“Do you have everything from the PI you hired? If we can look at that this morning, we can get out and have some fresh air this afternoon.”
“Climbing?”
“Yep. Not exactly the Eiger. We can head up Windgather. When’s the last time you climbed?”
“Four months three days ago, but it was barely a climb.”
“Before that?”
“Every month I’d make myself do something to remember who I was before. But I was scared someone would recognise me.”
“You know what I think?” he waited for her to look at him properly. “I think you should start your blog again under your real name. Get that identity back. And when this is over, I’ll climb the Eiger with you.”
This time the tears fell over. She wiped them away fiercely, clearly not wanting him to see her cry.
“Abby, it will be okay.” Alex left his seat and went around the table to her, pulling her up and into his chest. He still hadn’t bothered with a T-shirt, so the dampness from her tears wet his skin. “We’ll find out what happened to Tilly and you’ll be able to get back to what you love.”
“I don’t think so.”
“I do. Come on. Don’t cry. I don’t know what to do when you cry.”
She laughed through her tears. “You’re doing fine. You’re – I don’t know what I’d do without you being here, Alex.”
He knew he’d curse himself a million times for it later, but he knew he’d also curse himself if he didn’t. Alex tipped her chin up so she looked at him, and then softly pressed his lips to hers.
Maybe he was taking advantage. Maybe this would’ve happened at some point anyway without all of the drama. Maybe he didn’t care, because she tasted of cinnamon and her lips were soft, kissing him back, making him want more, want all of her.
His hands dropped down to her bottom, pulling her closer. Her fingers were lost in his hair, keeping his mouth to hers in a kiss that wasn’t staying gentle.
Alex sat down on the kitchen stool, pulling Abby onto his knee so she straddled him. His fingers trailed up her sides, his thumbs running to just under her breasts. She edged her hips closer to his, pressing the warmth between her legs to his cock which was hard and getting harder and then she had control of the kiss, because his focus was taken by the feel of her tits under his hands, the damn material of her top and bra in the way.
She pulled her mouth from his. She was rocking slightly against him, his cock getting all the messages that this was going somewhere.
“I haven’t even kissed anyone for more than two years.” It was a statement that was meant to tell him something.
“I shouldn’t like that but I do.” He kissed her again, slowing it down, dropping his hands and then pushing them up under her top.
Her bra wasn’t padded, but it felt lacy under his roughened hands, her response to his touch rapid and needy as she ground against him even more. Her nipples were hard buds and giving them a slight squeeze made her groan into his mouth. Everything felt right about what they were doing and even though his brain was telling him to slow things down, there was no way he could unless she said the word. His cock was stone hard and his balls felt as if they were going to burst, the desire he had taking over pretty much every part of his being.
He trailed a finger down between her breasts to the waistband of her shorts, finding the button there. For a moment he paused, giving Abby the chance to stop there, but instead she shifted her hips and urged him on, kissing him harder.
It was then Alex Maynard made up his mind. He wasn’t going to fuck her for the first time at his kitchen table, not after the couple of days she’d had, not when this could just be a pinnacle of fear and anxiety, plus a crush on him that he doubted he deserved.
Abby could get off and find her release – but he wouldn’t, not right now. Not until he got in the shower and worked his right hand some more, and given where that right hand was going, he’d have the material to think about.
The button undid easily, the zipper came down with no resistance. The cotton of her underwear was smooth and silky and he felt her wetness as soon as he cupped her sex, applying pressure with the palm of his hand.
Her moan made her lips leave his. She leaned back, holding onto his shoulders and Alex saw the want in her eyes.
“Just once,” she said. “Just once, and we can go back to how we were.”
He ignored her request, knowing she was lust-drunk, knowing he couldn’t agree to that.
“Stand up. Lose the shorts and everything else.”
The wobble in her legs made him stupidly pleased. She pushed the shorts down her legs along with her underwear leaving him looking at creamy pale skin, neatly trimmed fair curls between her legs.
He figured he might just be harder than he’d ever been in his life and the chances of not coming in his sweats as soon as he touched her were getting slimmer by the second.
