Summer Temptation: Waking Up In The Wrong Bed / Once a Rebel... / The Devil and the Deep

He seemed to read her doubts. ‘I want to be friends.’ He leaned across the car to brush a lock of her hair from her face. ‘Truth is I like you. I had fun.’

‘So did I.’

And not that kind of fun. Of course now the trouble was the yearning, for that was all she could feel right now. Especially after that sweet kissing session last night—those deep kisses had turned her heart completely inside out. It was one thing to have dynamite, animal sex. It was another to have tenderness and quietness and restraint. That had showed respect.

At the time she hadn’t wanted it, but it had been respect, not rejection, that had stopped him from going down on her. From taking everything she’d been offering in her most vulnerable moment. She got out of the car quickly and didn’t look back. She was in enough trouble without a longing parting glance.

Fortunately in the modern age there was that safe way to communicate—the text message. Where you could send just the smallest of sentences and wait to see what—if any—response you got. She was completely overthinking it already, mentally composing some silly thing she’d write the first time. Wondering again whether he’d even reply or whether he’d just been going along with her ‘friends’ idea merely for form’s sake over the weekend...

Just as she was rolling her eyes at her own pathetic thoughts her phone chimed. She read the text right away.

Is it within friend boundaries to say I miss you already? Can’t stop thinking about you.

She smiled and tapped out her reply.

No, I think that’s ok. Friends do miss each other.

Yeah but you don’t know what it is I’m thinking about doing with you.

That’s possibly too close to the boundary.

I like to bend boundaries.

Ellie flexed her feet to rid even a fraction of the amount of tension from her overwrought body. He was hopeless. But even so, she was happier to have him as a hopeless charmer than not at all.

I’m turning my phone off, my flight’s about to depart.

Ellie managed not to turn her phone back on after she’d landed—not ’til she was home and in her pyjamas and had one of her fave films loaded. It rang a mere five minutes later.

‘Are you watching a movie?’ He obviously heard it playing in the background.

She chuckled. ‘Yes.’

‘What is it?’

‘Casablanca.’

‘What happens?’

‘You’ve never seen it?’

‘No. Tell me about it.’

Somehow they ended up talking for over an hour.

* * *

A week and a half later Ruben lay back in bed and touched her name on his phone. He’d called her almost every night. He hadn’t meant to, but it was so easy. Just a quick call for an update. It was always just before sleep time, in that most quiet of moments when he was alone in his room and she was all he could think of. She’d gone on tour again and had him in hysterics nightly with her descriptions of her clients and the way they were getting on with each other. He was looking forward to the latest anecdotes.

But part-way through the week, reluctant to break the connection too soon one night, he’d ended up talking to her about his own work. The deal was almost sealed—two more properties added to his collection and a million more hassles to work through. He confessed them to her—he, who’d worn all the worries alone for years, now found himself telling her the most stupid small details. She listened, she laughed and somehow helped him cut through the burden. She was a good listener. But it didn’t make him want to see her any less.

‘I’m flying back into Wellington on Monday. You want to do lunch next week?’ he asked as soon as she answered his call. He wanted lunch on Monday but he was trying to keep it casual. Not desperate. They were friends now, so the driving need to see her could just ease off—yes?

‘Oh, I can’t, sorry, not going to be here.’

He sat bolt upright. ‘Where are you going?’

‘I’ll be on the road again, back-to-back tours.’

‘Damn it, Ellie, you’ve got to be kidding me.’ Pissed off, he flung back the covers and got out of bed to pace. ‘Why back to back? You’ll be exhausted.’

‘I’ll be fine. It’s fun. I’ll call you.’

Yeah, but that wasn’t quite enough. He found himself thinking of her all the time. Wanting to tell her things, filing them away for when he called her. Wishing she could see his new place. Wanting to hear her ideas on what could be done with it.

‘So how’s your inspection going?’ She filled the silence that had grown too long.

‘Okay. A few staffing issues but then there always are. We can work through them. It’s a stunning location. It’s very different from the chateau and the lodge but just as beautiful. I think you’ll love it.’

Now she took her time answering. ‘I’m sure everyone will. You have a talent for spotting places that people will be drawn to.’

