Abruptly sheathed in shadow, Georgie felt a sharp tingle of intense excitement. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness after the brilliance of the sunshine outside and she caught her breath as he moved towards her, undressing slowly as he did so.
Like yesterday, she remembered the first time she had slept with him, the nerves, the racing, pulsing thrill, the warmth of feeling that she was safe with this man.
Against all odds, she felt the same now.
He was already half naked and Georgie stared in open-mouthed fascination at the ripple of muscle and sinew. He had the perfect shape, broad shoulders tapering to a washboard-hard stomach, and just the right amount of dark hair across his chest. He was all male, oozing dangerous sexuality, and he wasall hers...
For reasons that were right or wrong.
How had she made it onto the bed?
She didn’t know. She must have sidled onto it as he’d strolled towards the window to draw the curtains.
At any rate, she was kneeling on the bed now, hands on her thighs, barely breathing as trousers followed in the footsteps of the shirt, falling onto the floor, leaving him in silky boxers and the prominent bulge announcing that he was as turned on by her as she was by him.
She followed his progress towards her and arched up to meet a kiss that was surprisingly gentle, a simple tasting of one another. She drew her hand softly along his cheek, contouring it and losing herself in the feel of his skin against her fingers.
‘You realise,’ he murmured, clasping her fingers in his hand and looking at her, ‘that we’re turning over a new page, and there will be no going back now.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘My bed becomesourbed. We’ll get married, Georgie, and I sincerely hope you’ll be able to say goodbye to resentments so that together we can begin the process of smoothing over old scars. No more fighting, no more trips down memory lane, no more recriminations. I think we should focus on the present rather than the past, and look towards the future, as a family. We might not be the kind of family you’ve always imagined, but it will be ours, whatever we make of it.’
He would do his utmost to make both his wife and daughter happy, and he knew the best way he could make Georgie happy was to remind her exactly how good they were in bed. He might not believe in romantic love, but he definitely believed in the powerful chemistry between them. He would make this as easy for her as he could. He remembered his own vast pain when his mother had died, when his father had emotionally vanished, leaving him lost, alone. It had taught him the importance of self-reliance, of containing that which could cause hurt. Love. He would never allow Georgie to step into a place where she could end up hurt because of this marriage, or him, and so he would remind her of what they’d once had between them, and that would be enough for both of them...
‘I get that.’
Of course, he was right.
She would have to come to terms with a new page being turned over and if, as he’d said, it didn’t resemble the page she had hoped for growing up, then it could have been a whole lot worse.
He’d very graphically painted a worst-case scenario already for her. The one that involved him moving on with his life, absorbing Tilly into it, while she watched from the outside like the little matchstick girl peering through the window to a banquet she couldn’t enjoy.
Oh, yes, that was definitely a worst-case scenario for someone who couldn’t envisage anyone ever taking her place in her daughter’s life.
They got along and they were certainly attracted to one another. Both those things counted for a lot.
She was smiling as he joined her on the bed, smiling as she pulled him down to her to nuzzle the side of his face and luxuriate in the feel of him against her.
‘It’s been such a long time.’ She sighed.
‘Long enough for me to want to take my time,’ Abe responded unevenly, ‘but also long enough for me to suspect that that won’t be happening. Take your clothes off, Georgie. I want to see your nakedness. I want to see the body that bore our child.’
Abe had no idea how he was managing to have anything approaching a conversation because his body was on the verge of exploding. How long had he wanted this? She’d just said that it had been a long time. She had no idea how long it felt as he sat back and watched her peel her top off, revealing small breasts pushing against a simple cotton bra.
He dimly wondered whether a secret yearning for just this moment had been inside him for four years.
Not possible, surely!
But it felt like it as he watched her as she shifted off the bed, elfin and slight, and stood to unhook her bra from behind, finally releasing her breasts and sending a surge of pure X-rated longing through him. He could barely breathe. She was so dainty, her breasts exquisite and small, tipped with rosy peaks. She stepped out of the rest of her clothes gracefully and then stood there, her chest rising and falling because she was breathing so fast.
‘You’re so beautiful,’ Abe said hoarsely. He slipped off the bed, moved to stand in front of her and rested his hands lightly on her shoulders. She looked up at him, her face open and expectant.
‘So are you.’
His heart squeezed tight and unbidden words came tumbling out. ‘I am really sorry, Georgie, that I was not by your side during your pregnancy and afterwards. You may find my level of duty puzzling but, of course, I would have asked for your hand in marriage then and would have devoted my life to doing whatever it took to secure the well-being of our daughter.’
Georgie noted again how she was rendered a postscript in his drive to do whatever he had to for Tilly’s sake, but she wasn’t going to reflect on that right now. He’d been right to say that the past, with all its bitterness, had to be put behind them so that their eventual marriage could start in good faith.
