Come Undone: Romance Stories Inspired by the Music of Duran Duran

by Kim Carmichael

  The red off-the-shoulder dressed hugged her body as it swayed slow and sensual in front of her partner—a teasing dance of seduction that kept all eyes on her and only her. And judging by her confident expression, Rio not only knew it, she loved it. Her lips matched the shade of her dress and she wore her hair up in a twisted bun. Her partner held her by one hand, sometimes helping her spin on expertly timed steps. Chase watched as her bronzed, toned legs worked their way around the dance floor and became more and more entranced with every roll of her hips. After another sharply executed turn, their eyes met and he noticed the slight stiffening of her body. Ever the professional, she got right back into the routine and continued on with the steps. But every time, she’d slink against her partner or wrap her arms around his waist, she’d look at Chase. And he felt it.

  Irrational envy raged inside him at the man she was basically using as a prop to hang her body from. When she caressed the side of his head or buried her face in his shoulder, Chase tensed.

  Memories came flooding back of the time she’d touched him like that, making his cock strain against his pants.

  The song ended and the bar erupted into more cheers and applause. It rattled him back to the present. People surged toward her and her partner and he used the chaos as an opportunity to escape through a side door. He made it to his golf cart and was about to get inside when he heard her.

  “Did you enjoy the show?”

  The sight of her nearly undid him: Face flushed, breasts heaving and hands planted firmly on those magical hips of hers. It took everything he had not to remember how hard he’d held onto those hips when he drove into her over and over again on the night of the rehearsal dinner.

  “I did,” he managed to answer after a few seconds. “Seems like everyone else did too.”

  She walked up to him and stood so close that he could smell her fruit-scented shampoo and a hint of alcohol. Rio reached out and touched the vee of his v-neck T-shirt, then slid a finger down his chest, stopping just above his belly button. His cock instantly came alive again and his abs tightened in response. It had been two long years since she touched him there.

  “This is a good look for you. You seem relaxed. Not so uptight,” she said with a laugh.

  Chase’s head spun. Was she flirting with him? Perhaps she’d had more to drink than he first thought. “Thank you, I think?”

  “Look, I came out here to tell you that I want us to call a truce.”

  “A truce?”

  “Yes, we’re both here to enjoy ourselves and we’re not going to be able to do that if we’re both worried about running into each other and being all awkward about it. So I’m willing to make the best out of this situation. What do you say?”

  And for the first time in a long time, Chase allowed himself to remember this Rio. The one whose amber eyes lit up when she was excited about something and the one who made him feel like he didn’t have a care in the world.

  If she was willing to put aside their shared past for one week in paradise, then he’d gladly do it. It was a logical solution to the situation, wasn’t it?

  He held out his hand. “I say let the truce begin.”

  Hesitation crossed her face for just a split second before she took his hand to shake it. She barely grasped it before letting go. Their contact was brief, but the warmth and softness of her small hand inside his was enough to stir up all kinds of longing.

  If she felt it too, she didn’t let on. Instead, she told him goodnight and walked back inside the bar.

  Chase stood there for a while thinking of what had just happened. He’d gotten so used to being on guard around her that he wasn’t sure if he knew how to be any other way.

  Well, any way that didn’t involve them being naked and fucking in a hotel room.

  Because that wasn’t going to happen here, he told himself as he drove back to his villa.

  He remembered the way she’d danced in front of the crowd that night. Rio was a performer, trained in the art of pretending. This truce would be nothing more than another dance of hers to take control of the circumstances that had thrown them back together. Chase couldn’t allow himself to think of it as anything but that.

  He’d gotten lost in Rio’s world before and it had cost him millions of dollars.

  Stop over-analyzing things. That’s what probably landed you in the hospital in the first place.

  Chase forced himself to stop dwelling on what happened before and concentrate on getting through the next six days. If Rio wanted a truce and could put their past behind them, then so could he.

