Читать книгу The Heat of the Night - Amy Andrews - Страница 11

FOUR

The next day they got the all-clear to start the clean-up and for five long days Claudia and the whole crew worked like Trojans to clear the mountains of debris whirled up, ripped to shreds and dumped back down again by the cyclone.

Five long days from sun up to sun down—picking up, chopping up, loading, dumping and starting all over again. Crashing exhausted into bed each night with aches and pains and blisters galore. Waking early to do all again the next day.

Too busy to do any of the leisure things that could usually be indulged in at a beach resort. Too busy to relax on the beach or go surfing after shift end. Too busy for long, boozy chats late into the night. Too busy to take a day off and go out fishing in one of Jonah’s charter boats.

Too damn busy for sure to psychoanalyse a very weird moment that should never have happened. Too busy to question it. Too busy to barely say a dozen words to each other.

But when she shut her eyes, all bets were off and Claudia spent a lot of time fantasising about just where that moment could have gone. If she had shifted against him, slid her arm around his neck. If he had kissed her, if he’d pushed his hand under her shirt.

This was what happened when there were unfulfilled sexual fantasies. They just grew and grew in the deep, dark recesses of the imagination until a person could barely sleep from the wondering.

Maybe they should have got it on as he’d put it. Done it early, rid it from their systems. Hell, their parents would never have even known if they’d had some wild pash one night down on the beach.

It probably would have been one of those awful, soggy, teeth-clashing kisses. Probably. And that would have been that.

Because she sure as hell was spending a lot of her supposed sleep time wondering about a wild pash with Luke now.

Too much bloody time.

* * *

On the sixth day Claudia was busy inside, ostensibly going over the strategic plan, plotting their progress, seeing what else had to be done/arranged and making some phone calls to local suppliers.

And it really had started out that way.

But from the reception desk she had a bird’s eye view of the pool. The pool that Luke had decided was on his to-do list today. She’d actually put it on Cyrus’s list but clearly they’d swapped. So there he was in a pair of boardies. And nothing else.

He didn’t have that deep nutty tan any more. Although, he had toasted to a light delicious golden colour even in the short time he’d spent back under the north Queensland sun. His chest was as hairless as she remembered, just a sprinkling around his nipples and a fine trail that arrowed down from his belly button.

All the way down.

Her work largely forgotten, Claudia, her handy clipboard clutched to her chest, watched Luke clear all the large debris that had been dumped in the previously sparkling water of the large resort pool that meandered its way all around the outside of the main building. He stood on the edge and pulled it all out with a large net. From leaf matter to building wreckage to about a zillion dead insects.

There was no sign of the mobile phone he had practically glued to his hip the entire week. Taking phone calls from London at all hours of the day and night, downing tools while he dealt with whatever matter was deemed urgent enough by the person at the other end to interrupt his week off, then picking up again and getting on with it.

Nope, as he waded into the pool with the hand-held industrial vacuum cleaner the phone was nowhere to be seen. Just Luke and his boardies and a pair of reef shoes to protect him from any glass hazards that could still be lying on the bottom of the pool, hidden by the slightly murky water.

With her occupational health and safety hat on, Claudia was pleased to see Luke being cautious. But that wasn’t what was causing her to openly ogle him.

No.

That would be the way water droplets clung to his arms and chest, glistening distractedly. The midday sun shone down on him, sparkling in the droplets, and he was literally dazzling to her eyes.

Claudia swallowed as she watched his broad shoulders and powerful quads get to work, sweeping at the layer of silt and sand on the bottom of the pool.

‘Hey.’

Claudia almost jumped out of her skin as Avery’s voice sounded right near her ear. ‘Do you have to creep around like that?’ she protested, pressing her hand to her pounding heart.

Avery frowned. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Nothing,’ Claudia muttered, quickly turning back to the desk.

But it was too late. Avery turned to see what had been holding Claudia’s attention. And found it.

Or him, as the case may be.

She grinned. ‘Well, well, well,’ she teased. ‘Were you perving on that gorgeous hunk of man flesh, Miss Claude?’

Claudia refused to look up and give anything away. ‘Just checking he was wearing the appropriate shoes. That’s an accident waiting to happen,’ she fobbed.

Avery grinned again. ‘Uh-huh.’

Claudia glanced at her friend sharply. ‘I was.’

‘Uh-huh.’

Claudia shoved her hand on her hip. ‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?’ she demanded.

Avery shrugged in that gorgeous retro Hollywood movie star way of hers. ‘Nothing. I think it’s great that you can’t take your eyes off Captain Sexypants.’

Claudia blinked. Only Avery would come up with such a fanciful nickname. ‘Captain Sexypants?’ Of all the... ‘Just because you are all loved up, Avery Shaw, does not mean the rest of the world is similarly interested.’

‘Uh-huh.’