He wanted her to be drawn there—like the way she’d been drawn to both the chateau and the lodge. ‘You must be tired from the last tour.’ He knew just how much of herself she poured into those. There was no perfunctory checking names off a clipboard, she basically put on a show for the people. ‘You should have a break.’

‘I’m okay. It’s nice to be busy,’ she answered breezily. ‘I’m really enjoying the work. Want to take up any opportunity Bridie gives me.’

‘Don’t let her take advantage of you.’

A low laugh. ‘I won’t.’

* * *

Eight days later Ellie’s phone buzzed with yet another text message. He’d developed a skill for random comments during the day. Ellie was now in the habit of having her hand in her pocket, holding her phone, ready to answer instantly. But just as she was answering the text, he actually called. Unfortunately it was just as she was waiting for some stragglers to get to her bus. ‘Aren’t you flying to Auckland this afternoon?’ She didn’t bother saying hello.

‘Yes, but I wanted to tell you about—’

‘Nope, go pack or something,’ she said.

‘You’re cutting me off?’

‘Yes, I have a tour group waiting for me.’

‘Oh, okay, I’ll call you later.’

She put her phone back in her pocket and smiled at her waiting people—ignoring the fluttering buoyancy of her heart. But it was lifted high on that confidence that when she called back he’d be there to listen. And talk right back to her. She loved the way he talked to her about his work now, how familiar they were with what was going on in their lives. She was getting the hang of handling his friendship—sure she was.

* * *

‘Ellie.’

She was properly awake in an instant. ‘Is something wrong? It’s the middle of the night.’

‘I was thinking about you.’

She smiled but said nothing. She’d been thinking about him too. She clutched the phone closer and burrowed more into her warm bed.

‘Ellie?’

‘I’m here.’ She giggled at the hint of belligerence in his tone. ‘Have you been drinking?’

‘No.’ Defensive to the extreme. A sigh. ‘I just can’t get to sleep and I’m so tired.’

‘Make yourself a mug of warm milk,’ she said wryly.

‘It’s too hot here for milk.’ He groaned, not appreciating her tone. ‘It’s really hot.’

‘Turn on the air conditioner.’

‘It’s too noisy.’

‘So you thought you’d ring me instead, at 3:00 a.m. Little bit spoilt of you, Ruben.’

‘What can I say? I was an only child.’

She heard the smile then. Smiled back in response but was glad he wasn’t there to see just how easily he brought her onside.

‘You ever had phone sex?’ he asked.

Boom. Lightning hit her heart, instantly sucking her into an intimate vortex. ‘Are you sure you haven’t been drinking?’

‘Just answer the question.’

‘No, I think I’d get the giggles.’ Honesty prevailed.

‘Yeah.’ He chuckled. ‘We could always have Skype sex. Then we’d get the visuals. I know you like a movie.’ Oh, he was wicked.

And it had been weeks since her last orgasm. ‘Except I don’t have one of those fancy smart phones with the camera and all.’

‘I could buy you a smart phone.’

She didn’t want him to buy her anything. ‘Ruben.’

‘Yes?’

‘We’re supposed to be friends and not having any kind of sex.’ She knew down to the hour how long it had been and, no, it wasn’t getting easier. But it would. Sure it would.

‘Oh, hell,’ he muttered. ‘I forgot about that.’

‘Obviously.’

‘I’ll try harder.’ He sounded contrite.

‘Yeah, you need to try much, much harder.’

‘Yeah,’ he answered softly. ‘You like it hard.’

‘Ruben,’ she warned him. Biting her lip because, hell, yes, she’d liked it hard from him.

‘What’ll you do to me if I slip up again?’

Slip up? Oh, yeah, she could think of the exact thing he’d slip up and into her.

‘I’m sure I could come up with a suitable punishment.’ Oh, this was ridiculous. She was getting turned on by the slightest smut talk? ‘I’ll find some way of restraining you.’

So many ideas of restraint just flooded her head. She heard the faintest strangled sound and smiled. She wasn’t the only one sensing the innuendo.

‘What if I fight back?’ he asked softly. Ominously. ‘You know I do like to tease. And I can keep that up for a long, long time.’

‘You’d want to draw it out?’ She slid lower into her bed. Her toes scrunching, trying not to let her hips flex the way they were begging to.

He sighed—oh, it was more of a groan. She could hear the sensual ache in it. Her hands yearned to touch, to relieve both of them.

