In the Heat of the Spotlight (9 page)

‘It was delicious.’

‘The second one.’

‘Exactly.’

He hadn’t let go of her hand, and now he led her alongside the stream, the ground soft and loamy beneath them. Aurelie found she quite liked the feel of his fingers threaded through hers. They walked along the bank, winding their way up through the dense foliage, until Luke stopped suddenly.

‘Close your eyes.’

More trust. ‘Okay.’ She closed her eyes and felt Luke tug on her hand. She took a step. Another.

‘Open them,’ he said softly, and she did. And gasped in wonder.

CHAPTER SEVEN

‘W
OW
.’

‘Definitely worth it, huh?’

She turned from the stunning view of the falls to Luke’s rather smug smile. ‘I wouldn’t say definitely. I think my sandals are ruined.’

‘Leather dries.’

‘It is amazing,’ she admitted and his smile widened. Not so smug, she decided. More like...satisfied.
Happy.

‘Let’s find a place for a picnic.’ He tugged on her hand again and they picked their way along the rocks until they found a large flat one, warm from the sun and perfect for a picnic.

Aurelie stretched out on top of it as Luke unpacked their lunch, her gaze on the waterfall once more. It truly was a spectacular sight, a crystalline fountain flowing from the fern-covered rocks, falling in a sparkling stream to a tranquil pool fifty feet or more below.

She turned to watch Luke peel a
lanzone
with a knife. He glanced up, smiling, a decidedly wicked glint in his eyes. ‘Care to try another?’

‘I don’t know if I dare.’

‘This one’s sweet, I promise.’ And with that wicked glint still in his eyes he fed her a chunk of the sweet, moist fruit, his fingers brushing her lips as she ate it. The barest touch of his fingers against her mouth sent little pulses of awareness firing through her, flaring deep down.
Desire.
It seemed amazing that she could feel it. Want it—and him. She’d never wanted anyone before, not like that. Not since Pete.

‘Tasty,’ she managed, and swiped at the droplets of juice on her lips. Her heart rate was skittering all over the place, and all from that simple touch and the feelings and thoughts it had triggered, a maelstrom swirling through her.

‘You know,’ she said as Luke arranged the rest of their picnic items onto two paper plates, ‘I don’t really know anything about you.’

‘What do you want to know?’

‘Something. Anything. Where did you grow up?’

‘New York City and Long Island.’

‘The Hamptons?’ He nodded, and she hugged her knees to her chest. ‘I guess you grew up pretty privileged, huh? Bryant Enterprises and all that?’ She didn’t know much about the Bryant family, but she knew they were rich. Featured in the society pages rather than the trashy tabloids like her. ‘And you have a brother, you mentioned?’

‘Two.’

‘Are you close?’

‘No.’ Luke spoke mildly enough, but Aurelie sensed a dark current of emotion swirling underneath the words, a tension and repressiveness. She was getting to know this man, and now she wanted to understand him.

‘Why aren’t you?’

He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. ‘The short answer? Because Aaron’s an ass and Chase checked out a long time ago.’

‘Those are rather nice alliterations, but what does that really mean?’

Luke sighed and sat back, his arms braced on the rock behind him. ‘It means my older brother, Aaron, loves to be the boss. I can’t really blame him, because my father encouraged it, told him he was going to be CEO of Bryant Enterprises when he was older, and he needed to be responsible, authoritative, et cetera. Let’s just say Aaron got the message.’

Aurelie observed the tightening of Luke’s mouth, his eyes narrowed as he gazed out at the falls, the sunlight catching the spray and causing it to glitter.

‘And Chase?’

‘Chase is my younger brother. He was always a rebel, got in trouble loads of times, expelled from boarding school, the whole bit. My father disinherited him when he was in college.’

‘Ouch.’

‘I don’t know if Chase even cared. He made his own fortune as an architect and he hardly ever gets in touch.’

Aurelie hugged her knees. ‘That’s sad.’

‘Is it?’ He glanced at her, eyebrows raised. ‘Maybe he’s better off. When I do see him, he always seems happy. Joking around.’

‘Maybe that’s his schtick.’

‘Maybe.’

‘And what about you?’ Aurelie asked quietly, because that was what she really wanted to know. ‘Where did you fit into that picture?’ Luke hesitated, and she knew she was getting closer to understanding. ‘Or didn’t you?’

‘I suppose I was the classic middle child.’

‘Which is?’

‘Caught between two larger personalities. As we got older we all drifted apart and that seemed easier.’

‘It doesn’t sound like a very comfortable place.’

