The bar in his apartment appeared to be stocked with every high-end branded spirit available, but I’d refused a cocktail – which, apparently, he could have called on hisbutlerto come over and make for me – and opted instead to stick with what I’ve already been drinking. The last thing I want is to take out a day of my holiday by suffering with a hangover.
He stops at the far end of the pool and looks back towards me, raising one eyebrow in a questioning manner, checking I’m okay.
I smile and give him a thumbs up.
He seems satisfied with this and dives under the water again, powering his lithe body back towards me.
It’s not the mostterriblenight I’ve ever had. Not even close.
In fact, as I watch him swim, I feel for a moment as if I’ve entered one of my fantasies – one of the ridiculous unlikely-to-ever-happen ones.
Yet, here I am. Living it.
I keep asking myself what the hell I think I’m doing, but the answer I keep coming back to is: I’m just having a bit of fun. Don’t I deserve it after the crap I’ve been through recently? And Kit is nothing if not fun. He always was.
He’s not the kind of guy you get serious with though.
I don’t think he’s got the staying power I’d need from a partner. He certainly didn’t back when we knew each other before. And I’m guessing that’s the conclusion his ex-fiancée came to as well.
As if he’s sensed I’m thinking about him, he stops swimming when he reaches my end of the pool, then wades over to me, smoothing the water droplets from his face, then running his fingers through his thick dark hair, slicking it back against his head. I watch in fascination as the muscles in his chest move beneath his skin.
There’s a fluttering sensation deep in my stomach and unfortunately, I don’t think it’s the booze that’s causing it.
‘This is the life, right?’ he says, flipping me a grin.
‘Yes. It is,’ I reply stiffly, forming my mouth into a wide smile. I’m still not entirely sure about the wisdom of being here with him right now.
He must sense my reticence because he cocks his head and fixes me with that dark, penetrating gaze of his.
The fluttering intensifies.
‘Come on, Dasher, do a few lengths with me. It’ll help with the frustration.’ He waggles his eyebrows at me.
I can’t help but laugh at that, but I wave a dismissive hand in the air at his suggestion. ‘Nah. I don’t feel like swimming again right now.’
‘No?’
‘No.’
His gaze is still steady on me, as if he’s trying to penetrate my mind.
Then he lets out a loud sigh and moves to lean against the side next to me, turning to catch my eye again.
The heat of his body radiates towards me, and I catch the scent of his aftershave in the air. It’s delicious and intoxicating – an alluring blend of musky undertones – and it makes my head swim in an extremely pleasurable way.
‘Look,fuckAdrian andfuckKatya,’ he says in his low, seductive voice. ‘They’re the losers. Because they’re not here, swimming in the moonlight in Kyoto right now – but we are.’ His gaze is intent on mine and when he smiles at me, I can’t help but stare at his sensual, full mouth and remember how much I used to love kissing him. And how much I enjoyed the feel of his mouth on me. Everywhere.
I give an involuntary full-body shiver, which starts at the base of my spine and rushes outwards, to caress the whole of my skin.
Kit frowns. ‘You cold? Want to warm up in the hot tub?’ he asks.
‘Err, yeah, sure,’ I say. Though I’m not sure it’s a great idea to be putting myself in even closer proximity to him right now.
I don’t go back on my decision though, determined not to be a killjoy, and I follow him as he gets out of the pool and heads over to the sunken hot tub on the other side of his private terrace, that no doubt has amazing views across the river in the daylight.
At night though, we’re faced with a deep navy darkness, with only pinpricks of light in the distance from the lights of the nearest town.
Luckily, the moon is bright tonight and is giving off just enough light for us to see what we’re doing without it feeling like we’ve got a spotlight trained on us.
