“Mmm…” Her sleepy response accompanied a directed wiggle.
“Not sure I can ignore that.”
“Then don’t.”
***
Aela woke up before Nairn, just short of the six a.m. alarm chirp. There was no doubt at all in her mind now that she wanted to be with this incredible man on whatever terms he was willing to make, for as long as he wanted her. She denied it no longer. She loved him. Had for weeks; probably right from the very first stolen kiss. Or maybe even earlier.
Nairn snored a little whiff into her neck as she detached herself and slipped out of bed. She was showering when she heard him call out he was going up to his own room and would be ready to head out in fifteen minutes. Her tuneless whistling filled the shower cabinet as she rinsed the suds from her hair, thinking of the huge bed in the master bedroom suite and the fabulous shower stall, big enough for two.
A girl could dream.
Fifteen minutes later her suitcase was packed with a combination of business gear and casual items from her neglected backpack.
The burr of her cell phone stirred her from her introspection. Nairn. “I need you.”
A grin broke free seeing the brief text message. Was he luring her up to his lair? Or was it just that sneaky little clause again? Didn’t matter. He needed her. Didn’t just want her – he needed her. Such a small change of word, but she put a wealth of meaning into it.
Clothes were strewn all over the bed, again, items he’d yanked from his dressing room rails, but packing them into his case had still proved a setback. Avoiding his straying fingers and lips she packed for him, telling him to behave.
“Heaven’s above! Why am I such a workaholic? Why don’t we just stay at home?”
“You’re paying me to help you be one, Nairn Malcolm, so keep your clever fingers to yourself, and let me get us out of here.”
Her laughs and smiles he reciprocated, but groaned at her bossiness as she swept up the case and made for the door. He caught her before she got very far. “You’re a torture, woman. Why did I pick such a competent assistant? You should just agree with me and let me have my evil way with you.”
Aela let his kiss deepen till she herself could stand it no longer, easing herself away and urging him to move on. “You’re the one who made the decision about this trip. I’m going to do my bit now, sir, and get you there on time.” She gently pushed him into the spanking new lift, softening her jokey chastising by dangling a neat little carrot. “Get your butt in there and keep your pants zipped. For the time being behave, and if you’re a good boss man, I’ll maybe give you a kiss tonight.”
“Tonight?” Nairn’s grimace told her what he thought about her plan before he snatched another kiss in the few seconds it took for the lift to descend. “You’re a witch. Tonight is far too long away.”
They were down to Glasgow and then on to London in good time for their long haul jet, piloted by Nairn’s charter service. The connecting flights had been text-book easy so it wasn’t too arduous for her to launch straight into the arrangements for the coming business.
Any brushing of hands or eye contact wasn’t inadvertent at all. It warmed her thoroughly for she craved even that small measure of contact. Sometimes it was more. Nairn couldn’t seem to stop himself from taking lingering kisses in between explaining the details.
“Romala Hotels are building new complexes all over the Caribbean and doing corporate image refurbishing in most of the existing ones they’ve gathered into their portfolio. They’d heard about the package I put together for the first Malaysian deal, liked what I’d done, and since they’re looking for something similar their agent contacted me to suggest I put in this bid. It’s a tight schedule for you to learn it all, but here’s how we’re going to do it…”
As Nairn continued she beamed at his use of “we”. A figure of speech, but it bonded them even more as they worked on the presentation. His fingers often lingered on hers as he passed some documentation for her to scan. Or his eyes would seek her out and loiter when a question occurred. Or when she needed clarification on some particular point she, in turn, really just wanted to watch his lips explain it further.
“Go and lie down, Aela,” Nairn cajoled when she felt her head droop for the third time. He was taking a call from Lanera and she was ostensibly ready to take any notes. “There’s nothing I can’t manage myself here.”
It wasn’t a curt dismissal: his smile was concerned about her welfare. Caving in she lay down on the neat little aeroplane bed.
The feel of Nairn’s lips on her brow stirred her, her eyes fluttering open. So comfortable, pillowed in the crook of his good arm. When he’d joined her wasn’t important; he was wrapped around her and that was all that mattered. Nairn’s silent gaze warmed and rippled all the way through her; it spoke of fast and furious sex in the future but not right that moment. She let herself drift again knowing her smile was happy; more than a little bit smug.
It was a short hop from the airport on St.Vincent to a nearby island, since she had booked them into the same hotel where the meeting was being held.
She was itching to have her fingers on the controls of the small plane. A little way below them the Caribbean glistened, the water taking on darker hues of blues and deep greys as dusk descended. The setting sun, almost vanished for the day, cast a strip of golden flame across the lightly rippling waves and a few ethereal cirrus clouds hovered alongside the blazing orb, their edges backlit with white-hot fire. A deep excitement built as Nairn’s thumb caressed lazy circles on her sensitive lifelines.
Their hotel complex was even more stunning than it had looked in the internet advertising, each villa having its own discreet butler service. She gulped at the decadence of their stone-built villa: the outside dining gazebo itself a fabulous structure. She hadn’t realized just how much of a romantic getaway it was.
