Harlequin KISS August 2014 Bundle (50 page)

Sunny tapped at the computer, found her list of Moonbeam’s favourite beaches.
The options she’d chosen for scattering the ashes.

But not one of the options felt right. Not one!

She put her head on the desk and cried.

* * *

When Leo left the restaurant, a little after midnight, he intended to ride home, throw down a large brandy, think about life, and go to sleep.

What a night. Sunshine. Natalie. And the Heimlich manoeuvre.

The bloody Heimlich
manoeuvre.

Just when he needed so badly to think of Sunshine as frippery and irresponsible she had to go and save someone’s life—and then look surprised when people applauded her for it. The difference between Sunshine’s calm, embarrassed heroism and Natalie’s ineffectual hysterics had been an eye-opener of epic proportions.

And
it had come after the Moonbeam story, which had already
had his heart lurching around in his chest like a drunk.

So he needed home. Brandy. Thinking time. Bed.

He wasn’t sure, then, why he left his motorbike where it was and walked to Sunshine’s apartment block.

She would be asleep, he told himself as he reached the glass doors of the entrance. But his finger was on the apartment’s intercom anyway.

‘Hello?’

Her voice was not
sleepy. And he remembered, then, that she worked mostly at night.

‘It’s Leo.’

Pause. Then buzz, click, open.

She was waiting at her door. Barefoot. In a kimono. Seriously, did this woman not own a pair of jeans or some track pants? Who slummed around alone in their own home after midnight looking like an advertisement for
Vogue
magazine in a purple kimono complete with a bloody
obi
?

Her hair was loose, her face pale, her eyes strained.

He was going to thank her for saving Rob’s life.

He was going to ask her why she knew how to do the Heimlich manoeuvre.

He was going to tell her that he’d found out exactly what had happened and that he was an idiot for thinking, when he’d seen her near Natalie, that—

She cleared her throat. ‘I didn’t talk to Natalie
except to tell her to move out of the way.’

‘I don’t care about Natalie,’ he said—and realised that he really,
really
didn’t.

‘Then why are you here?’

‘I’m claiming assignation number two,’ he said, and kissed her.

SIX

Sunshine drew
him backwards into the apartment. Kiss unbroken.

Leo slammed the door with his heel. Kiss unbroken.

Sex—just sex
, Sunshine said to herself.

Leo pulled back as though she’d voiced the thought, looking at her with eyes smouldering like a hungry lion’s.

Sunshine grabbed his hand and dragged him to the bedroom. Kissed him again as she flipped the
light switch and the fairy’s lair lights she’d had embedded in the ceiling winked to life.

He angled her so he could kiss her harder,
harder
. He started to shake—she could feel it—and he broke the kiss, his breathing ragged. He rested his cheek on the top of her head as he held her in his arms, his freight train heartbeat beneath her ear.

She heard him laugh softly and pulled back, watching
as he took in the room.

It was pink. Every shade of pink from pale petal, to vibrant sari, to raspberry. The walls were the colour of cherry blossoms, stencilled in white in a riot of floral shapes and curlicues—like an extended henna tattoo. There was a chaise-longue, footstools, a window seat curtained off with diaphanous drapes. At one end of the room was a half-wall that divided the bedroom
from the dressing room, with its orderly arrangement of garments, shoes, and bags, which in turn led through to her bathroom.

A scene was painted on the dividing wall: a woman donning a flowing deep rose robe. Sunshine had made it a 3D work of art, building an actual Louis XIV gilded dressing table and mirror into the scene.

There was
a lot
to look at.

Leo moved towards the bed,
which was king-sized, shrouded by fuchsia hangings and piled high with cushions in macaroon pastels. He touched the gauzy curtains.

‘Seriously, Sunshine?’ he asked, a smile in his voice.

Sunshine arched an eyebrow. ‘If you want to get laid tonight, I suggest you keep a civil tongue in your head.’

‘That’s not where my tongue wants to be.’

Those words made her toes curl.

‘Come here, let me undress you, and we’ll find some place to put it,’ Leo said softly.

Sunshine walked over to him, her heart jumping.

His hands reached for the
obi
.

‘Wait,’ she said. ‘I need to warn you—I’m...scarred.’

He waited, hands at her waist.

‘The accident. I have a...a scar. Two, actually. Not...small.’ She hunched a shoulder, suddenly self-conscious. ‘I don’t
want you to be shocked.’

His response was to slowly, slowly unwrap the
obi
from around her waist, then the under-sash. The kimono fell open and Leo sucked in an audible breath.

‘My God,’ he said, in a voice just above a raspy whisper.

‘I know—they’re awful.’

Leo’s fingers reached, traced along the incision marks. He shook his head. ‘The
My
God
wasn’t about the scars, Sunshine.’

Sunshine was having trouble catching a thought, her breath. ‘Then...what?’

‘
My God
, you are so beautiful. And
my God
, I am itching to put my hands all over you.’

‘Then do it,’ she whispered. ‘I have no intention of stopping you.’

