Harlequin KISS August 2014 Bundle (9 page)

Claudia didn’t know what to say. Or do. If she hadn’t been naked and just made a complete idiot of herself she’d have leapt out of bed and hugged him. As she’d hugged him hundreds of times in the past.

Instead she said and did nothing, just watched him disappear and the door shut after him.

Then she sank down onto her back and, grinning like a loon, pulled the sheet over her head and threw herself into a full naked body shimmy, squiggling her shoulders, arching her back off the bed and drumming her heels on the mattress.

She was getting her spa!

EIGHT

Claudia’s head
was buzzing by the time she’d had a quick shower, thrown on her uniform and hightailed it downstairs. Not even the embarrassing thought of what had transpired in her room was enough to stop her from seeking Luke out. She found him breakfasting with everyone else.

‘There you are, darling,’ her mother said. ‘Luke’s just been telling us what you two have
been up to.’

Claudia paused mid-sit, startled at the announcement as everyone beamed at her. Luke, sitting in the seat beside hers, gave her a wink.

‘Has he now?’ she murmured.

She knew he wouldn’t have said anything about the...incident, but her mind couldn’t help but go there. Especially as Luke was clearly amused at her mother’s choice of words. His warm brown gaze was level
with her breasts and she sat quickly to quell the memory as her nipples firmed against the fabric of her bra.

‘It’s wonderful,’ Avery agreed, the excitement in her voice sharpening her accent.

‘Yes,’ his mother agreed. ‘You are sure your firm will understand, though?’ Gloria pressed.

Luke gave a short nod because he knew his decision to work remotely would not be popular with the
partners. Major adjustments would have to be made to accommodate it. Not to mention he’d be working two demanding jobs. Long days at the resort would be backed up by long hours into the night when clients were awake on the other side of the world.

He couldn’t see himself getting much sleep.

But these were extenuating circumstances and at least these days they had the technology to run
with something like this so, why not? The Internet made distance a nonsense—email, iClouds, Skype, teleconferencing—anything was possible.

‘It’ll take some setting up,’ he dismissed, ‘but it shouldn’t be a problem.’

‘There now,’ Avery said to two sets of parents. ‘You can get back to your holiday.’

Claudia wanted to kiss her. ‘That’s right,’ she agreed quickly. ‘You guys retired
so other people could wait on you for a change. You really don’t have to worry about the Tropicana.’

Her mother beamed. ‘Excellent. I feel so much better knowing the two of you will be doing this together.’

There was general conversation over breakfast about the new addition but Claudia felt inadequately prepared to answer a lot of the questions raised. ‘To be honest,’ she admitted,
‘I’ve never been to a spa and I think I’ve only ever had one massage in my entire life.’ She looked at Avery, who was more accustomed to the day-spa life. ‘That time in Bali...on the beach...do you remember?’

‘Oh, yes.’ Avery smiled. ‘Your masseuse was an ancient woman with hardly any teeth.’

Claudia nodded. ‘And yours was that buff young guy wearing a shirt that showed off every perfect
muscle in his abs.’

Avery’s smile turned dreamy. ‘Oh, yes,’ she sighed. ‘
Incredible
fingers too.’

Jonah looked unimpressed. ‘I hate him already,’ he murmured, gliding a possessive hand onto Avery’s shoulder, and Claudia felt a pang hit her square in the chest at Jonah’s caveman display. She glanced quickly at Luke, then glanced away again.

Avery smiled at Jonah and the look they
shared took the pang into chest-pain territory. ‘We’ll have to do some tours,’ Avery said enthusiastically as she dragged her gaze away from Jonah. ‘See what’s out there. See what’s new and innovative and popular.’

‘That will be impossible for a while,’ Claudia dismissed. ‘We have one hundred rooms upstairs that all need to be assessed one by one and given a good clean so we can at least
offer them to the public and have some income again.’

All their efforts last week had been concentrated on the outside clean-up. Apart from a cursory examination of the rooms that had been thankfully largely untouched, they hadn’t worried about them at all. But they were going to need to be electrically checked at the very least.

‘We’ll have to discount them,’ Luke said. ‘This place
isn’t exactly paradise any more.’

Claudia nodded automatically at Luke’s shrewd business assessment, ignoring her emotional response to his words. If she thought too hard about their paradise lost it would break her heart, and they needed to be practical.

‘And before anyone comes we’ll have to put in all new landscaping,’ she said. ‘The resort may be a long way off its established old
self but I’d like to make a good impression when we welcome back our first guests.’

‘We can pitch in and help you with that stuff,’ Lena said.

‘Harry and I can help with the landscaping,’ Brian said.