When the beaming porter introduced the accommodation, it wasn’t quite what she thought she’d reserved. There was only one bedroom with a super king-size bed and a convertible couch in the living area. Although they’d shared a bed the night before, and on the airplane, she didn’t feel comfortable. No way did she want Nairn to think she’d set it up.
Nairn ushered the porter to the door, pressing a large tip into the man’s hand, stating they’d need no further butler service at present.
“Aela, it’s perfect.” Nairn avowed when the porter’s back retreated from view.
Quite a while later, his grin was as wide as it was exhausted. “You are the absolute best general factotum that I’ve ever had. You must have practised a lot.”
“Twice.”
“Only twice? I don’t believe you.”
A languorous Aela nudged his good arm. “Not literally twice, but I’ve only had a couple of lovers over the years.”
“How come so few? You’re so beautiful I can’t believe lots of men haven’t tempted you into the sack.” His lips pecked at her neck.
“Oh, plenty tempted me, but Jed scared them off. Guess I chose badly, since the ones I had sex with were only interested in getting to home base with no detours, and weren’t interested in the cheerleader getting a thrill.” She laughed at the memories.
Nairn’s fingers stiffened against hers.
“Jed?”
“My cousin, Jed.” She was miffed he’d not been listening the night they’d made the sail back to Lanera since she was sure she’d spoken about Jed quite a lot.
Nairn seemed confused. “Jed’s your cousin? The one you grew up with?”
She nodded back wondering what had led to the misunderstanding. “Yes, my Uncle Harris is Jed’s dad. I told you.”
Nairn captured her lips in an addictive kiss before he eventually broke off, a grin emphasizing his relief. “No, actually you just kept referring to your cousin. You never named him Jed.”
“Well, in a nutshell, Jed’s my protective cousin who’s only a year older than me. He takes the family thing too seriously, was the older brother I never had, sc
aring off wannabe adventurers he didn’t like the look of. I wasn’t too bothered since all through my teens I was happy being a tomboy. I wasn’t pushing for a relationship with anyone.”
“Aela!” Nairn gurgled, “Never in a million years could you be a tomboy!”
“I’ll have you know I was a very successful tomboy. I told you I didn’t do girly stuff with females. I grew up so tall, I wasn’t like them anyway. I was always mooching around the hangars. My mates, all boys of course, and I went around like a pack of jackals feeding on the older pilots and maintenance crew. Their knowledge was our quarry. They fed us well with know how till it was time for us to be trained up ourselves, when we were old enough.”
“Okay, I believe you about that.” Nairn’s expression still didn’t look too convinced about the rest.
“The guys made passes, but they knew I meant business when I rejected their overtures.” Her laugh in his ear was a full blown guffaw as she deliberately held eye contact with him. “Jed taught me well, so you’d better watch out, Nairn Malcolm.”
“You’d assault me?” His teasing query raised her eyebrows.
“I wouldn’t kick a lame man when he’s down…”
She didn’t get to finish as his fingers tickled her ribs and set her squirming.
“Your pathetic story, woman. I really want to hear it.”
“Okay, Okay. I was almost twenty before I launched myself onto the sex scene. I was tired of being the only virgin student around. I guess I felt it was time.”
Nairn’s grip tightened protectively around her. “It should only be time if it’s what pushes your buttons.”
“Yeah, well. In retrospect you’re so damn right. My buttons weren’t pushed in the slightest.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Just short of noon, they headed to the lunchtime venue, Aela compensating for Nairn’s plaster-cradle and walking like a three-legged race.
“Whoa! Did you see that woman?”
Nairn stopped at an intersection of pathways and whipped around so quickly her laptop case slipped from her grip. She hadn’t a clue who he was talking about since there were plenty of scantily clad women around to claim his attention.
“The redhead skipping along there.” Nairn pointed along a pathway to the side of them.
“No, I didn’t see her, sir. I was far too busy supporting you.”
She gave a playful punch at his good arm, but he was still staring at the pathway the woman had taken. Slipping from his hold, she stood right in front of him. “Nairn? Are you chasing another skirt already?”
Nairn came out of his reverie, his full focus on her. “Don’t be daft, woman. I’m never ever going to get enough of you.” He kissed her lingeringly then clutched her hand and shook his head as though to clear his thoughts. “It was nothing like that at all.”
She forced full eye contact with a still mystified Nairn. “So, what then?”
“It looked like Stella Grainger.”
“Stella? Assistant Manager of Adrenalinn Adventuring?”
Nairn nodded.
“Why on earth would she be here?” she queried, and then shushed his muttering. “The woman must just remind you of Stella.”
“I hope to God it’s true, Aela. Although you’ve yet to meet Stella, I regret ever employing her. The woman’s a menace.”
“A menace?” She was shocked since he usually had only good things to say about his workforce.
Nairn scraped back the hair from his brow and cursed. Loud enough to cause a flutter of birds to rise from the nearest tree and an older woman nearby to give him a non-verbal glaring reprimand. “Let’s just say she came on to me almost from the first meeting after she was hired on. I made it clear at the time I wasn’t interested in dating her, but the woman’s a piranha. Every time she had to update me, she’d slink into my office and try some more.”
Her giggle made him frown.
