Summer Fling (9 page)

“It worked though.”

“A slap around the face would have worked
just as well.”

He grinned. “Ah, but that wouldn’t have
been as much fun.”

She bit her lip. The man was irrepressible.
He was also looking at her as if she were covered in ice cream and he’d decided
to lick it all off. Eyes wide with alarm, she backed up to the window and met
it with a bump as he advanced and leaned one hand beside her on the glass,
studying her with hot eyes.

“What?” She tried to press herself into the
window.

He frowned, clearly puzzled. “What it is
about you that gets me all...” His voice trailed off as he studied her
thoughtfully.

“All...” She couldn’t help asking.

His gaze skimmed down her body, then back
up, lingering on her breasts before reaching her eyes again. “Riled up.”

“I’m not doing anything,” she squeaked.
Being this close to him was a mistake.

“Hmm.” He didn’t sound convinced. His gaze
settled once again on her lips.

“Don’t,” she said faintly.

“I’m not doing anything,” he murmured. But
he was obviously thinking about kissing her again.

“Hey.”

They both turned. Stella stood there, eyebrows
raised. Chloe sighed with relief, even though the little devil yelled,
Damn,
damn, damn!

“Hi,” Garth said, moving back.

“Did I interrupt something?” Stella’s
cheerful grin told Chloe that her best friend knew exactly what she’d
interrupted.

“Not at all.” Garth smiled. “I’m going to
get a drink. Can I get you two ladies anything?”

They declined, and he walked outside,
shooting Chloe one last hot glance.

“Oh my God.” Chloe closed her eyes. “I need
to lie down.”

“Ooh,” Stella said, “what’s going on?
Sparks were practically flying between the two of you.”

“He kissed me on the beach.”

“He what?” Stella’s eyebrows nearly shot
off the top of her head. “Again? Jeez. Looks like tonight might be your lucky
night.”

Chloe nearly hyperventilated. “Oh, don’t
say that. I might need oxygen.”

Stella laughed. “What’s wrong?” Her eyes
gleamed. “Aren’t you excited about the thought of some beach nookie with your
Shakespearean hero?”

The thought both terrified and excited
Chloe at the same time. “I couldn’t. Could I? No, I couldn’t. Stel, I was with
Ethan a long time. In the end, he proved to be an idiot, but he’s the only man
I’ve ever been with.  I can’t just fall into bed with the first person I meet.
I’m not made that way.”

“I know.” Stella kissed her on the cheek.
“Just remember that having a boyfriend or two doesn’t mean you’re turning into
your mother. All normal people spend time working their way through the box of
chocolates before they find their favorite.”

“Are you quoting
Forrest Gump
at me
now?”

“I just mean that it puts a huge amount of
pressure on a couple if you start off thinking it has to work or else it means
you’re a huge failure. You’ve come out of an intense relationship that didn’t
end well. You’re defensive and cautious—rightly, too, I hasten to add—but maybe
you need to spend a bit of time getting to know a few men. Go on a few dates.
Have sex. Experiment before you dedicate the rest of your life to them.”

Chloe stared at her in horror. “I
couldn’t.” The very idea filled her with panic.

“Try it,” Stella said mildly. “There’s,
like, a hundred men here today, most of them single. Talk to some of them,
flirt with them. Nobody’s going to think badly of you, and it doesn’t mean
you’re turning into a tart. You need to loosen up a bit though, or else you’ll
be so tense when you do find Mr. Right, you’ll scare him off with your
clipboard full of questions and rules.”

Chloe’s throat tightened. “Can’t I just
grab a kebab and a glass of wine and hide under one of the palms?”

Stella took her arm and steered her toward
the door. “No, you can’t. Come on, get a couple of drinks down you, and then
maybe you’ll start to feel relaxed enough to take off your girdle and throw
caution to the wind.”

A few hours passed. More guests arrived,
and alcohol and music flowed. People spilled onto the sand, alternating between
taking a swim and coming up to the house for food and to refresh their glasses.

