Her Holiday Fling

by Jennifer Snow

  Sorry, not sorry, ladies.

  “So, how did you two meet?” Kate asked.

  Her grip tightened on his hand but he gave a reassuring squeeze. “Actually, I put her in jail.”

  Hayley’s eyes wide, she swung to face him. Whatever happened to meeting online or speed dating?

  Last time she let him answer a question.

  “What?” Kate studied her.

  Cooper nearly choked on his beer and all the other ears at the table waited for Chase to explain.

  Well, he certainly had everyone’s attention.

  Hayley shifted from one foot to the other, waiting to hear what type of crime she was capable of.

  “Yep.” Chase was nodding. “I arrested her along with a group of other attorneys who were protesting the teardown of the community center on Sixth Avenue.”

  Oh, that didn’t sound too bad. She had participated in a peace rally before. Of course she’d been fifteen and dating a pot-smoking beach-surfer bum, and her father had shown up and dragged her away before the police could arrive and hand out fines for loitering in a public place.

  Kate seemed thrilled by the meet-cute story. “Oh, my God, Hayley! How awesome are you? I’m big into protesting for good causes.”

  “Kate once chained herself to an oak tree in Heritage Park for three days,” Chase said.

  “That’s right. No food or drink, except water... No sleep... I was protesting the park’s anti-dog laws.”

  “Did it work?”

  “No. To prove their point, they allowed the dogs to wander free and well...”

  “She got peed on,” Chase said.

  Hayley covered her mouth. “Oh, no,” she said but couldn’t help laughing.

  Kate nodded. “Once I surrendered, I was arrested. Guess we have that in common.” She raised her glass to Hayley before draining its contents.

  Hayley smiled. Who would have thought she’d be able to form a bond with Chase’s sister over a fake—on her part—criminal record?

  “And here is the troublemaker himself,” Chase said as another man joined their group with a short, thin woman who made up for her lack of height with impressive, albeit far too big to be real, breasts.

  Eric, she guessed. Chase’s younger brother and his date. She watched as the two shook hands. In a crowd, the brothers and sister were easily identifiable. The same dark hair, dark eyes, long, thin nose—definitely related at least. “Nice to meet you,” she said as Chase did the introductions. Then turning to him, she whispered. “Didn’t you say there are four of you?” She’d yet to meet the other sibling.

  His jaw tightened, but he nodded. “Yeah, Adam isn’t here yet. He plays for the NFL and couldn’t get away until the day before the wedding. He and his wife will be here in a few days.”

  Something in his voice stopped her from asking any more.

  4

  “YOU WERE FANTASTIC TONIGHT,” Chase said. “My sister loved you.” An hour later they were standing by the elevators in the lobby of Chase’s resort.

  “You did all the work. You were pretty impressive thinking on your feet like that. Although I wasn’t sure where you were going with that whole arresting-me story—that was risky.”

  “Nah, I knew Kate would love it. And hopefully that’s the worst of it. Now to just get through the rehearsal dinner and the wedding...”

  “You know, this might actually work.”

  “It just might.” He smiled and her knees felt unsteady. Pretending to be in love with this guy wasn’t exactly difficult. He was naturally charming and thoughtful. The way he’d been around her coworkers was his true self. He was funny and his easy smile filled her with a warming sensation that was foreign. And a whole lot dangerous. “Anyway, you need to get some sleep...so call me tomorrow whenever you need your ‘fiancé,’” he said, touching her cheek.

  “Will do. Believe it or not, it was actually kind of fun pretending to be your girlfriend...and a convicted felon,” she said with a laugh.

  Leaning forward, he kissed her forehead. “I never thought I’d enjoy being someone’s fiancé, but tonight you proved me wrong.”

  “Well, I guess this is good-night,” Hayley said.

  “I’d invite you up for a drink, but I’m afraid you’ll see right through that.”

