Topless! Phtt! Women didn’t…but as she looked around, several of the women really were walking around topless. It was Saint Martin, after all. Many of the beaches here were topless. The Europeans didn’t have the same hang-ups as Americans did about nudity, thinking it was natural.
But she wasn’t a prude! Yeah, she was sitting on a beach wearing a bathing suit while most of the women weren’t but that didn’t mean…she wasn’t…! Damn him!
To prove he was wrong, and to show him that she wasn’t afraid, she stood up, grabbed her bag – just in case she needed money because the sign was a hoax – and walked several steps towards the bar. With her back to Pete, she glanced over her shoulder to make sure he was watching her, then reached around and slipped the knots of her bikini top off, stuffing it into her beach bag. With a final, defiant look, she continued towards the bar. It took every ounce of courage inside of her to finish the walk up to that bar without her bathing suit top on.
“This isn’t so bad,” she commented. “This is fine!”
Looking around, there were many other women at the bar, and on the beach, who were also topless. In fact, there were more women without bathing suit tops than there were with tops!
“What can I get you, love?” the bartender asked, his sexy Australian accent making her smile. Even better, he barely even glanced at her breasts!
“Just a beer,” she told him, thinking that a beer was the fastest thing for him to pour. Mixed drinks would require a bit more time and she didn’t think she could stomach whatever wine this place might serve. A beer was safe and fast. Sure enough, a beer was set down in front of her, expertly poured with very little foam.
“Thanks,” she replied with a choked voice. “How much?”
The bartender laughed. “On the house, love!” he replied, then moved away to another customer.
Olivia breathed a sigh of relief, but then realized she would have to turn back around and walk to her beach chair. It was one thing to walk topless when strangers might see her. But could she walk back to her chair while Pete watched? She stared at her beer, realizing she hadn’t really thought this whole “dare” thing through very well. Oh no!
No way could she let him win though. She’d gotten this far, time for payback.
Instead of walking back, she took a sip of the beer and smiled. He was probably just waiting for her to turn around. Pulling out her top, she tied the two knots, tugged the triangles back in place and turned around.
Sure enough, Pete was watching her. And she could see the furious expression in his eyes now that she’d foiled his plan.
Sitting down in the chair, she swung her legs forward and picked up her book.
“That’s cheating,” he grumbled and leaned back against his chair, but he wasn’t relaxed any longer. Not even close! He might be staring out at the ocean, but she could still sense his anger at her trick.
Olivia smiled, feeling powerful now. “Yeah. I cheated. Sue me.”
She noticed that his teeth were clenched and, when she glanced over at him, she realized that he was slightly erect. Hmm…!
Her mouth went a bit dry at that observation and she took a long sip of her beer.
Then another. When his erection actually increased, she continued to drink, watching it. Fascinated.
“If you keep staring, you’re going to have to do something to fix it,” he growled.
Olivia glanced at him, realized that he was watching her as she watched him and was horrified. She pushed her glasses higher, then guzzled down more than half the beer. When she lowered her cup, she leaned her head against the chair but then jerked upright when he grabbed the cup from her. In maybe one swallow, he downed the rest of her beer.
“Hey! That was mine!”
“Go get another one,” he told her, then stuffed the empty cup into his backpack so it wouldn’t blow away with the breeze.
Pete was furious. And so turned on, he could barely think rationally. Seeing Olivia in that bathing suit was…incredible! To date, he’d only seen her in that starched, stiff uniform. Looking at her now, all of her lush curves on display for him to peruse and appreciate…it was hell and heaven.
He wasn’t getting any sleep for a while either! Not with the image of those full, round breasts and her long, pale legs now burning in his mind. Those breasts were…hell, she was magnificent!
Just watching her walk over to that bar, he’d wanted to race to her and cover her up, hating the fact that other men got to see her breasts! And when she’d turned around – with her bathing suit back in place – he’d almost roared with the sexual frustration burning through him. She’d beaten him at his own game. Serves him right, he thought and shifted.
Then when she’d stared at his hardening member as if she wanted to…damn! Just thinking about the way she’d stared was making it worse!
Rolling over, he hid his body’s reaction to her perfect figure, his fury still hotter than the sun beating down on his back. Damn her! He wanted to lift her up into his arms, carry her back to their hotel and make love to her until there was no more anger between them. He wanted to taste her, to feel her body throb around him and…
Damn it! This was just making things worse!
Thankfully, she fell asleep at that point and he could finally get his body back under control. Swimming. Now why hadn’t he thought of that earlier? A cool dip in the ocean would get things back to normal.
He stood up and walked out into the surf, then dove into the blue water. Pushing himself hard, he swam out deeper, then moved along the shoreline, not stopping until he felt the burn in his muscles. When he finally walked out of the surf, he was surprised at how long he’d been swimming. Damn, he’d needed the break.
Then he looked over to where she was still sleeping, her luscious breasts barely contained in that bathing suit top. It wasn’t that the top was so skimpy, it was just that her breasts were very lush. And perfect. And…
Olivia hadn’t moved and the sun was now hotter, right at the pinnacle of heat for the day. Walking over to one of the vendors, he paid the guy for a beach umbrella but before the guy put it up for him, he took the umbrella himself and walked over to where their two chairs were set up.
