“Zach?” Kay prompted. “You there?”
“Huh?”
“Zach?”
Emma threw her head back and laughed, drawing his attention to every delicious part of her. The long line of her neck down to her collarbone, the soft swell of her breasts over the top of her bikini, her lips still curled up at the sides with amusement.
He hardly noticed what he was saying, but he managed to make his goodbyes and end the call.
He would have to go back soon. He would have to deal with Gordon, the Council, James, and all the darkness encroaching on their world.
But first, he had this time with Emma, and he wasn’t wasting one second of it.
ChapterThirteen
Emma chuckledas Zach rushed through his goodbyes and ended his call. She hadn’t meant for him to stop talking to his friend, but she had wanted to help. He’d looked so despondent as she’d walked up the beach toward him. It had tugged at her heart, pulling her to make him smile. To give him something to take that sadness away.
She wanted him to be happy. And, if she was being honest, she also wanted to be close to him.
He was wearing black boardshorts… and that was it. His skin was tanned—far more golden than when he’d first arrived in her bakery—the rough hair sprinkling his chest was the color of honey, and his muscles were lean and long. But none of that was why Emma couldn’t stop herself from wrapping her hand around his arm and leaning over to kiss him again. It was the look in his eyes as he watched her. There was more than just lust in his gaze, although there was that too. He looked at her like she was too good to be true. As if after searching for his whole life, he had finally found what he wanted.
Soon she would have to say goodbye to him. But not today. Today she could take his mind off all his worries, and maybe convince him to come back one day.
She stood and zipped up her wetsuit. “Come on, let’s see how you do on a paddleboard.”
She strode down to her board and maneuvered it into the lapping waves, climbed on, settled onto her knees, and paddled out a few feet before smoothly standing. Then she turned back to watch Zach as he jogged down the beach and joined her in the shallows.
He was a natural on the water, knees bent, stance firm and settled—he’d mentioned that he surfed and she could see it in the way he stood on the board—and she could picture him in his dojo, practicing martial arts with his triad, focused and strong.
He looked up at her and grinned, the last of his frown fading. If he’d walked into her bakery looking like he did now—relaxed and happy—there would have been no doubt at all who he was.
His abdominals rippled as he paddled, and his biceps bunched and flexed in smooth movements. She had to force her eyes away to concentrate on what she was doing.
A rolling swell tipped her board and she paddled through it. Zach muttered as he paddled up beside her and then grinned at his success. But he was too busy congratulating himself to see the wave that followed just behind.
His balance was excellent, but he wasn’t used to holding the paddle or managing the bigger board. He wasn’t prepared for the wave to hit him from the side, and his board tipped.
Zach crouched lower, almost stabilizing, and then his paddle dipped, catching the water, and he went over into the water.
He came back up spluttering and Emma couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out. “I thought surfers liked waves.”
Zach stood, laughing with her. He was insanely attractive in his suit and tie, but like this, he was irresistible.
She was still grinning when she felt a tug on her ankle. She looked down, but there was nothing there.
She checked her board and the water around her, looking for seaweed or old fishing lines, but there was nothing. She squinted. Was there a faint blue-gray haze? Could it be…? She looked toward Zach just in time to see him flick his fingers toward her ankle.
“Zach! Don’t you—” The tug around her ankle tightened and suddenly she was flying off the board and into the water. The cold shocked the breath out of her lungs and she came up spluttering. She glared at Zach. “You used a Shadow, didn’t you?”
He shrugged, the picture of innocence. “Me?”
“Yes, you!”
He laughed, his joyful amusement filling the air, and he looked so pleased with himself that she would have gladly gone into the sea a hundred times just to keep that expression on his face.
He swam over to her and she giggled as his board followed on its strap. But when he stood in front of her, his eyes focused entirely on her, her giggles faded.
He circled his hands around her waist and pulled her closer. Cold water swirled around them, but the heat where her skin pressed against his burned. His body was so much bigger and harder than hers, and all she wanted was to get closer. To feel that burn spread everywhere.
