Melting Into You (Due South Book 2) (24 page)

“Yes.” But how would she not explode in the next nine days? “I haven’t any plans.”

“You have now.” He turned her to face him, bent and nibbled at her lower lip before soothing it with a soft kiss. “And
Kez? Leave the penguin pajamas at home.”

***

“No. Nuh-uh, not going to happen,” said Kezia.

“But they’re so cute.” Shaye pooched out her lower lip and waved the ridiculously tiny pink panties under Kezia’s nose again.

Already regretting this Saturday shopping trip with Shaye and Piper in Invercargill, Kezia glanced around the boutique lingerie store
Flirt
. “That wouldn’t cover a four-year-old’s bottom, let alone mine.”

Piper ducked between two displays of pastel bra and panty sets. “As your best friends, we can’t send you off in granny knickers and a mum-bra.”

“There’s nothing granny or mum-like about my underwear. My
unmentionables
, as Mamma used to say, are comfortable, practical, and stylish.” Kezia snatched the pink panties off Shaye and shoved them back on the rack.

Okay, maybe she did own a disproportionate amount of white and nude underwear, but explaining to Zoe why tiny scraps of satin and lace were on her washing line every laundry day? No thanks.

“You are very stylish, hon.” Shaye slung an arm around her waist. “But white cotton isn’t sexy enough for your dirty weekend.”

“It’s only one night—and shopping for lingerie with the sisters of the man I’m going away with is plain di
sturbing.”

Piper smirked. “Don’t worry about us—we’re blac
king out the image of Ben loving you up in these smoking hot panties and replacing it with Steven Amell. God, I love a bad boy in leather.” She sighed dreamily.

“Arrow’s a hero, not a bad boy, dummy.” Shaye s
elected a leopard-print push-up bra. “Personally, I’m thinking of Joe Magliano. Have you seen that man? He’s ripped.”

“No way in hell, put that back,” said Kezia. “And you’re picturing me with Steven
Amell and Joe Magliano instead of your brother? How is that less disturbing?”

“Actually, I’m picturing me with Steve and Joe, and thinking I’ll buy the leopard print myself.” Shay
e held the bra up to her chest.

Piper wrested it out of her hands. “Hey, I’m the only one who needs a little help in that area. You two have more than enough
boobage to spill out of a normal bra.”

While Piper and Shaye argued the merits of Steve versus Joe, demi-cup versus full, and thong versus bik
ini, Kezia moved to a different part of the store. She fingered the buttery soft cottons and slippery satins, all the time trying to ignore the fluttery sensations in her belly.

She was doing this. Going away with Ben. Buying something pretty and completely impractical to make her feel sexy. Hoping the little scraps of fabric would act like a
magnet for his hands and mouth.

Gesù
.

Kezia slipped a pair of black panties off the nearest display, the butterflies in her stomach transforming into bats slashing with razor tipped claws.

The last time she’d shopped for pretty lingerie was a few months before Callum died, in a desperate attempt to lure her husband back into her bed. She’d failed spectacularly and so had thrown the offending garments into the trash the next morning. Along with negligées, suspender belts, and even a bustier Callum had bought her years ago. Asking him to empty the trash can had been a statement, and he’d spent every night afterward in their spare room.

But Ben wasn’t Callum—wasn’t anything like her late husband in looks or personality. She didn’t need anyone to point that out. Ben would want her whether she wore a full length 1950s girdle or a pair of crotch-less panties—like the ones she now held. Kezia r
eturned them to the rack with a smile. He wanted her, and she wouldn’t turn this fun trip with her friends into a bad-acid-trip down memory lane.

“Still can’t make a decision?”

Kezia turned at the sound of Piper’s voice.

“There are too many options.”

Piper flicked through a display of feather trimmed corsets. “Who in their right mind would lace themselves into that torture device?” She blew out a
pffft
of disgust and moved away. “Anyway, it’s not like a man’s gonna rate your choice of
unmentionables
, he just wants to get you naked with the least amount of effort.” She pointed a finger at Kezia. “But Ben can remove a bra one-handed in six seconds, so perhaps you will want something like a corset to challenge him.”

