Forgotten Honeymoon

His tone told her exactly how he would feel about it.

With that, Max turned and walked away with long, hurried strides, as if he couldn’t wait to get away from her.

Frustrated, angry, Kristina looked around for something, anything, to throw. There was a piece of driftwood sticking up a few feet away from her. Yanking it out of the sand, she hurled it at Max before she could stop to think what she was doing.

The small piece struck him squarely in the back. Surprised, Max swung around just as the driftwood landed beside his foot. He spared it one look, then strode back to where Kristina was standing.

The look in his eyes was dark and forbidding.

Surprised at the level of her outburst, uncertain of what to expect from him, Kristina still refused to back down. Instead, she lifted her chin, daring him to retaliate.

Max grabbed her by the shoulders and gave her one strong shake that very nearly rattled her teeth. “What the hell’s wrong with you?”

“You,” she shot back. She blew out a shaky breath, refusing to tell him to release her, even though he was hurting her. “You make me lose my temper faster than anyone I’ve ever met.”

He realized that he was holding her too hard. Letting her go, he saw the dark prints of his fingers on her upper arms. Damn it, he wasn’t a savage, even if she was a shrew.

Annoyed with himself, with her, he scowled. “Well, we’ve got that in common, too. Steak and tempers. A hell of a combination.” He shook his head. “This isn’t going to work out.”

Her bravado escalated to a fever pitch. “It’s not a marriage, it’s a business arrangement.”

“It’s more than that,” he replied. “It’s hell, right here on earth.” And he was smack-dab in the middle of it, thanks to her.

A string of curses ran through his mind as he looked down into her face. Without fully realizing he was doing it, he pulled her back into his arms.

Emotions churned within him like the sea caught in the grip of a typhoon. Max felt himself on the verge of giving in to the almost overwhelming magnetic pull he felt when he looked into her eyes. It didn’t make any sense to him, but then, pure sexual attraction probably never did. And that was what this was. Pure, raw sex.

In the moonlight, with the wind whipping her hair to and fro, making her look like some kind of siren, wrapping her scent around him, he felt a gut-level reaction that he hadn’t experienced in a very long time.

He wanted her.

Whether to make love with or to strangle was a toss-up. But he did want her.

Kristina’s breath caught in her throat. She wasn’t nearly as sure of herself now as she had been a moment ago. With Max’s steely fingers holding her in place and his brooding eyes on hers, she could feel her very insides quaking.

She had no idea what he was capable of. And no idea why the danger in his eyes fascinated her so. But she knew she didn’t like the power it had over her.

His head inclined, and now his mouth was only a breath away from hers. Kristina could feel her heart pounding against her rib cage, bruising it as surely as his fingers had bruised her arms.

Like a cornered animal, she dug deep for courage and attacked. “You kiss me,” she swore, “and I’ll make you pay for it.”

She would, too, he thought. And he didn’t know if the price would be worth it. Maybe it would.

He laughed at her threat, and made the situation all the more worse.

“I bet you would, Kristina. Well, don’t worry, I won’t risk it. I haven’t had my shots yet.” With that, he let go of her, releasing her a bit more roughly than he had intended. He felt shaken, as well, and had no way of hiding it from himself. “Now walk ahead of me.”

She didn’t trust him. “Why?”