Ultimate Love

by Cara Holloway

  Regular customers dropped in and were enthusiastic over her new seasonal summer menu, but Dinah failed to find enjoyment as she used to in their delight.

  Then one-day as summer ended workmen appeared in the small block of shops. With their early morning construction noise Dinah remembered that with her lease nothing had changed. Although the start of building had been delayed the cancellation of her lease had not been officially withdrawn. Her business was still in jeopardy. She may have temporarily alleviated the situation, but now her heart was entangled in a big mess.

  Shortly after the workmen arrived Jared himself deigned to appear. At least that was how it seemed to Dinah. When she was upstairs in her flat above the cafe, preparing herself for the morning rush, she heard orders being barked to the workmen whom she had become used to in the courtyard down below. Looking out of her window she saw Jared dressed in casual jeans and a polo neck shirt directing the men rushing about down below.

  Exiting her flat into the cafe she cautiously turned on the espresso machine to warm up and began preparing her early morning cappuccino. She looked outside and caught Jared's gaze.

  Dinah remembered the last time she had looked into those warm blue eyes. She had been in the throes of passion. Guiltily, she recalled how she had crept from his bed and apartment without saying goodbye and she fervently hoped he would not bring up her leaving him without so much as a kiss in the morning. She hoped that was how he liked his women to behave: great sex followed by no small talk the next morning. Wasn't that what all millionaire playboys wanted? Hopefully Jared would be true to form.

  After taking a much needed caffeine boost she stepped outside.

  "What are you doing here?" she asked as she approached Jared.

  She had not meant her greeting to be so brusque, but she could not calm the nerves in herself nor release her immediate physical response to him. The man was just too gorgeous in casual jeans and a shirt! No man surely had the right to be that good looking so early in the morning?

  "Well good morning to you too! That looks great, can I have some too?" he said. It took Dinah a moment to realise he meant the cappuccino and not her, and when she did she blushed to the roots of her perfectly clean and blow dried hair.

  "Of course," she replied.

  Dinah hurried into the cafe where she expertly brewed a cappuccino from the espresso machine. Relief washed over her. He hadn't mentioned their night together. Not yet anyway. Maybe it was so insignificant to him he just didn't care to remember. As Dinah frothed the milk to perfection she tried unsuccessfully to keep her mind from wandering to that night she had spent in Jared's bed, and Jared's arms, and his strong hard physique, which was evident even in jeans and a simple knitted shirt and which drove her wild! How was she going to keep her mind focused when he was around?

  She walked back outside and handed the coffee to Jared. As Jared savored the caffeinated brew she wondered still why he was there.

  "I found I needed to be more on site for this development than I originally anticipated," he said. It seemed, again, that he had read her thoughts.

  "Progress is not as fast as I had hoped. With the delay in starting after summer was over we now need this to move along faster and I need to be here to supervise the work," he continued.

  Dinah was not convinced, but she was pleased to see him again. For weeks he had disturbed her thoughts, to the point of her not being able to sleep due to her aching body remembering their passionate night of a few weeks ago.

  "I've been thinking of your recommendations for the development and I think you may have been onto something. I'd like to discuss your ideas further," he said.

  Dinah mind was focussed with intensity on the passion they had shared. She had been trying her best to forget their night a few weeks ago, and Jared's reference to that evening brought lust back in a rush. She could feel her face heating up and her cheeks reddening with a blush. She hoped it was not obvious and she felt a fool while she reasoned that he was only talking business.

  "Of course, if you would like to discuss my ideas I would be only too happy to make the time. I have the cafe to open in a few moments and we close at three. How about we meet after that?" she said almost out of breath. Damn! Surely she could do better than appear like a love struck teenager in his presence! Dinah cursed herself for her inexperience. She was just not used to being around mega millionaire property developers like Jared Knight. His physical presence threw her off her usual balance. Just the sight of his wide chest and tight jeans, and the smell of him, threw her for a spin.

