Читать книгу Christmas Brides And Babies Collection - Rebecca Winters - Страница 45

‘NOT EXACTLY.’ HE wished he could offer to take her on a proper first date but if she was going to insist on meeting other people then tomorrow night’s party would be a good compromise. If everything went according to his plan he could organise a first date after that. ‘A friend of mine is hosting a “dates with mates” party. It’s for singles. Each guest is expected to bring a partner who they are not romantically involved with—it’s a way of meeting new people, of broadening your set of acquaintances and potentially meeting someone who you could date. So it fits within your rules. We’d be going as friends and you’ll get to meet new people. What do you think?’

She nodded. ‘Sure. I’d like that.’

He was surprised by her immediate reaction. There was no hesitation, no further questions. She was far more adventurous and sociable than he was.

Luci pulled her hair into a sleek ponytail and applied a coat of pale pink lipstick before zipping herself into the strapless black jumpsuit she’d bought that day. She’d seen it in a shop window that she passed on her way to work and had loved it but had had no reason to buy it. Until today. She’d told herself she hadn’t bought anything new in ages so it was a justified purchase. She told herself a lot of things. That she wasn’t looking forward to the date, that it wasn’t really a date and that she was keen to meet other people when, in fact, she was nervous about pretty much all of it. She was nervous about whether or not she looked okay, whether she’d fit in to the crowd, whether Seb would like her outfit, and what he would be thinking about their ‘non-date’.

Seb looked her up and down when she joined him in the lounge room. ‘Wow. You look sensational.’ Luci relaxed. At least now she knew what he was thinking. ‘I was going to suggest we take my bike but perhaps we should call a cab.’

‘The bike is fine,’ she replied. She enjoyed going on the bike. It gave her a chance to wrap her arms around him and hold on tight. What wasn’t to like about that? ‘Just let me grab my boots.’ She swapped her gladiator sandals for her old work boots and carried her sandals down the stairs to put on when they reached the party. Seb unlocked the compartment under the seat of his motorbike and pulled out his spare helmet, exchanging the helmet for Luci’s sandals and the wine. He had his spare jacket tucked under his arm and he held it for her while she slipped her arms in before helping her to fasten her helmet.

He started the bike and Luci straddled the seat behind him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and held on tightly as he rode through the streets of the North Shore to Cremorne Point. He parked his bike on the road behind the house and helped Luci off. She changed her shoes and checked her hair in the mirror, then took a deep breath. She’d come up with the idea of meeting new people but the reality of walking into a party where she knew just one person was more daunting than she would have thought. It was another new situation for her. Something else she’d never done.

Seb took her hand and squeezed it. He must have known she was nervous but having him hold her hand only intensified the feeling. At the same time it felt so good that she didn’t want to object.

The party was already under way and music filled the night air. Seb opened the back gate and led her along a narrow path that followed the side of the house. When they emerged into the front garden Luci caught her breath. The house sat right on the harbour and the view was incredible. A white, open-sided marquee had been erected in the centre of the lawn with a dining table positioned beneath it, and closer to the water’s edge Luci could see a long bar, loaded with glasses and drinks, that framed the view across the harbour to the Opera House and the bridge.

The garden was lit with hundreds of lights—fairy-lights, up-lights and down-lights—and the Opera House glowed as the sun set. It looked spectacular.

Ginny came to greet them and Seb introduced her.

‘Welcome,’ Ginny said, and she kissed Luci on both cheeks. ‘I’m so glad you agreed to come. It’s been ages since I’ve seen Seb and I was afraid he was going to turn down this invitation too.’

‘Thank you for including me,’ Luci said as she gestured to the garden. ‘This looks amazing.’

‘Thanks but I can’t take all the credit. The decorating is my work. I’m a food stylist by trade, but the house belongs to another friend of mine—Michael. Come with me, I’ll introduce you.’

Seb and Luci followed Ginny across the lawn to the bar where the other guests had gathered and Luci tried to keep track of who was who during a whirlwind introduction. First up was Paulo, a Spanish chef, who Ginny had met on an assignment. She introduced him with the comment, ‘I can make food look pretty but I can’t cook so I invited Paulo.’ Then there was Michael, who owned the house, and he was followed by a model, a footballer, a massage therapist, Ginny’s brother, who worked in finance, a lawyer he knew, an actor and a food blogger. Luci was unsure what a food blogger actually did but the woman was extraordinarily thin so Luci assumed it didn’t actually involve eating. It was an interesting assortment of people and Luci thought the evening would either be a lot of fun or a huge disaster.