With a mighty thwack, he stabbed the sand, pushing the pole deep into the sand to hold it steady. Then he adjusted the shade to ensure that Olivia was completely covered before settling back down next to her.
She slept through the whole thing.
Sitting down, he checked his cell phone just to make sure that they hadn’t been called back to fly Zeke and his new bride somewhere else, then settled back to read.
Olivia woke up feeling much better than she had in a while. But then sat upright. Sun! Her pale skin!
When her eyes focused, she realized that she was actually under a beach umbrella that completely shaded her from the sunshine. Who…?
She looked at Pete who was still next to her, sleeping with his cell phone in one hand and his book covering those amazing abs, held down with his other hand.
Had he done this? Had he protected her from the sunshine when she’d been too foolish to do it herself?
A tenderness hit her, throwing her off guard. No one else would have done something so sweet. And he’d even had the foresight to keep his phone in his hand so he’d be woken if the call came in for them to fly out again.
She didn’t like it, but she had to admit that the man was incredibly considerate. And…well, he was pretty gorgeous. She already knew that he was meticulously responsible and careful, but the other two…this afternoon had added a whole new dimension to her understanding of the man.
Darn it! She wasn’t supposed to find any admirable qualities in him other than his ability to smoothly fly a plane! What was he doing? Why was he being all sneaky and…and…nice?
Looking around, she realized that it was later than she’d thought. Most of the other sun-worshipers were already gone from the beach, heading back to their homes or hotels. The sun was much lower in the sky and,
looking at her watch, she realized that it was after five o’clock.
She stood up, debating whether to wake Pete up or just leave him here. The smarter thing to do was to just leave, stay away from him. He’d been dangerous before with all of those lovely muscles. But her eyes took in the beach umbrella, perfectly set up so that the shifting sun wouldn’t touch her more tender skin – and something hit her. She couldn’t just leave him.
So instead, she packed up her beach bag then reached down to touch his shoulder lightly.
Before she could pull away, his hand whipped out, grabbing her wrist.
Olivia thought about pulling her hand away, but her mind couldn’t send the message to her arm. Relentlessly, he pulled her closer, tugging her down so that she was sitting next to him on the beach chair. For a long moment, they simply stared at each other. She felt her heart beating, her mind unable to understand what was going on.
Her eyes dropped, staring dumbly at his mouth, wondering what it would be like to be kissed by Pete. Would his kiss be hard? Soft? Coaxing? Demanding?
She wanted to know! She wanted to understand this man.
But at the last minute, a plane’s mechanical whine interrupted and they both looked off to the left. Sure enough, a giant plane was landing about three hundred feet from where they were sitting.
Thankfully, the sound broke the spell and she jerked upright, standing up and moving further away from him. Despite the space between them, they continued to stare, the tension building. For a long, pregnant moment, she wanted to sit back down, to finally find out what it would be like to be kissed by Pete.
In the end, she turned around and almost sprinted up the beach to the pathway that led to their hotel. They were in separate rooms so she hurried along, slamming her hotel room door as soon as she was inside.
Breathing heavily, she closed her eyes, her mind trying to make sense of what had just happened. Okay, so the man had done one nice thing for her. That was no reason to kiss him! No reason why she should feel like she needed to do something outrageous!
But all was okay. She hadn’t made a fool of herself by kissing him. She’d gotten away. Now she just had to stay away!
Taking a deep breath, she leaned her head against the cool wall. Everything was fine. She was fine. She hadn’t made a fool of herself by kissing a man she didn’t like.
Dumping her beach bag on the floor, she flipped her sandals off and headed into the bathroom. Shower. She needed to wash off the sand and sunscreen. Once she was showered, everything would be back to normal and the ridiculous thought of kissing Pete would be banished from her mind forever.
Dinner. Reading. Quiet night. She’d shower, head to the hotel dining room for something quick and easy, then come back up to her room to relax and read. Good plan!
Chapter 3
Pete spotted the beautiful woman as soon as he stepped off of the elevator. It was as if he had some sort of sixth sense when it came to Olivia lately. The woman had gotten under his skin so many times but…he had to admire her guts for getting on a plane even though she as terrified of flying. What kind of a crazy woman takes a job doing something she’s afraid of doing?!
So instead of heading towards the beach as he’d originally intended, he turned and headed towards the woman who hadn’t been out of his mind for months. Time to make some changes in their relationship. Time to find out what the lovely Olivia was really about. And definitely time to investigate this tension that seemed to haunt both of them.
Now that he had a clear plan in mind, he thought back to several of their contentious conversations, reviewing them in his mind. How much of their antagonistic attitudes towards each other was really just pent up sexual frustration for each other? Probably most of it.
He moved closer to the woman who was saying something to the dining room hostess.
Probably all of it, he acknowledged as his eyes moved down her figure, noting her tiny waist and slender ankles that looked ridiculously sexy in the strappy sandals.