  "Okay. I'll see you then Dinah," he said. His soft voice turned her name into a caress, and bestowing another devilishly sexy smile he turned away. With his back to her now she allowed herself to gaze longingly at his strong thighs in tight jeans as he walked casually away.

  Jared smiled. As he walked away he wondered bemusedly why he had come so far for so little, but the thought was quickly squashed as he recalled how important the development at Devon Bay was to his company. He was there to ensure the development proceeded as planned, perhaps with some minor adjustments. He reasoned that Dinah's ideas on how the development could be altered to ensure a better outcome that would benefit his business. He needed to see her again to pick her brilliant mind and refine his ideas, and only that! Getting Dinah Luxford into his bed again would be a bonus. He could not dismiss this possibility as less than desirable.

  He had spent the last few weeks burying himself in his work until he could no longer put off coming up to Devon Bay. When the decision to visit the site had been made he found himself looking forward to seeing Dinah again and that delicious body of hers. He had allowed his mind to wander back over their night together in Auckland, spending time in the evenings after work was done and socialising had ended to relive the memory. He did not stop to examine his sudden loss of interest in other women, rationalising it away as simply not having enough time. But he had absolutely no interest in the various blondes and sexy brunettes who regularly paraded their best assets in front of him. He did not notice them at all. When his mind did wander to the delights of the fairer sex, it was Dinah's body he thought of and her scent he could still smell in his nostrils.

  Jared's visit to Devon Bay was necessary to oversee the beginning of the first stage of the development. It was his usual custom to be involved until he could trust his project manager to take over, once he was sure that everyone on board knew the plan intimately enough for him to step back. This process usually took a couple of weeks and Jared secretly relished having Dinah in his sights for an extended period of time. He figured that just the one night had not been enough to get her out of his system. Perhaps more time with her was necessary. Then he could go back to Auckland free and unencumbered. As three o'clock approached Dinah was a bunch of nerves. She hustled her staff into finishing early making sure every detail was perfect. Vaguely, she wondered why it was so important but quickly dismissed the idea that it was because she wanted to be alone with Jared again. It was just because she wanted to ensure her ideas for the development of Devon Bay were taken on board and not anything personal.

  It had been another long and hard day in the cafe and just before three o'clock Dinah left her most experienced barista in charge as she then fled upstairs to her apartment to quickly shower and change.

  She slipped into a clean A-line skirt with a simple knitted top, and put on a small wrap around ballerina shirt over the top to ward off the late summer evening chill. She finished with a swipe of gloss to her lips and a brief swatch of mascara over her long lashes and reasoned that she only wanted to appear as her best in front of Auckland's most powerful property developer. She didn't want to appear as an unsophisticated country bumpkin, that was all. Then with a deep breath she slowly descended the stairs to the cafe.

  As she finished her descent the sight of Jared entering her cafe transfixed her. He was dressed again in casual denim jeans, which hugged his strong masculine hips and thighs, but wore a simple white shirt and
a black summer weight jacket over the top. He was the most gorgeous man she had ever seen and she wondered how she was going to be able to discuss business with him and not fall into a blithering mess of desire at his feet. She drew a deep breath and resolved to keep calm and business like for the meeting, no matter how much effort it took!

  "Would you like a latte? It's too late in the day for a cappuccino, although I can make an espresso if you prefer?" she asked him.

  "A latte would be perfect. It's been a long day and I need a caffeine boost," he replied.

  Dinah was relieved to busy herself in front of the espresso machine, and prepared them both a perfect latte complete with a flourish of foam art on the top. She tried to limit her glances toward where he sat, completely comfortable on one of the couches and she noticed that he was looking with interest at the art supplied by local artists on the walls, and he was immersed in the ambiance of her beloved Ultimate cafe.

  She approached Jared and set the coffees down on the table before him and felt her gut tighten in recognition of the energy that thrummed between them.

  "You have a very… interesting establishment here," he remarked.

