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His brain was soaring. He wanted more. But he knew right now that he had to step away.
He kept his hands at her head, forcing himself not to move them to her body, but instead bringing one around to the side of her cheek. When their kissing finally slowed he pulled back and licked his lips, catching his breath slowly.
Her cheeks were slightly flushed, her eyes wide, but she didn’t make any further move either, just watching him carefully.
He smiled at her and stepped back. ‘Goodnight, Arissa,’ he said hoarsely.
She gave a little nod of her head. ‘Goodnight, Philippe,’ she replied. There was a smile on her lips, as if she too was trying to take stock of what had just happened between them.
He turned and headed back down the street, willing himself not to look back, and feeling the blood pulsing through his veins. He couldn’t work out if he was crazy, composed, or contrite.
He’d wanted more, but stepping away had been the only truthful thing he could do. She didn’t know everything about him yet. He needed to have that conversation, and it wasn’t one you had when your arms were wrapped around someone, either in the water or out.
He sighed and looked up at the dark night sky, shaking his head at himself. First day on this island had seemed so long. Now, two weeks seemed as if they would never possibly be long enough.
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE NEXT FEW days were a mixture of easy and frustrating.
It was clear that neither of them could forget that kiss.
She’d wondered if things would be slightly awkward between them, but that first morning after, when she’d walked into the clinic, he’d already been there—with coffee and croissants—and he’d just shot her that sexy grin through tired eyes and gestured to the seat beside him. ‘I started early.’
So had she. In fact she hadn’t slept a wink after that kiss, wondering if she should just have grabbed him by his shirt collar and dragged him back into her house. Instead, she’d slid down the inside of her door once she’d closed it—her legs like jelly, smiling away to herself. It would be so easy to blame the unexpected swim, but she’d known the jelly legs were entirely down to Philippe.
The croissant and coffee had settled her jittering nerves. And Philippe had been entirely normal. Not ignore-the-fact-it-happened normal. No, he’d continued to let his hand linger when they touched, she’d occasionally caught him watching her with his sexy smile, but all the while entirely being a gentleman around her.
She wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry.
There was something so nice about being around him, laughing with him, talking with him. For such a long time she’d been on her own. Between her commitments to home and her commitments to work, she really hadn’t had time in her life for anyone else. Philippe made things easy. She didn’t need to try. She didn’t need to worry about what she was wearing, or how her hair looked, or whether she’d remembered to put make-up on that day.
They’d had lunch and dinner together every day and evening. They hadn’t had a second performance of that night-time swim—or of the kiss—but it was weird. She could almost swear that at times the air between them sparkled.
How stupid was that? An entirely rational, educated woman who thought the air might sparkle between her and some guy? It was like flitting back into her eight-year-old self when she’d imagined she’d marry a prince, and ride off on the back of a unicorn across a rainbow, all while the air around her glimmered. Of course at that point, in her dream she hadn’t been wearing a princess dress, she’d been wearing a NASA space suit because her intention had been to be an astronaut. Ridiculous.
Part of her knew that Philippe was only here for another few days. To expect anything other than a fleeting friendship would be ridiculous. But other parts of her felt as if this was some old-fashioned kind of courtship. And she couldn’t pretend that didn’t warm her heart entirely.
She gave a smile and called her last patient into the second vaccination clinic of the week. There was a queue of patients—Philippe had seen half of the children and the time had flown past. He gave a nod as she escorted the mother and baby into her room. ‘I’ll put the kettle on,’ he mouthed before following it with a cheeky wink.
