He broke away from her, found her dress and slipped it quickly over her head, then hurriedly searched for his trousers.
"All that talk and time to get my clothes off!" Alexi complained. "Now you're shoving me back into them!"
"I'm the jealous type," he told her, stumbling into his briefs. Alexi, still searching for her panties but comfortably clad in her dress, had to laugh as she watched him. He cast her an indignant glare that offered a definite threat once he was capable of standing straight.
Alexi held out a hand in a defensive gesture but kept laughing. "Don't be offended. I was watching you before, and you were just wonderful. Primal man--Atlas in the flesh. You really were just beautiful against the rising sun."
"Thanks," Rex muttered. He glanced up at her as he zippered his fly; then he started to laugh. "What?" Alexi demanded. "Green hair." "What?"
"You have a lump of seaweed there. Left side--ah, you've got it."
She stared at him reproachfully, then started to smile. He stretched out his hand again and said, "I could stay here forever. But I'm afraid we might have some company."
Alexi nodded happily, curling her fingers around his. "Breakfast, Mr. Morrow? My place?"
"Sounds good. Let's pick up Samson first, though, huh? Emily went home yesterday, so he's been locked up all night."
Alexi nodded, lacing her fingers through his. She smiled as they started walking barefoot over the carpet of pine that led to the beach. "My purse and shoes are in the car. It's morning and you can't hear a thing but the breeze and the seabirds. I really do love it here."
Rex shot her a quick glance. Alexi, staring at the sky, didn't notice the penetrating quality of his gaze.
"Do you?" he said.
"Hmm?"
"No city lights."
"Well, everyone likes the city now and then. But, Rex--'' She paused, looking at him with a very slight but honest, open smile. "This is like Eden. Don't you imagine that Pierre Brandywine must have thought the very thing when he first built the house for Eugenia?"
"You're a romantic," he told her.
"So are you," she said challengingly.
Was he? he wondered. Surely not.
They had reached his house. Samson came bounding out when Rex whistled. Rex asked her to hang on a minute while he got some clothes. "I'm really into sand when we're playing in it," he told her with a grimace, "and salt and all the rest. But I think I need a shower now, huh?"
"And where are you taking that shower?"
"With you."
"Presumptuous," she said with a sigh. But when they started out again, she had to stop. It was broad daylight now, with the bright, bright morning sun climbing higher in the sky. She stood in front of him, and she only hesitated for the fraction of a second. "Thank you, Rex. Thank you so very much. I--"
She hesitated again. Only the fraction of a second again, but the wheels of her heart and mind spun.
"I love you.
The words almost spilled from her. Were they such easy words, then? she taunted herself. No, a heartbeat told her that they were not. She did love him. His smile, his dark eyes, the way he had looked, primitive and exciting and male, in the broad arc of the brimming sun. But that wasn't it. She loved him because he had been there. Hostile at first. Audacious at best. But he had been there for her in every sense of the words, sensitive, caring. Gentle and tender.
But he was good at that, she reminded herself. He was an accomplished lover. A good man, a practiced lover. Be his friend! she warned herself. Don't expect much; it will hurt too much if you let your feelings get out of hand.
Too late; her feelings were out of hand. She just had to take care not to let it show.
"You're very special," she finished quickly, feeling the probing of his ebony eyes. She smiled and stood on her toes to kiss him quickly. "Very special."
"Hey, I'm an obliging fellow," he said lightly. "Come on--the kittens must need an outing as badly as Samson."
"And the cellar will need a cleaning," Alexi moaned.
Rex didn't argue the point. When they reached the Brandywine house, Alexi retrieved her things from the car while Rex opened the house. By the time she reached the door, she practically tripped over the kittens to enter. Rex had let them up first thing, it seemed. Alexi quickly scooped the pair of them into her arms.
'Hi, sweeties. Did you think that you had been deserted? I'm sorry!"
Samson came running out of the kitchen and slid down the hallway, barking enthusiastically. The kittens squirmed in Alexi's arms, and she set them down to bat away at Samson. Samson tried to make a hasty retreat, but it was too late. The kittens tumbled after him.
"You asked for it this time, Samson!" Alexi laughed.
She started off for the kitchen herself, smiling as she inhaled the aroma of the coffee. Rex had gotten it going quickly.
She liked the way he looked in the kitchen, too. She paused in the doorway, watching as he moved from the cupboards to the refrigerator, barefoot and bare chested -- and wearing his dress trousers.
Alexi went swiftly to the refrigerator herself and took out a carton of eggs and some cheese and bacon. Rex let mug of coffee.
"I'm probably the better cook," he warned her.
"Good. You can prove it tomorrow," she told him. Then she quickly lowered her head,- letting her drying hair hide her features. What was she doing? She'd just come to the mature acceptance that he was a free agent, and here she was, assuming they'd be together for breakfast tomorrow.
"I will," he promised her smugly.
She breathed a little more easily and asked him to hand her the grater for the cheese. He did, then told her that she was only cooking so that he would have to go down to the cellar to see what kind of mess the kittens had made.
She watched him when he started down the stairs. She thought about the burnt brown hue of his shoulders and the weathered tan of his features and knew the color had come from endless hours in the sun he loved so much. Then she realized that she was daydreaming and about to burn something, so she turned her attention back to the stove. But as she did so she frowned, noting that the tea and sugar canisters were out of place, and she could have sworn that she had left the kitchen spotless the night before.
Alexi grated cheese over the eggs, then shook her head. Something about the kitchen didn't feel right. She couldn't explain it--after all, Rex had entered the kitchen before she had; maybe he had moved things.
She scooped the eggs off the frying pan and onto plates and quickly turned several pieces of bacon that were starting to burn. She should have started the bacon first, she told herself reproachfully. Rex probably was the better cook.
She heard a slight noise behind her and turned around. Rex had come up the stairway from the cellar and was watching her; on his lips was a curiously tender smile that brought a tug to her heart. He swung away from the doorframe, sauntered over to her, took her into his arms and met her eyes with his smile intact.
"Your hair looks like hell."
"I'm ever so sorry. I've just come from the most incredible night of my life."
"Thank you, ma'am."
She laughed and grew breathless and he started to kiss her, but they both smelled the bacon starting to burn. Alexi quickly retrieved it and popped bread into the toaster while Rex poured juice and more coffee.
While they ate, Alexi told him some of the things she wanted to do with the place. Rex listened and asked questions, and she grew more and more excited, trying to describe what she envisioned in the end. "I love this house. I always have. There's something about knowing that it belonged to my great-great-great-grandparents that just fascinates me."
"It is nice," Rex agreed. He caught her fingers across the table. “Were you going to start today, though?'' "I was."
"Is that negotiable?" "Very."