[4 Seasons 01] Seducing Summer

by Serenity Woods

  He knew he was being rude. He’d just made passionate love to possibly the most beautiful girl—both inside and out—that he’d ever met, and since he’d come, he’d done the equivalent of rolling over and going to sleep. She didn’t deserve that.

  The mattress lifted beside him, and he felt Callie roll off and heard her pad over to the bathroom. The door closed.

  He lowered his arm and stared up at the ceiling, then got to his feet and walked over to the window. The vineyard rolled away from him in stripes of silver and black. Far above, the Milky Way looked like spilled milk across the glittering sky.

  Leaning on the window, he rested his head on his forearm. You fucking idiot. Getting involved with a client was number one on the personal protection officer’s What Not To Do list. Being a bodyguard was about solid concentration, about not getting distracted, and the worst thing he could have done was give in to his lust. He despised himself for being so weak. Not only was he risking Callie’s safety, but she deserved so much more than a one-night stand, especially considering what she’d been through with her ex. It didn’t matter that he hoped to date her once Kirk was caught. He’d deceived her by not telling her the truth about his true reason for being there. Once she learned that, she might not want to see him, and by seducing her, he’d only served to confuse things more.

  No doubt she thought it was her fault for flirting with him. She wouldn’t understand that even though he’d expressed his desire to wait, he’d seduced her nevertheless, by having dinner with her, drinking wine with her, and buying the fucking rose. Why the hell had he done that? How was that maintaining a business relationship? It was entirely his fault, and now he could only blame himself if everything went tits up.

  The bathroom door opened behind him. He pushed off the window and turned to see Callie exiting the room. She looked at the bed first, stopped as she saw it empty, sighed as she presumably thought he’d left, then inhaled sharply when she saw him standing by the window.

  “I thought you’d gone,” she said.

  “I wouldn’t do that,” he replied softly.

  She walked forward to stand by the window. The moonlight slanted across her. Her golden hair became a sheet of silver, her body like a marble statue of a Greek goddess. She crossed her arms over her breasts, telling him she felt uncomfortable with him because of what he’d done.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. He stepped close, wrapped his arms around her, and turned his back to the window, not liking her being exposed to anyone lurking in the shadows. Bit fucking late for that, he thought, but all he could do now was thank his lucky stars that she was safe, and make sure he protected her better in the future.

  She stayed stiff in his arms, although she rested her forehead on his shoulder. “Don’t be angry with me,” she whispered.

  “With you? Honey, I’m angry with myself, not with you. I could never be angry with you.” He kissed her hair, stroking her back.

  “I thought you resented me coming on to you.”

  “No.” He closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of her silky skin beneath his fingertips. “Of course not. I’m flattered. I’m cross with myself because it’s unprofessional to become involved with you. I told myself that many times, but I suppose it says something about how attracted I am to you that I couldn’t keep away.”

  She placed her hands on his chest and pushed back to look up at him. Her face was dry, and her eyes held a touch of rebellion. “Don’t regret this,” she said. “It’s the best thing that’s happened to me for months.”

  “I won’t,” he said, although he did, because he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d jeopardized his chance of a future with her. “But it can’t happen again, Callie.”

  “I know.” Her eyes looked like the night sky, the pupils encompassing almost all of the irises. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Was she just saying what she wanted him to hear? Or did she truly believe that? Something twisted inside him. What a hopeless situation.

  He touched her cheek, and when she didn’t pull away, he kissed her, long and lingering. Her lips were dry and soft beneath his. She remained passive, letting him kiss her, but not returning it, with no sign of the passion that had been evident while they’d been making love, which had been better than he’d fantasized, and he had a pretty good imagination. The memory of plunging into her warm, wet body was making him hard again, and he didn’t want her to be aware of that, so he moved back reluctantly. “I’d better go to my own room.”

  “Okay.”

  He released her and slipped his shirt and then his waistcoat on, and shoved his feet back in his shoes. Finally, he collected his phone and wallet.