  Maybe this vacation didn’t have to be the worst thing in the world after all.

  Chapter Four

  THE DREAM WAS ALWAYS THE SAME.

  It started off with her being bored out of her mind at Cassandra’s rehearsal dinner, when all of a sudden, a breathtakingly handsome man in a suit appeared out of nowhere and told her that he’d been ordered to be her date for the evening. Of course, she agreed. Why wouldn’t she? But the more she talked to him, the more she liked him, and so she flirted with him. He was oblivious at first, but when she casually touched his thigh, he finally realized what was happening. Although she couldn’t convince him to dance with her, he did finally agree to walk out of the hotel restaurant with her and they found themselves at the pool. There was no one else around so she dared him to go skinny dipping with her, but again he refused her. Not one to take no for an answer, Rio stripped anyway and dove into the pool.

  The man didn’t go in after her, instead he asked her to get out.

  “Give me a good reason why,” she always told him.

  “Because I’m ready to fuck you now,” he always said back.

  That’s when she usually woke up, in total agony to be filled by him like he had promised. It was only after having satisfied herself that she usually remembered it wasn’t a dream at all. It was a memory.

  This time though, when Rio opened her eyes after the dream, she remembered right away.

  Because this time, Chase was looking down at her with the same hungry look he had that night at the pool.

  “Chase! Um, what are you doing here?” She sat up and grabbed the towel next to her and wrapped it around her, covering any view of her nipples that she knew had hardened in arousal during the dream.

  He didn’t say anything at first and for a second she thought he’d take her right there on the cabana bed. The realization that she wanted him to, only flustered her further. She jumped off before he or she did anything they’d likely regret—again.

  “I’m sorry. I, uh, didn’t mean to, uh, wake you,” he said. The roughness of his voice and the bulge in his swim trunks confirmed her suspicions. Somehow, he knew exactly what kind of dream she’d been having, and she could only hope that he had no clue it had been about him.

  “It’s fine,” she blurted. It wasn’t fine, though. She’d never been so mortified in all of her life. Why did Chase have a knack for throwing her off her game? He needed to go. “So, what are you doing here? I thought we agreed today was my day to use the cabana?”

  He motioned to the ice chest on the floor. “We did, but I wanted to thank you for, you know, what you said last night, so I brought you some beer. Gustavo says it’s your favorite.”

  Her embarrassment faded a little when she realized he was as flustered as she was. A quick peek down south let her know his arousal wasn’t coming down anytime soon. And that let her relax.

  “Oh, that was really nice of you. Thanks.”

  They stood there staring at each other, but neither talked. The only sounds between them were the waves crashing onto the surf and the hungry cry of seagulls.

  This is dangerous.

  “Well, I guess I’ve had enough sun for today. I think I’m going to go inside.”

  “But you didn’t even have a beer,” he said, his voice thick and low.

  “I’ll put them in a fridge and save them for later.”

  “How about I take them back to my villa and we c
an have them over dinner? I picked up some fish at the store. We could kick off our truce with a good meal.”

  Two days ago, Rio would have never thought she and Chase could even be in the same room for more than fifteen minutes. Now, he was inviting her to dinner? Her instinct was to say no, tell him she had plans with friends, but she’d promised Cassandra that she’d play nice after finding out what had brought Chase to the island in the first place.

  She’d called her sister yesterday after downing a few Mojitos, prepared to let her have it with every Spanish cuss word she knew, but before she could say anything, Cassandra told her everything. Sure, Chase hadn’t been her favorite person in the world, but she wasn’t a bitch. If he needed to have a relaxing vacation for health reasons, then she wasn’t going to be the reason he ended up back in the hospital.

  “Um, sure. But can it be a late dinner? I have to go dance at the bar tonight.”

  He raised his eyebrow. “You have to?”

  “Well, yeah. Marco, the guy who I was dancing with last night, I already promised him I’d be there.”

