South Beach: Hot in the City (2 page)

Inside, she cringed but never let her reaction show on her face. “Life took some different turns than I expected,” she replied with full confidence, even adding a small laugh. “I ended up in the corporate world. In Vegas.”

She enjoyed watching his eyebrows shoot up. “Vegas? Really?” She knew what he was thinking, that she hadn't seemed like a Vegas sort of girl. And she
hadn't
been…then.

“Yeah, I love it there,” she told him. “Though I'm heading toward a career change now, probably something more related to law—my first love, so to speak.”

“What can I say, Holly? I'm impressed.” And he
looked
sincerely impressed, just as she’d hoped. She tried not to wonder how impressed he
wouldn't
be if he knew the whole truth behind everything she'd just told him.

But she didn't have to wonder for long, fortunately, since that was when Lori, lying next to her, finally piped up. “Hi, Trey,” she said. “Remember me?”

He squinted slightly. “Of course,” he replied. “Holly's friend, L…”

“Lori,” she said on a laugh. “But I'll forgive you. It's been a long time.”

“Yeah, it has,” he answered, chuckling. “And now it's suddenly like a big reunion. I can't believe you guys are here.”

“Lori talked me into a few days on the beach,” Holly told him, “and suggested we revisit our old haunt. But…” She stopped, shook her head, still reeling over the chance encounter. “I never dreamed
you'd
be here.” Oh, crap. That sounded too…emotional or something.

And she was in the midst of mentally kicking herself when he said, “Have dinner with me.”

And it nearly took her breath away. Apparently she
hadn't
sounded too emotional. Or if she had, he didn’t mind.

But then, right as she was one heartbeat away from being swept up in his invitation, she remembered. Everything. The breakup. The way it had changed her life. The way it had changed…her soul. That he wasn't a guy she could ever trust or should want anything to do with.

Except…somehow just turning him down seemed…too easy. Too easy on
him
. So she heard herself saying, “Lori and I already have dinner plans. Let's make it a late drink instead.”

In response, he angled his head and gave a slight nod. “Late drinks it is.” Then he suggested a time and one of the hotel's outdoor bars. “I'll see you then.” And before walking away, he added, “It really is great to see you again, Holly.”

But she didn't say, “You, too.” Instead she just smiled. Confident, cool woman that she was. Or was pretending to be anyway.

And it was only after she and Lori silently watched him stride all the way around the pool and back into the Imperial Palms that Lori finally said, “What was
that
?”

Holly didn’t need to ask what she meant. “That was me being cool and successful and not shocked to see him.”

“Yeah, that part I got,” Lori replied. “But…late drinks? What the hell are you thinking?”

And the truth was, Holly hadn't exactly had a plan when she'd made a date with him. But now, now that he was gone and she could relax and get a little clarity, she understood why she'd done it; she knew exactly what she intended to do. “I'm going to seduce him,” she said.

She watched as Lori's mouth dropped open. “What?”

“I'm going to show him what he's missing out on. I'm going to give him the best night of his life—sexually speaking anyway—and then I'm just going to turn around and walk away.”

She’d never heard her best friend’s voice sound so dry and skeptical as when she said, “And you think you can do that. Just turn around and walk away.”

Yet Holly answered with a confident nod, and this one was for real. “I've had a lot of sex with a lot of people now, Lori. And though I'm not always proud of the reasons I did those things, I know how to have really naughty fun with a guy now without getting emotionally attached. So yeah, I can just turn around and walk away.”

“And you expect me to believe that you're going to do this for the sole purpose of showing him what he's missing?”

“I expect you to believe it,” she said cheerfully, “because it's true. I see it like this. Things happen for a reason. And if Trey Kennedy has come back into my life right at the precise moment I'm finally picking up the pieces and moving on…well, then this is like the last piece to pick up. It’ll make the catharsis complete. Last time, he broke me. This time, he'll see the strong, in-control woman I've become and know that I'm not clingy, in-love, breakable little Holly anymore. And with any luck, maybe I'll even manage to leave
him
with a little heartbreak.”

Holly certainly hadn’t come here with catharsis on her mind. Or what probably also amounted to revenge. But she wouldn’t mind leaving with it. This little trip back to South Beach had just gotten a lot more interesting.

