Page 21 of It Was Always You

Adam watched Max leave, excited to know that once Eve arrived they would have the place to themselves and he fist bumped the air. Sex anywhere tonight then.

There was a knock at the door, and he dashed to answer it. And there she was. He inhaled sharply. She never failed to leave him breathless. She wore a long red coat and underneath that was a black and grey satin dress, which clung to her curves in the most delicious way.

He felt his blood rush southwards just at the mere sight of her standing there. He scooped her up in his arms, kicking the door closed behind him.

‘God, I’ve missed you,’ he whispered as he nuzzled her neck.

‘Adam, I saw you yesterday.’

‘Yes, but that was only a brief meeting. I haven’t seen you-seen you in almost a week.’ He kissed her deeply, sneaking his tongue into her mouth.

She pulled away briefly and said, ‘You mean you haven’t seen me naked in almost a week.’

He nibbled on her bottom lip. ‘Hmm, that too.’

She groaned. ‘Now you come to mention it, I have missed this,’ she breathed as his lips moved to her neck. She slid her hands up his arms and into his hair as his lips brushed hers once again.

Pulling back, she gazed into his eyes. ‘I’ll take my coat off and then we can continue this.’

After taking advantage of the fact that the house was otherwise empty, Adam lay back on the sofa with a naked Eve in his arms. She rested her head on his bare chest but as she stroked lazy circles on his skin his mind wandered again to Lily. He clenched and unclenched his jaw, annoyed at himself for allowing her escapades to distract him from the perfect woman in his arms.

Eve reached up and kissed his nose. ‘I brought wine. I thought we could order a take-away and maybe have a nice long soak together.’

He smiled. Her suggestion sounded like his idea of sheer bliss and he nodded. She knew just what he wanted, just what he liked, and he wanted to keep things like this.

Forever.

TRACK 9

‘AUSTRALIA’ (MANIC STREET PREACHERS)

June 2016 – Australia

Lily awoke as the sun streamed in through a gap in the curtains, stinging her eyes. There was a rather long, naked man draped across her body. For a few moments she wondered where on earth she was. Then slowly, it dawned on her. She was in Australia, which meant the bedroom was at Bodhi’s apartment and, ergo, the naked man was Bodhi. Mmm… Bodhi the Aussie underwear model… yum.

She rubbed her eyes and stretched, but when she did, she realised how achy she was. But then again there was no wonder, considering last night’s lengthy pash-sesh as Bodhi had called it in an accent as delicious as his body. She smirked at the memory.

Carefully slipping out of bed, she hotfooted it to the ensuite to take a shower, thinking the hot water would go some way to relaxing her tired and aching muscles. It had been two days since she last spoke with Adam about his interview.

She missed him.

Bodhi was a welcome distraction, but she had no illusions about this fling going any further than the airport once it was time for her to move on. New Zealand was the next stop on the Lily Macrae World Tour.

Travelling in itself had been a welcome distraction from her predicament of being in love with her lifelong best friend. She had seen some wonderful places and had met some fabulous people. The relationship between her best friend in the world and her good friend, Eve, had reached fever pitch. She just knew Adam would propose to Eve. And she was expecting it to happen almost as soon as he got a teaching job. So, if she thought about this realistically, it would occur sooner rather than later.

As much as she loved Adam and wanted his happiness, hearing he was marrying another woman would crush her already broken heart, and no amount of distance would change that. It was sad that long before her current age of twenty-three she had lost her heart and fallen victim to the bitch that is unrequited love.

‘Lily, come back to bed. I want to take up where we left off!’ a husky voice called out. She hadn’t even climbed into the shower yet but toyed with the idea of going back in to him, but thinking about Adam had thrown cold water on any surge in her libido.

‘Can’t. I’m in the shower!’ she shouted as she was climbing in. The water was hot and steam billowed around the room, enveloping her in a cloudy cocoon. Bodhi appeared, peeking around the shower screen with a lascivious grin on his handsome face. His shaggy blond hair was deliciously dishevelled, a look he carried with such grace.

Without invitation, Bodhi stepped in behind her, his state of arousal becoming evident as the steam cleared.

‘You’re not going to leave me like this, are you?’ He pouted as he prowled towards her.

‘I’d never do such a thing.’ She backed up to the wall as Bodhi skimmed his hands down her body and effortlessly lifted her up so that she could wrap her legs around him. Her head rolled back and she tried her best to shake out the images of Adam that chose that precise moment to return and invade her mind.

Later on, after their shower antics – which did nothing to alleviate her aching muscles – when Bodhi had left to shop for ingredients after promising to return and cook her a delicious meal, Lily picked up her phone and hit number one in her speed dial list. Adam’s number.