Free The Tycoon's Perfect Match by Christine Wenger Page B

away any chance for something more.
    To distract himself from the ache of wanting her,he pointed out a couple of constellations, and they sat quietly for a long time, swaying with the motion of the boat and sipping their wine.
    When she looked up at him with her sweet smile, he couldn’t keep himself from lifting her chin and kissing her. Giving her enough time to protest, he kissed her forehead. When her smile deepened, he touched his lips to hers.
    Her arms went around his neck, and she kissed him back. He heard a slight sound of pleasure and he traced her lips with his tongue.
    â€œMmm…Brian?”
    He couldn’t get enough of her. She was the one woman he could never get out of his mind.
    He realized now he’d been subconsciously comparing all the other women he’d dated to Mari. And they’d never measured up. Never given him that feeling of finding “home” in their arms, as she had—and as she did now.
    He felt a push on his arms, and a greater rocking of the boat. He broke the kiss.
    â€œMari?”
    â€œBrian, what are we doing?” Her eyes were wide with shock.
    â€œKissing.” He grinned.
    â€œWe can’t be kissing.”
    â€œI’m pretty sure that’s what we were doing.”
    She seemed a little tense and gave a nervous laugh, but she cupped her hand over the water, ready to splash him again.
    â€œOkay…okay…maybe I do deserve that,” he said. “But you have to admit that you kissed me back.”
    She let the water drain between her fingers. “It’s not you. It’s me. I want us to stay friends and not complicate things. And I’ve made some poor decisions where men are concerned.”
    He sat straighter. “You think I’m a poor decision?”
    â€œYou know what I mean, Bri.”
    â€œOkay.” He moved back to his seat and picked up the oars. “Do you want to limit our relationship to strictly business?”
    â€œA business relationship? What do you mean by that?” Her eyes narrowed.
    â€œUh…” What did he mean by that? He couldn’t just come out and tell her that he wanted her job, could he? Not now. Not when she was so conflicted about whether or not she wanted it herself. “Mari, I know you’re afraid of being hurt, but I swear, that’s not my intention. I’m not like all those other guys.”
    He looked out into the darkness. Maybe he was just like them. Maybe he was worse. After all, they only wanted a promotion, but he wanted her job.
    But as far as their relationship was concerned, his intentions were real. But how could he prove that to her?
    Mari sighed. “Give me time, Brian. I need to figure some things out.”
    He nodded. “Fair enough.”
    Time was his old enemy. Time had taken Mari away from him every summer, had kept them apart for years.
    But not now. Not this time.

Chapter Seven
    M ari sat on the big leather side chair in the corner of the great room, with her journal on her lap and a pen in her hand.
    She couldn’t be any more confused if this day had been her first day of high school.
    Doodling on a clean page, she couldn’t stop thinking about Brian and the kiss they’d shared under the stars. She could still feel the warmth of his lips on hers, the gentle sway of the rowboat, the press of his body against her own….
    She closed her eyes. There were too many pent-up feelings between them. A kiss would surely lead to more. Could she handle a relationship with Brian?
    It didn’t take a crystal ball to figure out that she could easily fall for him.
    Her big crush on him when she was sixteen had been so painful that she’d never thought she’d recover. It seemed that one moment they were kissing, and the next he’d just walked away, out of her life.
    And now he was back. She hadn’t been able to get him out of her mind since she saw him at the real-estate office the day she arrived. She