I brushed my thumb along her waist. ‘I adore how you love your sister. Fiercely. Without conditions and the way you show up for people, even when you think you’re terrible at feelings.’
‘I especially love the way you whimper and shake when I slide inside you, especially when I still and wait for you to squirm.’
She turned around in my lap until she was facing me, her knees on either side of my hips. ‘Do you know what I love?’
‘What?’
‘You.’
My heart felt like it stopped, until she kick-started it with a deep kiss,
She loved me. Amandalovedme. Her admission had me utterly flabbergasted.
When she pulled back from the kiss, our breaths mingled.
‘I love your hands. Your strong, rough hands and all the wonderful things you do with them.’
Her fingers slid down my forearm, tracing the veins there that she adored so much.
‘I love how wild you are about Merv, even though he’s a menace. I love that entire villages adore you and rely on you. It’s how I knew you were a good man. The right kind of man. Even when you spank me and tell me you’re going to put babies all up in my womb.’
My chest tightened. Hard.
She lifted one curl at my temple and twirled it. ‘I love this too. These sweet blonde curls mask what a demon you are behind closed doors. This is why people don’t know you’re trouble.’
‘I’m only trouble for you.
‘Luckily,’ she teased, ‘I enjoy trouble.’
I rested my hands on her hips, grounding myself so I didn’t lose myself in sheer happiness. Her admission still ricocheting through my chest.
‘How do we make this work when we go home?’
There it was, the question we’d been avoiding for days. The elephant lurking behind every kiss, every cocktail, every sleepy morning in the insanely soft bed here.
‘Well,’ I said, leaning in and dragging my lips over her exposed throat. ‘I can come to Edinburgh on weekends. Lisa next door is always happy to help with Merv.’
Amanda nodded, a tiny moan escaping as I grazed my teeth over her collarbone.
‘And maybe in between jobs, you could come up to Otterleigh Bay. See it when it’s not half-frozen. When the wildflowers are out, and the bakery queue lasts thirty minutes because touristslose their minds over Eilidh’s buns. The Leadbetters are quite happy to have you there for sleepovers.’
I ran my fingers up her spine, adjusting her position in my lap until her eyes sparkled and her hips arched.
‘We can make it work if we both want it.’
Amanda exhaled, her breath trembling ever so lightly.
‘And what makes you think it will work?’ She asked.
‘Because I love you, baby. And that’s all I need to follow you to the ends of the god damned earth.’
The sudoku book slid off the sunbed and landed in the sand as she pulled my lips to hers.
epilogue
HENRY
Leaves scratchedacross the cobbles as Amanda and I made our way through the village hand in hand, still a bit sleepy, and wrapped up in scarves and coats. Autumn had officially arrived.