“Come with me,” he said and didn’t wait for her to argue. Because he knew she would. Argue, that is.
He put an arm around her waist, guiding her out of the dining room and out into the warm, humid evening, ignoring the way her body automatically stiffened in shock. “You don’t want to dine in the hotel dining room tonight,” he told her.
She was almost running to keep up with his longer stride so he slowed down.
“I don’t?” she demanded.
He chuckled when he saw the sparkle of fight in her eyes. “No. I know of a great burger place. We can walk.”
He fully expected her to argue because that’s what they always did together. So he was both surprised and more than slightly pleased when she simply followed along next to him.
Just a couple of blocks away, he led her through a break in an old, stone wall. “We’re here,” he announced. “You’re going to need to take those off,” he told her and reached down to slip off his own flip-flops.
“Why?”
“Because this place serves the best burgers on the island. You aren’t going to want to miss this and you’ll get sand in your sandals. The walk back will hurt.”
Again, he braced himself for an argument, so he was pleased when she lifted her leg up and, with one hand on his shoulder and the other slipping the shoe off of her delicate foot, she looked up at him, eyebrows lifted, as she waited for him to lead the way.
He put a hand to the small of her back and led her down to what looked like a shack set up on the beach.
“Hey there, Eddie,” he called out to the guy grilling about fifty burgers on an open charcoal grill that was really just a steel drum cut in half with a grill screen balanced on top.
“Pete!” the cook called out, lifting his hand up. The two men did the normal Bro Hug, slapping each other on the back as they hugged one shoulder and only one shoulder.
“What the hell you doing back here, dude?” the man demanded as he turned to flip several more burgers.
“Flying around. Landed yesterday.”
“And you’re only making it here tonight?”
“Had to tie down last night,” Pete explained.
Evidently, that was an adequate explanation since Eddie flipped a few more burgers, then turned to survey Olivia. “And who is this?”
Pete put his arm around Olivia’s waist, pulling her in closer. Ignoring her startled reaction, Pete made the introductions. “Eddie, this is Olivia. Olivia, this is the self-proclaimed World Champion Burger Master.”
Olivia laughed softly in appreciation of his joke even as she extended her hand and Pete had to fight the urge to pull her away. It was just a polite gesture, but jealousy ripped through him when Eddie’s big paw enveloped Olivia’s more delicate fingers. Eddie was shorter than Pete by several inches, but the burger master had about a hundred pounds on him. The man loved his burgers!
So why was Pete so relieved when Olivia shook the big guy’s hand, then moved right back to his side? And why in the world was he feeling on top of the world simply because Olivia, the woman he loved to rile just to spark her temper, had moved closer to him?!
He was confused and, at the same time, he wanted to beat his chest at the moment and swing from vines, all because Olivia had come right back to his side. He’d never had these caveman tendencies before.
Looking down at her, he wondered for about the millionth time why he reacted so differently when around Olivia. Then the image of her walking across the sand earlier today flashed into his mind. Yeah, his mind was completely imagining her breasts in the sunshine, pale globes with pink, pointed tips taunting him.
But he hadn’t seen those pale, beautiful globes, had he? Nope. Not yet!
Putting a hand to the small of her back, he lifted his chin slightly. “Send over two burgers with your famous cheese sauce.”
“You got it,” Eddie replied, already grabbing a red, plastic basket that had a toasted bun sitting inside. “Go grab some beers and I’ll have Jenny take t
his over to ya.”
“No beers tonight,” Pete called back even as he led Olivia over to one of the tables set off near the perimeter of the area. The tables were quickly filling up and Pete noticed that several people were waiting in line for their food. Eddie was a gem to help them skip over the wait, but Pete wasn’t sure that was such a good thing. Not tonight.
Tonight, he had the crazy idea of actually talking to Olivia. Getting to know her. No tempers. No annoying comments and no chuckling when she blushed or when her temper flared.
Just talking.
After leading her over to one of the tables, he held out a chair for her, actually acting like a gentleman. It was what he would normally do on a date but with Olivia, they’d never gotten this far. Usually, he’d say something annoying, enjoy the spark of light in her pretty, brown eyes and she’d stomp off.
This was definitely different for both of them. “I’ll be right back with some ice tea.”
Olivia watched Pete move towards the bar for drinks, amazed at the strength evident just in the way he walked. He was also stopped by several tables, talking with people he obviously knew and they joked with him a bit, shook his hand or just had a short, casual conversation. Apparently, Pete was a very popular fellow!
And very confusing. Why was she here? Why hadn’t she told him to buzz off earlier at the hotel?
Looking down at her cell phone, she willed a message to come through, telling them that Mr. Steele and his new bride needed to fly off somewhere, or that they needed to go pick someone up, fly them to another destination and be back in Saint Martin for Mr. Steele’s departure. Anything at all! Anything that would get her out of this confusing situation in which she found herself now.
Pete was walking back with two large glasses of iced tea in his hands, a woman that looked shockingly similar to Eddie by his side with baskets overflowing with fries and enormous burgers.
Beyond Love and Hate (Steele Brothers Book 7) Page 3