‘No, I don’t suppose it was.’ Luke turned to her with a faint smile, although Aurelie could still sense that dark emotion swirling underneath. ‘I don’t miss my childhood, at any rate. I was shy, awkward, and I even had a stammer.’ He spoke lightly, but it didn’t matter. Aurelie knew it hurt. ‘My father didn’t have much time for me, to tell you the truth.’ He glanced away. ‘He didn’t have time for me at all.’

‘Sounds a bit like my childhood,’ Aurelie answered quietly.

Luke turned back to her, his gaze sharp now, eyes narrowed in concern. ‘Oh? How so?’

She swallowed past the ache that had started in her throat, an ache of sympathy and remembrance. She’d never told anyone about her childhood. In the world of celebrity, it held a touch too much pathos to be interesting. ‘Well, my mother didn’t have much time for me. And my father wasn’t in the picture.’

‘Who raised you?’ That thoughtful crease appeared between his brows. ‘Your grandmother?’

‘I wish. I only stayed a summer with her, when I was eleven, but it was the happiest time of my life.’

‘Then where did you grow up?’

‘Nowhere. Everywhere. My mom never stayed in the same place for more than a few months, sometimes a few weeks. She’d get a job in a local diner or something, enrol me in school and find a deadbeat boyfriend. When he started stealing her money or knocking her around, she’d move on, dragging me with her.’

‘That’s terrible,’ Luke said quietly, and Aurelie shrugged.

‘I got over it.’

‘Julia Schmidt,’ he said after a moment. ‘Your mother. You bought the house from her, didn’t you?’

She nodded. ‘When my grandmother died she left it to my mom. I was only seventeen, and I think she hoped it would help my mom settle down.’

‘But?’

Aurelie sighed. ‘My mom didn’t want to settle down. So I bought the house from her for far more than it was worth. I was famous by then, so I had the money.’

‘And you finally had a home.’

She blinked hard, amazed at how quickly and easily he understood her. How in this moment it felt good and right and safe, rather than scary.

‘It must have been a huge loss when your grandmother died,’ he said after a moment, and she nodded.

‘I still miss her.’

‘And your mother?’

A shrug. ‘Around. Who knows? She used to appear every so often asking for money, but now that I’m not in the spotlight any more—at least not for any good reason—she’s disappeared.’ She sighed and stretched out her legs. ‘She’ll surface one day, I’m sure.’

‘So you really are alone.’

So alone. Although she didn’t feel alone right now. She wanted to tell him that, confess just a little of the happiness in her heart that he’d helped to create, but fear held her back. Rejection was still a distinct and awful possibility. There was still so much Luke didn’t know.

‘What about your parents? Are they around?’

He shook his head. ‘Both dead.’

‘I’m sorry.’ Aurelie gazed at him, saw how he’d carefully schooled his features into a completely neutral mask. ‘How did they die?’

‘My father of a heart attack when I’d just finished college.’ A pause, a telling hesitation. ‘My mother developed breast cancer when I was thirteen.’

‘I’m sorry. That’s terrible.’

He jerked his head in a semblance of a nod, his face still so very neutral. He was holding something back, Aurelie suspected, some pain that he didn’t want to share with her. She decided not to press.

‘So you’re alone too,’ she said quietly and after a taut moment of silence Luke reached for her hand.

‘Not right now,’ he said, and as Aurelie’s heart turned right over he tugged her to her feet. ‘Let’s swim.’

‘Swim?’ Aurelie eyed the deep, tranquil pool below the falls with a dubious wariness. ‘What about the giant barracudas?’

‘You mean the medium-sized ones? They’re friendly.’

‘I didn’t bring a swimsuit.’

‘I’m sure we can improvise.’ She hesitated and Luke added quietly, ‘Unless you don’t want to.’

Was this another trust exercise? she wondered. She was so used to men seeing her as an object. A trophy. She’d encouraged it, after all. And yet she knew Luke was different, knew he saw her differently.

‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Let’s do it.’

Luke led her down a narrow path to the pool. Aurelie tilted her head up to watch the waterfall cascade down the rock, churning foam that emptied into a surprisingly placid pool.

‘Good thing you’re not shy any more,’ she said as Luke tugged his shirt over his head. Then her mouth dried, for the sight of his bare chest was glorious enough to start her heart thumping. His shoulders were broad, his chest powerful and browned and perfectly taut. Washboard abs, trim hips. She was gaping like a fool, and realised it when Luke gave her a knowing grin and dropped his shorts.

He wore boxers, and Aurelie could not draw her gaze away from his powerful thighs. As for what was hidden beneath the boxers...