Chloe kept on the periphery, joining in
occasionally with the conversation, but most of the time she was content to sit
and listen to the talk around her.

To her surprise, Garth kept his distance.
Occasionally he talked to Mat, but usually, like her, he stayed on the edge of
groups and listened rather than acted as the life and soul. His easy manner
suggested a familiarity with social situations, but after the look she’d seen
on his face when he’d told her she made him feel free, she remained convinced
something caused him to seek solitude where maybe once he’d been more sociable.

Due to the way Garth rarely took his gaze
off her every time she spoke to Nick Stewart, she also remained convinced the
other man had something to do with it.

Although he’d seen their embrace on the
beach, Nick continued to move from group to group with her, clearly interested
in getting to know her better. He followed her into the water and splashed her
playfully to make her squeal, fetched her drinks and food and offered her sun
lotion. He was very pleasant, and she appreciated the attention, but all the
while she was aware of Garth’s eyes on her, and her heart rate remained at an
all-time high.

The sun sank lower in the sky and some of
the guests moved inside to escape the growing number of insects attracted by
all the bare flesh. Nick joined Chloe when she sat on the sofa, and she tried
not to be annoyed at his constant presence. Garth stood over by the wall,
leaning on it and sipping his beer while Nick related an amusing story to those
seated around them. Garth had taken off his sunglasses, and his eyes were cool
as he watched them. She tried to ignore him. It wasn’t her fault Nick had sat
next to her.

Then Nick put his hand on her leg and squeezed
her knee.

Her cheeks flamed at the possessive and
familiar gesture. Jeez, she barely knew the man. What made him think he could
do something so intimate? Stella’s eyebrows rose by an inch, and a couple of
the others looked mildly surprised. Embarrassed, she glanced over at Garth, but
he’d turned away to talk on his phone. Had he seen it?

Annoyed and frustrated with herself for
caring what he thought, she uncrossed her legs and re-crossed them the other
way, moving very slightly out of Nick’s range so his hand slipped off her knee.
He continued to talk, seemingly undeterred by her delicate rebuff. Perhaps she should
have been more overt and asked loudly what the hell he thought he was doing.
But that wasn’t her way, and she’d learned long ago she had to deal with things
the best she could.

The conversation continued with barely a
pause, and she got up and walked into the kitchen to refill her glass and have
a nibble at one of the chocolates she’d retrieved from the fridge for everyone.
As she hesitated over the box of truffles, pondering which one to choose, she
turned as someone appeared at her side.

Garth studied the box. “So what’s the best
one?” He leaned on the breakfast bar next to her. “Come on, tempt me.”

She hesitated for a moment, enjoying the
warmth of his arm pressed against hers. She’d been physically aware of him all
day, a frisson tingling along her spine every time he moved or spoke, and she
knew he’d been watching her. Was he as conscious of her every move as she was
of his? Did he feel this same tingling every time they were near each other?

She cleared her throat. “Tempt you?”

You’re flirting again
, scolded the angel.

“Mm. I’m a complete Philistine when it
comes to chocolate. Teach me something.”

Her lips curved. That she could deal with.
“Okay.” She looked at the box. “Try these.” She indicated a line of round truffles.

“These are dark chocolate, I presume.”

“Oh yes. Always. Like men and coffee,
chocolate is always better rich.” She grinned as his lips twisted wryly. “First,
try one and have a think about what you can taste. Then I’ll tell you what I
look for, and what I can taste in it.”

He took one and popped it in his mouth,
looking into the distance. “Mm, nice.”

She tried not to think of the way his
tongue was sampling the chocolate and said instead, “Any flavors?”

“Vanilla?”

“Yes. Anything else?”

“Er…something fruity?”

She laughed. “Not bad. Now, take another
one, and we’ll try them together.” They both took a chocolate. She bit it in
half with her front teeth and smoothed the chocolate on the roof of her mouth
with her tongue. “Okay. The first thing I look for is the texture. Is it
smooth, thin, creamy, buttery, sugary?”

