His mouth pursed and his eyes seemed to darken with concern. The answer he chose to give would decide a lot about their future together and he seemed to sense the significance of the question.
“I did,” he admitted. “I was very sorry to hear about your accident. Are you recovering all right?”
She looked out at the soft Caribbean waves rolling onto the sand. “All right” was a matter of perspective. For someone with less aspirations and confidence from a family who weren’t a bunch of superstars she would probably be viewed as doing spectacular. For her, for being a Jewel, she was a pathetic mess. A waste of space in her mind. She’d tried to put herself out there with the Harvard Law interview and the women’s comments and concerns in that restroom had knocked her back down, hard. She needed to try again, but she was scared. It all made her mad at herself and furious at Flint Brooks, the man who had set the explosion.
“Forgive me,” Abe said softly, stepping in closer to her. “I didn’t mean to pry.”
Rachel prayed for some of the sass she used to possess. She looked straight in his eyes and said, “No apology necessary. I am doing just fabulous. It would take more than a little explosion and some third-degree burns to take me down.”
His eyes widened slightly with surprise but then glowed with appreciation. It was good to know she could still fake confidence and even an impressive man like Abe would be snow jobbed by her.
“You are … so impressive to me.” Abe’s voice got low and husky and his gaze swept over her with approval and desire.
Rachel finally felt like she was the confident woman she’d always been and now was trying hard to portray. Her mom had been a big proponent of “fake it till you make it,” whether teaching them to have a positive attitude or teaching them to be confident when they were in a situation that was intimidating. Maybe Rachel could do this. Maybe she could be okay. Maybe she could be impressive and attractive to a man like Abe.
Abe stood very close to her. Her heart was hammering from his nearness. A slight breeze brought a blessed whiff of his soft cologne to her. She didn’t know him very well, but she’d instinctively trusted him. Would he kiss her? He slowly leaned closer and she held her breath with anticipation.
He released his grip on her hand and gently wrapped his left hand around her hip. Fire seemed to burn through her from his touch. She liked how big his palm was, how big he was, nicely built and perfectly proportioned and very, very attractive. Her anticipation ramped up again, and she had to catch a long, panting breath.
Abe smiled softly and his dark eyes sparkled at her. He lifted his right hand and she felt an uncomfortable twinge for the first time around him. He wouldn’t touch her scars, would he?
Tentatively he swept the hair away from her neck. Rachel jumped and pulled back away from him. For all her hopes that she was confident and ready to have a romantic interaction, she wasn’t ready for him to touch her bumpy skin. Why had he gone there?
“Rachel … I …” He stepped in close again but the moment was shattered and her reaction was as telling as anything.
“It’s fine.” She stepped back again and thankfully he was enough of a gentleman to take the hint. His dark eyes looked conflicted and full of concern. She didn’t like it. She wasn’t some charity case, no matter how hard she was struggling. “It’s fine,” she repeated. “Thank you for the walk. Goodnight.”
With that she turned and all but ran to her bungalow. He called to her, twice, and she could hear his footsteps approaching. She ignored him, pretending she didn’t hear or feel him approaching. Finally, she reached her bungalow and tried to punch in the code. Her fingers were trembling so hard she hit the numbers wrong, twice.
“Rachel.” Abe slowly approached, his voice soft as if she were a scared little filly. Rachel hated that.
She whipped around to face him but held up a hand to ward him off. “Abe it’s fine. I flew through the night last night and got here early this morning.” She left out the fact she’d flown on Luke’s private jet and slept the entire flight. “I’m tired and want to rest. Thank you for a nice walk on the beach.”
With that she turned her back on him and finally got the code typed in correctly. Shoving the door open she heard him whisper her name one more time and she thought she heard, “I’m sorry.”
She slammed the door closed on his pleading voice and apology. It was fine. She was fine. The tears streaking down her face and the ache to run back outside and kiss him long and hard didn’t mean anything. She swiped her face angrily and stomped to the bathroom to wash off her makeup and brush her teeth. It all meant nothing but that she needed some sleep.