Hard To Regret: Scarlet Bay Book 1

by Kris Pearson

  “Jason, that’s great! Is this a first? Does anyone see them unless they visit here?”

  “They’ve just been for me until now. That’s why I was interested to try something different. You on the beach with them. Getting a bit arty.”

  He kicked at the shingle again, head bowed, wondering if he had any business even telling her about it. She’d be gone from his life long before the exhibition was staged.

  Her arm slid around his waist. “Come and show me then. I’d love to see.”

  He gave a mirthless chuckle. “Some of the locals will get a mighty surprise if word gets around.”

  “And you can be sure it will in a small place like this.” She urged him to walk.

  “That’s what I’m afraid of,” he said as they crossed to the kitchen. Anna opened the dishwasher and he loaded the last few glasses and coffee mugs. Then he set it going and led her upstairs.

  “You could put the birds on your website?” she suggested as they climbed. “Or do you already have them there?”

  Jason squeezed her hand. “Nope. Purely business.”

  She retrieved her hand and loosened her pony tail so her hair flowed loose. A quick shake of her head had it cascading around her shoulders. “It wouldn’t hurt to add a new dimension. Let prospective customers know more about you. Something really interesting about you.”

  “You don’t think my past building projects are interesting?”

  She shot him an amused glance. “Don’t know. Haven’t seen them. But if you put some of your lovely birds up they’d add a definite ‘eco’ air, and that wouldn’t do you any harm.”

  He stayed silent until they’d reached the landing, then said, “Maybe after the exhibition. See how things go there first.”

  She paused by the top window and looked out at the sea. Moonlight glistened on the pale streaks in her hair as she turned to him. “What’s wrong with right away?”

  Jason buried his hands in her long mane and held her captive, pressing his body against hers and kissing each corner of her mouth. “Right away I want to show you this afternoon’s shots. Then I’m getting you into bed again.”

  “Mmmm,” she said. “So I feel. Tomorrow then?”

  He groaned at her insistence. “Tomorrow I’m dragging you out at first light for a quick run on my beach, sharing another shower with you, and then starting the patch-up job on your old bathroom. Birds can wait.”

  “Sunday?”

  He ran his fingers slowly through her hair. “Are you always this persistent?”

  “Probably,” she confirmed, eyes closed like a cat being stroked. “I know I’m a bossy control freak.”

  “Oldest child?”

  Her eyes shot open again. “Yes - how did you guess?”

  His mouth twisted. “First one always gets the bossy genes. Mum said…” He stopped.

  “Mum said what?” she asked as an enquiring wrinkle appeared between her brows.

  He shrugged. “That the oldest looks after the others. That it’s built in. The first child gets more parental attention to start with and that sets their personality. The younger ones are less responsible.” He released her hair and urged her toward the bedroom. “Like Cathy riding my bike when she’d been told not to,” he added, hoping Anna didn’t hear the censure in his tone. “Even though it was too big for her. Even though she knew Trev would give her a hiding if he caught her.”

  “I suppose you got the hiding instead?”

  Jason was pleased she was now walking in front of him and wouldn’t see his face. “Something like that. I’ve no doubt it helped turn me into a caring human being,” he added.

  Anna turned, forcing him to a stop. “Don’t do that,” she snapped. “Don’t make jokes about horrible stuff the way you sometimes do. I hate it.”

  He let loose a short bark of a laugh. “Only with you, Frosty. I seem to keep my guard up okay with the rest of the world. I’ve told you things I’ve never told anyone else.” He indicated the office chair in front of his impressive computer screens. “Sit. I’ll get another one.”

  She sat, swinging slowly from side to side as she inspected his set-up. “Serious gear,” she said. “I didn’t quite expect this.”

  He pushed a second chair across the room. “I’m not into rubbish tools. Do it once, do it well. Not into rubbish women either,” he added, bending to kiss her again.

  Anna tilted her head back and tried to glare at him. “Not even when you were sixteen and desperate?” she suggested, narrow-eyed.

