Summer Spice

by Kris Pearson

  Ollie released her hand. “Made her a good watch-dog. And she’s a selective gossip. She kept Anna and Jason’s secret from the rest of the family to give them some privacy. You and I only need her to stay quiet for a couple of days – then you’re gone and it won’t matter.” He leaned toward her and kissed the side of her face, brushing his lips down the edge of her jaw until he could press them against hers again. “And I really want to see you once you’re settled in your new place,” he added as he pulled away.

  “You taste like pasta sauce and wine,” she said, ignoring his invitation.

  “And you taste like chicken…” he kissed her again. “And coconut, and spicy peanut sauce. And I think you just changed the subject.”

  So he’d seen right through her diversion. Mei smiled ruefully. “We’ll see.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Let’s hope we don’t see Essie in a bikini.” He stood, taking the empty plates and leaving Mei to bring the glasses and the bottle.

  *

  Hell no, she wasn’t getting rid of him that easily. She might be working out of New Zealand a lot, but when she was rostered off he’d be seeing her for sure. He stuffed the disposable plates back into the boxes they’d been packed in. “Present for Essie,” he said as Mei joined him at the counter. “She can put them in her garbage, seeing we’re not exactly set up for the long-term here.”

  He fingered his chin. He’d started growing a beard while he had a few days off, but didn’t want to damage Mei’s gorgeous skin with his bristly stubble. “Is this too tough on you? Only I didn’t bring a shaver. Thought I’d be on my own, and wasn’t expecting to have to be sociable.”

  She reached up and stroked the side of his face. “And now you’ve been asked to a little pool party, and out to dinner tomorrow as well,” she teased, trying to pinch some of his whiskers between two fingers. The hairs were barely long enough. “I liked you clean shaven at Anna’s wedding, but I also like you like this. I don’t seem to have beard burn anywhere too tender.” She gave him a cheeky grin and padded away.

  “Yet!” he called after her.

  “Time I put my swimsuit on,” she tossed over her shoulder. “I’ll grab us a big towel each. I put all the others, and the spare sheets and pillows, into that cupboard at the end of the hallway seeing this is my big dolls’ house for the weekend.”

  Ollie watched her walk away to ‘her’ room at the far end of the house. She was barefoot and wearing only a white T-shirt that kept giving him glimpses of her curvy little butt. Maybe there were tiny panties underneath it, but he couldn’t discern any and he’d been doing his best to. He breathed out a long, low growl of appreciation. She might be keeping her clothes in a separate room from the handful he’d brought with him, but she’d be sharing his bed tonight for sure. And Sunday night.

  Monday… his luck would run out.

  A few minutes later he hauled open the gate in the side fence. He carried a bag with the empty dinner boxes and their second bottle of Shiraz. Pulling some long arching stems of bougainvillea aside with his spare hand, he said, “Watch this stuff, Mei – it has hidden thorns. Don’t snag your shoulders.”

  She squeezed through the gap and he followed.

  “The old men who built this place and our original cottage were good mates,” he added. “Nice that both are still owned by the same families.”

  Mei turned to him, ghostly in the twilight. “Home in China I guess some of my relatives have things that go back a long way, but nothing I know about.”

  He wondered if he should ask, and then did. “You don’t keep in touch?”

  Her jet black ponytail bounced against her pale skin as she shook her head. “So many ‘one child’ families in China. People had to obey that law. Only out in the furthest places sometimes they had more.” She reached up and twisted her ponytail into a bun. “My mother kept in touch with her parents, but they’re long dead now. Her uncles and aunts are dead too, and not many cousins if there’s only one child.”

  He caught up with her and wrapped an arm around her. “I’ll loan you some of mine.”

  “You don’t miss what you never had,” she said, clutching the towel more firmly against her breasts. “I have my brothers and their wives and now their little boys. I have people.”

  And why did that sound so darn lonely to him?

  Music was playing at the back of Essie and George’s house, so they followed Frank Sinatra until they found the oldies chest-deep in bubbling water. Strings of twinkling lights decorated the top of a privacy fence and a couple of tall posts.

  “Welcome to fairyland,” George grouched, casting his eyes up to the lights and scowling.

