A Secret Between Friends: A New Zealand Sexy Beach Romance (Treats to Tempt You Book 6) (19 page)

Niall pulled up outside a complex of white-washed buildings around a couple of courtyards paved with terracotta tiles. Genie looked at the sign,
Whakanga
.

“Oh,” she said, “Billie works here, doesn’t she?” She knew it was some kind of health resort, and that Whakanga meant “relax” in Maori.

“Yeah.” He slid the car into a space opposite the main reception and turned off the engine. “I remembered that when we talked at the speed dating night, she mentioned body art.”

“They have an artist here?”

“Not quite.” He smiled.

Genie’s heart skipped a beat, the same way it had every other time he’d smiled at her lately. This man was gradually dismantling her sanity piece by piece—her ability to think clearly and logically was ebbing away every time he fastened those green eyes on her, eyes that told her he was thinking about stripping her naked and doing unspeakable things to her.

At least she’d got some of her own back in the car. His cheeks still retained the flush that had appeared there as she’d pleasured him with her mouth. She’d wanted to shock him, to prove to him that he wasn’t as in charge as he thought he was, and she thought she might have succeeded. When she’d finally sat up, licking her lips, he’d looked at her as if she’d just won an Olympic medal, his expression filled with admiration and even awe. It had made her melt. She wanted him to look at her like that all the time, as if she were a treasure he’d discovered on the beach, something precious that he wanted to put on a pedestal so he could admire it every day.

She shook her head, trying to dislodge the foolish notions that insisted on plaguing her brain, and got out of the car. Testing her knee, she debated whether to leave the cane, and decided she would as she had Niall to hang onto. Slotting her hand through his arm, she let him lead her into the building.

Billie was on duty, and as she looked up, delight lit her face when she saw who her customers were. “Hey, you two! Who’d have guessed it?”

“You promised.” Niall pointed a finger at her. “No teasing.”

“I did.” Billie swiped a finger in a cross over her heart, but her eyes still danced. “Lovely to have you both here and thank you for coming. We have a great day planned for you, and an even better evening.” She winked.

Genie’s face grew hot. So much for keeping it a secret. Still, she didn’t think Billie knew Niall’s parents, so hopefully Sinead wouldn’t get to hear of it.

Niall signed the paperwork while Billie collected the key, and then she took them along to their suite. It was amazing, by far the best place Genie had stayed in for a long time. The large living room had a cream tiled floor with a turquoise-colored suite, and the walls were painted with pretty pastel scenes of fish and corals, giving an under-the-ocean feel to the room. There was a kitchen and a small dining table and chairs.

At the front, in a nook surrounded by windows that faced the garden, was a large square space. The tiles were topped with a yoga mat, cushions, and a low table to one side. The gardens were gorgeous, large and sweeping down to the ocean, the lawns carefully tended and the borders filled with colorful tropical flowers and fountains, as well as larger open areas where exercise classes obviously took place.

The bedroom was just as nice, the bed draped in a dark blue quilt, the walls painted in light blue edged with dark shadows of trees, with pale shining stars and a full moon on one wall.

“It’s very unusual,” Genie said, turning around to look at the beautiful hand-painted scenes. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Niall and Billie exchange a smile, but before she could ask what was going on, Billie walked back into the living room and started speaking.

“Our couples’ day has a busy program starting at three o’clock with a yoga class in the garden, so I’ll leave you to settle in and then hopefully you’ll join us shortly.” Giving Genie a last wink, she left the room and closed the door behind her.

“A couples’ day?” Genie arched an eyebrow.

Niall shrugged and came closer to take her in his arms. “It looked interesting, and I thought it might help you relax.”

She started to say she didn’t need relaxing, but bit back the words at his hopeful expression. He’d organized this for her, wanting to help her. Although she didn’t always wake up, she knew she’d had a nightmare every night she’d stayed with him, and once or twice she’d woken to feel his hand stroking her back while he murmured to her in the darkness. He knew she was suffering, and although they hadn’t talked about it, he was trying to help.

“Okay,” she said graciously. “I do appreciate it, Niall.”

“Oh, I expect payment.” He tightened his arms around her and kissed her.

“I thought I’d already given you a generous advance.” She licked her lips.

“Indeed you have, but this night away was very expensive, and it’s going to take you a good few weeks to pay me back.”

Genie smiled, but she felt the first twinge of unease. She was due to return to the camp at Linton at the beginning of March, and then she would be posted on, probably to Afghanistan again. Having a relationship with a soldier was no easy task, and she’d never be able to ask Niall to be an Army husband and travel with her. His life was here, with his boat and his dolphins, and it would never work.

Still, she wasn’t going to think about that now. They had an interesting day planned by the look of it, and she wanted to make the most of him while she had him.

