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Eventually, I turn to him. ‘That was amazing, thank you so much. It was a lovely idea and everything was just perfect. Total high point of my holiday so far!’
He turns to me, and he has a slight frown. ‘What?’ I ask. Maybe he thinks I’m coming on too strong.
‘You have a little smear of chocolate,’ he remarks. ‘May I?’
I nod, and he reaches out and wipes his thumb across my bottom lip. As he does so, I kiss it lightly and lift my eyes to his. Time seems to stand still for a moment, then he gently cups my face in his hands and lowers his lips onto mine.
The kiss is soft, like a question. I wrap my arms around him and the kiss deepens. I respond to him and press myself against him, kissing him harder. My hand wraps round the back of his head and I curl my fingers into his hair. He pulls me into him, wrapping his arm around me, and I lose myself in the kiss and the smell of him. After what feels like an age, we gently pull apart.
‘Shall we continue this inside?’ he asks, and I nod.
17
As we go into the bedroom, the atmosphere between us shifts. The presence of the bed makes what we are about to do feel much more real somehow, and I’m suddenly a bit anxious. I’m used to the familiarity of sex with Josh, but Ed is unfamiliar and new. What if I really am no good at it? I don’t want to disappoint Ed, but the certainty I felt out on the balcony has deserted me.
Ed picks up my reticence. ‘Are you OK? We don’t have to…’
‘No, I want to,’ I reply. ‘It’s just that I’m a bit nervous, I suppose.’
‘I tell you what. Let’s just cuddle up together and have a bit of a kiss. If it develops into more then that’s fine, and if it doesn’t, well, that’s also fine. OK?’
I nod, and he leads me over to the bed. We lie down together and I nestle into him, wrapping my arms around him. He kisses my hair, and I turn my face up and kiss him on the lips. We stay like that for a while, just holding each other and kissing gently, and I feel my nervousness begin to subside. I run my hands over his shirt, feeling the unfamiliar contours of his body beneath. I look at his face, and the kindness in his eyes as he looks back at me. He really is a good man, and if anyone is going to be the one to ‘get me back on the horse’, as Mads would put it, I want it to be him. He gently strokes his hand down my neck and onto my shoulder.
‘Is this OK?’ he asks, as he begins to move his hand lower. I nod, and he gently brushes over my breast and down onto my stomach. He leans in and kisses me again, still gently. I can feel my body beginning to respond to him, and I reach down and carefully guide his hand back onto my breast. We continue kissing as he gently cups and squeezes it through the fabric of my top and bra.
‘Why don’t you take off your shirt?’ I suggest, after a while.
He disentangles himself from me and takes it off, dumping it on the floor by the bed. As he lies down again, I lean back slightly to study him. Although I’ve seen his chest before, I’ve never really looked at it in the way that I am now. It’s hairy enough to be masculine, without being over the top. I reach out and put my hand on it, running my fingers through the hair. I kiss him again, and my resolve strengthens. I sit up and pull my top over my head, sending it to join his shirt on the floor, before lying back down next to him. He traces the line of my shoulder with his finger and runs it down my arm, before coming back up my stomach and onto my breast once more.
‘God, you’re beautiful,’ he murmurs. He reaches round behind me to undo my bra strap. ‘May I?’ he asks, and I nod once more. As soon as it’s off he pulls me into him and kisses me deeply. My desire builds as my final reservations fall away. I push him onto his back and straddle him. I now know without any doubt where I want this to go.
* * *
Some time later, we’re lying together in silence, our limbs entwined. Sex with Ed was satisfying and exciting in a way that I’d forgotten existed, and I’ve realised how lazy and stuck in a rut Josh and I had become. I’m stroking his hair gently and he’s running a finger lazily up and down my arm. After a while, a thought comes to me and I giggle.
‘What?’ he asks.
I glance down at our naked bodies. ‘I don’t think the couple’s massage is going to pose any intimacy problems now, is it?’
‘Just as well!’ He laughs. ‘After all the exertion, both today and this evening, I think we might need it!
‘Charley,’ he asks after a while, ‘I don’t want to get all heavy and start a conversation about “us”, but where do you think we go from here? I’m not a “fling” sort of person, I don’t want you to think that I’m going to drop you like a hot potato now that I’ve had my wicked way with you. Maybe, when we get back to England…’
I put my finger on his lips to shush him. ‘Let’s not make any promises we don’t know we can keep. I’m not a fling person either, but England seems like a different world at the moment. Why don’t we enjoy what we have while we can and just see what happens?’
He nods and I give him a long kiss. ‘Do you know what I’d enjoy right now?’ I ask him.
‘I don’t think I’m ready for another round just yet!’ He looks alarmed.
‘I wasn’t going to say that, actually!’ I laugh. ‘What I’d enjoy right now is another glass of champagne, if there’s any left.’
‘Hang on, I’ll be right back.’
He leaves the room and reappears moments later with two very fluffy white dressing gowns. He puts one on and hands the other to me. I put it on and follow him back out onto the balcony, where he refills our glasses. The detritus of our dinner is still on the table.
‘Shit!’ I exclaim. ‘You don’t think they tried to come and clear up while we, you know…?’
‘No.’ He laughs. ‘After they’ve served the final course, they leave it and I think the cleaners probably take it when they come in the morning.’