  When he turned back to her, he saw that she’d pulled on the sweatshirt he’d loaned to her in Christchurch. “It’s cozy,” she protested when he raised an eyebrow. “I’ll give it back to you when we get to Wellington.”

  “Keep it. It looks better on you than it does on me.” There was something sexy about a woman in a man’s clothes.

  She accompanied him to the door and held it open for him. He hesitated in the doorway. “Thank you,” he said. He was grateful not just because she’d given herself to him, but because she hadn’t argued when he’d tried to explain why he was angry. That boded well for the future, he thought.

  She rested her head on the doorjamb. “See you for breakfast?”

  “Of course.” He scratched the back of his neck. “I know I have no right to ask a favor of you, but can you not tell Neve about what happened tonight?”

  She blinked, her eyes inscrutable. “I won’t be telling anyone, Gene.” She pushed off the doorjamb. “Sleep well.”

  “’Night.”

  The door closed.

  *

  The next morning, as he sipped his coffee at the breakfast table, Gene glanced at Callie’s face and thought that she looked as if she’d had even less sleep than he’d had. Her usually flawless complexion bore a dark smudge beneath each eye.

  He was relieved that she’d smiled at him as they’d walked into the restaurant, but he noticed that she only ordered a bowl of muesli, and now she was stirring the oats and fruit with her spoon while she read from her iPad, unusually quiet compared to the bright chatter she usually exhibited.

  “So, off to Nelson today,” he said.

  “Yes. The final city on our whistle-stop tour.” She ate a strawberry, and Gene found himself watching her lips move as she chewed, his body tightening when her tongue peeked out to catch a drop of milk from her lip.

  He lowered his gaze and concentrated on his bagel. “Three appointments there, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, that’s right. All in the afternoon.”

  They were as polite as strangers. Nobody listening would have guessed that the night before they’d done the most intimate thing two people could do together, naked in the heat and the dark.

  Well, what had he expected? Had he thought she wouldn’t be affected by his attitude and the way he’d acted?

  I won’t be telling anyone, Gene. Was she ashamed of what they’d done? Did she wish it hadn’t happened? And yet she’d also said, Don’t regret this… It’s the best thing that’s happened to me for months. Maybe she just wanted to keep it private. He hoped she wouldn’t tell Neve anyway. He knew girlfriends often confided in each other, but he didn’t want the feisty Neve telling Phoebe he’d let them both down.

  He pushed away his plate, the bagel half-eaten, and Callie did the same, fruit and oats still swimming in the milk.

  “Shall we go?” she said.

  He nodded, and they left to retrieve their cases.

  As he took the road west out of Blenheim, he wondered what he could say to make things better, but he couldn’t think of anything. He’d been so stupid. He didn’t know which part of his actions was worse—sleeping with someone he’d promised to protect, or rejecting her once he’d done so.

  There was no point in apologizing again—he was sure that would only irritate or annoy her. He couldn’t say that h
is declaration that it couldn’t happen again was wrong, because he had to distance himself from her now and remain professional. Telling her how wonderful it had been to take her to bed would be rubbing salt into what was obviously a sore wound. So what was there to say?

  Still, his heart ached as the fields and vineyards disappeared in his rearview mirror and the countryside became wild and mountainous. The road wound up thickly forested hillsides and down into valleys that glistened with deep green rivers.

  Gene would have liked to have discussed the views, but something in Callie’s reserved manner made him keep his mouth shut. They stopped at a place called the Crab Pot Café for lunch, but in spite of the glorious food, neither of them ate much, and it wasn’t long before they were on the road again.

  Callie remained quiet, and in the end Gene put on some classical music and just drove, leaving her to her own thoughts and cursing his idiocy all the way. Although it was a winding road, it wasn’t long before the road dipped and turned toward the coast, and suddenly there was Tasman Bay before them, sparkling a gorgeous blue in the summer sun.

