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She’d have to smother herself in that tub of ice cream in a minute if she kept thinking about his body! Caleb licked his spoon clean, and a firework of ice cream foreplay fantasies exploded in her mind.

Caleb was still chatting away about Lucas’s routine, and she hadn’t realised she’d been distracted until he added, ‘It also doesn’t help that I should have been here two weeks ago, but what with Baz’s upcoming op, I felt I needed to visit him before filming started…’

Hannah shook her head to clear it and grabbed a clean spoon from the drawer. ‘Well, that couldn’t be helped. I’m sure you’ll make up for lost time. I don’t think there are any improvements to be made.’

He chuckled, pleased with her confession. ‘Thanks.’

‘You’re welcome,’ she croaked, busying herself with picking up her bowl.

They took their bowls outside to enjoy the balcony. The full moon was like a silver torch in the sky, casting a glittering beam of light over the calm ocean, which crested and then crashed against the beach with a soft and soothing hiss. The warm lights of their suite behind them and the surrounding skyscrapers bathed their balcony in a soft glow, and she sighed with pleasure, knowing that it would look even more spectacular in the daylight.

‘Would you like a first-night picture?’ asked Caleb with a knowing smile.

Heat bloomed on her cheeks, but she nodded eagerly. ‘I’ll go grab my phone.’

Caleb got up. ‘It’s on the counter, right? I’ll get it. I need to put a shirt on anyway, it’s getting chilly.’

‘Oh, pity,’ she said lightly, and Caleb grinned with a sparkle in his green eyes.

She sank back in her seat and waited for him, sipping her wine thoughtfully as she pondered the sudden change in her life. A few days ago, she’d been in a grim and dirty apartment with a potted-plant graveyard for a balcony. Now, she was literally drinking in the beauty of the Gold Coast and sipping a delicious New World Sauvignon Blanc – from a luxury hotel suite, no less.

A moment later, Caleb was back with her phone in hand as well as his own. ‘I took one with mine. What do you think?’

He showed her the image on the screen, their fingers brushing against one another lightly and sending a wave of tingles up her arm.

‘Oh! That’s perfect!’ she gasped. Caleb had managed to catch her mid-sip. The empty bowls and spoons were a mess on the table, but they were mostly in shadow, thankfully. The focus was mainly of the moon, and her profile watching it. Her skin and hair were backlit with golden light from the suite’s lights, and even though she wasn’t wearing make-up or particularly nice clothes, it didn’t matter because she was mostly a silhouette. ‘I couldn’t have posed it better myself. Perhaps I should move all the mess, though, and take another?’

‘Don’t do that. Just enjoy it,’ Caleb said, firmly sitting beside her.

‘Fine,’ she said with an exasperated smile, before adding, ‘Thanks.’

‘You’re welcome,’ he replied, and she wasn’t sure if he’d intentionally repeated her from earlier or not. ‘You should really live in the moment, you know.’

Her heart sank. ‘I know. I’m trying.’

They enjoyed the peace and quiet until Hannah had finished her wine and then gathered up their empty dishes and took them inside. There wasn’t a dishwasher, but Caleb washed while she dried.

‘I’m shattered, aren’t you?’ she asked, hoping it sounded casual, and realising almost immediately by Caleb’s raised brow that it hadn’t.

‘Yeah.’ He drawled the word slowly, as if it were a question.

She nodded, rubbing the bowl she held as if her life depended on it, before placing it in the open cupboard above Caleb’s head, allowing her breasts to brush ever-so-slightly against his arm as she did so, a silent question of her own.

Caleb’s hands stopped moving in the soapy water, and she avoided his eyes as she dropped back down onto the balls of her feet, her breath held tight.

Another soapy bowl was offered to her, and she did the same again, rubbing it dry and then reaching up on tiptoes to place it in the cupboard above, her now-hard nipples grazing against his arm.

‘Hannah.’ He said her name roughly, like a warning, and it sent a shiver of goosebumps down her spine.

‘Yes?’ she asked innocently, as she lowered back down onto the balls of her feet so slowly, she could have sworn she heard the fabric of their tops crackle with static electricity.

‘What are you doing?’ he asked, turning towards her, those magical eyes glimmering with wicked promise.

What was she doing? She wanted him to know she was interested in taking things further, but perhaps tonight was still too soon?

‘I…’ She hesitated, clutching the tea towel in front of her like a flag of surrender. His Adam’s apple bobbed, and she was back to old Hannah, gazing at him with longing, and knowing there was no way she would ever be brave enough to do anything about it.

No! Denial rushed through her, and she didn’t want to be anxious or afraid. She didn’t want to overthink every last detail. She wanted to live, she wanted to feel his mouth against hers, and the roughness of his bearded jaw.