‘Oh, you poor love. I’m so sorry.’
He reached round and folded her into his arms. Grace gave in to the temptation to sob on his chest. The living, breathing man in front of her wanted to comfort her, and she needed that comfort.
Grace lifted her head for a moment and was able to see his eyes illuminated in the moonlight. There was a lot more than simple comfort there. And she was going to take what was on offer. Grace bent down and kissed him gently on the mouth.
Will’s shock only lasted a second before he kissed her back, their tongues exploring each other’s mouth, and their bodies entwining.
A fire had been lit inside her, and Grace knew there was no stopping it. It had been smouldering for weeks, but she’d been too scared to fan the flames.
Will turned his body, so that she was partly underneath him. He raised himself up on one elbow and stared into her eyes.
‘Are you sure about this?’
It was like her body was making all the decisions rather than her mind. And her body had vetoed any objections that her mind could come up with.
Grace nodded and Will kept up eye contact all the time he spoke.
‘It’s what I’ve wanted for a long time… ever since the moment I saw you climbing over that wall, if I’m being completely honest, and more and more since I’ve got to know you. But I need to know that you want it too.’
Grace put her finger to his lips. There’d been enough talking.
‘Shush. I want it.’
Will pulled down the straps of her swimming costume, exposing her breasts to the night air, and stopped to lick and suck them, making Grace arch her back like a cat. She reached down and touched him through his swimming trucks. He moaned softly.
He whipped off the rest of her costume and his own trunks in seconds and threw them on the sand. Grace pulled him down on top of her. As their bodies connected, she tried not to question whether it mattered who was making her feel like this. After so long without physical affection, could it have been any man she’d stumbled across on the beach or in the town? Did it need to be Will?
Grace let out a little cry as he entered her, his urgency matching her own. Will was the man bringing her body alive again. She needed to stay in the present. Grace deliberately emptied her mind and prayed for oblivion.
Salty skin met salty skin and the sound of the waves in her ears added to the rhythms in her body, as Will pressed into her over and over again. The waves built, crashing to shore faster and faster, until her mind and body hit overload and she screamed into the night air at the same time as Will let out a shout.
But the night was far from over. Will moved slowly down her body, kissing every inch of her skin on the way to his ultimate goal, and Grace cried out again at the touch of his tongue. Their bodies, hands and mouths met each other time and time again, changing shape but constantly connected.
It was a night like Grace had never known.
Finally, she lay naked and spent under the moonlight, Will breathing softly next to her. Her mind zoned back in and overpowered her body. What the hell had she done? The logical part of her brain told her they were both single, fully consenting adults who’d experienced something incredible together. So why did it feel like she’d been unfaithful to her husband? And why had she picked the anniversary of his death to do it when there were three hundred and sixty-four other days to choose from? What kind of person did that? A little voice in her head was asking her over and over again how she could betray Phil like this. Tonight of all nights.
ChapterTwenty-Three
The tears ran down the sides of her face and away onto the sand. There’d been so many tears today, but these were tears of shame, not sorrow. After pulling on his trunks, Will placed her T-shirt and shorts in her hand in the dark, and went to stand behind the rock he’d popped up from earlier that evening, so she could dress in private.
Luckily, he seemed to understand that she didn’t want to be touched. There would be no repeat performance of whatever it was that had just happened. The horror of what she’d done, having sex on the anniversary of her husband’s death, with a guy she’d only known for a couple of months, made her want to cover her eyes with her hands. No one could ever find out.
The fact that she’d never had sex like it wasn’t somewhere she could let herself go. Sex with Phil had been good, very good at times, but nothing like that. That was an out-of-body experience, except her body had been very much present. It had been almost animalistic.
She dragged on her shorts and T-shirt and stuffed her bits and pieces back into the bag. The night was well and truly over. It had ended in a way she’d never expected or planned. Will needn’t think they were going back to his for another session. She took out her phone to call a cab, but he must have seen the light flare.
‘I’ll take you back, on the bike. I’ve only had one beer.’
It would mean touching his body again, but it was the quickest way to get back to her room and into the shower to wash away any trace of the evening. She might have to wait ages for a taxi at this time of night.
They made their way up to the house without speaking, and Will left her on the terrace for a moment while he dashed inside. He put on a T-shirt and some shoes but kept the swimming trunks. Probably worried that she’d change her mind and run off somewhere into the night. He might just be right.
The journey home in the dark was strangely intimate. The warm wind whistled past her ears and the crashing of the waves on the sand was the only sound she could hear above the engine. She tried not to wrap her arms around him too tightly, but it threw her off balance, so she had no option. It was only for a few minutes. His body was still damp against hers and the tang of salt in the air was something she knew she’d always associate with him from now on, whether she wanted to or not.
Outside the language school, he killed the engine and dismounted when she did, still not speaking, for which she was grateful. Once she’d put her key in the lock, she turned back and nodded her head at the man who’d followed her to her door.
‘Thank you for taking me home.’