  “Oh,” Callie said, the first word she’d uttered for about thirty minutes.

  “Beautiful, isn’t it?” He couldn’t help but comment, desperate to get her talking to him again.

  “It is. I love Nelson. I could easily live here.” She sat up straighter in her seat, peering past him to look at the sea. It couldn’t have been a more beautiful day. “The sun always seems to shine here.”

  “You’re right. It has its own little micro-climate, and it’s the sunniest place in New Zealand. We’re staying in a villa near Tahunanui Beach, if you’d like to have a walk along the sands later.” He tried to keep a pleading note out of his voice, but he wasn’t sure he’d succeeded.

  She nibbled her bottom lip. “I don’t feel we did lunch justice, either. Maybe we should go to a seafood restaurant tonight.”

  He glanced across at her. Her eyes were guarded, but hopeful. Maybe she was eager for the atmosphere between them to improve as much as he was. They’d come to enjoy a relaxed camaraderie that he hoped she was missing too.

  “I’d love that,” he said. “A huge bowl of green-lipped mussels swimming in white wine and cream with garlic bread.”

  “Oh… now you’re talking.” Her eyelids fluttered dreamily, not unlike the way they had when she’d come.

  Gene stifled a sigh. Best not to let his mind wander down memory lane again. He could think about that moment forever and never get bored.

  He navigated the busy roads to the middle of the city and parked, and they spent the next few hours finishing off the South Island appointments. Callie was in good spirits by the time she finished. Again, two of the stores agreed outright to stock the Four Seasons brand, and the manager of the third hinted the answer might be yes once she’d checked with her head office.

  Gene drove them to the villa, which turned out to be a cream-colored colonial-style building with a white portico and a picket fence surrounding neat gardens, only a short walk from the beach.

  “Walk first or dinner?” Gene asked. “It’s nearly six o’clock.”

  “Ooh, dinner. I’m starving.”

  So they walked a short distance to a seafood restaurant that jutted out into the ocean, and sat at a table by the window, looking down at where the sea lapped at the legs of the pier and the dark shapes of fish slithered beneath the surface.

  Callie’s reserved mood seemed to have passed, and they spent a long while dipping into a huge bowl of mussels, soaking up the liquid with bread, and then finishing off with strong coffee while they talked.

  She appeared to have forgiven him for the way he’d acted, and she seemed keen to move on, keeping him talking by asking lots of questions about his interests, steering clear of the Army and anything else he supposed she thought might upset him. She was a talented conversationalist, putting him at ease, and he began to see why she was obviously doing so well with her business, winning her customers over with her sheer charm.

  Gene knew he should have been delighted. They were getting on again, and it looked as if the faux pas he’d been responsible for hadn’t prompted her to end their business relationship, which meant he didn’t have to tell Phoebe or Neve or anyone else that he’d screwed up. He’d spoken to Kev that morning, and Kev had said everything was still quiet, and the STG had reassured him they were hours from finding Kirk. Everything was going well.

  So why did he feel so terribly forlorn? He wanted to slap himself around the face. He was like a moon-sick calf, staring at Callie longingly the way a person on a diet might gaze in the window of a chocolate shop. He wanted her, and although he’d thought having her might sate his hunger, all it had done was give him a taste of her, and he wanted to taste her again.

  After finishing the last drop of her coffee, Callie replaced the cup in the saucer. “Well, shall we take that walk along the beach?”

  “Yes, sure. It’s a lovely evening.”

  It was the understatement of the year, he thought as they left the restaurant and took the steps down to the sand. The sun was sinking toward the horizon, but it was warm enough to combat the sea breeze. The golden sand stretched away as far as the eye could see, and the ocean sparkled blue. The sky looked like a Turner watercolor, all blues and oranges and purples. But it was the woman by his side who held all his attention.