  Hayley laughed. Under normal circumstances, she’d jump all over any excuse to be alone in a hotel room with a man as sexy as Chase, but best not to mess with this already far too complicated situation. This romantic island atmosphere would totally play with her mind if she let it. “Yeah, probably not a good idea.”

  “Okay, so I’ll see you tomorrow?”

  “Marvin mentioned some team-building exercise in the morning, but I’m sure I’ll need you at some point.”

  “No problem, just text me whenever you do.” His eyes bored into hers and her resolve weakened. She not only needed him right now, she wanted him, too. Bad. And that was not good. Her body begged her to lose all common sense and follow him to his room. The simple touches, the kisses on the cheek, the holding hands all evening, had her craving more. More of something she knew she shouldn’t be wanting.

  “Okay,” she croaked.

  “Okay,” he said, leaning forward to kiss her cheek. “Good night.”

  “Good night,” she said without moving. Turn and leave. Turn and leave. Instead, she stood on her tiptoe and kissed his lips. Softly, quickly, a friendly peck, she reasoned.

  She was so full of it. There was nothing friendly at all in her intentions. She was a tease, plain and simple.

  She moved away to his shocked look of pleasure. “What was that?”

  “Stupidity,” she said with a laugh.

  “Intelligence is overrated,” he said stepping forward and kissing her again. His mouth on hers was rough this time. Gone was the gentleness and restraint he’d demonstrated before. Now his kiss was hot, demanding her to respond. His tongue traced her bottom lip, and she moaned softly against his lips.

  Gripping her arms he pulled her even closer until every part of their bodies touched—lips, chests, stomachs, legs...and she pressed herself to him, wanting to experience every inch of him. His tongue circled hers as his hands moved upward, grazing her bare shoulders then cupping the back of her neck.

  She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think and couldn’t move until finally he released her. As his lips left hers, their eyes met and a long silence fell over them. Oh, God, if he asked, she’d be in that elevator right behind him. Oh, please don’t ask...

  He cleared his throat and released her abruptly. “I’m going to go now, before I say or do something embarrassing...so good night for real.” He hit the button on the elevators and the doors opened immediately.

  Thank God. At least she wanted to be relieved. “Good night, Chase.”

  He nodded and then caught the doors as they started to close. “What am I thinking? I can’t let you walk back to your resort alone.” He stepped out of the elevator.

  She held a hand against his chest, pushing him back inside. The last thing they needed was to go through this exchange again at her hotel. She only had so much willpower. “It’s okay. I’ll be fine.”

  “Are you sure?” he asked as the doors began to close.

  She nodded quickly and ignored the tempting pull of Chase Hartley then released a deep sigh as the doors closed completely.

  That was close. Another minute and she would have been in that elevator with her skirt up around her neck.

  She headed for the exit but stopped, seeing Kate and Cooper coming in the revolving door.

  Shit.

  She looked around for someplace to hide, but the lobby was sparsely decorated—just a couple of thin palm trees and several couches. When Kate’s wide smile met hers, she knew it was too late. Her mind frantic, she w
aved as the couple approached. “Hi,” she mumbled. Think of an excuse... Come on, you’re a lawyer, think on your feet...

  “Where’s Chase?” Kate asked.

  “In the room.” Fantastic start, Ms. Hanna.

  Kate frowned. “Were you going somewhere? I thought you two were in a rush to be alone?” Her frown deepened. “You’re not fighting, are you?”

  Cooper yawned, glancing at his watch. Clearly he couldn’t care less if Chase was getting laid or not. Then obviously remembering the secret he was keeping for them, he said, “Kate, that’s really none of our business. We should head upstairs.”

  “Shh,” she told Cooper. “I know it’s none of our business. I just want to make sure everything’s okay.”

  “Oh, yes, everything’s fine.” Your brother was just about to get attacked if I didn’t push him into an elevator seconds ago.

  “Well, where are you going?”

