The Pleasures of Summer (26 page)

Flynn watched as she twisted the cheap gold band around her finger. Not the type of jewellery he had expected to see an heiress wearing, but Summer never took it off. The sight of her biting on her lower lip, trying not to cry, made him want to punch something.

He had leafed through Niall’s report about the cancellation of the wedding and dismissed it without a second thought. Celebrity relationships broke all the time. Usually within a month they were announcing that they were in love with someone else. But this wasn’t a celebrity. This was Summer. And as much as she was the client from hell, she hadn’t deserved any of this.

Oh, there was no doubt that she was naïve and that her
father should have screened her boyfriends more thoroughly, but it was too late for that now. The damage was already done. What he hadn’t expected to feel was shame, or the fierce sense of anger that raged through him at the thought of someone hurting her like that.

‘I’ll get Niall to check him out.’ It would be nice if the ex-fiancé turned out to be the stalker. It would give Flynn a valid reason for tearing the bastard apart and beating him to a pulp.

She snorted. ‘You think Dad hasn’t already done that? Believe me; Adam was top of his shit list for months afterwards. For a while, even the rain was his fault.’

‘Still. I want to check myself.’ Flynn was willing to bet he could dig a lot more dirt than Tim O’Sullivan could. Curiosity overcame him. ‘What was in the photos?’

She flushed and ducked her head. ‘The usual,’ she mumbled. ‘Adam set it up. I couldn’t understand why he was so keen on me giving him a blow job that evening. He knew I don’t like doing them. But he begged, so I did. With perfect camera angles and everything. You could see my face really clearly and hardly a detail of him. He could have been any stray man I had picked up.’

Flynn’s fist clenched involuntarily. He forced it to relax before he spoke again. ‘You don’t like BJs?’

She shrugged. ‘I don’t like the taste.’

‘Really? That’s it?’

‘I bet most women don’t like doing it. They just say they do to make men happy.’ She met his incredulous look with a mutinous stare. The way her lower lip stuck out slightly was adorable and tempted him to bite it, but he had to stay focused.

‘I’ll just have to see about that, won’t I?’ he said. ‘I’m sure if we went about it the right way, we could change your mind.’

‘I’ve heard that line before.’ She turned away, backing down from his subtle challenge. ‘I bet you’ve never had a bad break-up.’

Flynn shifted in his chair. He could try to deflect the question, but she had been honest with him and it didn’t feel right to lie to her. ‘I have. And it wasn’t pretty either.’

‘Oh?’

He caught a flash of sympathy in her eyes and ploughed on. ‘I was involved with someone. It was a D/s thing. We were together when I was home but she wanted more than that. Unfortunately, I was never in the country long enough. When I came back from my next tour of duty, she was dating my brother.’

Flynn remembered David’s embarrassment when he tried to break the news about him and Lorna. How the occasional friendly drink and a shoulder to cry on had turned into a relationship. Neither of them had meant for it to happen, but by the time he got home, she and David were already an item.

‘So what did you do?’ Summer asked.

What could he do? His mother was already mad about her. The prospect of one of her sons marrying and giving her some grandchildren had made her happier than she had been for a long time. He couldn’t ruin that. How could he admit that he had met Lorna in a BDSM club and that the pair of them had played together for months? Flynn shrugged. ‘There was nothing I could do. They’re getting married soon.’

‘Ouch. That must hurt. I’m sorry.’ Summer placed her hand on his arm in a gesture of comfort. ‘Come on, let’s get some fresh air. You can walk me to the spa again.’

‘Good girl, you’re learning.’

She snorted while she grabbed her towel and wash bag.

After she was finished doing whatever it was women did in the shower, and god knows she only had the basics as Flynn had refused to pack any of those oils and potions women seemed to need, he gave himself a speed scrub in the shower and was back at the croft before she had undressed.

