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Even with the light of her phone, it was so dark it felt oppressive, like a cement weight on his chest, pressing down and making it hard to breathe. There was an overwhelming smell of the ocean and damp rocks, and he felt the walls closing in on him. “Katie, I have to get out of here.”
“Scared of the dark?” She teased.
“I mean it, Katie. Now.”
His voice was tense and her humor instantly evaporated. “Of course. Here.” She held her hand out until she felt his, and pulled him back towards the entrance. They skirted their way back to the cove and, once they’d burst into the sunlight again, she saw he was as white as a ghost.
“David! What is it? Sit down, now, before you pass out.”
He grimaced, but did as she said. “Claustrophobia.”
She narrowed her eyes, feeling instinctively certain that there was more to it than that. “I didn’t realize.”
“Why would you? It’s not something I scream from the rooftops, and it hasn’t come up.” It was also a relatively recent affliction. Since being chained up in a stinking basement in Iraq, with no windows and no fresh air, and hardly any light.
She sat down beside him on the sand, looking towards the horizon. “If I’d known, I wouldn’t have taken you into the caves.”
He turned to look at her, and because he couldn’t resist, tucked her dark hair behind her ear. “I know.” His voice was low, and deep.
She sneaked him a sidelong glance. “You look much better.”
His face had regained its usual tan, his eyes were dark with an emotion she didn’t compute, and his lips were parted. His hand lingered on her ear, and with her gaze, she tried to communicate to him how much he had come to mean to her. How much she wanted him to stay in her life. Words she could never speak, because they’d set out the rules for their relationship early on, and she’d forced them both to stick to them.
“And you look as perfect as ever.”
He lowered his head and kissed her with all his hunger. A whole day and night without her had been hell. A niggling doubt about how he’d feel leaving her for good in just over a week was an unpleasant downer, and he pushed it aside determinedly.
Her mouth was soft and pliant beneath his lips, and he felt his body instantly respond to hers with a longing greater than he’d ever known. He was tempted to take things further here, not caring who saw, but he held on to a modicum of self control and broke off the kiss, pulling away from her with a feeling of intense frustration.
“We should… go back home…” She suggested huskily, nibbling on her lower lip.
“My thoughts exactly. Let’s go.”
They almost ran the whole way back to the bed and breakfast. Katie briefly worried about what she must have looked like to anyone who drove past them, but she didn’t care. Maxie wouldn’t be out much longer and she was overcome with a total, all-consuming need for this man. Her arms were reaching for him before she’d even opened the door. She pulled him to her, and kissed him, ran her hands underneath his jacket to the warm flesh of his rock hard chest.
He groaned and backed her up, pushing her against the front door, effectively trapping her with his strong legs.
“Keys?” He said against her lips, not breaking their kiss.
She nodded, her mind cloudy. “Handbag.”
He reached inside the front pocket, where he’d seen her stash them before, relieved when his fingers landed on them instantly. He inserted the keys into the lock and pushed the door open. She laced her fingers through his and he pulled her towards the stairs, moving brusquely towards the privacy of her room.
“I’ve missed you,” he murmured, once inside the cozy bedroom, pulling her back into the circle of his arms and wondering how the hell he was ever going to get this woman out of his mind.
She nodded in agreement, pushing his jacket off and digging her fingernails into the satin skin of his back. She wanted him now, immediately, all of him. She felt a primal desire to control and be controlled, and it was swamping any other thought from her brain. Except one. If one day away from David Trent could cause this chasm of need, what would an endless absence arouse?
His possession of her was complete. He watched as physical release engulfed her, feeling his chest swell. He could spend his whole life giving this woman pleasure, he realized out of nowhere, and for the first time, the thought of forever after didn’t scare the hell out of him. And that realization, in and of itself, was just the wake up he needed.
“I think I should sell the house,” she said out of nowhere, once her breathing had returned to normal. She propped up on her elbow so that the crisp white sheet slid down and exposed one perfect breast. He fought the temptation to take it in his fingers and strum her nipple.
“That seems…sudden,” he reacted slowly, his dark eyes assessing her face for emotion.
She shrugged. “Not really. I’ve been toying with the idea for a month or so. I mean, I told the developer ‘no’, but you’re right. I’m stagnating here. Situations all flared up at once and running Wadeford House used to make sense. It felt like my only option, but now, with Maxie in school, there’s so much more I could do.” She thought of the email she’d received that morning. It had contained a renewed offer that had increased the already inflated purchase price by a substantial amount. “And the offer is so generous, I know I’d never get a better price, even if I finished the renovations and listed it publicly.”
He nodded, but his mind was spinning on a separate track. She was going to sell the house. To him. And if she ever knew who he was, she would think their affair had boiled down to a cold, premeditated property grab. The idea made his skin crawl.
But it shouldn’t, he thought, hours later, when Katie had popped into the village to pick up supplies and drop Maxie off at a friend’s for a sleepover party. What Katie thought of him wasn’t really his business. He’d never been the kind of guy who believed in the fairy tale, and what they’d shared was already paradigm shifting for him.
