“Was that okay for you?” She realised how lame she sounded, how needy.
Zack rolled off her and on to his side, leaving her empty. She reached to find something to act as a cloth.
“Come here,” he said. “I’ll take the wet patch later.” He pulled her close and cuddled her into him, wrapping her in his arms.
“I didn’t think you’d be a cuddler,” she said.
“Why?” He whispered it into her hair. “Aren’t men allowed to need something afterwards?”
She knew she shouldn’t talk about her ex straight after having sex with another man so instead she tried to pull that confident streak from somewhere, from the place where her self-belief had been hiding. “That’s very stereotypical,” she said, twining her legs around his.
“Why wouldn’t I be a cuddler then?” He tucked her in closer to him.
The sensation of being close to someone without clothes felt foreign to her. With Mark, he got out of bed quickly afterwards and pulled on shorts at least. Then he’d rolled away from her and fallen asleep. They’d never had intimacy.
“You’re a shouty, demanding manager. I didn’t think you’d be a cuddler.”
She heard him give a quiet chuckle, his hand sliding down her back to her ass. “I like cuddling. It means I get to touch you some more and make sure you can’t get away quickly.”
“I wouldn’t have thought you had any problems with girls wanting to get away,” she said.
His arms kept her close, his hand holding her ass. “Honey, why do I want to talk about other girls when I have you in bed with me? I’m not thinking of anyone but you right now and how much I can’t wait to fuck you again and find out even more about what you like and how good we can be together.”
She felt herself get choked up, hiding her face in his neck. Her other lovers had taken what they needed and expected her to do the same. None of them had thought about whether they were too rough or held back, or whether she came even once.
His hand left her ass and moved to her hair, smoothing it down. “I love this,” he said. “It’s like silk. Growing up on a farm meant that our hands were always rough from the work we’d do to help dad out. This feels like something really special and perfect.”
“It’s just hair,” she said, laughing.
“Hair I keep imagining spread over my pillow.”
“I should go clean up,” she said, not moving from him, not sure of what to say, because all this seemed too perfect.
“Me too. Shower?”
She giggled this time, getting the gist of where this conversation was going. She wanted to run and hide because this felt scary and surreal, but a bigger part of her understood that this was right.
Chapter 21
Ten shopping days left until Christmas
Zack woke up stretched across the bed, the duvet tangled round his legs. The bed was empty, apart from him, a fact that he automatically didn’t like. He’d wanted to wake up with her next to him, to be able to have her in his arms again liked how they’d fallen asleep. She’d injected colour into his world that he hadn’t known was missing and he wanted to keep that colour there. Unfortunately, he had a feeling her absence was because she was unsure and skittish, and didn’t believe in how much she’d captivated him.
The bedroom was warm, the thick rug he felt under his feet when he got out of bed was new and he could smell something sweet and mouthwatering. He pulled on his jeans from the day before and headed out of the bedroom, down the little corridor into the kitchen. The silence had already suggested that Sorrell wouldn’t be there and the silence was right.
The kitchen was immaculately tidy, ordered and neat. There was a metal rack with a row of muffins and a note. Zack picked up a muffin first and then read the note which explained they were oat and blueberry and she’d had to go into the hotel as Tanya, the girl who helped serve breakfasts, couldn’t get her car off her drive.
Zack made himself a coffee and ate another of the muffins, checking his phone to make sure there were no emergencies at Sunrise. It was early, barely light, and he needed to get over to the farm to help Jake and his dad with the animals, although there was a message from Jake to say they had it covered. They would—Zack had no doubt because as much as Jake was an arsehole player, he was an excellent organizer and manager—but Zack knew there was always something else that could be done in weather like this. But first, he needed to see Sorrell.
She was standing in reception when he walked in, talking to a guest. A male guest, maybe a couple of years older than Zack and one who looked incredibly interested in whatever she was saying.
Zack buried his hands in his jeans pockets, knowing that touching her right now would not make her happy and that after just a handful of dates and one night together, marking his territory would not be a good idea.
“Sorry, you have another guest to see to,” the man said, gesturing towards Zack.
Sorrell turned to see him, a half smile on her lips, her eyes shy and unsure. He remembered she should’ve been sharing the hosting duties of this hotel with her ex but instead she had claimed it as her own. Now he wanted to claim her.
“He’s not a guest,” she said.
