11. Greer

CHAPTER 11

GREER

I'd lost count of how many times Austin Wentworth had caused my fifty-eight-year-old heart to beat erratically and off the rails in the half a day we'd spent together. I'd told him we were staying in a hotel, but we weren't. We were staying at my house. So when the driver drove into the driveway, Austin looked over at me, confused. But he didn't say a word until the driver had taken our bags from the trunk and placed them on the concrete driveway.

"I thought you said we were staying at a hotel."

I picked up my bag and smiled. "About that. The guests are staying at a hotel, but we're staying here. With my family."

Austin turned and looked at my three-story vacation home that sat mere yards from the white sands of the beach. "Only you would have a fucking mansion on the beach in Costa Rica."

"What are you accusing me of?"

"Being a wealthy asshole billionaire."

I started for the door. "You too are a wealthy asshole billionaire."

He followed me up to the door, past the three-car garage where my cars were stored. We didn't need to rent one when I had three to choose from.

From the portico over the front door, tropical flowers trailed up the sides, providing a beautiful welcome to the property. But the front was a blank canvas compared to the back of the house that faced the ocean.

Tapping in the key code, I opened the door and stepped aside, like a gentleman, so he could enter before me. Watching him take in the grandeur of my home was fascinating.

"You're trying to find something ugly to say, aren't you? But you can't."

Austin scowled at me, then set his bag down at the bottom of the staircase. "I guess that means I get my own room after all."

I returned his smile. "Sorry, but no. You're still bunking with me."

Striding past him, I motioned for him to follow. "This is the main floor, but one of three. Upstairs are four suites, downstairs has three more, and a fully equipped home gym. But this is the best part," I said, moving the wall of glass floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the cerulean-blue Pacific Ocean.

I opened the doors and led him outside to the covered veranda. Three steps led down into a square infinity pool with bench seating. The water from that pool dropped into the much larger kidney-shaped pool below.

Austin continued to take everything in, but said nothing. "O-kay," I said, continuing to play tour guide for him.

He followed me across the stone walkway and down the steps to the larger pool. "This is pretty good for laps and training. I bought the house after construction, so I had no choice in the shape."

"So you didn't have the water slides put in?"

"No, smarty pants, I did not," I said as I pointed to the other side of the pool. "But feel free to use them whenever you like. I won't tell anyone."

I glanced back at him as he stood with his hands on his hips. I knew what he was looking at. "Is that the only way to get to the other side of the pool deck?"

Turning, I nodded with a big smile. "From here, yes. But if you don't want to swim to the other side, you have to cross my bridge to get over there." I began the trek over the concrete walkway that connected the two separate pool decks. "There's a path that goes around the other side of the pool. You'll be able to see it from the bedroom."

When we'd crossed the bridge, I turned back to face the back of my house. "The balcony on the left is my room. My bed faces the doors, so I always have a view of the ocean."

Austin stood next to me, taking in the house in the afternoon sun. "Why did you buy such a big house? You don't need all this room for just one person."

I looked around and down at the access to the beach.

"I hope one day it won't be just me," I murmured, only loud enough for him to hear. "I don't want to be alone for the rest of my life. And if my sister has anything to do with it, I won't be."

Austin grunted and headed back across the bridge.

"Where are you going?" I called after him.

He waved his arm over his shoulder, beckoning me to follow. "To the beach," he said after turning to face me, walking backward. He tore his shirt over his head, causing my mouth to drop open.

"Hurry up, let's go. Clocks ticking on the daylight."

Austin dropped his shirt to the pavement, gave me a challenging smirk, and then took the stairs two at a time. With a view like that, this week might not be so difficult to manage after all.

When I reached my bedroom, I fully expected to be alone. But to my pleasant surprise, his bag was sitting unzipped on my bed. The bathroom door was ajar, so I placed his shirt on top. I stared at it a moment before picking it up and bringing it to my nose. My eyes closed as I inhaled his scent into my memory. What would I say if he caught me?

I smiled and placed it on the bed before heading over to open the sliding glass doors to let the ocean breeze in.