  “He thinks they’re quite pretty, really,” Essie said, beaming at Ollie.

  “Waste of flaming electricity,” George continued.

  “Are they LEDs?” Ollie reached up to check. “Cost almost nothing to run,” he confirmed, looking across at Essie. “Anyway, this is very kind of you, inviting us over.” He pulled the towel from around his shoulders and dropped it on the timber decking. “Mei and I bought you this,” he added, producing the wine from its bag.

  “Also a little bit of garbage because there’s nowhere for it next door,” Mei said. “Is that okay?” She untucked her big towel and tossed it onto a nearby chair.

  Ollie stood holding the bottle of wine, soaking up the sight of her delicious curves in a strappy silver swimsuit as she stepped down into the spa pool and settled herself between George and Essie.

  “Absolutely fine,” Essie said. “Oliver – before you hop in too, can you get four of those blue striped plastic tumblers from the cupboard above the sink?” She turned to Mei. “I thought they were nasty cheap things when my daughter gave them to me, but the point seemed to be there’s no chance of them smashing if they get dropped out here so I’ve had to revise my opinion.”

  Ollie grinned as he set the bottle down and entered the house. How many times had he escaped to Essie’s kitchen while they’d been holidaying next door in the old cottage? It felt like coming home. He tweaked Sinatra’s volume a little lower before going out to pour the wine and handing the tumblers around. Then he set the part-bottle safely out of the way before he joined the others in the bubbling water.

  “This was your Lotto treat, wasn’t it?” he said, raising his drink to Essie in a toast. “Anna told me you’d had some nice luck.”

  “Not millions, unfortunately,” she said. “But yes, enough for this, and I’d always wanted one, especially as my aches got worse.”

  “Costs a bomb to run,” George said.

  “And there was enough left over for plenty of electricity,” Essie added firmly, shooting George a warning glance.

  Ollie looked across at Mei and winked. “This is just what we needed after all that activity.”

  Mei coughed on her wine and cleared her throat. “We unpacked some really nice furniture,” she said to Essie. “And they’re bringing more on Monday.”

  Essie halted her tumbler part way to her mouth. “Anna thought you’d be going home tomorrow.”

  “Yes, so did we,” Ollie said. “Too much furniture for one truck, apparently. But being able to spend another day at Scarlet Bay is never a bad thing.”

  Mei looked up at the darkening sky. “Hopefully it’ll be good conditions for surfing tomorrow, seeing you missed out today.”

  “Didn’t feel like I missed out on anything at all.” He stretched his arms along the edge of the spa pool and enjoyed the way her gaze shot back to his. Watchful and suspicious, but there was no way he was going to reveal their secret to old Essie. She could certainly be discreet when she wanted to, but she liked knowing everything, and who knew what she might let slip by accident?

  Mei shrugged. “Anna said surfing was what you’d do in your spare time, so don’t let me keep you from it.” She turned to George. “Essie said Kieran was very drunk today?”

  Ollie froze, and he took a sip of wine to stop himself saying anything incriminating.

&
nbsp; George nodded morosely. “Silly young fool. He was upset about something, and too far gone to explain it properly. Possibly for the best?” His blue eyes were surrounded by eighty years’ worth of wrinkles, but their gaze on Mei was keen and intelligent.

  “What time was this?” she asked. “Middle of the afternoon? He sent me a pretty nasty text.”

  “I hope you took no notice of it? He wouldn’t have had a clue what he was saying.”

  She gave a humorless laugh. “It was very short.”

  “And she’s blocked him now,” Ollie said. “He won’t be sending any more of them.”

  “No doubt for the best,” Essie agreed.

  Mei managed a small smile. “I’m going back to the city to live. Kieran didn’t want me to.”

  Ollie cradled his tumbler of wine in both hands. “So she’s hiding out in the new house with me. He doesn’t know she’s there, and that’s the way we want to keep it.”

  Essie and George both nodded. “Our secret, then,” she said. “Anna told me she and Jason are off for a lovely weekend at Ferncroft Lodge.”

