The Heat of the Night

Luke was boosting himself up on the side, his back to her. Water sluiced off his hair and down over his shoulders and the perfectly delineated muscles of his back. For a man who had an office job, he was in excellent shape. In one smooth movement he’d twisted and sat on the coping of the pool. The broad expanse of his chest was exposed to her view now and Claudia drank it in. Firm pecs, flat abs and that distinct trail of hair that arrowed from his belly button down...

Before she could follow it all the way to its destination, Luke turned again and pushed up through powerful quads into a standing position.

Her gaze was drawn to those legs. Lightly haired, his calves firm without being bulky. And then there were his boardies. His very wet boardies that clung in all the wrong places, outlining the hardness of quads beneath but also the part of his anatomy she’d felt up close and personal only days before.

Claudia’s mouth suddenly felt as dry as day-old toast.

He chose that moment to look up and suddenly she was looking straight into his eyes. Eyes that, despite distance and the barrier of glass, seemed to pierce right to her centre. Their gazes locked and held and Claudia’s heart banged around in her chest. Her breath hitched. Her mouth went from dry to arid.

There was a frankness to his gaze and in that instant she knew, she just knew, he’d been aware of her interest all along. A part of her wanted to hide behind the desk, hide from the directness in his gaze, but he chose that moment to sweep a flat palm up his belly to his chest and her eyes helplessly followed.

She couldn’t look away.

He motioned to her then, inviting her to join him and, God help her, she wanted to. Really freaking bad.

But the phone rang, dragging her back from the edge, and she leapt on it as if it were the last life buoy left on a sinking ship, picking it up and brandishing it at him, barely stopping herself from kissing it.

He looked at her long and hard for a moment before shrugging and nodding and she turned away gratefully, catching her breath as she greeted the caller, her usual chipper phone manner lost in the mental images of a half-naked Luke.

Captain Sexypants indeed.

* * *

Later that evening, with the bulk of the clean-up finally completed, Claudia threw an impromptu luau down on the beach for all the volunteers. Back before the resort was blown to hell, every Saturday night was luau night. It was one of their most popular themed events amongst their largely family clientele as well as Crescent Cove locals.

This wasn’t going to be anywhere near as fancy as that. There wouldn’t be drums and ukuleles to hula to and there wouldn’t be the usual feast but then, there wouldn’t be two hundred people either. There was only a dozen to cater for and, given that there was enough raw material to make a bonfire big enough to be seen from space, all they really needed was some fresh seafood and some cold drinks.

Jonah had been tasked with taking one of his boats out and catching some fish, which he’d done most admirably. Tony, their chef, who was still with them after all these years, had cooked the fish along with an amazing rice-in-coconut-milk concoction and piping-hot fresh bread. Avery had dug out the leis and a CD of Hawaiian music.

And even if partying was the last thing Claudia and her aching body felt like, she put on her uniform, plastered a smile on her face and was the chipper Claude that everyone knew and loved because these people had helped out and worked like dogs, out of the goodness of their hearts, and she owed them.

But it felt good to sit down on one of the logs that ringed the fire and just listen to the chatter and the swish of the ocean. To not do anything. It felt like the first time she’d sat and done nothing for over a week.

She buried her toes in the cool sand and let the bliss take over. Hull, Jonah’s hulking great hound, had collapsed on the sand beside her.

She tipped her head from side to side to stretch out aching neck muscles. She rubbed at the left side with her hand and winced as her index finger twinged. She looked down at her hands. They were in bad shape from a week of hard labour—some old blisters on her palms in various stages of healing, her fingers rough and dry from pulling out a zillion splinters.

She’d kill for a day at one of those fancy spas.

Iron out the kinks with a massage. Get a pedicure. Sit in a sauna and soak half the day. Maybe one of those full-body scrubs.

Nearby laughter pulled her out of her fantasy and Claudia smiled as she watched Cyrus and Isis perform a rather good hula. Jonah in his boardies and Avery in a tangerine bikini with a matching sarong low on her hips danced a much closer, sexier number in the shadows further away, lost in each other.

A pang of jealousy bit Claudia hard in the chest.

‘They look good together.’

Claudia looked up, all the way up, to find Luke looking down at her. He was in boardies as well—dry this time, thank goodness—and his chest was covered with a form-fitting T-shirt. She resolutely ignored the wetter, less dressed image of him that floated in her mind’s eye but his eyebrow kicked up and he looked at her as if he knew exactly what she was thinking.

‘Yes, they do,’ she said and hoped like hell the words didn’t sound as squeaky as they’d felt leaving her throat.

She was relieved when he broke eye contact, handing her a frosty bottle of beer. She took it gratefully as he stepped over the log and lowered his butt, plonking down beside her.

Claudia shifted to make some room for him.

Or put some space between them, anyway.

She looked back at the fire, which had settled from a blazing inferno to a dull roar, as they both took some swallows of their beers, neither saying anything for a few moments. Until Luke mentioned the elephant sitting next to them at the fire.

‘I was hoping you’d join me in the pool today. Just like old times.’ Luke had been acutely aware of her eyes on him today and his blood had flowed thick and sludgy through his veins as her gaze had continued to linger.

Claudia kept her eyes firmly fixed on the flames that danced before her. Why had he hoped that? Surely after a sleepy grope he knew they’d progressed far beyond the innocent pool games they’d played as kids? Even through the glass of the window she’d felt the pull of him, had been aware of him like no other man.

‘I don’t do much swimming these days,’ she dismissed.

‘What, not even in that magnificent ocean right on your doorstep?’

She shook her head. ‘Too busy.’

Luke took a swig of his beer ‘That’s a shame...I seem to remember you looked good in a bikini.’

Claudia faltered, her pulse flickering madly in time with the flame as she glanced at him. What was she supposed to say to that? Since when did you pay any attention to how I looked in a bikini? Or, not as good as you do in wet clingy boardies?

Or maybe, more aptly, don’t flirt with me?

‘I leave the bikinis to Avery,’ she said, dropping her gaze to the fire again. ‘There’s too much to do at the moment to bunk off for a cool dip.’

Luke tutted at her dismissal. ‘The clean-up’s essentially done,’ Luke said. ‘I’m sure you could have squeezed in a quick, dirty swim.’

Claudia, who almost choked on her beer, was shocked into looking at him again. He laughed at her scandalised look, then winked. ‘I was referring to the state of the water.’

She narrowed her eyes at him, wondering how many beers he’d consumed. Maybe the jet lag was hitting him in one large wallop and taking over his mouth.

Either way, she chose to ignore his comment and the direction he seemed to want to steer the conversation. ‘The outside is largely complete but there’s still a long way to go,’ she said. ‘We have to keep moving forward.’

Luke sighed at her determination to stay serious. He’d hoped as he’d sat beside her that she’d loosen up a little—relax as everyone else was doing.

But no. The uniform should have been a clue.

‘So what’s next?’ he asked as he reached down and absently petted a mellow Hull.

Claudia took a mouthful of her beer before she answered. ‘Back to the drawing board. Starting again. Working out how much I can do with the insurance money.’

‘It’s not going to cover it all?’

Claudia shook her head. ‘It may have been enough twenty years ago, not today. Hell, it’d probably have been enough for just a normal cyclone but...’

Luke took a swig of his drink and watched Claudia’s toes, painted a cute shade of pink, wiggle in the sand.