Stranger at the beach house (16 page)

The
food was delicious and I tried far too much, washed down with the bubbles of
Sam’s beautiful Dom
Perignon
. “I assume that was
about me,” he said quietly, smirking as I met his gaze.

“Don’t
be so cocky,” I replied, trying to suppress my smile.

 
“I thought you liked me cocky,” he said and I
flushed; my breathing speeding up as he captivated me with darkening eyes.
Jesus, we were with our friends in the middle of a crowded restaurant and I
couldn’t look away. “So how did I do?” he whispered against my mouth, pulling
me in for a lingering kiss and holding my gaze as we parted.

 
“It’s a full house. They all love you,” I
said, my voice hushed as he stroked my hair, cupping my cheek with his palm in
such an intimate gesture that it took my breath away.

 
“What about you, Sweetheart?” he whispered
quietly against my lips. I do too I thought, biting my lip before the words
popped out. I was being ridiculous. This was pure lust, not love and I wanted
to say nothing but his eyes were searching mine and he wasn’t giving up.

 
“You’ll do,” I mumbled eventually as he
deployed his secret weapon, knocking the air from my lungs.
 
“Do you know what that smile does to me?” I
said softly as I melted inside.

 
“This one?” he quizzed, flashing me another as
I just stared at him, trying hard to control my breathing. My body didn’t seem
to care where we were, and it would take every ounce of strength I had to bring
my hyper excited nerve cells down a notch or two. “I can see what it does to
you, Baby,” he whispered against my ear, his proximity doing nothing to ease my
sexual tension.

 
“Jesus, I can feel that heat from here,” said
Lizzie fanning herself with the napkin as Dave started laughing and I blushed
again. She looked from us to Harry and Joy and back again and I wasn’t sure who
she was teasing the most as she raised her eyebrows at me.

“So
where are we heading from here?” Dave smiled as the waiters filled the
champagne and began to clear the remains of our banquet.

“We’re
going to somewhere called The Beat Box,” said Sam, raising his eyebrows as Joy
grinned at him.

 
“Good, I need to dance some of this off,” I
smiled, still trying to regain my composure as I declined desert and coffee,
happy to stay with my champagne.

Mr
Hong appeared to check we had enjoyed our meal, presenting us with a plate of
fortune cookies, clearly keen to impress his new favourite customer as we all
nodded our appreciation. “Let me pay the bill tonight, Sam,” said Harry to his
friend as Sam shook his head firmly.

 
“It’s already covered,” he said.

 
“Thank you, it was absolutely delicious,” I
smiled, squeezing his hand in appreciation as the group extended their
gratitude and I picked a cookie from the small silver platter.

“What
did you get?” I asked as Dave laughed, shaking his head.

 
“
Land is
always in the mind of the flying birds
, whatever the hell that means. How
about you, Lizzie, what’s your fortune?” he smiled, putting his arm around his
wife.

Lizzie
broke her cookie and read the words on the strip of paper out loud. “
In order to get to the rainbow you must
endure the rain,
” she said loudly.

 
“I think you’ve already had the rain, so that
sounds promising,” Dave smiled before turning to me.

“What
about you, Rose? Don’t tell me it’s something about living happily ever after
with a tall, dark, handsome stranger,” he said, laughing as I cracked my
brittle cookie in two.

“I
hope it is,” purred Sam, his voice low and seductive as Lizzie raised her
eyebrows and Joy nudged my arm.

“Not
quite, but it’s probably more appropriate.
Someday
everything will all make sense,
” I read it aloud and Harry grinned broadly
as Sam kissed my cheek, holding up his small slip of paper and reading out his
fortune.

 
“
Generosity
will repay itself sooner than you imagine,
” he beamed at Harry.

 
“It looks like Mr Hong’s spot on with that
one, I’m definitely getting the champagne at the club,” Harry laughed and I
guessed the payment issue was a regular and long running argument between the
friends.

“Yeah
and me too, Harry,” Dave chipped in.

