‘Come on, sweetheart,’ I dimly heard Colin crooning. ‘You were made for this. Feel it. Feel what you do to me.’ There was strain in his voice – in his body. His hand closed in my hair, harder than I expected, and the pleasure-pain counterpoint struck me in the chest and sucked me under.
I heard my own gasps as though from outside my body, thrashing as the pressure snapped and gratification washed in afterward. I registered a rip and a choked curse from Colin and then he was holding me down in his lap with a grip that would leave marks as he finished with a jerk and a long groan.
I fumbled for balance and my hand slipped, the loud blare of the horn slicing through the moment.
‘Shit!’ Someone definitely would have heard it.
I scrambled off him, narrowly missing the important bits, and dived straight for the door handle and fresh air. The way my heart was pounding reminded me of the brand-new tattoo. Right now I didn’t even mind if it made me think of him for the rest of my life.
Wobbly on my feet, I clung to the car and straightened while I tried to pull myself together – and I caught sight of a door opening over at the hotel.
‘Quick, get dressed!’ I said urgently to Colin, who was already in the process of tugging up his jeans. I managed the snap on my bra and rearranged my neckline. It seemed to take him far too long to put himself away, long enough for me to see Tony emerge with a wave – and for me to develop a blush more radiant than nuclear waste.
Colin stumbled out after me, nearly knocking me into the next car. After apologising and steadying me with a light touch to my waist, he murmured, ‘Lees, the back of your dress is ripped.’
I hadn’t noticed the extra ventilation, given the fact that other parts of me were also very well ventilated right now. Jerking my gaze back to the car, I realised in alarm that there was one more detail I’d forgotten.
‘My underwear!’ I mumbled urgently.
He dived back in, rummaging wildly.
‘Where have you two been? One last publicity stunt?’
Hauling himself out of the car and hitting his head for good measure, Colin came to stand just behind me as a billow of wind swept across the meadow – and the skin of my back through the gaping rip. With an accidental shove that made me stumble, Colin pinched the ripped seam closed.
‘I finally convinced Leesa to get the tattoo she’d always wanted.’
Tony’s gaze snapped to me. ‘Is that true? I hope he didn’t talk you into anything that you’ll regret.’
‘Definitely not,’ I insisted. ‘I just got a little cardiogram symbol – a heartbeat. It’s true, I’d always wanted to get it and the studio was really nice.’
Perhaps I’d said too much, because Tony’s prodigious wrinkles got wrinklier as he looked from me to Colin. ‘I’m glad Colin wasn’t leading you astray.’
‘Not at all,’ I insisted, unconvincingly, if the nudge from Colin was anything to go by.
‘We’d better… go inside and… help.’
I’d expected Colin to be a better liar, but his stilted words did the job and he ushered me ahead of him, hiding my ripped dress from view. I could feel Tony’s eyes on us and wasn’t sure I wanted to know what he was thinking.
‘Here are your undies,’ Colin said, coming close enough to speak softly into my ear. He slipped the cotton into my hand as we reached the corridor heading to my room. It was blessedly empty.
‘Thanks.’
‘I’m sorry I ruined your dress,’ he mumbled, letting go of the edges so the floral material sagged around my waist. ‘And I’m sorry I manipulated you into getting a tattoo, although I like the sound of the heartbeat.’
‘Don’t listen to your dad.’
His brow lifted. ‘Is that professional advice?’
‘No.’ It was very personal.
Nostrils flaring, he kept his gaze on the rural watercolour on the wall over my shoulder as he spoke. ‘You’re too clever not to have noticed Dad and me aren’t exactly a dream team, but he’s not always wrong.’ He tucked his hands into his armpits. ‘He told you not to let me manipulate you. I said you were savingmefrom getting a tattoo, which was a lie. It was manipulation.’
‘But he’s not alwaysrighteither, is he?’ I pushed.
‘God, no.’
Like my mom wasn’t always right about me. But I couldn’t help hearing her in my head, all these years after I’d moved out of home. Colin had never even moved out. He still heard Tony in the flesh.
