*
I hardly remember the drive. I know the radio was playing, but I’d be hard pushed to tell you if the music was low, sexy jazz or ‘Baby Shark’ on repeat. Idoremember being present enough in the moment to hurriedly rattle off a message to Mum and Amelia, letting them know I wouldn’t be coming home that night. But my fingers were far from steady, and it was probably so full of typos it would take them until morning to decipher it.
My admiration for Nick grew enormously as we travelled the lanes towards his home. He was driving fast, perhaps a little above the speed limit, but he was never reckless. He kept his eyes on the road the entire time – later confessing that if he’d allowed them to stray to me, we could have ended up wrapped around a tree, or upside down in a ditch at the side of the road.
However composed Nick might outwardly appear, there were still clues that gave him away. He parked at an oddly slewed angle on his driveway and left the keys dangling in the ignition. He was out of the driver’s seat and beside my door while I was still fumbling with the seat belt. He leant over me to release the clasp and I heard the breath hitch in his throat before he pulled me free and into his arms. Then his lips were on mine in a kiss that started on the driveway beneath a canopy of stars and continued all the way through his front door and into the hallway. I was vaguely aware of Mabel looking up sleepily from her dog bed and then studiously turning away.
Nick’s suit jacket ended up on the hallway floor, quickly followed by his tie and my sparkly stilettos, which were abandoned on the stairs. We left a treasure trail of clothes on our way to his bedroom. By the time we got there, every button on Nick’s shirt was undone and I’d tugged it free from the waistband of his trousers.
He cradled my face in his hands as he kissed me passionately in the upstairs hallway. Our tongues met, exploring, probing, and deepening the kiss until I was groaning softly against his mouth. His hands were still in my hair, but mine had slid down his shoulders to travel across the contours of his chest… and then dip lower. This time, Nick was the one who groaned. He ran one hand down the curve of my spine, his fingers stalling when they found the zip of my dress. I held my breath, waiting. With every second he delayed, the ache between my legs became almost unbearable.
My hands went to his hips, and I pulled him against me, firmly enough for there to be no misunderstanding. For a moment, he hesitated.
‘You’re sure about this, Lexi? If you’ve changed your mind, it’s not too late to stop.’
‘I don’t want to stop. Do you?’ It was going to destroy me if he said ‘yes’.
In answer, he finally tugged down my zip and slipped his hand inside the opening of my dress. I moaned and pressed myself against him; he was so hard he felt like granite against me. Nick dropped his hands to my hips, and in a movement so fast it made me gasp, he lifted me up and against him. My legs went around him and locked behind his back. We half stumbled, half fell through the bedroom doorway and somehow made it to the bed.
The rest of his clothes were gone in seconds; I wasthatimpatient,thatgreedy. But Nick took his time, laying down a fiery trail of kisses that started at my throat, moved down across my bare shoulder, and then followed the curve of my breast. The strapless bra that had taken me ages to fasten earlier came off much faster with Nick’s fingers working the clasp. He looked down at me for a long moment before almost reverently brushing my exposed flesh. The agony of waiting for his caress was quickly forgotten as he cupped my breasts, before lowering his head to tease each nipple gently with his lips and tongue.
What followed was a blur of sensations so far beyond the realm of what I’d experienced before, I honestly wondered if I’d been doing it wrong for my entire adult life. We explored each other slowly, inch by tantalising inch, as though on a journey we’d always wanted to take but had never found the right companion to travel with. Until now. The foreplay alone confirmed that I was ruined for any other man. I never wanted to do this with anyone but him.
When Nick finally steadied his weight on to his arms and eased himself between my legs, my eyes were open and so were his. Neither of us looked away. When he pushed himself inside me, I could feel his body trembling beneath my hands.
‘God, Lexi, I’ve wanted this for so long.’
He matched his pace to mine, reading every movement and sound I made as though we’d done this a thousand times before. He knew exactly when I was close, and I saw the urgency on his face intensify as he finally tipped me over the edge. I came with a cry I couldn’t suppress, and seconds later Nick shuddered against me, calling out my name as he spilled into me.
It was like nothing I’d known before, and as he gathered my body into his arms and tenderly kissed my forehead, I knew it had been every bit as incredible for him as it had been for me.
25
‘This isnothow I intended our first morning together to play out.’
Nick was still apologising. He’d been doing it ever since his phone had woken us as the first light of a new day began creeping in through the window. He kept saying ‘sorry’ as he moved through the semi-darkness, gathering up his clothes in a well-practised sweep. And he was still doing it now as he stood beside his bed looking down at me. I was acutely aware that the bed sheets were still tangled and pooled around my waist.
‘How am I expected to walk out the door with you looking like that in my bed?’ he said with a groan.
I brought up my hands to cover my boobs. ‘Better?’
He shook his head and took hold of my wrists to move my hands, raising them up and pressing them into the pillows by my head, holding me prisoner. Admittedly, a very willing prisoner. He knelt on the bed and then laid his body on top of mine. My breath caught in my throat as I felt him hardening through the sheets.
It was just as well Nick managed to find some control from somewhere, because I was running on empty.
‘I can’t do this. I’ve got to get to the farm,’ he said, releasing me.
I nodded, kissing him hard and fast before pulling up the sheet to prevent any further distractions.
‘Go back to sleep, if you can,’ Nick urged as he shrugged into a thick hoodie and jerked up the zip. ‘If it had been anyone else but Doug, I’d have told them to call the practice. I’m not even on call this weekend.’
‘Honestly, Nick, it’s fine.I’mfine,’ I assured him.
I’d known it was serious from the moment his frown of annoyance had changed into one of concern as his friend apologised for calling him at such an ungodly hour. There had followed a brief conversation during which Nick had fired off a series of questions, none of which I’d understood. But I realised they were all equine related. Whatever answers Nick had received dialled up the concern on his face.
‘I’ll be there in fifteen,’ he told his friend.
Nick climbed out of the bed and, sandwiched between numerous apologies, told me that Dotty, the horse I’d ridden on our visit to the farm, was seriously unwell with colic.
