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“Maybe not,” Cal managed to croak.

“Maybe not?” asked Lucy, kneeling down between Cal’s legs and letting her breath trail across her skin.

“Jesus,” Cal groaned.

“Maybe not?” repeated Lucy, brushing her lips across skin stretched over taut thigh muscles.

“Definitely not,” Cal said, parting her legs further.

“Good,” said Lucy as she pushed her face up into other areas. Areas that were far more interesting than just thighs.

She could do this, she thought. If this was short term, if this was what the next few days held, then she could definitely do this. She definitely wanted this.

She was wet again already as she pushed her hands up the legs of Cal’s shorts, felt the heat of her, the softness of her skin and then the scratchiness of hair. Wet again and breathing hard as she pulled down those shorts. And now her hands were shaking.

But it didn’t matter, because her tongue was going to be doing all the work.

Chapter Twenty

Cal closed the bedroom door quietly and then turned, letting out a screech as she ran into George.

“Fancy meeting you here,” George said with a wide grin.

“Um… Lucy’s taking a nap before the reception,” said Cal, feeling the blood rushing to her cheeks.

“Mmm, must be quite tiring all that… marrying going on,” said George, raising an eyebrow at her.

Cal didn’t respond, just stood there still, then George laughed.

“I’m teasing you,” he said. “Lucy deserves the best. And she really likes you, you know?”

There wasn’t really a reply to that. Not when Cal knew, even now, that this had to be a short term thing. So she mumbled something about leaving. George stood to one side to let her past.

“Cal?” he called after her.

She turned briefly.

“Welcome to the family,” he grinned.

Cal let herself out, walking down in the late afternoon sunshine to the beach, trying to calm herself. But it wasn’t that easy. The thought of Lucy, of her skin, her taste, everything about her. The second she let her guard down, a smile started to creep out and she just couldn’t stop it.

She was halfway back to the pub when her phone rang.

“Daily check up?” she answered, not as sourly as she had the day before.

“Just making sure you’re keeping on keeping on,” said Syd.

“You really don’t have to do this, I’m fine,” said Cal. Feeling far finer than she could remember feeling for quite some time.

“Actually, you sound… Do you sound happy?” Syd asked. There was a pause. “Cal Roberts, did you get laid?”

“You’ve replaced me with a barman,” Cal said.

“Indeed I have. But we were talking about you.”

Cal looked out over the waves, then shrugged. “I might have… met someone.”

The words didn’t sound right, even to her. They sounded both too serious and not serious enough. Which was kind of the problem.