Mission: Seduction

“Rafe?” Hell, she was in his room.

“In the shower,” he called out to her. “Just a minute.”

He doused himself in freezing cold water to dampen the fire raging in his blood. Twisting off the knob, he sucked in a breath and wrapped a towel around his waist.

Just as he went from the bathroom into the bedroom, Kelly was setting an envelope on his pillow.

“Oh.” Her eyes flashed wide, and he watched as her gaze traveled from his chest all the way down to his toes and back up to his face. “I—”

Obviously, he affected her as much as she did him. Grim satisfaction surged through him. Her demeanor was exactly the sign Rafe needed—well, once he settled matters with Mimi. And he couldn’t rush at Kelly like he wanted to. This would take time. She was special, and he didn’t want to screw it up by coming across like some horny teenager.

“Sorry, I couldn’t hear you,” he told her, and gave her his best smile.

“That’s—” she swallowed hard “—okay. I wanted to see if you’d be my date, well, not actually a date, maybe escort. No, no, that isn’t right, either.” She looked in one direction then another as if flustered.

“I’m happy to go wherever you need me to.”

“I was hoping that it might be nice for you to meet some of the ex-pats who live here,” she said. “What I was trying to say is that we could go together to this party that one of my sponsors is throwing tonight. I want to show my face so that they don’t forget about me.”

No one could ever forget her, of that he was certain.

He couldn’t tell her no, and in fact, he didn’t want to.

“What do I need to wear?”

“It’s always casual around here. Jeans or shorts and a shirt would be great. It starts at eight, but we don’t need to get there until about nine. That’s when the band plays.” She turned and all but bounced from the room.

Band, that meant the possibility of dancing. Rafe smiled slowly. He didn’t mind that one bit. Even with his bum leg he might be able to do a slow dance or three.

Thoughts of holding her close appealed to him.

“And lunch is ready when you are,” she announced, stopping at the doorway to face him. She was fiddling with her hair and at one point she slapped her hands together. The fidgeting was provocative and inviting. He wanted to catch her hands in his and pull her close to him right then.

Never in his life had he wanted a woman so much. It was the universe messing with his head. If he played the gentleman like he’d planned to, he might never taste her lips or—

No. That wasn’t likely.

He kept his hands fisted at his sides and the towel in place. She gave him another one of those shy, sexy smiles and escaped into sand and sunshine.

Pressing flesh with Kelly was definitely intriguing, but he had a code he lived by. If he could possibly avoid it, he wouldn’t hurt her or Mimi.

He needed a solution and fast.

Picking up his cell phone, Rafe prayed that he could reach Mimi in time.

5

THE CALIFORNIA TAN girls surrounded Rafe like an impenetrable wall of bikini-clad models. They were there to promote tanning lotion, but they seemed more interested in the marine. Kelly couldn’t blame them. Given his rough good looks and firm body, he was like a god. Her palms itched to once again get her fingers on his rock-hard body. And those blue eyes...she could gaze into them all night. The man was absolutely breathtaking.

One of the brunettes pulled a small bottle of California Tan from between her breasts and rubbed the lotion into Rafe’s hand as she gave him a sensual smile.

Rafe tried to pull away.

Kelly’s mouth flattened into a straight line. Enough was enough. Rafe was hers. Well, technically he was her sister’s, but she couldn’t stand the thought of those women touching him.

They had to go.

Her plans to get rid of the annoying models conflicted, however, with the guilt nibbling at her conscience. Earlier, she’d listened to Rafe’s voice mail message. Believing he was talking to Mimi, he’d told her that something crazy had happened. He’d called twice and after getting no answer, he said he needed to go ahead and set the record straight so he wasn’t leading her on.

“You’ve been so kind to me the last few months,” he’d said earnestly in his message. “But the truth is, I’ve found someone who— Well, I really want to see where it goes. The woman, that part I would like to talk to you about in person. It’s complicated. I didn’t want to do this over the phone, but I’ve never been able to get a hold of you. Thank you so much for sending me here to Fiji. It’s turned out to be one of the most amazing trips of my life. I hope wherever you are that you’re having a great time. And thank you again for keeping my spirits up while I was in the hospital. Bye.”

Kelly had deleted the message and hugged herself. He was an honest and honorable man. She needed to be honest with him, too.

“We need to talk,” said Greg, her manager, interrupting her thoughts.

She sighed. He wouldn’t let up on her about returning to the circuit. She wasn’t ready yet, but he didn’t want to hear that.

“It’s a party, Greg. I don’t want to talk about business, and I haven’t changed my mind.”

He held up his hands in surrender. “I promise I won’t nag, babe. Just want to share some good news.”

Kelly narrowed her eyes at him. Greg wasn’t a bad guy, but the only thing he cared about was the bottom line. Of course, she was the last one to complain about that since his concern for the bottom line was one of the many reasons she never had to worry about money. She could live in paradise for the rest of her life if she wanted to. Still, even though she believed he had her best interests at heart, he didn’t understand the emotional side of what she needed.

That was something they’d both learned when they dated a few years ago. They were friends as well as business partners and he’d seen her through the good and the bad times. Then one day she looked at him and saw someone other than “the boss,” as she called him. She had the flu and he didn’t want her on the water until she was better. But it was one of the biggest meets of the year, and she refused to miss it.

She’d won the event but couldn’t even paddle in, she was so tired. He swam out to get her and carried her straight to the doctor’s office.

At first, she and Greg seemed like the perfect match. She so appreciated everything he was doing for her career, until she realized that crossing their private and professional boundaries meant that he would act as if he owned her. She broke up with him when he started to agree to things on her behalf without checking with her first.

She should have fired him, but she was loyal to a fault.

He motioned to the tables on the terrace overlooking the sea. “Fine, let’s talk.” But she frowned as she noticed the cloying girls circling Rafe.

She followed Greg to a quiet spot, impatient to get this over with.

“So,” Greg began, grinning as he set his beer glass in front of him. “Baywear wants you as a spokesmodel for their new clothing line and they are willing to pay big to make that happen.”

Kelly bit her lip. She’d wanted to be a Baywear girl all of her life. One of her surfing mentors, Roz Mazur, had been one. It was a sign that you had made it to the top. A dream come true. “What’s the catch?” she asked.

Greg shrugged. “There’s travel involved. You’d have to do their larger events at different tournaments, print and online ads and commercials. The contract they’re offering is for two million dollars, but you’ll be on the road at least eighty days a year.”

Kelly fidgeted in her chair. It made sense they’d want to get the most for their money. And eighty days was nothing compared to what she had done the past few years with more than two hundred days on the road.

“I’d have to find a full-time manager for the resort.”

“Yeah, listen, about that. I have an excellent buyer for you. He’s willing to pay three times what you did. Believe me, it’s probably the best deal you’ll ever get.” The blasé delivery coupled with Greg’s outright audacity delivered a one-two punch to her gut.

Glancing up at the sky, she fought to control her temper. “Why would you even mention selling my place? I told you I don’t plan on ever selling it. What is wrong with you? You never listen to me. It’s always about the money with you. I thought you cared about what’s best for me, but it’s obvious that you don’t.” Her raised voice was drawing the attention of the nearby crowd.