Ginny had a seating plan arranged and they were told it would change between each course. Luci started the night between Paulo, the Spanish chef, and Michael, her host.

Michael was smooth, dark and good-looking, with a European heritage, Luci suspected. Besides this gorgeous house, he also owned three restaurants. A fact he successfully mentioned within the first few minutes and several times thereafter. He seemed to think Luci should be suitably impressed. She was, but not by him. He was obviously wealthy but that wasn’t high on Luci’s list of priorities. He also had a very high opinion of himself but no sense of humour. Luci preferred someone who could make her laugh and would let her be herself. She suspected Michael was not that sort of man. She wasn’t interested in material objects. She wanted a family and she would give up everything else if she could have that. Nothing else was that important.

Paulo, to her left, was outrageously handsome and quite charming but he wasn’t her type of man either. He didn’t make her heart race or her breath catch in her throat. He didn’t give her the fluttery feeling she got in her stomach whenever Seb was near. If nothing else, this dinner party was helping her to narrow down her type of man.

Somehow she managed to survive the first course and conversations that she wasn’t particularly interested in. For the main course she found herself sitting between the actor and the footballer, a rugby league player. He had limited conversation, appearing to be restricted to the topics of rugby and golf, neither of which Luci knew anything about. Her mind drifted to the opposite side of the table where Seb was now seated. She never seemed to have any difficulty talking to him. They had discussed all manner of topics.

She turned her attention to the actor on her other side, leaving the rugby player to try to strike up a conversation with the girl on his right. The actor turned out to be ‘between jobs’ and working as a barista and he was pleasant enough, although she was pretty sure he was gay. Not that it mattered as she wasn’t interested in him anyway, but she wondered who had invited him.

Somehow, through all the various seat changes and movements, she managed to keep one eye on Seb and hoped no one noticed. She thought she was being subtle but it was hard to know. She did her best to concentrate on what the other guests were talking about but as the evening wore on she found it increasingly difficult. All she wanted to do was to swap seats and plonk herself next to Seb.

Even though he made her feel nervous, Luci knew it was the right kind of nervous. The exciting kind. The possibility that something could happen if she was willing. She wondered what the rules were if you decided that the mate you came with was the same one you wanted to go home with. So far, in her opinion, no one could compare to Seb. He didn’t need to be the perfect man, it didn’t even matter if he was the first one to cross her path, she just knew that she wasn’t going to get him out of her system without exploring the possibilities.

If she was honest she’d admit—to him and to herself—that she’d thought about little else for the last week. She didn’t want to live in the past. Her marriage was over and at some point she was going to have to try again. And she was more than happy to try again with Seb.

She looked across the table and found him watching her. She blushed and hoped he couldn’t read her thoughts. No. It was time to share those thoughts. If she wanted to be a grown-up she had to take the leap. She wanted to stretch her wings and she hoped Seb would give her the opportunity to do just that.

She smiled at him and stood up as dessert was cleared away. Guests gathered in smaller clusters as coffee was served in the garden but before Luci could make her way to Seb she was cornered by Michael. At the beginning of the evening she had thought the evening would either be interesting or a disaster. It looked like it was heading down the path of complete disaster.

She stood patiently for another few minutes as Michael talked some more about himself. She searched the crowd for Seb as she waited for a polite time to escape. Seb was on the other side of the garden, talking to the model who was Ginny’s brother’s date. Their eyes locked and Michael and his conversation receded into the background. Why was she wasting time with him?

‘Would you excuse me?’ she said.

She saw Seb break away from the model at the same time. He was coming for her. Luci waited and fell into step beside him, following him in silence down to a wooden garden seat that sat at the harbour’s edge.

Finally it was just the two of them.

As she sat next to him her thigh brushed his leg and she wondered if she should move, if he needed some space. But she didn’t want to move, so she stayed put. The now familiar butterflies careened around in her stomach. She wanted to touch Seb. Wanted to feel him.

A light breeze blew off the harbour, sending a shiver through Luci.

‘Would you like my jacket?’ Seb offered.

‘No, I’m okay.’

He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side. He was warm and solid and Luci wanted to close her eyes and soak up the feeling of being in his arms again.

‘Are you having fun?’ he asked her.

‘Not really,’ she replied. ‘The rugby player is boring, Michael is only interested in himself and Paulo was nice but a bit too smooth for me.’