  For once, Gene had forgone his suit, relaxing a little now he knew the STG were onto Kirk, and he wore jeans and a short-sleeved blue shirt, open at the neck, smart and yet relaxed, too. Callie had also changed from her business clothes into a long sundress that brushed her feet, the tie-dyed purple and orange color a mirror image of the sunset. She looked beautiful enough to make his heart ache, and her curves made his hands itch to touch them.

  For God’s sake, he scolded himself as they bent to remove their shoes and let the cool sand sink between their toes. He couldn’t make the mistake of giving in to his lust again. He had to remain strong and fight his hormones.

  He watched the breeze lift her blonde hair off her neck and imagined placing his lips there, and felt a sweeping sense of despair. He was pathetic. Hopeless. So, so weak. Because he wanted her, and his desire for her was so strong he knew he couldn’t fight it.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Callie bent to pick up a piece of shell, straightened, and turned it over in her hands. It was paua, the outside a dull stone color, the inside a beautiful blend of shining blue and turquoise. For some inexplicable reason, it made her feel happy.

  She welcomed the emotion, because she’d woken up feeling very flat and not at all her usual self. She’d scolded herself for it all morning, both during breakfast and on the trip to Nelson. What had she expected, for crying out loud? That Gene would declare his love for her and get down on bended knee? They’d had sex. It was purely a physical thing and hadn’t involved their feelings at all. And it had been great. They’d been carried away by lust, as if they’d placed a pan of water on the stove to boil, and now they’d removed it from the heat, things would simmer down and then return to normal.

  The problem was that things weren’t simmering down. She couldn’t shake images of last night from her mind. They paraded repeatedly through her brain as if they were suitcases on an airport conveyor belt that someone had forgotten, going around and around. And not just images, but sensations… the memory of his lips on hers, his tongue sliding into her mouth, the smell of his aftershave, the way he’d picked her up and carried her to the bed so he could thrust deeper and carry her away to ecstasy.

  Sex with Jamie had been good, and she couldn’t complain about any of the partners she’d had before him, but there had been something about the intensity of sex with Gene that had been different. Her previous relationships had led gradually to the bedroom, sometimes after months of dating. She’d never felt such dark desire, such an intense need to possess a person, and to be possessed in return. It had shocked her, and she didn’t know what to make of that shock.


  She’d tried to reason with herself that it didn’t mean anything. Traveling with him had led to a false intimacy between them, like when actors worked with makeup staff on a movie set. They didn’t really have anything in common, and no doubt when Becky returned and he left to continue with whatever he ended up doing, they’d never see each other again.

  She felt as if every relationship she’d experienced in the past had been childlike compared to last night’s, even the one with Jamie. Although she knew she was being ridiculous, she felt like a little girl who’d been playing at having boyfriends, as if she’d understood nothing about men and sex until this moment. She’d grown up thinking that sex should only be an expression of love between two people, and although she would never have said so, she hadn’t understood when some of her friends had indulged in one-night stands, not understanding why someone would desire sex without the comfort of a steady relationship.

  She hadn’t understood the pull of desire, and the sheer craving for someone that could overwhelm everything.

  But even though she told herself it meant nothing, and she had to be grown up about this, and she couldn’t press Gene for more because he’d made his feelings clear, her heart wanted more, and that was what made her sad.

  So she welcomed the small flutter of happiness as she turned over the shell, and she looked up at Gene with a smile.

  The look on his face made her catch her breath and inhale sharply. “What?”

  He shook his head, apparently speechless, and then before she could say or do anything else, his arms were around her, his lips were on hers, and he was kissing the living daylights out of her.

  Callie gave a muffled exclamation, but he didn’t release her, and in the end she went limp in his arms. Closing her eyes, she gave in to the embrace and just accepted the kiss, opening up her senses and making the most of him while she had him.

  The warm water washed over her feet, and as she curled her toes, they sank into the cool sand. The smell of the salty sea mingled with the aroma from a barbecue someone was having further along the beach, the smells of summer, bringing with them a lightening of her heart and a curve to her lips.