Danny tried to see it through her eyes. The water sparkled in the June sunshine, while several boats bobbed about on their way in or out of the harbor. Although it wasn’t holiday season, the cafes were busy, the tables and chairs on the pavements mostly filled, and a few tourists wandered along eating ice creams or drinking coffee in takeaway cups.
“It’s a nice place,” he said, pulling up on the roadside and turning off the engine. “At first I thought it might be too quiet for their shop to do well, but they’ve done wonders with advertising and promotion, and people come from all over the Northland to visit them now.”
They got out of the car and wandered across the road toward the shops. “What a lovely place to work,” Hermione said, looking up at the Treats to Tempt You sign.
Danny had to agree. Mouthwatering smells of caramel and coffee wafted out of the open doorway, and his stomach rumbled. “Mind you, I’d be fat as if I worked here.”
She giggled. “I know what you mean. I can’t imagine you fat though.”
He stood back to let her pass and patted his stomach. “If I didn’t have such an active job, I’d look like Henry the Eighth. I like my food.”
“I think you’d look good in a beard,” she teased. “But then I’m certain you’d look good in anything.”
She barely touched him as she brushed by, but her perfume rose to entice him, and just the thought of her body being close to his was enough to send his pulse racing.
Pleased with her compliment, on impulse he slid an arm around her waist and pulled her against him, loving the way she looked today, in her slacks and blouse, with a jumper slung around her shoulders, her hair in the neat braid. The girl had class written all over her, and he wasn’t sure why, but it sent his thermostat rocketing.
“Oops,” she said, placing both hands on his chest to balance herself. Her pale skin flushed an attractive pink.
“I love how you blush every time I touch you,” he murmured, cupping her cheek to feel the warmed skin. He was certain he’d never had such an effect on a girl before. He felt immensely flattered that her body reacted to him when he came near. His body reacted to her too, of course, only in a slightly different way. He could feel the tightening of his jeans as he glanced down and caught a glimpse of cleavage in the V of her top.
“I can’t help it,” she whispered, leaning into his palm. “Just the thought of your hands on me is enough to set my heart pounding.”
He looked into her brown eyes. Desire wove through them like gold thread through cloth, glittering with the same intensity. She was shy, this one, but no less passionate for it, a world of longing hiding beneath the surface of her gaze. For so long she’d obviously waited for a man to tease it out of her, and had been disappointed each time. Danny was determined he wouldn’t join the ranks of those who’d let her down in the bedroom.
Lowering his head, he touched his lips to hers.
He liked kissing, but if given a choice he would rather be placing his mouth on another part of a woman’s anatomy. Once the days had passed when he was young and kissing was all a girl would let him do, he’d always been more interested in moving on to the good stuff. It was a bit like ordering a starter at a posh restaurant—a couple of tiny slices of beef rolled around a flake of cheese sure looked pretty and tasted nice, but any normal bloke would much rather get on to the fillet steak with the huge plate of fries.
But he’d kissed her a couple of times now—on the beach in front of her parents’ house, as well as on the sand by the bar, and he was beginning to think that actually a long, slow kiss wasn’t such a waste of time after all.
He was conscious of being in public—there were customers in the shop and he’d seen Maisey and Elle serving behind the counter, so he couldn’t let things get too heated. So although his heart pounded and blood raced around his body, he kept calm outwardly, one hand resting on her hip, the other stroking her cheek. His fingers itched to stroke her waist, to slip around to her butt and squeeze, or to slide up her ribcage to cup a soft breast, but he didn’t move and instead forced himself to concentrate on her lips.
He was entranced by their softness, by the sensation of just being close to her, being intimate. The sun streamed across them, casting them in gold, and her eyelids fluttered shut, her long brown lashes lying on her creamy skin. Her cheek remained warm beneath his hand, and she murmured softly, a low, appreciative sigh deep in her throat.
He didn’t open his mouth or use his tongue, just pressed his lips to hers once, twice, and a longer third time, and then lifted his head.
Her eyes opened, filled with a dreaminess he was sure was reflected in his own.
