He smiled softly. “For the first time in my life I knew what it felt like to come home.”
Pippa’s throat closed with emotion. “Home?”
“Yes. Does that sound weird?” He hummed a laugh. “I told myself that hiring you, the first person to interview, was the simplest way of solving the house sitter issue, but that wasn’t the case.” His face stilled. “You’re not mad I lied, are you?”
“Wolfie, I…” She experienced many feelings in that instant, but mad was the least of them. It was then Pippa knew she was falling in love with Wolfie Squires. It was that simple. Maybe she had started that descent the moment she met him; she wasn’t totally sure. There was something sofierceabout the gift of Wolfie’s emotion. He hid it away, like a guarded treasure behind high walls, but when the defences came down, when he entrusted a person with his heart, it was possibly the strongest force Pippa had ever encountered. She laughed quietly and shook her head. “Just when I think I have you figured out, you say stuff like that.”
Wolfie looked adorably blank. “Say what, the truth?”
“I mean, I can tell you’re going to keep me on my toes,” she said. “Always guessing.”
His smile turned devilish. “Oh, you won’t need to be guessingeverything.” His purposeful gaze dropped to her mouth, and her knees weakened.
“Is that right?” She teased as he loomed over her, his nose brushing her own.
“You’ll never need to wonder whether I’m yours.” Wolfie put his hands on her hips and pulled her flush against him, where she could feel every inch of his desire for her. “Are you mine, Pippa Munro?”
Lust flooded Pippa’s body to the point she could barely form words. “Y-yes.”
He gently guided her towards the trees until her back hit the broad trunk of a mossy oak. “Because, if it isn’t clear, I consider you mine.”
She met his eyes boldly. “Then you’d better take me.”
His kiss was determined and strong, leaving her breathless, the tree’s bark digging into her back. And then Wolfie’s knee was easing her legs apart, his hand trailing up her bare skin towards her core. As his mouth moved to her neck, his fingers began confidently probing their way in between her thighs.
“Tell me you’re mine,” he commanded. Pippa struggled to get her mouth to form words. She wanted him more than she’d ever wanted anything or anyone, but she was very conscious they were outside. Yet within seconds his insistent, sensual touch forced her to abandon all rationality. Soon, she didn’t care about where they were, she just didn’t want him to stop doing what he was doing.
“I’m yours,” Pippa moaned. She reached down to the fly of his jeans, wanting to return the gift that he was giving her so expertly, but his strength held her in place. He gently chided her with a nibble to her earlobe.
“Not yet,” he said rearing back so he could watch her face. “Let me see you. Show me.” His fingers moved faster, firmer. “Do you like that?”
Pippa could only nod as she gripped onto him for dear life. Tremors of pleasure soon wracked her body, surging to an intense wave that peaked so brilliantly the world briefly went white and all she could see during that temporary, insane blindness was the blue heat of her lover’s eyes.
ChapterTwenty-One
“Do you have to go?” Pippa kissed her way down Wolfie’s throat. They’d spent several hours on that private hillside spot, returning to Squires long after the sun had sunk below the horizon. The dawn was breaking and although they had hardly slept, she still couldn’t get enough of him. Thankfully, it seemed as if he felt the same. Barely a moment went past when his hands weren’t on her, or his mouth wasn’t trailing across her skin. Pippa never wanted his attentions to stop. The man hiding behind those high walls was a never-ending maze of delight and she was utterly, pleasurably lost in him.
“I have an early appointment in Liverpool,” he groaned regretfully, glancing at the clock on his bedside table. “Client emergency.” He gripped her chin, tilting her face to look into his eyes. “But if I promise to break all the speed limits on the way there and on the way back, I should be home before lunchtime. Anyway, don’t you have a busy day yourself?”
Pippa rested her chin on his chest. “Yeah.” Tomorrow was the fair and there was a lot of preparation to do. It promised to be a gruelling day. “I may regret not getting any sleep.”
“I don’t remember you complaining at any point last night.” He grinned wickedly as he pushed her snarled hair back from her face. “But, like I said, I shouldn’t be away too long. Maybe I can help?”
Pippa pushed herself upright. “You?” She widened her eyes in a theatrical display of disbelief. “Youwould help with the fair?”
A strange smile flitted across his face. “Stranger things have happened.”
The image of Wolfie pitching in with the volunteers and engaging with the people of the town tugged at Pippa’s heart. “That’d be great.”
He bundled her into him, planting a deep kiss on her mouth. “I’d best get in the shower then.”
Pippa stretched. “Should I make you a coffee for the road?”
Stark naked, he reached for a dressing gown that was hooked across the enormous wing-back chair that took up a corner of the room. “No, don’t worry. Stay where you are,” he said gently. “Try and get some rest.”
As she watched Wolfie’s magnificent form strut off to the shower, Pippa vowed to stay awake until he returned, but she dozed off and when her alarm went off at eight, he’d already gone. He had texted a farewell:
Didn’t want to wake you. See you later. Yours, W.
