Slowly, so as not to draw attention to himself, he lay back, propping his head on the pillows so he could watch her. She stood on a towel, facing the water with the boats already moving through the still waters, and stretched her hands up to the sky. Then she bent forward at the waist to let her hands brush the deck, giving him a nice view of her tight butt in her white panties. Dropping forward onto her hands, she held a kind of press-up position, then lowered herself to the floor before lifting her head up and arching her back. Finally, she lifted up into an inverted V, then pushed herself up to a standing position to start the cycle over again.
Even though she wasn’t that tall, she was beautifully elegant, moving gracefully through the asanas without a hint of effort. Kole was content to watch her, finding a strange pleasure in her routine, like watching a ballerina at a dance recital.
He thought he might have felt resentful at having someone else intruding on his private space, but in truth it was lovely having her around. She was like one of the crystals Maisey hung in her windows—she cast a light over his world, bringing a sparkle to it he hadn’t realized was missing.
He thought about that, as he lay there and watched her, the sun falling across the bed like gold leaf. The slightly open door let in the fresh morning air, bringing with it the pleasant smell of jasmine from the garden and the notion that the day was going to be bright and hot.
Had he ever felt this content, this happy, before?
After about another five minutes, Tasha gave her limbs a shake and bent to pick up the towel, then turned to come inside. Her eyebrows rose when she saw him awake, and a smile broke out on her face, as beautiful as the morning sun.
“Morning, sailor.” She came in and stretched out beside him on the bed. “Sleep well?”
He rolled onto his side to look at her. “I did. I think it must have been all the exercise.”
She chuckled and closed her eyes, lying with her arms by her side, palms facing upward. “I just need to cool down.”
“Okay. Can I watch?”
She opened one eye. “I’m just going to lie here.”
“Even so.”
She chuckled and closed the eye again, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly.
Kole lay quietly and caressed her with his gaze as she relaxed. He watched her breasts rise and fall with her breathing, observed her pulse rate slow at the base of her neck, let his gaze caress the point at the top of her thighs where her white panties stretched across her hips and dipped between her legs.
“Are you letching at me?”
His dragged his gaze back to her face. Her eyes were still closed, but her lips had curved.
“Yes.”
Her lips curved a little more. “Thought so.”
“Tash?”
“Yes…”
“What are you doing over the next few days?”
“Dunno. Not much. Why?”
“Come and stay with me.”
Her eyes opened then, and she stared. “What?”
“Stay with me. Pick up what you need from your house later and stay here for a few nights.”
She studied him, her expression startled and thoughtful. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. We might as well make the most of the time we have.”
“You’re not too busy?”
“Well, Saturday I have a wedding all day, but you’re welcome to come along as my assistant.” He smiled.
Her expression softened. “Okay.”
He was surprised at how much his heart lifted. “I’m glad.”
They looked at each other for a moment.
Then she reached over, lifted the duvet, and glanced down. Her smile turned mischievous as her eyes met his again.
“Morning glory,” he said helplessly. “What can you do?”
Laughing, she pulled him into her arms and planted her lips on his. “I have time for a quickie,” she stated, “before I go home and get ready for work. If you’re up for it?”
“Fuck, yeah.”
So they made love, enthusiastic and fervent, Tasha climbing on top without being asked and riding him to victory. And Kole lay back and let her, enjoying the view of her against the rising sun, the pure delight of early-morning loving.
She left shortly after that to shower and change back at her place, but promised to return after work with a few items to carry her through to Sunday. Kole kissed her goodbye, wrapping his arms around her, reluctant to let her go. But eventually, she laughed and pulled away, and drove off, leaving him feeling oddly bereft.
He shook his head and went back inside. She was coming back that evening! And he had lots to do that day.
First, he had an appointment with a woman in her fifties who wanted a glamorous photograph to give her husband for their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. While he waited to sign the lease on the new place, Kole was working in a sleep-out belonging to his cousin, Annie. In her late thirties, slender and with a mass of brown curly hair, Annie was a mother of three, down-to-earth, and practical. The light, spacious sleep-out doubled nicely as a studio. It had a large living room he’d lined with white sheets in which to take photos, a separate bedroom for visitors to get changed in, should they need to, and a bathroom. Annie also made them coffee, which was an added bonus.
Kole set up his camera and waited for the customer, Bridget, to arrive. She was ten minutes late, and when Annie showed her into the studio, he could see what had caused the delay by her rapid breathing and the way she twisted her hands.
She’d told him she wanted something sexy and suggestive, but she’d obviously had a sudden attack of nerves at the thought of undressing in front of him.
Kole chatted to her for a while to relax her, surprised at her hesitation when she’d seemed so confident over the phone. Annie, who’d obviously spotted the problem, brought them coffee and joined them, perching on the arm of his chair. He glanced at her, giving her a slight shrug when Bridget stared into her cup. What should he do?
Annie leaned forward and rested a hand on Bridget’s arm. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” she soothed. “You’ll look just as amazing in the dress you’re wearing, I promise. Kole’s brilliant at capturing his customers at their best.”
