Page 17 of Settling the Score (The Karma Club #4)

It was the heat that made him suggest it.

The heat that had started like a balmy warmth that morning had grown into sauna-like and suffocating, even as their golf cart clung to the coastal path, promising hints, occasionally, of a cooling breeze that never actually eventuated.

He’d drunk a few beers, trying to keep cool, but if he kept ploughing through the bag, he’d end up starting even more asshole conversations with Sienna – who clearly didn’t want to rehash their past any more than he did. Or should have.

So why the hell did he keep bringing it up? Whatever happened to letting sleeping dogs lie?

Leaving Sienna had been one of the hardest things he’d ever done, but he’d told himself that the whole ‘clean break’ narrative would make it easier for both of them.

Easier for her to cut ties with him if he made it obvious there was no future for them, after all.

That he was going to be putting all of his focus on the game, and the opportunity he had to make a name for himself.

He’d been a coward.

He’d known that if he’d kept in touch with her, he would have weakened.

Quicksand.

Dynamite.

Whatever way you chose to describe their relationship, would probably hold water. For Sienna, he would have done anything. Given up anything.

And then what? He ends up in a relationship with a woman he cares about more than life itself, only to find out that he’s just like his father, and winds up hurting her?

Aiden had learned from a young age that the way to make sure he never went down that path was to ice everyone out, all the time.

To keep them at arm’s length. Somehow, Sienna had found her way through the cracks and nestled in there good and proper for over a year, until the thought that he might hurt her had been like an anvil against his skull, non-stop.

He’d needed to escape, not just the town, not just his father, but her. Everything about her.

Maybe if it hadn’t been for Blake, he might have questioned that, but he hadn’t had the luxury of listening to what he wanted.

He and Blake were a package deal. Blake staying out of prison was all down to Aiden moving away with him.

It had been a predicament with no winning solution; yet it had been one of the hardest decisions of his life.

So why the fuck did he turn to her and grin, like life was so freaking great and easy, and say, ‘How about we take a break from hunting down flags and test the water?’

No wonder she’d looked at him like he’d taken leave of his senses, her eyes widening as she slowed the golf cart to a stop, her gaze hitching to his, first, and then to the sparkling Med behind him.

As soon as he’d made the suggestion, he wanted to retract it.

Swimming with Sienna right after admitting he should keep his distance from her had every single part of him screaming withdrawwwww, soldier.

But he held his tongue, and his breath, staring at her as her incredibly sparkly eyes seemed to swirl with a torrent of thoughts and considerations, before slipping back to his face.

‘That is kind of tempting.’

Tempting? She didn’t know the half of it.

‘Is that a yes?’

Her teeth pressed down on that full lower lip of hers, a habit she’d picked up since he’d left, a habit that would drive any red-blooded male to the point of insanity.

‘Sure,’ she said, looking down at their collection of flags – one or two of every colour except gold, which was proving elusive. ‘It’s not like the others can claim victory anyway,’ she said with a giggle that made his whole body tighten and teeter on the brink of exploding.

‘Greeaaat.’ He turned to look at the beach with a sinking feeling in his stomach.

Then again, it was a beautiful day, a beautiful stretch of beach, and they were just going to go for a swim.

It was hardly a commitment to marry, or anything even like it.

He was a big boy, who’d spent a long time controlling his emotions, his libido, anything that might come close to a feeling, so he was pretty sure he could restrain himself even in the face of the temptation that was Sienna.

‘What are you waiting for?’ she asked, stepping from the cart and lifting her hands over her head in a stretch that made her shirt cling a little to her curves, so his pulse started to riot in his body.

‘Nothing.’ He grabbed the cooler as an afterthought, carrying it as he fell into step just behind her, away from the path and towards the beach, a hint of her sunshiney fragrance teasing his nostrils with every step.

The sand was hot underfoot, so Sienna laughed as she felt it and ran a little way down the beach, to where a large palm created spiky fronds of shade and offered some relief.

‘It’s like fire,’ she said with a shake of her head.

He placed the bag down and simply stared at her. The air seemed to pulsate with something heavy and sultry.

‘I don’t have bathers,’ she said, after a beat. ‘So, I’m going to swim in this.’ She gestured to her outfit of short shorts and a shirt.

