Free Rub It In by Kira Sinclair

and sweet, so unexpected, that Marcy found herself wishing it would go on forever. And it didn’t. That was the disappointing part.
    He sighed as he pulled away from her. His eyes were heavy lidded, sexy. They glittered at her with a heat that belied the softness of what he’d just done.
    Simon wanted her.
    It was obvious.
    And her body agreed. It wanted to do whatever he wanted. Lightning sensations licked across her skin, crackling and zinging and making it hard to catch her breath.
    “Thank you for dinner,” he said, taking a small step away.
    This time when her hands clenched it was because she wanted to reach out and pull him back to her. To plaster him full-length along her naked skin and rub against him in an effort to find some relief for the fire he’d built deep in her belly.
    But she didn’t. Instead, she nodded her head and watched as he walked away.
    The quiet click of the door was like a gunshot, finally galvanizing her into action. She crossed her home in three strides, snatched the door open and rushed out onto the tiny covered porch.
    He was already several feet down the path leading back to the main buildings of the resort. But he must have heard the sound of her door, because he stopped and turned to look at her.
    The island was dark, the moon only a sliver that did little to dispel the night. His entire face was in shadow, but somehow his eyes still managed to flash.
    His body, usually loose and languid, was straight and tight. She could see the tension in his muscles as he took one step toward her. She knew what he thought—that she’d rushed outside to stop him from leaving.
    Instead, she shook her head, one quick motion that had him pulling up short.
    There were a lot of questions swimming around inside her head. She didn’t know which ones to ask. Which ones she really wanted an answer to. She settled for the most obvious—and hopefully the least dangerous.
    “Why did you do that?” Her voice was low and rough, almost unrecognizable to her own ears.
    His white teeth flashed in the darkness, their quick appearance her only indication of his smile. It was the first thing that felt familiar. She’d seen it often, that irreverent, self-deprecating, unapologetic twist of his lips that usually drove her crazy because she knew it wasn’t real.
    Taking several steps backward, he finally answered, “Because I wanted to.”

6
    “B ECAUSE I WANTED TO ,” Marcy grumbled to herself. Of course he did. The man didn’t care what anyone else wanted or thought. Did he ask her first if he could kiss her? No. He just went ahead and took what he wanted.
    Marcy, after a restless night of tossing and turning, was building up a healthy head of steam. She was also trying to convince herself that if he had asked first she would have said no.
    But the little voice inside her head called her a liar.
    She ignored it.
    The problem was that he didn’t really want her. He didn’t find her sexy. If he had, he would have shown some sign of it before now.
    She ignored the hypocrite that reverberated through her brain. She’d been fighting her own awareness of the man for the past two years and hadn’t given any indication of it. At least until last night.
    He just wanted to fluster her. To set her off center. He probably hoped to use her reaction in some harebrained attempt to convince her to come back to work.
    It wasn’t going to happen.
    Her interview had gone very well this morning. It had been difficult considering her laptop screen was small and four people—Mr Bledsoe, and three of his executives—had been present. But they’d asked tough questions and she was happy with her answers.
    And to make sure Simon couldn’t convince her to do something stupid—like stay—she intended to get as far away from the resort as physically possible.
    Grabbing a tattered backpack from her closet, Marcy filled it with several things—a soft blanket, some paperbacks, a couple sandwiches, snacks and several bottles of