A Taste of Desire

by Chloe Blake

  “They can jump!”

  “No, that’s the movies.” Actually, they could, but they didn’t usually jump at creatures larger than themselves. Destin came toward her, shielding her view.

  “Lean on me and let’s get to the hallway.” She was skittish as a kitten, and her nails dug into his biceps when his arm came around her waist for support. Her eyes never left the spider, as if willing it to stay. Magnus shuffled in and, with a curious bark, sniffed at the insect. The spider began to back away toward the wall.

  “Uh...uh...it’s moving!” Nicole jumped on one leg out the door, unaware that her T-shirt fluttered up, giving Destin a glimpse of her smooth bare ass. His mouth went dry, and he ran a rough hand through his hair.

  Destin set his candle down, kicked Magnus out of the bathroom and grabbed the fallen mason jar from the sink. In one swift motion, he trapped the spider against the wall and watched him fall into the jar. Sorry, little guy, Destin thought as he shook the spider out into the rain, which seemed to be letting up, and shut the window tight.

  Nicole was leaning against the wall facing him, her T-shirt riding up slightly as she hugged herself. The hem of that shirt beckoned, and he prayed a gust of wind would come suddenly from the floor. But he felt bad when he saw her face.

  “It’s gone. You’re okay. Everything is okay,” he said gently, alarmed at her unraveling. The events of the day must have finally been too much to handle. Her features shifted from afraid to wary to calm—though it seemed fake.

  “I don’t like spiders,” she explained in an embarrassed tone, her gaze darting past him to scan the bathroom. She bit her bottom lip, and he felt his blood slow.

  “It’s gone,” he whispered again, reaching for her shoulder to comfort her. He sucked in a breath when she pushed herself against his chest. Her hands found his back, and she held him in a tight hug. He held her close, feeling her body relax. It felt lush against him, her curves so supple.

  He should back away. The soft pants he wore couldn’t hide what he was thinking, what she was doing to him.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, turning her face up to his.

  His gaze dropped to her mouth, and when she didn’t move, all he could think of was tasting her. Their gazes locked in the dimly lit hallway. One breath went by, then another.

  Stroking the backs of his fingers over her cheek, he held her chin in place as he leaned down and brushed his lips over hers in a featherlight kiss. The brief contact had them gripping each other harder, their ragged breaths mingling as they reached desperately for each other. On a shaky breath, she slid on tiptoe, reaching for him with lips parted. He cupped the back of her head, holding it in place.

  The lights in the hallway went on. Inches from each other’s lips, they stilled, seeing each other as if for the first time. Somehow, the darkness had made them simply a man and a woman, but the light smacked him over the head with who she was and what she was doing there. He couldn’t do it.

  “Nicole,” he breathed, abruptly sliding his hands away. “My apologies. I didn’t mean to—”

  “No, this wasn’t...we shouldn’t...” she said, quickly tugging her shirt down. Her head tipped to the side and her eyes seemed to focus on anything but him. It cut him deep, especially since his body was still reacting to their kiss and the feel of her in his arms. All he wanted to do was touch her again, while she seemed annoyed and uncomfortable.

  Of course she’s uncomfortable, Destin scolded himself. She’s trapped with a stranger, and you’re semihard. “I would never take advantage of you,” he blurted out. “That’s not what this was.”

  “I know,” she whispered, her arms going around herself again. “Good night, Destin.”

  She hurried into the bedroom, and he stood there staring at the door long after she’d closed it.

  * * *

  The next morning Destin took the stone steps to the beach, Magnus on his tail, and watched the sun rise over the ocean. The pink-and-yellow sky changed to blue, and the sun was hot on his face. Leaves blew languidly, and the waves churned against the shore. Except for a few fallen tree branches and dampness on the ground, it was as if it had never stormed.

  With Nicole and the previous night heavy on his mind, he threw himself into the ocean, slicing through the water in a smooth breaststroke, stopping only to take furtive glances up to his patio. She hadn’t stirred since she’d closed the door on him. The longer she slept, the more time he had to figure out how to face her. What to say? I’m sorry I tried to make love to you last night? If he was honest, he was sorry he hadn’t.

  The minute he woke, her lips had bombarded his thoughts, and he’d angrily set out to exhaust himself in the warm sea. With each stroke, he hoped to rid himself of the images that still burned in his brain. The warm curves of her body, the satin of her skin, the velvet of her mouth in the darkness. Thinking about it felt like a dream. The stroke of her palm on his face, her fingertip over his chest. And with new light after the storm had come the pain of reality. But damn, being there in her arms had felt so good.

  But that was last night. The morning had brought a new day, one where she was an obstacle to his plan to fight for his land. Getting rid of her and ruining this deal was supposed to have been easy. And it still could be, if he didn’t get a heavy dose of guilt and anger just thinking about hurting her. What should he do? He stopped pushing himself and trod water, looking to the sky for answers.

  A sharp bark in the distance pulled him from his carousel of thoughts. Destin continued treading water and watched Magnus trot back up the stairs.

  She was awake. Nicole was on the patio, peering out into the sky. Then she tipped her head and dropped her gaze to him.

