Summer Fling (19 page)

The following evening, Garth arrived just
before six to pick her up. The sun still blazed low in the sky, and as they
walked along the main road, sweat ran between her breasts, even though she wore
only a light, pretty blue vest and cut-offs.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“I thought we could eat at the Oyster Bar.”
He indicated the exclusive seafood restaurant overlooking the bay.

“Wow. I hope you’ve taken out a second
mortgage.” She looked at him curiously. “How much
did
your father leave
you anyway?”

He smiled as they crossed the road. “Well,
I can’t tell you that. You’ll be trying to marry me for my money.”

She laughed, but panic rushed through her
at his words.

He didn’t mean it like that
, scolded the angel.
Don’t get in a flap. He’s not going to push
you into anything.

Chloe swallowed and shoved her worries away.
She wasn’t going to think about the past, present, or future tonight. They were
going to have a lovely dinner and get to know each better. Nothing deep and
meaningful.

Trying to concentrate as he talked about
the jumps he’d made that day, she followed him into the restaurant to find he’d
booked a table by the window. He pulled out her chair and waited for her to be
seated before he took his seat the other side of the table.

“I hope you always take care of yourself,”
she scolded as he finished telling her about his day. “I don’t like to think of
you doing something so dangerous.”

“I don’t do it all the time.” He stopped as
the waiter came up to take their drinks order. He ordered a beer and Chloe
asked for a glass of Pinot Gris. When the waiter walked off, Garth continued.
“But it’s nice to know you worry about me.”

Her eyes met his. The hazel orbs were open
and honest, light and teasing. He looked gorgeous, dressed in dark blue jeans
and a smart black shirt hanging open over a clean white T-shirt, his cheekbones
flushed where he’d caught the sun. His ruffled brown hair continued to look as
if it had never seen a comb.

“I do worry about you.” She smiled. “But I
know you have to do it. I understand, Garth.”

He held her gaze. Then he lifted her hand
and kissed her fingers. “I know.”

After this, they kept the conversation
light, ordering their food and talking about all sorts of things—from places
they’d been to their favorite food to what kinds of music they liked. They ate
slowly, watching the sun sink lower over the horizon as the boats in the bay
sailed home, and then had coffee, still talking and sharing little pieces of
themselves as the restaurant filled and grew noisier and warmer.

Garth glanced over to the bar where a group
of young women out for a drink exploded into raucous laughter, and he rolled
his eyes and laughed. “Shall we go?”

“Okay.”

He paid, refusing to let her pay half, and
they went outside. They walked along the sand to his car. There he turned her
and pulled her into his arms to kiss her.

She pressed herself against him, her arms
tight around his waist, enjoying the taste of the spearmint he’d nabbed from
the dish by the till and the feel of his hand on her butt, pulling her closer.

When he lifted his head, she saw the
question forming in his eyes.

“Would you like to come back home with me? Orion
misses you desperately.”

She couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Does
he now? And how about his owner?”

Garth shrugged. “Meh.” But he smiled.
“Well?”

She hesitated, torn in two.

You promised!
The angel stamped her foot.
You said you’d slow it down.

Jeez, he looks so sexy in that shirt,
the devil said.

Garth continued to press kisses on her
lips, her cheeks, around to her ear. “I bought chocolates for you.”

Her lips curved in spite of herself. “Oh?
What kind?”

“Lemon truffles.”

“Oh… I
love
those.”

“Yeah, I guessed. Is there any chocolate
you don’t like?”

“Er, no.”

He laughed. Then he pulled back. “So?”

