How to Win a Guy in 10 Dates

by Jane Linfoot

  Shivering slightly despite the warm evening air, she ran her fingers through her hair as she scanned the distant smokey hills, thankful that she’d found a hair dryer in the shower room. She doubted she would ever earn enough to treat herself to a cut at the top London salon she used to go to so regularly when she’d accepted the allowance from her parents. How she’d taken that for granted. What she used to spend on haircuts alone would keep her going for months in the country up north. Picking up that mountain of shopping today in town had re-awakened an unsettling hunger for the urban buzz she craved. She ignored the niggle deep inside, spurring her on to get back to the city she loved. As much as she missed it she was certain she’d only go back on her own terms, as an independent woman, who supported herself.

  One grimace allowed, but only if she buried those pangs. She looked at her bags. Mountain of shopping? Mountain range more like. Triple Merci beaucoup. One for cash machines and credit cards, two, for the pool house to store it in, and three, for Ed’s offer to transport it all home in the company van. At least her visit hadn’t been wasted, not that a visit to Provence was ever a waste, but her original premise for getting on the plane had gone right out of the window, when Ed had turned cooler than a polar bear’s toe-nails.

  One red hot guy who couldn’t make up his mind, ready enough to talk about sex, dangle it tantalisingly in front of her, then whipping the offer away, and driving her wild into the bargain. Maybe it had only been her own wishful thinking to imagine it was ever on the cards.

  And now, even keeping her at arm’s length didn’t seem enough. Today she’d noticed he’d been resorting to obstacles to keep her at bay. At the cafe he’d pretty much dived for the shelter of the table, and it had been the same at breakfast. In the tent he’d deftly circled behind the cane loungers. So much for majoring on pleasure. When a guy was hiding behind furniture to make sure you didn’t jump him, maybe it was time to let go.

  Except he had to be the best kisser in the world.

  And although both were kisses which he’d broken, almost before they’d begun, she couldn’t help imagine how the next bit would have been. She’d been doing it since the first day she woke up snogging him. It hadn’t exactly become an obsession, but it did fill a large proportion of her waking hours and stopped her getting to sleep at night, especially when the man in question was in a creaking camp-bed, a scant two yards away from her.

  Hitching up her towel, she headed towards the tent, vintage jacket in hand. Ed would be gone until after midnight, and that was hours away. She would wander into the village later, to watch the fireworks. They would surely be the only action she saw from Ed any time soon.

  Back in the gloom of the tent, she lit the oil lamp, rifled through the camp chest of drawers for underwear, then slipped on the jacket. Tailored short, black, with a deliciously nipped in waist, she twisted in front of the mirror to admire it.

  ‘Wow!’ That forties cut worked wonders for a girl’s rear view, but definitely called for heels. She grabbed the pair of precipitous courts she’d brought, which had seemed a regrettable waste of case-space when she’d seen the cobbled village streets, and twirled again, smoothing the silk over the curves of her hips. ‘Oh, yes! Perfect.’

  Had to be worth every Euro of debt.

  ‘And I’ll second that … ’

  One hoarse growl, that jolted her six inches into the air, and made her heart lodge somewhere in her throat. She’d have cried out, but her breath had whooshed away.

  Her legs weakened as she caught Ed’s shadowy reflection in the mirror.

  ‘What..?’ She let out one strangled squeak

  ‘Sorry.’ His broad shouldered sincerity spilled across the tent like melted chocolate, infusing her with warmth. ‘I didn’t mean to scare you.’

  Hard to resist, but seeing how he’d practically given her a heart attack, he needed telling all the same. ‘You shouldn’t … ’

  She turned towards him, and the molten lust in his eyes clamped the words in her throat.

  ‘What – creep up on people?’ His low laugh resonated, as he came towards her. ‘Pleased I did. I’d have hated to miss out on these lacy shorts! Cinderella, this time without a dress! Just what the doctor ordered!’

  This was not how she’d meant to be seen.

  Her stomach disintegrated beneath his gaze, which rolled up her now, smoldering over her acres of exposed leg, making every nerve in her body jangle.