“Mmm,” she said softly. “As sweet as chocolate.”
“Huh,” a voice said from behind them. “That’s quite a claim. Clearly you haven’t tasted our wares yet.”
He moved back and laughed, placing his arm around Hermione as she blushed. “Hey, Maisey. Good to see you.”
“Hey, Danny.” Maisey lifted up onto her tiptoes as he leaned forward to kiss her cheek. Medium-height and with long dark hair pulled back in a simple ponytail, Maisey was a pretty girl with a twinkle in her eye. “And who’s this?” she asked, the twinkle turning into a sparkle as she looked at Hermione. “Not your sister, I’m guessing?”
“This is Hermy-wun,” he said. “Literally a British lady of the manor. I’m her rough and ready gardener.”
“I see,” Maisey said. “Re-enacting Lady Chatterley, are we?”
Hermione turned crimson. “Pleased to meet you,” she said, “and it’s Hermione, obviously.”
Maisey’s eyes widened at the other’s girl’s blush—she’d obviously been joking, then realized she’d stumbled onto the truth. “I’m sorry, Hermione, I shouldn’t tease—I didn’t know you really were from overseas. What a lovely accent, and a lovely name to go with it! Come on in. Now I’ve practically insulted you and I’m on the verge of causing an international incident, we’ll have to give you the full treatment.”
Unable to hide a chuckle, Hermione followed her across to a table by the window and took a seat. Maisey grinned at Danny, who winked back as he took a seat opposite her.
“You like coffee?” Maisey asked her.
“Of course. A latte would be lovely, thank you.”
“Great. I’ll get two coffees going, and I’ll bring a selection of our wares for you to try.”
She walked away, and Hermione turned back to Danny. She gave him a scolding glare. “You enjoy embarrassing me, don’t you?”
He leaned on the table and tipped his head as he studied her. “Not embarrassing... unnerving, maybe. I like it when you’re flustered. Like when I kiss you. Your cheeks go pink, and you look distracted and vulnerable. It makes me want to take you in my arms and protect you.”
He surprised himself with the words. Steady on, Dan. Don’t get too heavy.
Hermione just snorted. “What is it the Kiwis say? Yeah, right. ‘Protect me.’” She put air quotes around the words. “You just want to get in my panties.”
“That’s right, I do.”
“Danny!”
“What?” Heat surged through him. Being with her all day was a sweet torture that he half wanted to prolong and half wanted to rush through to get her into bed. “Absolutely I want to get you naked. Would you like me to tell you what I’m going to do to you when you invite me in tonight?”
Her eyes widened. “I...um...haven’t decided whether I’m going to yet.”
Feeling a little feverish, he ignored her, leaned closer, and fixed his gaze on her, knowing his desire must be showing in his eyes. “I’m going to strip you slowly until you’re standing naked in front of me, until I can see every inch of your beautiful pale skin. Then I’m going to push you back onto the bed and kiss that skin, from your earlobes to your toes and everything in between. I’m going to kiss your breasts and your nipples and your hips and the soft skin of your thighs, and then I’m going to bury my mouth in you, Lady Hermione, and see if you taste as
sweet as I’m imagining.”
Her jaw had dropped, and if her eyes had widened any further, they would have popped out and bounced on the table.
But he hadn’t finished yet. “I’m going to lick and suck you there until you come on my tongue, kind of like an hors d’oeuvre, and then we’ll move onto the main course. I’m going to take off my clothes and cover your body with mine, and I’m going to make love to you until we’re both hot and sticky and panting. I want to watch you come, watch your teeth clamp on your lip and your eyes squeeze shut, and I want to hear you gasp my name and know I’ve given you pleasure before I finally spill inside you.” He stared into her eyes. “How does that sound?”
Chapter Thirteen
Hermione’s heart was racing so fast she felt slightly faint.
Up until that point, she’d definitely felt an attraction to Danny. Every time he’d looked at her with his deep blue eyes, her breath had left her body, and when he’d kissed her, even in the doorway to the cafe, it had warmed her right through, bringing a blush to her cheeks and a tingle to areas that didn’t tingle that often.
