Private Party (13 page)

She looked outside at the sun, just now shedding its lemony yellow light across the beach. Her hangover was gone thanks to the water and coffee, and she felt restless energy course through her. No doubt one of the side benefits of sleeping for nearly a full day.

Deciding that a run was just the thing to kill some time and help her further rid herself of toxins, Julie pulled on her running clothes and headed out.

An hour later, she was refreshed and a tad lightheaded from running on an empty stomach. She made a detour by the poolside restaurant to order a smoothie.

As she waited for her peach protein power shake to blend, Julie’s stare was riveted to the man swimming laps in the pool. She was surprised to see someone else up this early. Whoever he was, he was amazing to watch. His strong, tanned back gleamed under the surface of the water, his rippling arms pulling him sleekly through the water in a seemingly effortless stroke.

Then she groaned as she realized who it was. “Can’t a girl get a break?”

“Pardon me, miss?” The waitress who was busy wiping down the bar asked.

PrivateParty

“Oh, nothing,” said Julie. “Just waiting for my smoothie.” What, were they out harvesting the peaches?

She glanced furtively back at Chris, still absorbed in his swim workout. Silently Julie prayed that she could get out of there without him noticing. She knew she would eventually have to face him, but right now she was afraid she’d die of embarrassment.

For a millisecond, she considered ditching her breakfast altogether and just ordering room service, but she was seriously afraid she’d pass out from low blood sugar before she got there.

She breathed a sigh of relief when finally, the waitress brought her a large plastic cup full of the thick shake.

Keep swimming. Please let him keep swimming.

Her breath expelled in a whoosh as she turned just in time to see Chris emerging from the pool. Water sluiced down his muscled chest as he levered himself out. He hadn’t seen her yet—he was busy drying his face and hair. She could still make her escape.

Unfortunately, her feet wouldn’t obey her commands to run. Instead she stood there, drool no doubt staining the front of her tank top, and drank him in. Even after a night of getting very up close and personal with Chris, the sight of his mostly bare body was enough to make her knees go all mushy.

Her eyes tracked droplets of water as they traced down his rippling abs, and she fought the urge to push him onto the pool deck and dry them with her tongue.

“Oh, hey, Jules. You’re up early.”

Julie’s gaze snapped back to Chris’s face, surprised to see what could only be described as a welcoming smile on his face. Funny, after yesterday, she expected him to avoid her like the plague.

“How are you feeling?” he asked when she still didn’t say anything.

“I’m fine. Why do you ask?” Julie took a long sip of her smoothie, savoring the icy sweetness sliding down her throat. It wasn’t just her run that kept her body temperature elevated.

His shoulders rippled as he patted his arms and back with the towel. “I would have thought you’d have a little bit of a stinger.”

Julie laughed nervously. For whatever reason, Chris was being nice this morning. She decided not to read too much into it. “Well, if I did have a hangover, I probably slept through it. I don’t know what time I fell asleep, but I woke up about an hour and a half ago.” PrivateParty

Chris let out a low whistle, walking over to join her at the bar. He thanked the waitress who immediately presented him with giant glasses each of water and orange juice. “You were even more gone than I thought.”

Julie’s hackles raised. “I wasn’t
that
drunk.” She avoided his gaze by pretending to adjust her straw before taking another drink.

“Yeah, that’s why you passed out for eighteen hours—”

“I didn’t pass out. I’ve been really sleep deprived—”

“Right after you tried to have your way with me,” he finished with an annoyingly smug grin.

Julie didn’t think she could possibly get any hotter, but the temperature of her face rose about ten degrees. Hah, if he thought she’d been totally hammered, why not just go with that? “I was so drunk, I don’t even know what you’re talking about.” He’d handed her the perfect strategy—play it off like she couldn’t remember a thing.

Chris laughed, but the mocking tone she suspected was absent. “Bull. You weren’t that drunk.”

“But you just said—”

“Yeah, because I knew it would piss you off, and you’re so damn cute when you lose your cool. Did you just go running?”

