‘Fine and dandy, huh?’ he mocked.
Claudia didn’t deign to answer. She turned away from him and continued up the stairs.
‘You should fight for what you want,’ he said as he followed a step behind her.
Claudia concentrated on her feet. ‘It’s their place, Luke.’
‘Is that what it is?’ he demanded. ‘Or are you just too chicken? You’ve had an original idea that just might turn this giant white elephant of theirs around but you don’t have the guts to go for it. You’re running scared.’
Claudia stopped as a well of anger rolled through her. She turned abruptly, narrowly avoiding a collision with Luke. Even with him on the lower step he was still taller than her. She clenched her fists to stop herself from placing them on his chest and pushing him down the stairs.
Or possibly tearing his shirt off.
This close she could see every fleck that made up the brown of his eyes, every single eyelash, every individual whisker valiantly trying to push through the skin to freedom before he once again ruthlessly mowed them down.
He couldn’t taunt her in that hybrid accent of his—not about this. ‘I think you’re the only one running around here, Luke.’
And then she turned again and ran up the remaining stairs, putting as much distance between them as possible.
When she got to her room she thanked her lucky stars her parents had decided to take a different room rather than reclaim this one. She didn’t fancy sharing with them again—not tonight anyway. And God knew, there were plenty of suites to choose from at the moment!
She didn’t turn the light on. She didn’t have a shower, she didn’t brush her teeth, she didn’t even put on her pyjamas. For the first time in her life, Claudia stripped straight out of her clothes and left them discarded on the floor where she stood before walking to the bed, yanking back the sheets and crawling between them.
She sighed as the thick, crisp sheets folded her in cool starched bliss. It felt heavenly even though she knew in this sticky tropical weather she was bound to wake up in a few hours with body parts sticking together. But right now she was just too damn exhausted—physically and mentally—to care.
And hey, if it was good enough for Captain Sexypants...
His outrageous accusation on the stairs came back to her and Claudia shut her eyes to ward it off. She took five deep breaths, tuning in to the gentle swish of the ocean floating to her on a breeze that rustled the balcony curtains. She would not let Luke under her skin. He was leaving tomorrow and things here would return to business as usual.
She shifted around in the king-sized bed trying to get comfortable, not sure this whole naked thing was conducive to sleep.
Sex, maybe, but not sleep.
Hot, sweaty, dirty sex.
She shut her eyes, trying not to think about anything hot, sweaty or dirty or how long it had been since she’d had any.
Not with Captain Sexypants right next door.
* * *
It was Luke’s turn to stay awake all night staring at the ceiling, turning the dinner conversation over and over in his head. Claudia’s disappointed face burned into his retinas. Her accusation taunted him on automatic replay.
I think you’re the only one running around here.
He couldn’t stay, for crying out loud. His career was at a crossroads. He was back to the point he had been a few years ago before his wife had screwed him over. He just needed to lure this one big client, to bring their multimillion-dollar account to the firm, then he’d be back on top again.
He was almost there.
People depended on him at work—both his clients and his team. He couldn’t abandon them.
But could he really abandon Claudia now?
Again?
Sure, she had a team too, a very devoted team, but he couldn’t bear the thought of her stuck in the resort-that-time-forgot where it was Groundhog Day twenty-four-seven. Not after the excitement—the anticipation—he’d witnessed today.
It was as if he’d taken her to the gates of paradise and opened them a crack so she could see inside...and then clanged them shut in her face.
Claudia would let their parents have their way. After all, she’d always loved the place just the way it was.
And she was a pleaser.
But would she still have that verve and bounce she was renowned for as each year went by and the if-onlys set in? If-onlys could cripple a person—he knew that better than most. If only he hadn’t been so trusting of Philippa. If only he’d been paying more attention to the signs. If only he’d followed his own advice about the stupidity of office relationships.
If only he hadn’t been such a fool...
If-onlys could eat you up inside. They could make you bitter; they could make you hard; they could wear you down.
He hated even the thought of that picture—Claudia with all the fizz and bubble gone. No more bounce. Lines around her eyes. A strained smile.
Hanging onto that damn clipboard of hers for dear life because if she didn’t she might just smash it over the nearest hapless tourist’s head.
He wouldn’t wish if-onlys on his worst enemy.
Goddamn it.
He rolled over and punched his pillow hard. He was responsible for building up Claudia’s expectations. He couldn’t walk away from it now.
He was going to have to stay.
SEVEN
After a night of tossing and turning and with his decision made, it was Luke’s turn to barge in on Claudia. He’d heard the pipes in her shower going earlier so he knew she was up and about.
He knocked briefly on the interconnecting door then entered the room.
Except, she wasn’t up and about.
The room was lit only by a slice of sunlight peeking through curtains ruffled by a stiff ocean breeze, but it was enough to see she was very much in bed. Very much asleep. And, he froze on the spot...
Very, very much naked.
For long moments he didn’t know what to do—too shocked for any rationality as his brain tried to compute what he was seeing and his body waged a war with his conscience.
What are you doing, jerk? Get the hell out of here.
But...
