Lesson Four was coming real quick, because if she wanted to seduce a man, she was certainly more than qualified to do it.

Crew sat at the table, pouring himself a cup of hot coffee and releasing a deep breath while he sat back in his chair and waited. It didn’t take her long, but when she returned, he found that he’d predicted correctly: she was wearing too many clothes.

“You should have stayed in your pajamas,” he said, disappointed by the oversized knit shirt she’d thrown on. At least her slender legs were still on display.

“I was cold,” she lied.

“No you weren’t, Haley. That shirt hid nothing, and if you had been cold, I would have known about it,” he smirked.

Her cheeks flamed; she picked up a croissant and began nibbling on its corner in hopes of hiding her embarrassment.

“Thank you for the lilies — they’re my favorite, but you really don’t need to do that. I asked you to teach me how to be the one to seduce a man. There’s absolutely no need for you to try to seduce me,” she said crisply as she poured tea into a cup and added a little lemon and sugar.

Crew waited until he had her full attention before he spoke, making sure to capture her eyes with his gaze. He wanted her to have no doubt where this was going.

“I don’t do anything by half measures, Haley. I agreed to your ridiculous request, but I’m going to be the one in charge here. If you are to become anything like the kind of woman you’re asking me to make you, then we do it my way — without any complaints. Today’s lesson: you must realize your own appeal. A woman who feels sexy is sexy. You don’t have to be a model — you can be too thin or too large — and you don’t have to be the perfect height or have the perfect curves. You just have to know how to use what you’ve got, and display it in the best possible light.”

Haley looked down as if making a catalog of her best points. Then she shook her head and frowned.

“What are my assets, then?”

That she honestly didn’t know made Crew’s breath catch in his throat. Man, was he turned on. He didn’t know if he’d make it through this “lesson.” Her innocence was…exciting.

Instead of answering her, Crew stood up from the table. He’d lost all his appetite…for food, that was. She tensed as he circled around her and kneeled behind her low-back chair. But, to her credit, she didn’t pull away when he rested his hands on her shoulders.

“First off, your hair. It’s stunning. The color is golden, and the strands are long and soft.” As he spoke, his fingers glided through her hair. Even after a night’s sleep, it was sleek and smooth to the touch.

“Then there are your eyes — the soft green shines with vibrancy and life when you aren’t looking down. Fire flashes in them when you’re determined or irritated. Passion pours out of them when you’re turned on.” His hand moved to her cheekbones as he spoke, his body pressing against the back of the chair. He didn’t want her to look at him, just feel his hands caressing her, and let his words cascade through her so she could focus wholly on herself.

“Don’t forget your neck; its taut, creamy skin with your pulse beating just below the surface can drive a man wild,” he whispered in her ear as he leaned forward and circled his hands around her throat, his fingers gentle as he caressed her.

Her pulse was speeding up, making his own race. He moved to the side of the chair so he could stroke her cheek and run his lips across her smooth skin. Her responses to him were fueling his desire, but he refused to let himself get out of control. This was about teaching her to embrace her sexuality, not about seducing her, even if it killed him.

“Then, of course, we start to reach the perfection of your breasts. When you don’t hide them, they can drop a man to his knees. They’re firm and high and just the right fit for a man’s large hands,” he groaned as his hands moved downward and grazed over the outside of her shirt, shaping her luscious curves with his palms.

Her nipples hardened beneath his touch; her body went limp in the chair and her head fell backward. Crew knew he could lift her in his arms and take her to the bed — make her his right now. With a will he didn’t know he had, he forced himself to continue his demonstration.

“Your hips are curved and perfect, making a man want to grip them tightly in his hands while he pulls you against his body and fits himself right at the edge of glory. I could take you right now and feel a deep, satisfying pleasure from my head to my toes,” he said as he rubbed his hands down her hips before coming around the front of her chair.

He knelt before her, then took her hips again and pulled her forward, her legs spreading around his thighs, aligning her heat perfectly with his excruciatingly hard manhood.

Gripping her backside, he squeezed her firm, yet soft tush as her eyes opened the tiniest fraction of an inch and she looked at him with fire leaping from those beautiful green depths of hers.

“I won’t continue telling you about the most appealing pieces of you, because if I do, this lesson will end with me taking you hard and fast, and we’re not there yet, Haley. But, I want you to go into the bathroom, strip naked and run your hands over your body. I want you to close your eyes as you touch yourself, feel what I’m feeling. I want you to feel what makes you so sexy — feel what will make a man crawl over hot coals to touch.”

Crew pulled her against him for just one moment — just a brief second, it seemed — to try to alleviate the pain throbbing in his groin. Then he moved her back and lifted her hands, placing them both on her chest, causing her eyes to snap open, arousal clouding her vision.

