Seducing Megan: Prossers Bay Series Novella (8 page)

Megan bristled beside him. “Don’t make the assumption that Cody is any different where I’m concerned. She just has a different way of expressing herself.”

“I wasn’t suggesting anything by it.”

Megan huffed, and then relaxed a little. “I guess I’m a little sensitive about them. They only have me, so if I don’t stick up for them nobody else is going to. The girls have their own personalities, and I love them equally because of, not in spite of it.”

He’d have to watch what he said about the little princess and the dynamo. Oops, he’d already pegged the two girls, so what did that say about his usual aversion to children?

“Sounds like wise words. I hope you don’t mind going to Louis’s, just outside town?”

“Not at all. I think it’s nicer if we aren’t around too many people that we know. Not that we have anything to hide, but gossip is as rife in Prossers Bay as it is in any small town.”

The words came out in a rush and Jordan accepted that she had to remind him that this wasn’t a real date – in her eyes anyway. He didn’t want to tease her tonight. He wanted to have a nice time with her so that she could see they might have something here. Not that he wanted a ready-made family. No, he couldn’t see himself settling down just yet. But he knew Megan and the girls were a package, so like he’d already decided, he’d have to man up and get the twins on his side if he wanted Megan to spend any time with him.

It took them half an hour to drive to the steak house. It was very rustic, and a favorite place to eat for many of the more affluent residents, and even more so the resort guests, situated as it was between two towns. Prossers Bay had approximately six thousand inhabitants and Mayberry had not much more than that, and was another half hour down the coast in the other direction.

The radio was on and, by the way she tapped her fingers, he thought she was okay with his selection of easy listening. His last girlfriend had liked loud pop, and was always singing at the top of her lungs, which might not have been so terrible if her voice hadn’t sounded like a cat being strangled. In his book, a comfortable silence was much more pleasant. But was Megan comfortable? He glanced at her a few times. She had a frown marring that cute face and he wanted to make it disappear.

“Have you been to Louis’s before?”

She jumped and put a hand on her heart, recovering quickly from her daydream, which he hoped he was the main feature.

“Some of the residents from Prossers Bay have probably been here a few times, but a lot wouldn’t be able to afford it. It’s not of the same caliber as the local steak restaurant or the cafés in town. More like the restaurant at Haven and the fancy places you’re used to, I’d imagine.”

His eyebrows shot up at her assumption. “Actually, I don’t eat out much, not even at the resort.”

That frown reappeared.

“I guess you can get the restaurant at the resort to cook whatever you fancy, whenever you want it and delivered it to your house.”

Jordan already knew that her perception of his life clearly disturbed her, and maybe some of her calls were close to the mark, but in this instance, she was dead wrong. “I could live like that, but I choose to do a lot of my own cooking.”

“Seriously? You don’t look like the type.”

“To cook? I didn’t know there was a type.”

“Sure there is. Uptight and bossy. Oh, wait a minute, maybe you are the right type.”

“You can’t help judging me, just because I have money, can you?” He pulled into the parking lot and turned to her. “Couldn’t you pretend, just for one night, to believe that I’m a good guy and you don’t need to challenge me on everything you think I am?”

“I’ll try, but I can’t promise anything. You make me want to be naughty… I mean bad… I mean…”

He brushed a wayward curl off her cheek, taking pleasure in her slight shiver. “I get it. You get a perverse pleasure out of teasing me, and it isn’t going to change any time soon. I guess I can take it as long as you don’t mind me returning the favor.”

Megan didn’t answer him, although her cheeks were very pink and she looked very flustered. He wondered if the sort of teasing he’d conjured up had occurred to her as well. He got out of the car, taking a few seconds to adjust himself, trying to get out of his mind the image of her naked on his bed, before he went around to her door to open it.

With her cheeks still flushed, and looking damned cute, Jordan smiled at her. He’d bet that she didn’t get embarrassed that often, and her slip of the tongue had certainly done that. Speaking of which, he would like to taste that tongue of hers, and sample some of her naughtiness, one day. But best he didn’t think about any of that now. He held his hand out to her.

“Come on, let’s eat, I’m starving.”

She took his hand, and it was his turn to heat up. There was no way he could help staring at the delicious length of leg she exposed through the slit in the side of the dress that he definitely hadn’t noticed earlier, as she climbed out. He felt a little off kilter. Not only had she slipped under his skin with her feistiness, but the attraction was amplifying every day he was around her.

He shook his head to clear it as they walked up to the front door to be greeted by the maître d’ as soon as they walked in.

“Good evening, Mr. Lambert. We have a table for you by the window.”

“Thank you, Jason.”

Megan looked impressed. The table was in a perfect spot, just like the restaurant itself, which was on the top of a hill and had a sweeping view of Prossers Bay in one direction, and the town of Mayberry in the other.

After the waiter had handed them their menus and left, Megan leaned across to him. “How come he knows your name if you don’t come here often?”

“I tried to get him to come and work for me, but it didn’t work out.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Did you approach everyone in this part of New Zealand?”

“Not everyone,” he laughed. ‘It just seemed like a good idea to offer jobs to the locals first. Not just to support the towns, but in a business way. It would only add to what I was trying to achieve at the resort.”

“Which was?”

“A home away from home. People working and living in the area would be more likely to be proud of it, and show our guests Prossers Bay in the right way.”

“I’ve only been at Haven for a few weeks, but I believe you’ve done that. The guests are always making comments to the staff or amongst themselves about how they can’t wait to come back. You should be very proud of what you’ve managed in a relatively short space of time.”