“The poor guy could lose a finger fiddling with all those hooks and laces.” Shaye appeared at her other side, one hand behind her back.

“What about that one?” Kezia gestured to a peach-colored set.

“Classy, sexy, but not trampy,” said Shaye. “They’re totally you.”

Something Kezia could wear after the weekend, though she never would. She’d hand-wash the lacy garments, wrap them in tissue paper and tuck them into her drawer as a reminder of her one amazing night with Ben. Except a small part of her stubbornly refused to agree to one night only. A small part of her wanted more.

As she reached for the hanger, Shaye tapped her shoulder. She turned, coming face to face with a box of condoms, complete with a curly scarlet ribbon tied in a bow.

“My shout, sweetie,” Shaye said.

“Sweet Mother—” Kezia grabbed the box and dropped it into t
he little wire shopping basket.

“I figured you wouldn’t want to get them at Ru
ssell’s.” Shaye grinned, completely unabashed. “You’d better buy in bulk at the supermarket before we head back over. A good girl scout’s always prepared.”

Trying to slip a box past the eagle eye of Caroline Russell would certainly start the gossip mill churning. Stocking up on condoms
made things a little too real.

“Over prepared if you ask me.” Piper snickered and folded her arms. “That’s a pack of twelve—how
many do you think they’ll use?”

Shaye drilled a finger into her sister’s stomach. “This coming from a woman who once spent forty-eight hours straight in bed with her man—”

“It was a weekend and the weather was crap. We saved on our electricity bill by utilizing body heat under the covers.”

Good-natured sibling bickering ensued. Kezia stared into her basket and her throat closed up as if she was having an allergic reaction. Perhaps she was. A reaction to this crazy, tangled mess of desire, need, and gidd
iness every time she thought about being alone with Ben Harland.

“Wait, wait.” Kezia held up a hand. “Maybe this whole thing is a really bad idea.”

Shaye and Piper fell silent and flanked her, one on each side.

“Hon?” Shaye slipped an arm through hers and squeezed. “We’re just teasing. Ben won’t pressure you into anything you’re not ready for.”

Kezia sighed. “I’m not an eighteen-year-old virgin. I know what a man means when he arranges an overnight date.”

“You could cancel.” Piper leveled a flat stare at her. “If you’re scared.”

“I’m not scared of your brother.”

“Not that kind of scared.” The corner of Piper’s mouth twitched. “The kind which says you’ve deve
loped something more serious for Ben than the urge to get laid.”

“Hah.”
Maledizione
—Piper was right. But she wasn’t ready to admit that to herself, let alone anyone else. So she fixed her lips into a smile and waved her hand dismissively. “It’s more that I haven’t had sex in a long time. I’m a little—no, a lot—out of practice.”

“Aw, hon. Sex isn’t like the algebra you learn in high school and forget the moment you graduate. I’m sure you’ll remember what goes where,” said Shaye.

Piper remained silent, watching with the steady hazel gaze Kezia knew meant her friend wasn’t buying it.

“This weekend’s a great idea.” Piper flicked through the rack of peach lingerie and selected Kezia’s sizes. “You’ll get to spend some time with Ben, realize he’s a straight-up guy who’s not like he-who-won’t-be-named—” She waggled her eyebrows, a reference to when she and Shaye had got Kezia tipsy on bubbles, dragging out details of the last few years of her ma
rriage. “You’ll have fun together—in bed and out.”

“Fun? I’ve forgotten how to have fun with a man,” Kezia said. “What if I screw it up and we have a terrible time?”

Piper snorted out a laugh. “Then you’ll have wasted your two grand.”

Shaye reached behind Kezia and shoved her sister’s shoulder. “Don’t listen to her—you’ll have a fantastic time, while Pipe and I dazzle Zoe and Jade with girly delights.”