‘Look at me like that much longer and I’m going to embarrass myself,’ Luke said, a thread of humour in his voice although she caught the ragged note of desire too. And it thrilled her.

She wasn’t sure how it could feel so different from before, when she’d wielded his desire for her like a weapon. Now it felt like a joy. She glanced up and smiled right into his eyes.

‘I don’t think that would necessarily be a bad thing.’

He nodded towards her pale pink sundress. ‘Your turn.’

He’d already seen her naked. He’d seen her in her skimpy Aurelie underwear several times. Yet this felt different too, more honest, more bare. She slid the straps from her shoulders and shrugged out of the dress.

‘Sorry. I’m wearing boring underwear.’ Just a plain cotton bra and boy shorts. Really, incredibly modest. Yet she felt nearly naked, and her body responded to Luke’s heated gaze, an answering heat flaring within her, stirring up all sorts of wants. As well as just a tiny little needle of fear. No, not fear, but uncertainty. Memory.

Luke smiled and turned towards the pool. ‘Last one in,’ he called, and dived neatly into the water below. Aurelie watched him surface, sluicing the water from his face, clearly enjoying himself. He glanced up at her. ‘Is a rotten egg,’ he finished solemnly and she laughed. Still didn’t move.

‘Are you chicken?’

‘I prefer the word cautious.’ She hadn’t swum in anything but a lap pool in years.

‘Didn’t you swim in a lake or watering hole that summer you spent in Vermont?’ Luke called up to her. ‘This is no different. In fact, it’s nicer because the bottom is sand and rock rather than squishy mud.’

She stared at him, amazed at how much he guessed. Knew. She had swum in a lake in Vermont, a muddy-bottomed pond that she’d spent hours in.

‘Come on,’ Luke called. ‘I’m right here. I promise you can scramble onto my shoulders if a medium-sized barracuda happens by.’

More trust. Funny, how trusting in these silly little things made her start to unbend to the notion of trusting him with the bigger things. Like the truth. No, she’d been honest enough about her past for one afternoon. But this she could do.

Taking a deep breath, she took a running jump into the pool. The water closed over her head and for a moment she remained below the surface, treading water and enjoying the complete stillness and silence until she felt Luke’s hands close around her shoulders and he hauled her upwards.

‘What—’

‘You want to scare me to death?’ he demanded, but she saw that telltale glint in his dark eyes. ‘I thought you were drowning.’

‘I can swim, you know.’

‘Maybe one of those barracudas had got you.’

She laughed, but the sound trembled and died on her lips as she saw Luke’s eyes darken, his pupils dilate, and she felt the pulse of desire in herself. He still held her by the shoulders, and she was close enough to see the droplets of water clinging to his skin, the enticing curve of his mouth, a mouth that she knew was soft and warm and delicious.

Then Luke let her go, easing away from her, and struck out towards the falls. ‘Come see this,’ he called over his shoulder, and Aurelie felt a flicker of disappointment. Had she wanted him to kiss her?

Yes, she had.

How novel. How exciting. How disappointing that he hadn’t.

With a little shake of her head, she swam over to join him at the waterfall.

‘There’s a little cave behind the falls,’ Luke explained. ‘Just swim underneath the waterfall and you’ll come up right into it.’

‘Okay.’

Luke dived down first and Aurelie followed him, surfacing a few seconds later into a shallow fern-covered overhang, the waterfall a sparkling crystalline curtain hiding them from the world. Luke hauled himself up onto a ledge and extended a hand to her.

They sat side by side in silence for a moment, and to Aurelie it seemed completely relaxed, completely wonderful. She’d never felt so much in accord with another human being before, and she knew she wanted to tell him. Forget the fear. Screw rejection. This was too incredible, too important.

She turned to him with a smile. ‘It’s amazing. This whole day has been amazing.’

Luke touched her cheek, no more than a brush of his fingers. ‘It has been for me too.’ His gaze was tender and yet intent on hers, the curve of his mouth so close—

‘Luke—’ She wasn’t sure what she was going to say.
Kiss me,
maybe, because she wanted him to. Desperately. But he didn’t. Didn’t even let her finish, just slipped off the ledge and swam underneath the falls once more.

With a little sigh Aurelie followed him.

They swam a bit more in the shallows of the pool, splashing, teasing and laughing and finally they got out and returned to the sun-warmed rock to dry.

Aurelie sat there, her arms braced behind her, her legs stretched out, wearing only her underwear. And felt completely natural, no Aurelie artifice or armour. She was, she knew, being herself; she’d been herself for nearly the whole day. There
was
something there, underneath all the posing, and she’d needed Luke to show her.