Billionaire Novelist's Fiery Debutante (7 page)

“Isn’t it the most incredible thing you’ve ever seen?” she whispered.

He kept his eyes on her. “Yes, it is.”

CHAPTER 15

The candles, the moonlight, the beer… They’d all had their effect on Chloe, but they were nothing compared to the effect Josh had on her. They’d come a long way since their first meeting in the bathroom, and she felt so much at ease with him now that she could have told him all her secrets, if she’d had any.

She really appreciated that he trusted her enough to talk about his misspent youth. She was pretty sure he hadn’t shared that part of his life with his readership before, or else her mom would have told her.

She could totally see that side of him. He still had something rakish even today, although she doubted if anyone would ever kick Joshua Poole out of their establishment now. Quite the opposite.

“You know what we should do?” she said, having drained her beer. She’d have drunk wine if they’d had any. Apparently, whoever owned this place thought that writers had no need for wine or other liquor, since all they’d found after a long search were these two measly lagers.

“Tell me.”

She held up her hands. “Only if you’re game, of course.”

“Oh, I’m game if you are, honey.”

She loved it when he called her ‘honey’, though it didn’t necessarily mean a thing, of course. Or perhaps it did. She gave him a fat wink. “Let’s go skinny-dipping.”

His eyebrows rose, as did the corners of his mouth. “Pool or ocean?”

“Pools are for wimps, buddy. Us real writers take the ocean any time. You with me, Poole?”

“With you? I’ll bet I can beat you to it, Thomson.”

“What?”

But before she could react, he’d already jumped up from his chair with surprising agility and by the time she was up and away, he had a thirty yard lead.

“Not fair!” she yelled as she pumped her arms in hot pursuit.

“All’s fair in love and literature, Thomson. You know that,” he yelled back.

Laughing uproariously, she chased him down the sandy path that led to the beach, but before she could catch up with him, he’d reached the surf and was shedding his clothes.

Oh, dear. Was she really going to do this? Was she really going to—

“Told you I’d beat you!” he hollered, and splashed into the brine.

She gazed at his bare buttocks, clearly visible in the light of the moon, and decided to hell with it, and started shedding her top and shorts.

“The water’s—” He dove beneath the waves and came up splashing and hollering. “Damn, it’s cold!”

That didn’t deter her, however, and before she had the chance to reconsider, she’d joined him in the water. He was right. The water was pretty chilly. She didn’t mind, and jumped headfirst into a rolling wave. When she came up, his hands were on her. He lifted her up as she wiped the salty water from her face, and eyed her with such hunger that it made her giddy with heat. The next moment, his mouth had found hers, and she clung to him like a drowning victim. Her breasts mashed against his hard chest, their tongues colliding and searching—eagerly, hungrily.

“Perhaps we shouldn’t,” she breathed weakly when they momentarily parted. But then she couldn’t even remember why this was a bad idea to begin with, and she threw herself into their embrace with even more passion. His tongue traced the outline of her lips, then darted into her mouth once more, dancing with hers in a wild and crazy dance, and he gripped her so close she thought she would stop breathing. She’d wanted this so much—had yearned for this moment for days now, and when he finally carried her out of the surf and gently laid her down on the sandy beach, it was all she could do not to beg him to take her right then and there.

Ever the gentleman, he merely ravished her body with his strong hands, feeling his way to her chest and palming her soft breasts with his strong hands, letting them lead the way for his mouth. When he sucked in her nipples, she arched her back at the sensation rushing through her, and moaned with pleasure. Sliding a hand beneath the small of her back, her lifted her up as he trailed his lips down along her belly, lingering at her belly button before kissing his way between her thighs.

The fire that had been burning inside her flared up as his lips found the center of her being and clung to her, sending ripples of bliss up her spine. She clawed her fingers through his short, curly hair as he explored every inch of her, concentrating on the flower of flesh at her core.

“Oh, God,” she mewled as his steady caress sent her soaring. She pulled him toward her, then, wanting to look into his eyes again. His handsome face was a mask of pure lust as he turned to her, his lips wet and wanting more. She opened her legs invitingly, wanting him inside her, plumbing her depths.

