It was too bad, really, since she was enticing enough to drop a man to his knees if she knew how to put away the crazy talk and maybe choose another outfit. His inner thoughts amused him, and a smile broke free. He hated to disappoint any person of the female persuasion, but it looked as if this was one damsel in distress he wouldn’t be able to help.
“Well, are you going to just stare at me all day, or are you going to give me an answer?” she huffed, then before he could say anything, she held up her hand. “And before you think I’m insane, I guarantee you, I’m not. I am just tired of sitting in a corner, tired of being this invisible person. This is one assignment that I’m determined to get an A on, even if it’s not for credit. You wouldn’t know what it’s like to always be invisible, since you’re gorgeous and wealthy and have women drooling over you, but I am all too aware. It’s lonely and disappointing and I just want a new life for myself.”
Crew held up his hand to cut her off. Man, could the woman talk, and talk, and talk. To his utter surprise, her babbling was actually getting through to him on some insane level in his brain. He was intrigued by her request.
How was he supposed to teach her how to catch a guy, though? It wasn’t as if there were books out there on how to seduce a man. Or maybe there were. Hell, he didn’t know. After all, he’d never had to learn the art of seduction. It just came naturally to him, he thought proudly.
“Why would you think I’d even consider doing such a thing?” he finally asked, surprised he was in fact leaning toward accepting her wacko proposal. He didn’t have time for this. There was no way. He had a resort to run, and then to sell. When this project was safely locked in the hands of someone else, he had to start all over on his next project. He didn’t have time for crazy females with even nuttier requests.
“Because I’ve learned about you. The way you flirt with women is simply effortless. If you teach me how to be one of those women you’d want to be with, then I know I can win my guy. He won’t even know what hit him.”
“How far exactly do you want this to go?”
“What do you mean?” By the innocent expression on her face, he could see she really had no clue of what he was talking about. With quick movements, he decided to show her.
In one smooth motion, his arms encircled her, and he backed her against the side of the resort, tucking them both into the shadows and bringing his face to within an inch of hers. The widening of her eyes and quick intake of her breath sent a surge of adrenaline warming his insides. Let her see what happens when she decides to play with fire. By the time he was done with his lesson, she’d run away before he had a chance to blink, and her ridiculous idea would be totally forgotten.
“Do you want me to teach you how to be a seductress, or teach you how to seduce? I can teach you many things, Haley, but believe me, I don’t need to be paid for my lessons — at least not in cash.”
When her cheeks flushed and her eyelids drooped, Crew was overwhelmed with the desire to kiss her. Since she’d be running away screaming in a few moments, he was debating on sampling her lips just one time. Just as he got ready to close the gap between them, her eyes widened and a huge smile spread across her face, causing him to lose his momentum.
What had just happened?
“Yes! That! That’s what I want you to teach me. Oh, my gosh, I couldn’t breathe for a second there as you were all sultry and sexy and pressing against me. It felt like my stomach was on fire and my heart was going a thousand beats a minute. Teach me how to do that same thing to Walker!”
The excitement bouncing from her was a real blow to Crew’s ego, especially when she slid out from beneath his arms and danced in a little circle in front of him. But the wide-eyed innocence in her expression made him want to tuck her away and save her from herself.
“I can’t do this.”
For a split second her smile stayed in place, and then her face fell. He felt as if he’d just shot her favorite kitten. She was obviously crushed.
“I understand. I thought it was a long shot getting you to be my teacher, but a girl’s got to try, right?”
Were those tears in her eyes? He hated feminine tears, hated the power they wielded. Everyone cried, so why did it make him feel like such a tyrant when a stranger shed a tear or two? Until a few minutes ago, he hadn’t even known Haley Sutherland existed, so what did it matter if she was crying?
“I’m sorry, Haley. I really am, but I’m a busy man, and I don’t know the first thing on how to teach this kind of…lesson. I’m sure you can find a good self-help book, though, one that will give you all the answers you need. They’re publishing everything nowadays.”
“I’m sure you’re right, Mr. Storm. I appreciate your listening to me, and thinking about it, even if it was only for a second,” she said, her eyes narrowing at the end of her sentence.
Without saying anything further, Ms. Haley Sutherland turned and walked away from him. He watched the sway of her curvy hips, and, stupidly, he wanted to shout out to her that she had a few moves already capable of seducing a man, but he knew that would be a mistake.
The farther away the crazy woman was, the quicker he’d be able to forget about her. Once she had turned the corner, he went back to admiring his resort, his achievement. Unfortunately, as the day progressed and his doors officially opened, one small woman and her ridiculous proposal remained on his mind.
He knew that the madness would pass soon enough.
*****
Haley walked away feeling defeated for about five minutes. Once she was out of sight of the resort, she turned back around and glared in the general direction of where she assumed Crew Storm was.
He was the only man she’d found so far who could teach her how to be the perfect seductress, but he wasn’t the only man capable of teaching her. With relentless determination building inside, Haley walked to her car and looked at her paperwork. She was going to be staying in a tropical paradise in the summertime.
There were bound to be several single men staying at the luxury resort. At least one of them would take her up on her offer. With a smile, she drove to a small café where she could comfortably wait for the resort to open.
Looking around, she thought, It’s all or nothing.
Haley’s upbringing had been the stuff of horror. It had taken her years of therapy and then college to learn how wrong her grandparents had been in the way they’d treated her. The shame was on them for how they treated her and she shouldn’t feel this much inadequacy. When they’d died and she inherited their money, it had felt not like a victory, but a burden.
Until now, she’d been unwilling to use her inheritance for anything other than her schooling, so she’d squirreled the money away, living cheaply while working on her bachelor’s degree. Now, she was almost finished with her education, but her line of study wasn’t doing much for her at this particular moment. She had a ways to go before she’d make a real living at it.
Some people might have thought her vain or irresponsible for rushing off on a quest to learn the art of love, but if they knew about the despair and utter loneliness of the childhood neglect she’d suffered, or about the many years of being picked on and feeling invisible, they’d probably have given her a pass. She wanted to reinvent herself, and nothing was going to stand in her way.