His icy gaze raked down over her body and it took her a second for his meaning to register. ‘Are you suggesting …? That’s ridiculous,’ she said indignantly.
‘It’s the truth. He probably took his cue from your flirting with him during lunch. Probably earlier in the pool, for all I know.’
Lexi felt a blast of anger curl her hands into fists. ‘And I suppose that kiss before on the sand was my fault as well? I encouraged you by lying back, unable to catch my breath.’
Leo rubbed the back of his neck. ‘That kiss was the result of an extremely stressful situation,’ he grated.
‘Do tell.’
‘Do tell what? As I recall, you weren’t exactly reluctant a few minutes ago.’
Lexi shut up then. He was right; she’d been far from reluctant and she needed more time to reconcile her attraction to a man she didn’t respect and who confused her mind and her senses in equal measure. She still felt light-headed from his kiss and the heat of his body pressing her so firmly into the sand.
‘Yes, well, as you said, it was stress. And I think we should just forget it ever happened.’
‘Fine with me.’
Lexi felt lost for words at his easy acceptance of her rebuttal and leant forward to brush the sugar-soft sand from her legs. What had she wanted him to say? That his kisses had been special? As if.
‘We should get back,’ he bit out tersely.
‘Yes,’ she agreed absently, too caught up in her own tumultuous response to this man to wonder at his irritation.
Leo led the way down to the water’s edge and it wasn’t until the hot sand gave way to the coolness of the water that she realised just how she would be getting back to the yacht.
‘I’m not riding with you on that,’ she protested a little too vehemently.
Leo waded towards the jet ski. ‘What are you going to do—swim?’
He swung himself up onto the bobbing ski with envious athleticism, his leanly muscled torso rippling beneath his still damp shirt from where he’d held her wet body against him. ‘It’s not that far,’ she said, trying to calculate the distance between the island and his yacht.
r /> ‘It’s over two kilometres and you’ve had a fall.’
‘I was only winded,’ she reminded him.
Leo gunned the engine and stretched out his hand. ‘Get on,’ he snarled, not bothering to hide his annoyance.
‘You’ve ruined your trousers,’ she commented inanely, noticing for the first time that he was still wearing suit trousers that were wet up to his knees and moulded to his muscular calves.
‘My trousers are the least of my concerns,’ he dismissed, beckoning to her. ‘Come. You need to get out of this hot sun.’
Lexi eyed the jet ski dubiously. ‘Can’t you call the tender?’
‘What with?’ His lips curved into a mocking smile. ‘My bat phone?’
Lexi didn’t know if he was being humorous or not, she just knew that touching him was a bad idea. She fiddled with her necklace and his eyes narrowed on the movement.
‘Don’t make me have to come over there and get you,’ he warned softly.
Lexi’s heart skipped a beat, images of him lifting her up with those muscular arms and cradling her against his solid chest motivating her to wade through the warm water towards him. There was plenty of room behind him anyway and if he went slowly enough she wouldn’t even have to hang onto him.
‘Promise you won’t go fast.’
‘Whatever you want,’ he drawled and Lexi’s eyes cut to his. Whatever she wanted. She wanted him to kiss her like he had on the beach and never stop.
No.
She blinked away the unwelcome thoughts—that was so not what she wanted. Tomorrow she would be back in London and this weekend would be a distant dream. A one-night stand with a Russian playboy with questionable morals was not what the good doctor had ordered at all!