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‘You’re sure?’
‘Completely.’
‘No regrets?’
‘None.’ Mary shook her head. ‘Not one single one. Well, I wish I’d had the chocolate cake, maybe...’
He laughed. ‘There will be plenty tonight,’ he said, and he stretched over her to reach for the phone. ‘I’ll cancel the pilot and...’
‘No.’ It was Mary who stopped him. ‘Please don’t do that.’
‘Why not?’ Costa said. ‘I thought you wanted to go to a party...’
‘I do.’
‘You can spend the day at the salon...’
‘What else will I do?’ Mary asked, and looked up at him.
And Costa, who had been about to guide her hand down and show her what else, knew he’d better be more cautious with his response. ‘What doyouwant to do, Mary?’
‘I want to know about you, spend time with you, talk to you—all the things you hate.’
‘There’s no point.’
‘Why?’
‘You know we’re going nowhere.’
‘I do know that,’ she said, ‘but I’m tired of sitting in salons.’
‘Then we’ll spend the day in bed.’
‘I actually want a little conversation either side of being—’ She stopped herself. ‘I think it best I leave...’
‘Of course.’
She climbed out of bed and knelt down to go through her cases, and he saw his own handprint on the inside of one thigh, pink from their coupling.
He’d cupped her in his palm afterwards, Costa recalled, as she headed to the shower. Mary was right to leave, he conceded, for last night they had crossed a line.
Not sexually. Costa had no issue with crossing lines there, and last night had, by his usual standards, been tame. Yet he felt as if he had taken a blindfold off, and was surveying the damage after some wild misadventure.
And then he recalled his own words.
‘I haven’t loved you yet.’
Costa swore!
Three times in a row, he cussed himself.
And then he dragged in a breath as he heard the shower taps close.
He padded out and poured them both coffee. He ate a pastry while doing so, then brought the cups and a plate and got back into bed.
‘There,’ he said, when she came out dressed in a tiny bikini. She looked utterly perfect, all trace of the night gone. ‘Some coffee.’
‘No, thanks.’ Mary left the bedroom and eyed the breakfast selection. She poured some juice instead, then stuffed some cheese into a bread roll and stood in his lounge eating it.
