Just Say Yes (24 page)

“I’ve bought some mood boards from the designers,” she said, spreading folders on the table. Each held sample material, magazine photographs, and paint charts. She glanced up at him hopefully, her eyes sparkling with enthusiasm.

“They look fine to me,” he said, desperately trying to sound equally enthusiastic over the nautical theme she’d suggested. He was fascinated by her eyes. Were they brown or green or that weird “hazel thing” Marnie always used to go on about?

“Josh?”

“Sorry. I was miles away.”

“I hope not. This is important,” she said, but he could see she was laughing quietly at him.

Folding his arms, he sat up straight in his chair. “You have my undivided attention.”

“Good. Now—what do you think about this Cath Kidston theme for the end cottage? I really like it. It’s country but not chintzy. Slightly Glastonbury, but if we’re aiming for upmarket… Josh, are you paying attention?”

Yes, he was paying attention, but not to the swatches of fabric she’d pushed in front of him. Not even to her passion for the job. No. His eyes were drawn to her cleavage: the way, as she leaned over the table, her breasts were pressed firmly together, straining the fabric of her pink camisole.

“Josh? Have you heard a word I said or did you tune out at the part about chintz?”

He picked up one of mood boards and nodded sagely, though it might have shown the design for a bondage den for all he’d taken in. “The Cath thing sounds great to me. Go for it and let me know the cost.”

He saw her hesitate. “That’s the marine-themed board you’re looking at.”

“Is it? It’s fine.”

Lucy was frowning and he wondered if she’d noticed his trip into top-shelf fantasy.

“Wouldn’t it be a good idea to ask Sara?” she said.

No, it would not, he thought. Sara would definitely have an opinion but mainly on turning the farmhouse into a home and he didn’t want that. “She wouldn’t be interested,” he said, knowing that he was being economical with the truth. “She’s too busy and she’s in Poole on a leisure management course all week.”

“I should still show her your ideas or she might feel left out. I think the cottages will be great when you’ve finished them and the new websites are getting plenty of hits. You’ve already got some bookings for next spring.”

“I appreciate it.”

“You’re paying me, Josh. It’s a job.”

He flinched. He’d found employing Lucy to do the cottage changeovers more awkward than he’d imagined it would be. At first, having laid his cards on the table about the limits of their relationship, it hadn’t been too difficult to keep her at arm’s length. But now, she’d carved out a niche for herself in Tresco and he suspected it wouldn’t be long before she could do without his help at all.

“So how’s things at Creekside?” he asked, pushing the sample boards aside. “I don’t see so much of you these days. You seem to have settled in here like a local.”

Her smile, which held both pride and pleasure, made his stomach do a tiny flip.

“I’m fine. I’ve made friends with Cally and her crowd. Fiona’s been back here a couple of times, as you know, and Charlie and my mum came to stay while you were away at the Boat Show.”

Josh’s stomach flipped again, not so gently. “Charlie?”

“He lives in the flat below mine at home. He’s an actor. Absolutely gorgeous.”

“I’m impressed,” he replied, meaning exactly the opposite. Though he didn’t want to admit it, he was bloody jealous.

“He’s making quite a name for himself in musical theater,” she went on, her eyes shining with pride, completely unaware of how she was turning the screw on him. “He’s just finished an all-male production of the
Sound
of
Music
and now he’s starring in
La
Cage
aux
Folles
in six-inch heels.”

As the penny dropped Josh let out a laugh that was way out of proportion to her gentle teasing. “Six-inch heels, eh?”

“He’s a lovely man, one of my best mates,” said Lucy.

It was a bright afternoon and the kitchen was about as sunny as it ever got. She sat back in her chair, her hands round a mug of tea. Her long, curly dark hair was caressing her bare shoulders in places he desperately wanted to touch.

She put her mug down on the table and crossed to the countertop, turning her back on him to gather up her bag and some magazines. “I’ll leave the mood boards with you, then, just in case you do want to show Sara.”

As she bent over the countertop, her high-cut denim shorts rode up, showing off long, shapely legs that were topped by a round and luscious bottom. Josh very much wanted to slip her camisole over her head and free her breasts. Then he very much wanted to pull down her shorts and knickers and make love to her on the table.

He felt his jeans tighten painfully around him. She was all voluptuous curves, her skin a pale golden brown.
Golden
brown
… She reminded him of the Stranglers song, even though he knew they weren’t singing about a woman but a temptation far more dangerous. Just then, she twisted round, the wad of brochures in her arms covering up her lovely breasts. She must have known he’d been staring at her because her cheeks were flushed, so he swallowed hard and then the words just came tumbling out.

“Lucy, do you fancy a trip to the beach?”

Lucy was as surprised as Josh seemed to be when she said yes to his invitation.

“I’m not sure…” she said, hesitating at first.

“It’s just a few beers on the beach with some mates from the sailing club. Cally and her brother might be there,” he said in his gruff fashion.

“If it’s a party, I’d love to come, but I just need to nip back to the cottage for my swimsuit and a towel.”

“I’ll meet you by the cliff path, then. Ten minutes enough?”

He shoved his hands in his pockets and Lucy wondered if he was already regretting asking her. She would never have agreed to go if it hadn’t been a gang of them, but then again, she was pretty sure he would never have asked her otherwise. Anything else would have felt like cheating on Sara, and even though Lucy sometimes wanted to flush the woman’s sun-streaked head down the loo, she drew the line at doing anything that might be construed as stealing her boyfriend. Which was ridiculous, of course, considering Josh had made his feelings about her quite plain at the outset of their “arrangement.” She wondered if he’d asked her just to be polite.

Josh led the way as they zigzagged their way down the cliff path to the beach. Lucy had a cool bag full of Red Bull over her shoulder, while Josh manhandled the cool box.

