CHAPTER TEN
At seven the next morning, Sid stood on the sand next to Highway 12, performing her usual warm-up stretches. Thankfully, tourists who typically visited the island didn’t start their sunbathing this early, which meant a clear beach for ten miles.
She could do five miles up and back before the first umbrella pierced the sand.
Sid was pulling her left heel up to her ass when someone jogged by her, throwing sand against her knees. The runner turned around a few feet away and yelled, “Come on, short shit. Try to keep up.”
Oh, it was on.
She dug her feet into the sand until she’d caught up to Lucas. He was setting a slow pace that would take her twice as long to make her ten miles.
“What are you doing here?” she asked between huffs.
“I’d think that’s obvious. I’m running.”
Smart ass. She chose to remain silent. They ran for another ten yards before he spoke again.
“You ready for our next challenge?”
She dodged a piece of driftwood, then glanced his way. “What challenge?”
He turned around and started jogging backwards. “We could go for a distance race, but this strip is too short for that.”
The full strip would be twenty miles up and back. What kind of marathons did this freak run?
“I’m here to exercise,” she said, annoyed that he’d invaded her private time, and forgetting any talk from the night before of making him see his maker. “Shut up and run or find another beach.”
Sid pulled away, leaving him jogging backward behind her. Seconds later he was beside her again. They continued on in silence another fifty yards. She couldn’t help but notice Lucas was barely breathing heavy. Jerk.
She picked up the pace. He did the same. Another fifty yards and she kicked it up a notch. He stayed even, but to her satisfaction was huffing more than before. They held steady another fifty yards before he started to pull ahead.
Not about to be beat, Sid caught up, then took the lead again. He devoured the ground between them, pushing her harder. They were both in a steady sprint when Sid found another gear and started pulling away. He didn’t catch up immediately this time and she felt a wave of triumph.
Until she felt strong arms wrap around her middle and yank her off the ground. In her surprise, Sid kicked out, tangling their legs and she could feel them both going down. Lucas spun her around and the next thing she knew, her back hit the ground. Hard.
Half a second later, Lucas landed half on top of her, but managed to send most of his weight to the side, assumedly to keep from crushing her beneath him.
Will’s words echoed in her brain.
Might as well be underneath him when he goes.
What the hell had just happened? Sid would have leapt off the sand except the ground had knocked the wind out of her, making it difficult to breathe, let alone move. And then there was the issue of the large, virile, sexy man on top of her. Lifting her lids for the first time since coming to an abrupt stop, Sid looked up into searching hazel eyes, half covered by a wet lock of dark hair dangling over his brow.
“Are you all right?” he asked, concern etched in his voice. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
Though her brain was screaming, Sid’s mouth had stopped working. Which was good since her brain was screaming things like Kiss him! and Good God, this feels good.
Her ponytail must have come loose because a long strand of hair covered the right side of her face. Lucas swept it back, tucking it behind her ear. His eyes met hers and time stopped. She licked her lips, causing his eyes to drop to her mouth.
One warm fingertip slid across her bottom lip and she considered tasting him the way he’d tasted her at Opal’s. Too bad they didn’t have any meringue with them. Tracing the outline of her face, Lucas said two words.
“So beautiful.”
A tear threatened in the corner of her eye, and her heart beat so fast she thought she might be the next to have a heart attack. Surely Lucas could hear it. Or feel it, he was so close. His face drew down, then tilted to the left, but he pulled back before their lips could touch.
He leaned in again, this time tilting to the right. With no idea what to do next, Sid held her breath, praying she wouldn’t screw this up. His breath brushed her lips a split second before the wave slammed over them.
Lucas’s throat and eyes burned from the salt water, which was cold enough to quell the effect Sid splayed beneath him was having on his anatomy. When he could finally see again, the sight before him took his breath nearly as quickly as the wave.
A goddess had risen from the sea, her white cotton tee molded to a perfect body, revealing firm breasts that heaved up and down as she struggled to catch her breath. Wet hair draped across one shoulder while tiny drops of water clung to the tips of her long, dark lashes.
If sirens did exist, Lucas was looking at one.
And then she did something unexpected. Sid started to laugh. She laughed so hard, she snorted, which threatened to ruin the goddess thing. Until she leaned back on her elbows and threw her head back. The occasional snort could be overlooked with a body like that.
Considering what he’d been about to do, and how his body did not appreciate the interruption, Lucas didn’t see the humor in the situation.
“Why are you laughing?” Maybe the force of the water had knocked her senseless.
Sid took in a full breath, pointed at him, then fell over with laughter again.
Lucas ran a hand through his hair, checking to see if something had attached itself to his person. No clinging crabs in sight. “Have you lost your mind?” he asked, sitting up and noticing he’d be extracting sand from between the boys for quite a while. Damn it.
Laughter abating, Sid sat up and crossed her legs while shoving the hair away from her face. Caramel eyes danced as she glanced his way. “You were going to kiss me.”
That’s what she found so damn funny? He’d show her a joke.
“No, I wasn’t.”
The shit-eating grin disappeared, and her face sobered immediately. “Yes, you were.”
“Was not.” He rolled to his feet. “Don’t flatter yourself.”
He’d taken two steps when he heard the growl. She was on him before he took another, charging around to block his path. “Don’t flatter yourself, dickhead. I didn’t say I wanted you to kiss me, I said you were going to try it. You’re lucky that wave hit or I’d have kneed you in the nuts.”
“Bullshit,” Lucas said, forgetting he’d been toying with her. “You were the one all soft and sexy, laying in the sand, staring up at me with those doe eyes and licking your lips. You wanted that kiss just as much as I did.”
Sid froze, arms dropping to her sides. For once, she kept her mouth shut. If he’d known talking kissing was how to shut her up, he might have tried the tactic long before now.
Her eyes dropped and she dug a toe in the sand. When she looked up again, the goddess was back. “So you were going to kiss me?”
He tucked his hands under his pits to keep from pulling her against him. Looking out over the water, he said, “Yeah. I guess I was.” Which would have been a stupid thing to do. That wave had been sent by sailors past to save him from the call of the siren.
The siren stepped closer. “Do you still want to?”
Lucas did the wrong thing. He looked her in the eye. Those watery candy depths nearly brought him to his knees. How could a woman with a body built for sin look so damn innocent?
Somehow he found the strength to look away. As he moved around her to head back down the beach, he said, “Sorry I knocked you down like that. I’d better go.”