Bound to Happen

Obviously curious, Ray asked, “Why didn’t you date?”

“You’re asking me that question? You’d get a better answer from any of the boys I graduated with. I think you know what they thought of me.” She definitely knew what they’d thought.

But knowing hadn’t helped her understand why none of them had bothered to get to know her. She might’ve appeared aloof and she’d definitely been shy. But nothing about her was cold. Her Ice Queen reputation had been grossly exaggerated. As Ray had found out.

“Yeah, I know what they thought. But you gotta realize boys that age don’t have the ability to tell the difference between frigid and shy. They’ll look for any scapegoat if it’ll save their own hot-shit reputation. You made a good one.” He shook his head, returned his hands to his pockets. “It’s not very hard to figure out.”

Sydney mentally backtracked to the middle of his explanation and frowned. How had he known she was shy? She was sure she’d never told him. She wanted to ask him more, wanted to hear who he thought she was. Wanted to hear in his own words why he’d wanted her to share his vacation.

Wanted to begin to understand her own attraction to him so she could begin to work her way beyond the allure. He wasn’t even close to being the compatible and civilized man she’d envisioned sharing her life with one day. Yet lust, she was discovering, defied logic and unanswered questions.

So she simply stared, wide-eyed and mute, as he moved closer, near enough that she could feel the heat from his large and half-bare body.

She could smell his deliciously masculine scent, clean and sweetly spiced. The bath soap stocked in the villa, made by a woman on the mainland, was a blend of natural ingredients, including native grasses and herbs.

Ray wore the fragrance well, and Sydney could only imagine the thrill of nuzzling her nose into his skin. She’d always been enchanted with the contrast of a man’s soft skin over his hard muscles. And she knew without a doubt that Ray would feel the same as he had in the past, while still feeling like a man she’d never known.

He stepped directly in front of her then so that the shadow from the support beam fell across the center of his body. He lifted one hand and touched an index finger to her cheek, trailing his touch back toward her ear.

“Talk to me, Sydney Ford. Help me figure you out.”

Sydney’s heart pounded. “You know who I am.”

“No.” He shook his head. “I know the woman you want me to know. But there’s a whole lot more to you than what you’ve let me see.”