Up In Flames Read Free Page B

plans to show him how she’d changed, to prove she wasn’t the little girl he probably remembered with pity. She’d thought to wait until they’d docked, change into something more sophisticated and then approach him.
    Instead, he’d approached her, taking her totally off guard, and she’d behaved like an idiot. “Adam?”
    “Hmm?” He looked a little pale, his mouth pinched.
    “Are you all right?”
    “Just dandy. I always take an hour-long swim to get the old blood pumping.”
    Her eyes narrowed. Just like him to be so sarcastic at a moment like this.
    But then she realized he had to be worn out. To her shame, she hadn’t helped him a bit. She looked at him again and considered apologizing, but couldn’t decide how. He was still her high-school nemesis, yet now he was her hero, as well. The circumstances had her grinding her teeth.
    She looked around, up and down the shoreline, and saw nothing but bent and twisted trees, sand, a few pelicans. The island wasn’t large by any stretch, and she wondered how it would fare if the storm returned. “Adam...”
    He groaned and reached up to rub at his head. “Talk softly, okay? I’ve got a ringing headache.”
    She lowered her voice appropriately. “Do you have any idea where we are?”
    “Not a clue.”
    She looked around again. It was a safe bet they weren’t on Marco Island, so it had to be one of the smaller islands. She started to stand, her intent to locate people, houses, anything that looked even remotely domestic or civilized. But Adam caught at her arm.
    “No, don’t wander off. I don’t want to take the chance we’ll get separated. Just give me a few minutes and we’ll start exploring together.” He said it all with his eyes closed, and her concern for him doubled despite her resentment of the situation.
    Sinking into the sand, she looked him over. He lay on the shore like a starfish, arms and legs spread, his posture one of complete exhaustion. His tie remained tight around his throat, his bag still attached to his belt. Melanie figured the least she could do was try to make him comfortable, to prove he no longer cowed her. And he had jumped in after her, had kept her safe. If it hadn’t been for him, the sharks—she gulped—probably would have had her for lunch. Though she hadn’t actually seen any sharks, she was still certain they were there. And if nothing else, his presence had given her immeasurable comfort.
    She reached for the strap on his bag, but before she could get a good grip on it, his fingers bit into her wrist.
    His eyes opened and they pinned her, hot and intense. “What do you think you’re doing?”
    Uh-oh. Melanie remembered those eyes from high school, so compelling, so sexy. Adam Stone had always had the ability to turn females into mush. Though he’d been poor and oftentimes dangerous, women had gravitated to him in hordes. But she’d resisted. She’d had little choice. His only interest in her had been spite.
    “I was going to move your bag and undo your tie.”
    “Why?” The visible signs of exhaustion momentarily left his body, and he looked ready to attack.
    She made a sound of disgust. “You look miserable, that’s why.”
    “Like you care?” He snorted. “Aren’t you the same woman who just a while ago was ready to bite off my face?”
    She blushed, annoyed that he’d point that out. Damn him, how did he constantly do this to her? They’d only been reunited a very short time, and already she was on the defensive! Since she’d first met him, it had been that way. Right before she’d left for college, he tried to pretend an interest in her, but she’d been wise to him by then. She knew he was only setting her up so he could humiliate her. She’d refused him as quietly and with as little confrontation as possible.
    But she’d come home from college a changed woman. Away from her parents’ smothering influence, she’d grown into her own, able to stand up to anyone when the situation warranted.