‘And your mother and I can contact all cancelled and future guests and see who might still be interested in a basic cheapy holiday,’ Gloria confirmed.

Lena nodded. ‘We’re here,
we might as well put ourselves to good use, if you’ll have us. And then when the guests start to arrive we can push off again and let you kids get on with it.’

‘Of course we’ll have you,’ Claudia said reassuringly. ‘This is your place—you don’t need to ask permission to stay. There will always be rooms here for you.’

‘Good to know,’ Brian said gruffly. ‘But we’ve got at least a year
left on our trip so don’t keep them blocked for us.’

‘You’ll come back for the opening of the spa, though?’ Claudia insisted.

Brian patted her hand. ‘Try keeping us away, love.’

Claudia smiled at Luke’s father—she’d always had a soft spot for him. ‘Thank you.’

‘So it could be a while before we get to check out spas,’ Avery said wistfully.

‘Not necessarily,’ Jonah said.
‘The best time to go will be before the paying customers come back. You and Claude might be able to squeeze something in.’

‘Cairns is the best place,’ Isis added.

Claudia doubted they’d have time to scratch but she nodded anyway. ‘We’ll see how we’re tracking.’

* * *

An hour later Luke had made a list of things he was going to need to set up a makeshift office in the Mai Tai.
Jonah was taking the chopper into Cairns for business and had offered him a ride. He was coming down the stairs as Claudia was heading up, her clipboard clutched to her chest.

They slowed as they neared, her on the step below him. ‘I’m off to Cairns with Jonah for a quick trip. Anything you need?’ he asked, waving his list in front of her.

Claudia shook her head as she looked up at him.
Way
up. ‘Thanks. I’ve given him a list already.’

Luke nodded. ‘You off to assess the rooms?’ he asked

‘Yes. I’m tackling the suites. Isis is doing the first floor. Avery the second.’

‘And the ground-floor rooms?’

‘I’ll do them after I’ve done the suites.’

Claudia shifted her feet nervously. Her gaze was level with his chest, the T-shirt he was wearing gracing its lean
musculature like a velvet glove. She remembered how hard that chest had felt behind her the other day. Then she remembered what had happened
today
.

It was hard to believe on this grand staircase in this voluminous foyer that she could suddenly feel claustrophobic.

She looked down at her clipboard, confused by the skip in her pulse. She dropped it slightly away from her body, relieved
to have something else to look at even if it was just pages and pages of pristine maintenance reports awaiting her neat handwriting.

‘We’re just taking notes today,’ she said for something to say in case his head was where her head was at. ‘Don, he’s a local electrician, is coming in two days for the electrical checks. He’s crazy busy but we did him a good deal on his daughter’s wedding here
a few years back so he’s squeezing us in.’

‘Yay for Don.’ Luke smiled. The clipboard movement had pulled down her blouse slightly revealing her usually well-covered décolletage. From his vantage point he could see some swell rising out of a soft-looking emerald-green fabric edged with black ribbon.

Was that satin?

It
looked
like satin, soft and shiny.

And then he was thinking
about her breasts again. When, true to his word, he
had
been trying hard not to.

Crap.

Who knew Claudia favoured sexy lingerie beneath her awful uniform? He’d never look at her polyester blouse the same again.

Claudia took a step to the side so she could walk around him, then hesitated for a moment. Her eyes glued to the clipboard, she murmured, ‘I haven’t really said thank you.’

Luke shrugged. ‘It’s okay. I owe you for being such a stubborn bastard last year. I should have done what I’m doing now back then. It’s just that things at work were...’

Luke didn’t really want to get into it but he’d still been under the gun from losing the account his wife—
ex-wife
—had stolen from him. It was the main reason he’d wanted the resort handed over to a big chain—his career
was in crisis and the resort had been an unwanted distraction.

‘Were?’ she prompted softly.

Luke grimaced at the familiar bitter taste the memory left in his mouth. A flash of black ribbon caught his eye again and yanked him out of the past. ‘It doesn’t matter. The point is I’m here now and I’m in.’

‘And I’m very, very thankful.’ Claudia smiled. ‘We’ll have to remember this day
and celebrate it next year as the day we really put our mark on the Tropicana.’

Luke smiled back before the full import of her words sank in. His smile slowly faded. ‘You do know this is only temporary, Claude? I did say just until the spa was up and running. I’m not staying for good. I’ll be heading back to the UK as soon as things are settled here. You’re more than capable of managing the
place solo.’

Solo.
Claudia swallowed. Why did that word sound so bloody lonely?

‘Yes...of course,’ she said with a dismissive shake of her head. ‘Of course.’

