Twice the Temptation. Cara Summers

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      He was glancing in that direction when Charles Dutoit entered the room and scanned the tables, obviously looking for someone. The woman he’d been having lunch with earlier? Mac glanced around, but he didn’t see her.

      Or was Dutoit looking for Reese? The thought had Mac frowning. The man certainly seemed to have some history with her. Was the L.A. chef here for the Singles Weekend? Mac’s frown deepened.

      After a moment, Dutoit whirled and exited into the lobby.

      “It’s the first Singles Weekend we’ve ever held,” Grant said as he efficiently loaded a tray with drinks. “Very exciting. Lots of events to encourage mixing, like hiking and a volleyball tournament on the beach.”

      Grant leaned closer to Mac. “And tomorrow night we have a very special event scheduled here. Guests are going to be able to draw fantasies from our resident ghost’s fantasy box.”

      “So I’ve heard. What can you tell me about this box?”

       “Long story. Very romantic. Think Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story.”

      “Star-crossed lovers,” Mac said.

      “You got it.” Then he winked at Mac. “According to the local gossip, Hattie Haworth and Samuel Jenkins might have been star crossed, but they made the most of their time together. They created this box of fantasies. They’re all written on parchment paper. Not that I’ve seen any. But they’re supposed to be quite … stimulating.”

      Mac had to agree with that. What he’d seen on the parchment Reese had dropped in the lobby had kept his erection hard all day. Try as he might, he couldn’t seem to shake the fantasy of becoming Reese Brightman’s boy toy.

      Why else hadn’t he approached her already and introduced himself? Because once she knew who he was and why he’d come to the island, everything between them would become complicated. For both of them. She’d know he was Mac Davies, the waffling producer of her TV show who wanted to tinker with the concept one last time.

      And any chance for the fantasy might well be lost.

      Disgusted with himself, Mac picked up his glass and took a long swallow of beer. She was making him nuts. She’d interfered with his ability to think clearly from the first instant he’d seen her on that TV screen, and now she’d clearly sent him over the edge.

      All day he’d lingered in the background trying to decide what to do. And he was still dithering over it. The last thing he should be considering was pursuing some kind of crazy fantasy with Reese Brightman. She didn’t just attract him on a physical level. She had the ability to push his emotional buttons, also. Case in point—the bitter, coppery taste he got in his mouth whenever he thought of someone else becoming her boy toy.

      He was lifting his glass for another swallow when he felt her. The sharp tug in his gut and the way each of his senses sharpened had him glancing up. As she moved toward his end of the bar, she was flanked by two men. He recognized Avery Cooper. The other man, tall and sandy-haired, wore a badge and a gun strapped to his belt.

      So they weren’t taking the black rose lightly. But it wasn’t relief he felt as Reese and the two men slid into a booth almost directly to his right. The foliage of the plant partly obstructed his view, but he saw it as she sat down—just the edge of that piece of parchment sticking out of the pocket of her jeans.

      First the words echoed inside of his head: You will explore all the sensual delights of having your own boy toy. Then the image filled his mind. They were in bed together. Candles flickered in the background, flowers scented the air, but his attention was on her face, watching her eyes darken, hearing her breath hitch, seeing how her expression changed as he touched her, slowly, thoroughly.

      What might it be like to be Reese Brightman’s boy toy? To focus all his being on simply giving her pleasure? And making her his own.

      “Can I get you another beer?”

      Grant’s words seemed to come from a distance, and when they finally penetrated the sensual fog that engulfed him, Mac found that his hands were locked on the edge of the bar.

      He wanted Reese Brightman with a possessiveness that he’d never felt for any other woman. And the intensity of his desire had been building to a flashpoint ever since he’d first met her.

      “Sure,” he said to the bartender. But it wasn’t a cold beer that he needed. It was a cold shower.

      “OPEN A BOTTLE OF OUR NEW Pinot Gris for Ms. Brightman,” Avery told the hovering waitress. “Sheriff Kirby and I will have the house draft.”

      As soon the young woman hurried off, Reese said, “You didn’t have to come all the way up here, Nate. Your deputy, Tim, took my statement earlier.” She shifted her gaze to Avery. “You shouldn’t have called him.”

      Avery reached over to pat her hand. “I honored your wishes and I didn’t call your sisters … yet. Someone is going to a lot of trouble to threaten you. The sooner we put a stop to it, the better.”

      Avery was right, she thought. Ever since the flower and the note had arrived, he’d tried to distract her with the last minute details of the Singles Weekend. He’d proposed that she end the festivities on Sunday afternoon with a cooking demonstration. And she’d slipped right back into her old M.O., using her work to escape from her problems.

      She watched Nate pull out a notebook and flip it open. The flowers and the notes weren’t going to go away. Neither was Mr. Blue Eyes. She was going to have to deal with both problems, soon.

      She’d caught glimpses of Blue Eyes off and on all day long and each time, his effect on her senses seemed to grow stronger, more urgent.

      That moment in the courtyard when her eyes had locked on his, the heat rushing through her system had wiped out everything—all of her worries, all the stress she’d been under the past few months. She’d even forgotten all about the black roses and the notes.

      If he could do that just by looking at her … what could he do if he touched her? What might it be like if he kissed her? If she kissed him back?

      But each time her thoughts drifted in that direction, panic would bubble up. Could he be the man Hattie had chosen for her fantasy? Was Blue Eyes destined to become her boy toy? And what did she want to do about that?

      Those were the questions that Avery hadn’t been fully successful in distracting her from.

      And if she was going to take charge of her life, she needed those answers…. A little thrill moved through her at the idea.

      “Reese?”

      Gathering her thoughts, Reese saw that Nate had his pencil poised. First things first. Mentally, she squared her shoulders. “Go ahead. Ask me anything.”

      “According to Tim, the first note just said, ‘Congratulations'?”

      “Yes. I didn’t see it as a threat.”

      Avery’s brows shot up. “My darling girl, even with your convent school background, you must have thought a black rose was a bit ominous.”

       “I put it out of my mind.” And buried my head in the sand, as usual.

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