“You don’t believe me?”
“I truly believe you. How could she not want to seduce you? You’re a gorgeous man. That’s what Robin Ellesmere was alluding to?”
He swatted her backside to move her on along the pathway. “Yep. On a business trip to some sites in Northern Europe, she claimed her room had been double-booked and she’d need to share my suite, even though she knew the second room was already occupied by Brian.”
Her smile was fit to break her jaw. “She never did. So unbelievable.” A little niggle told her she’d done something similar with their present booking, but it was convenient to ignore it.
“Don’t I know it? The stupid woman was miffed when I rebuffed her for the umpteenth time. Brian thought it the most hilarious thing ever.” Nairn was exasperated even telling her the story.
“What happened then?” She could only imagine how awkward the trip had been.
“I got her a room in another hotel and only met up with her when strictly necessary. You can imagine how that went down like a gas-less balloon.”
“Just forget the woman and concentrate on this bid.”
She put his mind at rest by squirming under his shoulder and set them off down the path to the designated meeting place in the central complex building.
***
Though Nairn felt his deal seemed favourable, the client made it clear no final decisions would be made till other personnel were consulted. A second meeting was called for the following morning at ten. He’d anticipated hitches; the reason he’d stipulated a hotel stay of three nights when Aela was booking. Using the hotel’s business centre, work sucked them in till dinner. His customary dogged dedication to business stretched him to the absolute limit but truth be told, he just wanted to relax with Aela and do…almost nothing.
The restaurant was just as excellent as the one the previous evening, a mariachi band entertaining them as they wended their way around the tables. He felt an unaccustomed feeling of utter contentment: good food, good wine, but best of all, Aela. In his mind there was no question. She mattered to him.
Conversation was spattered with questions about each others travels as they filled in details unknown about each other until they sipped the last of their wine on an outside terrace. They watched the water softly lap on the beach and listened to the sounds of the Caribbean, some manufactured and many of them the natural animal sounds around them. In the warm cocooning darkness, they didn’t talk at all for a while. Feeling so at one with Aela, his fingers caressed hers, nestled as she was into the crook of his good arm. Then, inspired by their surroundings, he related experiences he’d had at beach locations around the world, encouraging Aela to add her own.
Inevitably the narratives took on the proportions of angler’s tales where they landed whoppers – except in both cases they had had the hair-raising experiences they related.
“I think I did a quadruple flip…”
“Whoa! It’s time for a respite, Nairn Malcolm, you Adrenalinn Adventurer. That’s too much information for a wimp like me. You could have broken your neck. This wakeboarding sounds too scary for words.”
Wakeboarding, he told her, wasn’t provided for on their present island, the wave quality not generally available in that part of the Caribbean. He got the impression Aela was relieved to hear it.
“Stop! Toilet break before you go on any more.” She slipped away from him.
***
Aela recapped Nairn’s daring experiences while she used the facilities at the nearest ladies toilets, a smile lingering when she approached the vanity basins to wash her hands. The woman next along glanced at her as she shut off the tap, in the way total strangers often do. Then, shaking water off her hands at speed the person scuttled for the nearby hand dryer, her head in profile.
Aela washed her hands, very slowly, surreptitiously observing the stranger. There was something she recognized, and it wasn’t just that the woman had very eye-catching, long and curling deep-red hair. The stranger’s profile was distinctive. She had a slightly hooked nose, wide plump lips and her eyebrows were plucked to the poin
t of almost being non-existent, which made her eye sockets seem larger than they really were.
That was it!
Aela bent her head, squelching the bile-ridden anxiety rushing up from her gut. Stalling till after the redhead had left the building, she then made her own slow departure. The woman had been glancing back towards the toilet door, she could tell from the angled bounce of the long hair, though the woman was presently darting around the corner.
She needed to see the woman’s face again, a full-front view. It might just be that she was imagining too much.
At the corner, her circumspect peek was just in time to see the woman enter the Piano Bar.
Aela crept along to the nearest window. Though small, the bar was heaving as patrons sat, or stood around, conversing over the trill of soft piano playing.
The redhead approached a guy seated opposite the door, her lingering kiss an almost frantic clutching, the interaction indicating familiarity. Aela gasped when she glimpsed the man’s face. Earnest talking to him, with occasional nods towards the entrance door of the bar, followed after the woman squeezed down beside him.
Aela surveyed their intent conversation for a few minutes. Both the man and the woman looked bothered, and angry.
What the hell was going on?
Aela sped back to Nairn, her mind in turmoil. “We need to get back to the villa, right now!” she whispered all but dragging him away.
Laughing at her haste Nairn complied till he realized it wasn’t because she was dragging him back to their villa to make mad passionate love to him. “What’s wrong?”
“Not here!” She hauled him along the walkway.
By the time Nairn hobbled the short distance to the villa, she knew he was spooked by the darting looks she’d been making over her shoulder.
“What’s got you in such a tizzy, Aela?”
Standing between his spread legs she cuddled him, her words seeping into his shirt. “You were right. The redhead is Stella!”
“Stella Grainger? But you haven’t met her, how can you know it’s her?”
Take Me Now Page 20