The abrupt change in subject was too much for her still slightly foggy mind, and it took her a moment to answer. “Yeah. I wanted to go before it got too hot. And I’m not cute.” Cute had dogged her for her entire life. Just once she wanted to be described as beautiful or sexy.

“You’re adorable. And I know what you mean, I try to get my workouts in before the sun reaches the roasting point. Not to mention the fact that I don’t necessarily need all of the guests seeing me like this,” he gestured down at the close fitting Lycra shorts he wore as a swimsuit. “Unless you’re Lance Armstrong, Lycra shorts aren’t a look any man should attempt.” Julie stared down at the garment in question. The way they fit over his sleekly muscled thighs and ridiculously tight, gorgeous butt like a second skin, she had to disagree. Not to mention they did little to hide the very impressive goods Chris sported between his legs.

Chris cleared his throat.

Oh, God, she was staring at his crotch. Well, it wasn’t her fault. He was the one who called attention to PrivateParty

himself and the way the shorts lovingly clung to all of his…parts.

“I think you look…just fine,” she said. She followed her statement with such a big sip of her smoothie that she immediately clenched her eyes and grabbed her head at the onset of brain freeze.

A low laugh rumbled from his chest. “God, Jules, you crack me up. Only you could sound so polite while you’re ogling a guy’s package.”

Julie gasped, “I was not ogling your, your
package.
”

“Hey, I’m not complaining. Listen, Julie, about yesterday.”

“I really don’t want to talk about it. I’m not entirely sure what all happened,”
liar,
“but I’m not reading anything into it as far as your intentions or lack thereof. I know I acted inappropriately, and I’m really embarrassed, and I promise that I will not throw myself at you for the rest of the week, and if I do, you can send me home without a refund, okay?”

“Julie, I didn’t mean—”

Why wouldn’t he just drop it? “I can’t help it if you’re a really, really good looking guy, and I very much enjoyed having sex with you, but,” she held up her hands as he opened his mouth to interrupt, “I also understand that you are not interested in having sex with me again and I will respect your wishes, regardless of how drunk I get.”

He didn’t say anything, just stood there, looking slightly confused.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go.” She smiled ruefully up at him. “I’m going diving with Mike.

You’re no doubt relieved to know that I have someone to distract me from stalking you.” He caught her arm as she turned to go. “You don’t need to be embarrassed. I’m not upset—” She pulled her arm from his grasp. God only knew what she would do if he continued to touch her.

Grasping for the composed façade that had always served her so well, she said, “I will endeavor not to cause you any more inconvenience for the rest of my stay.” She allowed herself one last discreet, covetous leer at his chest before she turned and walked away. Who knew when she’d be in such close proximity to his male perfection again?

“I will endeavor not to cause you any more inconvenience for the rest of my stay.”
PrivateParty

Who the hell talked like that? Chris thought as he finished his water and juice.

Julie, that was who. Julie, when she felt threatened or uncomfortable, always retreated behind the armor of polite civility.

She was almost as cute carefully choosing all those SAT words as she was when she got mad.

But while he had always loved teasing her, trying to get a glimpse of her seemingly nonexistent temper, he didn’t like to see her embarrassed.

Blotting himself with his towel, he made his way back to his house. Forget the fact that this was her vacation. Julie was paying what even he could admit was an obnoxious amount of money to stay here.

Regardless of her reasons for coming to Holley Cay, she deserved to have a good time however she chose.

He frowned. But not if her idea of fun included getting wasted and stripping off her top in front of anyone who wanted to look at her perfect breasts.

This was such a fucking mess. He’d barely slept last night, fighting the urge to break down her villa door and fuck her like she so obviously wanted. He hadn’t been able to get any work done. All he’d been able to think about was the feel of her sweet, hot pussy clenching around his fingers, how good it would have felt to slide his cock against her smooth pussy lips. Over and over until he’d had to go home and jerk off, just so he could concentrate.

And now the sight of her, damp and flushed from her run, made him so hard he had to wrap his towel around his waist so as not to shock an unsuspecting staff member or guest.

All he could think about was getting inside her again, and now she was going to spend the morning with Mike. Mike, with his surfer good looks and good old boy earnestness, had no doubt gotten quite an eyeful before Chris had managed to cart Julie back to her villa.