Avery got that dreamy look in her eyes again—the one that had been an almost permanent fixture on her face since she and Jonah had become an item—and Claudia rolled her eyes, returning her attention to the paperwork in front of her.

‘You can tell me, you know, Claude. We’ve been friends a long time—you know you can talk to me.’

Claudia glanced up as Avery turned serious, her American accent more pronounced when edged with worry. The thing was she knew she could. Or she used to be able to anyway. But then the resort got dumped on her as a sole responsibility and, even though Avery had been there by her side throughout it all, the onus still fell directly on Claudia’s shoulders. Trying to keep it altogether, make it all work, had forced Claudia into an almost permanent state of seriousness, with no time for frivolous girly chatter.

And then Avery had hooked up with Jonah and how could Claudia possibly dump her problems on her friend’s shoulders? Avery was happy—she didn’t want to bother her with trivial stuff.

The days of their girlhood confidences had been well and truly squashed by her very adult responsibilities.

So now she wasn’t sure how she could say, well, actually, Avery, Luke sleep-groped me a few days back and I’m so sexually frustrated I think I might die from it or at the very least jump the next guy who walks through the door.

How could she even voice that, think of her own petty desires, when the world around her had gone to hell and there were so much more important things to deal with?

And it was just as well she didn’t as Jonah chose that moment to walk through the door and Avery’s face lit up as if he were dipped in chocolate and rolled in sugar.

‘I know, Avery,’ Claudia said, and smiled at her best friend in the whole world. ‘I know. I just have a lot on my plate.’

Avery gave her shoulder a squeeze. ‘You need a break.’

Claudia nodded. ‘Later.’ She tapped a pen against the resort plans in front of her. ‘After.’

But then Jonah’s, ‘Where are those refreshments, woman?’ boomed across the foyer and Avery said, ‘I’m just going to organise some drinks for the workers.’

Claudia nodded absently. ‘’Kay. See you later.’

Claudia watched as Avery took off in Jonah’s direction and smiled as Jonah swept her up and pressed a very indecent kiss on Avery’s mouth. She looked away.

Outside. To the pool.

Luke was boosting himself up on the side, his back to her. Water sluiced off his hair and down over his shoulders and the perfectly delineated muscles of his back. For a man who had an office job, he was in excellent shape. In one smooth movement he’d twisted and sat on the coping of the pool. The broad expanse of his chest was exposed to her view now and Claudia drank it in. Firm pecs, flat abs and that distinct trail of hair that arrowed from his belly button down...

Before she could follow it all the way to its destination, Luke turned again and pushed up through powerful quads into a standing position.

Her gaze was drawn to those legs. Lightly haired, his calves firm without being bulky. And then there were his boardies. His very wet boardies that clung in all the wrong places, outlining the hardness of quads beneath but also the part of his anatomy she’d felt up close and personal only days before.

Claudia’s mouth suddenly felt as dry as day-old toast.

He chose that moment to look up and suddenly she was looking straight into his eyes. Eyes that, despite distance and the barrier of glass, seemed to pierce right to her centre. Their gazes locked and held and Claudia’s heart banged around in her chest. Her breath hitched. Her mouth went from dry to arid.

There was a frankness to his gaze and in that instant she knew, she just knew, he’d been aware of her interest all along. A part of her wanted to hide behind the desk, hide from the directness in his gaze, but he chose that moment to sweep a flat palm up his belly to his chest and her eyes helplessly followed.

She couldn’t look away.

He motioned to her then, inviting her to join him and, God help her, she wanted to. Really freaking bad.

But the phone rang, dragging her back from the edge, and she leapt on it as if it were the last life buoy left on a sinking ship, picking it up and brandishing it at him, barely stopping herself from kissing it.

He looked at her long and hard for a moment before shrugging and nodding and she turned away gratefully, catching her breath as she greeted the caller, her usual chipper phone manner lost in the mental images of a half-naked Luke.

Captain Sexypants indeed.

* * *

Later that evening, with the bulk of the clean-up finally completed, Claudia threw an impromptu luau down on the beach for all the volunteers. Back before the resort was blown to hell, every Saturday night was luau night. It was one of their most popular themed events amongst their largely family clientele as well as Crescent Cove locals.

This wasn’t going to be anywhere near as fancy as that. There wouldn’t be drums and ukuleles to hula to and there wouldn’t be the usual feast but then, there wouldn’t be two hundred people either. There was only a dozen to cater for and, given that there was enough raw material to make a bonfire big enough to be seen from space, all they really needed was some fresh seafood and some cold drinks.

Jonah had been tasked with taking one of his boats out and catching some fish, which he’d done most admirably. Tony, their chef, who was still with them after all these years, had cooked the fish along with an amazing rice-in-coconut-milk concoction and piping-hot fresh bread. Avery had dug out the leis and a CD of Hawaiian music.

