Peter brushed one final lingering kiss across her lips. “You make me feel eighteen again, Gaby.”
She let out a soft laugh. “You’re the one who brought us up here. You made this magical.”
“It wouldn’t be magical without you.”
He held her gaze again and Gaby thought she could look into his eyes forever. The notion made her breath catch.
“Come home with me tonight, Gaby.”
Gaby’s eyes widened in surprise. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m leaving soon.”
“You don’t want to spend the night with me?”
She opened her mouth to say that no, she didn’t want to spend the night with him. But that would’ve been a lie.
“If you say you don’t want to, I won’t ask again,” he said.
Even if she’d wanted to lie and say those words, she couldn’t have got them out of her mouth because she was too busy pulling him closer and kissing him again.
She knew it was madness, but she couldn’t help herself. When she finally released him and saw the look in his eyes, she knew she was a goner.
“You’ll spend the night with me?” he whispered against her ear.
“Yes.”
He sighed, smiled, squeezed her hand and without another word led her towards the worn pathway that led back down Blackberry Hill.
This is reckless, Gaby thought as she followed him.Utterly reckless.
She looked up at the night sky one last time and saw another shooting star streaking overhead.
It was miraculous and lovely. A gift. A reminder of the wish she’d made only moments ago, a wish for this happiness to last always.
A foolish wish, perhaps. But as she walked hand-in-hand with Peter through the inky darkness and with the starlit skyglittering above them, Gaby decided to grab this one lovely moment while it lasted.
And worry later about what it might cost her.
22
Gaby followedPeter through the door of the flat where he lived overlooking a park in the east of Hamblehurst. When they’d walked through the town towards Blackberry Hill, she’d enjoyed the busy high street and nightlife, taking it all in. But during their hurried walk to Peter’s flat, she’d been oblivious to her surroundings, and wouldn’t have noticed the nearby park at all if he hadn’t mentioned it as they’d skirted around its fenced perimeter.
Her mind had been filled only with Peter and what they were about to share.
She had no thoughts about changing her mind. If she was trembling as they walked inside his flat, it was thanks to the nervous expectation.
Peter turned on a lamp, took her coat, did the gentlemanly thing and asked if she wanted a drink.
She only shook her head and stepped into his arms and kissed him.
After that, things became a little blurry. Deliciously blurry.
Alone together, Peter kissed her with a sensual tenderness that quickly turned to passion as he steered her towards hisbedroom. His arms around her as he held her close only made her desperate to get closer still.
When they fell onto his bed together, shedding clothes and laughing softly when they encountered stubborn buttons or awkward zips, their shared amusement only made the moment more wonderful.
