The Perfect Indulgence (13 page)

Summer giggled. “If someone was coming after me like that I’d run, too.”

“How about if I was chasing after you?”

Oh, gosh.
Just when she was about to go giddy at the thought of Luke trying to seduce her, he winked. She reminded herself that this was his autoflirt mechanism, not to be taken seriously.

“Hmm.” She pretended to consider the concept. “Nope. Wouldn’t work. It’s not my style.”

“It does lack subtlety.”

“Have you ever had a serious girlfriend?”

He burst out laughing, harder than she’d ever seen him.

“What?” She had no idea what was so funny. “What did I say?”

“Sorry.” He got himself under control. “It’s just that you asked me that right after I talked about chasing you like a horny elephant seal. Like, ‘Seriously, Luke? Have you ever even
had
a girlfriend?’”

Summer cracked up. “No, I definitely didn’t mean that.”

“To answer your question, no.” He turned back to the seals, blushing. “I’ve dated around, nothing has ever really stuck. I probably need to grow up.”

His admission surprised her. “Well, you have time. It’s not like you’re fifty and still haven’t.”

“What about you?”

“Do
I
need to grow up?” She’d had to grow up way too soon. “No, I’m perfect.”

“How nice for you. I was talking about boyfriends.”

“I had a couple. I mentioned them before. They were a little...rough.”

His head jerked around, all laughter gone from his face. “With you?”

“No, no, not like that.” She got a thrill from his protectiveness, even knowing she could take care of herself just fine, and pretty much always had. “One sold drugs. The other one stole. Took me a while to catch on, then when I did, I got out. That was it for me as far as boyfriends. Double fail.”

“Well, you know, Summer, you still have time. It’s not like you’re fifty.”

“So true!” She watched the seals cooling themselves, using their flippers to toss sand onto their backs, though the air was a pleasant temperature to her. Everything was pleasant to her right now. She was starting to realize how lonely she’d been without realizing it, keeping herself frenetically busy to hide the fact that she didn’t have an intimate relationship in her life. Certainly not with her family after she’d moved out. As far as they were concerned, she was either selfish or a traitor or both. And she’d hardly seen Janine since she got her new boyfriend months ago.

“So you want to go somewhere that smells better?”

“Sure.” She turned with Luke to walk back to the car. “Has Zac taken you to Hearst Castle yet?”

“Um, no. Not yet.” He was speaking carefully.

“Not in the mood for a castle?”

“Honestly, Summer?” He touched her arm. “I just want to hang out with you somewhere we don’t have to think about anything else. Like on a beach that doesn’t smell like a seal sewer. Or at a coffee shop that isn’t Slow Pour. Or, I don’t know...”

“All of that sounds nice.” Her voice came out low and shy.

“Cool.” He took her hand and her heart started beating faster again, plus a funny pressure swelled in her chest. She guessed it was just going to be that way around him until her infatuation faded or he broke her heart.

“Thank you for coming over today, Luke. I would have been too proud and too stubborn to apologize first. Seems like a stupid waste of time now.” She liked the way his hand felt wrapped around hers. Such a little thing but it carried big emotional weight. “Though if you’d come into Slow Pour while I was working, I wouldn’t have been able to stay mad for long.”

“Yeah, well, maybe I am growing up a little.” He moved away to smile at her, stretching their arms, then came back closer.

“Not always a bad thing.” Summer smiled back. The pressure in her chest increased, and she suddenly understood exactly what it was.

She wanted to tell him her secret. She trusted him that much.

“I’m studying psychology. In case you wanted to know. As soon as I can I’m going to enroll full-time at Cal Poly.” Her words rushed out and she was immediately anxious, as if she’d done something terrible and irrevocable, like push someone off a cliff.

“That’s great.” He squeezed her hand. “Good for you.”

And...

That was it.

Summer nearly laughed. Why had she thought telling Luke would be a big deal? She might as well have told him what she had for breakfast, or that she was thinking of changing her hairstyle. Everyone went to college in his world. He had no reason to think she was extraordinary or daring to accomplish it in hers.