He shrugged, like he didn’t care. Like he wasn’t relieved as all get-out that she wasn’t merrily stripping off her shirt and shorts and getting down to just her underwear.

‘Sure,’ he said. ‘I presume you won’t be offended if I take off my shirt?’

‘I’ve seen naked chests before,’ she pointed out, in a way that cut him like a mother trucker. ‘I’ve even seen your naked chest before,’ she added as a reminder, with a hint of a wink that made his stomach feel all lurchy and weird.

He was pretty sure he made something like a growling noise as he lifted the shirt off over his head and dropped it down onto the sand, but it was totally eclipsed by the soft rush of breath he heard escaping Sienna’s parted lips.

When he looked at her, those enormous eyes were firmly locked to his torso.

She might have seen it before, but not for a long time, and he’d done a lot of filling out since then courtesy of the monumental workout sessions he drove himself to complete every day, sometimes twice a day. He’d also done a fair bit of time in a tattooist’s chair.

‘Oh,’ she said, eyes quickly flicking to his before dropping lower. ‘That’s quite some ink.’

‘Yeah.’ A nonsensical, stupid response, because the way she was staring at him was making his mouth all dry and his stomach hollow, not to mention his head as empty as a deserted attic.

She took a half-step closer, one side of her lips tugging into a smile that made it impossible to look anywhere but at her face. ‘The Titans,’ she said, pointing – and carefully not touching – the team’s logo he wore just beneath his left pectoral.

He nodded, not trusting his voice.

‘And an eagle?’ Her gaze flicked to his and flames seemed to leap against the soles of his feet.

He nodded.

‘And this one?’ Her hand shifted to the side a little, just above his hip. He didn’t need to look down to know what she was pointing at. The red love heart, about the size of his thumb.

‘I lost a bet.’

Her lips quirked. ‘With who?’

‘Who do you think?’ he grunted. ‘Blake.’

Her laugh was only soft, but she was close enough that her breath buzzed his jaw, making the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

‘Is that all of them?’ She glanced back up at his face.

His heart thumped into his ribs. It was a straightforward question but the answer took them a step closer to a path they’d be idiots to follow. Slowly, activating full idiot mode even when he should have known better, almost against his will, he shook his head.

‘Oh.’ Her voice was quiet. As though it was just dawning on her that the only part of him that was concealed from her view was the flesh from low on his hips to mid-thighs. ‘Never mind,’ she rushed, her eyes troubled when they met his, her cheeks flushed pink.

Heat started low in his abdomen, as though a match had been struck, and shot right up his spine.

‘You don’t want to see?’

It was a challenge, a dare, and a plea. A plea for her to remember and pull away from this; a plea for her to have some common sense.

Her lips parted on a soft breath and her eyes stayed latched to his.

He was dimly aware of the sound of crashing waves, the heat of the sun on his back, the sea breeze ruffling his hair.

But mostly, he was hyper fixated on Sienna, on this moment, on the humming and buzzing that was flooding his body and brain.

‘Okay.’ Her voice trembled a little. ‘Show me, cowboy.’

Something panged in the very centre of his chest. A memory, slamming into him, hard and fast.

‘Come on, cowboy!’

She’d called him that, back then, always with a teasing smile, because Aiden had been wearing a broad-brimmed hat the first day they’d walked home from school together. The hat had been retired long before the nickname.

He half-turned, so she had a better view of his back, and moved his hand to the waistband of his shorts, his fingers brushing low down before sliding the elastic lower, incrementally, until the text was visible.

‘ Ad Meliora ,’ she said, halting a little over the unfamiliar words.

Or maybe it was because half his butt was exposed.

That was probably just wishful thinking, though, because Sienna hadn’t given him any hint that she was as affected by him as he was by her.

He swallowed over a lump in his throat, ignoring the way his gut seemed to drop to his feet as he acknowledged that. ‘What does it mean?’

Something else sharpened inside of him now. A dim regret. Or concern.

‘I don’t remember,’ he lied. Towards Better Things. It had been Blake and his mantra back then, a talisman he’d clung to in the hopes he’d eventually accept that leaving Sienna and Ashbury Falls really was the right thing, for everybody.

‘You have a tattoo on your butt and you don’t know what it means?’

He shrugged.

‘Aw, come on. You got your star sign in Latin, didn’t you?’

‘Yeah, totally,’ he said with a hint of sarcasm.