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‘Uh-huh.’
Claudia shoved her hand on her hip. ‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?’ she demanded.
Avery shrugged in that gorgeous retro Hollywood movie star way of hers. ‘Nothing. I think it’s great that you can’t take your eyes off Captain Sexypants.’
Claudia blinked. Only Avery would come up with such a fanciful nickname. ‘Captain Sexypants?’ Of all the... ‘Just because you are all loved up, Avery Shaw, does not mean the rest of the world is similarly interested.’
‘Uh-huh.’
Avery got that dreamy look in her eyes again—the one that had been an almost permanent fixture on her face since she and Jonah had become an item—and Claudia rolled her eyes, returning her attention to the paperwork in front of her.
‘You can tell me, you know, Claude. We’ve been friends a long time—you know you can talk to me.’
Claudia glanced up as Avery turned serious, her American accent more pronounced when edged with worry. The thing was she knew she could. Or she used to be able to anyway. But then the resort got dumped on her as a sole responsibility and, even though Avery had been there by her side throughout it all, the onus still fell directly on Claudia’s shoulders. Trying to keep it altogether, make it all work, had forced Claudia into an almost permanent state of seriousness, with no time for frivolous girly chatter.
And then Avery had hooked up with Jonah and how could Claudia possibly dump her problems on her friend’s shoulders? Avery was happy—she didn’t want to bother her with trivial stuff.
The days of their girlhood confidences had been well and truly squashed by her very adult responsibilities.
So now she wasn’t sure how she could say, well, actually, Avery, Luke sleep-groped me a few days back and I’m so sexually frustrated I think I might die from it or at the very least jump the next guy who walks through the door.
How could she even voice that, think of her own petty desires, when the world around her had gone to hell and there were so much more important things to deal with?
And it was just as well she didn’t as Jonah chose that moment to walk through the door and Avery’s face lit up as if he were dipped in chocolate and rolled in sugar.
‘I know, Avery,’ Claudia said, and smiled at her best friend in the whole world. ‘I know. I just have a lot on my plate.’
Avery gave her shoulder a squeeze. ‘You need a break.’
Claudia nodded. ‘Later.’ She tapped a pen against the resort plans in front of her. ‘After.’
But then Jonah’s, ‘Where are those refreshments, woman?’ boomed across the foyer and Avery said, ‘I’m just going to organise some drinks for the workers.’
Claudia nodded absently. ‘’Kay. See you later.’
Claudia watched as Avery took off in Jonah’s direction and smiled as Jonah swept her up and pressed a very indecent kiss on Avery’s mouth. She looked away.
Outside. To the pool.
Luke was boosting himself up on the side, his back to her. Water sluiced off his hair and down over his shoulders and the perfectly delineated muscles of his back. For a man who had an office job, he was in excellent shape. In one smooth movement he’d twisted and sat on the coping of the pool. The broad expanse of his chest was exposed to her view now and Claudia drank it in. Firm pecs, flat abs and that distinct trail of hair that arrowed from his belly button down...
Before she could follow it all the way to its destination, Luke turned again and pushed up through powerful quads into a standing position.
Her gaze was drawn to those legs. Lightly haired, his calves firm without being bulky. And then there were his boardies. His very wet boardies that clung in all the wrong places, outlining the hardness of quads beneath but also the part of his anatomy she’d felt up close and personal only days before.
Claudia’s mouth suddenly felt as dry as day-old toast.
He chose that moment to look up and suddenly she was looking straight into his eyes. Eyes that, despite distance and the barrier of glass, seemed to pierce right to her centre. Their gazes locked and held and Claudia’s heart banged around in her chest. Her breath hitched. Her mouth went from dry to arid.
There was a frankness to his gaze and in that instant she knew, she just knew, he’d been aware of her interest all along. A part of her wanted to hide behind the desk, hide from the directness in his gaze, but he chose that moment to sweep a flat palm up his belly to his chest and her eyes helplessly followed.
She couldn’t look away.
He motioned to her then, inviting her to join him and, God help her, she wanted to. Really freaking bad.
