Sand Jewels (The Wishes Series) (2 page)

A deal is a deal, and because of that, I spent the entire afternoon making a grand dinner. Determined to dazzle Alex with my French culinary skills, I made coq au vin. I set a perfect table, going to the extra effort of picking a bunch of peonies for the centrepiece.

I loved my garden. I’d never been particularly green thumbed but whoever owned it before me was. It was the epitome of a traditional cottage garden – almost English in design. Regardless of the season, there was always something flowering.

My efforts would undoubtedly be wasted on Alex Blake. The vase of peonies would probably last longer than the so-called infatuation he held for me. Despite this, I spent ten minutes ironing the white tablecloth and napkins.

He arrived at exactly eight o’clock.

“You’re on time,” I praised. “I’m impressed.”

Smiling brightly, he produced a bottle of wine and a small bunch of flowers from behind his back. I recognised them immediately. He’d stolen them from my garden on the way up to the porch.

“Thank you, I’ve never seen such lovely flowers,” I mocked, taking the loose bunch from him.

“Really?” he asked, grinning cheekily. “I swiped them from outside. There’s plenty more.”

Smiling because I had no choice, I ushered him through the door.

Alex walked to the centre of the lounge room, making no secret of the fact that he was checking out my home. An easel standing near the front window caught his attention. He ambled over to it and leaned down, studying the half finished painting. “Talented and beautiful,” he declared, glancing back at me. “That’s a stellar combination.”

“Your sweet-talk is wasted on me, Alex,” I declared. “I know how you operate.”

He slowly ambled toward me, looking more curious than outraged. “You do? You’re on to me already?”

I couldn’t be sure he was joking. “Yes. Sabine Daintree told me all about you.”

He cringed at the mention of her name, and rightly so.

I’d met Sabine at Pilates class. The residents of Pipers Cove weren’t exactly into physical contrology. It was a tiny class, which gave us plenty of time to talk. I knew all about her whirlwind three-week romance with Alex Blake. At the time, she’d been besotted with him. The enchantment quickly wore off when he heartlessly dumped her on Christmas Eve.

There was no way my fate would be the same.

“I’ll bet she told you everything,” he said drawing out the words.

“Yes, so you needn’t try so hard to win me over.” I tried to sound strong but he was making it difficult. He stood close enough that I could smell him. A lovely spicy scent that I couldn’t quite pinpoint was driving me crazy. “You and I will go no further than this night.”

“I shan’t waste my time then,” he teased, taking a step closer to me. “And to think, I was going to propose after dinner.”

I took a step back because the position I was in was a dangerous one. I’d left Manhattan to escape a wildly attractive smooth talker. I wasn’t about to fall prey to another one.

“Well, you’ll be pleased to know that I would’ve declined your offer.”

A slow smile swept his face. “Sabine Daintree has four dogs,” he said irrelevantly.

“So?”

“So, I’m allergic to dogs,” he replied. “I tried and I tried but I needed a dose of antihistamines to be within a ten foot radius of her, but I’m guessing she left that part out when explaining what a bastard I was.”

I straightened my pose, feeling slightly foolish. “She said you’d been unwilling to compromise.”

Perhaps I should have asked her for more details.

“I couldn’t compromise.” He grinned. “Every time I went near her I blew up like a balloon. It wasn’t a good look for me.”

I giggled at his daft comment.

“Do you have a dog?” he asked, glancing around the room.

“I might consider getting one if you continue with your run of silliness.”

“Silliness?” he teased.

I felt the familiar burn of embarrassment again. “If you’re going to keep teasing me – ”

“I don’t mean to tease you, Gabrielle, really,” he assured, stepping closer to me again. “I think your words are lovely. I think you’re lovely, but you know that.”

I wondered where this was headed. We were adults – two sensible, consenting adults. I was over cocky, egotistical men but it didn’t mean I couldn’t have a bit of fun with one.

“Where do you see this going, Alex?”

“Do you need a five year plan?” he asked, looking slightly worried. “I’m not big on five year plans. In fact, two month plans stress me out.”

I shook my head. “What about a one night plan? Do you have any problems making a one night plan?”

“Are you offering me a one night plan, Gabrielle?” His low voice sent a rush of desire through me.

“Not yet,” I replied, surprising myself. “For now, I’m offering you dinner.”

***

Coq au vin wasn’t a dish that Alex was familiar with. He told me it was the best chicken stew he’d ever had. I could overlook his backward compliment because the rest of the conversation was wonderful.

He wasn’t the one-dimensional beach bum I’d expected him to be. He was witty, funny and charming. And I was in big trouble because of it.

I stood up and began to clear the table, mainly to stop myself looking at him. Alex followed me into the kitchen.

Obviously he wasn’t as enamoured as I was. His focus was on my kitchen cupboards. “Why is that door crooked?” he asked, stooping down to open it.

I placed the dishes on the edge of the sink. “It’s always been broken,” I replied.

Just as he stood up, I turned around. Bumping into him wasn’t intentional – but not moving out of the way was. Alex Blake was officially driving me crazy. I could feel my whole body seizing up.

“Do you have a screwdriver?” he mumbled, focusing on my mouth.

“Somewhere,” I stuttered.

A slow smile crept across his face. “Do you want to get it for me?” he asked quietly. “I’ll fix it.”

“I think you should leave it until the morning.”

I’d left him with two choices. He could either make a run for the door or read between the lines. I held my breath while he deliberated.

“What if I want an extension on the one night plan?” he asked, leaning in so close that I felt his words.

“I’m not renowned for giving extensions,” I whispered.

“At least give me the opportunity to change your mind.”