Fan-fucking-tastic. Holley Cay’s future success was riding on his ability to pull off this stupid wedding, and thanks to one small, blonde woman with perfect tits and a saucy little ass, he couldn’t get his brain wrapped around it.

Just as he’d feared, Julie presented the world’s biggest distraction, at a time in his life when he could least afford it. The question was, how in the hell was he supposed to deal with it? Sending her packing was the obvious answer. But even he wasn’t that much of an asshole, and besides, it wouldn’t do Holley Cay any good if he got a reputation for kicking guests out for no reason.

And though he was loath to admit it, he wasn’t ready to say good-bye to her just yet.

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Hours later, he still didn’t know what to do. Carla was no help.

“What do you mean nothing happened?” Carla said when he filled her in on the details of what had ensued after he and Julie left the beach. “You carried her off like a mountain gorilla, and nothing happened? She was practically naked.” Carla sat back in her chair and folded her arms indignantly.

“She was totally hammered—”

“And throwing herself at you, though I can’t imagine why considering what a jerk you’ve been to her—”

“And I didn’t want to take advantage of her.”

“Oh, please, you’ve taken up hundreds of women on their drunken offers—”

“Not that many!”

“Okay, dozens.”

Chris did some quick math in his head and didn’t argue.

“Dozens of women,” Carla continued, “and you’ve never had a single qualm about their states of inebriation.” Carla paused, a frown puckering her forehead. “Well, that’s not totally true—I’ve never seen you go off with someone in imminent danger of vomiting.” Carla spoke the truth, and damn, did it hurt. He’d never had any qualms about his behavior before.

“No one was ever so drunk she didn’t know what she was doing.” It was a weak argument, but for the first time in his life Chris was having a hard time justifying his own behavior.

“Was Julie?”

“Was Julie what?”

Carla’s tone grew even more exasperated. “So drunk she didn’t know what she was doing?” Chris considered her words carefully. There was no question Julie had been inebriated. But if he were being truly honest with himself he would admit that it had been more of a case of inhibitions being lowered than Julie doing something she wouldn’t otherwise do.

Like on her wedding night. Chris felt a familiar tightening in his gut when he remembered the hours he spent with her in that big bed at the Winston. He’d had her in every way he could think of, and still he’d PrivateParty

been hard and aching for her as he boarded the plane back to Holley Cay.

Like he was now, remembering the feel of her perfect, bare breast under his palm.

But on her wedding night, taking advantage of her lack of inhibitions had been wrong, just as it would have been yesterday.

“After all of the crap you’ve given me about my past behavior, I would think you’d be proud of my restraint.”

Carla rolled her eyes. “Fine, you kept it in your pants for once. You want a cookie?” He tried to stifle her with a glare, with no effect whatsoever.

“All I’m saying is, it’s obvious you want her. And even though she tries to keep her cool, it’s obvious the feeling is mutual. I don’t see why you’re torturing yourself. Not to mention my torment, having to deal with your perpetual grumpiness.”

“It’s a bad idea, Carla.”

“What’s the big deal? What are you so afraid of?”

“Afraid?” he scoffed. “I’m not afraid of anything,” he said, maybe a shade too vehemently because Carla leaned back in her chair, squinting at him in that way she had.

“You like her, don’t you?” she said finally, eyes gleaming as though she’d discovered some deep dark secret.

“Of course I like her—”

“No, you
really
like her. You’re still mooning after her, just like you were in college.”

“I never—”

She continued, steamrolling over any protests he might have offered. “You had such a crush on her back then. In your e-mails it was always ‘Julie and I did this, Julie and I did that.”

“Yeah, and I was always dating somebody else.”

“You were always
fucking
somebody else,” she corrected. “But Julie was the one you really wanted.” PrivateParty

“We were just friends.”

“I still don’t understand why you never made a move,” Carla said, oblivious to the tension knotting every sinew of his body.

“Drop it,” he said. It came out harsher than he’d meant, but at least she snapped her mouth shut with a surprised lift of her eyebrows.