  She looked around at her cafe. She had not looked at it for a while from a stranger's perspective and she realised then that her cafe had grown into quite an eclectic space.

  "I've furnished this space for the comfort of the locals," she said. "I've got a few regulars and they like to take their time reading the paper in the morning and relax with their coffees. The comfy sofas mean people stay longer and spend more money, and all the art on the walls is created by local artists. I've created a space that feels like an extension of home, but also something a little more."

  "Hmm, I see," Jared said. "It is homely. You know, I wouldn't have thought to use these old mismatching tables, chairs and couches, but it kinda works. Who's the artist who produces the surf art?"

  "That's Tom Ballinger," she said. "He's lived here like forever, and he's an old time surfer. The art on the wall opposite, that's Amy Chandler. She's Tom's wife. They both surf actually. Most people do around here."

  "Do you surf?" he said as his piercing blue eyes turned to appraise her.

  "Oh no, I simply don't have time. I've tried, but it's really hard and I'm scared of the waves," she confessed.

  "Wait, what?" Jared exclaimed in mock horror. "You, scared of waves? And you live beside a surf beach? That's funny. It's just water you know."

  "I nearly drowned once when I was a kid. The ocean is really powerful and you have to respect it. Anyway, I never really learned how to swim properly. I can do a passable breast stroke, but putting my head underneath the water just feels so unnatural."

  "Okay, well that explains the lack of surfing."

  "Do you surf?" she asked him, hoping the answer was yes. She had always found surfers really attractive to watch in the water and admired anyone brave enough to do what she simply could not.

  "Yeah! Actually that's why I was originally attracted to Devon Bay. It's got a wicked point break. I bought a place here so I could get away sometimes and catch some waves," he said.

  He was just another typical holidaymaker Dinah thought with dismay. Like many of the permanent residents of Devon Bay she held some dislike of Aucklanders who owned second homes in the community. They were looked upon as a necessary evil. To be tolerated but not liked. They filled the small town to over capacity during the long summer holiday break, bringing traffic noise and petty crime and money. Most of Devon Bay's residents lived there to get away from crowds and those that were not employed in retail or service businesses tried to leave for quieter spots during summer. Dinah and the other local business owners could not do that. They needed the seasonal business the Aucklanders brought, but that did not mean they enjoyed the crowds or different driving habits or noisy holidaymakers.

  Jared mistook her sudden reserve for concern over the development. Now was the time to broach the subject he needed to speak to her about.

  "You see we left the beginning of the development until end of summer," Jared began. When she didn't reply to his comment he continued. "We've managed to figure out how we can shuffle the businesses in this block around using the two vacant spaces. You should have minimum disruption while the development is underway."

  Jared looked carefully into her face to gauge her reaction.

  Dinah smiled.

  "Thanks, yeah, I noticed you waited until the summer holiday was over and school started again," she said. "That's when the place starts to calm down again. Your foreman did come over yesterday and outlined when they needed to work in my cafe. It seems it can wait until closer to the quietest time of the year. So does this mean my lease is not cancelled?" She had nothing formal from Jared's office yet, and the lack of notice was disquieting. Dinah liked everything to be clear and complete. Her attention to detail demanded it.

  "Probably. It depends on how the development goes, which may depend upon the weather. If we have a nice calm and dry autumn then you may get your wish," he said.

  Dinah didn't like it, but at least it was better than what she had faced previously.

  "Hey, do you mind if we move on from business now? I'm starving. Where can a guy get a good meal around here?" he said. He grinned at her, knowing her cafe was famous locally for the best food.

  "Well, the best is closed," she said as she indicated her cafe with a wave of her hand. "But if it's dinner you want then Harvest down the road does great locally grown food, even the meat is locally sourced and everything on their menu is organic."

  "Will you join me? Just so I don't get lost. I'm sure that having a local to show me around will make sure I get the best service too," he said, grinning at her.

