Exotic Nights

‘Come right here.’

‘What?’ she asked as she moved fractionally closer, her mind tickled with an alternative meaning to his words, and a delicious mix of anticipation and alarm rose when he straightened. She took another tiny step.

‘Why don’t you do the “nothing” you’ve been thinking about for the last five minutes?’ He smiled then, took a step to meet her when she stopped short. ‘Or is it longer that you’ve been thinking about “nothing”?’

Her mouth opened but nothing came out.

His gaze dropped to it; she could almost feel him roving over the curves and contours of her lips. She desperately wanted him to. His eyes flicked, coming back to snare hers. There was that warmth in them, the glow was back—the light that had seduced her so completely on Waiheke. And she couldn’t walk away from it.

She knew he was waiting. But she was frozen. And then it seemed that words might not be necessary.

His breathing was more rapid now too—faster than when he’d first got back from his run. And the glow in his gaze had become a burn that was steadily gaining in intensity.

A shrill, tuneless series of beeps shattered the silence.

He didn’t step away. ‘Someone’s trying to call you.’

She shook her head, unable to tear her gaze from his. ‘It’s just my phone telling me it’s almost out of battery.’

‘Recharge it.’

‘I can’t,’ she confessed. ‘I left the power cord at my flat.’

A smile stole into his eyes. The phone whistled the ugly tune again.

He reached forward, slipping his hand into her pocket and pulling out the phone. She thought, hoped, he was going to throw it away. But then he looked away from her, flipped it open and stared at it. Frowned. Pushed a couple of buttons.

‘What’s wrong? Is it not working?’

His head jerked in negation. ‘I have a cord that should work with this,’ he muttered, but his mind had clearly moved to something else. Suddenly she wanted her phone back. She reached, but he held it up high, still pressing buttons.

‘What are you looking for?’ she asked.

‘Tony’s Lawn Mowing Service.’

‘What?’

‘That was the number you gave me.’ He gave her a hard look. ‘That was why I couldn’t get through to you. The phone number you gave me was completely wrong.’

Oh. Hell. ‘Was it?’ Her voice sounded weak, even to her.

He shot an even harder look. ‘Accidentally on purpose.’

Her face fired up. The tension between them burst through her defences. ‘You were in such a hurry to leave. I didn’t want to be sitting around half hoping for you to call. Better to knock it out there and then.’

He moved, tossing the phone to the side, taking the last step forward so he was smack in front of her, blocking her exit. ‘Only half hoping?’ His smile teased but his eyes were laser sharp.

Her blush deepened and inside she wanted to beat her head against a wall—so he had tried. Now she felt more defensive than ever. ‘Well, you didn’t bother to give me your number,’ she said miserably. ‘Or even tell the truth about where you were staying.’

‘That was irrelevant. At the time I was focused on making sure I could contact you. I knew there was no point giving you my number. You never would have called me. Would you?’

Her blush deepened. No. She never would. She’d been too mortified at the way he’d slunk off into the night. ‘You just up and left me.’ Even she heard it—how much her words betrayed her.

His smile twitched. ‘I can see I have some work to do.’

‘What sort of work?’

‘Convincing you how much I want you. How much I wanted to stay that night.’