“I’ll do that.” Saul took the bucket of wet sand from Grace and turned it upside down on the top of the sandcastle’s tower they were building.
”I could have reached. I’m not that short,” she grumbled.
“You’re wearing red knickers,” he said under his breath.
She gasped and tugged down her tiny skirt.
“Not that I’m complaining, you understand.” He enjoyed her look of confusion. He liked her hot and flustered. He liked how her gaze snared with his and her hand froze a second on that ridiculously short skirt. “But there are children here.”
Children of friends, family and neighbours. Gran kept an open house. But for a few moments they all faded into the background as sensual awareness locked Grace and him in their own world. His body tensed as her lips parted in a natural pout that magazine models tried and failed to emulate; all invitation and longing.
Then a kid shrieked.
“I never thought I’d be building a sandcastle.” Grace glanced down at her dress, which thanks to her pulling had stretched to near decency on her thighs, but at the cost of a provocatively low neckline.
She hitched up the neckline.
“You should know to expect the unexpected from Gran.” He added another bucket of sand to the approval of the busy kids. He liked occupying the littlies, even if he was currently wishing for an empty beach and time to explore that moment with Grace.
“I think I’ll supervise,” she said.
“Spoilsport.”
She sat in the shade of an umbrella and a tired three year old immediately curled up near her. Grace put her arm around him.
The scene tugged at Saul’s heart. He wanted his kid to have that; a soul-deep trust that he was loved and wanted. He knelt there, bucket half-filled with sand, watching Grace smile down at the boy and smooth the dark curls that lay against the curve of her breast. His gut tightened.
“More.” An imperative childish treble recalled him to his castle-building duties.
A game of beach cricket for the older kids — and adults — finished the afternoon. He and Grace stayed for a barbeque dinner. He noticed her high colour on occasion when a particularly tactless relative studied them together — the formerly engaged couple who couldn’t even agree on whether they’d been engaged. But despite how the family grapevine had gossiped, there seemed to be a general acceptance that things were okay now. He and Grace were friends again.
“No, seriously, Auntie JayJay. I couldn’t eat any more. I shouldn’t have even had the second slice of cheesecake.” Grace tried to ward off more food. Auntie JayJay wrote cookbooks and was always looking for guinea pigs.
“I had thirds,” Saul said smugly.
“Piglet.” Grace jabbed him in the ribs.
In laughter and friendly chatter, the party broke up. He helped with the clean-up and went to haul Grace out of the kitchen. “I thought you were full.”
“Oops.” She looked up guiltily from the chocolate truffles she’d been snacking on. “These are good. Try one.”
She pressed the chocolate to his mouth and his lips parted instinctively. The chocolate was sweet, but what exploded in his belly was the feel of her finger and thumb at his mouth.
Her eyes widened, as if she’d shocked herself with the impulsive action.
Before she could snatch her hand away, he caught her wrist. He chewed the chocolate, watching her all the time, swallowed and said, “Crumbs.”
“What?” She sounded dazed.
“Do I have chocolate crumbs?” He dabbed at his mouth with her finger.
“Oh.” She got the idea. Her finger trailed along his upper lip, outlining it. “Just here and here.” She pressed her finger to the centre of his lower lip before lifting her finger to her mouth and sucking off the chocolate.
It was so damn sexy, he growled.
Instantly, she spun away, making a big deal of covering the plate of truffles and tucking it in the second fridge. Her face was flushed. She completely forgot not to bend over, and he was gifted with a flash of her red knickers. “I guess we should get going.”
Probably. Gran’s kitchen wasn’t the place to seduce a woman, or be seduced by her. Especially not Grace, who was special.
Neither said anything as they started along the beach.
Saul shoved his hands in the pockets of his shorts. He’d walked back to his house with other women. Not many. Eagle Bay was for family. Casual dates didn’t get an invitation. But none of the other women had generated the confusing mix of familiarity and uncertainty, desire and disbelief that Grace caused in him.
She was his step-cousin. He’d felt protective of her from their first meeting when she’d been a cute, shy kid wary of the boisterous Whartons. Now she was all grown up, a doctor and a woman, an attractive, sexy woman.
Ryan had noticed she was a woman.
Saul’s possessive response to the younger man’s awareness of Grace surprised him. He hadn’t planned on insisting she stay with him at his house. However, there’d been no way he could stand her driving off with her step-sister’s fiancé.
She claimed she didn’t care about Ryan. What was it she’d said? Something about wanting a nice man.
“The beach is magic.” Grace slowed and looked out to sea. Moonlight glinted off the softly lapping waves. “Next stop, Africa.”
“It would be a long swim.”
“I’d hitch a ride on a whale or maybe on one of those giant tortoises.”
He wasn’t in the mood for whimsy. “Grace.”
“Yes?”
“Oh hell.” He abandoned common sense, second thoughts and all attempt to regulate his chaotic emotions, and reached for her.
She was shorter than him, but the sand was uneven and he lifted her onto a low ridge, bringing their mouths almost level.
“Is there a problem?” she asked, breathless from his nearness.
He moved his hands from her waist to her hips. “Not if you kiss me.”
The moonlight showed her expression. Surprise. Confusion. Sudden decision. She touched his face and he stood still for the slow caress. She shifted slightly, rising on tiptoe, and fitted her mouth to his.
He forgot to breathe.
Her mouth was soft, warm and sweet. Tender.
Slowly he took control of the kiss from her. He coaxed her lips apart, licked and sucked the plump lower lip, then slid his tongue into her mouth.
She moaned and twisted her hands in his hair.
He widened his stance and fitted her between his thighs. She was leaning forward now and he was taking most of her weight, glorying in it. Her skirt ruched up and he cupped the fullness of her bottom, kneading it and enjoying the way she writhed in response, rubbing against him.
She sucked on his tongue and his hips jerked in unstoppable instinct, but it was a mistake. Precariously balanced as they were, the action set him staggering. He might have kept his balance, if he’d released her. Instead, he let himself fall backwards and she toppled with him into the shelter of the dunes.
”Are you okay?” she asked huskily. Her hands could have been checking him for injuries. But that little arch of her hips, that full body shiver, that was pure turned-on pleasure.
“Never better.” He tugged at her dress, lost patience and broke a strap. One small, perfect breast tumbled free. He lifted her up, positioning her in total, selfish greed and sucked on the tight nipple.
The world exploded around them and lighted up the beach.
Grace yelped and pulled away. She grabbed at her dress and held it up. Behind her, fireworks lit up the sky.
“Fireworks.” He closed his eyes a moment in frustration. It was fairly obvious the mood was broken, but his body was still in the zone. He exhaled deeply, trying to unclench muscles ready for action. “Damn kids.”
With the bushfire risk, fireworks were banned, but a few idiots always seemed to find some anyhow — and let them off.
“Anyone could have seen us,” Grace whispered.
He decided he resented the horror in her voice. It would have been embarrassing, but not the end of the world. “We’re in the shadow of the dune.”
She scrambled to her feet awkwardly since one hand still held her torn dress in place. “That was a mistake. I shouldn’t have kissed you. You shouldn’t have asked me to.”
More fireworks exploded.
She must have seen his grim expression. “Are you very upset?”
”Upset?” He caught her elbow and started them walking again. A fast march, this time. “As you said, this was my idea. There’s no reason I’d be upset, is there?”
She regarded him doubtfully, then faced forward and they completed the journey home in silence. In equal silence, they separated at the door and went to their lonely beds.
Saul frowned at the ceiling. He hoped Grace had enjoyed a cold shower because he sure as hell hadn’t.