“Go do it, Haley. Go complete your lesson,” he groaned as she automatically flexed her fingers, making the muscle in his jaw jump from the amount of restraint he was exerting over himself.

In a daze, Haley stood up, her legs shaky. Without a word, she turned and went toward the bathroom. He didn’t know whether she’d do what he asked or not right at this moment, but he knew it would sink in and she’d eventually follow through.

He sat back down, seriously thinking about grabbing a glass of the ice water on the table and dumping it down his ridiculously tight trousers. When he heard a soft groan from the bathroom as the shower started, he nearly lost it.

This lesson was over. Crew stood up and grabbed a sweatshirt he saw hanging over a chair. Draping it across his arm, he hid the enormous erection he was sporting and practically sprinted from her room.

Only one employee tried to speak to him as he made a beeline to his suite. He ignored the woman and dashed into his room. He locked his door behind him and barely paused before heading straight to the shower, scattering his clothes along the way. This adventure with Haley wasn’t going to be good for his body — not one little bit.

Chapter Eleven

For the next five days, Crew tested the very limits of what he could handle. He didn’t know whether he was a glutton for punishment or if he was determined to walk around with certain body parts south of the equator forever swollen. Haley was an eager learner, which made everything, er…harder. If she had been impatient or snooty, this would have been so much easier on him.

He could write her off — say he’d tried and then get her out of his head. But the light of excitement shining in her eyes each time he showed her something new was intoxicating for him. The moment was approaching when he would take her to the furthest reaches she could imagine.

That was a lesson that must be taught — personally. Though she wouldn’t admit to him how many sexual partners she’d been with, he knew it couldn’t be many. She was too shy, too unaware of her own body to have slept with more than a few men. Heck, he wouldn’t be surprised if she’d been with only one or two.

Well, by the time he was done teaching her, she’d be a regular siren in bed. Unfortunately, the thought of her using these skills, the skills he’d taught her, with another man sparked a nasty little twinge in his gut. But he wasn’t going to dwell on that now

As he walked toward her door, he was determined to keep his hands to himself. The touching had been a part of teaching her to appreciate herself, but that wasn’t on the syllabus for today. Today was Lesson Ten — or was it Twelve? — he couldn’t remember. Anyway, they were going shopping. The loose clothing had to go. She was a stunner, and she needed to show that off.

He’d have her fitted for a body-hugging gown, pick out a few outfits, and then take her out for a romantic dinner and dancing. Every man in the room would be jealous and every woman would want to be Haley Sutherland. If she didn’t feel alive at the end of the day, he’d be earning a failing grade.

Bright-eyed and smiling, he almost bounced from his office, and was immediately stopped by his head manager, who was able to suppress his surprise at the boss’s bizarre cheeriness and was not to be deflected from a discussion of some documents. Typical. But business always came before pleasure, or it should.

*****

Looking out at the ocean waves crashing against the shores of the island had Haley excited to get away from the resort for a while. She’d heavily pursued Crew and been persistent in persuading him to be her teacher, but she felt as if she couldn’t breathe while in his presence. The man was so overwhelming — and what was worse, she wanted his touch, wanted more of him.

She enjoyed when he touched her – wanted more of it. She was trying to remember that she’d hired him — was it still hiring him if he wouldn’t accept pay? — oh, well, that didn’t matter. It was just a technicality.

The point was that she had hired him so she could catch her man, not so she could be caught by her teacher. But she had to remind herself of that every minute she spent with him. And that was a lot of minutes.

How did he manage to run his resort so successfully when he was constantly at her side? He had gathered an amazingly efficient staff, and he did work hard in the morning. And he kept checking in with his employees when they were in and out of the resort during the rest of the business day.

It was the nights that were the hardest. When he held out a chair for her and gently pushed her in, his fingers skimmed over her neck and her skin tingled for long minutes afterward. When the palm of his hand rested on the small of her back or when he whispered evocative words in her ear, oh, her resistance was low. She’d never intended to sleep with him, but her will was breaking.

What would it be like to have a man’s hands caress her body, to have his mouth travel down the side of her neck and then capture her swollen nipple, wetting it with his tongue? It seemed that was all she thought about lately.

Before, when she pictured a man lying with her, the images hadn’t been nearly as vivid and the face hadn’t belonged to Crew Storm. For that matter, the man had always been faceless. She’d never really thought about that fact. It certainly hadn’t been the face of Walker, the man she’d believed she wanted so very badly.

Scratch that. She did want him, she did! This was just a matter of her spending too much time with Crew. Of course the man was going to get inside her head.