“What will happen now?”
“Nothing. He’ll sleep. Ann will sit with him tonight and alert me if anything changes.”
Laura took his hand unresisting and lead him up the stairs. He followed without a word.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Her room wasat the end of the hallway on the second floor. Someone had left a tray with sandwiches, cakes and fruit, probably thinking she might not have time for supper.
“Hungry?” she asked Adam.
He shook his head.
Her heart was beating hard against her ribs. Was she doing the right thing? She couldn’t be sure; her mind wasn’t co-operating. Actually her mind was positively trying to stop her.Don’t do this, don’t be stupid. You’ll pay for this later.Her instincts, on the other hand, told her to do something else.
She chose to listen to her instincts tonight.
With slightly trembling hands she reached to unbutton his shirt. All the way down. He shrugged it off, exposing wide shoulders, a lot of smooth, golden skin and a thin trail of light brown hair running down the centre of his chest. His skin was so warm under her fingers, and his hands were in her hair, pulling her closer, kissing her mouth gently then urgently as he began to tug her clothes off.
When her hands hesitated on the buttons of his jeans, he whispered hoarsely against her mouth, “Please.”
They stumbled back onto her bed, on top of the covers. Hands and lips and everything else were a tangle, a very impatient dance.
She didn’t even make a joke when he left her bed to find his jeans on the floor and pull several condoms out of his pocket.
He was a tender and generous lover, holding himself back while he led her upwards to a cliff edge of pleasure before letting himself go.
Later, they lay wrapped around each other on the soft rug, leaning against the foot of the bed.
“They make outstanding food here.” He reached over the finished the last of the mini sausage rolls.
She bit into another cheese and onion marmalade square. “If I let myself, I’d move here permanently and spend half my days down in the kitchen scoffing anything cook made.”
“Sounds like heaven.”
“We’d both be as fat as an opera singer.”
He lay down, his head on her thigh and she stroked his fair hair with lazy fingers.
“You know where you should live?” he mused. “There’s a pretty house on the edge of a cliff about a mile out of the village. From most of the windows you can see nothing but the sea. There’s even a steep path down to a small private cove where you can swim.”
“Unlike you, I’m not a fan of icy water swimming.”
“It’s invigorating.”
“You’re weird.”
“You should try it. You seem like an adventurous person.”
“How about another adventure in here?” She glanced back at the bed.
He rolled off her thigh and was up on his feet in seconds, pulling her up into his arms. “I thought you’d never ask.”
“I’ve never asked. I don’t know what you’ve done to me but I’ve never been so brazen.” It was true, she’d read somewhere that men liked to take the lead in bed and had made sure she let them. So much so that she never knew if what she did in bed had ever been what she liked or her simply going along with someone else’s rhythm.
They stood close, kissing softly, their hands laced together. As she settled into the kiss, a soft moan escaped her. Instantly, Adam circled his arms around her and held her very tight. They were both out of breath when they broke apart a while later.
“See what you’ve done to me?” she repeated.
