Read Online Playing the Playboy's Sweetheart by Carol Marinelli - Free Book Online Page B

have to,’ Emily said, closing her eyes under the lovely weight of feeling full. ‘Though the pastries are calling me.’
    ‘We’ll have dessert later,’ Hugh said, and she thought of the tiny blueberry and lemon-curd tarts and wanted an empty stomach to devour them. ‘It will be good for the photos to spread them out a bit...’ Hugh’s voice trailed off as realisation hit.
    ‘Oh!’ Emily’s eyes snapped open and met Hugh’s.
    They hadn’t taken a single photo.
    Which was the whole point of him being here!
    ‘Okay,’ Hugh said, and dealt with it immediately. ‘Just stay there.’ He pulled out his phone and took a photo of Emily half-asleep, surrounded by empty containers. ‘I’ll put it up tomorrow.’
    ‘And if you write “Feeding time at the zoo is over”,’ Emily warned, ‘we’ll be over before we start.’
    ‘I was going to write exactly that.’ Hugh smiled but for a second it wavered, not that she’d notice. Emily’s eyes were still closed, but because they knew each other so well, shared the same kind of humour, they got all excited over the blood orange no-peel marmalade he’d bought her. The fact that they
got
each other bemused him at times.
    Why wouldn’t she give them a try?
    It was late afternoon and idyllic and more tempting than dessert was Emily’s breasts falling a little to the side, her nipples beckoning him, and he moved his gaze to her mouth and wondered what would happen if he simply leant over and kissed her.
    She’d kiss him right back.
    * * *
    Emily was very glad that her eyes were closed because she was wondering if sex in a garden was illegal.
    Maybe he could stay one night after all?
    It would be mean to send him off and there was that lovely champagne he’d bought.
    Emily’s mind was turning like a carousel as she lay there, wrestling with common sense, telling herself that sex she could handle, it was the emotional part, the inevitable bitter ending that she was attempting to shield herself from.
    She knew that his eyes were on her, could almost feel his gaze as a caress, and if she opened her own eyes...
    She did and there was his gaze waiting, but when his phone rang Hugh let out a small cuss as Emily let out a sigh of relief. She sat up, glad the moment of madness had been broken before any harm had been done, and started to collect together the picnic things.
    ‘Oh, Alex, hi.’ Hugh rolled his eyes as Alex checked in on him. ‘Yes, the weather’s being very kind. Emily is already sunburnt.’
    He glanced over to smile but Emily wasn’t looking at him. Instead, she was torturing him with her cleavage as she gathered together the plates.
    But then, as Alex told him the reason for his phone call, Hugh stopped thinking rude thoughts and wondered just what the hell he was supposed to do and how on earth he could tell Emily.
    ‘I’ll just check if Emily has any plans...’ He grimaced as Emily looked up and frowned at him. ‘Emily, Alex and Jennifer are heading up this way tomorrow to look at houses and they wondered if they might join us for dinner?’
    ‘That would be lovely!’ Emily said, though the smile on her face was black.
    ‘Great,’ Hugh said to Alex. ‘About six?’ Then he gave another wince and ignored her shaking head as he continued. ‘Of course you don’t need to book anywhere, there’s a spare room here.’
    ‘Oh, no!’ Emily said the second Hugh ended the call. ‘What the hell did you invite them to stay for?’
    ‘I didn’t invite them,’ Hugh protested. ‘Alex practically invited himself. I don’t doubt that he’s checking up on us. What was I supposed to say?’
    Emily picked up the basket and headed back to the house, and when Hugh followed her in she got straight to the point. ‘I’m not sharing a bed with you tomorrow night,’ she said, because she was having enough trouble keeping them apart with the kitchen table between them.
    ‘Fine. I’ll sleep on the floor.’ He went to the fridge and finally poured the