  He stretched and then relaxed again. “Yes, but it’s too isolated for Mei to stay out at their place. If Kieran goes looking for her, its best she’s not there.”

  They sat on in companionable silence, listening to the music and the sea and the occasional chirps and squawks of late birds.

  After a while Ollie said to George. “Can I have a dig in your shed tomorrow? There are some bunks to put together and I think I’ll need spanners. I should have brought my whole tool-kit.”

  George turned his head in Ollie’s direction, keen as a terrier sniffing a new scent. “Want a look now?”

  “Tomorrow’s fine. I’ll have to check what size the fittings are.”

  “And it’s far too nice to get out of here for a while yet,” Essie said. “I’m having one of my hip joints replaced any day now, and the warmth is more comforting than the painkilling pills.”

  “She’d spend all day in here if she could,” George agreed.

  The penny dropped for Ollie. “So that’s why you didn’t come across and knock on the door earlier? Are you horribly sore, Ess?”

  She waggled a hand in a so-so gesture. “Good days, bad days. I’m pleased it won’t be for much longer.”

  George sipped his wine. “It’ll be great to have her back in top shape again. I hate seeing her hurting.”

  “Top shape?” Essie asked, penciled eyebrows arching higher. “It’s a while since I was in top shape.”

  He raised his tumbler to her. “Don’t kid yourself, darl. Always been in top shape for me.” He turned to Mei. “Anyway, this is a nice drop.”

  She smiled at his comment to Essie, and then her smile grew even wider. “Something Oliver chose. I think his dad likes it. We already had some with dinner, and I’ll doze off if I drink much more.”

  Ollie soaked up his view of her. A strand of hair from her piled-up bun had unwound itself and now dragged in the water. Her eyelids were drooping. She looked tousled and sleepy and absolutely irresistible. “Stressful day for you,” he said. “Packing, and getting all your clothes out of the house while it was safe. Going into hiding with the wicked Red Baron.”

  He glanced across to where he’d set the bottle aside. “Keep the rest for lunch tomorrow, George. As a thank you for any tools I borrow.”

  “Don’t mind if we do,” George agreed. “You flew up, I presume, if you’re the Red Baron?”

  “Yeah, and now I’m looking after Snoopy.”

  Mei managed an offended “Hah!”

  George set his empty tumbler down. “Speaking of planes, I see they’re finally retiring the Orion fleet. Almost sixty years those old girls have been flying search and rescue missions out into the Pacific.”

  “Which says quite a lot about the skill of the maintenance crews,” Ollie said. “Not that they’re anything like the original machines.”

  George’s dentures gleamed in the fairy lights. “Captain Cook’s axe. Two replacement axe-heads and five new handles along the way.”

  Mei gave a sleepy snort – half laugh and half snore.

  “You dozing off there, Ms Chan?” Ollie asked, giving her foot a nudge under the water.

  “Noooo…”

  “Ten more minutes and I’m taking you home.”

  “Mmmmm…”

  Essie’s eyes twinkled. “What have you done to the poor little thing?”

  Ollie’s mouth quirked. “Worked her into the ground, by the look of things. Still, that much furniture and bedding takes a bit of unwrapping and assembling and arranging. Have you seen inside the new house yet?”

  “Yes, dear – Anna gave me a tour.”

  “Once we get the rest on Monday and deal with it, you can have first look at the finished thing. They’ve chosen lots of blue and gray. ”

  “It’s my big dolls’ house,” Mei murmured. “Really good kitchen.”

  “You’ll be lucky if she lasts another ten minutes,” George said. “Do you want to swap places and prop her up?”

  Ollie stood, and he and George shuffled past each other. Mei barely resisted when Ollie slung an arm around her and tucked her in against his chest.

  “Your hair’s coming undone,” he said, retrieving the trailing piece from the water and attempting to hitch it up to the rest.

  Essie caught his eye. “Nice girl,” she whispered.

  “Known each other a long time,” Ollie murmured back. Essie could make what she liked of that. And probably would.

