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Hannah pulled away. ‘I don’t think anyone’s ever told me that before.’
‘Seriously? How is that possible?’
‘Well, you know a lot of that story.’
Rob wove his fingers into hers. ‘Come here,’ he said, leading her to the edge of the bed. ‘Are you OK?’
‘Yes. No,’ said Hannah with a nervous laugh. ‘I’m kind of new to all this.’
‘So am I, at least at this level of intensity,’ said Rob, leaning over to envelop her hands in his. ‘The only thing I know is that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since you threatened me with a pair of killer heels, so we should probably do something about that.’
‘They weren’t killer heels,’ laughed Hannah. ‘And I definitely didn’t threaten you.’ She stood up and looked at him for a moment, then straddled his lap so she was facing him with her arms wrapped around his neck.
‘Just one question,’ Rob whispered, too curious not to ask. ‘I get that you’ve only ever slept with one man, but how many have you kissed?’
‘Also just one,’ breathed Hannah, her lips making a trail from his collarbone to his ear. ‘And now it’s two.’
‘Man, you’re good at it,’ he said with a smile, pulling her into a deeper kiss. He knew she could feel the hardness of him through his jeans – the people in the room below could probably feel it through the floor, like a gathering storm cloud above their heads. Other women he’d been with would have their clothes off by now, spreadeagled on the bed and begging him to bang them into next week. But Hannah wasn’t like that, and he knew he couldn’t rush her, much as he was desperate to feel her naked body against his. He slid his hand under the hem of her sweatshirt and trailed his fingers across the bare skin to her ribs, feeling the tiniest flinch as her body tensed.
‘Do you want me to stop?’ he said.
‘No, it feels good,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry.’
Rob pulled back and looked at her. ‘Hey. You don’t ever have to apologise. If four hours of kissing you is all I’m allowed, I’ll take it.’
Hannah smiled and relaxed a little. ‘I think we both know that four hours of kissing would kill us both.’ She shifted a little on his lap. It was exquisite, but also agony.
Rob pulled her in tighter to his body, deepening the kiss and letting his hands stroke her neck and back. He could feel her hips grinding into his and the pounding of her heart as his hand gently brushed against her breasts. His other hand drifted over the curve of her hips to her backside, then he quickly pulled it back.
‘It’s OK,’ she whispered into his ear. ‘I don’t want you to stop.’
‘Are you sure?’ said Rob, his breath coming in short gasps. ‘I don’t want you to feel like . . .’
‘It’s OK,’ said Hannah, standing up and taking a step back. She gave him a soft smile, then with one motion crossed her arms over the hem of her sweatshirt and lifted it over her head, along with the T-shirt underneath. She kicked off her trainers and socks and stepped out of her denim skirt, then stood in front of him in just a pale pink bra and matching lace knickers.
‘Holy shit,’ said Rob, drinking in every inch of her.
‘Your turn,’ said Hannah nervously.
Rob wrestled off his clothes, managing to get down to his white boxers without falling sideways or trapping anything important in the zip. They both stared at each other, their chests heaving, until their bodies crashed together in a breathless frenzy of hands and lips and limbs tumbling across the bed.
‘I don’t have any condoms,’ gasped Rob into Hannah’s neck, trailing his fingers up her spine. ‘I hadn’t expected this to happen quite so soon and it felt weird to mention it in the airport.’
Hannah smiled and leaned over the side of the bed to rummage in her bag for a small box. ‘I bought some. Figured if I was just going to turn up in Spain I should probably be prepared.’ She climbed back onto the bed and straddled him again, and for a moment he wished he could freeze time and remember every detail of this moment – the glow of her skin, the smell of her hair, the panting rise and fall of her chest, the feeling of blood and adrenaline racing through his veins. They had hours ahead of them; acres of time to explore and discover each other, and that was just the beginning.
Rob took the box from her hand, his brain scrambled as he tried to balance his urgent desire with his need to not fuck this up. He paused for a moment, his lips parting as she unhooked her bra and tossed it on the floor.
‘Rob, I’m absolutely sure,’ she whispered, reading his mind as she lay back on the pillows and threw her arms above her head. Every nerve in Rob’s body caught fire as the final piece of their jigsaw slid effortlessly into place.
EPILOGUE
September
‘Is everyone ready?’ asked Barnaby, twisting round in the driving seat of the people carrier and grinning broadly. Hannah and Rob were in the first row of seats, Scrumpy wedged between them so he could see out of the front windscreen through the gap. Hannah wasn’t expecting to make it to the bottom of the hill before he’d scrambled into the front passenger seat like the canine diva he was.
‘We’re ready,’ said Luke, piping up from the rear row of seats. ‘Woo,’ said Dan with his usual deadpan, but Hannah knew he was happy to be there. It was a ten-day road trip and Barnaby was picking up the entire bill, so being stuck in a rental Citroën Berlingo with his boyfriend’s family and a flatulent dog was probably a price worth paying.
‘Where to first?’ asked Hannah, reaching over to scratch between Scrumpy’s ears. Barnaby had planned this road trip like a military operation, and had turned down all Hannah’s offers of assistance. So instead she’d stayed busy helping him sell off his belongings and arranging transport of his remaining stuff back to the UK. The boxes had been collected yesterday and would be waiting in Barnaby’s rented flat in Guildford when they got back.