 
“Not if it’s bloody Dom
Perignon
1990 you’re not,” laughed Lizzie quickly. “Not until I get my first deal
anyway. I seriously doubt they have it at The Beat Box though, unless you’ve
sorted that too,” she said grinning at Sam as he raised his eyebrows.

 
“Have you?” I glared at him in disbelief but
he said nothing.

 
Harry laughed heartily “I’m surprised you even
need to ask, ladies,” he smiled.

 
Unbelievable.
“I’m
glad I don’t go out with you flash bastards often,” Joy quipped. “I’d never get
that damned apartment. You can count me in for a fish bowl,” she grinned as
Sam’s expression betrayed his distaste. She caught the gesture and held him
with a steely glare.

“Don’t
knock it till you’ve tried it, Mr Nine Million,” she teased. “Here, maybe you
should take my fortune, Sam.
Seize every
second of your life and savour it
. I’m pretty sure that even includes fish
bowls,” she said, raising her eyebrows as Sam nodded, chuckling gently.

“So
come on then, Harry, what did you get?” I asked and he cracked the last of the
cookies, pulling out the small white paper as Joy tried to glance over his
shoulder.

 
“You have got to be kidding me,” he grinned,
looking over at Mr Hong.

“What
does it say, Harry,” squealed Joy.

 
“
You
enjoyed your meal now buy a take- out,
” he said, as we all burst out
laughing, raising our champagne flutes to the owner and finishing the last of
the sumptuous bubbly liquid before making our way into the night.

“You
look naked in this dress, Rose, it’s driving me crazy,” Sam said, pulling me
into his arms and kissing me hard as the chill night air hit my shivering skin
with brutal force and I realised I was already feeling the effects of the
champagne. “So I’ll do will I, Lady?” he grinned as I giggled. “I thought you
might be slightly more enthusiastic than that,” he said, pulling a pouty face
and I tried hard not to laugh.

 
“I’ll decide for definite when I’ve seen your
moves on the dance floor,” I said, trying and failing to pull my most serious
face as we caught up with the others.

The
owner of The Beat Box came straight over to Sam, shaking his hand firmly as we
walked in and guided us to a large booth on a raised area at the back of the
club offering a great view of the unfolding action. I had never noticed it
before but guessed it was as close to a VIP area as the club could offer. Large
ice buckets of champagne were on the table before we had even taken our seats
as Joy and Harry walked over with a huge bowl of purple liquid filled with six
neon straws, laughing and placing it in the middle of the table.

“One
fish bowl as promised and by way of thanks for a wonderful meal, you can go
first,” Joy laughed, looking at Sam. I giggled as he put his gorgeous lips
around the straw, sucking hard and smiling at everyone as he finished.

 
“Thank you, Joy, it’s not bad actually, it
tastes like
Vimto
,” he grinned as we all dived in and
he sat holding my hair.

“It’s
not as nice as the champagne though, Baby,” I winked, passing him the bottle to
uncork and pouring a glass for each of my friends.

 
“Is that Richie Jones?” Lizzie shouted across
the table to me, pointing to a thin red haired guy standing at the bar as I
leaned forward trying to get a closer look.

 
“Yes it is,” laughed Joy, “and that’s Brad
McCann on the right in the white shirt, do you remember him?” she looked at us
smiling. “That can only mean one thing. Jon’s in tonight,” Joy said and I
glanced at Harry as his boyish grin disappeared.

‘Don’t
worry’ I mouthed mutely, turning to see Jon striding over to join his friends
at the bar. “I’m going to go and say hello,” I smiled at Harry. I figured he
would come over at some point to see Joy so it made sense to get it out of the
way. Joy jumped up to join me, much to
Harry’s
dismay
and I could feel his eyes on us as we walked across to the three friends, our
champagne in hand and I glanced back at Sam who was staring as hard as his
friend.

“Hi
Jon,” she smiled as he kissed her cheek fondly. “You remember Rose don’t you?”
she grinned as he stood back, looking me up and down, his mouth wide open
before pulling me into a hug.