‘Draw out and then push back in. Deep. Over and over,’ he muttered so soft. No double talk now. Direct, so close to dirty. And devastating. ‘I keep seeing you...’ His sentence drifted.

She bit her lip, her need to know overwhelming. Her hidden aches opening wide again. ‘Seeing me what?’ She hardly formed the words.

‘You like my hand between your thighs.’

She sucked in a shocked breath.

‘You do,’ he insisted. ‘It’s one of your favourite things. It makes you come.’

She couldn’t deny it.

‘Do you wish my hand was there now?’

She rolled slightly, closing her eyes as she sank deeper into the bed—deeper into the half-dreamland he was conjuring with those low words.

‘I know how hungry you are. How impatient you get,’ he said, relentless now in his seduction. ‘You have your hand between your thighs now, pretending it’s mine.’

She gripped the telephone receiver harder. Her other hand curled exactly where he said, unable to resist the temptation.

‘I know what you’re going to do,’ he said.

‘What would that be?’ She clenched her upper thighs together hard. The tension spiked her need higher. Every sense sharpened—her hearing acute, her skin a receptor of pleasure.

A soft pause, enough for her to sense this was no tease now. He was sharing an intimate truth—his private fantasy—and entwining it with hers. So intensely personal.

‘You think of me. You can’t help but touch.’

She’d been holding her breath so long, now a tiny gasp escaped.

‘You have to touch. You touch where you want me to touch you. How you want me to touch you.’

She screwed her eyes tighter at the intimacy in his tone. The assurance of that direction. ‘And what do you do?’

Another deep sigh. ‘I want to watch, to listen, but I want to touch too. And then all I can think of is you riding me hard.’ He swore. ‘You rode me so good.’

Ellie trembled, holding back the release that was a single stroke away. They were having unintentional, accidental phone sex? How had that happened?

She turned her burning cheek, shifted her damp body onto a cool stretch of cotton sheet. Absorbing the chill, desperate to restore sanity. ‘Ruben,’ she whispered. ‘I have to go now.’

‘Ellie,’ he whispered back.

‘Yes?’

‘Dream of me.’

She had been for weeks. Every damn night.

CHAPTER NINE

HE DIDN’T call for a couple of days, which was frankly a record. And the next time he did, she knew there was something they needed to get in the open if this was ever going to work out. She darted to the nearest bathroom for some privacy to talk to him, staring at her pale, sleep-lacking skin in the mirror.

‘You know that if...if you meet up with someone else, you don’t have to keep it secret from me. You can tell me. Okay?’ She held her breath.

His answer was so long coming she’d nearly turned blue.

‘Okay,’ he said slowly. ‘Same for you.’

‘Of course.’ She breathed out painfully. As if she could meet anyone as gorgeous as him.

‘Have you met up with anyone else?’ he asked.

‘No. No.’

‘Nor have I.’

She licked very dry lips. ‘I know you have needs, Ruben. I’m not going to be...bothered. We’re friends now.’ As much as she’d hate it, maybe it would be better if he did hook up elsewhere. Then the agony of waiting for that nightmare would be over.

Again he took his time replying. ‘And you’ll tell me if you do?’

She laughed. ‘I’m off the market for now. This job is taking up all my time. It’s what I want to focus on for the next while.’

‘What about your needs?’

She hesitated, hadn’t meant for this conversation to be about her at all. ‘I haven’t got time to think about them.’

‘Maybe you should think about them or they might sneak up on you again.’

She bit her lip, glad he couldn’t see how she’d now gone red in the face—how her blood was zinging all round her damn willing body. ‘That night in the chateau was a once only.’

‘Yeah, and I don’t think I’m ever going to forget it.’

* * *

It had been over three weeks since he’d last seen her and he’d thought he had it all under control. He’d been wrong on that.

‘Hey,’ he said as he got to her table—supposedly they were to have lunch. But it was crazy the way his pulse was pounding.

Her smile couldn’t have been more rewarding. Her eyes glittering—deeper in colour than he remembered. She sparkled. And he had nothing under control. The less he saw of her, the more he thought of her. It wasn’t supposed to be that way at all. Wasn’t the maxim ‘out of sight, out of mind’? But she was more than in his mind, she was in his body and in what little soul he had.