  Wow, Chase wasn’t kidding about his sister. Kate Hartley was a big personality for sure. Come on, lies are easy for you. “I just came down to let the desk know we needed more towels.”

  “Oh.” Kate didn’t look convinced.

  “I’m heading right back up there.” She was now anyway. Good God, she’d barely escaped once. With any luck, Kate and Cooper would be on a lower floor and she could bail a second after they were out of sight.

  “Great. I’ll come with you. Cooper, you can go to the room. I just need to talk to Chase about the boutonnieres. No doubt he’s been a little too distracted to remember to pick them up,” Kate said, kissing her fiance’s cheek.

  Great. Now she actually had to go all the way to his room.

  “I’ll go grab some sodas from the gift shop. Meet you up there,” Cooper said with a what-can-you-do shrug.

  Thanks a freaking lot, Cooper.

  Inside the elevator with Kate, Hayley was at a loss for words. Keeping all their lies straight between her coworkers and his family was difficult. Saying nothing was the easiest way to ensure she didn’t contradict anything Chase may have told his family or prove that she didn’t know him as well as she should. “So... Chase tells me that you live in East Village,” Kate said.

  She nodded. “Yes. I bought a condo last year when I moved back to Los Angeles from New York.”

  “Our new place is being constructed in that Village Towne Centre division on the corner of Third and Fourth... We’re going to be neighbors,” Kate said excitedly.

  Shit. “That’s great,” she said, calculating a different route to her office to avoid Third and Fourth.

  “A new gym is going up there, too. We should join together.”

  “Oh... I’m not a fan of working out.”

  Kate eyed her. “Okay, now I like you a little less. You mean this body is natural...without the help of stair-climbers and spin classes?”

  “Yes?” Hayley cringed. Again, it was true. Other than the weekly yoga classes with Terri-Lynn—which she barely participated in—she never worked out. Her high-stress job and little time for eating kept her thin without the effort, and her asthma was a good excuse if she ever did feel a slight pang of guilt for not being active.

  The elevator doors opened and the two stepped out. Neither woman moved.

  “Well, which way?” Kate asked.

  Crap, she was supposed to know which room it was. “Oh...um...” What room had Chase said he was in? She could remember every other little detail about him but the one that really mattered at that moment. She searched her mind. 806.

  She glanced at the wall. 800–810 to the right. “This way,” she said.

  Please be right.

  Outside the door, she hesitated.

  “Don’t you have a key?”

  “Forgot it,” she said, raising a hand to knock.

  A second later, a bare-chested Chase opened the door. Her mouth gaped. She knew his body would be fantastic under his clothes, but she hadn’t been expecting the perfection facing her. Wide, thick, muscular shoulders and chest gave way to a six-pack stomach, with just a trace of hair dipping below the shorts he still wore. Covered in a light, glistening sweat, he was pure seduction.

  “Hayley?”

  She shook off his hotness as she tugged Kate closer. “Look who I found in the lobby,” she said, her voice a tad too shrill. “And more towels are on their way,” she added for good measure.

  “Okay.” He looked confused as he closed the door a little. “Kate? What’s up?” he asked, pulling Hayley inside and wrapping an arm around her.

  The smell of his cologne made her mouth go dry, and she tensed while pressed against his rock-hard, bare body.

  Kate frowned. “Can I come in?”

  “No.” Chase offered no explanation.

  “Why not?”

  “Um, well, we were about to—” Hayley stammered and Chase’s grip tightened on her waist.

  “We’re busy. What do you want, Kate?” Chase interrupted in what she could only assume was an annoyed big-brother tone.

  “I wanted to remind you that I need you to pick up the boutonnieres from the floral shop on Helehilo Street tomorrow.”

  “Will do. Good night,” Chase said, dragging Hayley inside and shutting the door to Kate’s pout.

  “Sorry, she caught me in the lobby,” Hayley whispered. Stepping farther into the room, she heard the water running. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your shower.”