He’d also therefore have no reason to mock her, or to tell her she couldn’t possibly make it through the program. He had no reason to expect her to fail.

And it hit her that some of her attraction to this charming, funny man-boy was that around Luke, she already felt like the woman she wanted to become.

10

C
OLD
. W
HY
WAS
his room so cold? Zac reached for the extra blanket he kept at the bottom of his bed.

No blanket.

What was that noise?

He opened one eye. It was barely light outside.

He blinked to clear his vision and focused on...mmm, a female breast. Waves tumbled gently onto the sand behind him. His lips curved in a smile.

Oh, yeah.

He moved closer to Chris, who turned away, curling up against him.

Last night had been everything he’d fantasized and more. He’d been able to cut nearly all the way through the weird straitjacket she’d strapped herself into and connect to the fiery, funny woman he was so crazy about.

She’d cut through his straitjacket, too. Lying with her after having one of the most astounding orgasms of his life, he’d been able to open up a little, tell her something of what he was feeling, with amazing results: it hadn’t killed him.

What’s more, she was still here, so he hadn’t scared her away. Now he was daring to hope his plan was going to work, that under the guise of a casual fling Chris would discover her feelings ran deeper than she thought. Maybe deep enough to keep the relationship going long-distance, or, if he got into Columbia, very short-distance.

That was the dream, anyway. He was getting way ahead of where they were now. He should take a page from her Zen book and concentrate on the moment.

Like that her hair smelled faintly of flowers.

Like that her legs were tangled with his.

Like that her incredibly firm and shapely ass was pressed against his groin.

He should let her sleep, but...

She stirred, letting out a faint whimper, then adjusted her body more firmly against his.

Zac stifled a groan. His flesh was definitely willing. Come to think of it, so was his spirit.

He moved his hand in a slow caress up her stomach, covering one of her beautiful breasts, feeling the nipple harden against his palm.

She whimpered again.

Drawing his hand down her stomach, he threaded his fingers into the curls between her legs. She stiffened in his arms.

“Good morning.” He pushed into the dampness he’d tasted and thrust into and adored over most of the night.

“Mmmph.”

He grinned, wondering if she was always slow to start in the mornings. So much he didn’t know about her, so much he wanted to find out. “Did you sleep well?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

He singled out her clitoris with the tip of one finger and circled it slowly.

“Zac.”

“Yes, Chris.” His finger moved farther into her, encountering moisture, which made his cock harden even more painfully.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m saying good morning.”

“That’s how you do it?” He could hear the smile in her voice, which only encouraged his exploration, while his cock was reduced to begging.

“Why, is there another way?”

“Jeez.” She giggled. “You are such a guy.”

His finger, slippery from her wetness, found and circled her clitoris again. “Want me to change?”

“Mmm, no, don’t change.” She arched back against him. He slid his penis into the gap at the top of her thighs, pushing to rub back and forth against her sex, making both of them groan at the pleasure. “I like you the way you are.”

“’Kay.” He couldn’t handle more than one syllable. She’d started playing with her own breasts, stroking them, manipulating her nipples, and it was making him a little nuts.

“Zac.”

“Whuh?”

She giggled, squeezing her thighs together, practically making his eyes roll back in his head. “Trouble speaking, dear?”

“Mhripghtp.”

She rolled onto her stomach, grabbed a pillow and pushed it under her hips, tilting that gorgeous ass up high. There was enough dawn light to see darkness between her firm, shapely cheeks. “Maybe this will help?”

He groaned involuntarily, grabbed a condom from their depleted stash under the pillow—which, thankfully, hadn’t been disturbed during the night—and had it on in record time.

“Brr. It’s cold, Zac.” She pretended to shiver, her voice low and sultry. “Warm me up.”

“Ungh.” He was on his knees between her thighs already, one hand on her hip, the other on his erection, ready to guide it into heaven.

She arched her back, tipping her pelvis farther toward him. He brought his cock to her soft lips and rubbed up and down the pink crevice, loving the sounds she made, the way she wiggled back toward him, pushing her bottom higher, wanting him inside her.

