“Huh. Panic attack.”
“Don’t tell my parents!” She glared at him. “They don’t need to know that.”
His lips lifted into a small smile. “Okay. I won’t tell them. Sounds like you need this holiday though.”
“Yeah. Maybe. Hell, I don’t know.” She pushed her hair back. Had she done the right thing by taking off for a week? Maybe she’d overreacted to the delayed decision. Maybe this was a mistake. She should be there at the office Monday morning. She should have brought that work with her.
Her lungs started seizing up again and she forced herself to take slow, deep breaths.
Tag moved closer. “You okay?”
“Yes,” she wheezed. “Damn.”
“Maybe you should lie down.”
He didn’t have to convince her. Her head spun in woozy circles. She lowered herself to the pillow and stared up at the top bunk.
“This is so stupid,” she muttered.
“You can’t help it.”
“I feel like I should be able to.”
She jumped a little at the touch of hands on her ankles. Tag was slipping her flip-flops off, the ones she’d exchanged her high-heeled pumps for at her condo even though they looked silly with business clothes. His fingers lingered on her feet for a few seconds and her skin tingled there.
“What can I get for you? More water? Maybe a stiff drink?”
She huffed out a laugh. “I almost feel like I’m drunk. I don’t think a drink is a good idea. Oh man.” She closed her eyes. “You go on back out with the others. I’ll just lie here for a while.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.” She heard his heavy footsteps walking out and tried to relax. Holy hell, she hadn’t expected to react so strongly to seeing him again. She blew out a long slow breath. He was still so gorgeous. Still so freakin’ big and muscular. Still had that wide sexy smile that tied her insides in knots and melted her panties.
She drifted a little, eyes closed. Memories floated through her head, memories of Tag, of those hot summers they’d spent at the lake. He’d been her favorite of the Heller boys, although she’d liked them all. They’d all been like brothers to her, teasing her and torturing her as brothers do, including her own, but then one summer Tag had suddenly seemed all grown up. They’d all been big, physically mature at an early age, but it seemed like overnight Tag went from being a bossy big brother to…holy crap, a hot guy.
It was funny how that had never happened with the others, maybe because they were younger than her. Logan was ten years younger, he’d always been the baby. Even though now he was six foot three just like the rest of them, maybe even taller. But Jase was only a year younger than her and although he and Tag looked so much alike, she’d never had burning lustful thoughts about Jase.
Just Tag. She gave a pleasant little sigh and rolled onto her side, burying her face in the pillow.
She awoke later, throbbing between her legs. Omigod, she’d been having a sex dream, a really hot one. She slipped her hands between her legs. She’d been so close to coming, in her sleep. That hadn’t happened for a while. She’d been dreaming about Tag, she knew it, even though the dream was rapidly receding into a nebulous haze, the details vague. She wanted to go back to sleep and finish it and have the orgasm she’d been so close to. Damn!
But she was awake now. It all flooded back, the embarrassment of fainting outside and having Tag carry her up onto the deck. Heat slid over her body and she rolled to her back on the bed. God, she hated appearing weak. Collapsing like that just as she arrived was her worst freaking nightmare. Well, okay, it would’ve been worse if it had happened as she was walking into a business meeting.
Someone had closed the bedroom door at some point and she blinked into the darkness. She heard faint noises, conversation, laughter, music. The scent of steaks on the barbecue teased her senses and made her stomach rumble. She laid a hand there. When had she last eaten? She’d told her mom she had, but that Tim Horton’s coffee and sour cream donut had been at…ten o’clock that morning. Gad, she was starving.
She sat up carefully, waiting for the wave of dizziness. But none came. She blinked into the dim room, then swung her legs over the side of the bed and eased her head out from beneath the top bunk.
She actually felt okay. Hungry, but okay.
She flicked the light on and found her suitcase, smiling at the Rapunzel doll, Cinderella’s castle and Minnie Mouse beach towel on the floor. She pulled out a pair of knee-length shorts and a T-shirt and quickly changed, grimacing at the wrinkles in her blouse. Ah, who cared. She crumpled it into a ball and shoved it into a corner of the case.
She checked the mirror before leaving, swiped her fingers over the smudges of mascara beneath her eyes, then dragged a brush through her hair. Okay. Presentable. Somewhat.
She followed the smell of food and voices back out onto the deck. The sun was just setting across the lake, sending shimmering rose and peach over the surface of the water and tinting the clouds. The trees down by the beach were dark silhouettes against the evening sky. She inhaled the fresh air as she stepped outside, cooler now, but still at least twenty-two degrees.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” Michael called, spotting her. “You’re up.”
“Yeah. I guess I fell asleep.”
She greeted everyone, this time properly, with hugs for Scott and Jessica and Logan and Matt and Jase. And Tag. As they moved closer, every nerve ending in her body went on sizzling alert. After that sex dream, she was hyperaware of him and his big, muscular body, his easy, sexy smile. She gave him a barely touching hug and an embarrassed smile.
“You look better,” he murmured. “Must’ve been a reaction to seeing me again. I have that effect on women.”
Her eyes flew open and met his, which held a teasing glint. “As if,” she said, rolling her eyes. He grinned.
Jase introduced her to his girlfriend, a tiny little blonde named Remi. And Kyla got to hold her new nephew, Caleb, though he was sleeping. She gently rocked him in her arms as she smiled and talked to the others.
“Sorry about the drama,” she said. “I don’t know what happened. I guess I needed that little nap.”
“Are you hungry, hon?” Mom asked. “I’ll get you a plate. We just finished, but there’s lots of food left.”
“I’m starving,” she said, smiling down at Caleb, admiring his delicate lips, blue-veined eyelids and long eyelashes. “He’s gorgeous.”
“Yeah,” Scott said. “He looks like me.”
Kyla snorted. “That is totally Jessica’s nose. Thank god.”
Scott grinned.
Kyla returned Caleb to his mother so she could take the plate of food from her mom, then sat down, setting the plate on her lap. She dug into a small steak, potatoes that had been cooked in foil with onions and garlic, grilled veggies and a salad dressed in tangy vinaigrette. “This is so good,” she moaned. She looked up. “Is there any wine?”
“Is there any wine,” Michael said. “Har. What would you like? Red? White? Chardonnay? Sauvignon blanc? Zinfandel?”
Kyla grinned. “Zinfandel sounds lovely.”
A glass arrived and she set it on the wide arm of the wooden chair in which she sat. Little white lights twinkled in the tree near the deck as twilight descended. Crickets chirruped in the shrubs. A shout and a splash from one of the neighboring cottages reached their ears. Someone taking a late night dip in the lake.