The streak of humour that lay mostly hidden beneath such a controlled exterior.
That hint that he would actually revel in the chance to rebel if he thought he could get away with it.
He got that from his mother. He had her strength of character and single-minded determination as well. He just hadn’t learned to balance things. Had he learned as a child that friendship and fun had to be sacrificed in order to retain control of what was happening in his life? Bella knew she could teach him otherwise if she had enough time.
She didn’t have the luxury of time so was it so dreadful to put off the confession that would spell an end to what was beginning to happen? She would never have it again. Maybe it was knowing that this was the very last time in her life that she could embrace fantasy before stepping into the responsibilities of being completely grown up. Being amotherand not a carefree young woman with the possibilities of anything she could dream of ahead of her in life.
Was it so terrible to want one more night with Oliver? Because that seemed to be where this new attitude was heading.
* * *
Things were improving.
Glimpses of the old Bella were returning. It had taken some effort but it had been well worth it. He’d seen a gleam of… admiration, perhaps, when he’d gone as far as suggesting that she give him another line-dancing lesson.
He would have done it, too, but she’d been evasive.
He’d made her laugh, though, offering to cook and then turning up with hamburgers and French fries.
She seemed happy to talk to him too and it was so easy to talk about things that always bored the kind of women he’d usually dated. Medical stuff, which was all he really had to talk about, wasn’t it? Had he really dismissed Bella as a somewhat ditzy young nurse? She was smart and things she probably hadn’t learned in her training had been absorbed on the job. She actually seemed fascinated by the intricacies of neurosurgery and the questions she asked were intelligent.
What stayed with Oliver during his days at work was the way she could centre on the people involved, not just the medical details. Bella cared about patients she hadn’t even met and he would find himself following them up in more detail, even asking about things in his patients’ lives that had nothing to do with the case, just so he could make them more real for Bella and hold her interest even more keenly. The odd thing was, he was getting more interested himself. Connecting with his patients in a way he never had before.
Bella Graham really was the most intriguing woman he’d ever met. And she was… gorgeous.
The idea that having a relationship with her would undermine his controlled life to a dangerous degree was fraying around the edges now. With every passing day, Oliver was craving more than just trying to make the old Bella reappear from that unusually restrained version.
He was craving her.
He wanted Bella. No, heneededher.
His control finally broke one evening the following week, when there was a particularly spectacular sunset happening.
‘Come with me,’ he said. ‘I want to show you something.’
He led her down through the garden.
‘I’ve never been this far,’ Bella said. ‘I keep meaning to find the steps and go and have a swim at the beach. Is it safe?’
‘The beach? Yes, it’s perfectly safe.’ Going this far with him, the way he was feeling right now? Probably not.
‘It’s good swimming.’ Oliver had to clear his throat. ‘You need to stay on the steps going down, though. The cliff can be a bit crumbly in places. Here, this is what I wanted to show you.’
The old summer house was at its best on an evening like this, warmed by the glow of the sunset and with a clear view of the ocean and the changing light.
‘It’s my personal haven,’ Oliver told Bella. ‘The place I always feel most at peace with the world.’
Would she understand how significant it was to bring her here?
She seemed to. She was standing so close to him and when she looked up, Oliver was sure he was going to drown in what he could see in her eyes.
An almost childlike mix of appreciation and wonder and excitement. But there was nothing childlike about the way her pupils dilated and her lips parted. It was pure woman and utterly irresistible.
The first time they’d kissed, Oliver wasn’t quite sure how it had happened. One moment they’d been standing there and the next they’d been all over each other. But this time he savoured every microsecond, dipping his head with infinite slowness to bring their lips into contact. Maybe he was giving Bella the chance to pull away if she didn’t want this. More likely, he was finding the exquisite torture of delayed gratification too alluring.
Bella didn’t pull away. She didn’t close her eyes either. She was watching him and it was like looking into an emotional mirror. He could swear she wanted this just as much as he did.
The built-in seating was more than wide enough to serve as a bed and, if the cushions were past their use-by date, neither of them noticed or cared. Like the kiss, Oliver slowed things down as far as he was physically capable of doing. He undressed Bella, touching her skin as though it was the first time. In a way, it was. They had been so inflamed by passion last time, he’d barely noticed detail. He was noticing now. How smooth her skin was. How delicious it tasted. How just one touch of his tongue could make her nipples tighten into the most amazingly hard buttons that begged to be softened by enough extra attention.