The sight of her in those skimpy bits of nothing made sharing a bed with her a bad idea. She was still vulnerable from her early confession and too tempting for his peace of mind. He pulled out the sleeping bag. He would stay downstairs, well away from her. She’s the client, he repeated to himself.

And he would wear pyjamas. Well, he amended; he would if he had any. Instead, he pulled on a clean pair of workout pants and tied the cotton drawstring tightly.

Summer had settled in bed, and silence descended on the croft. There was still twilight outside, but it was dim indoors. Flynn stacked his hands beneath his head and stared at the ceiling, trying not to think of her upstairs, all warm and sensual in his bed. The bed he had made with his own hands. The bed he hadn’t realized he was making for her to sleep in. The bed he wanted to be in.

He dragged his mind away from her and thought about Adam Whatshisname. It was bad enough marrying a girl for her money, but then to humiliate her like that. These days, once pictures were released, they were out there forever.
To the end of her days, Summer was likely to see pictures of herself sucking cock wherever she went. When she applied for jobs, when she was being inaugurated as President, when she was getting married. For some reason, that image annoyed him. He didn’t want to think about Summer getting married.

Instead he considered her confession that she didn’t like the taste. He really should do something about that. His balls tightened as he considered a course of lessons designed to teach her to love it. And graduation day would be something very special … Oh yeah, it was his duty to change her mind. Think of all the sensual pleasures she was missing.

There was a rustle upstairs, and the object of his fantasies poked her head over the edge of the ceiling. ‘Are you coming to bed?’ She sounded young, uncertain.

‘I’ll stay down here tonight.’

‘Oh! I’m a little bit cold. I thought you might be too.’ There was a slight quiver in her voice. Summer wasn’t the usual self-possessed princess tonight.

He couldn’t resist. ‘Yeah, well, maybe I’m a bit cold too,’ he lied, climbing out of the sleeping bag and up the ladder. Her bed was warm and smelled like Summer. His cock hardened instantly and he had to position himself carefully so that when she curled against him, she didn’t feel it.

She’s the principal. He had to keep his distance.

‘Of course, that’s not the only reason you wanted to go to
Noir
, is it?’ he said, almost at random.

‘What?’

‘You’re a kinky little girl, aren’t you?’

She stiffened. ‘What do you mean?’

Good, she was prickly and sounded more like the Summer he was used to.

‘I packed for you, remember? I know what you’re really like.’

‘I have no idea what you are talking about.’ She tried to sound indignant.

‘Hah! Did you think I wouldn’t find your stash? All those books full of kinky sex and spanking? I bet your Kindle is stuffed with erotica, stories full of dark and dangerous desires.’

She had gone rigid. ‘You had no right to do that.’

‘I’m your bodyguard. I have to know everything about you. And very interesting it was, too.’

She pulled away from him. ‘So I’m curious. That’s not a crime.’

‘No,’ he agreed. ‘But it was enlightening how you found your way to all the really good stuff. And how well-thumbed your novels were.’

She stayed silent.

He waited for a minute, and then added, ‘I assume you used the Rabbit, but tell me, did Adam use that little flail on you? Or those leather cuffs? Or the bondage tape?’

For some reason, the image of Adam playing with those toys enraged Flynn.

She went rigid. ‘No!’ He waited and eventually she went on, the words coming in jerks. ‘No one did. I bought them for him, but we never used them.’

Flynn pulled her against him. ‘Why not?’ He couldn’t resist stroking her back.

‘Adam thought it was weird. He said he wasn’t into anything like that, but I just wondered …’ Her voice trailed off.

‘Wondered what?’ His hand slowed.

‘What it would be like?’ He could hardly hear her, she spoke so quietly. ‘I always wondered. Even when I was in college, I had fantasies about a strong man, someone who would spank me and …’ She broke off, unable to put it into words.

Flynn stayed silent, letting her find her own way.

‘I know that it’s silly. I’m a modern woman. I don’t let men give me orders.’ She broke off again and gasped when he give her a quick pinch on her bum. ‘Ow. Don’t get any ideas. Those stories about being tied up, they’re just fiction. If someone tried to do that to me in real life, it would hurt and I would hate it.’