His fingers tensed against her flesh. And then, with both hands, he reached for her shoulders, sliding his hands under the kimono, pushing it back
until the heavy fabric dropped with a quiet whoosh to the floor. He stood gazing at her.

Sunshine kept absolutely still, watching him as his nostrils flared, his hands fisted at his sides. It was both torture and delight to stand motionless as lust shimmered between them. Leo was still fully clothed, and that somehow made her feel more wanton, sexier. Her nipples were hardened points; she
could feel them throbbing. Could feel a swelling between her legs as his gaze moved over her. Down, up, down. The suspense was almost unbearable. And yet she wanted the delay. Wanted to draw things out. Slow everything down so that she could wallow in this overwhelming need caused by nothing more than his eyes on her.

Then both his hands moved. With the tips of his trembling fingers he touched
the centre of her forehead. Slowly his fingers moved to the bridge of her nose, across her eyebrows, down her cheeks to her mouth, her jaw, neck, collarbones. When he got to her breasts he paused at her nipples to circle and pinch. Her knees almost buckled. But inexorably his hands moved again, fingers sliding across the long, straight scar that ran over her ribs, down to her hips, across her
belly, then to the juncture of her thighs.

He stopped there. Looked intently at her bare mound, licked his lips. ‘Very, very pretty,’ he said.

Both hands slid between her legs, fingers playing there while her breathing quickened.

‘I think we’ve found a place for my tongue,’ he said, suddenly finding that one excruciatingly sensitive nub, focusing there.

‘Are you going to take
off your clothes?’ Sunshine asked breathily as his fingers continued to tease her.

‘Yes. But first...’

His fingers shifted, exploring her, dipping and sliding and slipping, but always returning to that one tiny place. Sunshine gasped again. Her legs were trembling as he continued to work her, pinching, stroking, rolling, lunging into her.

‘Ah, Leo— God!’ Sunshine cried out, and
came suddenly, with a long groan.

Her head dropped back as his fingers continued to caress her, soothing now, and then one hand cupped her possessively, stilled.

Easing away from her, he started removing his clothes with short, efficient movements. The leather jacket was shrugged off and dropped to the floor. Sweater and then T-shirt were ripped over his head. Boots were yanked off.
Jeans shoved down, kicked aside.

Good Lord. He was...divine. Not a steroid-pumped muscle in his whole body. Just perfectly defined, hard, lean lines of strength. Broad shoulders. Beautifully crafted biceps. Smooth, hairless, sculpted torso with that wonderful V leading to his groin. Narrow hips. Long legs. And the jut of him, big and hard, rising from that gorgeous dark blond nest, was mouth-watering.
She wanted her mouth there. And her hands. And the inside of her.

‘Come here,’ he said. ‘I want to feel you all over me.’

Sunshine thought she might swoon, just hearing the words—except that she was desperate to take him up on that offer. She
wanted
to be all over him.

She walked into his open arms and they closed around her. The top of her head didn’t even reach his chin, and the
feeling of being cocooned, surrounded by him, was glorious.

‘You feel good there.’

‘I feel
very
good,’ she said throatily, and he laughed. ‘And so do you,’ she added as his erection nudged her belly. ‘We can get that part of you a little closer, I think.’

‘No rush tonight,’ he said. ‘If we only have three assignations left I’m going to make them count. So...now I’d like to see you
spread out on that Taj Mahal bed.’

He edged her backwards, reaching out to push the hangings aside, following her down onto the bed, kissing her as he lay on top of her.

For one fraught moment he slid between her thighs, held still, teasing both of them with the promise of the length of him as it pulsed there against her wet opening. He buried his face against her neck and sucked in
a breath, another, one more.

‘God, it’s hard to wait,’ he groaned against her hair.

‘Then don’t,’ Sunshine said, shifting to try and get him to slip inside.

He withdrew. ‘I want to play with you for a while first. And this time we won’t forget the condom.’

With great concentration he arranged Sunshine on the bed against the cushions, raising her arms above her head so that
her breasts were tightened and jutting, the chain she always wore caught between them.

He kissed her eyelids closed and then put his mouth at the corner of hers, his tongue flicking out to taste. She gasped, and his tongue slid smoothly inside her mouth, swirled once, then retreated to lick at the corner again. He kissed down her chin, her throat, then...nothing.

She opened her eyes
to find him sitting back on his heels, looking at her. ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked.

‘Nothing,’ he said. ‘I just like looking at you. I don’t think I’ve ever seen skin as pale as yours. And these...’ His hands reached out, hovered over her breasts. ‘I’m almost scared to touch in case I come in three seconds.’

‘I want you to come.’

‘No—don’t move your arms,’ Leo ordered, and his hands
settled on her breasts, squeezed gently, massaged. ‘God. God, God, God...’ he said, and it really did sound like a prayer.

He lowered his head and closed his lips over one nipple, sucked it sharply so that she moaned.

He stopped instantly. ‘Sorry—but you’re driving me crazy. Did I hurt you?’

‘No,’ she said, her legs moving restlessly. ‘I just want you so much.
So
much,
’ she wailed
as his mouth sucked hard again.

He commenced a steady rhythm, tugging, tonguing, pulling back to lick.