  He took a step toward her. “It was just a much-needed cold one to get thoughts of you out of my mind.”

  Oh, boy. Downstairs, calling it a night and walking away from him had been tough, but now here in his room, faced with his perfect, sculpted chest and abs, how did any sane woman say no to anything he asked? “Well, I should leave you to it,” she said quickly, moving around him and heading for the door.

  “We should probably wait a few minutes...just to be safe,” he murmured behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and drawing her into him.

  Oh, this was anything but safe. Why did he have to feel so good? Smell so good? Why hadn’t she sat next to a middle-aged, balding, round man on the plane? “You have to stop doing that—when no one is around to see it, I mean—it’s only wasted,” she said, not believing a word.

  “I enjoy it...and I think you do, too, which makes it enough for me to keep doing it. God, I wish you weren’t so damn beautiful.” He kissed the hollow at her neck and her breath quickened. Why did it take a fake fiancé, in an impossible, dead-end situation to make her feel something? Something she wanted desperately to explore, despite the inevitable outcome. Was she really that twisted?

  “If you don’t stop, I’m the one who will need the cold shower,” she said, trying to free herself from his grasp, but he tightened his hold.

  “You could join me,” he whispered, kissing her shoulders as his hands untied the straps of her halter top.

  Got to get away. Now. She couldn’t do this. They still had five days together, and things were complicated enough. Pushing out of his arms, she reached for the door handle. When a man as good-looking as Chase had his lips against your neck, it required every last ounce of strength to do the right thing. “I gotta go. I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon,” she said, reaching up to retie her shirt.

  “Hayley, wait.”

  She stopped but didn’t turn until he took her arm and forced her to face him.

  All six feet of sexiness.

  “I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to cross any boundaries... I was just having fun,” he said, a worried look on his handsome face.

  Having fun. Nothing serious, nothing lasting—just fun. Could she do just fun with a man who had such an effect on her?

  * * *

  HE WAS GOING to regret what he was about to do, but he’d worry about that later. While Hayley stood there looking so beautifully conflic
ted about whether to stay or go, he made the decision for her. Reaching out, he gripped her hips, thinly veiled in the silky fabric of her skirt, and pulled her back toward him. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath, drawing in the scent of the island sun, ocean and tropical breeze that had kissed her flesh.

  She stiffened slightly but didn’t move away. He brushed his lips against her neck as his hands flattened against the front of her stomach, inching higher over her rib cage, slowly but with purpose. He was giving her fair warning and plenty of time to move away. But she remained firmly in place. “You’re so beautiful and soft,” he said as his hands made their final trek upward and covered her breasts. Without a bra, her nipples were immediately visible, poking through the thin fabric. Hard and craving his touch. The thought made him instantly hard.

  “Chase,” she whispered on a strangled-sounding breath.

  “Shh...” He let his thumbs roll over the hardened buds. He wanted to touch them for real, see them, lick them... His hands continued their massage, gently squeezing the soft flesh through the shirt then becoming more intense, more desperate, as his fingers pressed into them, daring to pinch the nipples between his finger and thumb. He wanted to do so much more, but he feared this was as far as she’d let him go, so he continued his hindered exploration of her body until a soft moan escaped her lips.

  Reluctantly, he dragged his hands from her breasts, down the length of her ribs, her waist, to her hips, then all the way up her back. Finding the tie at the top of her top, he stopped, despite the throbbing in his cock that demanded he rip all of her clothing off and submerge himself inside her soft warmth. “If you’re going to stop me, you should do it now,” he said.

  “Untie it.”

  He wasted no time removing the fabric from her body and turning her around to face him. The sight of her beautiful breasts was better than he’d been imagining all day. Reaching for them, he massaged, loving how her soft, silky skin felt beneath his rough hands. Since meeting her on the plane, he’d been resisting temptation and now she was standing exposed in front of him—sexy as hell, enjoying his touch.