Chelsea. What about where you sleep?" He looked over at her contemplative expression.
"I can see where you are going with this." Her expression turned slightly nervous.
"I didn't mean that I expected you to sleep with me. What kind of a jerk do you think I am, Anne? I only meant that, Chelsea will never believe that you don't sleep in the same room as me, and trust me, she will check."
"She will check, huh?" Anne sat in silence looking out at the water. Ben was not sure what she was thinking. "Which room is yours?"
He told her his suite number surprised by the question. What did she have planned now?
"Perfect. Every night I'll go up to your room with you and sneak down the back balcony fire escape. Then, in the mornings, I'll sneak back in the same way, and we can go down to breakfast together. What do you think?" The plan did sound good.
"We will have to spend our days together as well. That will spoil your vacation and your time with your parents."
"I probably would not have been spending much time with them, anyway, with this being their busy season. Ok, here's the deal, Ben. How were you planning on spending your few days up here until Friday night's groom's dinner?"
"I had planned on doing some more kayaking and doing some biking over the next few days in between getting some work done."
"Perfect! So was I. We can go together on our outings. When we get back, I'll swim, read, or do something else while you are busy with work or wedding preparations. Then when you leave on Sunday, we can part, and that will be that. We don’t see each other again, and you can tell Chelsea whatever you want. Job complete."
"Ok, fine. That sounds pretty cut and dried when you lay it out like that, but what about when I kiss you? Or you kiss me?" He saw the look of alarm which crossed her face.
"What?"
"They are called 'shows of affection', my dear. We have to have them to make this all believable. We have to act like a newly engaged couple, and that means that I get to touch you openly and I expect you to touch me as well. It also means that there will be times when I will kiss you and you will kiss me. What's more, I am not talking about a little peck like from earlier today. I’m talking about a real kiss. In fact, we should practice now to make sure we have the right chemistry." She suddenly gave a soft chuckle and looked at him with humor in her eyes.
"This is the being 'mostly good' part of the walk to the water, isn't it?" He flashed a charming smile at her reference to their earlier discussion. The answering smile on her face drew him in, and he felt the catch in his gut again.
"I guess it is." The humor left him only to be replaced by the desire to finally taste her mouth and touch her skin. The intensity of his desire surprised him. He had made his fortune by following his gut, and right now his gut was telling him to kiss her. Turning to face her, he put one arm around her back and the other up to her face then leaned in until his lips covered hers. He soon found himself lost in the sensation and the flavor of Anne.
Chapter 7
Anne nearly threw herself into his arms when he started talking about kissing her on a regular basis. Ever since they parted that afternoon, she wondered if she would see him again other than in passing. Then when he maneuvered himself into having dinner with her, she was both nervous and thrilled to have him there. All evening long, she felt the desire to kiss him, to taste him, to touch him, grow as it did all that last summer when she turned seventeen and that morning after his too brief peck on her lips.
It did not surprise her that she sincerely enjoyed spending time with him. She and Ben always found it easy to talk to each other. What did surprise her was just how much they still had in common. Then when he looked at her with those brown eyes warm with desire, she felt like she would melt from the heat. Once he started talking about taking her for a walk down to the water after dinner, she practically jumped at