Five Exotic Fantasies: Love in Reverse, Book 3 (17 page)

It was a beautiful suite of rooms with elegant furnishings and a plush cream carpet, but most of it was invisible as he’d covered everything with yards of cloth he’d bought that afternoon.

He’d pushed back the sofa and chairs to the corner of the room and covered half of it with the quilt from the bedroom plus another quilt he’d found in the cupboard. Over the top of this he’d placed a golden-yellow flannelette sheet, giving the appearance of a beach of sun-kissed sand. He’d covered the other half of the room with several sheets of varying blue and green cloth, some made from cotton, some from shiny fabrics, and he’d scattered them with half a dozen soft toys in the shape of fish and turtles that he’d found in the charity shops.

He’d set up his laptop on a table to one side of the room and linked it in with the data projector he’d borrowed from the office. Pressing a button, he projected a short movie he’d found online of a Hawaiian beach onto the opposite wall. Shearwaters and petrels hovered above the sea’s surface looking for fish and crustaceans, and gulls cried above the sound of the waves. He’d set it to play in a loop, and the shift from end to beginning again was barely noticeable, making it feel as if the room really did look out onto the Pacific island.

His iPod played native Hawaiian folk music through the room’s sound system, and he’d placed other items, including more leis, a large poster he’d found of palm trees, and various other toy animals, around the room.

He’d also turned the heating up to maximum before he left, and now the room was beautifully warm as if heated by the light of the “sun”—a giant yellow beach ball he’d found and hung in the corner.

She still hadn’t said anything, and now he was really getting nervous that she was thinking there was something seriously wrong with him, so he gestured to the kitchen, where he’d laid out a selection of spirits and two glasses on the breakfast bar. “Can I fix you a cocktail? I promise not to make any crass jokes about a ‘Sex on the Beach’ or anything.”

He watched her turn to him, and he half-expected her to start laughing. But to his surprise there were tears in her eyes, and as he stared, startled, one rolled down her cheek and she pressed her hand to her mouth.

Chapter Twenty

Coco bit her lip, trying to keep it together as Felix put his arms around her and hugged her tightly.

“What’s the matter?” he said, stroking her hair. “Is it really that bad?”

She gave a little laugh and pushed back from him, wiping her face. “No, idiot. It’s marvellous.” She looked around the room, unable to believe what an atmosphere he’d created. “I can’t believe you’ve gone to so much effort. For me.” The tears threatened again, and she bit her lip.

He looked at her curiously. “Sweetheart, is it really so unbelievable to think someone might have wanted to spend time on you?”

“Yes. I only got one bunch of flowers from Michael in the three years we were together, and that was after an argument.”

His eyes hardened. “I seriously want to punch that dude’s teeth down his throat.”

That made her laugh. She moved away and picked up one of the toy turtles and examined it as she tried to gather her wits, something she couldn’t really do while he was touching her with no top on. “I can’t imagine you punching anyone. You’re like a very sexy teddy bear.”

He smiled wryly. “Oh, I’ve knocked a few guys out in my time. One of them being my brother.”

She giggled. “Toby?”

“No, actually this was my older brother, Matt. He beat me at cricket. I’m not a good loser.”

“Remind me not to play Monopoly with you, then.”

He smirked. “Oh, I hope we can find something more interesting to play than Monopoly.”

Their gazes met. Her fingers tingled where they’d brushed his skin as he’d hugged her. He’d been warm, his chest covered with a scattering of brown hair, his defined muscles firm when her fingers had brushed against them of their own free will. He was tall, gorgeous and kind, and he smelled divine.

And they were going to have sex.

It was quite possible she might faint from excitement before that.

He beckoned her toward the bar. “Come on, let me make you a drink. What do you like?”

She walked over and studied the miniatures he’d bought. Alcohol might be a good idea right about now. “To be perfectly honest, I have no idea. I usually drink wine or lager. I like coconut, though. And orange juice. Why don’t you invent something for me?”

“Okay.” He put some ice into a shaker and chose some bottles while he started telling her something he’d read online about Hawaii.

Coco half-listened, but knew she was perched on the edge of making a decision. She’d stayed awake until late, and then woken up early, thinking about whether she should go through with this. Right until the moment she walked through the hotel door, she was still debating whether she should turn around and go home. Because even though he’d kissed her—and the kiss had been amazing—she could still stop this. Could change her mind. But once they’d had sex, that was it—she wouldn’t be able to undo it.

Her nerves hadn’t disappeared, and she still had worries about working with him, but as she looked around the room and thought about the effort he’d gone to, and as she watched him at the bar, trying so hard to put her at ease as he talked about this and that, she took a deep breath and made up her mind.

Unbuttoning her shirt while he busied himself pouring the cocktails, she let it slip silently down her arms and threw it over a chair in the corner, and then took off her shoes and jeans and placed them on the chair too.

Then she leaned her butt on the back of the sofa where he’d pushed it up against the wall, shook back her hair, and did her best to look nonchalant in the bikini as he finally finished the cocktails and turned around with the glasses in his hands.

He saw her and stopped. His eyes widened, and he looked like a cartoon character who’d been hit in the face with a frying pan. “Holy…fucking…hell.”

She looked down at herself. “What?” True, the bikini was quite tiny and the triangles of the top barely seemed to cover her nipples. And the triangle at the bottom barely covered her pubic hair. But she’d thought she looked pretty good in it. And she thought the silver barbell in her belly button was an attractive addition.

She looked back up and met his eyes, and then they both started laughing.

He came over and passed her one of the glasses, which came complete with a tiny paper umbrella and a stirrer. “I can safely say that is the most shocked I have ever been in my entire life.” His gaze caressed her, lingering on her breasts before sliding down to her waist and hips.

