tensed, waking her out of the desire-filled stupor, both of them stepping away from the kiss at the same time.
She sucked in a hard, shaky breath and brought her fingers up to press against her throbbing lips.
He looked like he’d just seen a ghost. As if the sight of her, needy and wanting more from him, was the scariest thing he’d ever seen.
“I’m…sorry. I didn’t…” He ran a hand up the back of his neck, and it ended up fisting in his hair.