  ‘I’ll grab a skirt.’ She ran her fingers through her hair distractedly. So necessary, but a bit of a bluff, given that her feet were rooted to the spot.

  ‘No, don’t.’ He hesitated, his drawl hoarse, as his lips twitching into the slightest of smiles. ‘Stay as you are. I like you like that.’

  Her breaths juddered, as she took in the determined set of his jaw, her eyes fluttering down to the jeans stretched tight over his hips, and the aching bulge of his not so low-slung arousal.

  ‘I was trying on the jacket I bought.’ She tried to hide behind a light, every-day tone.

  ‘Lucky I came by when I did then.’ He tilted his head, observing her through narrowed, amused eyes. ‘And here’s me thinking you were getting ready to give me the dance you promised.’

  Indignation at the cheek of him rushed through her, whooshing away her shakes. ‘Excuse me! I didn’t promise you anything! And you know it!’

  Another of his low laughs, and a pulse of shivers radiated through her. He took one more pace towards her, and the same distinctive scent that had been haunting her dreams engulfed her, delectable yet indefinable, vaporised by the hottest male skin.

  She jumped again, as his touch landed light on the side of her leg. Barely there, tracing. Sending inexplicable spasms of desire spiraling through her.

  ‘Do you never stop arguing?’ Laughing again, he stretched to push her hair back from her face, and rubbed one broad thumb over her cheek, dissolving her bones instantaneously. ‘I’m teasing Millie, I’m the one who made the promises, if I remember rightly.’

  If he was talking about the majoring-on-pleasure promise, she was happy to let him off.

  One thumb, rubbed across her face, and already in pieces.

  What the hell happened to Millie – I’m-here-to-jump-Ed-Mitchum – Brown?

  If her legs hadn’t turned to jelly, this was the point when she’d have run. Except now, she couldn’t move at all, unless, perhaps if she collapsed completely.

  She heard herself gulp, as he put one finger under her chin, and tilted it upwards.

  Then his tanned, beautiful face was heading towards her. One blurry moment later his hot sensuous mouth was over hers, and as her heart exploded she remembered exactly why she was here.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  MILLIE parted her lips and gave herself up to drink in the whole glorious familiar taste she’d craved so badly. As the waves of pleasure flooded over her, she knew this was achingly familiar, yet scarily different. When she finally broke away, it was only to steady herself, to drag in some oxygen, because when he was this close, the air she breathed didn’t seem to work any more. With both the other kisses she’d been the initiator. But this time he was in control. It was his choice, his roaring libido that was driving him if the fearsome plunder of her mouth was anything to go by. Like everything she’d been dreaming, only so much better, so much stronger, so much more compulsive.

  She staggered as her fingers clenched the soft fabric of his t-shirt, snagging it away from the powerhouse of his neck, exposing a collarbone that flipped her stomach with its vulnerability. Kneading the flexing muscles of his shoulders, she looked up into his face. The simple tautening of the hollows beneath his cheekbones sent electric spasms through her and made her knees sag further. She leaned in, finding support against the hard planes of his chest, heard his feral groan as she accidentally forged her hip against the ridge of his erection

  ‘Are you still breathing?’ His concern resonated in her ear, as he grazed his teeth lightly along her neck, sending a seismic w
ave of desire shuddering through her.

  ‘I’m breathing, just.’ Reading the depth of his need from the fogging of his eyes.

  ‘Good.’ One slick movement, he’d undone the buttons of her jacket. Then his hand slid up her rib-cage, to cup her breast. ‘Oh yes … ’

  Taking from his groan of appreciation, he liked what he’d found.

  Her vision slid into soft-focus as he flipped down her bra cup, rubbed her nipple teasingly, but tortuously to attention, releasing a whole ocean of molten desire to pool between her legs. ‘Oh yes.’ Her own guttural response, echoed, as if from a distance.

  ‘Oh yes.’ Again. Driving her wild as he set to work on the other nipple, capturing the first with his mouth, grazing, sucking, biting, his dark hair tousled below her chin. All she could do was to stand, eyelids faltering as she teetered on her heels, cross-eyed with the doubling of the pleasure tracks, legs parted as she arched instinctively, winding herself towards the nerve centre of his erection, willing him to satisfy some aching, building, burning chasm of need that was building within her. After everything in the past she’d worried it might be difficult, but it wasn’t difficult at all, it was staggeringly, awesomely easy.