  Why she was explaining this to him, she didn’t know. It was really none of his business.

  She thought he’d ask more questions, but he didn’t pry, even after she noticed his fists clench at his side. “That’s okay if you already have plans, I get it. We can do it another night…or not. It was just an idea.”

  Rio couldn’t help but feel torn. On one hand, he was giving her an out. On the other, no way was he going to go back home and tell Cassandra that she hadn’t made an effort to bury the hatchet. “It’s okay, really. Let’s do it tonight if you don’t mind eating late?”

  He shrugged and his fists unclenched. “I don’t mind at all. See you around?”

  “I should be done by ten or ten-thirty.”

  “Okay, see you then.”

  Chase picked up the ice chest and stepped off the platform. Rio watched until he disappeared over the sand barge. Images from the dream flashed before her eyes. As a familiar heat spread from her cheeks downward, she fell back onto the cabana bed. Rio looked up at the crystal blue sky.

  Dear Lord, what had she just gotten herself into?

  * * * *

  CHASE CHECKED ON THE red snapper one more time. The fish was close to being ready. He, on the other hand, was far from it.

  What on earth had he been thinking when he’d invited Rio over for dinner?

  You know exactly what you were thinking.

  He’d gone to the cabana that afternoon with the beer as a peace offering. He’d told himself he’d drop it off and head back to his villa and cook up the fish for a dinner for one. But then he’d stepped on the platform and saw her.

  At first, he didn’t know she was sleeping. Her body was twisting against the bed’s cushion and small sighs escaped from her open mouth. When she didn’t stop even as he moved closer, he realized she was asleep and in the middle of a very hot dream. One hand cupped her breast while the other started to slide down her stomach. He ordered his legs to move so he could sneak away before she woke up, but he couldn’t. Instead, his hand found his erection and he stood over her, stroking himself through his trunks.

  Then she opened her eyes.

  He was as startled as she was. For a second, the thought occurred to him to ask if he could watch her finish. When he noticed the embarrassment in her eyes and the way she rushed to cover herself up, the question died in his throat.

  That’s when the idea came to him to have her over for dinner. He’d wanted to see her again and spend some time with her. It was why he’d brought the beer in the first place. It would’ve been easy to send Gustavo with his peace offering. It would’ve been easy to walk away without asking her to come over.

  Since when did Chase do easy?

  So now he was grilling red snapper on the patio of his villa, waiting for Rio to finish dancing with some guy named Marco. He had no right to be jealous, so he reasoned that his concern was more out of loyalty to Cassandra and John than anything else. Who was this Marco anyway, and why couldn’t he find someone else to slither against on the dance floor?

  A soft knock silenced his questioning.

  Chase walked back inside the villa, took a deep breath and opened the front door.

  He had been prepared to see her looking like she had last night—evening dress, stiletto heels, full make-up and perfectly styled hair. Like a performer. This time she looked literally like the girl next door. Her hair was down and she had a hint of blush in her cheeks. She wore a denim jacket with a white cotton sundress underneath and sandals. Although the dress was simple and basic, Rio’s body was not. The thin fabric outlined every curve and the short hemline left very little to the imagination.

  He was definitely not ready for this dinner.

  “Sorry it’s so late. I wasn’t sure if I should still come over,”’ she said as she entered. “I stopped by my villa first to freshen up and change.”

  “It’s fine, perfect timing actually. I was just about to take the fish off the grill,” he said. He ushered her to the patio where he’d already set out everything on the glass round table by the pool. The air was warm so there’d be no need to turn on the outside heat lamp, but he wondered if she’d be cold in her barely-there dress. He, however, was the opposite of cold.

  “The view at night always takes my breath away,” she said as she took a seat and looked out toward the ocean.

  “I know. Sometimes I can’t believe it’s real and not some movie backdrop.” He opened a bottle of beer and handed it to her. “You said you’ve been coming here since you were sixteen?”

