“I’m not attracted to you that way.” She hoped she was convincing.

“I don’t believe you.” He reached for piece of her hair and curled it around his finger.

Regan leaned up on her elbow and looked down at him. “Is this really important? Do you really want to see me socially? Romantically?”

“Uh-huh.”

“I thought I made it clear.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Stop that!” Her heart was racing and her palms had grown damp. She pushed her hair back as she sat up and cradled her knees to her chest. This was the end. No matter what it led to, it was the end, not a beginning. If she saw him socially, she had to find a new job. If she refused to see him, their work relationship would be strained and she’d have to find a new job anyway. It was a no-win situation—for her—and she was going to lose everything again.

“Regan.” He sat up next to her. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since you fell onto my lap. I look at it like a sign from above.”

“No. It was a horrible day.” She shook her head and angled her body away from him.

“Maybe.” He reached his arm behind her and moved his body in closer to her as if to move into her territory. He lowered his head until his breath was in her ear. “I know you’re involved with other men.”

“Other men?” She pulled away and saw dark sadness in his eyes. The fear that he knew what she’d been through stabbed at her. What if he was the kind of man who held that against the woman and thought the man was justified in how he acted? Did he think she was still involved with the man she’d worked for before him? That she was so weak she would hold on to anyone? “What other men?”

“Dr. Curtis,” he said holding up one finger. “And then there was the man who met you at your door.” He held up another finger.

The tension released in her shoulders, and her breathing returned to normal. She had to smile, and the fear that he was some pompous control freak slid away, leaving her with her urge to laugh. “Mr. Benson, you are very observant. And you certainly have been spending a lot of time thinking about the other men in my life.”

“I can’t help it.” He raised his hand to her face and caressed her cheek. His blue eyes sank into hers and held her. “Regan, you’re all I think about. I want to be with you. I want to get to know you on a personal level, and I want you to want that too. Tell me why you’re so guarded.”

She turned her head and looked down at the water that rippled beneath them like the emotions that shifted inside of her. The job in Zach’s office was supposed to be a fresh start and end the pain she’d endured. It wasn’t supposed to be a vivid reminder. “No. I won’t talk about it. If you want to see me socially, you have to fire me.”

“If I did that, would you go on a date with me?”

“No.” She was sharp with her answer. She turned and gathered her skirt, ready to climb from the boulder.

He let out a long breath. “You’re not helping.”

She turned back to him. “If you fired me, I’d be too mad to date you.”

“Then you’re just going to have to quit,” he said before he crushed his mouth to hers.

Regan gasped as his tongue found hers. Her chest pounded and her head spun as he laid her back on the rock. It was happening again. She was letting a powerful and handsome man manipulate her.

No, that wasn’t true. His hand skimmed her side and she wrapped her arms around him, pulling him atop of her. She tunneled her fingers through his hair, wanting to be here with him, wanting to open up to him. She was letting him win her over and it felt so good.

His fingers grazed her shoulder before he tangled them into her hair and deepened the kiss. She was falling, her heart was tumbling, and there was nothing she could do about it. She’d wanted Zachary Benson since she’d fallen onto this lap. Even as he pressed against her and she pulled him even closer, she knew she was making a mistake again. She was losing the battle against herself.

Zach moved his kisses from her mouth down her throat as she ran her fingers down his back. Her breath had quickened, and she sighed as he returned to her mouth.

Regan’s mouth was as hungry as his. She could make love to him right on the boulder in the creek. She wanted to touch him and have him touch her. His arms were encircling her, drawing her in, and she pressed closer. God, she craved him. She slid her tongue up the side of his neck and moaned at his salty masculine taste.

He took a sharp breath and drew back, resting his brow against hers. His entire body tensed against hers as though he fought for control and her emotions raged between gratefulness and regret.

“We’d better stop before we can’t,” he said as he moved off of her, but kept his arm draped over her possessively. “Thank God you came to your senses.”

Her body stiffened. She wanted to accept her new feelings, but the old ones were too raw. “I don’t think that’s what happened. I think I lost all good sense.”

“Fine with me.” He kissed her again, gently this time. “We should get back to the house. My mother has a keen sense when there’s hanky panky being made on this rock.”

She turned her head and shot him a glance. “I don’t want to know.” She was too worried the name Simone Pierpont might sneak into the conversation again, and she didn’t think she could handle that.

“No, you don’t.” He smiled and sat up, looking down at her. “This isn’t a one-time thing, Regan. I want you to be mine. Exclusively mine.”

Every muscle in her body stiffened, and she sat up. “Like your possession.”

“No, like my partner.” He turned and cupped her chin with his hands. “A partner whom I care deeply for, and one who cares for me back. Regan, I don’t want to run your life or ruin it. Damn the man who must have done that to you.” His voice rose slightly, and anger shook it. He dropped his hands.

Tears welled in her eyes. As they fell, he brushed them from her cheeks and kissed her where the wet trail ended.

“Regan, I don’t want to hurt you. But I don’t want to share you either.”

“Share me?”

“A woman who is as beautiful, compassionate, and smart as you always will have men who want her.”

Regan’s jaw tightened. “I’m not someone who passes herself around.”