But as he leaned forward, looked into her eyes, and told her in explicit detail what he wanted to do her, it was as if he’d reached into her body and turned her thermostat up to eleven. Her body burned, from her face to her feet and everything in between. Her nipples tightened and the hairs rose on the back of her neck. She felt embarrassed and excited and shocked and turned on all at the same time.
No man had ever looked at her the way Danny was looking at her at that moment. Other men she’d met had looked at her as if she were vaguely interesting and admirable, the way they might look at a new BMW as it drove past. Richard looked at her as if she were a Rolls Royce that every country gentleman should own, although she was sure he secretly wanted an Aston Martin.
Danny looked at her as if she were a top of the range Porsche 911 that he’d wanted his whole life, and he couldn’t wait to take it for a test drive. His eyes seared into her, and at that moment she had no doubt he meant every word he said. He really did want to take her home and screw her senseless. The thought made her scared, shivery, exhilarated. How could she deal with the sexual energy that radiated from him, almost blinding her in its intensity? He was so...so...raw. Whereas Richard was as refined and polished as a gold ring, Danny was a vein of gold glittering in the midst of hewn rock, unexplored and full of potential.
She couldn’t think of anything to say—her brain was void of words, her lungs void of breath, her mouth void of saliva. She’d never known desire could be so powerful. It would never be like this with Richard. When he took her to bed, it was going to be polite and awkward, and all after you, and oh I’m sorry did I catch your hair then? Danny wouldn’t care if he bumped teeth when he kissed or if he smudged her lipstick. He wouldn’t bother undoing her shirt—he’d rip the two sides apart and to hell with the buttons, and he wouldn’t care if he gave hickeys when he kissed her neck. And she wanted that... oh God, how she wanted that. Even for a short time, even if it was only once. But she had to have it, to know that it existed.
“Lattes?”
Hermione blinked and looked around to see a blonde girl smiling at them, two large cups and saucers in her hand. “Oh. Yes, please. Sorry.”
“Elle!” Danny grinned up at her. “How are you doing?”
The girl placed the cups before them. “I’m good, thanks, and lovely to see you here. You must be Hermione.” She smiled, a touch of a twinkle in her eye. Clearly, Maisey had told her the Lady Chatterley story.
“I am, and nice to meet you.” Refusing to look at Danny, Hermione held out her hand, and Elle shook it. “You have a lovely place here.”
“Thanks.” Elle glanced around the small shop and cafe, her expression filled with pride. “We’ve worked hard over the past eighteen months or so, but it’s been worth it.”
Hermione could see the hard work that had gone into the place. From the carefully drawn signs advertising the shop’s wares and the deals of the day, to the hand-painted motifs that ran in a border around the cream-colored walls, to the cabinets filled with truffles and ice cream that the placard proudly pronounced were all made in the shop, it was obvious that it was lavished with care and attention.
“Those photos look similar to the ones in Between the Sheets,” she commented as her gaze fell on the large black and white pictures placed at intervals around the room. Some were close-ups of the chocolates and coffee cups, others were gorgeous pictures of pretty girls eating chocolates—she recognized Maisey and Elle in two of them, so she guessed the others were Tasha and Caitlin. The photos were artsy without being pretentious, taken in soft focus, the girls’ smiles caught by the clever person behind the camera.
“Yeah, they’re Kole’s,” Danny said. “He’s a pretty good photographer.”
“I’ll say.” She studied the poster in the center of the far wall. It consisted of one large photo in the middle of a sexy guy in jeans, bare-chested and wearing a cowboy hat tipped forward to hide his face, with the words Treats to Tempt You written on his breastbone like a tattoo. Around the outside of the photos were two dozen or so smaller pictures of various people wearing fancy hats and eating chocolates or ice creams. “Did he do the poster as well?”
“Yes,” Maisey said, coming up with a tray filled with half a dozen small bowls. “It was my idea—we had a party. People paid to have their photo taken, and half the money went to charity. It was a great night.”
“Who’s the hunk in the middle?” Hermione wondered.