‘Too smooth? I wouldn’t have thought that was a thing.’

‘It most certainly is, and I think the barista-slash-actor is gay.’

‘Really?’

‘Yep.’

Seb laughed.

‘Why is that funny?’ Luci asked.

‘It means there’s one less bloke in the running.’

‘In the running for what?’

‘For your attention.’

Luci hesitated for a fraction of a second, wondering if she should tell him what she thought. She decided she should. ‘It doesn’t matter. I’ve found the one.’

‘Ginny’s brother?’

‘No. Not him.’

‘There isn’t anyone else.’

‘Yes, there is, but I’m not sure if it’s within the rules of the night. Are you allowed to go home with the same person you came with?’

‘Go home with? As in together?’

She nodded.

‘Are you serious?’

She nodded again. ‘As long as it’s not against the rules.’

‘I don’t give a damn about the rules,’ Seb said as he stood and reached for her hand. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

They barely stopped to say thank you and goodnight to Ginny before making a beeline for Seb’s bike. Luci ignored Ginny’s knowing smile. She didn’t care what anyone thought. What happened between her and Seb was their business, no one else’s. Luci was going to do exactly what she wanted for a change and if anyone tried to tell her it was a bad idea she wasn’t going to listen.

She slid her hand under Seb’s shirt as she sat behind him on the bike. She rested her hand against his chest and imagined what the rest of the night would be like.

They barely made it up the stairs and into the apartment before their clothes started coming off.

Seb kicked off his boots and Luci did the same with hers. He tossed his leather jacket on the floor and pulled his shirt over his head, discarding items of clothing on the passage floor. Luci’s jacket followed.

He lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he pushed her against the passage wall. He bent his head and kissed her. She opened her mouth and kissed him back.

Her hands were pressed into his shoulder blades. His skin was firm and smooth. He looked as though he’d been carved from marble but he was warm and pulsing with life. He carried her further into the apartment and she could feel his erection pressing between her thighs.

‘Your room or mine?’ he asked.

‘Yours. It’s closer.’ Luci didn’t think she could wait much longer.

He put her down and reached behind her to unzip her jumpsuit.

‘The zip is on the side.’

His hands found the zip and he bent his head as her jumpsuit fell away and pressed his lips against the diamond-shaped freckles on her chest.

‘I’ve wanted to do that since the first time I saw you.’

His fingers brushed over her breasts as he released her bra. He cupped one breast in his hand as he took the other into his mouth, making Luci think she might burst into flames.

She reached for his waistband and unzipped his trousers, discarding them on the floor along with her outfit.

Seb scooped her up and laid her on the bed. His boxer shorts joined his trousers as Luci admired him.

The marble angel in all his glory. His chest was broad and tanned from hours on his boat. Her eyes followed the line of his sternum where it divided his pecs, down to the ridges of his abdominals. Below his belly button a light trail of hair led her eyes further to where his erection was proudly displayed. He was absolutely gorgeous. Perfectly sculpted and ready and waiting for her.

She swallowed feeling moisture pooling between her thighs. She hooked her fingers under the elastic of her knickers, wanting to discard them, but Seb leaned forward and moved her hands. He lifted her hips and gently tugged her underwear down. His fingers brushed the backs of her legs and she felt like she might explode right now. He slid her knickers down over her calves and dropped them on the floor.

Now they were both naked but Luci didn’t have time to feel self-conscious. She wasn’t thinking about how she looked, she could only focus on how Seb made her feel.

He knelt at the foot of the bed and spread her legs, pushing her knees gently apart. He ran his tongue along the inside of her thigh, starting at her knee. He kept moving up and Luci lifted her hips as his tongue delved and flicked and tasted her.

She reached for him and pulled him up onto the bed. He knelt between her thighs and she circled his erection with her hand, running her thumb over the tip of his shaft. Felt him quiver.

He bent his head and took her breast in his mouth. His tongue was hard and wet as it flicked over her nipple. Luci moaned and arched her back. It had been months since she had felt this way, and couldn’t wait any longer.

‘Take me now, Seb,’ she begged. The tension of the last few days made her impatient. There would be time later to explore, but right now she needed release.

He reached into the bedside drawer and handed her a condom. Luci tore the packet open and rolled it onto him before guiding him into her. She lifted her hips and let him fill her.

She met his thrusts, timing them with her own. She had to learn a new rhythm, faster and harder. He consumed her and she let him.