Exotic Nights

‘There’s a really cute one of you with the stripe.’

‘No!’ she shrieked.

‘Yep, up there for anyone and everyone to see.’ He spun back to the computer, clicked a few times.

The picture was huge on the big screen. Her skin crawled with embarrassment at the line-up of tall blonde bridesmaids … and her.

‘We were supposed to look like daffodils,’ she said. ‘Only, there’s me, the lemon on the end.’

‘I’d rather have a lemon any day. So much more flavour.’

She was too aghast at the pictures to feel flattered. ‘Anyone can see these? Anyone?’

He nodded. ‘I really liked this one myself.’

Another picture flashed up onto the screen. She was in the background, behind Vita and Hamish. He pressed a couple of buttons and zoomed in on her. The wind had blown the fabric tight against her chest and in the cool breeze she had the biggest case of erect nipples ever seen—you could see the outline of everything.

She felt heat rise into her cheeks, then actually felt the hardness in her nipples as he looked away from the screen, back to her, desire in his eyes.

Embarrassed, she let sarcasm mask it. ‘You really are into computer porn.’

He laughed. ‘Search my hard drive. There’s nothing there. But I’ll admit to studying this one closely for some time. It was all I had until I found out where you were.’

‘Where I was?’ She frowned.

‘You might not have much of a presence on the web, but your sister certainly does and she gives regular updates on her and her family’s activities.’

Bella was appalled. ‘She’s supposed to be on honeymoon. She’s not supposed to be sticking things up on …’ She broke off, thinking about what he’d implied. ‘You knew I was in Wellington?’

He nodded. ‘She mentions in her blog how she missed your family farewell dinner.’

‘So you were in the supermarket on purpose?’ Oh, my, that was sneaky.

‘No,’ he laughed. ‘That was the Fates being kind.’

‘But you knew I’d moved down here.’

He nodded.

‘Were you going to keep looking for me?’ Her silly heart was skipping like crazy.

‘I was thinking about it.’ Casually he clicked the picture away. ‘Why?’

‘Why do you think?’ He stood, walked away from the computer and towards her. ‘I told you, Bella. I tend to get what I want.’

‘But you were so frosty.’

‘You’d blown me off, remember? With Tony’s Lawn Mowing Service.’

‘Only because you blew me off,’ she defended, ‘and I

didn’t know it was Tony or anyone.’ And without hesitation she went into his arms. ‘Do you always know what you want?’

‘Generally.’ He didn’t have to think about the answer long. ‘Do you?’

Rarely. She knew what she didn’t want, but she didn’t necessarily want the opposite of that. And for once, right now, she knew exactly what she wanted.

As his arms tightened she knew what he wanted too.