‘Will! Are you insinuating I’m like a prostitute?’
‘Oh God, no. Absolutely no. Not. No.’ He put his head in his hands. ‘Sorry, it’s been so long. You know. Thinking about…’ He nodded towards the bed. ‘Since Alicia. It just feels weird you being in my room.’
‘Right,’ she said, her insides curling with embarrassment. She blushed as they both now looked at the bed.
‘And now I’ve made it into a big deal, when I wasn’t going to say anything. I’m such an idiot.’ He looked positively woebegone. ‘I guess I’m nervous.’
Rebecca sat down on the bed and patted the space next to her. ‘Sit down.’
He sat with a heavy thump. ‘I’m sorry.’
She took his hand. ‘Will, it’s fine. It’s a lot for you. I do understand. I guess I’m honoured that you’ve chosen me.’
He patted her leg. ‘Thanks for being so understanding. I keep saying I’ll make it up to you. Sorry, it’s just…’
‘Stop apologising. We said we’d take things slowly.’
‘You’re worth waiting for, Rebecca.’ He put his arm around her and kissed her. She submitted, but now she was feeling awkward because she was working. But Will’s lips were nibbling at hers and then his hands were roving across her back. Given his declaration a minute ago, she didn’t want to dent his confidence. It wasn’t unpleasant– in fact it was quite nice in a teddy bear, cuddly sort of way.
When he started to ease her gently back onto the bed, she almost laughed out loud at the contrast to Felipe who’d tossed her onto his bed in Lisbon. Felipe. She jerked upwards.
‘Sorry. I’m working. I shouldn’t be doing this. I need to get on.’ She needed to be finished in time to meet Felipe at the bike shed for their ride.
Will smiled, looking pleased with himself. ‘What am I thinking? When we make love, I don’t want it to be a quickie in the afternoon. I want it to be special. Maybe after our date tomorrow?’
For some reason that made Rebecca shudder. Sex was supposed to be fun. This sounded like way too much pressure. She hurried from the room trying to banish the icky feeling swamping her. Isn’t this what she always wanted?
Chapter Twenty-Five
Felipe stopped his bike at the crest of the hill and watched Rebecca pump her way up the last few metres to catch up with him, desperately trying to hide how hard she was breathing and, he could bet, how much her thighs were burning.
‘You’re good. Fast and strong,’ said Felipe. He loved that she never gave up or gave in. She was more than a match for him.
‘Are we talking about cycling?’ she asked with a roll of her eyes.
‘That too,’ he said.
She caught her lip between her teeth. ‘You’re a man. Can I ask you a question?’
‘Depends what it is. Will it get me into trouble? Do I need to know the right answer first?’
‘No… actually no, forget it.’ She pushed off, yelling over her shoulder, ‘See you at the bottom.’
He watched her speed down the hill, her blonde ponytail flying behind her, and felt an annoying kick of desire. They’d had that one incredible weekend in Lisbon with uninhibited, amazing sex and unreserved fun and he’d assumed they’d carryon when they came back. Will turning up had put a spoke in that wheel, which he now realised he was starting to regret. He didn’t want– couldn’t have– commitment… but Rebecca was so easy to be with.
Dwelling on this was only giving her a further head start on the next hill. He pushed off, feeling the wind whip past his face, his legs pummelling at the pedals, keeping pace with the spinning wheels, aware of the endorphins rushing through his body. This was the high he’d once lived for.
It took a while for him to catch Rebecca, who was more than halfway up the next hill. She glanced over her shoulder with a quick smirk but he noticed she didn’t waste her breath by saying anything. They battled side by side to the top of the next hill, but gradually he inched ahead towards the finish line they’d pre-agreed. She didn’t give in, just put her head down and pushed on. When she reached the crossroads by a littlepastelaria, she punched the air.
‘I did it! I did it!’
‘You did. Well done. You get a drink for that.’
‘I need more than a flipping drink,’ she said, getting off the bike, her legs almost bowing and her face dripping with sweat. She propped up her bike and turned to face him. She shouldn’t have been sexy, but with tendrils of hair plastered to her face and her T-shirt sticking to her waist, he thought he’d never seen anything more gorgeous. A pang hit him in the chest.
‘I’ll buy you anata,’ he said hurriedly, discomforted by the weird sensation, as if someone had thumped him.
Withnatasand cold beers in front of them, sitting in the shade of an olive tree out in the garden, Felipe pulled out a laptop from his rucksack.