  He lowered himself onto the chair, parting his legs until his knee bumped hers. “Was never that desperate. Anyway, I meant it as a compliment.”

  Her lips twitched as she tried to supress a smile. er lips twityched“Hmmm. Thank you, then. So why do you want to wait until after the exhibition to add the birds? When is it, anyway?”

  Jason locked a hand on her thigh. “God, you’re relentless. Definitely an oldest child.”

  He opened his laptop. “Middle of January. Part of the city’s summer holiday celebrations.”

  “Doesn’t give you much time.”

  “I can burgle the display downstairs if I need to.” He squeezed her knee.

  She opened her mouth again but stayed silent for a moment. He knew she was far from finished though, and sure enough, she asked, “But why are you hesitating about getting them online?” Her face was alight with enthusiasm. “Has anyone ever said anything less than complimentary about them? They took my breath away when I first saw them. And today Eric said ‘Go and see the boss’s birds’ so he’s obviously impressed by them. In fact, why not sell prints direct from your website?”

  Jason deserted the keyboard and leaned back in the chair, sighing as he did so. “How much spare time do you think I have, Frosty? I work long days. I have several jobs under way most of the time. It’s physical work. And then I chase other contracts, prepare quotes, source materials, make sure everyone’s paid, keep the tax-man happy…” He reached out for her hand. “Yeah, nice idea, but not going to happen.”

  She worried at her bottom lip, obviously not done yet. “You could make it a special project for Hoolie? Something else to keep him out of trouble? A whole separate site, maybe? He’s keen on technology. He photographs every darn thing around him and sends it off somewhere.”

  Was it possible? He hadn’t spent years building up his business and reputation only to lay his secret passion so publicly on the line for anyone to see and judge. “You mean put him in charge of designing it with one of those free templates, send him some photos and details, and see what he comes up with? Divorce it from my site completely?”

  Anna’s lips curved. “Why not, as an experiment? It’d only cost the domain name and a year’s hosting to see how it goes.”

  He stroked his thumb and forefinger down his chin, so tempted. “I’d want to keep control of the printing and despatch.”

  “Absolutely. But that doesn’t sound too onerous. I mean - not to start with, anyway. I’d love to think it would take off like a rocket, but it’s more likely to be a slow build-up.”

  “If it builds up at all.”

  She leaned against him. “Yes. But it certainly won’t if you don’t try. You could do limited editions to add extra class and bump the prices up. The exhibition would be great publicity. That momentum would draw traffic to the website.”

  They sat in silence for a few moments while he thought about it. Through the partly open window the sound of the breakers made a background for a sudden burst of liquid song.

  “Tuis burning the midnight oil again,” he said, checking his watch. “Funny birds. Ridiculous timetable. Sometimes you hear them really late like this. Maybe something disturbs them. Tomorrow morning they’ll wake us up about four-thirty. Late to bed, early to rise.”

  “So what about the website?” she persisted.

  He ignored her for a moment, knowing it made good sense. Then he reached out and clicked. Immediately the centre screen filled with gulls and terns against blue sk
y.

  She bent forward and inspected them avidly. “I see what you mean,” she said. “Far too many.”

  He pointed. “But that one is useable. It’s in front of the others. The light on it is great. And that open beak - you can almost hear it squawking. I could clear-cut it from the crowd.” He selected the next shot.

  Anna shook her head. “No. No-one catches my eye there.”

  He moved on and waited for her reaction.

  “Jason! Thank God it’s out of focus. You zoomed in quite close…” She peered at the shot of herself running out onto the sand, then buried her face in her hands and said in a muffled voice, “I should never have done it.”

  “How about this one then?”

  She gave a distressed moan when she looked up. Focus much sharper. Her hair flowing sideways in the wind. Sun on her butt, sand flying up from her feet.

  “Great sense of movement,” he said. “But not the shot I wanted.”

  The air rushed from her lips as she blew out a sigh of relief.

