Temptation

Just great. “That will make things easier,” he said lamely.

A thought occurred to Noelle. “You spent time in Sudan with Jordan,” she stated more than asked. “Did you ever meet Trent Dixon? What does he look like?”

Oh, God. Trent cleared his throat. “I never had the chance to meet him. I guess our paths just didn’t cross. Why don’t we get out of here?” Trent suggested, before Noelle had a chance to respond. He swiftly wiped his mouth and pushed away from the table.

Before Noelle knew what was happening he was standing behind her chair to help her up.

Her eyebrows arched. “Why are you in such a rush all of a sudden? Is something wrong?” she asked in bewilderment.

“Of course not. But there’s no point in sitting here when we can be exploring. You did promise to show me around.” He forced a smile as they walked toward the door.

Noelle shrugged to camouflage her confusion. “I guess we could drive out to the movie studios, or into Beverly Hills.” She looked at him skeptically. “What do you want to do?”

He wanted to say, get as much distance between me and Malone as possible, but instead, “How about a drive out to the beach? Next to flying, the waves always help me to think. The sun will be setting in a few hours. It’s been a long time since I saw the sun set over the water.”

His full lips curved into that sensuous smile that made her feel weak.

“It sounds wonderful.”

Her voice felt like the brush of silk against his ears. “My car is in the hotel garage.”

The mention of the hotel caused Noelle’s initial misgivings and jealousies to resurface. It was ridiculous to feel this way, she knew, but for whatever reason, she couldn’t seem to help it.

Trent watched the warm brown eyes turn suddenly cold and distant.

“Noelle, for the last time, what is it?”