Page 35 of Corrupted Lies

It wasn't like her feelings for him had changed, so how could she expect his for her to have changed?

Although part of her believed that, a voice whispered at the back of her mind that it was a lie. Her feelingshadchanged, she just wasn't sure to what. Alannah had no idea what she wanted right now, and she had to put down all this uncertainty, confusion, and swirling craziness inside her as a result of almost dying several times over.

Since they were almost a month into fall, the weather had cooled dramatically, but it was a sunny day, and even with the sea breeze she wanted to feel that sunshine on her skin.

Slipping off the T-shirt and jeans she’d put on that morning, leaving her in a bright red bikini, she stepped out into the sunlight. Then she chose a spot right in the middle of the deck and lay down, stretching out and closing her eyes.

A small moan of delight fell from her lips as the sun’s rays hit every inch of her skin. It had been far too long since she’d been out on the boat. The summer had flown by, and she’d been preoccupied with Jake’s sudden disappearance from her life.

If she’d known what had been going on for him and his family, she would have made sure to do anything she could to help. Even though she got why he’d kept her out of it all, a decision she couldn’t argue with given how she’d been targeted as soon as he made contact with her, it still hurt a little.

Did she want more than Jake was capable of giving her?

Truth was, she didn't know what she wanted or even what she needed.

All she knew was that something kept pulling her toward Jake, and the more she tried to ignore it, pretend it didn't exist, or fight against it, the stronger the pull became.

“You shouldn’t be getting all the fun,” Jake’s voice rumbled suddenly right beside her.

Blinking up at him, Alannah found the boat was no longer moving, and Jake had stripped off his T-shirt, leaving him in just a pair of shorts that hung low on his hips.

Try as she did, she couldn’t seem to stop her hungry gaze from roaming all over his tanned skin and that delectable six-pack. She knew she had a decent body, she certainly spent enough time working on it in her gym, but Jake was something else.

With the sunlight streaming down on him, the breeze ruffling his brown locks, and his perfectly cut and muscled body, he looked more like a Greek God than anything else, and she found she was almost drooling over him.

Don’t look lower.

The whispered order did nothing to stop her gaze from dropping to the waistline of his shorts and the v that couldn’thelp but guide her eyes right to the bulge at the front of his shorts.

What would it be like to make love to Jake?

Would it be better than all her previous sexual encounters?

As embarrassing as it was to admit as a thirty-two-year-old woman who’d had her share of partners, Alannah had never had an orgasm in her life.

Not even when she’d tried touching herself.

Would that be different with Jake?

Realizing her thoughts were straying into dangerous territory, she cut them off with a ruthlessness that Jake would be proud of. He was always telling her she was too kind, too trusting, too sweet, and it was why she kept picking the wrong men.

Jake would be a wrong pick, too.

Because he wasn't in love with her, and he didn't see her as anything other than a friend. Something she had a feeling she was going to have to keep reminding herself of while they were stuck alone together on her boat.

The last thing she wanted to do was make a fool out of herself.

Chapter

Nine

October 17th

6:36 P.M.

“The colors are spectacular, aren't they?” Alannah asked in a dreamy voice as she sat beside him on the deck of her boat.

There was no denying that the colors of the sun setting into the darkening blue of the water were beautiful, but it wasn't what kept capturing his attention.

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