  *

  Mei took a deep, shuddering breath. She was barely awake, but something smelled wonderful. She pressed herself against the hard, warm support and inhaled again. It pressed back at her. Huh? Her eyes shot wide open. Not much of a view that made any sense. She stretched and drew away. Ollie’s chest came into focus. He was sound asleep, breathing slowly, and she’d been cuddled right up against him, no doubt for hours because she now registered the gray blanket with the white stars sprinkled over it, the big TV screen partly obscuring the window in the wall opposite the bed, and bright daylight intruding around the edges of the rolled-down blind behind that.

  She was in bed with Oliver Wynn. She worried at her bottom lip with her teeth for a few seconds as yesterday’s memories came crashing back. And not just yesterday’s memories but last night’s as well. Sometime in the darkness they’d made love again. At least once, and maybe twice. She sat up a little higher. Two condom wrappers on his bedside table. Okay, twice.

  She turned and looked at the cabinet on her side of the bed. Her little vibrator and her ponytail band and her favorite bottle of moisturizing lotion. Slicking her tongue over her lip where she’d bitten it, she wondered what she’d used the lotion for.

  She sniffed her hands. Maybe.

  She bent and sniffed Ollie’s chest. No.

  She eased the blanket and sheet aside and sniffed her way down his belly to where he sported impressive morning wood. Oh yes, she remembered now.

  She drew the covers up again and settled against him, smiling to herself.

  “Hmm?” he muttered.

  She kissed the piece of chest that was closest. “Did we play games in the night with lotion and my vibrator?”

  “Sheesh!” he exclaimed, lurching up and turning wide eyes on her. “Was that for real? Thought I was dreaming.”

  Her grin grew broader. “You got a lot of jīngzǐ,” she said. “Fun getting it out.”

  Ollie flopped down again and closed his eyes. A warm flush crept up his neck and over his face.

  Surely she hadn’t embarrassed him? Not handsome Oliver Wynn – who had his own plane, and came from a fancy family, and never lost his cool? She wriggled up on her elbow and enjoyed the view.

  Ollie opened one eye and then closed it again.

  “I think you got more now,” she said, sliding her hand from his massive chest to his warm bumpy abs and watching as he scrunched his eyes more tightly shut. She slid a little lower, trailing her nails to and f
ro across his belly, smiling as his lips parted and he dragged in a deep breath. His belly went concave under her hand as his chest rose.

  One finger on the end of his erect cock. He was hot as a furnace. She rubbed, smiling at the little surge of moisture that greeted her. “Full all the way to the top again, Oliver.” Circling her fingertip around and around, she spread it over his taut, satiny skin. “Nicer than my lotion, or not?”

  Finally he opened his eyes, staring at her with huge dark pupils. “Yeah, we’re definitely going to do some more of that.”

  Mei loved the hoarse note in his voice. As though she was testing his control, but she knew Ollie would never lose it the way Kieran had. She kneeled up, pushed the bedcovers the rest of the way off him, and bent and kissed his whiskery jaw before sliding from the bed. “You start the shower. I’ll make coffee. Or you want breakfast first?”

  Ollie looked down at himself. “Pretty obvious what I want. You first. Then breakfast. Then you again.”

  “Good plan,” Mei said, swiping her tongue up his rock-hard cock and skipping off to the bathroom.

  Chapter 11 - Bunks and hunks

  Things got out of order, and their breakfast of juice with muesli and soy milk didn’t happen until mid-morning. Ollie was hungry for nothing but Mei. They sat together at the glossy dining table, sunshine pouring down through the skylights, surf pounding on the shore over the road, and all he could see was her shining cascade of hair, her exotic eyes, and her teasing smile.

  Every part of him fizzed and buzzed. Keeping his hands off her was a major challenge, and he cursed under his breath when someone knocked at the front door and spoiled their privacy. Mei blew him a kiss and scooted back to the bedroom to stay out of sight.

  When he opened the door in his boxers he found George with a selection of spanners clasped in his fist.

  “Any of these what you need?” the old fellow asked, obviously keen to help.

  “I would have come over in a while, George.” He glanced down at his underwear. “We’re running a bit late here.”

  George took a step inside, looking desperate. “Thelma Hughes has turned up. She and Ess’ll be yakking for ages. I made them a cuppa and left them to it.”