Page 73 of Catch a Kiwi
“No,” I said. “Probably worse.” And she laughed.
30
WHOLE
Roman
By the time we got onto our second flight the next Saturday, the short hop from Auckland to Tauranga, I’d almost got used to looking at Summer. I hadn’t got used to having her close enough to feel her heat, though, and I definitely hadn’t realized how much the clothes and beauty treatments would turn up her wattage.
When I’d driven down the hill this morning and climbed out of the car, she and Delilah had been waiting, suitcases beside them. Delilah had looked vibrant in a deep-red dress with tiny white polka dots, her short dark hair cut into a sort of feathery cap, but Summer had looked …
You knew she was beautiful,I told myself, and couldn’t stop staring anyway. The hair was shorter now, waving to just below her shoulders, pulled up on one side away from her face, her pale curls shining. I’d forgotten how her brows were shaped, delicate and pointed as a swallow’s wing. Her makeup was subtle, but it was there, because she looked almost eerily pretty, like an illustration in a fairy story.
And then there was the dress.
Bright yellow, printed with huge orange flowers and green leaves, with some … gathering, or whatever you called it, on the two triangles that outlined her breasts, and ruffles on the skinny straps. It was cut closer all the way down to the waist, showing off her body, then flared out below. It wasn’t too low and it wasn’t too short, but it was low enough and short enough to give you almost every single bit of information you needed about the body beneath. Almost. The skin of her chest, arms, and legs glowed the same warm ivory I remembered from that first night in the firelight, when she’d been wearing only a towel, and her legs were smooth as silk, set off by wedge sandals that would still be reasonable at a barbecue, but that made her calf muscles bunch and her ankles look that much slimmer.
She wasn’t overdressed. She was just … perfect, and looking at her was like looking at the sun.
I took her shoulders, because how could I not touch that skin? Kissed her cheek and smelled the delicious scent, like cherries soaked in brandy. Soft and feminine, but with an undertone of smokiness and sin, Summer all the way. That beautiful kitten face, and then that voice that promised something darker. I felt her hands come up to grip my shoulders in my much more underdressed golf shirt, and almost lost it right there.
How could I have thought she’d move out and that would be that? How could I havewantedher to go? I’d been a fool that first day, and unfortunately, she hadn’t forgotten it. And then, of course, there’d been what I’d said last week, what I’d come to think of as the prostitution proposition. Not my cleverest idea ever.
I pulled back eventually, because I had to, and she told me in that smoky voice, “You look good. You smell good, too. Did you get a haircut?” It felt like she was leaning into me, but that was probably me.
“Yeh,” I couldn’t tell if I was smiling, that was how distracted I was. “For the day. And for you. I thought I’d need to do justice to you. Should’ve realized that wasn’t possible.”
“Mm,” she said, but she didn’t look unhappy to hear my opinion. “You smell so good up close. Like yourself, only even better. That’s not Creed Aventus you’re wearing. Thank goodness. You can’t imagine how many too-rich-too-soon footballers wear Creed Aventus.”
“One in particular, I’m thinking,” I said. “No worries. I won’t wear that. You can keep on with yours, too. That’s, ah, pretty.” It was more than that, but I wasn’t going to say it.
“Tom Ford Lost Cherry,” she said. “One of my favorites. Since you were buying.” She looked into my eyes and didn’t quite blush, but I could tell she wanted to. She smelled so sexy and sweet, I wanted to kiss her everywhere, and do some licking, too. A man could drown in those gray eyes. If you were watching them flutter closed while her pretty mouth opened, because it felt too good … that would be something to see. That would be power.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Delilah said. “Could you two stop admiring each other long enough that we don’t miss our plane?”
“You look very pretty, too,” I told her.
“Thanks for nothing,” she said, and climbed into the back seat.
I laughed, touched Summer’s cheek, felt her silky hair on the back of my hand, and forgot all about Delilah. “Mine’s called Dark Lord,” I said, “I’m embarrassed to say. Too strong?”
“Dark Lord,” she said. “That’s … it’s you. I only smell it up close, and it reallyislike you, but even better. You reallydidpull out all the stops. I know I’ve smelled this before, but I’ve never experienced it like this. On you, it’s sort of … warm and dark and deep and sweet and dangerous. Like something Iwant that’s so bad for me.” She stepped closer and practically buried her face in my shirt, and I got even more distracted. “I can’t stop smelling it.”
A whirr as Delilah buzzed the window down. “Excuse me?” she said. “Plane?”
“Right,” I said. “Plane.” I held the door for Summer, shut it behind her, threw the cases in the boot, climbed in on the driver’s side, and thought,Get some sophistication, boy. Get some distance.But Summer was right there beside me, with those eyes and that skin, smelling that sinful, her smooth arms and legs draped gracefully over the leather seat, and it wasn’t possible.
Summer
By the time we got to Tauranga, I wasn’t wondering how I’d pretend to be Roman’s girlfriend. I was wondering how I’d manage not to kiss him tonight. Delilah had ostentatiously worn her headphones and read a book on her phone the whole way in her window seat, while I’d sat in the middle seat, felt Roman’s shoulder against mine, asked him about the wind farms, looked at his stern profile and the perfect bronze of his skin, reminded myself that physical attraction was just that—physical—and tried not to fall any harder.
“Was it a passion project?” I asked. “Or …”
“More of an obvious opportunity,” he said. “My specialty—seeing the obvious. New Zealand power is mostly hydro and geothermal. Riches of the land, eh, but wind’s coming on strong. Wind and sun and water—that’s what we’ve got, so why not use them? Solar’s lagged a bit, but it makes sense. Most parts of the country get over two thousand hours of sun a year and some get heaps more, and the government seems likely to put money behind getting people to switch over.”
“Because switching’s expensive,” I said. “Is the wind power mostly purchased by utility companies?”
“Mostly.”