I didn’t ask how. I let him to show me. When he pushed the shoulder strap of my dress aside and pressed his warm lips against my décolletage, my legs began to fail me. I was now in really big trouble – and didn’t care one bit. I craned my neck as he kissed a long slow line toward my mouth.

“Ah, this probably isn’t appropriate behaviour considering we’re in a kitchen,” I mumbled.

“Has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?” He hummed the words against my throat, sending a lovely shudder through me.

“A few people,” I breathed. “I don’t usually take any notice.”

He let out a low laugh. “Shut up, Gabrielle.”

“Make me shut up, Alex.”

Accepting the challenge, he silenced me with a long kiss, wandering hands and his magnificent body.

4. FUNNY WAYS

Waking up alone wasn’t a good sign. In fact, it was devastating. One-night stands weren’t usually my style, which probably explained why I felt so wretched. I hadn’t even heard him leave. I tried hard not to picture Alex creeping out of my bed at dawn, grateful for the escape. I had no right to be upset. The terms of our agreement had been very clear. It was a one-night deal.

I went to the café later that morning, just as I had almost every morning for the past year. I wasn’t expecting a full play-by-play of the night before, but I wasn’t expecting to be given the cold shoulder either.

Alex did a double-take as I walked in, and then asked Nicole to make my coffee. “I just need to check something out the back,” he muttered unconvincingly.

He was gone before I had a chance to speak. I ignored the overwhelming urge to hysterically cry and run out the door. I tried hard to make polite conversation with Nicole instead. I didn’t know the girl well. French wasn’t one of her classes.

“Where’s Charli today?” It was the best I could come up with. One was rarely seen without the other.

“With Mitchell Tate.” She rolled her eyes. “He’s leaving town soon and she’s making the most of having him around.”

“Are they romantically involved?” I asked.

I was used to the sly grins I received when speaking to teenagers. Alex wasn’t the first to point out that my choice of words were less than conventional.

“No,” she scoffed. “She just likes surfing with him because he can get her out past the break. She can’t go alone.”

“I see.”

I didn’t really. I had no clue what she meant.

“How will she get out there after he leaves?” I asked naively.

Nicole carelessly slid a cup of coffee across the counter. I put my hand on the edge of the counter, managing to save it from hitting the floor.

“She won’t,” she said bleakly. “But she’ll probably give it a crack anyway.”

***

I spent the rest of the day painting. It’s all I could think of doing to take my mind off the huge miss-step I’d taken the night before. Pushing it to the back of my mind became impossible when Alex Blake’s loutish red Ute pulled onto my driveway.

I kept jabbing away at the canvas in front of me, paying him no attention as he stepped up onto the veranda.

“Hello, Gabs,” he greeted.

In my twenty-five years on earth, no one had ever referred to me as Gabs. It was the most ridiculous thing I’d ever heard.

I grunted out my reply. “Hello. What do you want?”

I could see him from the corner of my eye, leaning against a veranda post with his arms folded, smiling like he’d won something. For a quick moment, I considered turning around and painting a big L on his forehead.

“Are you mad at me?”

I spun around to face him and hit him with a slew of French insults that would’ve made my mother blush. It didn’t exactly have the desired effect. He stalked toward me smiling brightly. His arm snaked around my waist and I quickly struggled free.

“First you sneak out of my bed at dawn and then you ignore me. Of course I’m mad.”

“Firstly, I didn’t sneak out at dawn,” he explained. “I snuck out before midnight. You were sleeping. I guess I wore you out.”

I turned around and dropped my brush into a jar of turpentine. The urge to brand him was growing stronger by the second.

“Before midnight?” I sounded appalled. “You really are a pig!”

“But I’m a responsible pig, Gabs,” he defended. “I’m not in the habit of leaving a sixteen-year-old kid to her own devices all night. I had to go home.”

It was a perfectly legitimate excuse but it did nothing to dissolve the chagrin I was feeling.

“You could’ve told me that last night,” I grumbled, looking to the floor.

Alex reached out, lightly pinching my chin between his thumb and forefinger. He tilted my head giving me no option but to look at him. “I’m sorry. I should’ve told you.”

“And why did you ignore me when I came to the café?”

Releasing his hold on me, he pulled a face as if I’d reminded him of something horrible. “I’m not quite sure how this is going to play out, Gabrielle,” he said quietly. “I don’t want to curse things. I think we have a better chance of making things work if we just keep it to ourselves for a while. This is new territory for me.”

A strange groan escaped me. “I don’t like secrets,” I spat. “I’m certainly not going to be one.”

Alex turned around and paced a few steps away from me, blowing out a long breath while he pieced his next sentence together. “I’m just asking for a little time. I like you Gabrielle, you have to believe that.”

“You have a funny way of showing it,” I muttered.

He turned back to face me. “I have lots of funny ways. I have no choice. My situation is very complicated.”

I knew the situation he was speaking of. She was the demanding little diva whose bad attitude marred my every day. I found it incredibly unfair that he’d been lumbered with such baggage.

“I’m sure Charli wants you to be happy,” I reasoned.

“She does, and I am,” he insisted. “But I’m not going to jump headfirst into anything until I can be sure you can deal with it. I’m not free and easy. I have responsibilities.”

“And if I can’t deal with it?”

“Then I will walk away and you’ll be thankful that no one ever knew we spent time together,” he said glumly.

“That’s it? You wouldn’t even try to make it work?”

He shook his head. “I can’t promise you everything, Gabrielle. I’m not capable of giving you everything right now.”

“Because of Charli?”

He cringed as I said it. Perhaps I’d put a sour spin on her name.

“You’re not going to want to hear it, but she comes first. It’s been that way for a long time.”