Applying gentle pressure, he watched his cock slowly disappear, inch by inch, her inner walls squeezing him, until he was fully inside.
Oh, man.
He stopped there, breathing fast, loving this moment of total connection before movement would escalate his lust toward its inevitable explosion and retreat.

Chris turned and met his eyes, hers shadowed by near darkness that turned her soft beauty mysterious and enticing. Tenderness mixed with desire so strongly he could only gaze back at her, wondering if she was the love of his life and what the hell he would do if she was.

Then she tossed her head so her hair swung over one perfect naked shoulder, pulling her hips forward and back, and desire won. He moved inside her, pleasuring her, pleasuring himself, wishing he was lying over her, gazing deeply into her eyes, able to tell her everything he felt.

Still too soon.

Frustration made him push harder, jolting her body. She rose up onto her arms, meeting his thrusts, uttering guttural cries that fueled his excitement until he was afraid he’d spin out of control.

“Zac.”
Her hand moved between her legs. She rubbed frantically as he pumped her until she stiffened and gasped. Immediately he stopped holding back, let the orgasm sweep over him, aware of her muscles contracting around him as she came with him, aware of the softness of her skin, the fresh cool air around them, the regular splash and gurgle of the waves, wanting to capture and hold every aspect of the moment close in his memory.

Slowly he came down, regretfully, knowing they’d have to pack up and leave soon, leave behind this perfect bubble of passion and togetherness.

He pulled out of her, wanting Chris in his arms, face-to-face, wanting to ask what she was feeling, if her emotions had changed after their amazing night together.

Of course he did nothing like that, just gathered her to him and lay there as if he was only experiencing oh-baby-you-were-great afterglow.

“Mmm, Mr. Arnette, I have to say the benefits of being your friend are con-
sid
-erable.”

He forced a laugh at the unintentional jab. In his view, what they’d shared had taken them way beyond friends. Even friends who were lovers. But he’d have to be patient. “Yeah? Think you might want to be this friendly again sometime?”

“Most definitely.” She did sound happier and more relaxed than he’d heard her in a long time. “I love doing this with you. It’s like... It’s so...”

He waited eagerly. Fantastic? Incredible? Life changing?

“Nonthreatening.”

Ouch.
“Uh...yeah, wow, Chris. Every guy’s dream after a long night of sex is to be told he’s not threatening.”

“I’m serious.” She stretched luxuriously, making him want to pounce on her again. “I feel so comfortable with you. Like, amazingly comfortable.”

He smiled. Of course she did. Because they were really, really good together. “Why do you think that is?”

Chris narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “You’re smirking again. That means there’s something going on in your head that you’re not telling me.”

“No, no, nothing like that.” He made his smile as innocent as possible. “Go on.”

“Well...a couple of things. First, I know you’ll laugh, but I do think my experience at the Peace, Love and Joy Center has changed me.”

Zac gritted his teeth. She was giving credit for how good they were together to some New Age BS yoga studio?

“And in this situation with you, I don’t feel any expectations I have to live up to. I don’t have to be the perfect partner.”

His irritation dissolved into protective sympathy that any guy had made her feel that way—or even that she had to feel that way all on her own. He liked things black, white and organized. You needed clean water in a village. If there wasn’t any, you found a way to bring it in. If you had storm overflow too often, you found new places for the water to go. But Chris’s brain seemed to have much more complex reactions. It was obvious she’d struggled through life a great deal more than her outward control and competence let on.

“Of course you don’t need to be perfect.” He stroked her hair, keeping his voice light. “Perfection is boring.”

“You think so?” She sighed. “I’m a perfectionist. Always have been. My parents, too. Eva was the lucky one in the family. She was sloppy and careless and fun from the moment she was born. She surprised and enchanted people. I have always felt completely predictable beside her. But then, that’s what my parents raised me to be.”

Zac nodded, wanting to ride in on his white horse and slay her demons. But he knew she’d have to put those to rest by herself. “I had a best friend growing up who was incredibly charming and passionate and cool. So I know that feeling. Next to him I was the too-big, slow-moving dork.”

“I think you’re charming and cool.” She gave him a come-hither smile. “And I
know
you are passionate.”

