Mr. Unforgettable by Karina Bliss

touched white with sea salt.
    She experienced a sudden shocking urge to push his sun-warmed body into the chair and kiss that firm mouth until it softened under hers. To run her hands down the taut muscle of his shoulders and—
    His gaze suddenly lifted to hers and awareness tightened between them like a bow. No, she thought dazedly. No, that’s impossible. Missing sex was one thing, doing something about it…She wasn’t ready. Reaching up for the sunglasses on her head, she slipped them down to hide her confusion.
    Luke’s biceps stretched taut as he leaned back and rested an arm across the back of his chair. “I think we have a stalemate.”
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    L UKE COULD TELL by the blush staining the mayor’s cheeks that she knew he wasn’t talking about chess.
    But Liz wasn’t ready to discuss their growing attraction. “We’ll call it a draw, then.” Retying her crimson sarong more firmly around her bathing suit, she stood up, barely glancing at her wrist before she said, “Goodness, is that the time?”
    â€œYou took your watch off to go swimming,” he reminded her.
    All credit to the mayor; she rallied. “My inner clock tells me when it’s time to go.”
    Lazily, Luke pushed to his feet. “Aren’t you lucky to be so attuned to your body.” Her startled gaze shot to his and he smiled innocently. Oh yeah, he recognized the signs of someone desperate to get laid. He’d lived with them for months.
    The nervous energy, the almost obsessive focus on training in the search for physical exhaustion. Liz’s build was naturally athletic, and he could already see swim-specific toning in her arms and legs, a tightening in her glutes. Hell, who was he kidding?
    The mayor had always been desirable, but her disinterest had made his interest academic. Luke didn’t need to chase women; they chased him. But for some reason Sleeping Beauty was stirring—he’d felt the heat of her gaze on his body—and he wanted to be the guy who kissed the reluctant princess awake.
    Their swimming lessons had become a torture. Every time Liz bent over to pick up her towel he knew exactly where her tan would change to creamy white across her bottom. A glimpse of her cleavage and his mouth went dry. He felt like a teenage boy in the throes of first lust—but was far better at hiding it.
    Unlike Liz, who seemed to be in a permanent state of shock at finding herself prey to such base desires. Her naïveté turned him on, made him want to take her to bed and find out what else shocked her.
    When she’d left he returned their glasses to the kitchen, then opened the dining-room doors to the sea deck.
    The only movement on the dunes leading down to the beach was the swaying of spiky, cotton-tailed grasses in the early sea breeze. It would grow with the heat of the day until by midafternoon it shook them like rattles.
    Since regaining his single status, Luke’s sexual encounters might have scratched an itch, but that was all. He’d been married a long time and casual sex didn’t sit well with him. He liked Liz and he was hot for her—a friendship with benefits seemed the obvious next step. Both of them needed to safeguard their public images in Beacon Bay, which meant any affair had to be conducted discreetly, with someone they could trust.
    And that was the problem. Luke didn’t entirely trust her.
    Elizabeth Light made time for things that were important to her—like these swimming lessons—and could recite her appointment schedule for the next month. Yet every time he suggested a tour of the camp, she made up some excuse or pretended she’d forgotten. It contradicted her public support, made him suspicious.
    But there was another, more important reason. She’d brought Harriet to lessons with her a couple of times and he’d seen how much she loved that baby. She probably wanted another husband, one to father the