Kel clamped down on her waist. “Darcy, stop it.”
This time she bent forward suggestively as she pressed her backside into his crotch, her little golf skirt riding up. “I think I feel it now,” she said playfully. “Is that better?”
Kel couldn’t control his reaction. He looked down at the growing erection pressing against the front of his trousers. “You’re right, this was a mistake.”
Darcy turned and wrapped her arms around his neck, then brushed a kiss across his lips. “I’m glad you finally agree. How can golf possibly be any fun if we have to keep our clothes on?”
“We don’t need to keep our clothes on,” Kel said. He reached for his belt and began to unfasten it, but Darcy grabbed his arm.
“We’re not playing nude golf. But if you come with me, we can get naked for all sorts of other reasons.”
Kel pressed his forehead against hers and stared into her eyes. “We can’t spend all our time in bed, Darcy. Don’t you want something more than that? Something…normal?”
She sighed, turning away from him. “Why do we have to talk about this now? Can’t we just enjoy ourselves? We only have one more day together. And with my father here, who knows how much time we’ll have?”
“That’s my point,” Kel said. “I just thought we might be able to spend a nice morning together, doing something other than rolling around in my bed.”
Darcy put her fingers at the corners of his mouth and forced him to smile. “There’s no one I’d rather spend my time with. But we aren’t a normal couple,” she said. “We’re just having fun here-that was the deal.”
“You’re right,” Kel said, his voice curt. “I keep forgetting the deal.”
“And you’re angry now,” Darcy countered. “I’m sorry. It seems, since my father arrived, all we’ve been doing is fighting.”
“I consider it renegotiating,” Kel said.
“I just don’t understand what we have to fight about.”
“What are you afraid of?” Kel asked.
“Nothing,” Darcy replied. She walked back to the tee box and picked up her golf ball before strolling back to the cart.
Kel struggled to put his feelings into words, but that had never been one of his talents. A great curveball, a charming smile and a decent short game on the golf course, that’s what he was good at. But he’d spent his adult life trying to avoid any emotional entanglements. And now that he’d gotten himself so tangled up in Darcy, he wasn’t sure how to handle it.
Every instinct told him to hold her close and not let go. At first, it was all about the sexual fireworks between them. It felt so good to touch her, to have her touch him, to lose himself inside her. But with every minute they’d spent together, things inside him had begun to change.
Unfortunately, he’d managed to fall for a woman who had absolutely no feelings for him at all-at least none she’d admit to. She seemed perfectly happy to go on as they had, enjoying their time in bed then going back to her life as it was before he came to The Delaford.
Odd how the roles had been reversed. Usually he was the one who looked for a way out. Now, he was searching for a way in-into her heart and her soul, maybe even into her life. Perhaps signing the offer for the house on Crystal Lake hadn’t been the best idea, but Kel had to believe that there was a chance for them.
“Why don’t you take the cart back and I’ll finish the round?” Kel suggested, unwilling to fight her any longer. “I could use the exercise.”
She gave him a strange look. “Will I see you later?”
If he ever expected to get out of this mess without regrets, then he’d have to put some distance between him and Darcy, starting now. It would do him no good to hope that she wanted him for anything more than his talents in the bedroom.
“I don’t know.”
“I could always ride along with you,” Darcy suggested, “and watch you golf. Maybe I could learn something.”
He shrugged. At least she was willing to compromise. That was a step in the right direction. And for all that he wanted to regain some perspective, he still preferred to spend the day with her. “All right,” he said.
She hopped in the cart, sitting behind the wheel, and watched as he teed off. “Wiggle those hips,” Darcy shouted.
Kel hit a nice drive, straight down the middle and Darcy steered the cart over to him. But just as they prepared to drive down the fairway, Kel noticed another golf cart approaching at a fast speed. He recognized one of the bellmen from the hotel.
“Mr. Martin? Mr. Martin, I have an emergency phone call for you.”
Darcy straightened. “An emergency?”
The bellman handed Kel a cellphone. “It’s a Mr. Waverly.”
Kel turned to Darcy. “My agent,” he explained. “Every time he calls, it’s some kind of emergency.” He took the cellphone from the bellman and sent Darcy a reassuring look. “Don’t worry. I’m sure it’s nothing.”
His agent’s voice crackled over the fading connection. “Kel. Ben Waverly here. I’ve got some news.”
“I’m on the golf course right now, Ben,” Kel said into the phone. “Can this wait?”
“Kel, they want to trade you. To Atlanta. I just got a call from the front office. You need to fly out there for a meeting and a physical. They want to know what’s going on with the shoulder before they sign on the dotted line. You’re going to have to make a decision, Kel, and pretty quick.”
“Let me get back to the hotel,” Kel said. “I’ll call you from there.” He switched off the phone and handed it back to the bellman.
“Is everything all right?” Darcy asked.
“Not really,” he murmured. He glanced around. “We should go back. I’ve got to take care of this and I can’t do it from here.”
“Tell me,” Darcy murmured, her eyes filled with worry. “If something is wrong, I’d like to help.”
Kel winced, then rubbed the back of his neck, trying to ease the tension that always came with a call from his agent. At least if he retired, he’d never have to deal with Ben Waverly again. “Would you? Come on, Darcy, that’s not part of our deal,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “I wouldn’t want you to have to pretend that you cared.”
“Why have you become so obsessed with our deal? This was supposed to be simple, wasn’t it?”
“But it’s not simple. It’s gotten all messy and complicated, and now you want to cut and run.”
“And you don’t?” Darcy demanded.
“Maybe not.” He pointed toward the clubhouse. “Drive.”
She cut across the first fairway, glancing over at him as they bumped along. He kept his eyes fixed straight ahead, trying to contain his frustration. It would have been too perfect to meet the woman of his dreams just days before he retired. Maybe he was looking for something that wasn’t there simply out of fear about the changes taking place in his life.
“That was my agent,” he said. “I’ve been traded to Atlanta.”
Darcy gasped. “Atlanta? But that’s all the way across the country.”
“Yeah, the last time I checked my map it was.” He studied her expression and then drew a deep breath. The hell if she didn’t care! For an instant, he saw it there in her eyes. She wasn’t ready to give him up. “I was going to retire, but now I’m thinking I might be able to get a few more years out of the arm. They want to see me in a few days.”
“You’re going to go?”
Kel knew he shouldn’t play with her emotions. But if this was the only way he could gauge her feelings, then he’d use it. “It’s an option I should explore. If they don’t want to put me into regular rotation, I might be able to get by without the surgery. It would probably mean a cut in my salary, but I’m all right with that.”
“So you’ll go to Atlanta?” Darcy asked.