“Wow, high praise indeed, coming from you. Yes, I am proud of Haven. It has everything that a person could want when they want to get away from their lives, but don’t want to be too isolated.”

“Of course it’s only for people with money.”

At her words, Jordan felt a recurring niggle that had been bothering him for a while. The town was not wealthy as such. It was the visitors to the resort, and the ones who owned the beachside condos and houses who had the money, not the ordinary residents, or people who stayed at the camp grounds and the B&B’s.

“There are a few cheaper rooms,” he couldn’t help saying defensively.

Megan snorted. “I know, I organize their cleaning, but they’re still not cheap enough for people like me, and then there’s all the add-ons.”

“Which you don’t have to have.”

“True, but who wouldn’t want a spa treatment? Or a board sailing lesson? Or to go snorkeling and scuba diving?”

“All those things cost money to have on offer. I can’t give them away for free.”

“What about making a couple of things inclusive in the price? I bet more people would come if you advertised things like that. And once they’re here, they’ll probably do more. I don’t think you’d lose any money from it. Not in the long run.”

Megan made sense, and she was opening his eyes to things he had thought about and dismissed. Sound business practice was to offer something for free and, generally, people couldn’t resist. He’d had too much to do early on but now, with people like her around, he had a bit more time for the marketing side of things.

“I guess I could offer the snorkeling for free from the beach for children or families. Just around the point there’s plenty of fish by the rocks, and I could give a demonstration, say every morning at a specific time. Then they could carry on by themselves. What a great idea. Thanks, Megan.”

He was rewarded with a grin.

“You could do the same with kayaking. If someone wants to keep the kayak for their stay, then you could charge a fee, but if it’s just a couple of hours then where’s the harm in a free session?”

“You certainly know your stuff.”

“Isn’t that why you hired me?”

“One of the reasons, the main reason, but there are others.”

“Are you flirting with me?” she blurted out, then put a hand up to her mouth, obviously regretting the question.

“I’m glad you finally noticed. I guess I’ve been doing it wrong all this time.”

There was that gorgeous blush creeping across her cheeks again as she quickly hid behind the menu. He hadn’t had this much fun for a long time, and he hoped it wouldn’t stop after one date.

“You’re staring at me.”

“I’m wondering what you’d like. From the menu.” He winked at her.

She laughed out loud, a real, hearty sound that warmed his insides and made him want to hear it again.

“Let’s order and then you can tell me all the ways I can give free stuff to my guests. I bet you have a long list.”

“Lucky I’m hungry, because you’re right. I do have a long list, and I think we should start with leftovers.”

“Leftovers?”

“Your kitchen wastes food and I think you should send it over it to the camp. Especially when they have needy children on site.”

“But I already sponsor the camp.” Damn, why had he told her that? “Forget I said that,” he said lamely. It was too late. Megan was great friends with Jeanne and Allan from the camp and, by the look on her face, she knew exactly what he was talking about.

“You’re the one who paid for that school to come from the city last year? You paid for all those poor children to have the great outdoors experience?”

“It’s supposed to be anonymous. Please don’t tell anyone. Only you and Chelsea know that it’s me.”

“But why? You should be proud of it.”

“I am, but I don’t do it for the recognition.”

“Very noble, but a little short-sighted.” She sounded frustrated.

“Sorry, I don’t get what you mean.”

Megan sighed. “For a savvy businessman, you sure have it wrong.” She put a hand up and began to tick off her fingers. “A, you can use the publicity if it’s not you, but Haven Resort, sponsoring things like that. B, it’s tax deductible, so it won’t cost as much. And C, if it doesn’t cost as much each time, then you can afford to do it more often. It’s simply Marketing 101.”

Jordan was stunned. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Thank you will suffice.”

“Thank you, Megan. I love the concept of more bang for my buck even if having my name associated with it doesn’t appeal to me. And my accountant’s going to be upset that I listened to you and not him, but it’s all worth it to get more sponsorship out there.”

“Precisely. Now, where’s the waiter?”

Jordan couldn’t believe his luck. Not only was he dining with a beautiful woman, but she was the most intelligent one he’d dated in a very long time, and she worked for him. Now, if he could just convince her to give the two of them a chance, he’d be a very happy man. He touched his glass to hers in a toast, and then realized he was actually incredibly happy right now.

Chapter Eight

Megan had to admit that she’d had a lovely evening in spite of her reservations. They’d sparred and laughed and sparred some more. Jordan got her, and the realization made her heart feel light for the first time in years.

When he dropped her home a few hours later, he undid his seatbelt and turned to face her. “Would you like me to take Lisa home?”

Touched that he’d even thought of it, she declined. “No, thanks. She wouldn’t be happy with that. She’ll probably stay the night, or Allan will pick her up if she decides to go home.”

“Fair enough. I’ve never dated a woman with children, so I wasn’t sure how this side of things worked. Plus, Lisa doesn’t know me at all.”

Megan was surprised once more at his understanding. “Have you ever been around kids?”

“That would be a ‘no.’ When I came to Christmas lunch last year, I was amazed and horrified to see so many of them with free rein. Shit, I don’t mean that the way it sounds.”

Megan frowned. “How do you mean it?”

“Well, they were loud and all over the place, yelling and carrying on. Their parents, for the most part, seemed to be ignoring them.”

“Parents need to unwind as well, you know. And no matter how it looked, all of those kids were being watched over, and they all behaved extremely well, considering how many differing ages there were.”

“Really?” he asked dubiously.

“Tell me something – weren’t you ever a child?”

“Sure, but I wasn’t like that.”