Page 8 of Booked for Summer

‘To answer your earlier question, I’m a frequent visitor here, yes.’

He’d not taken the bait she’d unwittingly laid down. She pushed aside the disappointment. It was better this way. No flirting, just some company to help her feel less lonely on her first night. ‘Maybe you could give me some tips for things to do while I’m here? I’ve read every guidebook I could get my hands on, but I could use some inside knowledge.’

‘Sure.’ He nodded towards the sofa. ‘Mind if I join you?’

‘As long as you don’t mind the smell of fermented cranberry juice.’

A small smile tilted his lips as he slid effortlessly beside her, crossing one leg over the other in a move that seemed smooth and practiced. And yet… the edge she’d sensed in him earlier was still there. She smelt it in the unexpected kick of spice in his aftershave, saw it in the taut bulge of bicep beneath the sleeves of his T-shirt, the smattering of dark hair on his thighs. The callouses she’d felt on his palm as he’d handed her the drink. A sense of rough, of coarse, beneath the polish.

The rough didn’t extend to his lips though, she thought with a jolt as her eyes settled involuntarily on his mouth. On closer inspection they looked soft, sensual. It was easy to imagine them sliding across her skin, over her nipples.

‘You smell intoxicating.’ Hooded grey eyes met and held hers. ‘I imagine you taste even better.’

Holy moly. Her heart clattered against her rib cage. ‘I… um, if that’s you trying to beat my corny line, it’s a terrible attempt.’

He shifted, the tanned forearm that had rested so close to hers, now stretched across the back of the sofa. ‘Clearly, I’m out of practice.’

Oh, my God,washe interested? ‘I don’t think you need it. To be honest, you had me at the yacht.’ He stilled, and belatedly she realised how that must have come across. ‘Oh, God, that was meant to be a joke, you know,Jerry Maguire…’ She hung her head, feeling the hot flush of embarrassment creep up her neck. ‘I told you I was terrible at this. Way to seduce a hot guy, Jade. First barge onto his boat, then sit next to him smelling of rotting fruit juice and finally insult him by implying he’s only attractive because he has a big boat. And no, that wasn’t a euphemism. Not that I think you don’t have a big… I mean I’m sure you do have… Oh fuckity fuck.’ Beyond embarrassed now, she rose to her feet. ‘Clearly, it’s time I called it a night. Thanks for the drink and sorry about my word vomit. I wish I could blame the cocktail, but unless it’s absorbed through the skin I think that was all me.’

‘Wait.’ His hand wrapped round her arm, giving it a gentle tug until she dropped back onto the sofa. ‘Areyou trying to seduce me?’

Her tongue felt too big for her mouth, the words she wanted to say getting stuck as his inscrutable gaze raked hers. ‘I think I was, or at least I was trying to flirt with you, which is probably a dumb idea but I’m the queen of dumb ideas.’ His eyes narrowed, leaving her feeling unbalanced. She wished she was as good at hiding her thoughts as he was. ‘It would help me hugely if you said something now because your face is kind of hard to read.’

His gaze went from cool grey to so inferno-hot, it scorched her insides. ‘If you could read my thoughts, you’d be scared.’

Her heart thumped, but she ignored it and raised her chin. ‘I don’t scare easily. Try me.’

‘Are you sure? Because for what I’m about to say to you, I need you to be really, really sure.’

Arousal burned through her. It didn’t matter that getting tangled with a guy on her first night was the last she needed. She felt achy, giddy with lust. Just uncomfortable enough that it felt exciting. The thrill that came with being naughty. ‘I’m sure.’

The air between them fizzed with an energy that was pure sexual tension. ‘I’m wondering what it would be like to take you back to my boat and fuck you where I first laid eyes on you.’

Holy shit. Yet there was something very honest about the crude words. It left her in no doubt about what she would be letting herself in for if their flirtation was to go any further. Not a romantic encounter, or the start of a holiday fling. Just a raw, take-it-or-leave-it offer of sex.

And it was electrifying.

‘Should I go on?’

She needed to say no. What had begun as a flirtation had gone wildly out of control. But when she opened her mouth to speak, no words came out. Instead, the images of them together shimmied through her mind, and as the heat of his gaze skated across her hypersensitised skin it felt like he was touching her, everywhere.

‘I’ve also thought of ripping that damp dress off you,’ he continued, clearly taking her silence for the encouragement it was. ‘Running my hands over your slick, soapy curves as I help you clean off in my shower. Then, because I won’t be able to stop myself, I’d carry you up to the top deck and fuck you again under the stars.’

Between her legs the ache he’d created was so intense she had to squeeze her thighs together. What on earth was she supposed to do? She’d come here on a three-month sabbatical to find her true self. Not be distracted by the first man she met. Especially as the impression he must have of her– the archetypal dumb blonde who found herself on the wrong boat, spilt her drink down herself– was exactly the stereotype she wanted to erase.

And yet…

What better way to help erase the memory of her last two shitty boyfriends than by having hot, island sex with an insanely attractive millionaire?

ChapterFour

He’d come on too strong. That’s what several months of celibacy and a week of too much work and too little sleep did to him. Yet Liam had a feeling there was more to it than that. Something abouthermade him desperate to taste her, feel those soft, dynamite curves slot against all his hard edges. Hear the hitch of her breath again, see the bright flame of arousal in those huge blue eyes that had drawn him in right from that first meeting, despite how exhausted, how pissed off he’d been feeling. He went for classy over sexy, discreet over obvious, brunette over blonde, slim over curvy, but she’d smashed through all his usual preferences.

He hadn’t made the same impression on her, though, as evidenced by the taut silence that followed his coarse declaration, broken only by laughter drifting over from the bar and the gentle sounds of the sea washing up the beach. He’d apologise, call it quits and wish her good night. She’d been unsure right from the start, and his crude talk had shifted her mood from unsure, to no fucking way.

She made a little coughing noise in her throat. ‘That’s a lot of… sex.’

Okay, so she hadn’t jumped to her feet yet. ‘Yes. But you asked what I was thinking. Not what I expect to happen.’

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