‘Isn’t it? It’s usually fairly busy during the day, but nobody ever comes here at night, which is when I think it’s at its best.’ He sits down next to me and pulls the second blanket over us before putting his arm around my shoulders.
We sit there for what seems like an age, watching the sea in silence. I’m loving the sensation of his strong arm around me and, after a while, I drop my head to rest it on his shoulder, breathing in the faint scent of his woody aftershave. The heat from the chillies may be subsiding, but there’s another, fiercer heat spreading through me now. I can’t bear this any longer. I lift my head and put my hand on his cheek, turning his face towards me, before bringing my lips gently onto his. The heat inside me turns to a furnace as he reciprocates and the kiss begins to deepen. At some point, I move so that I’m straddling him and it soon becomes clear that he’s every bit as aroused as I am.
‘Did you say this beach is always deserted at night?’ I breathe.
‘Totally,’ he murmurs. His eyes are glazed over with desire as I stand up to wriggle out of my knickers before reaching down to unbuckle his belt. I can’t wait any longer. I need him now.
25
‘And what time do you call this, young lady?’ Robert asks as I let myself into our room shortly after midnight. He’s sitting up in bed with a book next to him and is trying, and failing, to adopt a stern expression.
‘Umm, last time I looked, I already had a dad,’ I tell him sarcastically.
‘Well, he’s not doing a very good job if you’re coming in at all hours,’ he says with a smile. ‘I thought you said you weren’t going to sleep with Gabriel on the first date.’
‘What makes you think I slept with him?’ I ask.
‘Educated guess. It’s very late, so something more than dinner must have happened. You’ve got a post-sex smile on your face and you are, how can I put this nicely, a little bedraggled.’
He’s right. Sex on a moonlit beach is as impractical as it is romantic. The first time was lovely, but I think it’s safe to say our subsequent skinny dip, followed by having sex again, has left me with sand in all sorts of places where sand has absolutely no business being. I run a hand through my hair, which is both tangled and gritty, and grin at him.
‘Well, as you said earlier,’ I say nonchalantly, ‘it seems I have form in this area.’
‘From the expression on your face, it was good. Was it?’
‘Way too personal, Robert.’
‘If I was another woman, you’d be giving me a blow-by-blow account,’ he observes drily. ‘Anyway, I can tell all I need to from your facial expression. It was good.’
He’s not wrong. My skin is tingling all over from Gabriel’s touch although, on reflection, that might also be down to a bit of chafing from the sand. I don’t regret it at all though. I can safely say thatal frescosex is definitely not something I’d normally contemplate, but it certainly added an extra dimension, particularly the second time when I was still wet from the sea and therefore more acutely aware of the breeze playing across my skin as we moved together.
‘My lips are sealed,’ I tell Robert. ‘How was the disco, by the way?’
‘Good, actually. Amy still has the arse because she knows there’s something funny about Stuart and dancefloors but nobody will tell her what it is. When you’re as big a control freak as she is, that’s got to be the worst form of torture.’
‘And did you get a chance to have a chat with Stuart?’
‘Yes. Dan and I ambushed him when Amy and Lily went to the loo. I don’t think he’s in any doubt about our views.’
‘Will it make any difference, do you think?’
‘I hope so, but who knows? I’m certainly learning a lot about myself this holiday.’
‘How so?’
‘Not only have I learned that I’m not in the running for boyfriend of the year, I’ve also found out that I have shit taste in friends.’
‘One friend. Surely your others are better?’
‘I bloody hope so. Dan’s nice, isn’t he? I didn’t really know him before this. Were you aware that he and Lily are churchgoers?’
‘I think she mentioned it once, but she’s pretty low key about it,’ I tell him as an idea starts to form in my head. ‘I take it Stuart and Amy aren’t? He certainly wasn’t when I knew him before, and I’d like to think a Christian would have some scruples about sleeping with people behind his girlfriend’s back.’
‘You’re right there.’ He smiles. ‘Stuart hasn’t got a religious bone in his body and I don’t think Amy could sit still for long enough to get through a church service. Either that, or she’d be ordering the pastor around until he got fed up and threw her out.’
‘Right, I’m going to have a shower and get ready for bed,’ I tell him as I head into the bathroom.
As I stand under the hot water, rinsing the sand and salt off myself, I can’t help grinning stupidly. This evening has turned out even better than I could have hoped. I have no idea what the future holds, but I no longer care. I’ll take as much of Gabriel as I can for as long as I can.