She was wearing jeans—heaven help him—with a white blouse and as she looked up at him he could see the lace edge of her bra. He’d become that much of a randy schoolboy he was reduced to sneaking glimpses down her shirt. It took only a second to decide to put the full plan into action. He’d suffered enough. And so too had she. He noted the flare in her eyes, the colour in her cheeks deepen, and, yes, he noticed the way her breasts responded to his less than subtle appreciation of them.

So he didn’t sit down. Instead he extended his hand to pull her out of her seat. ‘I’ve got a surprise for you.’

‘What is it?’ A flutter of caution cooled Ellie’s pleasure at seeing him again because he didn’t look that excited, if anything he looked more serious than she’d ever seen him. The edges of his beautiful mouth were held firm, not forming their natural curve up.

‘There was a vital part of the station that you didn’t get to see.’

‘The station?’ He was half dragging her out of the café and into his convertible. ‘We’re not going to the station.’

‘Plane leaves in thirty, we’ve got just enough time to make it.’

‘Ruben, we’re only having lunch. I can’t just go from work—’

‘It’s all arranged with Bridie. She’s taking the tour this afternoon.’

‘What?’

‘You’ve worked too many days in a row anyway. You have to have a break some time.’

Ellie gazed at him. She was sure there was more to this, but he wasn’t offering any deeper explanation this second.

It was less than an hour’s flight from Wellington to Queenstown and he spent most of it typing into his phone. Not to be outdone Ellie read the inflight mag cover to cover. Once on the ground they didn’t get into a car; instead he led her across the airfield to a helicopter.

‘Ruben, I don’t have any spare clothes with me.’ She finally broke the silence.

He turned and looked at her—the old, utterly outrageous Ruben with that wicked smile and knowing expression. ‘Sweetheart, you’re not going to need any.’

With a stumble Ellie all but slithered into the helicopter. What had happened? There was no mistaking his intention now. Where on earth was he taking her?

The tragic thing was, she didn’t much care. She was too excited to be back in his company and to know the spark was still as strong for him as it was for her. Hell, if anything it was worse. And this was him fighting for what he wanted.

Neither spoke while he flipped switches and made the rotor blades whirl. They still weren’t loud enough to drown the din of her pulse in her ears.

She’d been in a helicopter before but not one as light as this or as plush inside. They zoomed, over the plains, heading further south, the mountains to their right. Then he pointed out the lodge so she got her bearings. He flew super low to follow the river in the valley, then up high, so close to the mountains, a breath away from the splash of a towering waterfall...

But she sat completely still in her seat. Her pulse slammed, her thoughts disordered—anticipation screwing with her head. They flew over one mountain, deeper into the range and there, hidden from possible view from anywhere other than the air, was an alpine lake. One of those that belonged in ancient myth and legend. Steely blue and still. He brought the helicopter down, landing on a small smooth edge.

‘Come on,’ he invited her.

He’d been here many times before, she could tell, and she totally got why. It was the most amazing colour, reflecting the cold clarity of the sky. It really was the scene from some ancient mystical, alternate world story—just like the movies. Only real. Fantastically real.

‘It’s beautiful.’ It was so awe-inspiring she couldn’t think of any words to fully describe the reaction within her. The reality of pure, unadulterated fantasy.

‘It’s also icy cold so don’t dive in, because I don’t want to have to jump in and rescue you.’

She laughed, glad he’d lightened the intensity. And yes, she did have the urge to dive in. It looked so inviting and, hey, maybe it would cool her burning senses.

She found a small flat stone and tried skimming it across the lake. He foraged in the short tussock for more and they had a contest for a while. And all that while—longer really—her ability to resist him curled into a smaller and smaller ball.

‘We haven’t talked about it,’ he said, aiming another flat pebble across the lake.

‘About what?’

‘That phone call.’

She felt the flush ripple like a wave from her toes to the tip of her scalp. ‘Oh.’

Oh was right—the guy had turned her on to nuclear with nothing but a few suggestions. Phone sex—a total first.

‘It’s not going to happen.’

‘What?’ she asked, confused.

‘You being with anyone else.’

Oh, he meant that conversation?

‘No one else, Ellie.’ He turned to face her—all arrogance. ‘You know you can’t. Not until you’ve had enough of me.’

