Sinner and Saint

Chapter One

Cobalt Bay, California

Seventeen years later...

Trouble didn't always walk in as a bad boy.

On rare occasions, it showed up as a tall, athletic package in plain jeans, a white collared shirt under a dark gray sweater and black-framed glasses. It was capped off with unruly brown hair that I swear has some red in it, and a faint, warm smile curving one corner of a sensual mouth.

Yes.

I could still accurately observe all of this after having lost track of the number of tequila shots I've had so far.

Who really wants to do math when you can be doing biology?

Not me and especially not when there are so many splendid, naked parts to imagine on this male specimen who, in my opinion, was wearing too many clothes for a pool party.

"Ka-dy! Ka-dy! Ka-dy!"

I blinked and glanced down at the people hanging around the edges of the pool, chanting my name and pumping their fists in the air.

Oh, right.

I was just about to dive into the water in nothing more than my string bikini bottom.

Yes, my girls were enjoying the crisp California night breeze at the moment—and the attention of every straight man in this party including Mr. Hot College Professor.

Right. Got some money to raise.

Before I could think twice about it, I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and jumped.

The water crashed all around me, pounding around my ears and dulling the noise for a split second.

I loved it for however long it lasted.

The world was too damn chaotic most of the time.

A moment of escape like this was still freedom.

Popping out of the water, I grinned at the cheers and hoots. Several male arms extended my way to pull me out of the water but I ignored them, keeping my head up and swimming leisurely toward one corner of the pool where he stood watching.

Brown eyes tracked me the entire time it took to get there and a shiver rode down my spine.

No, I wasn't cold. Not even in January here.

It was the uncanny feeling of being thoroughly seen and for all that I've bared of my body to the world, this was a new experience.

That won't be the last of your new firsts.

The voice in my head had more to say but whatever it was faded as his gaze pulled me in closer.

He extended a hand to me and I wrapped my fingers around his, fighting to ignore the heat that flared through me at the contact.

I'd expected strength in this grip. He wasn't a small man, after all.

What I hadn't expected was for his hold to make me feel... safe.

That isn't something I can say about majority of the men I meet.

And this is why he's a different kind of dangerous.

With a swift pull of his arm on mine, he lifted me out of the water. The momentum got me skittering forward on my bare toes but my hardened nipples hit him on the chest first before the rest of me could.

I registered hard contours of muscle underneath all that cashmere and cotton and for once, I couldn't help myself, especially when he made no attempt to move away.