Chapter Three

Trey Kennedy sat at the posh outdoor bar watching couples at tables in the dark lean their heads together over tea-light candles to talk privately. There’d been debate at the hotel over whether the place should be better lit, but Trey had pushed for letting the sunset decide when it got dark. There was something sexy and sultry about the fall of darkness over a beach, over the night itself—when it came to romance, or a possible sexual liaison, the coming of true night was the time that decided if you were in or out; it was a time to say goodnight or to…lean a little closer, talk a little quieter.

As he sipped on a rum runner, he remembered the first time he’d ever laid eyes on Holly Pettit. She’d been as natural and homegrown as the cornfields she’d come from, but as cute and vibrant as any girl he’d ever met. “Kennedy?” she’d repeated when he’d introduced himself. “Are you related to the dead president?”

He’d just laughed and told her no, he wasn’t that type of Kennedy.

“What type of Kennedy
are
you?” she’d asked.

“The type you’re gonna go for a walk on the beach with tonight,” he’d said as smoothly as a slightly drunk college boy could. And a romance had been born. More than just a romance, though—it had been love, no two ways about it. And in the end, he’d been a coward and he’d spent a long time wondering if he’d made the right call.

At the moment, he was thinking no.

Just then, she entered the bar area—even as dimly lit as it was, he knew it was her. Her blond hair fell to her shoulders in soft waves and her petite body filled out the sexy, silky, pink-and-gold dress she wore just right. Cut low, it provided more cleavage than he ever remembered Holly showing back when they were kids, and a split in the front revealed plenty of thigh, too. Then again, the bikini she’d worn today had been the same way—fire-engine red, skimpy, bold, sexy as hell. He guessed his first love had grown up. And he couldn’t deny that he liked the adult her so far. In fact, he was downright turned on by her, merely on sight.

“You look like a sunset,” he said to get her attention as she drew nearer, in case she hadn’t spotted him in the dark. But he wondered if the rum in his drink had brought out the cheesy line.

That was when he realized she was headed straight for him, and he was relieved to see his comment had made her smile. “Trey Kennedy,” she said. “I still can’t believe it.”

As she smoothly lifted herself onto a bar stool next to his, he reached out, taking her hand to help balance her. It was the first time they’d touched—and damn, he was surprised to find that even after ten years that hot spark was still there. He felt the touch in his cock, which instantly began growing harder. All for this brand new, grown-up version of his sweet little Holly.

“You couldn’t be more surprised than I am,” he told her, not bothering to weigh his words. That wasn’t an MO—honesty and just being himself had always worked well for him with the opposite sex. “I mean, I’ve watched countless thousands of people come in and out of this hotel over the years—so many that I almost don’t even really see them anymore. So when I was doing the hospitality thing on the pool deck today, it just never occurred to me that I’d find the first girl I ever loved sitting there looking like a centerfold in her bikini.”

When she paused for a beat before answering, he wished that he’d had some damn lighting installed out here after all—he wished he could see her face, read her expression. But he couldn’t. “A centerfold? I thought centerfolds didn’t usually bother with old-fashioned things like bikinis. Which is how they get to be centerfolds in the first place.”

He laughed, because she was still cute and perky, even if in a much more adult way than he recalled. Then he caught the shadowy movement as she crossed one leg over the other, her knee slipping out of her dress, same as when she walked. Since they faced each other next to the bar and he sat casually, the move placed her knee subtly between his. And as she slid her palm smoothly out over the flesh she’d just bared, his dick stiffened further.

If it hadn’t been so dark, she’d have been able to tell. He was that hard. That fast. Damn. “What can Danny get you to drink?” he asked, motioning vaguely toward the bartender who lingered at the other end of the otherwise empty bar, seeming to have sensed he should stay away until summoned.

“Um, sex on the beach?” It rolled so smoothly off her tongue that it almost made him laugh. But not quite. Instead, it just intensified his hard-on.

“That’s a strong drink, Holly,” he warned her with a grin.

“I can take care of myself, Trey,” she answered, returning the playful smile.