"What are you looking at?" he said, coming to stand beside me.

Glancing over, he was dressed in compression shorts that made his thighs look like tree trunks and a muscle tank that fit him like a glove.

"Uh, the whales. I always look, even though they've already passed by. April is the best month."

He nodded and looked down at me. "You want to run, or just stay here smelling my shirt some more?"

My face and neck heated in embarrassment. "I was trying to determine the cologne you wore. It smelled familiar."

He grinned, but let it go. I knew he'd bring it up again at some point. But I took the out and headed for my walk-in closet to change.

I emerged a few minutes later to find him on the balcony, bent over with his forearms resting against the nearly invisible wall. He was such a beautiful specimen of the human body, especially when he wasn't scowling.

I sat down on the bed to tie my running shoes, then got up to get the bug repellant. Austin reentered the room as I left the bathroom. I shook the can of spray at him.

"We need to use this. The mosquitos are huge."

"Yeah, okay," he replied, with no argument. Shocker.

I smiled, then headed out and down the stairs.

"When will your family arrive?"

"Tomorrow afternoon. I always come down early to make sure everything is ready for guests."

When we reached the bottom, we headed out onto the veranda, where I stopped. I sprayed my skin everywhere I could, but evidently, I didn't get it everywhere.

Austin reached for the spray. "Let me. You missed some spots."

I handed him the can, then turned my back to him. Propping my hands on my hips, I closed my eyes and waited for the shock of the cold spray.

The hiss from the can didn't land on my skin, but big warm hands sure did. "For repellants to really work, you need to rub them in, then let them dry." He began applying it to my shoulders and rubbed it in.

As he continued to massage my skin, my eyes rolled back in my head. And when he stepped closer, I could feel his body heat radiating against me.

"Here," he said, against my ear. "You mind getting my back?"

I took the can and turned to face him. Austin looked me over, then down to my crotch the way I'd done him. Heat rose in my body from my feet to my ears. He knew what he was doing to me.

"If I can't be a smartass around your family, you certainly can't bone up like a teenager every time I touch you. It's impressive that I have that effect on you, but it's also telling. Anyone looking at you could see it all over your face. And Greer, I'm going to touch you a lot."

I propped my hands on my hips again and narrowed my eyes. "You're going to do it on purpose, aren't you?"

"Do what?" he smirked, mirroring my stance.

"Get me all hot and bothered." I sprayed some bug repellant on my hands, then swirled my finger in the air for him to turn around. He grunted when my hands found his muscled shoulders.

"The Navy wouldn't send us into a dangerous situation without the proper training. It's called preparation."

"I know what preparation is." This time, I sprayed the cold mist directly on his skin.

"Fuck, that's cold," he griped. I smiled.

"What are you saying, Austin? Spit it out."

I dug my thumbs into the muscles below his shoulder blades, making him moan a little. Fucking hell.

"I'm saying we need to desensitize you."

I frowned. "To what?"

"Me. We have twenty-four hours to get you used to being close to me. You don't want to pop a boner every time I touch you. It's impressive a man of your age can still do that, but still. Practice and desensitization are definitely the way to go."

A reel of all the ways we could do that started rolling like a porno in my head while Marvin Gaye sang ‘Let's Get It On.' So I stepped away and called it quits. "I'll meet you by the pool in a few minutes," I said, heading to the nearest bathroom.

I slammed the door as Austin burst out laughing, then leaned my back against it.

"Where ya going, Greer?"

"Never you mind," I barked back. "Go outside."

"I think maybe I'll wait right here for you."

Asshole.

He continued to laugh at my expense, and I vowed to seek revenge for this. But maybe he was right. Maybe I needed to be immune to his touch. I couldn't imagine ever not reacting this way to him.

The knock on the door startled me. "What?"

"I wasn't kidding," he said seriously. "It's going to be obvious if we don't get a handle on it now, before they all get here."

I snorted. Yeah, but what happens if I can't live without you?

What do I do when you walk away and leave me behind?