Harlequin KISS August 2014 Bundle

by Amy Andrews, Aimee Carson, Avril Tremayne

‘That’s probably the wisest thing,’ she said.

  Luke nodded. ‘Wise, yes.’

  But Claudia didn’t think his heart sounded in it and a tiny spark of hope flared to life. ‘What about the other part of you?’ she asked.

  Luke took a swig of his beer. She so did not want to know about that part of him. ‘I tend not to listen to that side,’ he dismissed.

  Which was a lie of course. That was his maverick side, his throw-caution-to-the-wind side. The creative part, the part that made him a gifted advertising executive, that formed new and innovative ideas that clients went nuts over.

  He indulged that side all the time. Just not this time.

  Claudia scrunched her nose. She wasn’t a fan of the first option so she was willing to take anything on board. ‘I still think it should get a vote.’

  ‘Oh, no.’ Luke shook his head. ‘It definitely should not get a vote.’

  ‘Oh, really? Why not?’

  ‘Because that part wants to rip that awful uniform off you and spend all night making you come.’

  Claudia stilled. How could a statement so blatantly dirty sound so posh? ‘Oh.’

  Luke took another swig of his beer. ‘Yes. Oh.’

  Claudia’s hand trembled a little as her insides tied themselves into a massive knot. She placed her glass on the bench beside her, not trusting herself to keep hold of it as she slowly lost her grip on the real world.

  ‘I could be...’ she cleared her throat ‘...amenable...to that.’

  Luke did not need another invitation. On a muffled expletive he closed the distance between them, sliding his beer onto the bench beside her wine before grabbing her around the waist, yanking her in close to him and slamming his mouth down onto hers.

  And it didn’t disappoint. ‘God,’ he groaned as his mouth lifted to kiss her cheek, her eye, her ear. ‘I’ve been fantasising about this all day.’

  Claudia went up on her tippy toes, clutching him around the shoulders, hanging on as his lips ravaged her neck, bending her back for better access as he swirled his tongue down into her cleavage. ‘Luke,’ she gasped as his hand yanked her blouse out of her skirt then glided up underneath, up, up, up to claim a breast, squeezing and kneading, rubbing across the aching tip with devastating effect.

  ‘We could keep doing this,’ Claudia said as Luke’s mouth trailed a wet trail along a collarbone.

  ‘Right,’ Luke panted as his mouth trekked back down her chest. He yanked her bra cup aside and her long low moan was like music to his ears. ‘We’re mature adults—we can handle a temporary...thing.’

  Claudia nodded then gasped as Luke’s mouth found her nipple. ‘Oh, God.’

  ‘I don’t want to stop this,’ he murmured in between wet swirls around her nipples. ‘Do you want me to?’

  Claudia shook her head. ‘No,’ she said, her denial husky but no less forceful. She really didn’t. Even if it was going to leave her crushed into the ground at the end, she’d take whatever he could give her here and now, because if she couldn’t have all of him then she’d have this time and tuck it inside her for ever knowing at least she had loved once upon a time.

  Luke smiled and swirled his way back up to her neck, her mouth. ‘Good.’ He grinned, cupping her cheeks, his mouth on hers. ‘So good.’

  And then he kissed her again, long and slow, savouring every delicious second, revelling in the knowledge that her kisses were going to be part of his life for the foreseeable future. Before coming back to Cairns the thought of giving one woman such power again would have scared the bejesus out of him but Claudia was right—all women weren’t the same and she was no Philippa.

  He pulled back slightly, breathing hard. ‘Why aren’t we horizontal?’ he murmured.

  She grinned. ‘I have no idea. We should do something about that.’ And she kissed him again, clinging to his neck as he slowly walked them backwards towards the bed.

  But they hadn’t gone very far when Claudia’s room door opened and Gloria and Lena walked in. Claudia and Luke sprang apart as if they’d been hit by a taser. Gloria and Lena’s conversation stopped abruptly as they stared open-mouthed at their respective children.

