But he heard nothing. If the phone had been ringing, it had stopped.
No point going into the house soaking wet. He went to the outdoor shower, retrieved a towel and went inside to get his phone. A quick look at the screen told him he had indeed missed a call. But when he checked the number, he saw that Wyatt had called from Phoenix. It wasn’t a call having to do with Carter.
He brought the phone outside with him and placed it
on the table. Brianne was at the edge of the pool, waiting for him.
“Was that Dean?” she asked.
“No. It was a call for work,” Alex explained.
Brianne heaved herself out of the pool and sat on the side. “Do you mind getting me a towel?” she asked.
“Not at all.” Alex made his way to the bathroom, where he pulled out one of his big, fluffy towels. By the time he brought it to Brianne, she was standing. He opened the towel and wrapped it around her.
She smiled up at him softly, a twinkle in her eyes. “Thanks.”
Something tugged at Alex’s heart. And he wondered, not for the first time, if Brianne felt anything toward him other than friendship. There were times when she’d give him a certain look or a smile and he was certain that yes, she was attracted to him as well. She was wrapped up in the idea of reconnecting with Carter, but Alex couldn’t help wondering if her heart was no longer with his former best friend.
Couldn’t help hoping that.
“What do you expect when you see Carter again?” Brianne asked suddenly, as if she had sensed where his thoughts had gone.
A beat passed. Then Alex said, “I don’t really know.”
“It’s different for you,” Brianne said. She used the towel to dry her hair. “You were buddies. There’s no reason you can’t go back to being buddies.” She hugged the towel around her body. “But for me…”
Her voice trailed off. She didn’t finish her statement, just stared at a point beyond Alex’s shoulder.
“What?” Alex prompted. “What were you going to say?”
“I’m so up and down over the whole situation,” she said.
“One minute I’m trying to convince myself that everything will go back to the way it was with Carter. The next I’m sure I’m fooling myself. I can’t expect everything to be the way it was.”
“One day at a time, remember?”
Brianne took a few steps past him, and Alex was sure he heard her mumble something that sounded like
I’m not sure I want it to be the way it was.
Had he heard her correctly? Or was he hearing things? “What’d you say?”
Slowly Brianne turned and met Alex’s gaze. “Nothing. I’m totally being silly.”
Alex closed the distance between them, hope filling him. “Did you say that you’re not sure you want it to be the way it was?”
“I told you I’m being silly. Letting paranoia get to me. Wondering what will happen if he doesn’t recognize me, or worse, if he’s got a girlfriend.” She paused. Looked into Alex’s eyes. And damn if he didn’t see that spark again—a spark of attraction.
Brianne jerked her gaze away and walked to the pool’s edge. “But I can’t worry about any of that, right? I have to have faith that we’re here for a reason, and that everything will work out fine.”
Alex got the feeling she was saying what she thought she should say. What she believed was expected of her. Not thinking about his actions, he walked to her and circled his arms around her from behind.
She tensed. “Alex…”
What had come over him? He began to loosen his arms, but Brianne suddenly turned, placing her hands on his chest. This time when she gazed up at him, there was no mistaking the look in her eyes. There was a definite spark of heat.
Either that or Alex was losing his mind.
The heat was burning his skin, and Alex wanted nothing more than to kiss her. And he was about to do just that—until Brianne suddenly looked away.
“Look at me,” Alex said softly.
Brianne raised her eyes to his. And what she saw in his gaze surprised her.
Raw heat.
The heat ignited her own. Almost surprisingly, she leaned into him,
wanting
to feel his body pressed against her own. She didn’t understand it. She only knew that she wanted it.
And when he lowered his lips to hers, Brianne held her breath. Oh, she wanted this. More than she had wanted anything in a long, long time.
His lips grazed hers. A light touch, but one that made her feel she’d been jolted by a zap of electricity. And in that instant, she was alive suddenly. Alive with sensations she hadn’t felt in three years.
Alex hesitated only for a second before claiming her mouth with force. Hungrily, as if he’d waited to do this for a lifetime.
