The words were out of his mouth before he could think. He imagined her in the glorious pool, naked, sliding through the water. Him right there with her, their bodies slipping against each other... Eve shot him a look over her shoulder, her cheeks tinged pink. She pushed herself off the railing and walked towards him, her lips slightly parted. Her pupils were big and dark in the pale blue of her eyes. It wouldn’t take much to drop his head. Put his lips against hers. Kiss her like he had all those years ago. The need for it gripped him hard. This was a test as to whether he could finally overcome this craving for her. He hesitated then took a step back, rather than plunging his hands into the thick curls of her hair and dragging her against him.
‘As tempting as all that sounds,’ she said, stepping close and invading his personal space with a wicked tilt of her lips, ‘I might just take a car to Nice and buy myself a bikini.’
She strolled through the doors into the house with her hips swaying in a kind of hypnotic rhythm and the thought of her in any of the boutiques, trying on their skimpy swimwear, filled his head with visions he was sure even a hundred laps in a cold pool wouldn’t extinguish.
Eve adjusted the ties at the hips of the yellow and blue-two piece she’d found in Nice. She hadn’t meant to purchase something so daring with its vibrant patches of fabric and alluring bows at the side, but she’d spent most of her life trying to stay safe and she was sick of it.
There was a fire in her blood that wouldn’t be extinguished, not with Gage in her house, invading the space she’d once called her own. Fear gnawed at her stomach and she pressed her hand over the ache there. He’d brought her here for a reason and if revenge was that reason, he couldn’t have designed a much better punishment than to take this place away from her. The one thing in her life she’d claimed for herself. She might not own it all, but she’d be damned if she would lose it without a pitched battle.
Eve checked herself in the mirror to make sure her stretch marks were mostly hidden. They’d never worried her before, the pale silvery lines being a reminder of what she could survive. She especially needed that reminder right now because a fight was coming. She couldn’t hear Gage around so he was probably working on the press release for the announcement of their engagement, or planning some other kind of ordeal for her. One or the other, they were both the same right now, so to hell
with it and with him.
She grabbed a floaty wrap that matched the sun and sea tones of her swimwear and made her way to the pool. As she stepped out onto the patio she heard a splash. Eve looked over the balcony to see Gage’s powerful form striking out in freestyle. Wearing tight black swimming trunks and gleaming bronze in the afternoon, the shimmering water sluiced from his back, his muscles rippling as he powered down the length of the pool, executed a perfect turn and powered back to the other end. Again and again. It was mesmerising, seeing him slice through the water, each stroke as hard and driven as the man himself.
It was all she could do not to sashay down there in her provocative bikini and slip into the pool with him. If this had been a grand affair, she would have. Would have stripped the little scraps of fabric from her body with a deft pull of a few ties and pressed herself into him. He’d probably reject her if she tried that now his level of disdain so strong it almost caused her physical pain to experience it.
No matter how strong the desire that flooded her with need, she wouldn’t put herself in harm’s way because of misplaced memories of a youthful love that they’d have outgrown had they stayed together. It was only because they’d parted that it had achieved such a mythic status in her own mind.
Anyhow, what did she know about seduction? Gage was her first and her only. She’d tried dating in the years after they’d broken up. Had tried to kiss another man but it had made her skin crawl. She’d resigned herself long ago to there being only one man her body wanted. Unlucky for her he was the wrong man. A man who hated her.
She turned her back on the tantalising view and instead found a spot in the shade on a sun lounge. Throwing on her sunglasses, she breathed in the warm, scented air and stared up at the flawless blue sky. The rhythmic splashing from the pool below lulled her. Whenever the world became too much, this was where she came. She’d never wanted to take over the family business. It had been her father’s demand, drilled into her when the reality that he’d never have the son he wanted had hit home.
This, growing things, had always been her dream. To one day own the farm outright, move here and immerse her life in the soil and the scents of what she grew. Now it was possible that Gage had other ideas. That man did everything for a reason, and she wasn’t sure of the reason why he’d elected to stay here in her home rather than in Nice proper.
As she ran through the possibilities, Gage appeared, towel lashed around his waist. His hair was rough dried and unruly. Drops of water sprinkled across his torso, sparkling in the sunlight like dew on petals in the morning. Dripping down his pectorals. Sliding over the ridges of his abdomen. Balmy heat bled over her, settling low and intoxicating. A delicious ache was building between her thighs. Her nipples tightened and she hoped evidence of her arousal was hidden by her wrap. He stopped when he saw her.
He made such an imposing picture, framed by the blue sky. His eyes a darker colour, boring into her. After the exercise his breathing was heavy, the muscles of his biceps and pectorals firm and defined. Would he look like that if he loomed over her now in bed? Naked, breathing heavily with passion and not exercise. A shiver of pleasure tripped through her and she tightened her wrap a little further, feeling weirdly exposed lying there, as if spread out for his pleasure alone.
And she had to say something, not just sit and stare like the fool she was, brain turned to mush by his hard, perfect body.
‘Enjoy your swim?’
He ran his hands through his hair and droplets of water sprinkled the ground. ‘Did some laps. I see you bought a bikini.’
His gaze drifted down her body to her bare legs, paused for a moment before coming back to her face. The heat of it was as sure as the caress of his fingers. A drop of water slid from the side of his nose to his lips. He licked it off. That, and the incendiary burn in his eyes, fired up the devil in her.
‘I thought it was better than skinny dipping, since that wouldn’t have been very businesslike of me, which is why we’re here after all.’
‘And yet neither of us is dressed for work right now.’ Gage’s voice was the rough burr of a sun-dried towel over her skin.
‘I’m surprised you’re not hard at it, drafting a press release on our engagement. I see the tasty morsel of gossip that you’re off the marriage market hasn’t hit the press yet.’
He cocked his head. ‘Still keeping tabs on me?’
That wasn’t far from the truth. For years she’d taunted herself with every alert about him. His success, failures—though there had been very few of those—the women...not as many as she thought she might see, but even one woman on his arm who wasn’t her was too many. A constant reminder of what she’d lost, even though she’d convinced herself they wouldn’t have lasted the distance.
No. Not lost. Given away because there had been no alternatives. She needed to remember there was a price she’d paid for loving him back then, and that was letting him go.
‘It pays to know your enemies. And keep them close.’ She crossed her legs and Gage watched the movement, his eyes darkening.
‘So, now I’m your enemy, cher?’ His voice was quiet, a mere whisper in the breeze. Their eyes locked. There was a heat in his, like a flash of sunshine on water.
‘You tell me.’
‘Perhaps you’re not keeping me close enough.’
‘Are we talking business or pleasure here?’