In the end, it turned out to be a lovely, relaxing day that took her by surprise. Neither of them was into things like yoga or aromatherapy, and Niall had always been a typical guy, interested in rugby and football, so the notion of him practicing
asanas
and having a foot massage was comical.

But to her delight, he threw himself into the afternoon with enthusiasm. They took a yoga class together, and although the notion of some of the positions was obviously alien to him, he surprised her with his flexibility and poise. In the meditation class, whereas it took her a while to stop fidgeting and calm her mind, he was surprisingly quiet, although it seemed that every time she opened her eyes to peek at him, she found him watching her with a small smile.

After that, they had an aromatherapy massage together. Genie stripped off for it nervously, pleased to find it was Billie who was doing her massage rather than a stranger. She didn’t find out until later that Niall had asked Billie to do it, and had explained that Genie might be apprehensive. It did puzzle her that Billie showed no sign of shock at all at her scars. The girl massaged her with an expert touch, and she paid extra attention to her thigh and calf muscles, which were always tense. At the end of it, Genie felt like a piece of boneless chicken, all floppy and relaxed. It had been a treat, too, to watch the other girl massaging Niall’s fit, tanned body. She’d thought she might be jealous seeing another woman’s hands on him, but both Billie and her friend were practical and professional, and in the end Genie felt only satisfaction at knowing that at the end of the day, she would be the one who was taking him to bed.

They had a brief rest, then went to the restaurant for dinner, both choosing light pasta dishes and salads from the menu of healthy food, although they did succumb to a couple of glasses of crisp, cold sauvignon with their pasta.

After a small break to let their dinner go down, a gentle beginner’s Tai Chi class followed. Genie watched Niall whenever she could, captivated by his serious face as he carried out the positions. She found a simple pleasure in watching the movement of his body, the bunching and furling of his muscles and the controlled poses. It showed a side to him she hadn’t known before. She’d always thought him active and restless, and it touched her to see this calm, thoughtful side of him.

Did he feel the same way about her? She caught him watching her occasionally, too. She knew she’d been quiet the past few days, since her conversation with Josie by the river. Josie had been shocked by Genie’s confession, and she’d begged her to open up to Niall and tell him the truth. Genie had felt better to finally admit to someone what had been bothering her, but she had no intention of telling Niall. That would definitely bring about the end of their relationship, and she wanted it to last as long as possible.

A walk in the garden finished off the day, and Genie was conscious that by the end, she was hardly limping at all. For the first time, she felt as if she might be on the mend.

“You’re walking better,” Niall said, confirming her thoughts.

She brushed her fingers across the leaves of the hostas and watched a dragonfly skimming over the lake. “I feel better.”

“Do you?” His face lit up. “I’m so pleased.”

“It’s due in no small measure to you, Mr. Brennan. I’ve had a lovely day. Thank you so much—it must have cost you a fortune.”

He shrugged. “Billie gave me a discount. And anyway, it’s not over yet. We have one last activity to do.”

The sun was setting, the complex fading into darkness, there being very little twilight in the Northland. Moths blurred at the solar lights strung along the fence, and the song of cicadas had replaced the singing of the birds in the trees. Genie’s heart rate began to speed up at the notion of returning to their rooms with Niall and spending an evening alone. What did he have planned?

When they arrived back at their suite, someone had turned all the lamps on, and the rooms glowed with light. On the low table by the windows were a flat box of crayons and a page of instructions, along with a couple of lit candles.

Niall took a handful of his T-shirt at the back of his neck, pulled it over his head, and dropped it onto the sofa. “Come on,” he said. “Time for some body painting.”

While she took off her clothes, he poured them both another glass of cold white wine from the fridge. He took them over to the window, then stripped off the comfortable jogging pants he’d worn for the Tai Chi lesson. Wearing just his boxers, he took out his iPod, selected a playlist, and slotted the Pod into a set of speakers on the table. Bic Runga, a Kiwi artist, starting singing softly and telling them she was listening for the weather, and warmth spread through Genie—he knew it was one of her favorite songs.

She joined him in the nook, dressed in just her bra and panties.

“You might want to take that off.” He gestured to her bra. “Don’t want to get paint on it.” His eyes twinkled.

Genie’s lips twitched, but she unclipped the bra and dropped it on top of her clothes. “Okay. What now?”

He pulled a couple of large cushions close and sat cross-legged on one of them. He patted the other. “Now we paint each other.”

Genie walked up and sat before him. Her knee didn’t usually like her sitting on the floor, but some of the stiffness had gone, and she found she could sit cross-legged the same as him quite easily.

She picked up one of the crayons and examined it. “What do we paint?”

“Whatever design we want. It’s about being intimate rather than creating a masterpiece. Afterward, we’ll have a shower and wash it all off.”

She nibbled her bottom lip. “Okay. Do you want to start or shall I?”