When he shifted to the other breast she couldn’t help herself—her arms came down to circle him, to pull him closer, closer.

‘Come inside me,’ she whispered. ‘Please, Leo.’

He shook his head and started moving lower. He stopped again as his mouth touched the scar. He pulled
back to see it, then touched it gently with his fingers, running them over the length of it, then across the dissecting scar that ran perpendicular to it, across her ribs towards her back.

Sunshine held her breath, waiting for...what? She didn’t know. Didn’t want to believe that it mattered, what he thought of her imperfections. All that mattered—all that
could
matter—was the promise of the
orgasm flickering low in her belly.

And yet she didn’t release her breath until he moved again, kissing his way to her mound. He stopped again. Shuddered out a breath against her. Then he was kissing her there, over and over again.

‘Beautiful. Delicious,’ he murmured in between licking kisses, his tongue dipping just low enough to make her squirm. ‘Open wider for me.’

She shifted
her legs, hips rising off the bed, soundlessly urging him to shift, to slide that clever mouth right between her spread legs. When, finally, he did, using the very tip of his tongue to separate the lips of her sex, breathing deeply as he slid the flat of his tongue along the seam, she screamed his name and climaxed almost violently.

He kept his mouth there, his tongue on that fizzing knot
of nerves, until the waves receded.

And then, with a groan, he slid back up her body and thrust inside her. ‘Ah, thank you, God,’ he groaned, and any semblance of control snapped.

He pounded into her, teeth gritted, gripping her hips as though his life depended on leveraging himself off them so he could go harder, deeper.

Sunshine could feel his orgasm building and tightened her
inner muscles, holding, wanting... ‘Come, come,’ she said, and then the explosion ripped through him.

Long moments later he rolled onto his back, bringing Sunshine with him so that she was lying on top, her thighs falling either side of him. ‘Forgot the condom again,’ he said.

Sunshine frowned. ‘I’ve never forgotten before.’

‘Do we need to talk about it?’

‘Only if you have
a disease.’

‘Then we don’t need to talk.’ He secured her more tightly against his chest. One hand was in her hair, smoothing through the strands.

Silence. Minutes dragged on.

Then, ‘The Heimlich thing... Why?’ he asked.

She shrugged, self-conscious. ‘I saw a story on the internet about a woman who choked to death. If someone had known what to do she wouldn’t have died. So I...I
learned. Just in case. Typical that the first time I had to use it was on Natalie’s boyfriend!’

‘He’s not her boyfriend. He’s her bitch.’

‘Ouch.’

‘I wish I could say that was me being malicious, but it’s just the truth.’

‘I certainly don’t understand what you saw in her.’

‘Me neither. I guess we get what we deserve.’

She looked up at him, perplexed. ‘Why would you
think you deserved her? Deserved...
that
?’

Leo shook his head, shrugged, clearly uncomfortable. ‘Just history. Perpetuating the crappiness of my life. Because she wasn’t my first mistake—just the most persistent.’

Mistake.
Something about the word made Sunshine shiver. Mistake...

‘You’re cold,’ Leo said. ‘And I have a brilliant idea—let’s actually get
in
the bed.’

Sunshine latched
onto being cold as a viable excuse for the sudden chill prickling along her skin. She slid under the covers, busied herself positioning cushions so that she was propped up against the bedhead, half turned to him.

She toyed with her chain, rubbing the sun and moon charms between her fingers.

‘Sun and moon,’ Leo said, watching her. ‘For Sunshine and Moonbeam?’

‘Yes. The business is
called Sun & Moon too. Not sure what we were going to do when we changed our names.’

‘You were going to change your names? Don’t tell me: Sue and Jenny?’

‘Do I look like a Sue?’

‘Actually, you look like a Sunshine.’

‘Harsh! Well, Moonbeam was definitely
not
a Jenny! She was going to be Amaya—it means Night Rain. She figured it was a close enough association with the night,
if not with the moon specifically.’

‘Nice. And yours?’

‘Allyn. Do I look like an Allyn?’

‘I told you—you look like a Sunshine.’

‘Oh, dear. Daunting. Well, Moon said Allyn meant Bright and Shining One. Close enough to sunshine, in her opinion. And she said it suited me.’ She frowned, thinking. ‘I’ve thought a lot over the past two years about making the change. Wondered if doing
the thing we planned to do together on my own would help me accept...move on. My parents aren’t so sure.’

‘Tell me about them,’ Leo said.

‘My parents? Oh, they’re very zen! Quite mad. And completely wonderful. Always there. Supportive, but never smothering. They let Moon and me leave the commune when we were fifteen, so we could see a different way and make informed decisions about how
we wanted to live. They made sure we had a safe place to stay, a good school to go to, money for whatever we needed, while we worked it out. And they seemed to understand even before we did that Moon was the true hippie and I was...well, something in between a hippie and an urbanite. Moon would have raced straight back to the commune if not for me being anchored in the city.’ She smiled, remembering.
‘We started our business with money our father inherited but didn’t need. It was given to us simply, with love, on our eighteenth birthday.’