His tongue delved into her mouth, wet and hot, and Brianne braced her hands on his naked chest. She felt the strong muscles there, and a little thrill shot through her. How long had it been since she had kissed a man?
Too long.
He tightened his arms around her waist and pulled her against him, while his tongue twisted with hers.
She was lost in the sensations. Lost in the passion. But when one of Alex’s hands moved from her back to the side of her breast, Brianne had a sudden wake-up call.
What am I doing?
She was here to find Carter, not to get it on with Alex.
She pulled back, stepping out of his arms. Alex’s eyes were heavy-lidded, the desire evident in their dark depths. He hadn’t wanted to stop.
Brianne turned away from him, unable to handle the reality she saw in his eyes. Because she had felt the same way. She hadn’t wanted to stop.
Which only made her wonder what had gotten into her.
“Um,” she began, not sure what to truly say. “I…I don’t know how that happened, but let’s just forget that it did.”
Alex didn’t say anything, and Brianne turned. She gasped when she saw that he was standing right behind her.
“What if I don’t want to forget?” Alex asked.
“You don’t mean that,” Brianne said, her voice barely a whisper, hardly holding any conviction at all. “How close are we to finding Carter? Very. So…what happened between us doesn’t make sense.”
Alex took a step toward her, and Brianne instinctively took a step back. “What if I said that it makes perfect sense?”
Brianne’s heart slammed against her rib cage. What was Alex doing? Testing her? Or had he fallen off the bed in the night and hit his head?
“You mean because…” Again, he stepped toward her, and she took another step backward. “Because…because we’re spending so much time together.”
Another step. Then another. Brianne’s legs bumped into a patio chair, forcing her to stop.
“Something like that,” Alex said. His voice was low and husky, and good Lord, it was turning her on.
“Alex…we need to…” Brianne’s words trailed off on a breathless sigh when Alex actually stepped backward.
Though Brianne had told herself that this was exactly what she wanted—some breathing space—she suddenly missed his presence.
“Maybe you’re right,” he said.
Brianne looked up at him, disappointed. Wasn’t she the one who had broken the kiss? So why on earth was she disappointed?
Her heart began to pound. Good Lord, she wanted to kiss him again.
Maybe more than that.
She knew what was happening here. Alex was a temporary diversion. She was feeling anxiety over the reality that they were close to finding Carter. Alex was no doubt feeling the same anxiety.
Crossing her arms over her chest, she moved toward the edge of the pool. Maybe what she needed to do was jump in and cool off.
She looked over her shoulder at Alex. And then he advanced, and all rational excuses for her attraction to him fled her mind.
“One kiss won’t do,” he said, pulling her into his arms. “Not hardly.”
He brushed his lips over hers, deliberately holding back from kissing her deeply. He wanted to see her reaction.
To feel it.
Beneath his mouth, he felt hers quiver.
Alex eased back and stared down at her. Her eyes as wide as plates as she looked at him, a mix of confusion and desire swirling in their depths. She’d wanted him to give her a passionate kiss.
Oh, yes. There was most definitely mutual attraction.
Lowering his face to hers again, Alex ended both of their suffering. He captured her lips with his.
For a few seconds, Brianne didn’t move. She didn’t kiss him back, nor did she pull away. Just when Alex was about to pull back, wondering if he’d mistaken her desire after all, Brianne’s mouth opened beneath his and she emitted a soft moan.
The sound may have been faint, but to Alex, it was like a roar of passion. He wrapped his arms around her and deepened the kiss, enjoying the feel of her full lips and the delicious taste of her tongue.
Another moan, and Alex’s body erupted in heat. She wanted him. Just as he wanted her.
Abruptly, she jerked away from him. She stumbled backward, almost falling into the pool. Alex grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her toward him, stopping her before she fell in.
Her breasts pressed against his chest. Three seconds passed. Then Brianne stepped away from him again, this time making sure to step away from the pool.