“I’ll start.” He moved a bit closer to her, so their legs were touching, picked up the red crayon, and smiled. “Ready?”

Niall lowered the crayon to her skin and began to draw a pattern. Starting on her left shoulder, he trailed the paint across her body above her breasts, then swirled around them, making loops and curls seemingly at random.

“It tickles,” she said, and he watched her nipples tighten.

Grinning, he paused to sip his wine, tipping his head as he surveyed her lazily before reaching out a finger to touch the taut peak. He circled around the tip, then brushed his finger over the end. She inhaled, sending every nerve ending throughout his body tingling.

It had been a strange afternoon. He would have thought that her going down on him in the car would have removed the sexual tension he’d felt, but it had only heightened it. All afternoon, he’d watched her as often as he could, as she moved gracefully through the yoga and Tai Chi poses, and as she relaxed on the massage table, murmuring contentedly when Billie ran her hands up her sore leg. She seemed to have enjoyed herself, which pleased him no end, but he’d been unprepared for the heat in her eyes that had been there all day.

Her sultry gaze burned into him now, and it was an effort to hold himself back from kissing her, but he made himself pick up another crayon and begin drawing. More whorls and lines, radiating out from the first ones, this time travelling over her shoulders and down her arms.

“Ciara would have enjoyed this,” she said. “If she’d had a partner.”

“She had a few boyfriends in the Army, didn’t she?” He picked up a gold crayon and drew some stars on her hands.

“Yes, nothing serious though. She was waiting for Mr. Right. It’s sad to think he’ll never meet her now, whoever he was.”

Niall nodded, but didn’t reply. They’d started the bucket list idea to honor Ciara, but he didn’t want to think about his sister now. He’d loved her, and he was sorry she was gone, but tonight he wanted to concentrate on the woman before him and not think about the past or the future, just concentrate on the present.

As he worked and Bic sang, a sense of calm contentment settled over him. Outside, it was growing dark and summer was coming to an end, but here inside it was still warm and sensual, and with the promise of lovemaking to come he was content to sit there and play with her as long as she’d let him, keen to draw out the evening and prolong the magic.

After drawing down her arm, he lifted her hand in his, turned it over, and placed his lips in the center of her palm. She shivered.

“Cold?” he asked.

She shook her head and moistened her lips.

He was turning her on. Heat flooded him, and he slipped a hand behind her neck and pulled her closer so he could kiss her. His lips brushed across hers, a sensual caress rather than a hungry kiss, and when he touched his tongue to her lips, she opened her mouth to allow him entry. Her tongue slid against hers, sexy and erotic, and she sighed as he deepened the kiss.

He wanted to put down the paints, push her back onto the floor, and kiss her senseless, but if he did that she wouldn’t get a chance to paint him, and he didn’t want to rush things. He pulled back and picked up the crayon again, and she relaxed onto the cushion, her breasts rising and falling from her rapid breaths as she glanced at his boxers and obviously spotted his erection.

He raised an eyebrow. “You’re surprised?”

“Not at all,” she said. “I was wondering if I could incorporate it into my painting.”

He drew down her other arm. “Like make it part of an elephant’s head?”

“I was thinking about doing some kind of sci-fi scene and turning it into a light sabre.”

He laughed, picking up her other hand and doodling over the back and along her fingers. Swapping crayons, he began coloring in some of the shapes he’d drawn.

Genie closed her eyes for a while, and he hoped she was enjoying the sensations of his hands on her skin, the tickle of the crayon as he filled in the gaps. But eventually she opened her eyes, watching him. He said nothing, enjoying her quiet attentiveness. He could see why Billie had included this in the couples’ course. It was incredibly intimate, and such a wonderful way of discovering each other’s bodies.

He finished her shoulders and arms, then spent a while on her torso, tracing around her breasts in large swirls of rainbow colors. After a while, he ran a finger down her arm. “Are you sure you’re not cold? You’ve got goose bumps.”

“It’s the way you’re looking at me and touching me,” she said softly, completely taking him by surprise. “It makes me want to cry.”

He looked up and met her eyes for a long, long while. There was so much they needed to say to each other, but this wasn’t the moment. He wasn’t sure what her reaction would be, and he didn’t want to spoil the evening if one of them had gotten the wrong idea. There would be plenty of time to talk later. For now, they had to concentrate on the task at hand.

Still, her words filled him with a warm glow.

He picked up a crayon and handed it to her. “Your turn. Then I’ll do your back.”

She swallowed and dropped her gaze to his body.

He sat relaxed with his hands in his lap as she began drawing. She started on his left shoulder and drew patterns down his arms, joined them up across his breastbone, and continued down his ribs. There was something mesmerizing about the process, and also something incredibly erotic as well. As she trailed the crayon over his skin, she let the back of her fingers touch it, apparently enjoying the contact.

