Chapter 6 VERA
VERA
Agreeing to have dinner with Linc has to be the dumbest idea I’ve had in a while.
But he had me at Christmas leftovers. I’m a sucker for glazed ham, turkey, stuffing, and roast veggies mashed into hash browns. And I’d do anything for a good plum pud.
“Can I tempt you with another piece of pudding?” Linc points at the last piece on the plate between us, as if he knows my weakness.
The pudding isn’t the only tempting thing in my vicinity on this picnic blanket and as I tear my gaze away from his green eyes to stare at the sun descending in a blazing fireball into the horizon, I wonder what I’ll do if he puts the moves on me.
He wants to. He’s flirted throughout our impromptu dinner picnic on the beach, and to my chagrin, I reciprocated. And I’m not the flirty type. I’m too practical, too cynical, too bruised for it. Brent had been a flirt, and look how that turned out.
“Last chance,” he says, waving the pudding in front of me, and I laugh.
“I planned on sorting through the tools I’ll need tonight, and if I have another piece, I won’t be able to move.”
“I can carry you.” He flexes impressive biceps. “Gives me a chance to show off.”
“Why would you want to do that?”
I throw it out there as a challenge, to see if he’s honest enough to verbalise the intangible buzz between us.
“Because you’re hot, and I like you.”
Kudos to Linc, but it doesn’t change the facts. I’m here to work, not screw around.
“Code for you’ve been stuck on this island for a while and need sex.”
He rears back a little, like I’ve poked him, and his mouth hardens into a thin line.
“For what it’s worth, I live in Brisbane and only spend a few months a year on this island. I returned last week because it’s my turn to run things around here until I can escape again. As for sex, I don’t need it.”
He eyeballs me, and I swallow as I glimpse desire. “But I want it. With you.”
Disconcerted by his blunt intensity, I blurt out the first thing that pops into my head. “How old are you, anyway?”
His eyebrows arch in surprise. “Twenty-six. Is that a problem?”
“It is if I’m forty.”
“You’re forty?” He makes it sound like I’m an octogenarian as he gapes a little, before recovering his wits. “What I meant to say is, you look younger than me.”
“Flattery won’t change my mind about having sex with you.”
But it has a little.
“Then what will?”
For a moment, I’m tempted to say ‘fuck it’ and invite him back to the cottage I’m staying in. But it’s my first night on the island, and I don’t want to set a precedent.
Like you might let loose and have some fun for once in your boring life?
Willing my inner voice of reason to shut the hell up, I say, “I have a job to do here, and that’s it.”
The corners of his mouth kick up, and my heart does an annoying backflip. “But you’re on a tropical island. Surely you can pretend for a night or two that you’re on vacation and I’m the lucky guy you want to have a fling with?”
I roll my eyes, but can’t help but smile. “If it makes you feel any better, if I were inclined to have a fling, I’d choose you.”
His eyes light up, and I mentally kick myself for giving him hope.
“Okay, Vera, have it your way. I’ll let you focus on work for a day, maybe two.” He leans closer, and my skin prickles with his proximity. “But after that? All bets are off.”
As long as my clothes don’t follow.