  She nodded and then took a sip. “One of my parents’ very close friends helped build this resort. We were one of the first families to stay here.”

  As Rio talked, Chase prepared their dinner plates. Besides the fish, he’d also grilled asparagus spears and had bought a bag of salad.

  “This villa is actually one of the newer ones,” Rio continued. “John and Cassandra have only stayed here a few times. Usually, my parents also stay with me in the other villa, but my dad just had knee surgery so they’re going to try to come later in the year.”

  Chase set down their plates and joined her at the table. “It’s a beautiful place. It must’ve been pretty amazing to have basically grown up here.”

  “It was. It is. I’ll be sad when I can’t afford to come here anymore.”

  “What do you mean? I thought since you know the owner…”

  “The resort is for sale,” Rio explained as she cut into her fish. “We’re pretty sure the new owners aren’t going to keep letting us come here for what we’ve been paying. The prices have gone up anyway over the last few years. The only reason why we can still afford it as a family is because of my deal with Marco.”

  Chase stopped mid-drink. “What deal?”

  “He’s the dance instructor here,” she answered after she finished chewing. “He took over for his mom a few years ago. She’s actually the one who taught me how to dance. I started performing with him as a favor to her to drum up business for her classes. When she retired, the owner asked me to continue performing with Marco in exchange for letting us stay here at the original prices.”

  “So when you go dance in the bar, it’s like you’re working?”

  “Yep. I mean, I’d probably dance every night here anyway, but at least I’m getting something out of it too. So I figured I might as well do it for as long they let me.”

  “What about Marco?”

  “What about him?”

  “Does he know it’s just work for you?”

  She was about to take a bite of her salad and then froze. “What do you mean? Oh, wait. Seriously? You think there’s something—”

  “Well, from what I saw, those dances can get pretty hot and heavy.”

  Rio started laughing. Hard. He didn’t think he was that funny.

  She took another sip of her beer and then finally calmed down. “I’m sorry. It’s just the thought of him and
me…We grew up together. He’s like my brother. Besides, I don’t think his husband would let us dance together if he thought there was any chance of us doing those moves in the bedroom.” She laughed again and this time Chase joined her.

  It felt good. Not just because it was with her, but because he hadn’t laughed like this in a long time.

  “Thank you, Rio, for coming over,” he said. “I was kind of forced into this whole vacation thing, so I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it. But this is nice.”

  She smiled at him, a real, genuine smile. “You’re welcome. I admit I wasn’t too sure about us hanging out, but I think it’s nice too.”

  They continued eating and talking about the resort and what they’d been up to the past few months. She already knew about his dad passing away, but she didn’t know that he’d been asked by the Board to take over as CEO and continue as CFO in the interim. He knew that she’d left “Dancing with Celebrities” after last season, but he didn’t know that she’d opened up her own dance studio in West L.A.

  After they finished dinner, they took off their shoes and headed down to the beach with the last four bottles of beer. They’d had such a nice night. He wasn’t ready for it to end just yet.

  “So tell me more about this studio of yours,” he asked as they walked toward the waves. “Was it strange to go from performing to teaching?”

  “Not really. I was basically teaching contestants on the show anyway. When I finally left, I was kind of burned out—emotionally and physically. So I came here to regroup. One day Marco asked me to teach a few classes, and I realized how much I missed it. That’s when the idea of opening up my own studio seemed like something I could really make happen.”

  Although he usually didn’t follow tabloid gossip or even watch a lot of television, Chase did make a special effort to keep up on Rio’s career. He’d heard about the drama between her and another dancer on the show and figured, like everyone else, that the end of their affair was the reason behind her leaving. So he didn’t press for more details.

  “Good for you,” he said as they arrived at the cabana. “It takes a lot of courage to try something new like that. I could never see myself doing anything but being a rat in the wheel known as corporate America. I’ll probably die at my desk.”