Oh, that wasn’t fair—what if she’d never had enough of him? Because he’d have enough of her all too soon, she just knew it.

‘So you have a choice to make.’

‘I do?’

‘Uh-huh.’ He turned and skimmed another stone across the water. It bounced seven times. ‘We could stay up here the night.’

‘Where?’

‘Just beyond that ridge there’s a hut.’

This was why he’d brought her to an utterly isolated spot. Because he wanted...what she wanted.

‘We could spend the night up here or we could go back to the station in the helicopter. I should warn you there’s only one bed in the hut and it’s not very big.’

Ellie’s brain whirled—and then she stared up at the completely blue sky. ‘It looks to me like there’s a storm coming. It might be safer to stay up here.’

He walked towards her, holding her gaze imprisoned in his despite shaking his head. ‘No storm, Ellie. No games. Just be honest. Do you want another night with me or not?’

Oh, his whole approach was outrageous. Excitement scudded in her belly, her innermost muscles stretching and flexing already. ‘What kind of a question is that?’

‘Just answer it.’

What did he want, her acquiescence written in blood? Or perhaps sweat? ‘Okay, take me there.’

The chocolate-brown eyes were scorched. ‘You’re sure.’

‘Yes.’ She knew what she was doing. They were hardly lost in a snowstorm and forced to cling close to preserve life. This was a decision. Her decision. And she was tired of fighting the need.

He turned abruptly, climbed back into the helicopter. Ellie walked back towards the lake. It wasn’t too late to change her mind but her mind and body were in sync already—she knew what she wanted.

Ruben got what he needed from the chopper and walked back to where she waited. It felt good to have her in place, ready to meet him. He drank in the signs—yeah, her blue eyes were deepening, just like the sky above them. She kept that intense eye contact, as if she was trying to see through him. His heart pounded—he briefly wondered if she could hear it, because he didn’t like to be looked at that closely.

‘Promise me something,’ she said with that husky voice that gripped his attention completely. ‘This one night. That’s all. Nothing more afterwards. When we get back to civilisation, we’re back to where we were. Just friends again. That’s the only way this can happen. The fantasy, right?’

‘Why do you keep trying to control this?’

‘I’m not—’

‘This isn’t going to go away unless we deal with it. Your way isn’t working.’

‘One night.’

‘The whole night.’ He pressed his end of the bargain home. ‘Not just once and then sleep. I want literally the whole, damn night.’ Though he feared even that wasn’t going to be enough.

‘All night?’ She paused, her tongue slipping over her lips.

She honestly thought they’d have just the once? Oh, she hadn’t a clue. But she was on the edge. He stepped closer to her, acutely aware of the shifting signals—her shortened breathing, her flush, her almost invisible shiver. Oh, yes, it was going to be more than once. He’d get her over that line again and again. But he needed all night to do it. So they could leave tomorrow as ex-lovers, over this intensity, leaving no burning anxiety left. No more of this desire that had twisted him inside out the last few weeks.

Ellie was embarrassingly close to orgasm just from the suggestion of sex. And only a few steps into the walk to the hut she stumbled.

‘Something’s hurting?’

She shook her head. Nope, it was the unchecked wanton, wicked, desperate thoughts that had caused her loss of co-ordination. ‘I’m fine.’ She just wanted to be at the damn shack already.

He’d stopped and now stared stonily at her. Once more that uptilt of his mouth had flattened out to a thin line. Suddenly he lunged.

‘What are you doing?’ she shrieked.

In a blur and a thud he’d gone in low and hard and she was upside down. His grip was firm but apparently effortless given the pace he was striding up the mountain.

‘What. Are. You. Doing?’ She added some outrage to the question.

‘Stopping you from doing yourself an injury.’

‘Oh, please, this is just you unable to keep your hands off me.’ Oh, yeah, and her excitement had just quadrupled.

‘That too,’ he confirmed, unapologetically running his hand up the back of her thigh and grabbing a handful of her butt.

‘Well, put me down. You’ll do yourself an injury.’ She was no lightweight.

‘We’re nearly there anyway.’

‘Ruben, seriously. I’m getting giddy.’

He squeezed her butt, then shifted, wrapping both arms around her as he slid her down his body to set her on her feet. For a moment she leaned against him, needing that closeness. All her personal space was his and, oh, it was good.