‘Would you?’ He continued to stroke. Did she realize how closely she was lying against him?

‘Of course I would. Fantasies are just that. It’s never the same when you do them in real life.’ She sounded as if she was trying to convince herself.

‘No. Sometimes it’s better.’ He waited for a few minutes, and then asked, ‘Did you never get your boyfriend to spank you? Just to see?’

She shrugged. ‘I didn’t know how to ask him. And what if he told anyone? You can just imagine the headlines, can’t you? “Summer O’Sullivan is into kinky sex”. The tabloids would have a field day.’

She raised her head from its position on his chest. ‘You do this stuff, don’t you?’

He nodded.

‘Do women really like it?’

He nodded again.

‘How do you know? Adam thought I liked giving him blow jobs. Women probably just tell you what you want to hear.’

He laughed. ‘Call it male intuition. There are certain subtle signs that tell me when a woman is really into it.’

Summer put her head back down on his chest. ‘I still think they’re just fooling you.’

But the quiver had left her voice and she relaxed into sleep. He grinned and expanded his plans for her education.

When she woke, Summer was still lying in his arms. Usually she liked guys who manscaped, but the light coating of hair on his chest felt nice. Masculine. Adam had always been ultra-conscious of his appearance and he had spent more time in the salon than she did. But Flynn was natural. Summer sniffed lightly, inhaling the scent of soap and something that was uniquely him.

‘Do I smell?’ The vibration in his chest rumbled against her ear and she giggled.

‘No. I mean, yes. You smell nice.’ She waited for him to make some excuse and leave. She would have, if their roles were reversed. How could she have dumped on him like that last night? A whole year of pretending that she didn’t care, that Adam never happened and she had blurted it out like a teenager.

‘Tell me your thoughts.’

‘My thoughts? Why?’

‘Because I’m interested. If I’m to protect you, I need to know everything that’s going on inside your head.’

She stretched out her hand, and let it rest on his abdomen. Flynn had real muscles. They were rock hard. He was rather like one of the cover models from her favourite erotica.

‘I’m waiting.’

Oh dear. Tarzan was back. ‘I was thinking that you have abs like a cover model.’

Laughter rumbled through his chest. ‘Is that so? I’ll keep it in mind if I decided on a career change. What were you thinking about before then?’

There was no fooling him. How had he gotten inside her head so fast? ‘That I’m sorry that I dumped on you last night.’

Flynn rolled over, pinning her against the pillow. ‘You did not dump on me. I asked you to tell me.’

She could see the gold flecks in his eyes again. He gave an impatient sigh. ‘How long has it been since you talked to anyone? I mean really talked?’

Summer bit down on her lip. She talked with Maya and Natasha all the time. About fashion, clubs, gossip but nothing serious. She and Molly had drifted apart over the past couple of years. Molly was different from the girl she had known in college. Only her cousin Sinead could see right through her. Luckily she didn’t see her very often.

‘That long, hmmm? How about a little wager – you promise to tell me the truth for a whole day. No evasions. No lies.’

Not a chance, she thought instinctively. She wasn’t letting him inside her head again, but the challenge in Flynn’s gaze made her hesitate. She could do this. Well, mostly. ‘And what if I do? Will I get a prize?’

The smile he gave her had a tinge of wickedness. ‘Maybe we’ll explore some of those fantasies of yours.’

‘What?’ She almost rocketed out of the bed.

‘You heard me.’

‘But I thought you didn’t sleep with clients.’

‘You won’t always be the client and I said nothing about sleeping.’ Flynn released her and rolled off the bed.

‘Wait. You can’t just say something like that and walk away.’

But Flynn was already gone, whistling as he strode up the path to the spa. Summer battled the urge to run after him, or throw something at him.

When he returned, she was dressed and doing her best to get the fire going.