  ‘Oh, Lena,’ Gloria gasped, turning to Claudia’s mother. ‘It’s finally happened.’

  Lena grabbed Gloria’s hand. ‘I know,’ she said. ‘Finally.’

  Gloria moved into the room, making a beeline for her son. ‘We’d always hoped, didn’t we, Lena?’ she said. Lena nodded. ‘But you went off to London and then you got married and you didn’t want to manage the resort with Claude and we thought...well, it looked like it was never going to happen and now...’

  Luke watched, horrified, as the two women approached with huge beaming smiles. He glanced at Claudia, who was thankfully covered and looking just as stunned by the events of the last minute. What a freaking disaster. Why the hell was her door open? If their mothers had been a minute later God only knew what kind of a state he and Claudia would have been in.

  It certainly wouldn’t have been vertical.

  He cringed thinking about it. It was bad enough standing here at thirty-two, caught with his hands all over Claudia and a raging hard-on in front of his glowing mother; he didn’t need to think about how much worse it could have been.

  At least kissing was more easily explained. Hopefully.

  Claudia glanced at Luke as their mothers kept raving about what a wonderful couple they’d always known she and Luke would make. Luke looked as if he was about to throw up.

  She knew how he felt.

  This was bad. Very bad. Exactly what they’d wanted to avoid—involving two people who wouldn’t understand it when Luke left to go back to London.

  She had to do something, say something—quick.

  ‘This is not what it seems,’ Claudia said.

  SEVENTEEN

  Gloria and Lena stopped talking abruptly and a spike of guilt at bursting their bubble poked Claudia right in the centre of her chest.

  ‘Okay,’ her mother said although clearly she didn’t believe Claudia. ‘What is it, then?’

  Good question Luke thought as he glanced down at Claudia. How on earth could either of them explain away what their mothers had seen? Convincingly.

  ‘Luke and I were just sharing a good-luck-for-opening-day kiss,’ she said.

  ‘That didn’t look like a good-luck kiss to me,’ Gloria said and winked at Lena.

  ‘It got a little out of hand,’ Claudia admitted, ‘but we’re both exhausted from working so hard and nervous about tomorrow... It was...pure reaction...just one of those strange isolated moments that sometimes happen when people work closely together on something and the stakes are high. That’s all.’

  ‘That’s all?’ her mother repeated, clearly unconvinced.

  ‘It happens all the time in advertising, doesn’t it, Luke?’ she said, nudging Captain Silent-pants for help.

  Luke nodded. It sounded crazy but maybe they could convince their mothers if they stuck to her ridiculous isolated-reactionary-incident-brought-about-by-exhaustion story. ‘That’s right.’

  ‘Oh? Kissed a lot of your colleagues, have you?’ his mother asked.

  Luke cleared his throat. ‘Some,’ he said lamely. Lying to his mother was more difficult as a grown man than it had been as a teenager.

  ‘There is absolutely nothing between us,’ Claudia said. ‘Nothing. Just old friends who let something go too far because we were exhausted and...overwhelmed and it won’t happen again, right, Luke?’ she asked him.

  Luke nodded vigorously. ‘It won’t.’

  Gloria and Lena glanced at each other and grinned a little. ‘Okay, sure,’ Gloria said. ‘That makes sense. A one-off.’

  ‘Won’t happen again.’ Lena nodded.

  Luke narrowed his gaze. ‘It won’t.’
/>
  ‘Okay, sure,’ Gloria said, and Lena nodded her agreement.

  Claudia sighed. They both looked suspiciously bright-eyed and Claudia’s dismay grew. She and Luke didn’t need the pressure of their parental expectations. They both knew nothing short of the royalesque wedding their mothers had apparently been planning for the last twenty years would satisfy Gloria and Lena.

  Their thing was over before it had even begun.

  Dead in the water.

  ‘Was there a reason why you barged in without knocking?’ she asked her mother.

  Lena tutted at her daughter’s sass. ‘The door was unlocked.’

