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“Aw,” Mae says. “All right, you two. Maybe we’ll see you next weekend?”
“That would be nice,” I reply.
We go around kissing on the cheek or shaking hands, and then finally wave goodbye and head toward the cable car. Kip has promised to collect the presents in his BMW and drop them off later, although I bring the rustly elephant with me.
Once we’re in, the car descends slowly toward the bottom level. I hug the elephant to my chest. “Did I do okay?”
“Yes, Catie. You did just fine.”
I blow out a relieved breath, then look at my reflection in the glass. “Jeez, my hair is a mess.” Passing him the elephant, I take the elastic band that’s wrapped around my wrist, then tip my head upside down, gather my hair up and twist it, and secure it into a messy bun with the elastic.
“Wow,” he says. “I don’t know how you do that so easily.”
I grab a few strands to pull around my face. “Lots of practice.” I hold out my hand for the elephant. He kisses it and passes it to me.
I look out of the window, but I can feel his gaze on me. Eventually I look back at him. His gaze is hot, sultry, and immediately I know he’s thinking about kissing me, and maybe even more than that.
I want to lift up and sit astride him, take his face in my hands, and kiss him until we’re both breathless.
But then he looks away, out at the view, and I bite my lip, feeling a twist of desperation. I know I’ve been insistent that I want to cope on my own. But that was before last night, when he told me he still finds me sexy. When he bathed me, held me in bed, and sang to our babies. Before I met his family, and felt so welcome and loved. How can I convince him that I want him? And that I’m not going to leave him again?
Chapter Twenty-Four
Saxon
Man, this is so hard. I want to pull her into my arms. Crush my lips to hers. But I’ve promised myself it makes sense to wait, and I have to stick to it now.
She’s so capable. I have nothing but admiration for the way she’s coped on her own for so long. I’m glad she seems better today than she was last night. Taking things in her stride. She’s glowing today. Blooming, isn’t that what they say? Like a beautiful flower.
As she looks out of the window, I study the curve of her neck, my gaze inevitably sliding down to the swell of her breasts. They’re bigger than they were when we slept together. Have her nipples changed? I wish I’d been less honorable and taken a good look at her when she got in the bath. Me and my fucking principles. I’m curious about the curve of her bump. The point beneath her breasts where it starts, and the point underneath where it finishes. How it would feel to slide my hands around it to her sides.
She looks back at me then, her eyes meeting mine. Even though she’s caught me watching her, I don’t look away, and we study each other for a long moment.
Gradually, she blushes, so I know at least some of what I’m feeling must be showing in my eyes.
The car comes to a halt, and I get up, open the door, and help her down. Then we walk back past the lower apartments to the Aston.
“It’s such a beautiful day,” she says. “Summer’s coming.”
“Have you ever been on vacation?”
“Mum once took me up to Kaikoura for a few days. I don’t remember much about it. I was quite young.”
“Maybe we should go away somewhere. Is there anywhere you’d like to visit?”
“You mean like Palmerston North?”
I laugh. “Actually I meant abroad. Would you like to go to Fiji or Rarotonga? Or Asia? Or even Europe?”
She looks as if I’ve asked if she’d like to go to the Moon, her eyes filled with both wonder and panic. “Um… I don’t know…”
“Maybe that’s a step too far right now.” I think about a closer option. “How about up north? I’d like to take you to meet my friends in Auckland. Then we could drive up to the Bay of Islands and go dolphin watching. See the Waitangi Treaty House and the Stone Store. Visit Doubtless Bay. Drive up to Cape Reinga and see the two oceans meet.”
Her mouth forms an O. “Really? Just… me and you?”
“Yeah. Would you like that?”
She smiles and nods, looking up at me with wonder in her eyes. I love the way she looks at me like that.