Even though she felt like a complete idiot. He’d said this morning it was just until the spa was open but she’d been off building castles in the sky. Spinning fantasies of them running the resort together for the next twenty
years as their parents had done.

Luke wasn’t sure about the overly bright light in her eyes. The last thing he wanted to do was to get her hopes up. ‘My life is there, Claude,’ he murmured.

Claudia forced a smile onto her face, determined not to show him how much those five words hurt, no matter how gently he’d said them.

My life is there, Claude.

His life was there. Hers was
here. She’d do well to remember that over the coming months.

‘Of course,’ she assured him, her voice more definitive this time. ‘I know. And you’re right, I’m perfectly capable of managing the Tropicana.’

Luke nodded, satisfied. ‘No one better.’ He grinned as soft green satin taunted his peripheral vision.

Claudia grinned back even though it felt as if it had been slashed into her
face with a carving knife. ‘Well,’ she said as she put her foot on the next step, pulling the clipboard back to her chest. ‘Guess I’d better get on. I’ll see you when you get back from Cairns.’

Luke nodded, disgusted in his disappointment that the cleavage show was over. ‘Yep. Should be back in a couple of hours.’

‘Okay,’ she said.

Visions of green satin, black ribbon and caramel
nipples taunted him as he continued down the stairs.

NINE

Two weeks
flew by. Two weeks of getting rooms and grounds ready to open again. All the rooms had escaped major damage. Some power points had blown and three rooms had sustained some minor water damage to the carpet when their windows, despite the cyclone taping, had cracked under the force of the wind and allowed water to trickle in.

But three out of one hundred was good
going, considering the other accommodation blocks on the property had been completely smashed.

The landscaping was a big job hampered by transport difficulties due to the state of the roads. The extensive Tropicana gardens that had taken forty years to establish and made guests feel as if they were living in a tropical paradise had been about fifty per cent destroyed in a matter of a few
hours.

They would take many years to get back to the way they were but thankfully some of the older trees and vegetation had been left intact so they didn’t have to start from scratch.

The problem was supply of raw material. Mature plants and trees and things like mulch were in high demand post-cyclone and difficult to source, which meant the landscaping would be an ongoing job. But
they managed with what they could get, transforming the grounds from decimated to rejuvenated in an amazingly short time.

Gloria and Lena worked the phones like the true veteran hotel professionals they were. Claudia was thankful that they’d stayed on to lend a hand, knowing the process would have been much longer without them and it also freed her up to help Isis and Avery get everything
shipshape on the inside.

Next week they were welcoming their first trickle of guests—fifteen rooms booked. And the week after that they had a further twenty. Claudia had set a target of fifty per cent occupancy by the time the spa opened a few months down the track and hoped to be back at full occupancy for the summer season at the end of the year.

It was March—it was doable.

They
were never going to have the numbers they had before simply because the accommodation units that had been scattered throughout the property had been flattened and were not going to be replaced.

The hope was that the higher-end customers would make up the shortfall.

Claudia and Luke set a couple of hours aside each afternoon to work on plans for the spa. They’d contacted a local builder
who Claudia trusted to do the job and consulted a local architect. They just needed to get plans drawn up and then council approvals and other such legalities under way.

They kept things businesslike between them, barely talking outside what was needed for the Tropicana and rarely seeing each other outside anything to do with the plans. Unlike their childhood, the interconnecting door was
not
chocked open and they
never
entered each other’s rooms without knocking and receiving clear direction to do so!

It was a grope-free, nudity-free zone.

And things could have been awkward between them had they not been so busy. But everyone was busy, everyone had their heads down, so it was easy for them to just follow suit and pretend there wasn’t time for chit-chat.

Luke was
probably busiest of all working two jobs. After a back-breaking day out landscaping, he was up late into the night working on UK time in the world of advertising. He rarely got into bed before two a.m. And if he was tired, well, he knew there was a queue he could join. Everyone was working hard. Everyone was tired.

* * *

On Friday morning at breakfast, Avery slipped a sheaf of papers
across the table to Claudia. ‘I spent a few hours on the net last night and I think we should check out these three day-spas in Cairns.’ She looked at Luke. ‘You too. Seeing them firsthand is much better than getting second-hand descriptions.’

‘Yep. Count me in,’ he said.

Claudia flicked through the printed pages. ‘These look good.’ She handed them to Luke.

‘I can make a booking
for us to have something different at each one for tomorrow?’ Avery said.

‘Tomorrow?’ Claudia worried her bottom lip. ‘Do you think we should be tripping off for mani-pedis with the first guests arriving on Monday?’

