The Guy To Be Seen With (Valentine's Day Survival Guide)

by Harper, Fiona

  New Chloe had been her most important self-improvement package to date. What was the point in excelling at Italian cooking or swing dancing or Spanish guitar if you failed at the most important thing—being a woman? Deep down inside, even if she hadn’t admitted it to herself, her decade-long quest had been to turn herself into the kind of woman Daniel Bradford wouldn’t turn down. And tonight, if she was brave enough, she could have her answer. One way or another.

  Oh, the thought scared her so. She went to turn her head away, catch her breath for a moment, but he caught it with his hand, hooking his fingers round the curve of her neck, letting his thumb trail her cheek. ‘Don’t.’

  She held her breath.

  This was it, wasn’t it? She could reach for what she wanted—what she’d always wanted—or she could shrink back like a coward.

  She took in every feature of his face, lingering over the line of his jaw, the not quite straight nose, the tiny scar she’d never noticed before almost completely hidden by his left eyebrow.

  And he held still and let her, meeting her gaze. Not flinching, as she might well have done.

  This wasn’t the same as that awful night in the pub car park ten years ago. How could it be? He’d been giving her the signals for months. He wasn’t going to push her away, this time. He wasn’t going to run.

  She swallowed and dropped her gaze to his lips, knew the exact moment he did the same.

  Stop, a voice inside her head said. You’ve been here before. You remember how it ends. But even this voice sounded half-hearted and unconvincing.

  Keeping her eyes fixed on the firm curve of his lower lip, she leant forward to taste it.

  Daniel stayed completely still at first, letting her discover the hint of strawberries still lingering on his mouth. She took her time, exploring fully—the little dents at the corners of his lips, the fullness of the bottom one, the sculptured curve of the top.

  And then something seemed to snap inside him and he hauled her onto his lap and took over. If Chloe had thought that sweet, slow exploration had been worth a decade of waiting, Daniel’s fully-loaded response was more than she ever could have imagined. It swept conscious thought and common sense completely from her brain.

  * * *

  Daniel’s head was spinning. Kissing Chloe was every bit as good as he remembered. Possibly better. Because this time she wasn’t blindsided, taken by surprise. This time he’d let her come to him, let her take charge.

  Why, for heaven’s sake, had he never used this approach before? He’d still been hunting, but it hadn’t been a crashing-through-the-forest kind of hunting; it had been patient and stealthy, all about the wait rather than the pursuit, and the prolonged anticipation had only made the final moment so much sweeter. Instead of feeling as if he’d worn her down, broken something inside her to let him in, he felt alive because she was blooming right there in his arms.

  When they pulled away from each other, her eyes stayed closed, a delicious little smile on her lips. Daniel was very tempted just to lean in close and taste them again, but he wanted her to open her eyes and look at him.

  She was a contradiction, this Chloe Michaels. He’d expected her to be as slick and expert with her lips as she was in everything else. She was, but not in the way he’d anticipated. There’d been a rawness, a sweetness, an exuberance to her response that had caught him totally by surprise.

  Her lids parted and she held his gaze.

  It was there. What he’d been waiting to see, even though he couldn’t quite put a name to it.

  Once wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough. But he had to keep reminding himself he was sitting on a lawn with a couple of thousand other people, and that it might not be the greatest idea to keep going right now. He knew where he wanted to spend the night, and it wasn’t in a police cell.

  As good as the music was, it was torture to wait for Kat to finish her set. He kept in contact with Chloe any way he could. He wrapped himself around her, linking his arms in front, pressing butterfly kisses into her neck and hearing the low noises of appreciation deep in her throat as she closed her eyes and tilted her head to give him better access.

  Eventually, the last chord was played, the applause welled and faded, and the stage lights dimmed. People around them began to move. Daniel reluctantly peeled himself away from Chloe and stood up.

  ‘I’ll be back in a second,’ he told her and disappeared off to a marquee to dispose of the now-empty picnic basket and supplies.

  When he returned, he saw her long before he cleared the rest of the crowd. She was the only thing in focus as he made his way towards her, the soft smile on her lips, the way her eyes took on extra sparkle when she looked at him... It was making his blood simmer.

  He had to kiss her again when he reached her, couldn’t help himself, couldn’t get close enough.

  ‘This time I’m taking you home,’ he said, stepping away and turning in the direction of the car park.

  She tugged him back and delayed him with another swift kiss. ‘Not that way,’ she murmured huskily. ‘We can walk through the gardens and leave through the gate near the river. I only live a few minutes from there.’

  Daniel thought of the modern apartment blocks on the other side of the river. Dark wood, white stucco and steel. They suited her perfectly. Stylish, modern, free from any clutter and complications.

  They walked through the gardens in silence. Every now and then they paused to kiss—one moment with her pressed up against the rough bark of a tree, the next in the middle of a lonely path, beautiful vistas spreading out unseen around them in every direction. Each meeting of their bodies and lips grew more heated, more frantic. Daniel realised he needed to slow this down a little or he’d explode before they even reached the boundary of the park. As wonderful as making love to Chloe on the soft dark grass would be, if Security caught them they’d both be out of a job in the morning.