He followed her lead, bit his chocolate,
and considered. “Creamy. It’s not thin, it’s almost fudge-like, quite dense.”

“Yes, very good. Gold star. Next, I think
about the flavor notes. Are they simple? Complex? All flavors, like scents, can
be divided into groups—nutty, roasted, fruity, flowery, spicy. A lot of it
depends on where the cocoa beans came from. The ones used for these chocolates
were from Madagascar, and that gives the chocolate a citrusy taste, like
tangerine. Can you taste it?”

“Um…kind of.”

“There’s also quite a bit of pineapple in
there.”

“If you say so.”

She smiled. “I added chopped, dried
cherries to these, which is probably the dominant flavor you can taste and is
why you said they were fruity. It also gives them that slightly chewy texture.
You’re right about the vanilla too. I added that to balance and deepen the
flavors.”

“Anything else?” He ate the other half,
clearly amused at how much she could get out of one chocolate.

“I have to think whether it has a slow and
lasting taste or whether the flavors are fleeting and quick. Does it linger on
the palate?” She popped the other half into her mouth. As she sucked, she said,
“this one’s not bad—the taste of orange and cherry remains after the
chocolate’s gone...”

She gestured with her hand as she spoke,
but her words drifted off as he caught it and turned her palm toward him. A
circle of chocolate remained on her thumb and forefinger where the truffle had
melted as she held it.

He studied her thumb thoughtfully. Then,
very slowly, he covered it with his mouth and sucked.

She stared, shocked, as every single hair
on her body stood on end. It was the single most erotic act she’d ever had done
to her, which was saying something considering she’d dated Ethan for so long.

Garth brushed the pad of her thumb with his
tongue, and in response her nipples tightened and her panties grew damp. His
eyes met hers as he did it, hot, challenging, interested to see whether she
would let him finish.

She should move away. She should totally
tell him not to be so forward, and who the hell did he think he was, and why
did he think he could do something so intimate when she barely knew him.

Instead, however, she said, “Oh.”

He turned his mouth to her forefinger and
did the same with that, stroking it with his tongue, swirling it across her
skin, and then he pulled back and looked at her. Licking his lips, he held up
his hand, showing her the dots of chocolate on his own thumb and forefinger.

Chloe stared at him. Was he asking her to
suck it off? Eek! Her cheeks flamed and she blinked rapidly just thinking about
the phrase.

Garth chuckled and reached out to brush the
dob of chocolate across her bottom lip. Automatically, she went to remove it
with her tongue, but he shook his head. She waited, transfixed, as he moved
closer, leaned forward, and kissed her.

He touched his soft, warm lips to hers and stroked
his tongue once across her bottom lip, then again, removing the chocolate
slowly. But he didn’t stop there. He moved his tongue into her mouth and slid his
arm around her waist, and before she knew it, he was kissing her soundly, pinning
her against the breakfast bar. He pushed his hips forward, and the hard length
of him that pressed against her stomach was a clear indication of how much the
chocolate licking had aroused him. He slid his other hand to the nape of her
neck, encompassing her, overwhelming her in a way she’d never been overwhelmed before
by a man.

She placed her palms flat on his chest,
ostensibly to push him away, but to her shock her fingers stroked the firm muscles
below his shirt and her hand crept up to slide hungry fingers into his short
hair. It happened in seconds, but that was all it took to ignite her fuse and
send her synapses sparking like fireworks, her mind a flickering wheel of thoughts
and emotions as her body did its own thing in response to his hot, obvious
desire.

Behind them, somebody whistled, and then
everybody cheered. Chloe gasped and pushed him away, her face burning. Garth
laughed, but she was mortified. What would everyone think? First she’d sat
there and let Nick put his hand on her knee, and then she’d let Garth do
something positively obscene to her.