‘It’s the perfect time,’ Gloria encouraged. ‘There’s nothing much to do between now and then and you won’t get a chance after Monday.’

Claudia nodded. ‘I suppose.’

‘Jonah can take us all in the chopper, make a bit of a day of it,’ Avery suggested.

‘You kids have worked really hard,’ Brian said. ‘Why don’t you make a night of it? Get away from here for twenty-four hours and relax? Stay in a swanky hotel, be waited on. You’re going to be the ones doing all the waiting soon.’

‘Oh, yes,’ Avery said, clearly warming to the subject. ‘We could go
dancing,’ she said, turning to Jonah, gliding her hand onto his forearm. ‘It’s been ages since we danced.’

Jonah smiled and kissed the tip of Avery’s nose. ‘Yes, it has.’

Avery squeezed his arm. ‘Claude, what’s the name of the hotel where Raoul hangs out? That has that Latin dancing on Saturday night?’

Luke frowned. Raoul? Why was that name familiar?

‘The Quay,’ Claudia said,
wondering how a trip to a day spa had suddenly become twenty-four hours of debauchery complete with Latin dancing.

‘Yes, that’s it,’ Avery exclaimed. ‘Oh, let’s do that,’ she enthused, looking first at Claudia and then at Jonah.

Luke looked at Claudia. He didn’t want to dance with her. Getting that close after what had transpired between them didn’t seem like such a good idea. He turned
to Jonah. ‘No,’ he said to his friend. ‘I have to work tomorrow night.’

‘It’s Saturday.’

‘My job’s twenty-four-seven.’

‘Good thing you’re so attached to your phone, then,’ Jonah said mildly.

Luke shot his friend a measured stare. ‘I don’t dance.’

Jonah grinned at Luke. ‘So don’t.’ Then he smiled down at Avery. ‘Your wish is my command,’ he said.

‘Oh, I’m not sure—’
Claudia started.

‘Oh, go on, darling,’ her mother quickly interrupted. ‘It’s a brilliant idea. You guys have been working yourselves into the ground. Go and let your hair down for a night.’

‘Right, that’s settled, then,’ Avery announced as she scraped her chair back and stood. ‘I’m going to go book us in at the spas and then the hotel.’

She looked directly at Claudia and Luke, who
were sitting next to each other in the seats that had somehow, by silent majority, been relegated to them. ‘Do you guys want separate rooms or are you okay with twin share?’ she asked.

‘Separate,’ they both said in unison.

Avery shot them a mischievous grin before she practically skipped out of the room, and Claudia narrowed her eyes.

‘Guess we’re going dancing.’ Jonah grinned as
he watched Avery go.

A flash of green satin trimmed with black ribbon floated through Luke’s mind. There was no way he was getting on that dance floor.

* * *

‘So what are you wearing out dancing?’ Avery asked Claudia later that evening as she sat on Claudia’s bed almost at the bottom of her second glass of wine and watching a movie on cable TV. It had become a regular thing for
them ever since Avery had come to work at the Tropicana over a year ago—Friday night was girlfriend night.

It was something that Claudia always looked forward to and appreciated that Avery still tore herself away from the lovely Jonah to spend some quality time with her bestie. But tonight, Claudia wished Avery had let Jonah talk her into staying home.

‘Hadn’t thought about it,’ Claudia
dismissed, hoping her voice sounded light and disinterested and didn’t betray the mass of nerves screwing her stomach into a tight ball.

Avery frowned at her. ‘What? I don’t believe it. You love to dance.’

Sure, she loved to dance. That was how she’d got involved with Raoul. Raoul ran the dance lessons at the Tropicana and had been her occasional lover for the last five years. But she
didn’t want to sit all night and watch Luke dance with other women either. ‘Guess I’m just not in the mood,’ she said.

‘Oh, come on,’ Avery teased. ‘Raoul could be there. How long has it been since you guys hooked up?’

Claudia didn’t have to think about it—she knew exactly. ‘Since just before the resort got handed to me.’

Avery sat up, nearly spilling some of her wine. ‘That was
nearly eighteen months ago.’ She sounded horrified.

‘So?’

Avery gaped at her nonchalant reply. ‘That’s an awful long time to go without some lovin’, Claude.’

Claudia gave an exasperated sigh. ‘I know you’re all loved up,’ she said, her tone as dry as powdery sand under a hot midday sun, ‘but, trust me, you don’t die from lack of sex, Avery.’

‘Yeah, but...what’s the point of
living?’

Claudia laughed then, she couldn’t help herself. Avery’s expression was priceless. ‘I’ve been a little busy,’ she finally said.

