Page 58 of Secret Paths

Still in the way someone becomes when they have heard a note they were not expecting.

I look at her. “All right?”

“Yes.”

The word is quiet.

I believe it.

I kiss her again, and this time she shifts closer, her body softening against mine. Her fingers curl at the back of my neck. My hand moves over her back, slower than it would have earlier, learning the shape of her through her top as if I have not already had her beneath me, around me, saying my name in the dark.

Even if we had spent a million nights together by now, I still want to take my time this time.

Chapter 7

Peter

Once we get to the bedroom, I walk her backwards, slowly, my hands at her waist until the backs of her knees meet the bed and she drops onto the mattress.

For a moment, neither of us does anything.

Mandy looks up at me, hair slightly mussed from my fingers, one side tucked behind her ear. She pushes the shirt from my shoulders.

Her palm settles against my chest.

I look down at it.

Then at her.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Her fingers trail over my stomach.

The muscle jumps.

Her mouth curves.

“Ticklish?”

“Not the sensation I’d go with.”

She laughs.

That proper Mandy laugh, warm and unguarded.

I bend and kiss it from her mouth.

She shifts back onto the bed and I follow, bracing myself over her. My hand finds the button of her jeans and slips it free.

Mandy lifts her hips without being asked.

I pull the jeans down her legs and drop them beside the bed.

Simple black knickers underneath.

Of course.