And even if partying was the last thing Claudia and her aching body felt like, she put on her uniform, plastered a smile on her face and was the chipper Claude that everyone knew and loved because these people had helped out and worked like dogs, out of the goodness of their hearts, and she owed them.

But it felt good to sit down on one of the logs that ringed the fire and just listen to the chatter and the swish of the ocean. To not do anything. It felt like the first time she’d sat and done nothing for over a week.

She buried her toes in the cool sand and let the bliss take over. Hull, Jonah’s hulking great hound, had collapsed on the sand beside her.

She tipped her head from side to side to stretch out aching neck muscles. She rubbed at the left side with her hand and winced as her index finger twinged. She looked down at her hands. They were in bad shape from a week of hard labour—some old blisters on her palms in various stages of healing, her fingers rough and dry from pulling out a zillion splinters.

She’d kill for a day at one of those fancy spas.

Iron out the kinks with a massage. Get a pedicure. Sit in a sauna and soak half the day. Maybe one of those full-body scrubs.

Nearby laughter pulled her out of her fantasy and Claudia smiled as she watched Cyrus and Isis perform a rather good hula. Jonah in his boardies and Avery in a tangerine bikini with a matching sarong low on her hips danced a much closer, sexier number in the shadows further away, lost in each other.

A pang of jealousy bit Claudia hard in the chest.

‘They look good together.’

Claudia looked up, all the way up, to find Luke looking down at her. He was in boardies as well—dry this time, thank goodness—and his chest was covered with a form-fitting T-shirt. She resolutely ignored the wetter, less dressed image of him that floated in her mind’s eye but his eyebrow kicked up and he looked at her as if he knew exactly what she was thinking.

‘Yes, they do,’ she said and hoped like hell the words didn’t sound as squeaky as they’d felt leaving her throat.

She was relieved when he broke eye contact, handing her a frosty bottle of beer. She took it gratefully as he stepped over the log and lowered his butt, plonking down beside her.

Claudia shifted to make some room for him.

Or put some space between them, anyway.

She looked back at the fire, which had settled from a blazing inferno to a dull roar, as they both took some swallows of their beers, neither saying anything for a few moments. Until Luke mentioned the elephant sitting next to them at the fire.

‘I was hoping you’d join me in the pool today. Just like old times.’ Luke had been acutely aware of her eyes on him today and his blood had flowed thick and sludgy through his veins as her gaze had continued to linger.

Claudia kept her eyes firmly fixed on the flames that danced before her. Why had he hoped that? Surely after a sleepy grope he knew they’d progressed far beyond the innocent pool games they’d played as kids? Even through the glass of the window she’d felt the pull of him, had been aware of him like no other man.

‘I don’t do much swimming these days,’ she dismissed.

‘What, not even in that magnificent ocean right on your doorstep?’

She shook her head. ‘Too busy.’

Luke took a swig of his beer ‘That’s a shame...I seem to remember you looked good in a bikini.’

Claudia faltered, her pulse flickering madly in time with the flame as she glanced at him. What was she supposed to say to that? Since when did you pay any attention to how I looked in a bikini? Or, not as good as you do in wet clingy boardies?

Or maybe, more aptly, don’t flirt with me?

‘I leave the bikinis to Avery,’ she said, dropping her gaze to the fire again. ‘There’s too much to do at the moment to bunk off for a cool dip.’

Luke tutted at her dismissal. ‘The clean-up’s essentially done,’ Luke said. ‘I’m sure you could have squeezed in a quick, dirty swim.’

Claudia, who almost choked on her beer, was shocked into looking at him again. He laughed at her scandalised look, then winked. ‘I was referring to the state of the water.’

She narrowed her eyes at him, wondering how many beers he’d consumed. Maybe the jet lag was hitting him in one large wallop and taking over his mouth.

Either way, she chose to ignore his comment and the direction he seemed to want to steer the conversation. ‘The outside is largely complete but there’s still a long way to go,’ she said. ‘We have to keep moving forward.’

Luke sighed at her determination to stay serious. He’d hoped as he’d sat beside her that she’d loosen up a little—relax as everyone else was doing.

But no. The uniform should have been a clue.

‘So what’s next?’ he asked as he reached down and absently petted a mellow Hull.

Claudia took a mouthful of her beer before she answered. ‘Back to the drawing board. Starting again. Working out how much I can do with the insurance money.’

‘It’s not going to cover it all?’

Claudia shook her head. ‘It may have been enough twenty years ago, not today. Hell, it’d probably have been enough for just a normal cyclone but...’

Luke took a swig of his drink and watched Claudia’s toes, painted a cute shade of pink, wiggle in the sand.

‘So you want to talk about where we go from here?’

He felt her tense beside him and her toes stopped their wriggling. ‘I’m not selling to some consortium, some...giant hotel chain, Luke.’ She glared at him and Luke couldn’t decide if the flare in her eyes came from her sudden well of pissed off, or the fire.