Avery waggled her finger in front of her friend’s face. ‘All work and no play makes Claude a dull girl.’ She placed her wine glass down on the bedside table and slipped off the bed. ‘Let’s see what’s in your cupboard that might get Raoul’s pulse racing.’

Claudia watched her go, her enthusiasm for that idea utterly underwhelming. ‘I’m not going to
hook up
with Raoul in front of Luke,’ she grouched as Avery pulled open the cupboard doors.

Avery turned, a frown marring her forehead. ‘Why not?’

Claudia squirmed a little. The reason sounded stupid in her head—she could only imagine how dumb it was going to sound out loud.

‘Claude?’
Avery prompted.

Claudia knew that tone in her friend’s voice all too well. ‘It’ll be too...weird with Raoul...in front of Luke.’

Avery blinked. ‘Why?’

Claudia shook her head—she wished she knew. ‘I don’t know. It just would be.’

A sudden speculative spark flared to life in Avery’s shrewd eyes and she forgot the wardrobe as she returned to the bed and sat on the edge with one
leg tucked up under her, the other firmly on the ground.

‘Is there something going on with you and Captain Sexypants?’ she asked.

Claudia almost laughed out loud, both at the nickname that seemed to have stuck and the preposterous suggestion. Something going on with her and Luke?

Impossible.

Even if he did know what she looked like naked
and
what her breast felt like. ‘No,’
she said.

Avery dropped her head slightly to the side as if she was trying to see deep into Claudia’s heart. ‘I think there’s stuff you’re not telling me, Ms Claude.’ She folded her arms. ‘Spill.’

Claudia thought long and hard about keeping what had gone on between her and Luke to herself, but a part of her wanted to get it off her chest so badly, to analyse it to death in that secret
girly-gossip way she used to enjoy with Avery, she could hardly bear it any more.

So she spilled. About the grope incident. About her walking in on him naked. About him walking in on her naked. And it felt so damn good to unburden it. It felt just like it used to do when they’d been teenagers, sharing all their angsty, hormone-ridden secrets.

‘So you
do
have a thing for Captain Sexypants?’
Avery, who had been remarkably quiet throughout, said.

‘No,’ Claudia denied, and when Avery gave her that
watch it, Pinocchio
look she just said, ‘I can’t. He’s
Luke
. He’s a friend I’ve known for ever. Our parents are
best friends
. He’s divorced and bitter on love.
And
he lives on the opposite side of the world.’

Claudia shook her head at Avery’s
what-else-have you-got?
eyebrow-raise.
‘He’s
leaving,
Avery.’

Avery reached out and grabbed her friend’s hand. ‘So was I,’ she said. ‘But I didn’t.’ Then she sprang off the bed. ‘It ain’t over till the fat lady sings,’ she said, sounding more American than ever. ‘And besides, I don’t think there’s any harm in letting Captain Sexypants know
exactly
what it is he’s leaving behind.’

Claudia watched her friend return to the wardrobe,
pulling out dresses, wishing she had just an inch of Avery’s confidence. ‘I know just the one,’ she said.

Resigned to her fate, Claudia watched. ‘There’s that royal blue one I wear to our voodoo nights,’ she said.

‘Oh, no, no, no,’ Avery said, throwing dresses on the ground now. ‘I know exactly the one. The red velvety one. It flutters around your ankles, fits you like a glove, has that
halter neck and huge side split.’

Claudia blanched at the suggestion. ‘I think that’s a bit OTT, don’t you?’

Avery’s voice was muffled as she disappeared into the cupboard a little more but Claudia could still make out her friend’s denial. ‘Nope. Raoul goes a little crazy every time you wear that dress and that’s exactly the effect you’re after.’ And then a few seconds later, she heard
the proclamation, ‘Aha!’

Avery walked out of the cupboard brandishing the dress in question. ‘This one.’

Claudia shook her head. ‘No.’

Avery ignored her. ‘We’re going dancing.
This
is your dancing dress.’

‘It is?’

‘It is now.’ Avery grinned at her. ‘Try it on.’

‘Avery...’ Claudia glared at her best friend. ‘No.’

‘You know I’m just going to harp on about it all
night until you do, so you might as well get it over with now.’

Claudia sighed at the truth of it. Avery could be very persistent, particularly after two glasses of wine. ‘Fine,’ she huffed, climbing off the bed. ‘Give it to me.’

Claudia took the dress from Avery and marched into the bathroom, quickly stripping off her uniform and throwing the dress over her head before marching back
out again.

Avery beamed at her as she appeared. Then she reached over and pulled Claudia’s hair out of her ponytail, fluffing it up a little.

She grinned. ‘Well, hello, Kryptonite.’