BETWEEN THE MOON AND SAN FRANCISCO

Chapter 9

VIDEO is Elvis singing SURRENDER from 1961

SURRENDER!
Annie looked around to see a hundred or so people nearby watching them with apparent great interest. She felt her cheeks begin to burn and went along meekly with Van into the dance. All she could think was that she had never endured so much humiliation in her life as she had in just one day here in San Francisco.

She stiffened as he swung her about, holding her head up erect rather than resting it on his shoulder. But then she was staring right at his handsome face and into the swirling depths of his mesmerizing blue eyes. Darn it that she was so tall! If only she were shorter, then she'd be stuck with his bare neck and shoulders to look at, which were awfully tempting, but not quite so tempting as his eyes and his mouth and those lips.

"You're lovely," he said, his voice as intimate as a caress. "Even when you're playing hard-to-get."

Annie averted his compelling eyes, deciding it would be better to rest her cheek on his tempting shoulder. Which she did.

"I am not playing hard-to-get," she told him. "I am hard to get. Impossible, in fact."

She could smell his citrus-scented cologne, and his bare shoulder against her cheek was smooth and warm and so enticing she wanted to lick it. Even better - bite it! She'd love to hear him howl in surprise. But she quickly pulled her cheek away and held her head up again.

A slow smile quirked Van's lips. "No woman is impossible to get. There is always a way for the right man to break through."

She attempted a disdainful look. "You insist on continuing to fool yourself, don't you? You are not the right man. No man is the right man. I am totally not interested in what you have to offer in the line of romance."

He looked at her with half-closed eyes, his long lashes almost brushing his cheeks. Her heart thudded recklessly. Ohmygod! She wanted to kiss his eyes and nibble on the lashes! She decided again that the bare shoulder was easier to deal with than the tempting eyes, and so she rested her cheek on it again.

Van chuckled. "You keep telling me you're not interested in romance, but I know you are. I can tell by the way you dance."

Her head shot back up again. "What is wrong with the way I dance?"

"You're so fidgety. Your head pops up and down like a puppet. It's obvious you're trying to fight your inner feelings. The ones that say you want me."

Annie glared at him. "I can't help it if you're the sexiest man alive. Even People Magazine agrees with that! Besides, you're half-naked."

Van grinned. "I could remedy that real quick. I can be totally naked almost instantly."

Annie rolled her eyes. Now he was acting like a frat boy!

"Just because I may find you physically attractive," she said icily, "does not mean I have any desire to have a relationship with you."

Van shrugged his broad shoulders. "Well, at least your finding me physically attractive is a start."

She made a face at him. "A start and a finish, all in one."

She rested her cheek on his shoulder again, trying to ignore the tiny pulses sparking all over her body from the warmth of his embrace. Her insides were jangling with excitement, even though entirely against her will. Van pulled her close to him, and the rock hardness of his chest against the yielding softness of her own was just to much for her to bear.

Annie pulled her head back and tried to pull away. "The hilt of your sword is digging into my ribs!"

Van's laugh was like the softest silk. "I don't think it's my sword that's bothering you."