Page 7 of Booked for Summer

I’m doing it because you fascinate me.And turn me on. He reached to take the glass and as his fingers curled round hers, his gaze wandered to the V of her dress. Immediately lust shot through him, every cell in his body now wide awake and primed to go. Inhaling, he breathed in the scent of coconut, of something floral, mixed with the sweet smell of cranberry juice. ‘Sea Breeze?’

‘It is a bit windy, sure, but it was more a case of misjudging how squashy these sofas are.’ She winked and he found himself smiling back. Fuck, she was an almost irresistible combination of sex bomb and funny. ‘How did you guess what I was drinking?’

‘I recognise the smell.’ He inhaled again, shifting ever so slightly so his body touched hers, feeling another pulse of heavy arousal at the quick intake of her breath. ‘I’ll bring a towel, to mop the rest of it off.’ Stepping back, he looked down at where her dress now clung to the luscious curve of her tits and swallowed, hard. The things he could suddenly so vividly imagine doing to clean her up, had no business being spoken out loud.

ChapterThree

The moment the yacht owner with the film-star looks and come to bed eyes turned and headed for the bar, Jade collapsed back onto the sofa. Holy fuck.He’d remembered her name. And he’d offered to buy her a drink. She wasn’t so stupid that she couldn’t read a come-on when she saw it. Sure, he had her down as easy, but the fact was, she, Jade Taylor, had attracted the attention of a seriously hot-looking guy who owned a seriously expensive-looking boat.

‘Not so trashy, after all,’ she murmured to herself, wishing Paul (second from last boyfriend) was here to witness it.

She’d meant what she’d told Daisy, she was off men, but that didn’t have to mean she couldn’t have a bit of fun flirting with a totally unsuitable guy. As long as the guy made her feel better about herself, not worse. That was her new rule. It should have been a frigging rule from day one, but somehow she’d missed making it and ended up with men who put her down, made her feel stupid or cheap.

She’d like to bet Mr Yacht had a whole playbook of ways to make her feel better. It didn’t take much imagination to picture those smoky grey eyes locked on hers as he ran his long, tanned fingers up her legs, before deftly trailing them between her thighs…

‘One Nantucket Sea Breeze.’

Flushing at her very unladylike thoughts, she accepted the mouth-watering red drink, clinking with ice, topped with a wedge of lime.

‘And one towel.’ He handed over a white tea cloth, and as his gaze captured hers her belly swooped.

‘To pat me dry?’

A pair of steel-grey eyes seared hers. ‘Are you asking me?’

Frigging hell. Why was the thought of him doing that, smoothing the towel over her body, making her feel even wetter? And she’d like to bet he wouldn’t actually do it smoothly. She sensed he would be… rough. Deliciously, just the right side of dirty, rough.

He let out a low groan. ‘Jade?’

Crap. She shook off the fantasy, tugged the towel out of his hand and made a mental note to ease off the steamy books for a while. ‘Sorry, thanks.’

Hooded eyes watched her carefully as she ran the towel over her damp dress. What was he thinking? Did he want to be the one holding the towel as much as she wanted him to? Maybe abandoning the towel and licking her clean with his tongue…

Suddenly her blood felt too hot, her pulse too fast.

No, no, no. She was here to work, to be taken seriously, for God’s sake. Not fall into bed with the first guy she saw. Even though he was unbelievably hot.

‘I’ll give more than a penny for them.’ When she jerked her head up to give him a puzzled look, a small smile crossed his face. ‘Your thoughts.’

She felt a blush scorch her cheeks. ‘Er, definitely not worth the money. You’d be better investing it in one of those games at the arcade, you know, where the penny falls onto the level below and eventually, if you’re lucky, when you’ve pushed a dozen of the damn things into the slot, you might get a couple back.’ When he continued to stare at her, she felt the blush deepen. ‘Maybe you don’t have them over here. They’re called Penny Falls, or Coin Pusher, or—’Shut up Jade!!!‘Anyway. Now you can see why you totally overvalued my thoughts.’

‘Quarters.’ His eyes continued to assess her, like he was trying to work her out. ‘We have them over here and feed them with quarters.’

‘Ah, okay, good. I’m glad we cleared that up.’

‘It was probably a safer topic of conversation.’ The knowing look he gave her sent prickles racing across her skin and she had to force herself to remember to breathe.

‘Yes.’ She cleared her throat and poked around in her brain for something to say that wouldn’t send her thoughts down an X-rated avenue again. ‘Okay, then… er, I don’t even know your name.’

‘Liam.’ His voice was so deep, it gave an extra sexy sizzle to his name.

‘Okay, then, Liam, you own a yacht here and you recognise the smell of a Sea Breeze cocktail. I guess you come here often?’ Amusement glinted in the silver grey of his eyes and she realised what she’d said. ‘Oh God, that’s the cheesiest chat-up line in history.’

He gave her a long, searching look. ‘Are you trying to flirt with me?’

Thump, thump went her heart, and she couldn’t work out if it was nerves, or arousal. But nerves wouldn’t create this squirmy feeling between her legs. ‘I don’t know.’

Silence fell between them, heavy with awareness. She was conscious that he was still standing, one hand in his pocket, the other holding a glass of whisky. Long, elegant fingers wrapped casually around it.Stop imagining those hands on you.

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