Call Me Cupid: The Guy to Be Seen With / The First Crush Is the Deepest / Too Close for Comfort. Heidi Rice

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      Chloe sighed with contentment. So she didn’t want to get romantically entangled with Daniel. It wasn’t a crime to spend time with a man who enjoyed being with her. And he did enjoy being with her. She could tell that from every look, every scrap of body language.

      She should have paid attention to the wave of warmth that flooded her torso at that thought, but she didn’t. She was too busy stripping the ghosts of the past of all their power.

      Before, she’d just been a faceless girl to him. One of the many anonymous bodies in a packed lecture hall. He hadn’t known her when he’d pushed her away, told her to get a grip on herself. But now...

      Now Daniel did know her, and he liked what he saw. It changed everything.

      So when the breeze picked up and Chloe gave a little shiver, causing Daniel to shift closer so she could rest against his shoulder if she wanted to, she didn’t wriggle away. And when the swing band finished their set and everyone got up to dance for their final number, she let him pull her to her feet.

      The music was so loud that he had to lean in very close to talk into her ear. His breath was warm on her neck. ‘You’re good at this,’ he said, after she spun out and then back in again. ‘You’ve got the moves right down.’

      Chloe showed off by doing a tuck and spin. ‘I had a few lessons,’ she said, a little smugly.

      Daniel looked suitably impressed. He twirled her out again perfectly, but when she came back he was closer and she all but crashed into him. Her palm splayed across his chest was the only thing that stopped the entire length of their torsos touching.

      ‘You’re a woman of many talents,’ he said, sliding his hands round her waist. ‘Are you this good at everything you do?’

      ‘I make sure I am,’ she replied. She’d meant it quite innocently, but the husky tone to her voice added a whole extra layer of meaning.

      Daniel’s eyebrows rose in reply and his smile widened. Then he pulled her closer so her temple was pressed against his cheek. ‘I’ll bet you are,’ he whispered into her ear, and Chloe started to shake deep down inside.

      The song came to an end and people started clapping. Chloe and Daniel didn’t move. An invisible force field had glued them together, even when the applause faded and people started sitting back down to continue eating and drinking in the break before the next artist. The slap of the double bass was still pounding in Chloe’s ears, even though the band had left the stage minutes ago.

      There was no comfortable, easy conversation now. They’d gone beyond words, the delicious little undercurrent zapping between them was doing all the talking.

      Would it really be so bad?

      To give in to this tugging deep down inside, the one that was drawing her to Daniel? They were both single, both grown-ups. Wasn’t this what she’d wanted—longed for—for years? She couldn’t quite remember why she was so set on denying herself now.

      While she was still contemplating this, the stage darkened and the crowd hushed in anticipation. Reluctantly, they pulled apart and sat down as Kat de Souza walked onto the stage, her feet bare, in tight fitting jeans, a simple sleeveless black T-shirt and a multitude of necklaces and bangles. When she reached the centre she sat down on a stool. Everyone went quiet. Chloe could even imagine the trees in the arboretum leaning just a little bit closer to listen.

      Kat’s first song was one of her early hits. Chloe found herself mouthing the words and swaying slightly, knees bent, feet together, body hugged against her knees. She was completely lost in the moment until she heard a deep, rich voice beside her, humming. She turned to find Daniel singing.

      She leaned closer so he could hear her without her shouting. ‘You know every note.’

      He gave a rueful smile. ‘Kelly mainlined this album for about three months. I could probably recite the lyrics in my sleep, if I really wanted to. It’s not really my kind of stuff, but it grew on me.’

      ‘Let me guess,’ Chloe said. ‘You’re more of a rock guy?’

      He smiled at her in a way that made her insides avalanche. She turned to face the stage again and carried on singing silently, feeling a wee bit oxygen starved.

      The song was a bewitching one of love and passion and regret, and the magic it wove throughout the crowd deepened the spell working on Chloe. The sky grew dark, the rainbow lights in the Temperate House glowed and the champagne danced in her veins. Daniel shuffled in behind her and she sank back into him, while she kept her eyes on the young woman on the stage.

      Every part of her that touched him was fizzing with electricity, and she didn’t want it to stop. And that only meant one thing.

      Dared she really do this? Was she really that brave?

      Daniel moved so he could talk into her ear. ‘Your lips are moving, but you’re not making any sound.’

      She twisted towards him and found his face breathtakingly close. ‘How do you know? I was facing away from you and it’s too loud to hear me even if I was.’

      His arm snaked around her and he flattened his palm against her lower ribs. And then he just looked at her. Looked into her eyes. Looked at her lips. ‘I can’t feel any vibrations in your torso,’ he said quietly.

      He couldn’t? Chloe sure as hell could.

      But he was right—she hadn’t been singing.

      ‘Singing is the one thing I’ve never been any good at, no matter how hard I tried.’ And, boy, had she tried. Two years of private singing lessons hadn’t been able to get a good note out of her.

      Strangely, this made Daniel smile.

      ‘What?’ she said, knowing her cheeks were colouring further.

      ‘It’s nice to know you’ve got a few imperfections like the rest of us.’

      He’d meant it as a compliment, but Chloe couldn’t help the instinctive bristling at his words. A spike of something cold went through her. She was an attractive, confident, sexy woman now. It had been a long time since her parents’ suffocating ambition for her had weighed on her heavily. She knew she didn’t have to be brilliant at everything, but it was hard to let go of the little inner push that told her to try harder, be better. And she was feeling a little of that pressure tonight.

      New Chloe had been her most important self-improvement package to date. What was the point in excelling at Italian cooking or swing dancing or Spanish guitar if you failed at the most important thing—being a woman? Deep down inside, even if she hadn’t admitted it to herself, her decade-long quest had been to turn herself into the kind of woman Daniel Bradford wouldn’t turn down. And tonight, if she was brave enough, she could have her answer. One way or another.

      Oh, the thought scared her so. She went to turn her head away, catch her breath for a moment, but he caught it with his hand, hooking his fingers round the curve of her neck, letting his thumb trail her cheek. ‘Don’t.’

      She held her breath.

      This was it, wasn’t it? She could reach for what she wanted—what she’d always wanted—or she could shrink back like a coward.

      She СКАЧАТЬ