But Alex wasn’t ready to let her go. Reaching out, he snagged her wrist. “Brianne—”
She looked at him, her expression stunned. For several seconds, neither of them said a word. Then Brianne said, “Why do you keep doing that? Why do you keep kissing me?”
She sounded breathless and sexy as hell. Alex wanted to take her in his arms and carry her into the house, take off that bikini that had been driving him crazy and make sweet love to her.
Maybe it was the comment he was sure she had muttered, that she wasn’t sure she wanted things to be the same with Carter again. Or maybe it was simply the reality that being this close to her day in and day out, made it too hard to resist touching her. It was as if she had some sort of spell on him she refused to break.
He’d been doing his best to avoid her, but hadn’t this moment been inevitable? He loved the way her smile lit up her whole face, and the sound of her soft laugh. And her eyes… She gazed at him as if trying to see into his soul. Had Alex read more into those looks than Brianne had intended?
“Why?” she asked again.
“I could ask you the same thing.”
Brianne’s eyes grew wide with indignation. “Excuse me?”
“You kissed me back.”
Her back grew instantly stiff, and she pulled the towel tighter around her. She was closing herself off from him. “I did not.”
“You didn’t?”
Brianne marched past Alex toward the patio door.
Running scared.
The thought made him smile, because it proved to him that his feeling were
not
one-sided.
He followed her. Brianne either heard or sensed him, because she glanced over her shoulder and said, “I’m going up to the bedroom.”
Alex would never know what had gotten into him, but he found himself saying, “You want me to join you?”
Brianne spun around, her eyes flashing fire as she faced him. Alex held her gaze, not backing down. He wanted her to know the invitation was serious. Maybe falling into bed would relieve the tension they were both feeling.
Brianne didn’t respond. She simply whirled back around and scurried toward the foyer.
Alex let her leave. His heart was pounding, but inwardly he was smiling.
Brianne
had
kissed him back.
Sure, she’d ultimately ended the kiss and gone cold, but for several glorious seconds, she had been his.
And Alex was determined that she would be his again.
Chapter 12
F
or a full hour, Brianne lay on her bed beneath the covers, tossing and turning and huffing.
You kissed me back.
The nerve!
Alex
had wrapped his arms around her.
Alex
had lowered his mouth to hers.
Alex
was the one who started kissing
her.
Those were indisputable facts. And yet he dared to try to put the blame on her for what had happened.
You kissed me back.
Brianne turned onto her back, kicking her legs harshly to free them from the bed sheets. She groaned in frustration—and then realized it wasn’t the sheets she was frustrated with.
She was frustrated with herself.
Because Alex had been right. She
had
kissed him back.
But only because he had dared to kiss her first. He had to take the blame for this.
Brianne found herself wondering why she was trying to assign blame so badly. A kiss wasn’t the worst thing in the world. And at least she had been the one to stop it.
The answer came to her almost immediately. She wanted to assign blame because she’d
enjoyed
the kiss.
As the thought came to her, she relaxed her rigid body and allowed herself to remember the feel of Alex’s lips against hers. They had been soft and moved with skill, igniting heat in her body she hadn’t felt for a long time.
In over three years.
She sighed, savoring the memory of the kiss and the way it had electrified every cell in her body. For those moments while she’d been lost in Alex and his undeniable sex appeal, they had been the only two people in the world.
What was she doing? Why was she even remembering the kiss with fondness? She was here to find Carter, not fall into bed with his best friend.
Her anger returned, and she embraced it.
She didn’t have the right to enjoy Alex’s kiss. Clearly, she was suffering some sort of delusion. Perhaps some kind of transference of affection—she was certain there was a medical name for it. Alex had been Carter’s closest friend, and she was somehow seeing Carter in Alex.
Relief washed over her with that thought. Yes, that made sense. It was the
only
thing that made sense.
But despite Brianne’s conclusion, when she fell into a nap, the person she dreamed about was Alex, not Carter.
Later, when there was a knock on her door, Brianne bolted upright in bed. Then she grabbed the sheets and held them over her chest. She was still in her bathing suit.