  ‘I haven’t been locking it with the hotel empty.’

  ‘We just wanted to let you both know that if everything goes smoothly the next two days we’ll be setting off on Wednesday.’

  Luke wanted to say, And you couldn’t use the phone? but that would be rude and ungrateful and they spent the next few minutes talking over their parents’ travel plans as if their mothers hadn’t just caught them making out like horny teenagers.

  It felt awkward and unnatural and Luke was relieved when Gloria and Lena took their leave. ‘Be good,’ Lena said as they both walked to the door, springs in their step.

  ‘And if you can’t be good, be careful,’ Gloria threw over her shoulder as the door slowly closed.

  Claudia and Luke stared at the door as it clicked shut on a burst of raucous female laughter and excited chatter they could hear despite the thick wooden barrier. ‘Oh, God,’ Luke said. ‘They’re already picking out china patterns, aren’t they?’

  Claudia nodded miserably. She wondered if her mother or Gloria had any idea that their unintentional interruption had actually had the opposite effect to what they’d clearly been plotting all these years.

  ‘You and I can never just have a...fling, can we?’ he murmured.

  ‘No.’ Claudia shook her head. ‘Not with our parents knowing anyway. If we’re in any kind of a relationship, they’re going to be sending out invitations and humming the wedding march. But we always knew that...’

  ‘Yes.’ Luke rubbed a hand along his neck. They had. They’d just let their hormones get in the way.

  Stupid!

  Look what had happened the last time he’d let them take over—an ex-wife and a torpedoed career. Did he learn nothing?

  ‘We can’t do this, can we?’

  Claudia looked at him. A quarter of an hour ago she’d been minutes away from having him naked and inside her. Now she knew she’d never know that feeling again and she thanked her lucky stars for last night. To have known Luke in the carnal sense.

  ‘No. We’ll break their hearts when you go back to London, back to your other life. I don’t want that to be a source of friction between them.’

  She waited for him to say he wasn’t going to go back. That he’d decided to stay.

  Luke shoved his hands on his hips. ‘Yes.’

  He looked frustrated and weary and Claudia knew exactly how he felt. Their kissing had revved her up and now she was standing here, her engine running, with nowhere to go. ‘We’ll always have last night.’ She shrugged.

  Luke gave her a half-smile. ‘Yeah,’ he murmured, his gaze dropping to her mouth briefly, the muscles in his corded forearms flexing and for a second she thought he was going to leap the distance between them and kiss her anyway.

  But he didn’t.

  Instead he looked away, dropped his hands to his sides and headed for his room. ‘See you in the morning,’ he said, pulling the door closed after him.

  Claudia stared at the door.

  Morning.

  One long, sleepless night away.

  * * *

  Opening day was a success. Everything went off without a hitch and their guests were all lovely, very aware of the hardship that had recently befallen the Tropicana and extra accommodating with the limited activities available. Mostly they were family groups, grateful for the lower-key atmosphere, happy to hang out at the pool and play on the beach.

  On Wednesday their parents left to much fanfare and relief as far as Claudia was concerned. Even just the disappointment she’d glimpsed on her mother’s face as she’d realised she and Luke had been serious about their non-relationship had been hard to take.

  She couldn’t begin to imagine how much worse it would be if they had gone ahead and had a fling, built up their mothers’ hopes and dreams only to dash them all when Luke left to go back home again.

  Because he was going back to London—he’d made that very clear.

  Thankfully over the following days and weeks they were much too busy to dwell on it. Between running the hotel and moving things along with the spa complex, not to mention Luke working all hours of the night as well as working with Jonah on a new advertising campaign, they didn’t have time to be social.

  They didn’t have time to be lovers.

  Make time, that pesky little devil that seemed to have taken up permanent residence on her shoulder, urged her every night as she lay in bed trying not to think about Luke lying in his bed. Right next door. Completely naked.