Still she hesitated. “I don’t know… I
shouldn’t…”

He cupped her face and stroked her cheeks
with his thumbs. “You can stay the night, or I’ll take you home afterward. No
pressure, Chloe.” His gaze rested on her mouth. “But I want you. It’s all I can
think about.” He pressed his lips to hers. “It’s all I’ve thought about the
entire evening. I want to kiss you from the tip of your beautiful toes to the
top of your head.” He ran his tongue along her bottom lip. “I want to taste you
again.” He plunged his tongue in her mouth, kissing her until she was
breathless. “I want to make love to you, Chloe, as slow as we can bear it, over
and over again until—”

“All right!” She pushed him away,
breathless with desire, shaky with lust. She was so weak. Tears pricked her
eyes. She didn’t want to give in to her emotions, but she couldn’t help it. He
stirred her in ways she couldn’t resist.

He unlocked the car door and opened it for
her. “Come on.”

They hardly spoke as he drove them along
the seafront to Opua and up to his house. Inside her head, the angel and devil
argued with each other continually.

When they reached his house, he let them in
and Orion bounded up to see them. Pleased that the boxer remembered her, she
fussed him for a while as Garth poured them some wine. He handed her a glass,
and she walked into the living room, over to the windows. Darkness shrouded the
room, and the lights of Opua glittered in the semi-darkness. Outside in the
bush, a morepork hooted mournfully and a kiwi bird cried.

Had his late wife lived in the house? No,
he’d told her that he’d moved here after she died. Pleasure swept through her
that Jess had never stood at the windows and looked out at the view. Then
jealousy stabbed her that he’d loved someone else. That, in turn, made her uneasy.
She knew so little about him. His wife had died, and he’d clearly been cut up
about that, as well as about her affair with Nick Stewart. He hadn’t got over
that yet, she could tell. It made sense to wait until he’d sorted himself out
before she got involved with him. She didn’t want these powerful feelings, not
yet.

So what was she saying, that she wanted
what she’d had with Ethan? A lukewarm love that clearly he hadn’t reciprocated
in the least? Her stomach clenched with anguish. Why did this have to be so
hard?

From behind, Garth kissed her neck. “What’s
going through your mind? You look sad.”

She looked over her shoulder at him. “I was
thinking about Jess.”

He turned her, a frown marring his
forehead. “Oh?”

“She didn’t come here, did she?”

The frown lifted a little. “No.” He kissed
her cheek, but his eyes were shadowed.

“I can’t compete with ghosts,” she
whispered. “I don’t expect you never to have loved anyone else, Garth. But...if
you still love her, I... I don’t want to be second best.”

His eyes met hers then, and the shadows
vanished. The hazel orbs were hot and intense. “I’ve never felt about anyone
the way I feel about you,” he said firmly.

Her bottom lip trembled. Could it be true?
“I want to believe you...”

His ruffled brown hair had fallen over his
forehead, and he looked positively edible in his black shirt and white T-shirt.
He moved closer to her. “You want me to prove it?” He stroked his thumb across her
bottom lip, and she shivered.

“Yes,” she said huskily.

He put his glass on the table and drew her
into his arms. He brushed back the hair from her face. “You’re the most
beautiful woman I’ve ever known. And you still smell of chocolate.” He nuzzled
her ear. “You make my mouth water.”

Full of emotion, Chloe tried to smile, but
it wouldn’t come. She couldn’t help it—a tear slid down her cheek. She looked
down, apologizing, and tried to wipe it away, but Garth refused to let her,
tightening his grip on her. Lowering his mouth to her cheek, he kissed the tear
away instead.

He kissed her mouth and brushed his tongue
languidly over her bottom lip, grazing his teeth on it until she parted her
lips with an inhalation. Then he deepened the kiss, stroking his tongue inside.
He took the time to taste her, to press his lips along her cheeks, to her eyelids,
back down to her mouth, and slipped his hand into her hair and kissed her until
her heart thumped and her pulse began to sound in her ears.

Don’t think about the past or the
future,
the devil suggested.
Think about the
taste and smell of him, and the way you feel when he touches you.

The angel faded away, and Chloe did as the
devil told her.

