Chapter 22

He followed. “Too close for what?”

Too close for sanity. “For rules of personal space.”

“Answer this for me, Candace.”

She frowned, not liking the note of intimacy that had crept into his voice. “What?”

“Do I make you as insane as you make me?”

Her breathing hit a speed bump. “I have no idea. I don’t know how insane I make—”

“Completely…” He laid a finger on her bare shoulder, let it trail sensually down her arm.

No. He was not going to do this to her again. She was attracted to him, yes. So what. “Look, Nolan, I’m on my way to Rosehill in about fifteen minutes, so there’s no point in starting anything.”

“We already started something. This is finishing. Or no, I don’t like the sound of that. How about starting phase two?”

“Uh…no.” To her delight, common sense gained ground against her dream and his magnetism. “My sister is nuts about you, you’re going on a date tomorrow with Annie, the woman you tried to pick up a few nights ago, but gee, who cares about any of that, how about a quickie with Candace while she’s still here?”

“I never said anything about quick.” He laughed at her glare, but without much humor. “Well, Candace, I’ll say this, you sure know how to make a guy feel good.”

Perfect. She was on a roll. “Nolan, I am attracted to you, and the other night was really and very weirdly amazing, but…what’s the point?”

“The point is that we can make each other feel good and I can distract you for a few extremely satisfying days until after the hurricane, because it’s a dangerous decision to go now, a decision which will put an unfair burden of worry on your grandparents who already have plenty to worry about just taking care of themselves, which it sounds like they can do just fine without you, not to mention an unfair burden of worry on Michelle and…” He stopped for a breath and his gaze intensified. “On me.”

She nearly growled. The last thing she wanted was for him to start making sense. “I need to be there.”

“You need. This is about you. You can’t stand your grandparents being there and you being here with danger approaching, because you love and want to protect them. I get that. I admire it. But putting yourself in the same danger isn’t going to help them. They’ve been responsible, they’ve taken care of everything.” His lips curved in a small smile. “They’ve even asked you not to make the trip so they don’t have to worry.”

She squeezed her eyes shut. He wasn’t supposed to be winning with common sense. How the hell was she supposed to think this through clearly standing naked in a towel with him so close? Right now, she was afraid he could tell her she was descended from a family of Irish tree frogs and she’d believe him. “So you’re going to distract me with sex?”

“I was planning to.” He put his hands on the wall on either side of her head; she felt trapped by his body and wasn’t sure she minded. “Until you graciously pointed out that I’m an unfeeling player who uses women indiscriminately to serve my body and my enormous ego. That what I feel for you is nothing special at all, that there isn’t some extraordinary pull between us that defies logic and explanation. Right? Isn’t that what you said?”

She had no idea what she’d said and less what to say now. He spoke in a low, even voice, but his words had the same impact as if he’d been shouting at her.

“Why are you so anxious to judge me badly? You take each shred of circumstantial evidence you can possibly use against me, then pump it up into an insurmountable character flaw.” He lowered his face an inch from hers; she forced herself to focus on his chin, except even that was sexy to her. “What are you so afraid of?”

“I’m not afraid.” Her hoarse whisper trembled. Her body followed suit.

She was terrified, and she didn’t know why.

“Then don’t stop me. I dare you.” His mouth found hers in a slow, gentle kiss that reached her so deeply it terrified her more. She pulled away.

“Don’t.”

“Shh.” He slid his hands up the wall, moved closer, kissed her forehead, her temple, her cheek. The only sound was her shallow breathing, catching with each touch of his lips. She couldn’t move, caught in the grip of exactly opposing forces, half instructing her to respond, half instructing her to break free.

“I have no romantic feelings for Michelle.” He slid a warm hand under her hair, tipped her head back so she was forced to meet his dark eyes, serious under dark lashes, his features softened in the glow from the bathroom light which she’d been too startled to shut off. “I’m having coffee with Annie tomorrow morning. Not exactly a hot date. After meeting you, I can barely remember what she looks like.”

Candace lowered her eyes. Too much intensity, too powerful, too much temptation to believe him, believe everything, then take it further until she was expecting to live the dream she just had and believe he loved her. “Stop doing this.”

“What, being right? Being sensible? Being made insane by you?”

“Yes.”

He grinned. “I want you safe, Candace. And to prove that I’m not just out to get laid, I promise you that I will stay completely brotherly the rest of your time here, if that’s a day, a week, a month or forever. Okay?”

She nodded dazedly, already feeling a sharp loss. “Okay.”

“Good.” He pushed away from the wall. “We have a deal. You stay until the hurricane has passed, and I act the perfect gentleman.”

“Yes. Okay.” She’d stay, not only because he asked her to, or bullied her into it, but because on some level she knew taking the trip now was madness. On some level she was grateful he reined in her blind obsession to do her duty and got her to acknowledge the right choice.

“Just one thing.” He leaned in again.

She shrank back. “Oh, no.”

“I’ll keep my promise.” A slow, wicked grin lit his face and melted a part of her she needed to stay solid and strong if she was going to make it intact through the next few days. “But there’s nothing stopping you from inviting me to do whatever you want, however you want, whenever you want it.”