Taming Toby - Summer Envy - Book 1 of Sinful Seasons Collection

Sinful Seasons

Romantic Novella Collection

Summer Envy

Taming Toby

Chapter One

Who could it be now?

I'd seen him there before. Truth be told, I'd convinced Julia and Sam to venture out with me that evening, to the same cocktail bar, with the hope of seeing him again. I wasn't disappointed.

The moment I laid my eyes on his masculine form, all rational thought disappeared into the recesses of my mind. His back was to me as he chatted and laughed with friends. We were close enough that I could hear the deep timbre in his chuckle. I willed him to turn around, so I could catch those summer blue eyes again. This time I would smile back.

I didn't hear my friends talking to me as I followed the wave of black hair brushing his collar, and the width of his shoulders. The curve of his firm rear and the long, lean denim clad legs, made my pulse flutter like a hummingbird. Turn around, I urged in my mind. I want to see your 'Disney Prince' chiselled face. Just like Eric in my niece, Emily's 'The Little Mermaid' movie, which I've been made to watch a thousand times, along with all the others. Not that I mind, on the contrary, I'm quite partial to Beauty and the Beast, but it's been the precedent for my unreal fantasies of happily ever after. The same whimsical imaginings I had as a child. Right now, the real thing stood before me, ready to sweep me off my feet and carry me off to some enchanted land. I really needed to stop watching Disney movies.

"Maddie," Julia said loud enough to break my concentrated scrutiny.

As though his own name had been spoken, he turned his body side on and glanced across his shoulder towards us. Our eyes met and every cliché passed over my mind. The smile he offered me was crooked, not quite a smirk and the twinkle in his eyes sent my already fluttering heart into a frantic beat. I couldn't breathe, he was beautiful.

"Maddie!"

"What?" I asked dragging my eyes from his.

"Are you going to talk to him or gawk at him all night?"

"I couldn't, he's so..."

Sam, who'd also been staring at me, waiting for my reply, rolled her eyes and sniggered. "Have I taught you nothing?" She said with a dismissive flick of her hand before turning her brown eyes back to their perusal of the room, no doubt searching for her 'next victim'. Though her words and actions could be considered derisive, Sam always meant well. Her cynical view of men and romance was the polar opposite to mine. We made perfect contradictive bookends.

"Oh crap, no need, he's coming to you," Julia squeaked. And somehow both her and Sam disappeared into the crowd, in a puff of smoke, like 'Aladdin's' genie. Definitely too many Disney movies. The room suddenly became hotter than the summer air outside.

In one swift motion, he bent down on one knee, scooped something from the floor and held it out to me. I blinked before tearing my eyes from his face to see what he offered. In his hand lay my small black clutch. Obviously, in my wonderment of his approach, I must have dropped it. I swallowed down my nerves and tried to speak. Being the cliché this already was, he saved me the trouble.

"I believe this is yours."

"Um, yeah, thanks."

I reached out and took it from his lean hand. I knew my bag was small, barely room for a small purse, and mobile phone, but in his hand it looked half the size. My eyes followed him as he rose and I became very aware of how close he stood. His musky scent, so sensuously masculine, surrounded me, dizzying my already empty mind.