“You like?” She turned slowly to give him a back view. By the time she faced him again, his answer was self-evident in the bulge that had appeared in his shorts, and she giggled. “Never mind.”

He raised an eyebrow, picked up a tray with two pairs of sunglasses and stepped onto the “sand”. “You’re surprised by my reaction? Honey, you’re just lucky I didn’t have a coronary.”

She walked onto the yellow material, realising then that he’d spread something soft underneath the gold cloth because her feet sank into it like sand. “Ooh, this is nice.”

He smiled and led her to the middle of the room. He sat, placed the tray just behind him and put his drink on it. Then he lay down and stretched out, his feet just touching the “sea”.

“Come on in,” he said, lowering the sunglasses and putting his hands behind his head. “The water’s lovely.”

She laughed and sat beside him, put the cocktail on the tray and slid her sunglasses on. Then she lay down. It was so warm in the room it really did feel as if the sun was beating down on them.

“This is so wonderful, Felix, thank you so much.”

“You’re very welcome.”

“I had no idea what you were going to do. I thought maybe you were going to show me Elvis’s
Blue Hawaii
or something.”

He laughed. “That would have been a lot easier.”

She rolled onto her side and propped her head on her hand. “I mean it. I really appreciate what you’ve done. And oddly, it really does feel as if we’re there.” She looked over at the projection of the sea, at the birds diving into the turquoise water. If she concentrated, she could almost feel the salty spray on her face.

He sighed. “Well, it’s the best I could do at such short notice. I’m sure if you manage to go there one day you’ll realise what a terrible job I did.”

She smiled. “Well, I’m sure this will be the closest I’ll get to the real thing so you don’t have any worries.” She reached over, retrieved her cocktail from the tray and took a sip. “Ooh, that’s lovely. What’s in it?”

“Vodka, rum, orange juice, coconut and some liqueur I can’t remember the name of.”

“Does it have a name?”

He rolled onto his side and propped himself up so he could retrieve his own drink. “I was thinking I’d call it ‘Coco’s Delight’.”

She chuckled. “I love it.”

He took a few swallows of his own drink and then lay the same way as her, head propped on a hand. “You really think you’ll never get to the real Hawaii?”

“I doubt I’ll ever travel.” She stirred the cocktail. “Mum’s condition may worsen, but it’s not fatal. She’s only fifty-five. I expect—and hope—for her to live for a good many years yet. And by the time I’m alone, I’ll be too old to go travelling.”

He frowned. “But surely you can get someone to look after her for a week while you take a break?”

She shrugged. “It’d be no fun going away on my own.”

“You may meet someone, Coco. Fall in love?”

She met his gaze and smiled. “Seriously, Felix, I doubt there’ll be a man willing to take on me
and
my mother. Why would they? I wouldn’t, if it were the other way around. No, I fully expect to stay single for the rest of my life now. And that’s okay, I’ve come to terms with that.”

“Don’t you want children?”

She met his brown eyes, surprised at the hitch inside her at his words. Emotion almost overwhelmed her for a moment, but she dropped her gaze and concentrated on sipping her drink before she answered. “Motherhood’s not for me, not this lifetime.” He frowned and she got the impression he was going to press the matter, and she knew she had to turn the conversation away from herself. “What about you? Do you want to be a daddy?”

One side of his mouth curved up. “Lindsey and I used to talk about it. But after she died, like you, I decided that life wasn’t for me. I spent six years determined to stay single for the rest of my life. But then Toby met Esther, and she’d had Charlie…” He hesitated.

She smiled. “That’s your nephew, I’m guessing. Is he lovely?”

“Matt has two kids and they’re pretty cool. But Charlie…he’s adorable, actually. He’s so like Toby, falls over his own feet, but watching Toby and him together…” He smiled ruefully. “I don’t know. I guess I’m envious.”

They fell silent for a moment. Coco sipped her drink, thinking that in some ways they were so different, and yet in many ways very similar, lost souls, thinking they were doing just fine but knowing deep down they were just papering over the cracks.

But it wasn’t a night for these sorts of emotions. She wanted to wipe away the sadness in his eyes. They were supposed to be having fun.

She finished off her cocktail. “Okay, my turn to fix one. Drink up.”

He swallowed the last mouthful and handed her the glass.

“How do I do it?” she asked as she walked to the bar.

“Add stuff. Shake it. Pour it in a glass.” He lay down.

“Technical, then?” She laughed and made it up as she went along, poured the drinks out and brought them back, and then started talking about a book she’d read recently on archaeology. He listened and then joined in, and before long their mood had lifted and they were talking about all sorts of things, from history to movie stars to politics and everything else under the sun.

They had two more cocktails and time passed, and gradually Coco relaxed, enjoying Felix’s company—from his deep, melodic voice that soothed all her ragged corners, to his intelligent conversation, to the way his gaze frequently caressed her, running slowly up her body, as tender and sensuous as if it were his fingers.

And eventually they reached the natural end of a topic, and she finished the last mouthful of her cocktail and placed the glass on the tray with a sigh.

“Another?” he said, preparing to get up.

“Not yet.” She lay back, warm and at ease. She’d never felt so comfortable with a man—not even with Michael, whom she’d dated for so long.

Why was that? What was it about Felix she liked so much? Yes, he was gorgeous, but it was so much more than that. He was funny, sexy and yet tender too. He teased her out of her shell as if coaxing a tiny animal toward him, gentle and kind. She’d only known him a few days, but she had to admit to herself she was already crazy about him.

He was watching her now, smiling, but his eyes were alight with more than just affection. He wanted her, but she could see he was trying to keep a tight hold on his desire, wanting to proceed at a pace that was best for her.

But what he didn’t realise was that she wanted him too. More than she could say.

So she didn’t say anything. She reached up a hand, slipped it behind his neck and pulled him down for a kiss.