Scrubbing one hand across the back of his neck, he kicked the wall behind his desk and hardly felt the pain. He’d come into the office to avoid Anna at home. He couldn’t see her without wanting his hands on her and he couldn’t think when he was touching her.
How the hell could Sam lay claim to Anna when he had practically forced his brother to walk away from her? Would his brother ever forgive him? Could he risk losing his only family on the chance that what he and Anna had was lasting? “Mr. Hale?”
He looked up as his assistant opened the door. “What is it, Kathy?”
“A Mr. Cameron here to see you.”
Shock had him speechless for a second or two, but he recovered quickly. “Send him in.”
Sam stood up to greet Anna’s father and the older man shook his hand with a wary look. Suddenly, Sam felt a little uneasy. After all, he was sleeping with the man’s daughter. “Good to see you, Dave.”
“Sam.” The man glanced around the spacious office before settling his gaze on Sam’s again. “I won’t take up much of your time. Just thought we should have a little talk.”
“About what?” Oh, he knew what.
“Anna.”
“Ah.”
“Crystal Bay’s a small town,” Dave was saying. “Secrets are impossible to keep. So I figure we both know what’s going on.”
“Meaning?” Sam asked, unwilling to give any information on the off chance that Dave was still in the dark.
The older man frowned at him. “Meaning, I know you’ve been seeing my daughter just as you know my company’s in trouble.”
“Dave…” What the hell was he supposed to say? He knew Dave Cameron was a proud man.
He lifted one hand in a bid for silence. “Whatever’s between you and Anna is your business. You’re both adults. What I’m here to tell you is, contrary to what everyone in town is thinking, I won’t use my daughter as a bargaining chip for business.”
Scowling himself now, Sam took a deep breath. “And I wouldn’t use her either.”
Dave studied him for a long minute. “Then we understand each other?”
“I think so,” Sam said, bristling a little under the man’s close scrutiny.
“Fine, then. I’ll wish you a good day and be on my way.” Dave started for the door, then stopped and looked back. “One more thing. You hurt my little girl and we’ll be having another talk.”
The man was gone before Sam could respond. But then, what could he possibly have said? He felt like a damn teenager after a dressing-down. The hell of it was, he had the feeling he’d deserved it.
Christmas was just a few days away when Anna finally finished the mural in Sam’s home office. She could admit to herself that when she’d begun this job, she’d actually considered giving him some ghastly painting. A horrific view out an artificial window. But that idea hadn’t lasted more than a moment or two. Her own professionalism prevented her doing anything less than her absolute best.
And now that she stood back to get the full effect of her work, she had to admit that she’d really outdone herself this time.
She was glad of it, too. Now every time Sam looked at this wall, he would think of her. It was the perfect goodbye. Because she’d come to the conclusion only the night before that what was between them had to end. There was no future in it. And she was only hurting herself. Falling for Sam Hale had been inevitable. But she wouldn’t stay with him, knowing what she did about how he really felt about her.
Sex between them was incredible. She knew he felt the same way. But desire was a long way from any kind of real feeling. She’d been deluding herself into thinking that something could come of this, when the truth was, he would never allow himself to care for her because when it came right down to it, he didn’t trust her.
Well, she couldn’t keep fooling herself. It was better to get out now, while the pain was still livable. If she waited any longer, she knew the loss of him would kill her.
Pasting a bright smile on her face, she closed up the last of her paint jars, tucked them away in the carrier, then took a breath. Steadied as much as she was going to be, she opened the office door and called out, “Sam? I’m finished. You can see it now.”
He looked up from the car he was bent over and smiled at her. Anna’s heart jolted and she knew she would miss that smile of his.
“The big secret revealed, huh?” He wiped his hands on a towel, tossed it across the car fender and headed her way. “Can’t wait.”
She stepped back so he could enter and shifted her gaze to his face as he saw the finished painting for the first time. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. He couldn’t have had a more perfect reaction.
“That’s incredible,” he said, walking closer to it.
“The ocean’s still wet, so don’t touch,” she warned.
“The ocean’s always wet, babe.”
“Very funny.”
Still shaking his head, he leaned in closer to the wall. “That’s really amazing, Anna.” He shot her a look over his shoulder. “I’m impressed.”
“Thanks.”
It had turned out well, she thought, studying her own work objectively. A gracefully arched window, shadowed from an unseen sun, opened up to a seascape that looked as vivid as life. Blue-gray sky, storm clouds on the horizon. Waves crashing against rocks, sending spray so high that it dotted the painted-on glass of the open window. A tumble of flowers and vines spread across the window sill, dripping color and motion onto a still life that made it seem all the more alive and real. “What’s this?”
“Hmm?” She glanced to where he was pointing. With a shrug and a smile, she admitted, “I was a little angry with you when I painted that part.”
“Yeah, I can see that.”
He grinned anyway, though, so Anna was glad she’d left in the snake with Sam Hale’s features peeping out from the vines on the windowsill.
“You,” he said as he walked toward her with a familiar glint in his eyes, “are a very talented woman.”
“Thank you,” she answered, her voice hardly more than a whisper.
He pulled her into his arms, dipped his head to kiss her and then seemed to notice her hesitation. “What is it?”
She should tell him now, Anna thought. Tell him that whatever was between them was over. But damn it, she wanted one more time in his arms. One more glimpse of the magic before she turned her back on it forever.
“Nothing,” she said and reached up to wrap her arms around his neck. “It’s nothing.”
Then he kissed her and she forgot everything but what he made her feel.
Her body blissfully humming with remnants of pleasure, Anna turned her head on the pillow and looked at the man beside her. How had she come to feel so much for him in such a short amount of time? And did that really matter? The simple truth was, she loved him and every moment she spent with him was only setting herself up for disaster and pain.
She had to end this while she still could.
“Sam,” she said abruptly into the quiet, “this isn’t going to work out.”
He grinned, rolled to his side and slid one hand down the length of her naked body, making her shiver even as new fires erupted inside.
“Seems to be working just fine.”
“No,” she insisted, rolling out from under his touch. If she didn’t say something now, she never would. Scrambling off the bed, she stood up and reached for her clothes. “It’s really not.”
“What are you talking about?”
She had his attention now, she thought, looking down into beautiful blue eyes that were narrowed in suspicion.
“Just that we can’t do this anymore,” she blurted.
“Why the hell not?”
She tugged her shirt over her head and shook back her hair. “I can’t keep being with you when I know exactly what you really think of me.”