He pulled her towards him, nearly causing her to topple in her chair, and she laughed again.
‘Annalise might come back,’ she whispered.
‘Julia will settle her. We’re here...the stars are in the sky and the ocean is stirring around us. What could be more romantic?’
He kissed her. Long and slow, barely giving her time to surface for air. His tongue moved against hers and Sophie felt dampness between her legs, aching for the sort of release only he was capable of affording her.
‘I’m hungry for you...’ he whispered hotly into her ear. ‘You’ve been driving me crazy sitting on that lounger pretending to read when you’d rather look at me.’
‘You’re so full of yourself, Niccolo.’
‘Tell me you don’t like it.’
‘Your ego is as big as your yacht...’ But she was laughing softly again and capturing his face between her hands so that she could pepper his cheeks with small, fluttering kisses.
‘My yacht’s not that big. There are bigger...’
They didn’t make love. Both were too aware that they were out in the open and not in a deserted cove on a deserted strip of white sand.
But he pulled her to sit between his legs on the long, wooden deckchair with its deeply padded cushions. She had her back to his stomach and they were both gazing up at a star-studded sky. The breeze was soft and silky and smelled of the salty ocean.
Sophie closed her eyes and let her mind drift off, but not into any dangerous places because she didn’t want to ruin the atmosphere.
The silence should have felt odd, but it didn’t. It was warm and familiar, and when he spoke, his voice low and pensive, she wasn’t surprised that he was speaking from the heart.
He hated heart-to-hearts. He hated opening up. He saw it as a form of weakness because strength was in moving forward, and only looked back if looking back served a purpose.
‘I think,’ he mused softly, his chin resting on the crown of her head before he sat back and nestled her into the crook of his neck, ‘that I was always a little apprehensive that my marriage had blotted my copybook when it came to Annalise. I think perhaps that’s why I’ve always unconsciously held back when I was around her. That and a very healthy mistrust of my ability to handle an infant without dropping her...’
Why had he just said that?
Was it some kind of fatal combination of stars in the sky and the absolute stillness of the night all around them?
How could he relentlessly remind himself of the restrictions of this passing liaison only to ambush his own good intentions by doing the very one thing he had sworn to himself he would avoid doing?
It felt as though he was very good at talking the talk when there was some distance between them, but in a situation like this, with his arms around her, feeling her heartbeat and smelling her flowery, clean aroma, she had a way of bewitching him into confiding.
‘I don’t think there’s a single new parent who isn’t afraid of accidentally dropping their baby,’ she said lazily. ‘Why do you think your marriage affected your relationship with Annalise?’
‘I have no idea how we’ve ended up having this conversation.’ Niccolo knew exactly how they’d ended up having this conversation. The woman had cast a spell over him! He was amused, though, rather than rattled. His hands drifted underneath her loose, sleeveless vest to cup her small breasts pushing against her swimsuit. He rubbed the pads of his thumbs over her nipples and felt them stiffen through the Lycra. More than anything he wanted to shove both hands underneath that Lycra and feel the coolness of her skin. Even more than that, he wanted to nuzzle that softness, suckle on the taut bulge of her nipples, lick and tease them until she moved against him, out of control and begging to be taken over the edge.
He couldn’t wait to get her to bed.
It was astonishing to think how much she still drove him nuts with desire and how much the thought of her still popped into his head when he was least expecting it.
‘We’ve ended up having this conversation because you raised it. Strangely, it does sometimes help to talk about stuff.’
‘Never in my experience.’
‘You still haven’t answered my question.’ Sophie clearly wasn’t about to let him off the hook. ‘Shall I tell you what I think?’
‘Not necessary because I’m already regretting having raised the subject in the first place.’
‘I think you’ve been scared that because you failed at your marriage you would fail at parenthood. So even though you adore your daughter, it’s felt safer to keep your distance instead of throwing yourself wholeheartedly into the whole bonding thing. Know what else I think?’
‘You think too much.’
‘I think it’s a whole lot easier to hide behind a wall than it is to engage.’
