Gus has taken a seat in the sand, hugging his knees. He glances back at me and although I can’t see his face, I can imagine his secret smile. His curls have been unruly since we arrived and he’s been blaming it on the sun but really, it’s because I can’t keep my hands off them.
I slowly peel my bikini top off which makes him twist some more, using his hand to lean backwards. Then, because I love his reactions to my body, I push the bottoms down too, working incredibly hard to make stepping out of them look sexy and not clumsy.
By the time I’ve reached him, Gus is on his belly reaching out to my ankles like a touch-starved man. Something he is most certainlynot. Especially this week.
He tugs on my leg so that I can’t help but collapse beside him, and he rolls on top of me. His hands brush my hair back from my face, his lips trailing kisses down the side of my neck.
“Have your friends forgiven me for stealing you away?” he asks.
I shrug. “Are you kidding? Hattie is very happy about this situation.”
“She is?”
“Obviously she is completely heartbroken and beside herself that I’m not with her.”
“How couldn’t she be?” Gus jokes.
“But she loves that I’m being reckless.”
“Mmm.” Gus presses a kiss to my lips. “You are being very reckless, look at you. Naked on the beach.”
“We have this beach to ourselves. You’ve been naked for hours. Nobody will see.”
“You’re right. This isn’t reckless at all. We should up our game,” he mumbles, running his hand down my front and pressing on my clit, kissing my neck until I’m gasping into the starry night sky.
And I have let loose a bit. I’m back to my old, wild self. But… “Fuck. No. This is totally illegal and we do not need that PR.”
“You say that but whenever one of us got arrested back in the day, especially abroad, our sales would increase.”
“Beside the point,” I say, squirming from underneath him and bouncing onto my feet. “We have a beautiful beach shack right there.” I start heading towards it, picking up my discarded bikini as I go. I hear him puffing behind me and then he sprints past, racing me back to the bed.
“Hey!” I complain, adrenaline hitting me in the best damn way, grabbing his arm and half-racing, half-tackling him to the shack, hitting the bed in a jumble of sandy limbs and lips and hands. He kisses me, his curls falling over his eyes.
“Thank you for putting up with all this. I can’t say the next year will be any easier.”
I run my fingers over his face, pinching his chin. “Good thing Ilikeyou.”
He raises an eyebrow. “Only like?”
“And that’s pushing it to be honest. I think you’re bearable. I’m only with you because your…”
“I know, my massive—”
“—Cotswold house.”
He laughs. “Exactly.” He drops his head to kiss my collarbone and whispers, “But also, I’m horribly, frighteningly, never leave me, I’d go to prison for you, inlove with you,” he says. “Even when you’re mean to me to compensate for your huge, beautiful, unmanageable feelings. But don’t worry, we can keep that between us.”
I can’t fight the smile. “I hate how much I love you.”
“It’s inconvenient for you, isn’t it?”
“Is it,” I quip, “But it’s a burden I’m willing to accept.”
He laughs into my neck, rising above me. I run my hand down his front and guide him into me, enjoying the ragged sounds he makes. Then, there’s nothing more to say, because we’re both exactly where we’re meant to be.
EpilogueEighteen months later…
“I have a confession,” Millie says, bursting into the room where we’re getting ready. It’s our final moments to get our hair and makeup right. I’ve had more mirrors and a desk brought into the main bedroom so we can sit side by side.