She’ll kill you if she wakes up and finds you staring at her like you’ve never seen a naked woman before.
But...
You are acting like a dirty perv. Stop it now!
And Luke knew it was true but he just didn’t seem to be able to drag his eyes off Claudia’s nakedness. He’d spent twenty-plus years of his life not thinking about her like that at all and within the space of a week he’d subjected her to a sleepy grope, was having erotic dreams about her and now he was perving at her in the buff.
He really needed to get the hell out.
But he couldn’t move. Her breasts drew his gaze like some horny fifteen-year-old boy at a peep show. She had both arms up over her head, one resting across her face, which drew her breasts up very nicely indeed. And there they sat, small, yes, but pleasingly pert with that enticing side-swell he’d felt in his hand a few days ago.
His palm tingled again in Pavlovian response.
Caramel-coloured areolas and nipples crowned the tips majestically and he swallowed as his blood sugar plummeted suddenly, his body craving a sugar hit.
A caramel hit.
Frightened by the urge to indulge, he fisted his palms as he dragged his gaze down. Her bare skin was pale and he absently wondered how she’d accomplished that living on top of a beach from the age of six. She’d told him she didn’t have time for swimming but he hadn’t thought she was serious.
Her waist was slender, boasting an equally petite belly button that sat out like a little pearl, just begging to be licked. Sucked.
He swallowed again.<
br />
Her hips flared into a gentle curve before the sheet hid the really interesting parts from his view. Although one leg was hidden in a tangle of fabric it managed to drag on the sheet enough to expose most of the other leg. His gaze wandered over her pink toenails, her delicate calf and one well-defined knee then all the way up to where the sheet stopped just shy of her groin.
He expelled a shaky breath. Claudia Davis was one sexy little package.
How the hell had he missed that?
A gust of wind blew the curtain, billowing it out, and the door creaked loudly behind him, dragging him out of his inertia.
Leave, leave now!
He turned to go. But another strong gust snatched the handle away just as he reached for it and the door slammed. Loud enough to wake the dead.
Sure as hell loud enough to wake the naked woman he’d been ogling.
He glanced over his shoulder as she sat bolt upright in bed and Luke’s heart slammed as well. Louder than the door. Louder than the clanging chimes of doom that were ringing madly in his head.
Claudia woke with a start, her heart thundering in her chest, her startled gaze flying to the windows, momentarily confused. Was it another cyclone or was she still caught in the nightmare from the last one? The noise didn’t come again and her pulse settled, her wild, dilated eyes constricting down to a more useful size. She looked around, her vision clearing to reveal a Luke of a different variety in her room.
He was standing still with his back to the bed. She frowned. ‘Luke?’
He held his arms up as if in surrender but didn’t turn around. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I thought you were awake. I didn’t realise you were...’
Claudia frowned again. ‘Asleep?’ she clarified when it didn’t appear as if he was going to finish his sentence.
He seemed to hesitate before saying, ‘Er...yes...’
Claudia shrugged. ‘Well, I’m awake now...kind of.’
Luke doubted it. He’d know the second she woke up fully.
Claudia yawned as she ran a hand through her hair. ‘You might as well stay and talk to—’
Luke didn’t have to wait much longer. The muscles in his shoulders tensed.
‘Oh...my...God!’
Yep. Now, she was awake.
Claudia looked down at herself in horror. She was naked? She covered her breasts with an arm as she made a wild grab for the sheet, the quick impulsive tumble into bed the night before coming back in all its stupid glory.
She glared at Luke’s back, the full implications sinking in pretty damn quick as she dragged the sheet right up to her chin and scuttled back until she was sitting ramrod straight against the bed head.
He’d seen her like this.
‘How much did you see?’ she demanded.
Luke, relieved to hear the rustle of the sheets, dropped his hands. ‘I...’ He was caught between lying to make her feel better and blurting out the truth.
Too bloody much.
He was never going to see her as that skinny six-year-old any more.
‘Oh, God,’ Claudia wailed, his silence more damning than any words. ‘Please tell me I had the sheet on.’
‘You did.’
He turned to assure her he hadn’t seen everything but her frantic, ‘Don’t you dare turn around,’ had him swivelling back to face the connecting door again.
Claudia clutched the sheets harder. ‘What did you see?’
‘Claude...’
Claudia wasn’t in any mood to be placated. ‘What. Did. You. See?’
‘Just a...little bit of your...upper...part.’ Luke waited for the lightning bolt to strike him dead.
Claudia shut her eyes. Oh, dear God. He’d seen her breasts. Within a handful of days he’d not only touched them but he’d seen them as well.
Damn, damn, damn.
‘I’m really sorry...’ Luke continued. ‘I thought you were up...I thought I heard your shower pipes. I did knock.’
‘How long were you standing there for?’ she demanded.
Again Luke wasn’t sure what the right answer was—the truth sure as hell wasn’t pretty. ‘Not...long...’
His hesitancy did not fill Claudia with confidence. ‘Oh, God...you were, weren’t you? Just standing there staring at me—naked—while I was asleep.’
‘I...’ He went to turn again.