Kezia rolled her eyes and headed for the cashier.

A fantastic time? She hoped so. She also hoped she’d return to her little cottage on Stewart Island with her heart intact.

Chapter 12

Saturday morning, D-day, Ben stood beside the red and white striped Cessna, grinning like a loon as Kezia crossed the tarmac. Pretty as a picture didn’t begin to describe her in a blue dress, chunky sweater, and calf-high boots, her curls blowing sideways as the choppy breeze skimmed along the runway.

“This isn’t one of the island’s planes.” She stopped in front of him.

“Good m
orning to you too, Ms. Murphy.”

She rolled her eyes, and he chuckled.

“It’s a private charter. The owner owes me a favor, and I called it in.” Ben stooped and grabbed her suitcase. His sports bag—stuffed with little more than a change of clothes and a toothbrush—was already inside the plane.

Plus a box of thirty condoms. Just in case.

“I didn’t think we’d be flying anywhere.”

“Did you see me romancing you in one of the
Rakiura track huts then? Maybe setting up a tent on Kahurangi Bay beach?”

She shoved his arm. “You better be taking me somewhere warmer than a hut or a tent.”

“Much warmer, but our destination’s still a surprise—so don’t start with the where-are-we-going nag.”

Brown eyes sparkling, Kezia climbed up the plane’s short flight of steps. “Fine. And FYI, I don’t nag—I instruct.”

The flight across the Foveaux Straight was a little turbulent but evened out once they reached the mainland. Conversation over the roar of the engines became tedious after a while, so they sat quietly, Kezia staring out the tiny window. Fiordland’s snow-capped peaks in the distance seemed to capture her attention. Ben’s entire focus was on the gentle line of her jaw, the sweet spiciness of her perfume. He covered her hand with his, and she turned toward him, shifting closer and resting her head against his arm.

“You’re missing the view.” Not that he was co
mplaining.

A small smile creased her lush mouth. “I’m not missing anything.”

The pilot brought the Cessna down twenty minutes later and taxied past the main international airport to a smaller group of buildings off to the side.

Kezia looked out the window. “Are those The
Remarkables?”

Ben ducked down for a glimpse of the mountain range on the south eastern shore of Lake
Wakatipu. “Yep.”

He understood where Zoe got her enthusiasm from as Kezia bounced in her seat and squealed. “We’re sta
ying in Queenstown?”

Wait until she saw Harley’s little shack just out of town. “Worth the two-grand so far?”

She fisted a handful of his jacket and arched up—planted a smacking kiss on the corner of his mouth. “It is. And not because it’s Queenstown.”

“Oh, so
now
you’re being friendly.”

“I’ve always been friendly to you, Ben Harland.” She tugged his ear lobe. “You were the one either i
gnoring me or grouching at me.”

“I ignored you because I knew you’d be trouble,
Kez.”

The pilot stepped out from the cockpit, destroying their little moment by cranking open the plane’s door.

“Trouble. Hah,” she muttered as Ben helped her out onto the tarmac.

By the time they’d picked up their rental car and headed into the lakeside tourist town, sunshine streamed through the clouds onto the denim-blue waters of Lake
Wakatipu. The Holden Commodore with a V6 engine—a guys’ car, none of this hybrid-compact-sardine-can-crap for him—purred like a well-fed panther as they cruised Queenstown’s streets.

Skiers in puffer-jackets, tourists with cameras around their necks, and backpackers laden with gear, swarmed through the “Alpine style” town center. They bypassed the worst of the crowds, caught the roar of the
bright yellow Kawarau jet as it buzzed away from the jetty.

Kezia slanted him a look from the passenger seat, and he couldn’t resist. “Nah, I didn’
t think you’d like to get wet.”

From the top of Bob’s Peak and the Queenstown Gondola, colorful canopies of
para-gliders drifted across the sky. Kezia threw back her head to follow them, laughing and calling them, “
Pazzi
—crazy!”