She bit her lower lip, not realizing she’d actually made a sound. “It’s okay. I…um…laughed. Ticklish.”
“Oh.” He struggled with the clasp some more, his fingers doing a number on the back of her neck. Damn the man. Didn’t he know the effect he had on her?
“Hold still.”
“You’re…still…tickling…me,” she said, figuring a half-truth wasn’t the same as a lie. His touchdidtickle, but that wasn’t the reason for her goosebumps and shivers. Holding her breath, she tried to take her mind off his fingers. Didn’t work. All she could think about was turning around and losing herself in his arms again.
Bad plan. Very bad plan.
He’d cast a spell over her, some magic designed to fizzle away her common sense. She needed to get free, and so she jerked to the side, twisting away from him so that she could think clearly.
“Wait! It’s—”
Too late she realized that the clasp had finally opened. She lost her balance and tumbled sideways, pulling him down until he landed with a thud on top of her.
Her first thought was that she’d like to stay right there on the floor forever. Her second, that she needed to get the heck out of there before proximity to Kyle fried her brain even more.
But then he shifted his weight, and her heart picked up tempo again, all rational thought evaporating. One of his hands pressed against her ribs, the edge of his finger grazing her breast.
Dear Lord, she was going to melt.
His breathing was as ragged as her own, and she could see heat in his eyes. He leaned forward, his lips parted, and she shivered, wanting him again,right then, right there, despite common sense and reason.
He paused, his mouth only inches from hers, and she could see the tension in his jaw, practically feel how tightly wound he was. “Shit.” He ground out the curse, then rolled off her, using the vanity to pull himself up.
She stayed on the floor, not sure if she was relieved or disappointed.
He reached down and offered her his hand. “We need to get out of here,” he said.
She nodded, not trusting her voice to speak. They slipped the necklace under one of Frances’s scarves, then closed the vanity drawer.
She followed him out of the room and down the stairs. They would say their goodbyes to Frances and then head outside. The brisk sea air would restore her senses, and by the time Kyle dropped her at the bus stop near Miss Emily’s house, she’d be her perfectly practical self again.
She told herself she couldn’t wait.
But that, of course, was a big fat lie.