  Now he trailed a finger from her knee to her thigh, hooked the elastic of the leg of her shorts, turned her inside out as he plunged deep into her slippery wetness, exploring the depths of her as she angled herself to make the most of his delectably probing fingers. Only the burn of stubble on her breast pulled her momentarily back to reality, to the stuttering flicker of the oil lamp, the tumbling cascade of her clothes spilling out of the open drawers. And the fleeting worry, that he might notice when she didn’t come. The big elusive O was something she rarely reached. No big deal. Coming just wasn’t her thing.

  Losing it again, as his fingers sucked from her depths, and emerged, found the nub of her sex, and turned the near distance to a blur of white noise with one flick.

  ‘You know I’m going to have to take your shorts off soon.’ Ed’s low laugh, vibrated hot against her ear, as he buried his face in her neck.

  ‘Yeah, but don’t stop doing … ’ Her own moan, desperate. Knowing she needed him right where he was, doing exactly what he was doing. Nothing more, nothing less. Thrusting herself against him now, and the pleasure and the pressure inside her building like a mountain. A totally unfamiliar place she didn’t recognise, but knowing she had to go there anyway. And suddenly he was pushing her over some invisible edge, and she was falling. Falling. Falling, like falling off a wall, and there was nothing she could do about it. Then an exploding cascade of heat and colour shot through her body, carrying her with it, in wave after glorious wave, thrilling her and choking her at the same time. And from very far away she heard her own agonised moans, like a distant out-of-body experience. It was a long time later, when she finally came to rest at the bottom of the mountain again.

  Pushing damp hair off her forehead, clinging to his shoulders, shuddering with aftershocks, dragging desperate gulps of air.

  ‘Hey. You okay?’ In his gravelly voice, she heard one tenth concern, nine tenths satisfaction.

  Okay? How about a million times better than okay.

  ‘Oh lo-o-rd’ Even her voice was staggering.

  So that was what all the fuss was about. And if that was a proper big O, the minor, faltering O’s she’d struggled to grasp before weren’t even worthy of the name.

  ‘Thanks.’ She shot a broad grin in his direction, knowing however wide, it couldn’t begin to cover her gratitude. ‘That was amazing.’

  ‘As promised. We aim to please.’ He let out another low laugh. ‘All that heat, and more! Who’d have thought it? So, where to next?’

  ‘Sorry? How do you mean?’

  His low growl grazed her ear. ‘Shall we go inside or out? To finish.’

  Knowing she was opening and closing her mouth, totally incapable of decisions at this point.

  ‘Moving this along,’ he cut in, swiftly, ‘outside’s as private as in. You can look up at the stars.’

  ‘What?’ Mega orgasms or not, she wasn’t letting him get away with that one. ‘So you just assumed you’re going on top?’

  ‘Okay, we can look up at the stars. Come on Cinderella.’ He grasped her hand, grabbed some quilts from the pile by the bed, and a moment later they were on the terrace.

  The night air brought her to her senses, stopping her dead. ‘Do you have protection?’

  She had the pregnancy thing covered, but seeing how he liked to max out with no-strings …

  ‘Damn. You’ve caught me out there – one scout in a tent, who’s not prepared!’ He flicked her an embarrassed grimace. ‘Mine are buried in the pool house somewhere.’

  So maybe this wasn’t exactly what he’d planned.

  ‘No worries, I’ll sort it.’ One dash, as fast as her heels would allow, to the supply in her bag, bought in a bullish moment at the airport, never truly believing she’d get to use them.

  And here she was now. Running. Crazy for the next part.

  By the time she returned, he’d lit a lantern or two, spread the quilts on the ground, and stripped off his shirt, to reveal a heart-stoppingly toned six-pack, that sent a flurry of nervous shivers beating through her stomach, then crazy, powering lust took over and stamped them into submission. Something about the way he was already sitting, long legs crossed casually in front of him sent a rocket of anticipation bursting through her.