“Bloody
hell girl it’s been a while. You look great, who are you here with?” he asked
as I turned and pointed to our little group in the corner.

“Lizzie
and Dave, my boyfriend Sam and Harry,” I said as I beckoned him over to join
us. Jon put his hands up in front of him as Harry sauntered up casually.

 
“Don’t beat me up again, mate,” Jon laughed,
shaking
Harry’s
outstretched hand. He had clearly not
forgotten the tenacious little ten
year
old who
couldn’t keep his jealousy in check.

“It’s
good to see you, Harry, it must be about fifteen years,” said Jon and Harry
smiled as politely as he could manage, moving behind Joy and putting his arms
firmly around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder. The gesture had taken
clearly taken Jon aback and he wasn’t the only one I thought, smiling to
myself. He was marking his territory in no uncertain terms. I threw a knowing
glance at Joy who was beaming as they continued their small talk about old
times. We stayed at the bar as the group moved off and Joy grimaced at me as I
glanced over and saw a staggering Joshua Reynolds approaching from two o’clock.
Great.
I had to head him off at the pass.

 
“What was that for?” I heard Joy ask Harry as
I turned slightly away from the pair to keep one eye on Joshua’s movements.

 
“I didn’t want to risk him deciding that
tonight was the night he realised he’d made the biggest mistake of his life by
letting you go. I’ve waited eighteen years for the chance to do that gorgeous
and I didn’t want to wait another minute,” he said. Smooth, I thought to myself
and Joy clearly thought so too. They were kissing passionately as I looked
around and didn’t look like they were coming up for air anytime soon. My work
here was done, there was no way Joshua Reynolds would interrupt that if he
valued his features, and I was desperate to get back to Sam as I started
towards the table. Shit. Joshua was blocking my path.

“Hey,
Rose,” he slurred, moving to block me as I sidestepped for an escape route.
“You look gorgeous,” he said, grabbing my arm as I tried to move away.

 
“Let go, Joshua,” I shouted, trying to push
his hand away as he grabbed tighter and before I knew it he was staggering
sideways as Sam barged him out of the way.

“Alright
mate no need for that, we’re old friends,” he said.

 
“And I’m the boyfriend, now fuck off,” Sam
said firmly as Joshua shrugged and made his way back into the bowels of the
thumping club.

We
joined Lizzie and Dave who had watched the events unfold with increasing
amusement. “Finally,” they laughed and I grinned, looking over at Harry and Joy
who were still lip locked at the bar.

 
“I think they’ve learnt to breathe through
their ears,” laughed Dave and I choked on my half swallowed mouthful of
champagne as Sam shook his head, rubbing my back.

“Who
was that guy?” he asked.

 
“Joshua Reynolds,” we all said in unison,
rolling our eyes. “He’s after Joy so I thought it might be a good idea to head
him off. I didn’t want Harry causing a scene,” I smiled at Sam, running my
hands across the first signs of stubble forming around his strong jaw. God he
was beautiful.

 
“He touches you again and it’s not Harry he’ll
have to worry about,” he grimaced as I kissed his pouting lips, any remaining
anger subsiding from his body as he responded vigorously, exploring my mouth
with his tongue.

“We’re
going for a dance,” Lizzie shouted and I pulled away briefly to smile at them.

“Sorry,”
I mouthed, smiling at my friend who simply grinned and winked as Sam pulled me
onto his lap and I took a sip of my champagne.

 
“Give me some,” he demanded firmly as I handed
him the glass. “From your mouth,” he said; quirking an eyebrow at me. My heart
flipped as I pushed my mouth against his, parting my lips slowly and letting
the bubbles dance onto his tongue. “
Mmmm
,” he purred
in that low sexy voice, “my favourite champagne from my favourite girl. I want
to taste that all over your body, Sweetheart”. I stood no chance. When it came
to sex he was like a powerhouse and he could melt me in an instant I thought,
as he kissed me forcefully.