  He clicked again. More birds.

  “That one’s good,” she said in a less confident voice, pointing to a tern hovering, wings high, as the others dived on the food.

  “This one’s the best.” He brought up the last one of Anna on tiptoe, arms outstretched as though she’d lift off into the wind and join the birds any second.

  She sat absolutely silent. “At least it’s not too close,” she said eventually.

  In answer, Jason cropped tightly around her body and zoomed in. “It is if I want it to be.”

  She turned toward him and began to object, and he grinned and clicked away to the wider shot again. “Calm down, Frosty. This is the way I’d imagined it. And although you look fantastic, it’s the birds that have to be the stars.” He altered the opacity until the scene had a soft gauzy quality. “Hot ghost on the beach. Just what I hoped for.”

  He saw her swallow.

  “It’s pretty,” she agreed. “And you can’t see it’s me, so okay.”

  He clicked through the rest of the bird shots. There was nothing as good as the first one. “Yep, I was pretty sure they were rubbish. I’ll try again after work tomorrow if the light’s the same.”

  The morepork hooted again somewhere in the trees. “You were going to show me what he looked like,” Anna reminded him.

  He opened other files, searching rapidly for the best shot. Then brought up the little spotted owl with its huge golden eyes.

  Anna gave her whole attention to it. “Great to have the full moon in the background,” she said.

  Jason grinned. “Not entirely a case of ‘what you see is what you get’. The eyes don’t shine like that unless there’s light on them. The moon was in front, lighting him up.”

  “I guess he wouldn’t sit still if you were using flash,” she agreed. “So you added it later?” She leaned further forward, eyes intent, and a wrinkle of concentration between her brows. “God, you’d never know,” she said, turning back to him.

  Her praise made pleasure flow warm in his veins. “I try not to fake things. But sometimes the benefits of a little enhancement outweigh the drawbacks. I could give you a butt the size of that Kardashian girl,” he added, nudging her arm with his.

  “Don’t you bloody dare!” she exclaimed, eyes round with a mixture or horror and amusement. “That would not be a benefit in the least. Or an enhancement.”

  He leaned toward her, and lifted her hair aside so he could kiss her neck, then progressed along her jaw until his lips met hers. “Bed. You. Me. Naked. Now,” he murmured between kisses, before powering down the computer.

  Anna pushed her chair back. It rolled easily on the polished timber floor and she rose with a smile. “I could get used to this.”

  “But you’d better not,” he said, following her to the landing between the bedrooms.

  “No,” she agreed, sending him an unfathomable glance over her shoulder. “Or do I mean ‘yes’? Yes, I’d better not get used to it.”

  He turned her to face him, shaking his head slowly. “Given what we decided before we started this, you’d better not. But it’s going to be a hell of a week. I’m going to get inside you every chance I can. Show you what you’ve been missing out on until now. Spoil you for any other man.”

  “Jason,” she murmured, trying to twist away. “Don’t be so intense. You’ll wreck it. We’re miles apart in every way. There’s no future in it.” She finally succeeded in breaking his grasp and turned to gaze out the window into the darkness again. “We’ve had two days. We might get another five if we’re lucky. After that I’ll be all caught up in family stuff and Christmas.”

  He stood close behind her and laid his cheek on her hair. Appalled at his sense of possible loss. Trying to keep his tone light. “So I’ll just be the builder again?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. Will you?”

  “You mean ‘will I get the contract for the other house’?”

  She stood straighter, as though she was summoning up courage. “No. I mean ‘are you hinting that you want to change the rules?’ Not keep this a quick private thing? I thought that was all you were up for?”

  He drew a deep breath and released it before admitting, “It was. But it’s turned a bit special.” He slid an arm around her waist and pulled her close again. His giveaway erection nestled against her butt.

  She pushed back against him before she said out into the darkness, “I’m not sure about anything at all now. We might be sick of each other after another five days, anyway.”