Garth lifted his head as Chloe twitched,
startled, and he looked down. Orion’s wet nose prodded her knee. He laughed.
“Someone’s jealous.” Pushing the dog away, he lifted her easily and wrapped her
legs around his waist. “Time for some grown up time,” he told the dog. He directed
Orion to his bed in the kitchen and walked into the bedroom, closing the door
behind them.

“Poor Orion,” she murmured. “I’ll make a
big fuss of him afterward.”

He smiled and walked over to the bed. She
glanced at the bedside table and sighed. “Oh look, you left the chocolates out
in the sun. They’ve all melted.”

 Garth lowered her to the bed and stretched
out beside her. He leaned across to pick up the plate and brought it back to
rest on her stomach. “I left them out on purpose.”

“Why?”

He picked up one of the truffles. It gave
in his fingers and coated them with soft stickiness. Bringing it to her lips,
he touched it to the bottom one. She sucked the chocolate off, her eyes
beginning to warm. Thankful the haunted look had faded, he did it again, and
this time shook his head as she went to lick the chocolate off. Lowering his
mouth, he ran his tongue along her lip.

Why had her comment about Jess surprised
him so much? Surely it was natural for a woman to feel curious about a lover’s
ex partners? She’d shocked him because she and Jess were so different, and it
felt weird to even think of them in the same way. His memories and emotions of
his late wife were caught in a complex web that he couldn’t even begin to
untangle. But his feelings for Chloe were bright and crystal clear, like fresh
spring water. He felt a deep, overwhelming affection and desire for her, and he
desperately wanted to convey how intense those feelings were.

He kissed her, the summery taste of lemon
and chocolate filling his mouth, until she grew limp and began to sigh. He pulled
her up and tugged at her vest and, taking the hint, she lifted it off and dropped
it to the floor. Her lacy white bra with its half cups only just held in her
breasts, and he ran his fingers over the swell of them before moving a hand
around the back to pop the catch. He drew it down her arms and tossed it to the
floor.

She fell back onto the bed, and he studied
her pale form with wonder. “You’re like a Greek goddess.”

“You say such nice things,” she said,
biting her bottom lip.

He stroked her cheek with the back of his
hand. Dampness lingered from her earlier tears. She’d cried when he told her
that he’d never felt about anyone the way he felt about her. Did she believe
him? He wanted to convince her, to show her how much she meant to him, that he
knew this wasn’t a temporary fling, even though they hadn’t known each other
for long. He wanted to show her the strength of his emotions, and that he
wasn’t going to discard her as soon as the sun came up.

He took one of the melting chocolates and
touched it first to one nipple, then the other. She caught her breath as he
lowered his mouth to them. He smoothed his tongue over the velvety soft skin.
Like magic, it tightened under his tongue, and she gave a low moan as it
hardened. He grazed his teeth on the tip, then swapped to the other breast,
bringing that to a tight peak too, until she squirmed with desire. Continuing
to dab her with chocolate, he went back and forth from one to the other,
teasing her, tantalizing her, enjoying her long groans and erotic sighs.

That was enough. Time to get serious.

He undid her cutoffs and pulled them down,
leaving her panties on. Then he hooked his leg over her and looked into her
eyes. Her gaze begged him to continue, so he ran a hand down her body and
cupped her sex, arousing her through the thin fabric. Her flesh was hot,
swollen and soft. As he pressed his fingers, pushing the cotton a half inch
into her until it became damp, she closed her eyes and exhaled, her beautiful
lips parting, and he kissed her deeply before planting kisses down her neck and
back to her breasts. His mouth watered at the lemony, chocolaty smell mixed
with the musky scent of her arousal.

Wanting to taste the chocolate on her
tongue, he took one of the soft truffles, bit it in half, and gave some to her.
She sucked hers as he swallowed his half, and then before she’d finished, he
covered her mouth with his and slipped his hand beneath her panties, sliding
his fingers inside her. She gasped. As she opened her mouth, he brushed his
tongue inside, and chocolate engulfed him, swirled around him.