But Bridget shook her head, her face earnest. “I really want to do this for my husband. He’s always said he’d love a sexy photo of me, and I can hardly ask my brother-in-law to take it! It’s just…” She stared at her hands. “The more I think about it, the more embarrassed I feel.”
“About undressing?” Kole queried gently.
“Actually, no. About the way my body’s changed over the years. I’ve put on weight, I have stretch marks, and I have a lot more wrinkles than I had on my wedding day. I suppose I’m worried that, seeing me all the time, he’s not aware of them, but in a photo like this they might stand out.” She gave them both a mischievous smile and touched the lines at the corner of her eyes. “Can you paint them out?”
“No need,” Annie said. “You’re still beautiful. You have great skin, a curvy figure, and a real glow about you. That’s what he’ll see when he looks at the photograph. I promise.” She stood and gathered a couple of swatches of cloth she’d found in her cupboard, and held them up against Bridget’s face. “The scarlet, I think, Kole. It really brings out Bridget’s silver hair, and you can do that clever thing you do with the computer and give it a silver background for their wedding anniversary.”
Annie turned to him then. “Can you take the cups back to the kitchen? I’ll help Bridget get set up.”
Wondering what she was up to, he took the cups to the kitchen, played with her pet Labrador, Brandon, for a few minutes, then went back to the sleep-out.
Annie had finally encouraged Bridget to undress and lay on the chaise lounge Kole had found at a garage sale one rainy afternoon. She’d then draped the scarlet cloth over the now giggling Bridget, arranging it carefully to cover the important areas but to reveal as much skin as possible.
“
Wonderful,” Kole said with admiration. Annie had also obviously helped Bridget with her hair and makeup, and Bridget wore a scarlet lipstick that went perfectly with the cloth and brought out the silver in her hair.
He walked over to her and dropped to his haunches beside her. “May I?”
She nodded shyly.
With his photographer’s eye, he tugged the cloth here and there to ensure it fell in attractive folds that concealed the areas she’d be worried about, while highlighting her good points.
When he was satisfied, he started taking photos. He talked to her while he did so, making her laugh and capturing her pretty smile, checking the pictures on the screen and adjusting the next until he had what he wanted.
Eventually, he was content with the batch of photos he’d taken, and he left the room so Bridget could get dressed, taking a walk in the garden while he waited. The large pohutukawa trees were filled with their Christmassy red flowers as if they’d bloomed to complement Bridget’s photographs. It reminded him midsummer was only a few days away. Then, this thing he had going with Tasha would be over.
He wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
Bridget and Annie came out of the sleep-out, and Bridget walked over to him, and to his surprise, gave him a big hug. “Thank you so much.”
He laughed and hugged her back. “Wait until you see the photos! I hope you like them. I’ll work on them today and email you the first copies over the next day or so.”
“Lovely, thank you, Kole.” Bridget hugged Annie too, and left.
Annie exchanged a look with him, and they both blew out a relieved breath.
“Thanks for your help,” Kole said. “I really appreciate it. You’re so great with people.”
She waved a hand in dismissal. “I could see where she was coming from, that’s all. After years of marriage you don’t always realize how you’ve changed, and exposing all your flabby bits and wrinkles can be a bit daunting!”
He grinned. “I can’t imagine being married one year, let alone twenty-five.”
“Oh, you will.” Annie smiled. “A girl will come along and you won’t want to let her go.”
He frowned. “I don’t know. You wouldn’t commit yourself to one job for the rest of your life, or one house, or one anything, in fact. Don’t they say ‘variety is the spice of life’? How could you be so sure you’re not going to get bored with one person?”
“You can’t, I suppose. Hence the high divorce rate.” She sounded amused.
“But you can’t go into marriage thinking ‘oh well, if it doesn’t work out, I’ll just get divorced.’ Don’t the vows say ‘until death parts us’?”
Annie chuckled. “You’re an old romantic at heart, aren’t you?”
He scratched the back of his neck. He wouldn’t normally have spoken to anyone about something like this, but he’d known Annie since he was a baby, and they’d always been quite close. “I just don’t understand how you can promise to love someone forever. It’s a huge ask.”
Annie shaded her eyes against the bright December sun and looked up at the fantails flitting between the branches. “You don’t think like that. What happens is that you meet someone, and you might not even know at the beginning that this is The One. But you date, and you keep dating, and at some point you discover you can’t bear to be apart. And when you are apart, you want your ring on their finger, to show everyone they belong to you.”
A shiver passed down Kole’s spine. He hadn’t considered what the exchanging of the ring symbolized. He’d always seen it as a constant reminder of the fact a married person was supposed to be monogamous, a warning against straying from the marriage bed, like a girl sitting a guy down and forcing him to watch Fatal Attraction. But the notion of putting a ring on a girl’s finger to tell everyone else she belonged to him… How delightfully possessive that sounded.
Mine.
“Who is she?”
He blinked in the sunlight and saw Annie smiling at him. “What?”
“Who’s on your mind?”
He opened his mouth to deny it, but her arched eyebrows stopped his words. He sighed. “I’m seeing Tasha.”