“OK?” he asked halfway down.

“Uh-huh.”

Actually, she was more than OK. She was having a very nice time indeed, thank you very much, watching the way the muscles and tendons tautened in his arm as he carried the heavy box down the path. Sweat ran down the small of her back, down her shorts. Josh’s spine and shoulder blades were glistening as they neared the foot of the cliff. At the bottom, they headed for the end of the beach toward a knot of people. Lucy tried to keep her eyes on the view and not on the way Josh’s shorts were slipping down his lean hips.

“Yay! Lucy!”

Lucy waved and mouthed a “hello.” Cally, her brother Nathan, and assorted people she vaguely recognized from the sailing club were throwing towels down on the beach.

“Thank God for that. The beer wagon. What’s kept you, mate? Thought we’d have to send out the coast guard for you,” said Byrne, an Australian Lucy recognized from their “research” trip to Perranporth.

“As long as it wasn’t a lifeguard, otherwise I wouldn’t have been found by Christmas,” said Josh wryly.

Behind Byrne’s back, Cally pointed to the Australian, licked her lips, and mouthed a “yum.”

Lucy winked at her.

“Where’s Sara?” asked Cally as Lucy unfurled a towel.

“On a course in Poole, apparently.”

Cally shook her head. “She’ll kill you if she finds out you’re here with Josh.”

“No, she won’t,” said Lucy optimistically. “I’m not here with Josh. I’m here with you and Nathan and Byrne.”

“Hmm. Byrne. Come on, baby, light my fi-re…” giggled Cally.

Around them, the girls were wiggling out of their shorts, flipping open bottles, and slathering tanned bodies with cream. Byrne, wearing a floppy cricket hat and tight Speedos, was talking to Josh. He thumped him on the arm so Josh whacked Byrne on the back.

“Why do guys have to beat each other up to show they like one another?” said Lucy, as Cally pulled a well-thumbed copy of Katie Price’s new novel from her beach bag.

“I don’t know. I suppose it’s all to do with testosterone. We did have a leaflet on it at the pharmacy but Mrs. W. took it home. Nathan says the lads were always playing about at school. You know, flicking each other with wet towels, giving each other Chinese burns, and running around naked in the locker room. It’s pathetic really.”

“Yes, all very
Top
Gun
,” said Lucy, stuffing her shorts in her beach bag and stretching out on her towel. Lucy tried to erase a vision of Josh standing under a shower. She wondered if Cally was thinking the same about Byrne.

“Aren’t you going to take your top off, then?”

Lucy shaded her eyes with her hand. Cally, minus her bikini top, was rubbing sunscreen into her boobs. In fact, all the girls, some with help from the boys, were in the process of untying strings, whipping off tops, and generally getting them out. Only Lucy, slightly older and ten times more self-conscious, still had her top on.

Cally giggled. “You need to get rid of your white bits or you’ll look like a real tourist.”

Lucy hugged her knees to her chest.

“You’re not shy, are you? It’s not because the guys are here?” said Cally, grinning.

She let out a laugh. “God, no!”

Cally lay back on the sand with a sigh and closed her eyes. “Do I look OK? Tell me if Byrne the Babe comes over.”

The ritual fighting over, Josh was laughing and drinking beer with Byrne, Nathan, and the other guys. Lucy knew she was going to seem old fashioned if she didn’t strip off soon. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t gone topless on vacation. It was just that
Josh
was
here
.

All she had to do was reach behind her, elegantly loosen the string, pull her top over her head, and turn over onto her tummy, pretending to do her back. Yet she was fumbling and struggling with the knot of her bikini like a two-year-old. She considered pulling the halter over her head, strangling herself in the process, and untying the strap from the front but that would have made her look like a granny.

Just when she thought the embarrassment factor couldn’t get any higher, it did. Josh, can in hand, was looking directly at her. The next thing she knew, he was crossing the beach, crouching behind her, and touching her. She felt the pressure of his fingers against her skin, heard him whisper gruffly, “Keep still,” then felt him pull the knot loose.

Then, just as quickly, he was back with the boys, laughing and chatting. Lucy pulled the halter strap over her head and felt the cool sea breeze whisper across her now bare breasts.

She lay back on the sand trying to focus on cleaning toilets, decorating cottages, or anything to take her mind off Josh. Finally, she hit on the marketing plan she’d worked out for Tresco Farm Cottages. She’d really enjoyed researching what other companies did to maximize bookings, and she was quite proud of what she’d come up with: website, a brochure, maybe some PR. She wondered whether the owners of the RV site she worked for might be interested. Their website and brochure was looking a bit tired too.

“Is Byrne looking at me?”

She turned her head to see Cally, eyes still clamped shut.

“Um. Hold on.”

She risked a quick glance at the cluster of guys round the beer box. Someone was hammering a piece of driftwood in the sand, ready for a makeshift game of cricket. “No. I think he’s still talking to Josh. Oh…”

“
Is
he? Is he?
” hissed Cally, wiggling her toes.

“Stay calm but I think they’re coming over with a drink.”

As he approached, Byrne put a finger to his lips and mouthed: “Shhh.”

“If he speaks to me, I think I’m going to wet my knickers,” said Cally.

Seeing Josh right behind Byrne, Lucy felt ready to do the same. Quietly, Byrne took a step forward, bent down, and touched the ice-cold can to Cally’s stomach.

She let out a shriek that had everyone on the beach craning their necks to look at them. “Arghh! You git! You evil rat bag!”

Byrne roared with laughter as she scrambled to her feet and pummeled his chest. Then he swept her up in his arms and dashed toward the sea, Cally squealing in delight and shock.

“I think Byrne is in trouble,” said Josh.

“No, I think he just made her day,” replied Lucy, laughing.