‘If you’ve stopped by to butter me up about that you might as well keep on going.’

Luke knew it was important to stay calm and frankly he was too wrecked from a week of hard yakka to get into an argument. ‘Okay, so what are we going to do?’

‘The Tropicana has been here for forty years. Our parents ran it together for twenty of those years. And it will be again.’

‘Complete with Tiki Suites, salsa nights and lei stringing?’

Luke felt her hostile glance shoot bullets of disapproval straight into his chest.

‘Yes. What’s wrong with those things?’ she demanded. ‘I know they probably don’t seem very sophisticated to Mr Hotshot Ad Exec, but the Tropicana has always been a family resort—that’s the way our parents wanted it. And that’s the way it’s going to stay.’

‘And what about you, Claude? What do you want?’

Claudia frowned. Where was the man who had teased her about a bikini before? He was looking at her as he had by the pool earlier, as if he was trying to see all the way to the inside. And now, as then, it discomforted her.

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean if you were given a bottomless bucket of money and told you could build whatever you wanted—anything—what would you build? Not what our parents wanted, not what the town wants, not what’s always been. What Claudia Davis wants.’

Luke watched her intently as she opened her mouth to say something and then shut it again. Conflict crinkled her brow. Wisps of blonde hair had loosened from her ponytail and the ocean breeze blew them gently across her face. The firelight played across her features complementing their fineness but it also illuminated her internal struggle, backlit her doubt.

She chewed on her bottom lip, contemplating the question as if he’d just asked her to tell him the meaning of life in ten words or less. The firelight glowed in the moisture she was creating and his gaze dropped to her mouth briefly before returning to the fire, tuning into the background noises of surf, laughter and hula music.

He drank his beer and waited quietly for her to figure it out. Was the question really that difficult?

Claudia contemplated the rim of her beer bottle, conscious of the time ticking away. She didn’t know. She’d been so caught up in her parents’ vision it had become her own. And she loved the kitschy, retro feel they’d created. But was it what she wanted?

What did she want?

She rubbed absently at her neck again and the muscles protested. ‘A day spa,’ she said on a whim. ‘A place for people to be pampered.’

Luke blinked, both surprised and excited by her answer. ‘Yeah?’

For a brief moment their eyes met and the spark in his caused a flutter of possibility inside Claudia’s chest. But reality intruded and snuffed it out. She shook her head. ‘The people we attract here can’t afford that kind of decadence, Luke. We’re the affordable alternative.’

‘Can’t we be both?’

Claudia frowned. ‘Being good at one thing is better than being half-arsed at two.’

‘So then let’s not be half-arsed. Let’s be some kind of hybrid resort where we cater to both ends of the market.’

‘I think that’ll be really confusing to the market, don’t you? High-ticket clients aren’t going to want to be bothered by a bunch of screaming kids and salsa lessons on the beach.’

Luke shrugged. ‘So we keep them separate—we have enough land. Why shut ourselves off to another, potentially very lucrative, source of income?’

Claudia could feel that flutter again and her pulse picked up slightly as her imagination started to run a little wild. Avery would be great at managing and running a spa business. Temptation shimmied possibilities in front of her—typical that Luke would be an integral part of that, enticing her with firelight and his strange but lovely accent like a big, fat, juicy apple.

She dragged her gaze off him and looked into the fire. Bad enough that he’d reminded her of how she’d perved on him in the pool today, but now he was waving a shiny new future in front of her.

Get behind me, Satan.

Luke was encouraged by Claudia’s contemplation, the little flare of interest he’d seen in her gaze. He nudged his thigh against hers and a quiver of something hot and sinful spread all the way up to his groin. ‘Just think about it, Claude. You don’t have to rush into anything.’

Claudia looked down at his thigh, all warm and muscled in the firelight. And tempting. Oh, so tempting. It was hot against hers and she didn’t think it had anything to do with the fire. Did he feel it too or was it just her? She wondered what he’d do if she slid her hand onto it. If she slowly moved it upwards.

Right. To. The. Top.

She blinked as the image formed in real time in her head and stood abruptly, shocked by the ferocity of the urge to follow through. ‘I’ll think about it,’ she said, looking straight ahead. Not down at him. And his eyes. And his smile.

And his outrageously sexy accent.

Luke smiled at the stiffness of her stance. ‘Good,’ he murmured.

Claudia nodded. ‘Right, well...I think I might turn in,’ she said, still not looking at him.

Luke chuckled. ‘Sweet dreams.’

Claudia swallowed as she thought about the dreams she’d been having this last week.

Not one of them sweet.

‘See you in the morning,’ she said with as much nonchalance as she could muster before she fled the beach for the safety of the Copacabana Suite, far away from men with sexy accents and delectable thighs.