Twice in a Lifetime (Carina) Read Online Free Page B

was happy he had made it, so why could she not get rid of the nagging feeling of disappointment? Maybe it was because he had changed so much to achieve it. The Liam she knew would not have blackmailed her. He would have helped Sam because it was the right thing to do.
    She shook off the sudden sentimentality. She might not want to be here but she was determined to enjoy the next seven days. She had not been on holiday for far too long, and, like it or not, this was as good as it was going to get. “I wish I had brought my swimming costume.”
    “Just go naked. I do,” he said. A smile played on his full mouth. He looked far too much like her Liam when he smiled.
    She swallowed hard to dislodge the lump that had suddenly formed in her throat. It was far too easy to picture his tanned, lean form, naked in the clear water. She knew from memory, even the sight of him shirtless was enough to leave her breathless.
    She shook her head to try to dislodge the image.
    “No one can see you,” he assured her.
    “You could see me.”
    “Nothing I haven’t seen before. If it helps, I am imagining you naked right now.”
    “Stop that.” She swatted at him, missed his arm, and her hand connected with the hard wall of his stomach.
    “Still feisty as ever. You can take the girl out of Scotland, but you can’t take Scotland out of the girl.”
    “Too right. Now please stop thinking about me naked.” Her cheeks were growing hotter by the minute.
    “Feel free to picture me naked.” When his smile deepened, the dimple on his right cheek appeared.
    “No, thank you.” But she was. She was remembering the first time she had seen him naked and hard for her. She had to squeeze her eyes shut to stop the scene playing in her head. She needed to stop seeing him the way he was. He wasn’t hers any more.
    “Suit yourself, then,” he said as he led her past a sitting room to a large bedroom.
    “Take my room. I will have the guest room at the front.”
    She shook her head. “I don’t want to take your room.”
    “Take it. I work odd hours. I don’t want to wake you.”
    “Are you sure?” She was about to say something about him being kind enough to let her stay with him and then she remembered she wouldn’t need a place to stay if it weren’t for him. “Fine. I will take it,” she said a bit more harshly than she had intended.
    She laid her bag on a chair and sat down on the king-size bed, the fluffy white duvet cover puffed up on either side of her hips. She glanced at the wood and metal frame of the headboard and wondered about all the things he had done in this bed and all the women he had done them with. Why she cared was beyond her; it wasn’t as if she had been celibate for the last ten years, yet there was a smug satisfaction in knowing she was his first.
    “If you want any clothes washed, just leave them in the hamper. The maid will get them in the morning. If you’re hungry, just phone room service. I have a menu in the bedside table.”
    The sound of room service made her mouth water and her overdraft hurt. She pulled out the menu and was reminded again how much she could not afford this time away. She only had a single change of clothes, and those were meant for when she landed back at Heathrow. The only clothes she had packed were a wool jumper and another pair of jeans. She would melt if she put on a jumper but she doubted she could afford to buy anything else; something told her Dubai wasn’t a cheap place to shop. She glanced at the clock radio beside the bed. She still had time to make her flight. “Look, Liam. I need to get home. I can’t afford to stay here. I don’t have any clothes and I can’t even afford a starter off this menu. And quite frankly any place without Irn-Bru is not a place I want to be.” She tried to make light of the situation. It felt awkward admitting to Liam she could not afford to even visit his new life.
    He looked at her incredulously. “I think I can afford some holiday