Claudia pulled the sheet closer. ‘Stop right there!’
Luke stopped mid-turn. ‘This is ridiculous, Claude.’
Why was he facing the door when she’d obviously covered herself? He wanted to be able to plead his case and he needed to look at her for that. He needed her to know that he hadn’t snuck into her room purely to perve on her.
Even if he had, in reality, not been able to tear his eyes off her.
But it hadn’t been premeditated.
‘I’m turning around,’ he announced.
‘No, you’re not,’ Claudia squeaked.
‘Yes,’ he said grimly. ‘I am.’ And did just that.
‘Luke!’ she gasped, outraged.
‘Oh, relax,’ he chided. Claudia had the sheet hiked up to her chin. ‘You’re more dressed than you were five minutes ago.’
Claudia blinked. ‘Oh, nice, real nice, Luke,’ she said scathingly.
Luke took a deep breath. ‘I’m sorry,’ he muttered, holding up his hands in a sign of contrition. ‘But you’re perfectly decent and I promise I’m not going to leap across the space between us and rip the sheet away so just ease up on it a little or the bloody thing will tear in two and then we’ll be back at square one.’
‘Yes.’ Claudia nodded vigorously. ‘With you gawking at me,’ she said caustically, but she eased off, lowering the sheet to just below her chin.
Luke glared at her. ‘I didn’t...I wasn’t...’ He stopped because he did and he was. But it wasn’t how she made it sound. Her eyebrow kicked up at his hesitancy and he shoved a hand through his hair in frustration.
Like with the grope incident, he was once again on the back foot. And like with the grope incident the best way to settle things was head-on.
‘I came in to talk to you. I thought you were up and about. When I realised you were asleep, realised you were...naked I was temporarily rendered incapable of movement. I was...surprised.’
In shock was probably a better word. She’d told him just the other day when she’d been so scandalised by his own nudity, that she didn’t sleep in the buff. It was a safe bet to assume that even if he had caught her in bed, that she’d at least be fully clothed and not completely starkers.
‘I may have...probably...looked longer than I should have...’ Way longer. ‘I apologise. It wasn’t my intention to...’
‘Gawk? Perve? Ogle?’
Luke nodded. ‘Yes. To all three.’
Claudia had to admit it was a fairly comprehensive apology but she wasn’t sure she was ever going to be able to look at him again and not be aware of the fact that he’d seen her naked. She almost wanted to demand that he strip just so she could even the score.
More heat crept into her face at the thought—how would that solve anything? Didn’t that make her just as pervy?
And what about those moments after she’d woken the other day to his hand on her breast and his erection snuggled against her? Hadn’t she pushed back a little? Hadn’t she stayed where she was instead of moving away? Hadn’t she lain there wondering how good it might be if he slipped his hand under her shirt?
Could she claim to be so innocent where a sleeping Luke had been concerned?
The situation was too much and Claudia rested her forehead on her knees, feeling decidedly conflicted. How had they found themselves here?
‘I really am sorry, Claude. What if I promise to permanently delete what I saw here today
from my memory cells?’
Claudia blinked at the ludicrous offer—as if that were going to be possible. And then suddenly disbelief turned to affront. Wait. Was that possible? Could he do it? Did her assets leave that little an impression? She knew they were small but they were quite perky even if she did say so herself and in a push-up bra they looked even better.
Despite her embarrassment she felt more than a little miffed.
‘Just like that?’ she asked waspishly. ‘My breasts are really that forgettable?’ It was completely irrational to feel as if her femininity had been insulted.
She was supposed to still be mortified!
Luke frowned, trying to keep up with the sudden about-face. What the—? She was pissed at him now because he was offering to do the gentlemanly thing? Or was it just some trick question? Did she want him to remember it? Because frankly he didn’t think there was enough will in the world to erase the memory of those delectable caramel nipples.
He was pretty sure they were going to feature in many future fantasy scenarios.
‘No.’ He shook his head ‘God, no. Absolutely not.’
‘Damn straight,’ she muttered.
Luke frowned again. ‘So...you don’t want me to forget them?’
Claudia glared at him for rationalising something that had no rational basis. ‘Yes, I do. Just maybe don’t look as if it’s so damn easy,’ she grouched.
Luke knew this could be funny if it weren’t so confusing. How could she sit there with the sheet pulled up to her neck like some Victorian virgin and look cranky and embarrassed and accusing all at once? As if her being naked were his fault?
He didn’t think any man with a recent dose of jet lag should have to figure out the workings of the female brain.
‘Oh, God,’ he begged, rubbing his temples. ‘I’m too tired and suspect I may have a Y chromosome too many for this conversation. Can we please just start again?’
Claudia noticed the cornered-male look on Luke’s face and the absurdity of the situation hit her. If she weren’t buck naked under the sheet, she might even have laughed. She felt the tension ease from her shoulders even if the heat in her cheeks didn’t.
‘Fine,’ she huffed as her shoulders sagged and her lungs deflated. ‘I’m sorry...I’m just...this isn’t really in my playbook, you know?’
Harlequin KISS August 2014 Bundle Page 7