Damn Connor and his cute smile, come-to-bed eyes, and sexy big-dick energy. And damn Chloe for the phrase that was now making her think of parts of Connor she did not want to think about.
With an inward sigh she turned away from the mirror and marched out of the room. As she walked toward the stairs, her phone pinged with three messages from Ashley.
Just about to board flight to Boston.
Enjoy your week.
Enjoy Connor xx
Olivia reacted to the first with a heart, the second with a thumbs-up. And the last with a rolling-eyes emoji. Then she slipped the phone into her bag.
It had been a strange day, saying goodbye to everyone after a week with them. The bride and groom had gone first, off to honeymoon in Martha’s Vineyard. Chloe, who’d given Olivia a fond hug, had gone with Gabrielle, Samira, and Nicole to catch the ferry to Hyannis, where they were going to spend a few days exploring Cape Cod. The hardest part had been waving goodbye to her sisters. They’d left with her mum to catch a flight to Boston, where they were going to spend a few days before Jessica and her family went on to New York, and Ashley and her mum flew home.
Now, though, it was her time.
Her heart picked up speed as she headed across the lobby to the bar. It rattled against her ribs when her gaze landed on a familiar figure sitting on a stool. And it nearly bounced out of her chest when a pair of bright blue eyes caught hers. With a languid grace that had her lower belly giving a long, hard flip, Connor rose from the stool and strolled toward her, long legs encased in chinos, a navy zip polo shirt hugging his chest with just the right amount of cling.
“Hey.” He glanced around him, then whispered “Fuck it” under his breath. A beat later, two warm hands circled her hips, and he pressed a gentle kiss to her mouth. “Your family get off okay?”
“Yes.” The word barely squeezed out of her throat. Everything inside her felt jumpy, giddy. “Why ‘fuck it’?”
A low laugh rumbled through him as he took her hand and led her toward the exit. “Staff aren’t supposed to get too close to the guests.”
“Oh.Oh. God, Connor, all those times... here.” Her mind flashed back to a stolen kiss in the storage closet, to him talking sweet and dirty behind the pillar at the wedding.
“Before you think of using that as an excuse to drop my hand and scuttle back inside, I should warn you I’ve never been one for following rules.” His eyes found hers and singed her with the heat of his stare. “I’d break a thousand of them to spend time with you.”
It was too much. She needed to tell him to stop. She wasn’t worth his apparent crush, certainly wasn’t worth losing his job over. Before she could say anything, though, he’d turned them down a quiet corridor and had her pressed against the wall.
“I couldn’t focus today.” His nose nudged hers, warm minty breath fanning across her face. “I fucked up the stuffed clams, had to bin them and start again. Felix wasn’t happy.”
“Why...” God, her heart was beating at a wild rhythm, her voice unsteady. He’d turned her into someone else. Someone who wasn’t Olivia “Steady as a Rock” Davies, portfolio manager responsible for over a billion pounds of other people’s money. “Why couldn’t you focus?”
He gave her a level look. “You know why.”
Thump-thump.Surely he could hear it. “Maybe I can guess, but I like to work with facts.”
“I couldn’t focus because I kept thinking of this.” His vivid blue gaze dropped to her mouth. “Of kissing you again. Of what might happen after.” Exhaling heavily, he took a step back, then grasped her hand again and led her out of the hotel.
“Where are we going?” she asked when she finally found her voice.
“Galley Beach.” He glanced sideways at her. “Have you been?”
“I’ve no idea. I got dragged to a lot of places this last week.”
“Dragged, huh?” His gaze dipped to where his fingers circled hers. “Then it feels important to tell you you’re free to let go of my hand at any moment.”
“Trust me, if I don’t want to go, you’ll know about it.”
A laugh shot out of him. “I wouldn’t expect any less.” He nodded toward the road ahead of them. “It’s a bit of a walk, but the sunset is worth it.”
He wasn’t kidding about the walk, but the moment he led her onto the beach, she knew she’d not been before. Wicker chairs and tables decorated with flickering candles were scattered across the sand. Behind them, a backdrop of endless blue sea, a setting sun that made the sand appear golden, and a sky that was a dramatic color palette of pinks, reds, and oranges. It was breathtaking.
Connor moved behind her and rested his hands lightly on her hips, his chest a solid wall of warm muscle against her back. “What do you think?” he asked softly.
What she thought was that it was the most romantic setting she’d ever seen. “I think if you’ve brought me here to seduce me, it’s probably going to work.”
She felt the laughter vibrate through his chest. “I’ll bear that in mind.”
