by Lily Harlem
Table of Contents
Legal Page
Title Page
Book Description
Trademarks Acknowledgement
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
New Excerpt
About the Author
Publisher Page
Heat of the Day
ISBN # 978-1-78430-951-0
©Copyright Lily Harlem 2015
Cover Art by Posh Gosh ©Copyright December 2015
Edited by Shannon Combs
Pride Publishing
This is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher, Pride Publishing.
Applications should be addressed in the first instance, in writing, to Pride Publishing. Unauthorised or restricted acts in relation to this publication may result in civil proceedings and/or criminal prosecution.
The author and illustrator have asserted their respective rights under the Copyright Designs and Patents Acts 1988 (as amended) to be identified as the author of this book and illustrator of the artwork.
Published in 2015 by Pride Publishing, Newland House, The Point, Weaver Road, Lincoln, LN6 3QN
Pride Publishing is a subsidiary of Totally Entwined Group Limited.
HEAT OF THE DAY
Lily Harlem
When three become two with no explanation, emotions run high, passions flare and hearts are ripped apart.
Everyone can remember a perfect summer—one with endless blue skies, a heart brimming with true love and nights full of hot, sweaty lust. Well, we’ve just had a summer like that, Piper and I, and it was spent in Spain with a man who had that certain je ne sais quoi that we couldn’t resist.
Seraphim came into our lives and blinded us with his beauty, his charisma and his exotic charm. His generosity with his mind, his affection and his body blew us away and the three of us became a joyously tangled trio who needed nothing more than to be together.
So when he left, when we had no way of tracing him, the despair was black, the pain raw and our only comfort was each other. But why did Sera leave? What would make a man walk away from his lovers? And if he showed up again on the doorstep, what the hell would happen after so much angst? One thing’s for sure, it would be an explosive reunion in many ways. Absence might make the heart grow fonder, but it can make the rest of the body highly volatile as need wars with hurt, and pain collides with desire.
Trademarks Acknowledgement
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:
Ferrari: Ferrari S.p.A.
Band-Aid: Johnson & Johnson
The Beach: Twentieth Century Fox
Chapter One
“I miss him.”
Flynn tipped his head and studied Piper. The setting sun, hovering above a watery horizon, had cast orange and lilac shadows on her face, highlighting her pretty features.
“Do you in your heart of hearts think he’ll come back to us?” she asked, hope in her eyes but defeat in her expression.
“I really don’t know.” Flynn’s own heartstrings were being tugged by Sera’s absence, though he was trying to stay strong, for Piper’s sake. But the truth was, Seraphim was part of them both—the wind in their sails, the melody in their ears—and he had been for five glorious summer months. Being down one third of what made them feel whole was like losing a limb. “We’ll just have to wait and see if he returns from Portugal.” He shifted on the rock they were perched on and stared out to sea. His ass was starting to complain about the hard surface.
“Will you play for me tonight?” Piper asked, nodding at Flynn’s guitar leaning against an adjoining rock.
“Of course. What do you want to listen to?”
“Something that makes me think of him. I’m feeling melancholy. Do you mind?”
“No, of course not. Filling my head and ears up with his favorite songs makes me feel like I’ve spent time with him.”
“I know what you mean.” She paused. “It’s good to get on with things, not mope, but sometimes I can’t help it.”
“That’s fine. We miss him. If we didn’t it would mean we hadn’t cared and we did…we still do.”
“A lot.”
“Yes, a lot.” There was so much to miss about Sera, from his long, dark hair that he was fond of twisting into a knot on the back of his head, to his lean, strong body and his intricate half-sleeve tattoo on his right arm. And damn, the guy knew how to use what he had, spectacularly, when things had gotten hot and carnal.
“Shall we head to the caravan?” Flynn said. “I’d rather play there. I’ve got a numb butt sitting here.”
Piper sighed. “Yes, I suppose so, though I hate that my day off is nearly over.”
Flynn wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. He set a kiss on her head, enjoying the smell of her sweet hair and the way it tickled his face. “But at least we’ve had a day off together this week, and besides…” He lowered his voice. “It’s not over yet. There’s still more time to have fun.”
Piper looked up at him and a smile tugged her mouth. “Yes, you’re right.” She placed a firm kiss on his lips—a kiss that said she loved him, wanted him, needed him.
Flynn held her a little closer. Their lovemaking had been all the more intense since Sera had left. As though their need to cling to each other, what remained, was all the more important now they were a twosome again and not a threesome.
A small shiver went through her body.
“You okay?” Flynn asked.
“Yes.” She pulled back and reached for her thin sweater. “Just cold now the sun has almost gone.”
“Come on. Let’s get you warmed up.” He stood, held out his hand and helped her stand from the rocky outcrop where they’d enjoyed an evening picnic.
Piper slipped the sweater over her head and pushed her arms through the material.