  Finally they reached Brentford Gate and walked through the car park and along the tow path. The lights in the apartment blocks glinted temptingly across the water and he willed himself to last until they got there. However, it was only a few steps before Chloe stopped and turned.

  ‘Here we are,’ she said.

  Daniel frowned and looked around. There were no houses here, just trees. Not even a path or a gate to a back garden, as there were farther up the tow path.

  ‘No...this way,’ she said softly and tugged at his hand. He turned one-eighty, but all he could see past the row of houseboats was the river, glinting gold and silver from the moon and the streetlights on the far bank.

  Houseboats...

  He stopped looking at the water and turned his attention back to Chloe. ‘Here?’

  ‘Come aboard,’ she said, pulling his hand and heading down a narrow gangplank to a double-storey boat with a flat roof, decorated with enamel buckets full of summer flowers.

  He was a little confused at first. This really wasn’t the sort of place he’d pictured her living in. It was charming enough, but it wasn’t slick and luxurious like Chloe herself. However, he quickly decided he didn’t really care where she lived. That she was actively dragging him inside was the important thing, surely?

  He followed her down into the cabin, and the interior was as much of a surprise as the outside. Half of the top deck was a living-dining-kitchen area with vast square windows one end that led onto a railed deck.

  No clean lines and minimalist furniture here. It was a riot of colour and texture. Two purple velvet sofas that didn’t match, embroidered and bejewelled cushions in pinks, reds and oranges. Bookcases lined one wall, full of not only gardening books and paperbacks, but all other kinds of ornaments. And, of course, there were orchids. Various common varieties, but also some spectacular rarer ones too.

  Chloe walked over to the kitchen and kicked off her shoes. ‘I’m afraid my drinks sele
ction is rather sparse,’ she confessed. ‘Unless you’re really gasping for mineral water, it’s just white wine.’

  He nodded. ‘That’ll do fine.’

  He knew he should sound more enthused, but he couldn’t quite stop looking around Chloe’s living room. It wasn’t just that every corner held something that drew the eye, but that he felt something about it was significant. Something he was missing.

  He walked over to the kitchen and took a glass she offered. Without her shoes on she was just that little bit shorter, which, for some strange reason, also made her seem younger.

  ‘I didn’t picture you living on a houseboat,’ he told her.

  She smiled at him. ‘I always wanted to, ever since I was a student here and used to walk past them on my journey from Kew Bridge station. When I got the chance to rent one, I jumped at it.’

  He took a sip of his wine. ‘Of course, I forgot you said you trained here. When was that? Our paths might have crossed. I’ve been doing specialist lectures here for what...maybe eight or nine years?’

  Chloe suddenly found something very urgent to do in the fridge. She opened the door, blocking his view of her, and rummaged around inside.

  Daniel smiled to himself. Possibly not. He’d certainly have remembered seeing someone like Chloe amongst the muddy hordes of horticultural students. She stood out in a crowd, wasn’t like the rest. That was what he liked about her.

  Anyway, he was much more interested in the here and now. Chloe was still leaning into the large retro-style fridge and he walked up behind her and slid his hands around her waist. Whatever she’d been looking for in there obviously hadn’t been very important, because she stood up, let the fridge door bang closed and turned to face him, her face serious, her pupils wide.

  He dipped his head low and kissed her. Softly, slowly. This had been a long time coming and he didn’t want to rush things. Strangely, it seemed as if he were kissing her for the first time. Maybe it was this place—or this slightly shy and nervous Chloe—that made him feel as if this were all fresh and new.

  Whatever it was, he decided both of them were wearing far too many clothes, even though, including lingerie, Chloe must have only had three garments on. Heat flooded through him. He didn’t care which one went first—each presented an interesting option—but something needed to go, and it needed to go now.

  He’d never been one for noting clothes designers, but he blessed the man, because it had almost certainly been a man, who’d decided to put a long row of little hooks and eyes down the front of Chloe’s tight-bodiced floral dress. His fingers fairly itched at the thought of starting at the top and working his way down.

  Maybe he was wrong about three garments. Maybe a little exploration in that department would yield even richer results. He’d been kissing her neck, hands roving her back, and now he moved on to either side of her waist, then he picked up and deposited her on the kitchen counter. She ran her hands up his chest and into his hair, pulling him back to kiss her on the mouth, pulling him closer and hooking her lower calves around his thighs to keep him there.

  In Daniel’s experience, some women let a man take charge completely when it came to the physical stuff but he much preferred it if there was equality, give and take, when they got to this moment. So he liked the fact that Chloe not only responded to him but spurred him on, took him in new and unexpected directions.

  Even better, he could tell by the way she threw her head back and closed her eyes, the little noises she made in the back of her throat, the unchoreographed motions of her hands, that none of this was rehearsed moves or seductive tricks. She was totally lost in the moment, and this response that had his clothes feeling three sizes too small was just pure Chloe.

  He pulled away from kissing her to focus his eyes on the top of her dress. The hooks were tiny. He could’ve undone them by touch alone, but he wanted to see her, every perfect inch, when he reached low enough to uncover what was underneath.