“I’ll bet you can,” he told her. “I’ll just bet you can.” Then he summoned Danny and placed her drink order, after which he took another sip of his rum runner. He
needed
a drink suddenly.

“So tell me about your life,” he said.

She tilted her head, still smiling. “Didn’t I do that earlier?”

“No details,” he pointed out. “I’m looking for details.”

“What kind?” she asked.

“I’m not sure exactly, but…you seem different, and I guess I’m intrigued, wanting to know what makes Holly Pettit tick these days.”

Just then, Danny placed her sex on the beach on a napkin in front of her and she leaned down to take a sip. “It’s been ten years, Trey. I’m not the same little girl you knew back then.”

“That much is clear to me already. But if you’re not her, then…who are you? And how did you get to be her?”

“Let’s just say I’m a more…evolved version of the person I was when you knew me. Las Vegas is a good place for…discovering sides of yourself you didn’t know about.”

“You’re a lot more confident, that’s for sure,” he told her. “And a lot more…outwardly sexy. I like this side of you.”

“There are other sides you might like, too,” she said, bending over to close her lips provocatively around her straw. Not that the mere act of seeing her drink through a straw should add to his arousal. And not that he could really see her doing it all that well anyway, given the lighting. But it still turned him on a little more.

And on top of all that, his drink was definitely getting to him. Making him…uninhibited. “What sides?”

“Be patient and maybe you’ll find out.”

Damn, this was Holly?
His
Holly? Once upon a time it had been her innocence that had lured him—now it was the opposite. The simple fact that she was
capable
of the opposite.

“So tell me about
you
, Trey. Tell me about the last ten years of your life.”

He didn’t mind being an open book for her. Hell, he probably
owed
her some openness. Not that she seemed to even remember the shitty way he’d let things end between them, and he was grateful for that. But had their relationship meant so little to her? “What do you want to know, fishie?”

Something in Holly’s throat caught at hearing the silly old nickname. “Because there are a lot of fish in the sea, but you’re
my
fish,” he’d told her the first time he’d called her that.

Still, she managed a laugh. “I’d almost forgotten about that.”
Almost
being the key word. But it would take more than a cute pet name to knock her off her game.

He chuckled softly. “Yeah—me, too. Just slipped out.” He smiled at her then, and even though she could barely see him in the darkness, she began to remember. How sweet he could be. How genuine. It was a gift to never put on airs, never wear a mask, and it was one Trey had possessed and which had drawn her to him back in the day. “Now, what do you want to know? Ask me anything.”

He was getting a little drunk and she liked it.
But not because it makes him even more honest and cute and endearing—only because it will make it easier to get my way here.
“Loves, losses, triumphs, defeats—that sort of thing,” she said easily.

And again he laughed. And began to tell her about the part of his life she’d missed.

When he spoke of his career here, he beamed with pride, and despite herself, she couldn’t help being glad things had worked out for him. Except then she realized how much simpler, how much more according to plan, his adult life had gone compared to hers, and it reminded her that she wasn’t really here to catch up with him—she was here to finally conquer him, and then rid herself of him once and for all.

And…why did it sting a little when he told her about the other two women he’d cared for deeply after her. Tiffany—who’d just ultimately wanted other things out of life than he did. And Mariah—who hadn’t felt the same about him as he had for her.
But I bet you had normal breakups with them—I bet you didn’t just disappear from their lives or vice versa. You cared enough about them to be a man about it.
And then the sting crystallized into something more satisfying: a little bit of old, leftover anger tinged with some determination.

He talked more. About his family, some of whom she’d even met when they’d come for a visit that summer. About his dog, a black lab named Rex. About his house, which he described as a nice little bungalow situated on one of the intercoastal waterways that laced the Florida shores.

The truth was, if she’d just met him here on vacation, if she’d had no past with him, she would have…liked him. Maybe even a lot. But life wasn’t that simple.
Her
life wasn’t that simple, and part of that was
his
fault. And in reality, she wasn’t trying to do anything too horrible to him here. She wanted to seduce him, for heaven’s sake—she wanted to fuck him. And he would love it. So there was nothing to feel even remotely guilty about, nothing to do but proceed with her plan.