Flynn was always amazed how good she looked in everything she wore. Piper wasn’t one to spend her meager bartender wages on designer goods. Her clothes were cheap and cheerful, many of them cast-offs, but still, she looked hot, sexy and stylish in them all. Her tall, long-boned frame helped, as did her sun-kissed wavy blonde hair that hung down her back, but still, she rocked the beach-chick look effortlessly. Something not many girls from the East End of London could do.
If only he could make that one thing right for her again. What he’d do to see that smile. That I’m-satisfied, I’m-complete smile, one more time. But for that to happen he’d have to find Sera.
It would also make things right for him—there was no denying that.
He grabbed his guitar and settled the strap over his chest so it hung on his back. Piper linked her arm through his and they headed down to the waves, their bare feet sinking in the soft sand.
“Maybe we should go,” she said suddenly.
“We are.” The sand underfoot grew hard and cool.
“No, not like this, not just back to the caravan. I mean away from here. Go.” She gestured at the Mediterranean Sea. “Maybe that’s us done with Spain now, Flynn. We’ve been here since April. Working at El Ultimo Guingueta is getting old.”
“But I thought you liked it, and Jose said he’s going to be open in the winter months. That’s the beauty of this part of Costa del Sol, it’s year-round. We can stay and—”
“And what? Wait and see if he comes ba
ck?”
Flynn hesitated. That was exactly what he’d meant.
“But how long do we wait?” Piper went on. “He said he was going to see his parents a month ago. We haven’t heard anything from him since, his phone isn’t working and we have no address for him.” She sighed and squeezed his arm. “Sometimes I think we imagined him. That he was just a beautiful vision, an angel who breezed into our lives and bound us together when we needed him most.”
“That’s very poetic. That second cerveza in the sun is getting to you.” Flynn chuckled.
“You know I can drink plenty of cerveza in the sunshine, and that was hours ago. I just mean…” She hesitated. “We came out to Marbella to inject some excitement into our lives, do something that was just for us. Be somewhere everyone didn’t know our name and have new exotic adventures away from London.”
“I’d say Sera was a definite adventure.” Flynn blew out a breath. He’d never been with a guy before, but when enigmatic Sera had swept them both off their feet and into his bed, everything Flynn had thought he’d known about himself had been turned upside down. Sure, he’d had a crush on the captain of the local cricket team—which he’d kept to himself—had even had a drunken snog in a Soho club with a cute bloke who looked like Liam Hemsworth. But actually shag, fuck, go for it, and with Piper too—at the same time—he hadn’t done that before. No bloody way.
Jesus, it was every fantasy he could ever imagine rolled into one. While it had lasted, he’d thought he was in heaven. What could be better than sun, sea and sex with not one but two beautiful people he loved with all his heart?
Though of course nothing lasts forever.
“So what do you think?” Piper asked, splashing her feet through the shallowest section of the waves.
“About what?”
She tutted. “What I just said. About going to Thailand.”
“Thailand?” He stopped.
“Yes. Who says we have to stay here? We’re casual labor. We could be heading to Asia this time next week.” She placed her hands on his shoulders then slipped them around his neck, locking her fingers together. “Phuket, Krabi, anywhere you want. Maybe even have a day or two in Bangkok. There’s hostels there, we could do it cheap and see the sights.”
“But…?”
She brushed her lips over his. “But nothing.”
“But what if he comes back and we’re not here?” The thought made Flynn panic. Sure he was angry with Sera for the lack of contact, but that didn’t mean he wanted to be out of reach entirely.
Her eyes fluttered shut and she blew out a breath. “We’ll just leave a forwarding address.”
“We won’t have one to leave. It doesn’t work like that, you know it as well as I do.”
“Then we’ll call Jose once we’re there and we’ve found work. Ask him to pass it on to Sera if he ever sees him again.”
“Which you don’t think he will.”
She shrugged and glanced out to sea. “I don’t want to think that, but we have to face facts.”
“I know.” Flynn sighed and pulled her close, tucking her head under his chin and pressing his cheek to her temple. “How about we give it another week? If we don’t hear anything by then we’ll hand in our notice and head out of here.”
“Yes, that way he’s got another two weeks to get in touch with us, or, you know, just come back.”
Blimey, if he simply turned up out of the blue, Flynn wouldn’t know whether to hug him or thump him. The silence had been so painful, so acute. It had tailed them every minute of every day and dominated all their conversations. How could he have done this to them?
“We need a plan.” She looked up at him. “This hanging about, waiting and wondering, it’s not doing us any good. We have to protect us, Flynn. We have to remember what it was like when we were a couple. We were happy, in love—”
“We’re still in love.” His voice was firm.
She smiled. “I know.”
“But I get what you mean. And we will go. It will be fine. Perhaps he was only meant to be a summer romance.”
“A bit of fun.”
“A lot of fun.”
“Wicked, sexy fun.”