As he reared up, she watched his hard length twitch. Then, before she had even uttered her wish, he was entering her, burrowing into her flesh. Inch by inch, he plunged in deeper between her wet folds, until she’d swallowed all of him, swallowed his entire towering girth.

“Oh, yes,” she cried when he moved inside, rocking her sex with his. “Oh, Josh.”

“Chloe,” he growled, his hard body pinning her beneath him onto the sand as he moved faster. “I’ve wanted this so much, honey. It was driving me crazy not to have you.”

“Me, too. I couldn’t bear to be without you one more night.”

He thrust gently into her, and they moved in sync, lovers at last. She touched his hard chest, his burly arms, his broad shoulders, his gorgeous face, wanting to feel him moving against her, wanting all of him. She closed her eyes as she felt him stir deeply inside her, touching her deepest core, and she yelped as the first tremors took possession of her.

His mouth was everywhere, as were his hands. Her mouth, her neck, her breasts… And all the while he kept moving that ravishing length of his into her womanhood. She cried out when she came, and moments later, so did he. Panting, they lay together for the longest time, kissing and hugging and whispering terms of endearment into each other’s ears.

And when finally the time came to return to the house, Chloe was so drowsy she could have slept out on the beach. Instead, Josh lifted her up as easily as if she weighed nothing and carried her all the way back.

At least, that’s what must have happened. For by the time he’d safely put her to bed, she was fast asleep, the memory of their lovemaking igniting her dreams and filling her with the sweetest sense of joy.

CHAPTER 16

All through the flight, little was exchanged between Josh and Chloe. It was almost as if last night had never taken place. During the helicopter flight, the noise from the rotors had made speech impossible, but throughout the subsequent flight back to New York, they hadn’t spoken much either.

He’d gotten up that morning with a sense of dread, and looking next to him, he could see that Chloe experienced the same. How do you go from being collaborators to lovers to the real world where everything they’d built up over the course of the past week would inevitably be razed and had to be rebuilt from the ground up?

He’d go back to his life, she to hers. How would they fit together in the harsh light of reality? Once the golden beaches, the azure ocean, and the isolation were taken away, what would be left of ‘them’? If there was indeed a ‘them’ in the first place.

She looked a little sad, he thought, when he glanced over to Chloe for the umpteenth time, and he knew she looked exactly like he was feeling right now.

The flight and subsequent landing went smoothly, and then they were walking side by side out of the airport.

Chloe scanned the waiting cars and taxis with a frown. “Kiki was supposed to pick me up, but it looks like he’s a no-show.”

“Kiki?”

“A friend.”

“Uh-huh.” He realized how little he knew of her personal life. They’d talked for hours, but the name Kiki had never come up. “Do you need a ride?” He felt awkwardly formal all of a sudden.

“That would be nice.” She smiled.

Just then, a car horn hooted and they both looked up. A Golf convertible raced up to the curb and screeched to a halt directly in front of them. Inside, a particularly burly man sat, his torso barely concealed by a minuscule T-shirt, muscles bulging on all sides. He was extremely tan and had the face of a boxer, his nose apparently having been broken several times in the past. He looked… dangerous, Josh decided.

“Kiki!” squealed Chloe, practically hopping up and down.

Josh eyed the expanding he-man darkly. A pang of jealousy shot through him as he wondered how this monster figured in Chloe’s life.

“Hey, babe,” Kiki breathed huskily as he smiled up at the two of them. “I almost forgot about your arrival today. Good thing Mimi’s good at this kind of stuff.”

“Mimi?” murmured Josh.

Chloe looked over to him and whispered, “Another friend. Mimi’s the practical one.”

“She is, is she?” he tried.

“He is,” she corrected, then suddenly her face fell. “I guess this is it, Josh. Our holiday is finally over.”

“I guess it is.” They hadn’t been a moment apart for a whole week, and now she’d be gone.

She leaned up and gave him a gentle peck on the lips. He knew he should have taken the opportunity to grab a hold of her and ravish those cherry lips the way they deserved to be ravished, but he felt the scrutinizing gaze of Kiki drinking in every moment of their parting, and he reluctantly refrained from expressing his true feelings.

“Will I see you again?” she murmured in a whisper.

“Of course.” He managed a crooked smile. “Why don’t you give me a call once you’re settled in?”