“Tasha Wilde?” Her eyebrows disappeared into her curly fringe.
“It’s just a temporary thing. A fling. It’s not serious.”
Annie nodded, but her lips curved.
“It’s not,” he protested. But again, the word rang in his head. Mine. “At least…” He ran a hand through his hair. “I didn’t expect to feel like this. She plays on my mind more than any other girl I’ve been with.”
“She’s nice. She’ll keep you in line, too.”
He gave her a wry look. “I don’t know I want to take it further though. I’m…” He wasn’t sure what word to use.
“Scared?” Annie suggested.
“Maybe. Life’s so short, Annie. I don’t want to make a mistake.”
She reached out and squeezed his arm. “I understand. But sometimes you have to take that leap of faith. Carpe diem.”
He didn’t want to think about it anymore. “Thanks for today, anyway. You were really helpful.”
“Oh, my pleasure. It’s been lovely having you here, actually. I’ve enjoyed it.”
He decided to take the plunge and voice the idea that had been playing in his head for a while. “I don’t suppose you’re interested in a job?” Her youngest had just started school, and although she worked the odd day in a local shop, she didn’t have a job to go back to, as far as he was aware.
She looked startled. “Oh. Doing what?”
“Well, working me for. As a kind of assistant. You could start part time and see how it goes. Fit in around the family. I could do with someone to answer the phone, schedule appointments. Keep records. Make me coffee.” He grinned.
A warm smile spread over her face. “Cheeky.”
“Seriously, though, I might need on-site help occasionally too. After taking those sports photos at the school, they’ve talked about hiring me to take all the school photographs, as the firm they’ve been using has let them down a few times. That would be a huge contract, and I’d need some help.”
“It sounds wonderful. I’d love to. Hey, any news on the new studio?”
He cleared his throat. “I’m working on it.”
“In a way, it’ll be a shame to move. It’s been nice having you here, and it would be perfect for me.”
“I suppose. It’s been great—I appreciate you letting me work from here.” He checked his watch. “Anyway, I have another appointment in a couple of hours so it’ll give me time to work on those photos for a bit.”
“Coffee?” Annie asked.
“Please.”
She smiled and went off to the kitchen.
Kole watched the fantail on the tree in front of him dancing about on the branch. For some reason, it made him think of Tasha doing her yoga that morning, graceful and lithe, beautiful against the rising sun.
Carpe diem, Kole.
Thoughtful, he turned and went back into the studio.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Tasha spent a busy morning at the café, making coffees, baking bread, and talking to Maisey about the setting up of Treats in between serving customers. Providing all went well, they were planning to decorate over the Christmas period and then have a grand opening in the New Year.
“So how’s the seduction going?” Maisey wiped down the counter and leaned against it, folding her arms. “Do you think Joss and I will end up voting in your favor?”
Tasha concentrated on arranging the loaves on the shelf. “Definitely. He’s practically eating out of my hand.” She glanced across at her best friend, who had raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah, that sounds like my brother.”
Tasha remembered the way his face had lit up when she’d agreed to stay with him for a few nights. Perhaps he was more into her than Maisey anticipated? Or was that wishful thinking? He’d certainly not said anything about wanting to continue the relationship after the weekend. �
�He has asked me to stay over for a couple of days,” she admitted.
Maisey’s eyes widened. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
The two girls stared at each other for a moment. Then Maisey turned away. She retrieved some more paper bags for the pie cabinet and tucked them into the slot. “It’s going to be interesting on Sunday. Joss has booked a table at Aqua Blue for one o’clock, and we’ll announce the winner there.”
“Great.” As soon as she said it, Tasha knew her voice had betrayed her lack of enthusiasm. Maisey obviously caught it too, because she turned, a look of surprise on her face.
The two girls studied each other for a moment.
“Oh no,” Maisey said.
Tasha waved a hand. “Don’t get ideas.”
“You’ve gone and done it.” Maisey sat heavily on the nearest chair. “You’ve fallen for him.”
“No! No. Okay, a little bit, but it’s not a problem. It was bound to happen. He’s fallen for me a little bit too. It would be odd if that hadn’t happened. We are sleeping together, after all.”
Maisey gave her a worried look. “Sweetie, I know I said he’s not as cold as he makes out, and I do think he likes you. He wouldn’t ask you to stay over if he didn’t. But even so, you know he won’t be interested in a relationship, don’t you?”
“I know,” Tasha said, her mouth going dry.
“Don’t kid yourself he will be, because he won’t.”
“I know.” She cleared her throat and checked her watch; luckily, it was her lunch break. “I have to go home. I need to pick up a few things for tonight.”
“Sure.” Maisey stood and opened her mouth as if to say something, but Tasha waved a hand and headed for the door, and Maisey didn’t get to voice the words.
Tasha walked quickly to her car, got in, and headed for home. She wasn’t going to cry over Kole Graham. She’d gone into this fling with her eyes fully open, and even though she’d fallen for him harder than she’d planned, it would make no difference to the final outcome.
Treat with Caution (Treats to Tempt You Book 1) Page 17