He dropped a thank-you kiss on the top of her head. “I know Eva admires you, but I bet she envied you, too, in a lot of ways.”

“Grass is always greener?” Chris shrugged. “Maybe. But she is what she is, and always has been. She’s done really well and is incredibly happy, and here I am, supposedly the daughter who’s got it all together, and I’m still trying to figure so much out.”

Here was his opportunity. But he’d have to tread carefully. “She’s always been herself, Chris. But so have you. And you are also doing really well and will be incredibly happy someday, too.”

She turned her head toward him, and where he expected her to bristle as she always did and insist she had changed and would continue to change, she just looked thoughtful and slightly troubled in a way that made him ache.

“I think I know what you’re saying.” Her fingertip touched his forehead, trailed down his nose and ran lightly over his lips. “I take it you’re not that into my wig, huh?”

He laughed, relieved she wasn’t upset. “I don’t think it would fit me. But I love your tattoo.”

“You saw that?”

He stroked the tiny phoenix on her left side under her arm. “In case you didn’t notice, I’ve been studying your body thoroughly.”

“Mmm, I did notice.”

He continued stroking her, listening to the waves, watching the dawn sky brighten, feeling their time together slipping away, minute by minute.

“So, Zac, I’ve been thinking.”

“Yes?”

“About Valentine’s Day.”

Zac froze for a microsecond before he reminded himself to keep breathing. Was she going to say she wanted to hang out with him on Valentine’s Day? Immediately he began thinking beyond boxes of chocolate, poetry and bouquets of roses to something that would represent his feelings without being too clichéd or scaring her.

“Yeah, I’d like to do something at Slow Pour.”

“Okay.” At Slow Pour? What kind of wildly romantic date was that? Unless she meant after hours, when the shop was dark and deserted.

“I’ve never really thought much of the holiday. I mean, really, do you need a calendar to tell you when to be romantic?”

“Nope.” He was barely listening, thinking hard about Valentine’s Day with Chris, and how far he could push—

“But Eva’s doing a really nice event at NYEspresso, and I think I could do more with the shop on that day. What do you think?”

Oh.

Zac barely kept himself from growling. He was not doing the patience thing so well. It was a good sign that Chris wanted to celebrate a day of romance instead of ignoring it.

“I think a bigger event sounds great. What were you thinking of doing?” He snapped his fingers. “I know. You want me to dress up in a diaper and fairy wings with a bow and quiver of arrows and shoot your customers.”

“Oh, that would be adorable!” She clapped her hands gleefully. “But no, not in a million years.”

“I’m seriously disappointed.”

“Uh-huh.” Chris turned onto her side, absently stroking his chest. “I’ve got some decorations and special bakery items on order. But I want to do something bigger, something that will attract attention to the store, that will really spark interest.”

“Set it on fire?”

She rolled her eyes, giggling. “You are such a help.”

“Give away engagement rings?”

One dark eyebrow lifted. “You paying?”

“Um.” He pretended to consider. “No.”

“But maybe...” She frowned in concentration, then gasped, her face lighting. “I know! I could give away coffee for a year to any couple who gets engaged at Slow Pour on Valentine’s Day!”

Immediately, even knowing he was being totally ridiculous, Zac imagined himself kneeling at her feet, offering Chris a ring. She’d be shocked at first, then her expression would clear and soften. Tears would run down her cheeks and she’d open her mouth and say—

“I am brilliant!” Chris rose to sitting. “Why didn’t I think of this before? People will want to come from all over to hang out at Slow Pour in case someone proposes. And of course while they’re waiting, they’ll need coffee and food to tide them over. I can rent a tent for the front area and set up more tables, triple the pastry and drink orders, have my supplier deliver extra coffee. God, only if there’s enough time. Let’s see...”

“Chris.”

“I have a week, right? Today is Saturday and Valentine’s Day is next Saturday. I should still have time to get an article in the
Tribune
, because of course they’d want to cover this, then I’ll post an article in the
Carmia Chronicle
online, put up posters around town...”

“Chris.”

“Mmm?” She swung her legs over the edge of the bed, propping her hands behind her to push herself onto the sand.