In between swapping crayons and shifting positions, they sipped their wine, listened to the music, and exchanged slow, languid kisses. When she’d finished painting his torso, Niall took the crayons and drew down the tops of her thighs, around her knees, and over her calves, and then she did the same to him.

He encouraged her not to look at the patterns he’d drawn, telling her she could get the full effect at the end. When he turned her around and began painting her back, he wondered if she could tell that he was writing something, but even when she risked a sneaky peek over her shoulder, he didn’t think she could see the words.

By now it was completely dark outside. Anyone walking through the garden would be able to see them, but the lawns were empty, and there was something sensual about the encroaching darkness and the possibility of being visible that heightened his growing arousal.

At one point, Genie said she was going to turn off the main light, but Niall stopped her. “We’re supposed to wait until we’re finished,” he said and turned his back so she could draw on it.

She was obviously puzzled, but she didn’t say anything and sat close so that when she leaned forward, her breasts brushed against his back.

She drew out a pattern first with a finger, then pressed her lips to his skin before following with the crayons. Niall sighed at the first kiss and hung his head, loving her tender touch as she kissed across his shoulders and down over his shoulder blades before outlining them with color.

Finally, there were only their faces left to paint. They sat close and finished off the wine, then he picked up the red crayon—worn down to a stub. He pressed his lips to hers, then moved back and drew the paint across her skin. It was difficult sitting so close to her and yet not touching her. Her lips were only an inch or two from his, and he’d had an erection for so long it was making him ache. He wanted her, wanted to feel her lips on his, to slide inside her, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could wait.

When he’d done, she painted his face. Avoiding the five o’clock shadow that darkened his cheek and jaw, she concentrated around his eyes, and kissed him when she’d finished. His tongue danced with hers, exploring her mouth with slow and sensual thrusts, and by the time he eventually moved back, his whole body thrummed with desire.

“Okay,” he whispered. “Time to turn off the lights.”

He pushed himself to his feet, took her hand, and helped her rise. Her knee had grown stiff sitting in that position, and she limped a little as she walked with him to the switch. She watched him place his hand on it, looking puzzled, obviously wanting to investigate his painting before he turned the light off.

He flicked the switch.

Both of them gasped, even though he knew what was going to happen.

The whole room shimmered. The under-the-ocean scene on the walls had been painted with luminous paint, and the corals and ferns, the beautiful multi-colored fish, all lit up brightly in the darkness.

Genie limped to the bedroom door and he followed her and stared inside, stunned at the sight of the night sky landscape. The walls were painted with the
aurora australis
—the southern equivalent of the northern lights, and the hundreds of stars and the large full moon shone white against the dark background.

She turned and looked at him, her eyes widening as she realized the paints they had been using were also luminous. Every swirl, circle, and star they’d drawn on each other glowed.

“Wow.” Her jaw dropped like a cartoon character’s, and her eyes were filled with wonder.

Niall took her hand and led her over to the full length mirror by the front door. She stood in front of it and studied his handiwork, her mouth remaining open.

He moved closer to her and dropped a kiss onto her shoulder. He’d covered her entire body with hearts. Small ones, large ones, of all colors and sizes, they glowed in a stunning multi-colored display from the roots of her hair to her toes. Even her face bore them, a spray of tiny hearts that started at one corner of her left eye and continued across her cheeks and around her mouth.

She looked at her side, swallowing hard as she saw that in the darkness, all her scars had vanished, and the only things visible were more hearts and flowers he’d drawn down her thigh, growing out of a central curving vine that wrapped around her leg.

Finally, she turned to look over her shoulder at her back, and he heard her sharp inhalation. He’d drawn one big heart shape, and he’d filled it with letters that spelled his name over and over again, most of them written back-to-front so she could read them in the mirror. And in the middle, he’d written one other word in capitals.
MINE.

She stared at it for ages. What was she thinking? He’d branded her as surely as when he’d given her the hickey, marking her out as his property, telling her and everyone else that she was his.

Finally, he could wait no longer. “What do you think?”

“I love it.” Her large eyes glowed almost as much as the luminous paint.

He twisted to look at his own back and laughed. She’d painted lots of red lips across it, following the trail of where she’d pressed her own lips to his skin.

Taking her in his arms, he kissed her, harder this time, letting the passion that had simmered beneath the surface flow through him. She moaned against his mouth, lifting her arms around his neck, and he groaned as she moved her hips against his, pressing against his eager erection. Her tongue plunged between his teeth, firing him up, and when he moved a hand between her legs, he found her already wet and slippery, more than ready for him.

In seconds, he rid himself of the boxers and slipped her panties down her legs, and then he led her over to the small dining table and pulled out a chair. Where his jeans were hanging over one of the other chairs, he took his wallet out of the pocket, flipping it open to take out a condom, then sat on the chair.

“Come here,” he said, and held out a hand.