She laughed. A lovely tinkling sound that mixed with the noise of the waves and made his heart lighter. They’d be okay, he was sure of it. What they had was unbreakable. They were as sure as the tide, as steady as the sun and as solid as the rocks.
“So what do you say we get going and you play me that song?” she said. “Like the old days when I came back from college knackered and you sang while I soaked in the bath.”
“I can do more than that. I can make your body sing to my tune. I’ve been doing that for a long time.”
“Yes, you have.” Again she laughed, higher pitched this time and with a sexy glint in her blue eyes. It was a sound he adored and knew full well Sera adored it too. Whenever she’d giggled, laughed, responded to a well-aimed touch, Sera had always gotten a dreamy look, one that said he worshipped her, adored her, wanted her for all of time.
But now…?
Flynn shook his head. There was no point thinking that. He’d shared her, willingly, happily, in a way he’d never thought he would, but that was in the past. The sooner they accepted a summer fling for what it was and moved on the better. They’d have to chalk up Sera as a small part of their grand round-the-world adventure.
Though it could have been so much more…it could have been…
He slid his hands down Piper’s back and squeezed her ass, just a little, enjoying the feel of her buttocks in the tight little denim shorts she wore the majority of the time. They showed off her long tanned legs spectacularly and other men’s gazes often wandered, yet only he and Sera had the pleasure of having them wrapped around their waists, their chests, their necks— Damn that had been hot.
Flynn felt himself harden. Thoughts of getting naked and down and dirty flooded his mind. Living together during the summer had been so much fun after years of juggling alone time between their parents’ houses.
“How many songs do you want me to play?” he asked, pressing his groin into Piper.
She grinned knowingly. “A few, I’m not that easy.”
“There’s nothing easy about you, babe. You’ve kept me on my toes since we were sixteen.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” She smirked and untangled herself from him, set off walking on the shoreline again. “After eight years you should be good at balancing.”
Flynn took several quick paces to catch up, securing the guitar when it shifted. “I like the idea of Thailand now that you’ve mentioned it. It will be like that film The Beach.”
“I love that movie.” She pushed her hair over her shoulders and the warm breeze caught several strands. “It will be different to here. No fried breakfasts, beer bellies or Ferraris cruising around Puerto Banus.”
“Palm trees, scuba diving, coconut curry and turtles on the sand.”
“Mmm, perfect. We’ll have fun.”
“Yes, Sera would love it too.”
“Stop it.” She kicked an incoming wave, sending spray arcing in front of her. “There’s no point thinking that. He won’t come with us.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.”
“And we have a plan of action to work toward. We’re not floundering any more, carrying on aimlessly.”
“Yes. A long-term plan.” He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. “And an immediate one.” He swept his lips over her hair.
She relaxed against him, her body heat warming him now the sun had gone and the air was becoming damp with sea mist.
“I do love our little home, though.” She gestured to the holiday park that rented several caravans to bar staff at a discount. It was a convenient walk—no car required—and minimal utility bills. “Better than any backstreet terrace.”
“I wonder what we’ll get in Thailand.”
“A mud hut.”
“Straw roof?” he asked.
“Yep,
it will be awesome.”
“It will be, because we’ll be together.” He spoke with feeling. Everything would be all right as long as they were together.
Eventually they wandered up the wooden steps to their two-bedroom mobile home. They’d never slept in the second bedroom, it was just used for storage, but it meant the living area was clear for lounging. Plus they had a nice bit of decking with a BBQ that had been well used during the summer.
Flynn flung open a few windows to let the heat of the day out then pulled the guitar from his back.
Piper switched on the shower then proceeded to strip off her clothes.
He sat and watched, absently tuning and strumming, admiring the sway of her breasts and the way her limbs moved like fluid. Even hot and tired she was the sexiest woman he’d ever seen.
“Play while I shower,” she said, curling her hair onto the top of her head and securing it with a pin.
“Anything you wish, my lady.”
She disappeared into the small bathroom.
Flynn listened as the sound of the water became interrupted by her body then he started a lilting melody he knew she adored. The music flowed from his fingertips, the words rolled from his mouth in one long sound. His breathing steadied and his bones relaxed within his skin.
The song was about happy times. Lovers who’d smiled then left. How goodbye was the hardest word.
Halfway through he stopped. A knot of determination twisted his gut. He had to snap out of this and be thankful for the love he had. The woman who made his life the one he wanted to live.
He set down his guitar then quickly shucked off his shorts. He stood in the tiny bathroom and watched Piper holding her face to the stream of water. Her hair was flattened and hung like a long, thin snake down her back. Her breasts jutted upward and her small strip of pubic hair was pressed to her flesh.
He pulled off his T-shirt.
His cock was hard, his heart beating fast. It was time to say goodbye to Sera, for today at least, and claim his woman.
He squeezed into the shower cubicle and circled her with his arms.
“Flynn,” she said, tensing a little. “I was listening to that. Why’d you stop?”
