His eyes are as soulful as they are sexy. Why hesitate? It’s only dancing, after all. And anyway, surely you have the perfect excuse to be daring? You’ll never have another thirtieth birthday.
She picked up her bag from the bar.
Go on, Alice. He seems s-o-o-o nice.
She flashed him a bright return smile. ‘OK. Dancing sounds like fun.’
He grinned. ‘Let’s go.’
Outside on the footpath a photographer was taking a photo of a trio of laughing girls and, as Alice and Liam passed, there was a blinding flash from the camera.
The photographer called after them, ‘Sir, can I take a photo of you and your lovely lady?’
Liam scowled and waved him away.
‘Welcome to North Queensland,’ said Alice. ‘The local papers are always snapping people for their social pages.’
‘Glad we escaped, then.’ Liam took her hand.
Oh, heavens. She was super-sensitive to every millimetre of his skin, to the supple strength of his fingers interlaced with hers.
‘Where’s the best place in town for dancing?’ he asked.
‘The Reef Club is supposed to be very good.’
‘Supposed?’
‘I’ve never actually been there.’
He shot her a curious glance and she hoped it wasn’t because he could feel the wave of warmth that had swept through her when he touched her.
More than likely he was wondering about her restricted social life. If he asked, she would be prepared to explain that, although she worked for a tourist company, she specialised in regional tours and she didn’t have much personal experience of local night spots.
Liam didn’t ask. And Alice was relieved, because an explanation would have led to more details about her failed marriage. Todd had preferred to spend his weekends on game-fishing trips out to the Barrier Reef, or heavy drinking and gambling with his mates, rather than taking her out on the town.
But telling Liam about that could be an information overload. There was every chance he didn’t really want to know much about her at all.
He simply wanted her company for an hour or so. No strings attached. And that suited Alice just fine. The last thing she wanted was to leap straight from her disastrous marriage into another relationship. Besides, she’d always supposed that divorcees indulged in this kind of throwing-off-the-shackles adventure.
But she would feel a darned sight calmer about going dancing with a man she’d just met if she didn’t feel quite so attracted to him. She hadn’t expected to feel so quickly attuned, to be so instantly captivated and breathless.
It was more than a decade since she’d first fallen for the best-looking footballer in her high school. She knew she was out of practice at the whole guy-girl scenario, but surely she shouldn’t feel such an emotional connection with a stranger? Or such a heady jolt of awareness whenever Liam Conway looked at her? Whenever she looked at him.
How on earth would she cope when they started dancing? Perhaps she should start praying now. With luck, the band at the Reef Club played loud, fast music where dancers more or less jigged around without touching.
No such luck.
One step into the foyer of the Reef Club and she saw that the lighting was low, the music slow and bluesy, and the dance floor dark and crowded. One look at the dangerous smoulder in Liam Conway’s blue eyes and she knew she was in trouble.
Liam sent her a slow smile. ‘Shall we dance, birthday girl?’ And without even waiting for her reply, he took her hand and led her onto the shadowy dance floor. And suddenly it was happening. Alice was in his arms.
She was excited, terrified—electrified, her senses on full alert. Cocooned by the darkness and the sexy croon of a saxophone, they swayed together slowly and she felt everything super-keenly—the touch of Liam’s breath softly stirring her hair, the muscled strength of his shoulder beneath her hand, his taut, lean body brushing tantalisingly close to hers.
If she closed her eyes her nostrils filled with the subtle tang of his aftershave, and if she opened them again she was captivated by the lazy sweep of the strobe light, giving her glimpses of Liam’s face and the contrast between her pale skin and his tan.
From the moment she’d met this man she’d been walking a tightrope. Perhaps her emotions were tipping her off balance? She felt spellbound by him—by their coinciding birthdays, by the kind way he’d listened to her sob story, by the hungry way he looked at her. And now, in his arms, she was incredibly ablaze.
Clearly the long months of loneliness during her separation and divorce had taken their toll.
She wanted Liam to kiss her. She wanted his hands on her body, and yes, she wanted him to make love to her.
The wanting filled her head, blanking out reason.
And she suspected that Liam’s mind was on the same fast-track. Despite the ease with which he moved about the dance floor, there was no mistaking the subtle tension in his body, or the unsubtle desire in his eyes.
His lips brushed her forehead and a soft, almost desperate little sigh escaped him.
The dark, masculine sound plunged deep within Alice and the last, fragile threads of her resistance gave way. Helpless, she melted against him and desire flowered, surged and spilled inside her.
He drew her even closer, and nudged against her with sweet, unbearable precision. With his mouth against her ear, he murmured, ‘Have you any idea how bloody beautiful you are?’
They were hardly the words or the actions of a gentleman and she knew she should have been shocked. But she was too lost inside her cloud of desire. And her throat was so choked with emotion she couldn’t have voiced a protest even if she’d tried to.
And then, in the lull between one song and the next, he said, ‘Birthday girl, I want to take you home.’
Oh, God. Alice buried her face in his shoulder, her heart beating like a wild creature. She’d known from the moment she left the Hippo Bar that there was every possibility the evening was heading in this direction, but for one hot, terrifying moment of panic her courage failed her. A casual fling was so outside her experience.
Liam gently stroked her neck. ‘Bad idea?’
Was it? Alice tried to think calmly, but she was such a swirling mass of emotion and desire she was beyond the point of rational decision-making.
But she knew there was one important question she had to ask. She tilted her face so that her husky whisper reached him. ‘Tell me one thing; are you married?’
‘No.’ He said that so definitely she knew that he spoke the truth.
Raising her eyes to meet the hot intensity of his, she said, ‘It’s not a bad idea, Liam.’
The rasp of his indrawn breath made her shiver. He was as tense, as consumed as she was. She could hardly breathe.
They left the Reef Club holding hands and yet hardly daring to look at each other as they passed beneath the glow of overhead lights.
‘I didn’t bring my car,’ Alice said. ‘Did you?’
For the briefest moment she sensed a different kind of tension in him. ‘No; I haven’t organised a vehicle yet.’
‘Well,’ she said lightly, ‘there should be plenty of taxis around tonight.’
She felt impossibly shy as they stood near the edge of the footpath, waiting for a taxi. ‘I—I guess this is where one of us says, your place or mine?’
His light blue eyes seemed to shimmer. ‘I’m