I nod, then look up as I feel a spot of rain. “Here comes the weather they promised.”
“We should move inside.”
“Yeah.” We pick up our glasses, head into the bach, and close the door.
“How about we watch another movie?” she suggests. “Love Actuallyhas just started.”
“I’ve never seen it.”
She stares at me with mock surprise. “Cullen Reeve. You’ve never seenLove Actually?”
“Nope.”
“Well, then we’re definitely watching it. Come on. Grab the After Eight mints and the Terry’s Chocolate Orange, and I’ll put it on.”
I bring the chocolate in and put it on the small coffee table while she finds the movie. Within minutes, proper Northlandsub-tropical rain is falling in big fat drops, and the deck is wet and shiny. It’s almost dark now, especially with the heavy clouds that are hiding the moon. The tiny Christmas tree in the corner has its flickering lights and the TV is on, and Isla turns off the main light, giving the room a Christmassy sparkle. It’s been such a hot day, but the temperature has dropped now, and so she goes into her bedroom and emerges with her duvet.
“Just to stay cozy,” she says with a grin.
We sit beside each other on the sofa, and she drapes the duvet over us. I pick up my glass, and she undoes the wrapping on the box of After Eights, and then we sit back, nibbling on the mints and sipping our whisky.
For a while, we just watch the movie, chatting about the plot and characters. After a while, Isla gets up and refills our glasses, and when she comes back to the sofa and sits, I realize she’s moved a few inches along, so we’re almost touching.
She looks up at me and gives me a mischievous smile. I lift my arm, and my pulse picks up as she moves closer with a pleased murmur, cuddling up to me. I lower my arm around her, and we stay there like that for a while, watching the movie.
I’d forgotten how wonderful it is just to touch and be touched. There’s a magic in being close to someone, in watching their chest rise and fall with each breath, and feeling their heartbeat. The scent of her perfume is subtle but intoxicating. My hand rests on the back of the sofa, but after a while I move it to her shoulder. She’s wearing a summer vest, and I get a thrill at the feel of her bare skin beneath my hand.
She lifts her gaze to mine then, her eyes reflecting the sparkle of the fairy lights. I study her face, thinking how beautiful she is, and then look at her mouth, her soft, full lips that part a little as she sees me looking at them. I think she wants me to kiss her. I lower my head a little and wait, making sureshe doesn’t move away. When she doesn’t, I lower it the last few inches and touch my lips to hers.
I kiss her slowly, savoring the moment, wanting to make it last. Just presses of my lips against hers, light and gentle, and yet still powerful enough to make shivers run along my shoulders and down my back.
She murmurs her approval, and so I touch my tongue to her bottom lip, pleasure rushing through me when her tongue touches mine. The slides of our tongues together, the sweet invasion, is incredibly erotic to me considering I haven’t kissed a woman for eighteen months.
She breaks the kiss for a moment to put her glass on the table, so I do the same. She takes the clip out of her hair and lets it tumble around her shoulders. Then she kisses me again. This time, she lifts a hand to my face, brushing her thumb against my cheek, and then she slides her hand into my hair, while I do the same to her, enjoying the silky slide of it through my fingers. We exchange a long, luxurious kiss, slow and sensual, and soon my heart is racing and my body is responding in ways I have no control over.
I lift my head, and she blows a breath and chuckles. “Mmm. That was nice.”
I smile, glad she’s enjoying herself. “I want to say something,” I tell her.
She lowers her gaze. “Okay…”
I tuck a finger beneath her chin and lift it so she’s looking at me. “I know you don’t want to confuse Max, and neither of us is a hundred percent sure about the future. So I don’t want you to… you know… feel obliged…”
“Obliged?”
“I mean to worry that I’m expecting… you know…”
She gives me an innocent look. “Expecting?”
I give her a wry smile. “I’m trying to make it clear that I don’t expect anything from you.”
She wrinkles her nose. “That’s very sweet, and I do appreciate it.” She drops her gaze to my tee and draws a finger over the faded pattern on it. “I know what I said earlier, about feeling guilty. But the thing is…” She lifts her gaze back to mine. “I like you. And I haven’t done this for such a long time. I’m a bit unsure of what to say and how to say it. What to do, and how to do it.”
Her brows draw together as she continues, “I know you could say I’m on the rebound, and I only left my husband a week ago. But the truth is that I feel as if we separated last Christmas. We haven’t been intimate since then. I’ve missed that closeness. And… I like you. I didn’t expect this to happen, but it has, and I know that neither of us has a clue what we’re doing, but it feels as if I’ve caught a snowflake on my hand, and I know eventually it’s going to melt, but right now it’s just sitting there, and it’s beautiful, and I want to make the most of it. Does that make sense?”
“Surprisingly, yeah.” I give a small shrug. “You wanna make out?”
Her eyes widen, and then she laughs. “God, yes please.”
