Lorraine Wilson - Secrets of a Chalet Girl:

“Hi, I’m Zac Hengler, and you are?” His tone was as cool as though they’d simply bumped into each other, not shared that kiss , the kiss she was still reeling from.

“Um, Flora,” she replied, feeling dazed and disorientated.

“Umflora?” He grinned wolfishly. “Unusual name.”

“Umflora Lyndon.” Despite her mortification Flora’s lips creased into an automatic smile, joining in his joke, her body determined to give this guy the green light no matter what she did.

“I don’t usually do this, honestly. I’m sorry.” She shrugged, wishing she couldn’t still inhale the clean, citrus scent of his aftershave, that it didn’t make her want to bury her head against his chest.

Down girl!

“No need to apologise. So you’re English? Only an English girl would do that and then apologise.” Zac grinned.

“I’m not, I just had to…” Everything was coming out wrong, her tongue not connecting properly to her brain. “We’re playing Truth or Dare. Really silly I know. It wasn’t my idea.”

“Oh, I don’t know, I think it sounds like fun. Can I play?” Zac smiled a slow sexy smile and Flora’s insides gave a delicious lurch as though she’d been thrown into the air by a fairground ride – the Supersonic Swooner.

Who needs a fairground ride with Zac around?

Her cheeks flamed even hotter and she became intensely aware of Zac’s hand still resting on the small of her back. What would it feel like if those fingers dipped lower, stroking and touching… She took a tentative step back, confused, her desire to run battling her inner hussy’s craving to offer herself up to Zac on a plate.

Don’t you dare! Single for a year remember? You’ve got to stop handing control over to men.

“I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about me,” she said, not even sure what the ‘right idea’ was. Her physical reaction to Zac shocked her.

“And what would that be? That you’re attracted to me?” His eyes held her gaze, challenging her. “So, tell me the truth, what made you pick me?”

There was more than a hint of arrogance in his sexy smile and it stirred Flora’s fighting spirit. She’d had her fill of arrogant men and had no compunction about putting them in their place.

“You looked bored,” she replied, shrugging. “And I thought maybe you’d been stood up from the way you keep checking your phone, so I felt sorry for you. Er, at least I assume you’re here alone. Oh God, you haven’t got a wife or girlfriend have you? I really should have thought…”

She bit her lip, how could she have been so stupid.

I’m never drinking Mojitos ever again.

“Relax.” He laid a hand on her bare arm and another bolt of sexual electricity shot through her. Her eyes widened and she stifled a gasp.

How does he do that?

“No girlfriend, no wife,” he confirmed. “Since you’re asking.”

“Good.” She exhaled loudly with relief. “I mean I’m glad I haven’t caused any problems, not…I wasn’t asking because of…”

Shut up Flora!

She fell silent and shrugged, shaking her head at her ineptness.

“And you?” Zac’s eyes shone with amusement but beneath that she sensed something more serious - a magnetic tug, pulling her towards him. Pulling her into him. Part of her wanted to plunge right in, to jump instead of tentatively dipping her toe in at the edge of the shore.

Sod paddling, she wanted to swim.

“No boyfriend, no husband,” she confirmed, looking him directly in the eye. “And I’m not looking for either.”

Zac raised his eyebrows and grinned cockily. She narrowed her eyes at him.

Great, Flora, what did you have to give him a challenge for? Everyone knows there’s nothing like being unavailable to increase your attractiveness.

His dark blue eyes shone with an intensity that made her shiver. It was desire, she recognised it in him because she felt it too. Its re-emergence after so long shocked her. It had evolved; this new, ravenous desire was nothing like the old.

It had grown up, and so had she.

“But you didn’t answer my question,” he reminded her.

Question? What question?

“I don’t remember…” It was hard enough remembering her own name right now, never mind keeping track of the conversation.

At any rate the words passing between them didn’t seem to matter a whole lot. Hundreds of messages had already flashed between them, in their eyes, their body language, the skin on skin touch of his fingers lightly holding her wrist and in the current of sexual electricity she couldn’t ignore.

Why am I fighting this? Why should I ignore it?

This was a near perfect set up if she wanted sex but no commitment - a foreign country with a gorgeous man she might never have to see again after tonight. Wasn’t it about time? Verbier was about breaking free, kicking back and having some fun.

Right now she had the power to say yes or to walk away. She was in control and that felt good after all the crap she’d had to deal with back home.

If I can’t be bold now when can I be? It’s time Flora. Just go for it…

She was aware of the hen party girls closing in en masse behind her. The drunken giggling was a bit of a giveaway. They’d obviously decided she’d had enough space for one evening.

Please piss off!

She sent them furious telepathic signals but they weren’t picking up. Great.

“Hi Flora, if you want to stay that’s fine but we thought we’d head back to Chalet Repos.” Holly touched her lightly on the elbow. “Pippa’s worried that Scott and Steve will’ve dropped baby Lexie in the Jacuzzi or something. Hey Zac, you look in better shape than Scott after the Stag Do. I heard last night got pretty wild.”

Flora realised she was still in physical contact with Zac and pulled her hand away swiftly. So Scott and Holly knew Zac? While reassured on one level he wasn’t an axe-wielding psycho, part of her wanted Zac to be a total stranger, to stay a total stranger. That he was friends with her bosses made her a little…uneasy.

“Perhaps I should come back with you.” Flora wavered, her fingers tightening on the velvet bag strap, the sensible part of her trying to control her inner hussy. This wasn’t exactly something she’d done before. Getting it together with a random stranger in a bar was what other people did, not her. But so much had changed recently. How could she even be sure who she was or what she wanted? After years of Tom telling her what to do, the freedom to make her own choices felt…weird.

It was a nice kind of weird, though.

Verbier was a start over, a blank page just waiting for her to write in it. She couldn’t sit around waiting for someone else to come along and write her story for her. She’d already been there and done that in the first volume of ‘Flora’s Life.’

Volume two was going to be very different.

There’s nothing wrong with having sex for pleasure. It’s about time you bloody got some!

“Hey, you stay. It’s fine, you’re on leave until the wedding remember, no guests to get up for in the morning. I’d make the most of it if I were you!” Holly smiled, linking arms with an anxious-looking Pippa as they walked to the exit. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

If I were you… So that’s pretty much the green light from my boss then.

“That doesn’t leave much,” Tash shouted back to Holly, winking at Flora in an exaggerated way. The girls fell about laughing and Flora waited for the ground to open up and swallow her whole. Well why not? It felt like the kind of evening where anything might happen.

When she wasn’t magically transported away from the scene Flora risked catching Zac’s eye and a lurch of desire jolted her, her insides performing a loop the loop, leaving her physically shaken. But as powerful as the desire was, a little niggle buzzed at the back of her mind like an annoying insect.