“I don’t see why not.”
But he rolled off her, keeping his arm under her so she went with him, then she was curled against his side, her head on his shoulder. Not a bad compromise. She laid her hand over his heart, feeling the strong beat under her palm. His fingers trailed lightly along her hip in a gentle caress.
“Oh, I forgot.”
“What?”
“I brought dessert.” She lifted her head to look at him, lying back on the pillow with his eyes closed.
“Yeah? What’d you bring?”
“Banana splits with ice cream and chocolate sauce.”
He opened one eye to look at her askance. “You think you’re going to introduce chocolate sauce to this equation without it being requisitioned for naughtier purposes?”
She looked at him for a long moment, her eyes wide. “Good point. I’ll just go and get it.”
CHAPTER 15
William
The sun rose over the Tasman Sea slowly, gently, a soft ball of light just creeping over the horizon. But when she got there, she sent her light streaking across the waves, through the window in the little cottage by the lighthouse, hitting William full in the face. He’d forgotten to close the block out blinds the night before and boy, was he paying for it now. He rubbed his hand over his face and opened his eyes, squinting in the flooding light. He heard Juniper sigh next to him and turned to look at her. She shifted in her sleep, trying to evade the creep of sunshine. He got up and padded to the blinds, quietly lowering one just enough to stop the rays from hitting the bed. It didn’t shut out all the light, but it would be enough that she could keep sleeping. His heart squeezed painfully in his chest as he looked at her. Sleeping Beauty. Such a cliché. But she was just so stunningly beautiful that it almost hurt to look at her. And here she was, in his bed. Finally. She was a revelation; a generous lover who gave as good as she got. But she was also fun; the thing with the chocolate sauce making them both laugh and feel turned on at the same time. He felt his body stirring at the memories and backed away from the bed. He could let her sleep a little longer, feeling prettyconfident that when she did wake up, there was more fun to be had.
He was just finishing stacking the previous night’s dinner dishes in the dishwasher when he heard movement from the bedroom, then Juniper calling out, “I’m just going to have a shower.”
“Okay. There are towels in the cupboard in the hallway near the bedroom door.”
“I’ve got chocolate sauce in my hair,” she said, coming out of the bedroom, holding a towel and a bag of toiletries.
“Not even sorry,” he replied, grinning at her.
“Me either.”
He watched her as she turned back into the hallway, her exceptionally fine ass as she walked away a treat for his eyes.
She came out twenty minutes later in a terry toweling robe that finished at the knees and her hair wrapped up in a purple hair towel. “I’m making breakfast and then I’m going home to give Nana a break.”
“Sounds good. Can I do anything?”
“You can make the coffee.”
“Already done.” He followed her into the little kitchenette and pointed to the steaming mug of coffee on the bench.
“Oh, amazing.” She picked it up and took a sip, her eyes closing blissfully.
He grabbed his mug and moved to the entrance to the kitchenette to watch her. She moved about with ease, pulling ingredients out of his fridge he hadn’t even noticed her put there the night before—eggs, mushrooms, shallots, cheese, capsicum, and herbs. Then she stopped, frowning, riffling through theshopping bag she’d brought. She sighed with frustration. “Have you got an egg whisk?”
“Ah, no, probably not. I’ve only got the basics.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “An egg whisk is basic.”
“Well, you know, I’ve just set it up minimally for now. The caretaker will have a budget to set it up how they want when the time comes.”
His words dropped like a bomb in the little kitchen, a sudden and harsh reminder that his staying there was temporary. It had grabbed him by the throat the night before, when he’d returned from Melbourne. The gut-wrenching restlessness had returned anew, leaving him feeling confused and empty. Then she had turned up, her smile was soft but her green eyes were hot for him. So, he’d let it go for the moment, just buried himself in her and let it go.
She responded by ignoring his statement, just reaching into the top drawer and grabbing a fork. “This’ll do.”
He wanted to say something, to acknowledge how he was feeling, how she might be feeling, but he had no idea what to say so he left it.