  “Or maybe not,” he added in a murmur he wasn’t sure he wanted her to hear.

  The time had passed like a flash of lightning, a puff of wind, the crash of one perfect wave - and through the excitement a shining thread of possibility had woven itself. He tightened his arm, wanting, yet knowing he shouldn’t want. He didn’t deserve her. Had so little to offer compared to the wealthy guys she no doubt usually associated with. Best to keep this the few quick and dirty days they’d originally planned. But…

  Maybe the birds would be some sort of consolation once she’d gone. A pretty faint one, probably.

  “All righty, I’ll give the extra website a go,” he agreed. “Never know without trying, will I?” In answer, Anna tilted her head back and raised a hand to pull him down for a long desperate kiss.

  CHAPTER 13 – MORNING RUN

  She tried not to groan as his other arm wrapped around her as well. Surrounded by warm masculine flesh - could there be any better feeling? One of his hands slid a little higher, cupped her breast, teased her nipple. When he raised his lips from hers she stared straight ahead at their reflection in the window. He did the same. Their gazes locked in the glass as though a silent pact was being made.

  Her pale grey top and fair skin looked almost luminous against his deep tan.

  Opposites.

  Her long streaky hair was many shades lighter than his dark waves.

  Opposites.

  His huge shoulders dwarfed her slighter frame.

  Opposites.

  He rested his chin on the top of her head, his gaze steady on hers.

  “You’re ten inches taller than me,” she blurted. “Why don’t you scare me?”

  He gave a slow blink. “You know I’d never hurt you.” His hand tucked more securely around her breast. “I’d slay dragons for you, Frosty.”

  The corners of his mouth twitched in the start of that trademark slow grin that drove her mad, made her tingle and moisten, made her want to strip him naked and rub herself all over him.

  Wrong-handed, she reached behind herself, fumbled until she located the metal button of his jeans, pushed it through the buttonhole clumsily, and cast around for the zipper tab.

  “Whoa, whoa,” Jason cautioned. “Commando under there. Let me, eh? Or I might not be worth knowing.”

  Despite being frantic to touch him, Anna let loose a puff of mirth. “Yes, I need you with all your skin on,” she agreed. “To slay my dragon.”

&
nbsp; He swung her up into his arms and carried the few steps into the bedroom, tossed her onto the bed with obvious relish, and stood looking down at her in the light of one shaded lamp as he eased his zipper apart far too slowly for her liking.

  “Hurry,” she whispered, hauling her T-shirt over her head.

  “Have you any idea how good it is, having a woman not playing bloody hard to get?” he demanded. “Why do they do that? Is it something your mothers teach you?” He looked so aggrieved she had to laugh.

  “Not mine,” she said, reaching out and stroking his belly with the backs of her fingers until he pushed at his jeans. “I think my sister Becca is a bit reserved, but…” Her brain froze out Becca’s problem as denim slid down long thighs, past the snake, past the evil thin scar the saw-blade had left. Her breath caught in her throat. “I can’t imagine anyone playing hard to get with you,” she whispered. “Who wouldn’t want that?” She reached up and grasped his cock, pushing silky skin over his steely core, up and down, again and again.

  Jason braced his knees back, and stood for her like a beautiful statue until his eyes slowly closed and his chest inflated on a huge inhalation. “Babe, you’re killing me. I have plans for you. I can’t take too much more.” His voice was a deep rumble.

  “Of course you can,” she whispered, pushing herself up to her knees and smoothing her face against the up-rearing head of the tattoo. She relaxed her grip and poked out her tongue, running it all the way from his balls to his big dark crown.

  A sharp intake of breath. A shuddering flex in her hand. And then she yelped with surprise as he flipped her flat on her back, and confined her hands in his.

  He smirked down at her. “My turn to call the shots.” His expression gentled. “Are you cold? I can close the window further. You’re going to be at my mercy for a while, and I’ll have you out of the rest of those clothes any second. Nice bra, by the way.” He trailed a finger from nipple to nipple.