  ‘Come here, you.’ He leaned backwards, propped himself on one elbow, and inclined his head, darkly. ‘If you’re sure you don’t want a view of these wonderful Provencal stars, you’d better lose your shoes, and take a seat.’

  ***

  As he stretched out his hand to meet hers, the scent of her on his fingers from before drifting on the night air, cranked his already bursting erection up, yet another notch. As if that was possible. He was fully aware that doing this right now could surely wreck his game plan, but completely unable to stop himself. As soon as he’d stumbled into the tent and found her, all legs and heels and achingly sexy shorts, he’d known he was a goner.

  ‘Condoms.’ She leaned, slipped two packs into his pocket, and as he caught a front-of-house view of those full, luscious breasts, he kicked himself for ever being hooked on svelte partners.

  Some things amped a man too much to resist, and Millie in underwear, tight jacket splaying over her breasts and hips sent him to the stratosphere, and the way she’d fallen into that orgasm before, was something else. He was heading for a mega-shell explosion here, and if it wrecked his challenge, well, hell, that was just too bad. Some things were worth the sacrifice, and this had to be one of them.

  ‘Come here you … ’ He eased her down to sit astride his stomach. He winced as she landed too far back, giving his erection a forceful nudge. Excruciating. Much more of that and it would be over before it began.

  Easing back to lying now, loving the way her pouting lips parted and her smokey eyes widened as she settled onto him, drinking in the sticky scent of her arousal. Wishing he was more in control, because Mr Cool was in danger of losing it here.

  Her jacket parting, as he cupped those breasts through her bra, each a heavy over spilling handful, whipping down the bra cups to unleash them, toying with the pouting nipples until she moaned, and thrashed. One woman, with animal responses like he’d never seen, and turning him on like nothing else, ever.

  He slipped his hand inside her pants, sensing her disintegrate as he slicked his fingers. ‘Time to lose the shorts?’

  Wordlessly, she stood, peeled them off, then crouching beside him, and began to ease down his zip.

  ‘No wait.’ The zap from one pull from her on his zipper, almost sending him over the edge. He was going to have to unzip himself here. ‘Still sure you want me to look at the sky?’

  Watching her nod, silently, as he peeled his jeans off, rolled his protection on. Whatever the lady wanted … Noting the wild flaring of her eyes as she saw exactly what he had to offer, whi
ch felt like its usual extra large, plus a whole, whole lot more, every expanded inch of it down to her.

  ‘Well, me in the star-gazer position, means you’re going to have to serve yourself here … ’

  Telling it like it is. Just not expecting her take on that one, and jumping, violently, as she ran one tracing finger tip along his length, again, as she gripped his shaft.

  ‘No.’ Firmly taking her hand away. ‘I need you to sit on me, Millie.’ His most persuasive, urgent smile, lost somewhere between the dark and the unbearable ache of his arousal. ‘Like now, would be good … ’

  With a hand on each thigh, he urged her hips towards his face. Tilted her backwards, buried his mouth, and tasted the whole salty creaminess of her, as his tongue found her nub. So darned easy to arouse, already forging into him. He’d promised her a pleasure max and that was what he’d give her. Hearing her kitten-soft moans grow urgent as he licked, and tangled, sucking until she rolled and roared. Had to be the sexiest thighs he’d had clamped around his head, ever. Her movements as she fell into a climax, turning him on like he couldn’t imagine. And him, busting and throbbing, holding it together, just.

  ‘She shook her head dazedly, drew stuttering gasps. ‘That was crazy.’

  ‘Crazy good?’ Not looking for compliments, just checking.

  ‘You bet.’

  Sliding her backwards as he waited for her to breathe again, then he slicked a thumb across his mouth, and pulled her into one kiss, deep as a river. Guiding her hips backwards, nudging her towards him, and edging her onto his own straining erection, which felt huge enough to be grazing the sky. Watching her eyelids faltering as she pulled her mouth away, hearing her one sharp cry as he entered her. Easing her downwards, trying to resist the incredible pleasure of it, and trying to slow the bang of his heart.

  Up to the hilt now.