She hesitated and seemed disappointed somehow. “Will do,” she said softly, then gave him a tiny wave before she stepped into Kiki’s convertible.

Kiki, who’d been staring at him all the while, suddenly seemed to make up his mind. “Say, aren’t you that writer dude?”

“That’s right.”

Kiki burst out into a raucous laugh and clapped his hands. “I knew it! I never forget a face! You’re that Lee Child, right? Jack Reacher? I love that shit, man!”

He frowned, his dislike for this character increasing. “Um, not exactly.”

He couldn’t help notice Chloe giving a little giggle at this. She then elbowed her friend in the ribs. “He’s Joshua Poole, silly.”

Kiki’s face fell. “Huh? Who?”

Josh glared at the man. “Never mind.” Suffering a major bout of writer’s block had done much to diminish his rather voluminous ego, but he still didn’t like to be confused with a fellow writer.

“Don’t mind Kiki,” said Chloe. “He’s not so smart.”

“Hey. I’m sitting right here!” vociferated Kiki. Then his wide face spread into an even wider grin. “She’s right, however. I’m not the smartest blub in the blub shop.”

“Bulb, Kiki. Not blub,” corrected Chloe with an eye roll. She gave him another playful shove, and in return he mussed up her hair.

Josh watched the scene with rising alarm. So this guy was some sort of boyfriend of hers, right? Then what the hell had she been doing with him? Playing around? Immediately, he felt the green-eyed monster of jealousy gnawing at his bosom.

“Let’s go, honey,” urged Kiki. “The guys can’t wait to see you.”

And before Josh had a chance to wonder who these guys were, Kiki had shifted his car into gear and peeled away from the curb with screaming tires and a cloud of exhaust fumes that had Josh coughing and his eyes stinging.

As he stared after the disappearing car, he had the same sinking feeling Jacqueline Spark had felt so many times when Frankie Knox ignored her carefully planned come-ons and disappeared on the horizon with yet another one of the dubious bimbos he seemed to favor over his trusty partner.

Perhaps, he thought, Jacqueline should simply get a life and find herself a good man instead of pining for that no-good wastrel Frankie Knox.

And perhaps he should do the same.

He shook his head sadly. How could he have been so wrong about Chloe?

That girl wasn’t the sweet-natured soul he’d taken her for. She was a real man-eater!

CHAPTER 17

Arriving back at her old place inspired Chloe with mixed emotions. Happy to be home on the one hand, and finding all the stuff she’d left exactly where she’d left it, but a pervasive sensation of sadness for the things she had left behind. Not things, she corrected herself. Josh. She’d left Josh behind, and she was surprised how sorely she missed him now.

She knew, of course, that he was only a phone call away, and she planned to get in touch with him as soon as she had settled in, but still… Knowing he’d be back at work, taking up his old life again, meant that things between them would never be the same. Already at the airport, she’d noticed a shift in the way he treated her. Gone was that easy smile, that laid-back attitude she’d grown to expect and love.

The writer she’d left at the heliport was the same one she’d met on that first day out on the island: stiff and suspicious. The way he’d looked at her, the way he’d jerked back his head when she’d leaned in for a kiss… Things were right back where they started, and watching him erect that wall added to the feeling of melancholy that now hit her full force.

She flopped down onto her bed and lay staring up at the ceiling. The moment she closed her eyes, all of the sights and sounds of last night came flooding back into her mind. For a moment, she was back on the beach, feeling Josh’s strong arms around her, his hands touching her, his lips insistent on hers. They’d made love for the first time, and it had been glorious. Josh was all the man she’d hoped he’d be and more.

On an impulse, she reached for her cell and dialed his number.

He picked up on the first ring.

“Josh?”

“Chloe,” he breathed as if he’d been running. “So good to hear your voice.”

She relaxed, and a smile spread across her features. So things were still okay between them. “I was thinking about you. Lying on my bed and thinking about you.”

He chuckled softly. “Guess where I am.”

“Um. In a meeting probably? With one of your high-powered agents?”

“Nope. In bed. Thinking of you.”

She giggled. “Wish you were here right now.”

“Me too. I never noticed before, but my bed—my
house
—is awfully empty without you in it.”