  Her hair was in a ponytail high on her head, and she was still in his T-shirt—probably still naked underneath. He felt his pulse accelerate even more than it already had. With each stroke back to the shore, Destin steeled himself. He hadn’t planned on the unavoidable intimacy that was now between them, but it wasn’t going to keep him from his primary objective: his land. She was a smart, capable person, and when this deal fell through, she would go back to New York and work on another deal. Simple.

  He toweled himself off and climbed the stairs back to his bedroom. The sound of running water came from the guest bathroom. It must be spider free, he thought with a chuckle. Images of their kiss surfaced, but he shook them off. He took his shower and dressed in a light T-shirt and jeans, coming to a conclusion once he felt awake, clean and fortified.

  Last night was just a misunderstanding, a product of their circumstances. Yes, he might be feeling some attraction, but he was a man, and she was a very, very beautiful woman. It didn’t mean they were soul mates. It didn’t mean anything. He fed Magnus and found his Jeep keys on the table. In fact, it was best that he drive her straight to her hotel, drop her off and never see her again.

  The guest bathroom door opened, and steam rose into the air. Nicole emerged, wrapped in a towel from her breasts to her upper thighs, her skin damp and glistening, her hair still high on her head. With her clothes in her arms, she quickly limped her way to the bedroom and quietly shut the door.

  He needed to take another lap in the ocean.

  Destin aggressively searched his cupboards for anything resembling breakfast. He had an egg—one egg, and it probably needed to be thrown out. He had enough ground coffee to produce about half a cup, no bread and they’d finished the rest of the food from last night.

  “Good morning,” Destin heard behind him. He slammed the cupboards closed and whipped around. Nicole slid into a barstool and leaned her elbows on the island, looking fresh-faced and cheerful in her rumpled silk blouse. The movie in his mind replayed her legs locking around him, and his fist clenched against the feeling of her breasts against his chest. He wondered if they should talk about it.

  She straightened her back. “Look, I don’t want to talk about last night
.”

  He blew out the breath he’d been holding. “Okay.”

  “It’s not that I regret it or anything. I just think we got...caught up.”

  “Caught up?”

  “In the moment,” she continued quickly, seeming to have a hard time looking him in the eye. “I was hysterical. You were my knight in shining armor.”

  “I was in lounge pants.” He didn’t know why, but he was offended by her cavalier attitude. He’d almost had her, and if that damn electric company hadn’t finally decided to do its job, he’d still have her in bed.

  “You know what I mean,” she said, finally looking at him. She sounded nonchalant, but her eyes held a pleading look. As if asking him not to make her admit that she’d wanted him, too.

  “Yeah. Caught up. No worries.” Destin gave her a quick nod and grabbed his car keys. “Should we go?”

  They stuck to pleasantries after that. He asked after her ankle, noticing she could manage a slow limp. While she put on her heelless shoes, he double-checked that all the candles were out in the rooms. She’d made her bed perfectly, he noted, poking his head into the guest room, and had left the towels spread out over the desk chair to dry.

  He was walking back to the living room when he saw Nicole shove at a bit of pink lace that was peeking from her skirt pocket.

  Destin ran a hand over his mouth, unable to get the glimpse of her naked ass out of his head.

  Yep, he really needed to take another dunk in the ocean.

  Chapter 10

  They made the short drive back to the property in silence, with Magnus panting happily in the backseat. Destin parked by Nicole’s car at the front gate. The rented SUV was covered in dirt and leaves, but seemed unharmed.

  “Stay here. I’ll be right back,” Destin said, opening the door and unfolding himself from the Jeep.

  “I need my purse!” Nicole shouted from the window.

  “I’ll get it for you.”

  “But I want to walk the property again. I need to see what I’m selling.”

  The word made Destin want to hit something, and he raised his voice. “You can’t walk, Nicole!”

  “I’ll be fine!”

  They both swallowed when they realized they were yelling.

  “Fine,” Destin said calmly. “Just let me survey the property before you go in.” Nicole looked like she was about to protest, but his face told her not to go there. She didn’t.

  Destin walked across the property and found himself inside the broken structure of his old home, palming the cool stone of the former kitchen. Everything looked in place. Even the ground wasn’t too soggy, the sun and the surrounding vegetation strong enough to suck up the excess water.

  Quickly, he walked behind the cellar and stomped through the dense trees until he came to the clearing where his small crop of vines now thrived. Going down the rows, he spot-checked the leaves, tested the firmness of the grapes and checked the gravel base around the trunks of the vines for proper drainage. They seemed fine, and he smiled at their resilience—against last night’s storm and the fire.

  But he wasn’t sure he could protect them from Nicole.

  The forest was thick enough that no one suspected anything was back there except wild animals, but that was no guarantee that the tenacious real estate lawyer wouldn’t stumble upon them.

  And then she’d tell his father.

  And then he’d lose them.

  He wasn’t going to let that happen, regardless of what had happened between them the night before. What he was going to do was get her out of there and make sure she never came back.

