Page 29 of A Summer Scandal

Keris and Vi fell silent and stared at him, and after a long minute a slow smile crept over his face. ‘You know how much this is going to annoy my mother, right?’

Vi considered it, and decided she wasn’t remotely bothered. ‘My pier, my rules.’

‘I still think you should wait and see how you feel about it in the morning,’ he said.

Vi sighed, dramatic. ‘I’m going off you. I thought you were more spontaneous.’

‘I am spontaneous. Just not about business.’

‘Yeah, I heard that about you,’ she laughed lightly.

His dark eyes turned serious. ‘Heard what about me?’

Violet flushed, wishing she hadn’t said something so throwaway. ‘Nothing, forget it.’

Keris jumped up, a sudden movement designed to distract and it worked. ‘Come on kids. School night. Time to hit the hay.’

As they left the pub for the short walk back to the Lido, Violet listened to Keris bubble with ideas for the pier, and listened to Cal say nothing at all.

They deposited Keris on the ground floor with a promise to visit the pier the following day, and then walked upstairs in silence. Their quietness was born of two things: one, consideration for other residents – the middle flats of the building were leased as holiday lets so you never knew if anyone was staying there or not; and two, there was a new coolness between them that Vi wasn’t sure how tofix.

They hesitated before going their separate ways on the top landing, lit only by moonlight from the picture window.

She broke first. ‘I’m sorry if I offended you. I didn’t mean anything by it.’

‘People talk, Violet,’ he said eventually, his voice gravel in his throat. ‘It’s not always a good idea to believe everything you hear.’

She wondered about his marriage, and thought about what Keris had said about the number of casual affairs he’d had. He was right, she had judged him on what she’d heard, and on inspection found she wasn’t very impressed with herself for it. After all, hadn’t tonight’s public meeting been a classic example of how people could misconstrue and distort the truth?

‘You’re right. I’m not actually a go-go dancer,’ she said, glad when she caught the hint of a smile on his lips in the darkness.

‘And I haven’t shagged every woman in Swallow Beach.’

‘Well, I know that much,’ she said, serious again. ‘Because I live in Swallow Beach.’

What the actual hell was she doing? She was near enough to see the confusion in his eyes, the battle between doing the right thing and doing the thing you wanted to do playing out there on his face. He swallowed, and then reached out and curved his hand around her neck, drawing her close.

‘Go and sleep in your clamshell, mermaid girl,’ he whispered, lowering his mouth to kiss the top of her head. ‘It’s late.’

Violet laid her hand flat against his chest, feeling the steady rhythm of his heart. God, he smelt so damn good close up, that mix of leather and spice and heat and something indefinable. God knew what it was, but it was bloody sexy. He was basically catnip for girls, and right there in that moment Vi was fighting the urge to rub herself against him and see where it led.

Tipping her head back to look at him, she curled her fingers, bunching his T-shirt in her hand.

‘It’s a bad idea, Violet,’ he said. His mouth was close enough for her to feel the heat of his breath.

‘Is it?’ she breathed. Her heart knocked on her ribs, and her skin burned underneath his hand on her neck. His touch was firm; warm, cradling, his thumb skimming her jaw.

‘You’ll think so in the morning,’ he said.

‘I promised myself that I wouldn’t be dull when I came here,’ she said. ‘My life back home is too safe, it suffocates me.’ The words tumbled out of her head into the space between them.

She felt his low huff beneath her hand. ‘Your life might have been dull, Violet, but you’re not. You shine brighter than the fucking moon.’

No one had ever said anything quite so suddenly, joltingly sexy to Violet in her life; she made a noise dangerously close to a whimper.

‘If I kiss you, will you stop me?’

He moved his hand a little, enough to drag his thumb slowly over her mouth as he considered her question. She watched him, his eyes lowered to her lips. He was barely touching her, yet it felt more intimate than most of the sex she’d had.

---