  How could a girl resist? "Sure!" she said. "Just let me finish up here first. How about you give me an hour?"

  "Okay. It's a date," he said with a soft voice, his eyes focus on her lips. With those words and that look a tremor of lust shot through Dinah, or was it love? She was in so deep she really couldn't tell.

  Dinah's world had been rocked by that night they spent together in Auckland. She had escaped early the next morning because she couldn't face her guilt at what she had done, sleeping with a guy on the first day she'd met him. But she had spent the last few weeks thinking of nothing but sleeping again with Jared Knight.

  After a couple of weeks after her visit to Auckland and her night with Jared she had calmed down enough to call her sister, Angela, and tell her all about it. Angela had helped her get over her guilt, telling Dinah that it was okay to take pleasure when it was offered and it was okay for a woman to enjoy her sexuality. Dinah had not let on to Angela that she was afraid that it was more than her body she had shared with Jared, that she was afraid her heart was involved too.

  As the weeks went by Dinah had been more able to relegate the memories to a corner of her mind, bringing them only out at night when she was alone in her flat. But now with the sudden reappearance of Jared in Devon Bay Dinah was thrown. Lust had returned with a vengance and she was aware that her heart was in danger of falling in love with Jared Knight.

  Chapter 11

  Dinah de-scaled the coffee machine on autopilot. When that was done she prepared the dough for tomorrow's bread, leaving it to rise overnight, and then made a couple of calls to suppliers. By 5 o'clock she had finished and had just enough time to rush upstairs to her flat and freshen up her appearance.

  Normally she would have worn just old jeans and a shirt. Devon Bay was not the kind of place you needed to dress up for dinner. It was more a beachwear and bikini kind of place. But tonight Dinah wanted to feel more elegant. She told herself it had nothing to do with wanting Jared to look at her as an attractive woman. She selected a simple summer dress with a deep halter neck top and quickly splashed her face with cold water and touched up her makeup, finishing with a swipe of her favourite strawberry lip-gloss. When she applied the gloss the smell of it took her immediately back to her night with Jared. It was funny how sme
lls could recall a memory in full colour and vivid detail. Heat pooled between her legs as images of the wild sex they had shared that night came back to her, of his hard body beneath her fingers and the things he had encouraged her to do. She realised with dismay that despite a few weeks apart she still had the same reaction to him that she discovered when she first met him. Time had not reduced her response. If anything it seemed that because her body knew what could be on offer again that her desire for him was increased. With a groan Dinah looked at her flushed cheeks in the mirror. She was now fully aware that the chemistry between them was still as strong as it was when she first met Jared, but her heart was threatening to fall for him too. She was afraid of being hurt. She was afraid he would break her heart. "It's just dinner. He's just a womanising love-them-and-leave-them kind of man. Don't let your heart get hurt!" she told herself.

  Jared returned briefly to his house by the beach to make a few calls and change. He struggled to keep his mind focused while he finished up business for the day and he was more than necessarily brief with his instructions for his foreman for the next day. After a quick shower and change he found himself staring blankly out the full length bi-fold doors facing the beach, not noticing the stunning view at all. His mind was full of a certain delectable female body with soft chestnut hair and clear green eyes.

  Seeing Dinah again had hit him hard, and he had not expected it. He had known she was not out of his system yet, that the one incredible night with her had just whetted his appetite for more, but he was beginning to wonder just how much more of her he needed to rid his system of this wanting. Oh well, he rationalised to himself that a man had to eat and a man had to have a woman from time to time. He may as well have Dinah Luxford, and when he was done with her he would be able to get back to Auckland and back to his life.

  Chapter 12

  Jared was punctual, again, as Dinah expected him to be. He was at the door of the cafe exactly one hour after he had left. Dinah drew a shaky breath as she opened the door, feasting her eyes on his tall wide physique clad in clean blue jeans and v neck t-shirt stretched tautly across his impressive chest. She managed a small tight smile as she turned to lock the door behind her.