  Chloe was kissing his face, and when she felt the pads of his thumbs graze the upper curve of her breasts as he reached for the first hook she made a sharp intake of breath and held it. Her legs hugged him tighter, pulling him as close as he could possibly get still clothed.

  Daniel suddenly questioned the hook-by-hook approach. What idiot made something so small and

  fiddly? He was really tempted to just start ripping.

  Chloe fidgeted again, but this time she placed her hands lightly on his chest. ‘Daniel...’ she whispered.

  He leant in and began to tease her ear lobe with his tongue. ‘Uh-huh?’

  There was a little bit of a push behind those palms now. He drew back, confused. Were they both not on the same track? Had he read her wrong somehow?

  But the pink flush creeping up her creamy skin from breasts to face told him he’d been reading the situation just right. ‘Are you okay?’ he asked softly.

  ‘Oh, yes,’ she said, nodding emphatically. ‘More than okay.’

  Daniel smiled. Not just because she was as into this as he was, but because he’d never seen this flustered, slightly dishevelled side to Chloe before, and he kind of liked it. Somehow it made her seem all the more human. Which translated into making her seem all the more touchable. His gaze drifted back to the single opened hook at the centre of her breasts.

  ‘I just need to...’ Chloe shakily pushed her hair back off her face and released her legs from around his. ‘There’s just something I need to do...I’ll be right back.’

  ‘Promise?’ he said, feeling a lot more desperate than he actually sounded.

  She smiled sweetly at him, and pressed a kiss against his lips. ‘Promise,’ she murmured as she pulled away.

  She jumped down from the counter and picked up her shoes. ‘I won’t be long.’

  He wandered over to the bookcase. His eyes instantly found a spine that was so familiar he couldn’t help but prise it from its position. She turned as she reached the door and saw what he was doing.

  She smiled saucily. ‘Isn’t that a little vain? Picking your own book out from the bookshelf?’ Forgetting her urgent errand, she walked over to him. ‘The Secrets of Mount Kinabalu by Daniel Bedford,’ she read from the cover. ‘I got this as a student. Your description of the orchids is what fired my interest in them.’

  He shook his head, both frowning and smiling at the same time. ‘I can’t believe you’ve got this,’ he said. ‘And it looks as if it’s been read a hundred times.’

  Chloe stiffened slightly but then she smiled her cat-like smile again. ‘I lent it out to other people in my year. It was kind of a favourite.’

  ‘That’s a lot of people with a burning interest in carnivorous plants and other rare species,’ he said.

  Chloe just laughed, reached out and turned the book over, where there was a horrible picture of him in khaki clothes and a wide-brimmed hat. ‘I think this is what some of them had the burning interest in,’ she said. ‘This is where the whole Indiana Jones thing started, wasn’t it?’

  He nodded grimly. He hadn’t made the connection before, but he supposed it was. ‘Some fool publicist’s idea. I’ve always hated the stupid picture.’

  ‘I’ll bet you sold a load more books because of it, though. Didn’t I hear talk of a TV series once?’

  Daniel snorted. ‘I knocked that one on the head pretty fast.’

  She took the book from him and leafed through it, smiling as if she was remembering happy memories. She stopped at a colourful plate of a particularly rare slipper orchid. ‘Did you really take this picture? See it yourself?’

  He gave her a one-sided smile and nodded.

  ‘I wish I could,’ she said wistfully. ‘I can’t think of anything more beautiful.’

  He reached for her face, brushed a golden tendril away from her cheek and slid his fingers into her hair before pulling her closer for a soft,
sweet kiss. ‘I’ve seen it for myself,’ he whispered, ‘but, believe me, it’s nothing compared to what’s in front of me right now.’

  Chloe caught him by surprise. She threw her arms around his neck, gave him a hot, drawn-out kiss, promising all sorts of things that got him very excited indeed. And it hadn’t even been a line. He really did think she was more stunning than the speckles and stripes of the elusive flower.

  When she finally pulled away, she rested her forehead against his and breathed out hard.

  ‘Didn’t you say you...had something to do?’ he said hoarsely.

  She nodded wordlessly and he let his arms drop.

  As much as he didn’t want to let her go, he didn’t want to interrupt things later on. Daniel didn’t want to be distracted by anything next time he had Chloe in his arms. Not for hours and hours and hours.

  EIGHT

  Chloe ran quickly and lightly down the narrow hallway that led to her bedroom. Once inside she pulled the duvet straight and plumped a pillow, then turned her attention to the other item that needed to be dealt with: the graduation photo sitting on her bedside table.

  Ugh. Frizzy hair and badly applied eyeshadow.

  She only displayed it in the privacy of her bedroom because she was really, really proud of her qualifications, even if the tight smiles of her parents standing behind her reminded her how they’d have preferred for her to go to a big-hitting university and get a ‘proper’ degree.

  She couldn’t risk just putting it face down, so she pulled the underwear drawer of her dressing table open and stuffed the frame under the tangle of straps and things. But the sight of some of her better underwear sitting in the top of the drawer made her stop and think.

  She hadn’t been planning on anyone seeing her underwear when she’d got dressed this morning. It was nude-coloured and functional. Nice enough, just not pretty like those were.