  After a quick trip into the celler, he was relieved when he found her sitting in his Jeep, right where he’d left her. He opened her door, handed her her purse and helped her slide to the ground. With him behind her, Nicole limped as fast as she could to the middle of the property and stopped when she hit open ground. She tipped her face to the sky and let out a loud sigh of relief. She looked at Magnus, who’d kept pace with her the whole way. “It’s like the storm never happened. Is it really already this hot?”

  She was standing very still, eyeing the sky, the trees, the land. She twisted around slowly, stopping to look toward the acres of burned vines in the distance. “You said the irrigation pipes were ruined. Right?”

  “Yes,” he said with a lump in the pit of his stomach, afraid of where her questions would take them.

  “And what’s back here, behind the cellar?”

  “Just forest,” he said in a low voice, praying she wouldn’t go over there.

  Sure enough, she stepped forward, carefully skirting the rocks and fallen debris. Rustling in the far trees above caught their attention, and she stalled. Movement and a small face showed through the leaves.

  “What is that?” she breathed.

  “It’s a monkey,” he answered, debating whether or not to tell her it was harmless.

  “Oh, God,” she whispered, limping away. He chuckled and threw a silent thanks to the little animal, then followed her.

  “Nicole,” he said to her back as she limped across the grass ahead of him toward the front gates. Afraid her pace would make her stumble, he caught up to her. “They are harmless and rarely make an appearance.” She wasn’t listening. “And they only eat leaves and shoots. Slow down. You’ll hurt yourself again.”

  He should help her, but the images of the night before were at the forefront of his head. He didn’t need any more touching. No more talking. No more helping.

  She stumbled and was in his arms in a second, protesting in his ear, but she became resigned when he refused to put her down. He tried to think of her as a sack of grapes, or potatoes, or something inanimate that didn’t make his blood pulse.

  With Magnus on their heels, they made their way through the small patch of forest and ended up at her SUV. She slid from his arms and practically hugged the car, wiping off the leaves and grime with her bare hands.

  “Thank God the car is okay. I can drive to the hotel and grab a much-needed nap.” She plopped her purse on the hood of the car and rummaged for her keys.

  “Nicole, is that your driving foot?” Her face told him it was. “Give me your keys.”

  “Destin. I need to leave here.”

  “We are leaving. But I’m driving. Keys.”

  Destin helped her inside, and then let Magus hop in the back before he walked around the car and slid into the driver’s seat. After securing his seatbelt, he looked up and caught Nicole’s gaze on him, but she looked away quickly and plugged her phone into the dashboard charger.

  “Seatbelt,” he said.

  “Air conditioning,” she replied as she clicked in.

  He held back a smile. The engine roared and he pulled out into the road, slowly taking in the damage. Destin navigated mud and chunks of rock, potholes filled with water and midsized branches. They were half a mile down the road when a man in a construction hat flagged them down. Behind the worker, a group of men with chainsaws and MCats were cutting into a fallen tree blocking the road.

  Destin lowered his window and spoke briefly with the man, then turned to Nicole. “We have to go the other way. He says it’s clear, but traffic is bad.” Destin executed a three-point turn and proceeded back the way they’d come.

  “What time is it?” Nicole asked. Although the car seemed to be working fine, the instrument panel on her rental was wavy as if water logged. Looking up, he spied a small crack in the sunroof that was the culprit. Her phone showed a white screen as it updated itself while his was in his pocket.

  Leaning toward his own window, he looked up and found the sun. “My guess is it’s around eight.”

  “Did you just check the sun?”

  “I’m a vintner. I wouldn’t be much of a good one if I didn’t know the weather or the angle of the sun during the day.”

  “That�
�s kind of impressive,” she said, her voice still a bit throaty from the morning. His body responded, and he gripped the wheel for concentration. “But we have no clocks to see if you’re right.”

  “I’ll fish my phone from my pocket when we get on smoother roads, but I’m right.” He felt a small triumph when she remained silent. “When is your appointment?”

  “It was supposed to be this afternoon. A casino owner from Texas—little restraint and lots of money. I wouldn’t be surprised if he brought his bid in cash in a bag in the trunk of his car. If he got a flight in, that is. I wish I could check my messages.”

  Destin frowned. “He wants to build a casino? Here in Porto Alegre?”

  “You’d be surprised how much money these things generate.”

  “The people who live around here don’t have money.” Destin tried to control his tone, which was dangerously close to an edge.

  “No, but tourists do. Tourists with yachts.”

  Incredulous, he looked at her.

  “It will bring jobs to the community, Destin. And he is prepared to give back. Taxes, obviously, and donations. He’s talking about setting up a free shuttle from the hotels.”

  “This is not a good idea.”

  “Your father vetted my clients and was pleased.”

  “Of course he was,” he murmured in disgust. “I want to see that list.”

  “I don’t have it right now,” she said, pointing at her phone. “You can get it from Elliot.”

  “A casino is not what we need.”

  “What does the city need?”

  “A business that won’t rob its community!” Instantly frustrated at himself for raising his voice, he calmed down and stared past her, as if the roof of his home was visible through the trees. “Excuse me if I don’t want to live next to a madhouse.”

  “You’re being dramatic,” she said softly. “Didn’t you say you didn’t want to be involved? That might be for the best.”