Rivals in Paradise by Gwyneth Bolton Page A

to let his guard down with her. It shouldn’t have been that much of a risk.
    He looked up and his mouth dropped open.
    When she came out of the dressing room in her red bikini that gave new meaning to itsy-bitsy, he knew how much of a risk he was taking. He was in big trouble, and damn if he cared.
    She was staring at his chest. Her eyes were wide, and her mouth was partially open. He reckoned he wasn’t the only one in trouble. The only question was, what were they going to do about it?
    He couldn’t help it. He flexed just a little. He let his pecs move and silently thanked God that he spent time at the gym. When he saw her swallow and gulp, he sent up another note of thanks to God.
    â€œYou’re really serious about this fling thing, huh? Because even if you weren’t looking, I can promise you that you would find one wearing that bikini.” He said his words slowly and deliberately, and her eyes moved from his chest to his face.
    Her eyes narrowed, and she smiled her devilish little smile. He braced himself, because he knew his Cicely was up to no good when she smiled like that.
    His Cicely?
    She put her hands on her hips, striking a pose. “This old thing? You think I can land me a willing man in this little old thing?”
    It was his turn to swallow and gulp when she did a spin and he got a look at that bikini from behind.
    Thank God he’d had the foresight to take her to one of the more private beaches, because clearly this woman was trying to start a riot. He was torn between wrapping his towel around her, throwing her in the car, taking her home and making sweet love to heror finding a secluded spot on the beach and making sweet love to her.
    The only thing he knew for certain was that if Cicely Stevens was serious about having a fling in Dahinda, she wasn’t going to have it with anyone but him.
    For some reason, submitting to the inevitable was a freeing thing. He realized that he could enjoy their time at the beach—indeed, enjoy the rest of the day—with Cicely without even touching her. Because before it was all over, before she stepped onto the plane to Miami, Cicely Stevens would be his.
    He reached out his hand and she took it. He felt that shock of electricity that he always felt when he touched her, and this time it didn’t throw him off at all. He welcomed it like a balm.
    He smiled. “Yes, that little old thing. You’re trying to cause riots.”
    He could have sworn he saw her blush.
    â€œYou know, Chase Yearwood, you’re actually a pretty okay guy. I think I could almost like you.” She stuck out her tongue.
    He was pretty sure she did it to try and keep the confession that she liked him on a playful level. But he already knew the deal. Playtime was over. He just had to figure out when he was going to apprise her of that.
    Â 
    After spending the day seeing the island and hanging out with Chase, Cicely knew she wastreading into some pretty dangerous territory. As she sat in her hotel room waiting for him to come pick her up for a night of dinner and dancing, she knew that even if they had decided to put their past differences and that student government election behind them, she was still in trouble. Her heart still remembered what happened the last time she let her guard down around The Wolf.
    He was the one guy who made her forget the childhood vow she made when she watched her mother pine over the man who left her to die with no one there to care for her but her two kids and her mother-in-law. Cicely vowed to never let any man get close enough to hurt her. And most of the guys she dated never really had a chance to get close.
    She had picked them for that reason. Her “type” had never really been her type. They were just safety nets for her heart.
    But there was something about Chase. From the first time she’d met him in the student government office at FAMU and they got into their first disagreement about how the