“I let myself have the sugar. And the cars.”

“Two out of three ain’t bad.”

“Hey, it worked for Meatloaf.”

“Do you always let hairy rockers from the eighties dictate who you screw?”

“Everyone needs a yardstick. Meatloaf just happens to be mine.”

She stood up, smoothing her hands down her minuscule skirt before holding one of them out to him across the table.

“Deal?”

Was it a deal? Could he spend the summer around this woman without either killing her or drilling her?

“Should I spit on my palm before we shake?”

“That’s disgusting. Just shake, Sailor.”

Her hand was warm and firm, just as he imagined the rest of her body would be if he ever had the chance to find out.

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She let go of his hand. “See you at work.”

Dylan touched his fingers to his forehead in salute.

He watched her pick her way off the boat onto dry land, all long limbs and swinging hair. A pang of regret bloomed in his chest. She was right of course, and she’d only said what he probably wouldn’t have had the good sense to.

He’d secured the management job at the club by the skin of his teeth. Any other boss would have asked for references and resumes. Lucien Knight had given him a shot without any of those things, and common sense told him that any romantic entanglement with Kara could jeopardise that trust he’d been awarded without having earned it.

From his vantage point on the roof deck he kept his eyes on Kara’s marching figure as he drained the last of his coffee.

She passed by the small black hatchback he’d guessed must be hers, then walked right on by the moped that would have surprised him a little but not too much. He laughed out loud when she swung herself over the driver’s door of the bright red Mustang convertible at the end of the row of shops and restaurants. Even from the far side of the beach he could hear the engine as she gunned it and left the bay in a cloud of sand.

Hell, he’d always loved Mustangs.

Kara Brookes was something else. She’d turned up unannounced, eaten his breakfast, called him sexy, and then left him for dust with nothing but a tingling palm and a growing case of frustration.

Chapter Seven

Sophie was already at the club when Kara arrived a little while later. She’d made a start on opening the stock boxes, and was kneeling on the floor surrounded by scanty lingerie and sex toys.

“Just a normal day at the office I see.” Kara dropped her bag down on the floor with a grin.

“Free samples,” Sophie said, holding up an edible, erect penis with a look of barely disguised horror.

"Classy," Kara laughed. “Lunch?”

Sophie made a ‘no-way’ face and put the choc-cock back in its box.

“Where did you get to?”

“Just giving the old Mustang a good airing,” Kara said, aware she sounded vague but reluctant to mention her visit to Dylan.

“Just don’t get yourself arrested,” Sophie said.

Kara faked offence. “As if.” They both knew she was perfectly capable of it, and she’d only wriggled off the hook one time back home because she happened to have been pulled over by a cop who’d had the hots for her in college.

“It’s just that I noticed that Dylan’s jacket had gone out of the hallway.” Sophie didn’t look up from the box she was slicing open, but Kara heard the speculative hint behind her words all the same. There was no getting anything past that girl.

“Mm. I dropped it back for him while I was out.”

Sophie glanced up, her eyebrows high above questioning eyes.

“What?” Kara rolled her eyes. “You asked me to be nice to him. I was being nice.”

“No, it’s nothing,” Sophie pulled open the carton in front of her. “It’s just…”

Kara dropped down on her knees beside Sophie and reached for an unopened box, already knowing exactly where Sophie was heading with this conversation.

“Soph, don’t worry. The last thing I’m interested in is getting involved, especially with some guy who we don’t know from Adam. He could be a mass murderer for all we know.”

“He doesn’t strike me as a mass murderer,” Sophie said neutrally. “I like him, actually. Easy on the eye, too.”

“You think?” Kara studied the inventory list for the box she’d just opened without really taking in the details. “He’s okay, I suppose.”

“You suppose.” Sophie smiled. “You suppose?”

“What do you want me to say? He’s hot? Okay, I suppose he’s hot. Kind of. If you like that sort of thing.”

“You like that sort of thing.”

“Are you telling me or asking me?”

Sophie placed the handcuffs she’d been examining for quality back in the box and twisted to face Kara, her hands on her knees.

“Kara. We’ve been friends for more than half of our lives. I know you well enough to know that Dylan Day is exactly your type, so don’t even bother denying it, okay?”

Kara sighed. “Soph, I know what you’re thinking, but trust me on this. I’m not about to have a holiday romance and end up broken-hearted again. See these fingers?” She held out her hands. “Burned. After what happened with Richard last year, I’m well and truly off that whole romance shtick.”

“I seem to remember us having a conversation very similar to this when I separated from Dan,” Sophie said, referring to her childhood sweetheart and ex-husband. It seemed bizarre to imagine that she’d ever truly loved him now, because her feelings for Lucien were so much bigger. All-encompassing.

“Yeah, but you had the delectable Lucien to pick up the pieces. There aren’t enough Viking sex gods out there to go around for the rest of us.”

“Or American surf dudes?”

“Whichever. My point is that after being left standing at the fucking altar in a wedding dress I didn’t even fucking like all that much, I’m not about to jump into fucking bed with Dylan-yankee-doodle-diddle-Day!”

Sophie put her hand over her mouth, but the laugh came out just the same. Kara swiped her on the shoulder then burst out laughing too.

“You ladies sound hard at it.”

They both looked up as Lucien appeared in the doorway with yet another box in his arms, his eyes taking in the two laughing women surrounded by handcuffs and chocolate erections. Handcuffs. Erections. Sometimes, it just wasn’t possible to keep work and pleasure totally separate. Lucien placed the delivery down next to Sophie, and pocketed a set of handcuffs at the same time. She caught his eye fleetingly and then dropped her gaze with a discreet smile.




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