  Sure, she could make the time if she wanted to throw caution to the wind, set up something clandestine with him, but the outcome wouldn’t change. He was still leaving and all nights and nights of endless sex and passion would ultimately get her was even more exhausted than she was now.

  There was a lot to do and she had to be on her game—not yawning and constantly distracted by whatever acrobatic sex they’d had the night before. Her guests deserved bright, chipper Claudia of old and that was what they were getting. The Tropicana had been dealt a huge blow both physically and financially and turning that around took hard work and focus.

  And that was what she chose to concentrate on. Getting the Tropicana back. Salvaging the old reputation at the same time she forged ahead with establishing another—a first-class spa facility with luxury tent accommodation.

  Who needed nights and nights of endless sex and passion?

  She put Luke and what could have been in a special place to pull out and look at again another day in the future.

  Maybe when it had stopped hurting so damn much.

  * * *

  The weeks blended into months and the resort exceeded Claudia’s expectations, achieving a seventy per cent occupancy over the winter season. Everyone was busy and it was good to have a cash flow again. They were able to re-establish a lot of activities—lei threading, bush-tucker tours, beachcomber collaging, shell jewellery and ballroom dancing were all added to the programme along with the Saturday night luau. Several regular themed nights—pirate, medieval and mermaids—were held in the dining room with food and entertainment to match, and proved popular with the families.

  But the biggest change was the building of the day spa, which they’d decided to call Tropicana Retreat. Thanks to government and tourist-industry pressure on banks, councils and insurance companies, everything had gone through without a hitch and they were able to get the build started within two months.

  Claudia had hired a local building company who were surprisingly available given how much of the area needed rebuilding. But so much couldn’t be done yet, not until insurance money had come through, so the company had jumped at the chance to create something special at the Tropicana.

  Once the work started it took hardly any time to build. It was just a simple rectangular plan with a large open reception area that flowed into a salon area where manicures, pedicures and facials were done. Beyond that were four rooms for massage treatments and another room where a state-of-the-art Vichy shower was installed allowing them to do scrubs and all kinds of body wraps.

  The fit-out took longer with Avery and Claudia poring over every single tile, pedicure chair, paint colour and blind-fabric swatch. Claudia was pleased to have Avery and h
er eye for the exquisite and happy to leave her to it once the big decisions had been made, freeing her up to tackle the hiring of staff.

  Luke took on the task of managing the luxury tent accommodation, which, again, wasn’t a huge construction job. The wooden platforms were simple and sourcing the right fabric for the tent-like shelter wasn’t as difficult as he’d thought. The largest part of the build was the attached luxury bathroom facilities.

  Nobody paid a few hundred dollars a night to sleep in a tent to have to go walkabout for a bathroom in the middle of the dark so it was important that they catered for that.

  The biggest issue and the one that caused the most debate was deciding where each of the six tents would ultimately be located on the grounds. They had an enlarged aerial photograph of the grounds as they were now, post cyclone, that Jonah had taken from the chopper, and they used monopoly houses for the tent sites, which they moved around and around trying to choose the best positions.

  It was exciting to watch everything come together. Claudia felt a renewed sense of pride and vigour in the Tropicana as her dreams slowly became reality.

  And if there were times where things were a little tense between her and Luke or she caught him looking at her with such abject hunger she wanted to rip all his clothes off, then knowing they were creating something amazing together, that they were reshaping this wonderful legacy of theirs, helped to temper those times.

  They were both doing the right thing with a relationship that was never going to go anywhere so pouring all their sexual energy into the Tropicana made sense.

  Indulging would be easy. But the consequences would be hard.

  It was better this way.

  * * *

  Two weeks out from the official launch of the Tropicana Retreat, Luke sat at his desk at eleven o’clock at night staring at the email recalling him, in no uncertain terms, to London. The multimillion-dollar account he’d been working on for months was ready to go and the company CEO in question wanted Luke there to do the presentation.

  Only Luke.

  It was his chance to redeem himself and restore his reputation. And he wanted it.