Before Cooper or his uncle could say anything more, Mav set down his coffee cup and then quickly scooted away. Stepping off the back deck, he jogged down the wide expanse of lawn that led to the beachfront access.
He was officially on a mission. Not only was he going to get Lindsey to chair his fund-raiser, which would cause them to spend a hell of a lot of time together, but he was going to show her that life was too short to be wasted.
Most importantly, Mav was going to show her that she needed him right there beside her. And he wasn’t going to give himself time to think about what he was doing. This girl wasn’t going to get away.
No matter what it took.
CHAPTER NINE
“I give you full marks for the low back, but I have to take a few points away because of the longer hemline.”
At his laughing words, Lindsey’s first instinct was to run for the fence and keep on going until she was locked safely inside her cottage. Her feet twitched as she prepared to make her escape. These days, her fight or flight response was all flight and no fight.
She’d barely taken her first step when the voice registered. Maverick. It took all her willpower, but she stopped and turned to face him. He stood there, leaning against the fence separating Coop’s property from the beach, but he didn’t reach out for her, didn’t try to stop her, didn’t say another word after his obnoxious comment about her dress.
Instantly, Lindsey’s adrenaline slowed and she felt herself relax. She hated that she felt safe with him and no one else. She hated this power he had over her. He seemed to have more power over her than she had over herself.
“You wouldn’t exactly be the first person I’d call for fashion advice, Mav,” she said after several moments. When she looked up into his sparkling green eyes, she felt the jolt go through her system that she now expected when meeting his gaze.
“Ah, sugar, you wound me,” he told her with his standard knock-a-woman-to-her-shaky-knees smile. Between the smile, the confidence, and the damn eyes, the man was a danger to all women—young and old. So unfair in so many ways.
“Nothing could wound your inflated ego,” she said, nearly feeling like smiling.
Maybe if Lindsey understood her reaction to Maverick a bit better, she wouldn’t always be so thrown when in his presence. But as things stood, she just didn’t get it, didn’t understand how she could enjoy being around him. He was tall and broad, far too muscular for her normal tastes, let alone for how she felt after that behemoth of a man had attacked her at the hospital.
Lindsey wasn’t exactly petite at five feet seven, but she’d always been more attracted to the bookish, academic type, the kind of guys who were good looking but didn’t stop traffic, the kind of guys who weren’t so solid you felt like you were running into a brick wall when you were pulled against them. She preferred softer men. That was her security net—had been for a long time. She liked that she intimidated men. It meant they were too afraid to hurt her.
Mav didn’t fit anything she wanted. He stood six four, and had the shoulders and chest of a linebacker. His stomach was pure iron and his hips—ah, those hips were made for pumping while a woman’s legs were wrapped around them. Realizing where her thoughts had just gone, Lindsey jerked her face upward, her cheeks pink as she met his eyes again.
Desire, hot and heavy, sparked in his gaze before he seemed to tamp it down, and then he winked at her and gave her a lopsided grin.
“You can look all you want, sugar,” he purred.
“I wasn’t looking,” she said way too loudly.
He laughed—actually laughed at her, which royally ticked her off. Oh no, he didn’t get to mock her without getting the sharp end of her wrath rained down upon him.
“I wasn’t,” she reiterated, stomping her bare foot in the sand, as if that would do any good. The action only made his grin bigger.
“It’s okay, sug,” he began. She was about to ream him some more when he continued. “Look all you want,” he said with a shake of his head as if scolding her, making her want to pummel his arrogant ass.
Her head was spinning. Was he actually flirting? If he was, he wasn’t too good at it. She looked at him for several tense moments as she waited for him to go on, but he seemed comfortable enough just standing there letting the breeze ruffle his dark hair.
Finally, she couldn’t take the silence. “What is wrong with you?”
“Let’s take a walk. I want to talk to you about some things.”
Before she could accept or deny his invitation, he moved up next to her and slowly twined his fingers with hers, giving her time to pull away. On the one hand she wanted to move a couple of feet to the left, but on the other, there was an odd sense of security having him so close. She was torn about what to do.
“It’s okay. I’m not going to do anything more than hold your hand. We’re just two buddies taking a stroll down the beach,” he told her as he gave her arm a gentle tug.
Lindsey looked longingly at the gate that would lead her to her friend’s property and, more importantly, to the safety of the cottage—the cottage with a couple of locks on the door to keep the world out.
“Come on. You’re going to hurt my feelings,” he said as he tugged again.
“I . . . uh, I can’t be out long,” she told him, but much to her surprise she found her feet moving along as she followed him closer to the water lapping against the shore.
“I wouldn’t want to keep you out too late,” he said with a chuckle. It wasn’t even noon yet, but she decided to let that one go.
They reached the water, and that’s when she noticed his pants were already rolled up and his shoes and socks gone. He pulled her into the freezing surf, and she again tried to yank her hand away from him, but he wasn’t having it. When the water was to her mid-calves, he stopped and she shivered as she stood there beside him.
“What do you want to talk to me about?” she said. He didn’t appear to be in a hurry, but she figured the sooner he said whatever it was he wanted, the sooner he would let her escape. At least she hoped that was the plan.
“I want your help, and I’ve decided I can’t take no for an answer.”
“If it’s the fund-raising, I can’t do it,” she told him, deciding to be firm. She wished her voice came out a little less breathy.
“You’re going to help me, and in turn, I’m going to help you.”
“I don’t need your help with anything, Maverick,” she told him, tugging on her hand again. He didn’t release her. The thing was, she did need his help, but she had too much pride to ask for it. Plus, admitting she needed help would show just one more of her weaknesses, and she couldn’t do that.
He didn’t respond for several moments, and she began to chew on her bottom lip as she waited to see what he would say next. Lindsey felt him turn, even though she was looking out into the bay, gazing at the masts of several sailboats as they glided along the rolling water.
With his other hand, the one that had the cast all the way to the palm, he touched her chin. Her head went back, and she looked up at him, unable to pull away.
“You know I don’t like to be touched,” she warned. But the words didn’t actually come out as much of a warning. They were more of a panting request.