‘It’s amazing!’ I shimmy against Ronan, winding my arms around his powerful shoulders, resting my fingers at the nape of his thick neck.
‘You’reamazing.’ He plants a tender kiss on my forehead. ‘You did it, baby. You faced your fears and now you can do anything.’
The sunshine beats down on our shoulders like a spotlight shining on this wondrous moment of glory. The water is so inexplicably refreshing. It makes me wonder if I’ve been sleepwalking through life’s lukewarm moments.
One thing is for sure, I have no intention of sleeping through this one. I wrap my legs around Ronan’s waist, offering myself up to him.
Chapter Twenty-Six
RONAN
The past fifteen hours have been the single best hours of my entire life. Savannah gave me not only her beautiful body, but her trust, and maybe even a tiny piece of her heart if the fleeting glances she keeps shooting me across the car are anything to go by.
‘I wish we could stay.’ Her voice is breathy and wistful.
‘Me too.’ I drop a hand on her bare thigh and leave it there as we pull away from the villa and start the long drive back to Dublin. ‘I wasn’t joking, though. We could always come back for the summer.’
Barbeques on the beach, leisurely afternoon dips in the tidal pool and complete privacy from the rest of the world sounds like my own personal utopia.
Plus, I need some sort of reassurance that she’s not going to shut this thing down the second we get back to Dublin.
‘If only.’ Savannah’s fingers graze over mine. ‘The villa is rented out eighteen months in advance. There are rarely any cancellations.’ She glances back over her shoulder as it becomes a tiny dot behind us.
‘I can see why.’ At least she didn’t say spending thesummer with me isn’t an option. She didn’t shut me down. Hope flares like a flickering flame in my chest.
Even this, almost three hours navigating Sunday traffic, seems like a treat, purely because I get to do it with her.
My obsession is growing with every passing minute.
‘Tell me something about yourself, Savannah,’ I urge. ‘We all know “Single Sav” but I want to know the woman behind the public persona, the mask.’
‘Thought you might have seen enough last night – and this morning,’ she quips.
‘Nowhere near enough.’ My dick thickens in my pants at the memory.
‘Fine.’ She juts her chin out defiantly. ‘I hate pickles.’
‘Doesn’t everyone?’ I counter with a small shake of my head.
‘No. Some people eat them raw or ruin their burgers with them.’ She squeezes my hand to show she’s messing with me.
‘Tell me something no one knows,’ I beg.
‘Only if you tell me something about you first.’ Her head whips round and she shoves her sunglasses on top of her head like a hairband, her deep blue eyes scrutinising my side profile like a laser.
I think about it for a second, desperate to give her something meaningful. ‘You weren’t the only one who nearly drowned as a kid.’
‘Seriously?’ She scoops a stray strand of honey-coloured hair and tucks it behind her ear in a feline gesture.
‘Yep.’ I chance a quick glance across the car to meet her eyes. ‘I was at the beach with my parents. My mam was pregnant with my sister, Rebecca, and Rich was just a baby in the pram. I wandered into the sea on my own while Mam was distracted giving him a bottle. Thankfully, my dad spotted me and fished me out. The following day, he enrolled me in lessons. And that’s how I got into swimming. Amazing howsomething that almost killed me turned out to be my salvation. My reason for living at certain points in my life.’
‘Wow.’ She exhales heavily. ‘So, you really did understand my fear.’
‘Yes.’ I nod. ‘Now, your turn.’
‘Swimming wasn’t the only thing I was afraid of.’ Her tongue clicks against the roof of her mouth, and she exhales heavily. ‘When I found out I was having twins, I sank into the biggest pit of depression. I hadn’t planned one baby, let alone two. Panic plagued me day and night. I had two human beings inside of me and yet I’d never felt so alone in my entire life. Some days, I didn’t know how I’d even get through the day. Guilt and shame swirled like a tsunami in my stomach. The only way I could get any relief was to write it down. That’s how the Single Savannah blog came about. The truth is, I didn’t start writing to help other women. I did it to help myself.’
‘The very thing you struggled to survive became your salvation, too.’ No wonder she’s never considered dating. ‘Can I ask, though, why did you feel guilt and shame?’