The others laughed. “That’s Joss,” Maisey said with pride. “He’s my dude.”
“Oops,” Hermione said, and grinned. “Lucky you!”
“I think so.” Maisey placed the tray between her and Danny. “Here you go. Start with a few of Elle’s ice cream flavors, and then I’ll bring you some truffles.”
“Ooh, lovely.” Hermione could do with some ice cream to cool her down as she was sure her temperature was still high from Danny’s hot talk.
“We’ll leave you to it,” Elle said. “Just let us know when you want the choccies.”
The two of them went back to the counter, and Hermione picked up her spoon. “Is everyone in New Zealand as friendly as this?”
Danny chuckled. “Not quite, but almost.” He gestured at the bowls. “What shall we start with?”
Each bowl had the name of the flavor painted around the rim, so they could see what they were eating, each with a small sample of half a dozen different flavors. “What a nice idea,” Hermione said, pulling one toward her. “What on earth is hokey pokey ice cream?”
“It’s honeycomb, like in a Crunchie bar, you know?”
“Ooh, nice.” She took a spoonful. Danny did the same, and they both sucked the ice cream off the spoon.
Her mouth filled with rich, creamy sweetness, and she gave a dreamy mmm of delight.
Danny turned the spoon over in his mouth and finished licking off the ice cream, his eyes still burning into hers. “And now I’m wondering if that’s the sound you make when you come,” he murmured.
Once again her heart jumped at his sensual words. How did he have the power to continually shock her? “Goodness. You’ll have to stop doing that or I’ll melt into a puddle before the end of the day.”
He chuckled and took another spoon of the ice cream. “I don’t want to stop. It’s fun. Talking of which, perhaps we ought to take a tub of this home. I’d love to place a scoop on your body, watch it melt, then lick it off.”
“Danny!” She touched a hand to her cheek. “Stop it!”
He laughed and pushed the bowl over to her to finish. “All right, I’ll stop. But just until we finish eating.”
He kept to his word and didn’t torture her again with more descriptions, but it was as if something had been unleashed between them, because every time she looked into his eyes she burned inside.
They tried the other flavors—mochachino, passionfruit ripple, wildberry, a sumptuous rich chocol
ate with real chocolate chunks, and the best vanilla ice cream Hermione had ever tasted. And she knew that forevermore she would associate the sweet, creamy taste of ice cream with this moment—the sun streaming across the cafe, the smell of caramel and coffee, the folksy jazz playing in the background, and the heat in Danny’s gaze, which remained fixed on her as if he couldn’t bear to tear his eyes away.
When they’d finished, Maisey brought them a sample of her truffles, and they tried macadamia, mint, and cherry chocolates, and a special Matariki truffle Maisey was trialing for the midwinter solstice that was fast approaching. It consisted of a creamy ganache filled with juicy pieces of candied kiwi and rolled in dark chocolate, and the top was decorated with seven tiny silver candy stars that represented Matariki, the Maori name for the constellation Pleiades, which rises in late May and June and heralds the start of the Maori new year.
“Oh, they’re gorgeous,” Hermione said, finishing off the last one as Maisey came over for their opinion. “Absolutely divine, rich and creamy. No wonder the shop’s doing so well when you make such wonderful food!”
“Thanks.” Maisey grinned. “Another satisfied customer!”
“I’ll pay,” Danny said, standing and pulling out his wallet.
Maisey pushed it away. “Seriously, our treat. I’m just thrilled you brought her here, Danny.”
“Then please let me buy some boxes to take home,” Hermione said as Danny went to protest.
“Well I won’t say no to that,” Maisey said, and so Hermione bought six boxes of various truffles, unable to resist the tempting flavors.
“I’m just sorry I can’t take any ice cream with me,” she said to Elle. “But I will take some leaflets if I may.” She’d already decided that this would be a place she could recommend to her customers if they visited the area.
Leaving with the chocolates and leaflets, they waved goodbye to the girls and walked out into the afternoon sunshine.
“I’m having a lovely day,” she said to Danny as they walked back to the car.
An Ocean Between Us Page 9
