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‘Well, come over to Spain, then. Take a few days off work and spend some time with him. We can arrange a conversation between him and Mum later.’
‘Maybe,’ mumbled Luke. ‘I could do that in a few weeks, or something.’ He fell silent for a moment, chewing purposefully on his little finger. ‘He told me about the guy . . . and the woman he’s with now.’
‘Joyce,’ said Hannah with a smile. ‘You’d like her. Did you tell him about Dan?’
‘No,’ Luke replied. ‘Felt like that was quite a lot of information for one day. And anyway, I reckon I should come out to Mum first.’
Hannah nodded. ‘Do you want me to be there?’
‘No, I’m just going to tell her tonight.’ Luke folded his arms and set his jaw in a way that reminded Hannah of their dad. ‘If she doesn’t like it, that’s her problem. I don’t think our family should be keeping secrets any more.’
‘Me neither,’ said Hannah. ‘I’m here if you need me, OK? And I’ll come back sooner if you want me to.’
‘Thanks,’ said Luke. ‘But I’m fine. Quite enjoying having your place to myself, actually. I’ll give you a call in a couple of days.’
‘OK,’ said Hannah, relieved that this first hurdle had been crossed and Luke was dealing with it well. ‘I should probably go and check on Dad.’And Rob, she thought, but she didn’t want to make this conversation any more complicated than it needed to be.
‘We haven’t talked about you,’ said Luke. ‘How’s your trip been? Met anyone cool?’
‘I’ve made some new friends,’ she said breezily, glad she didn’t have to try to explain any kind of relationship with Rob, because there wasn’t one. The conversation yesterday had helped her feel confident that they were doing the right thing, but being hand-fed prawns had put her in a sweaty, breathless spin again. One way or another, she needed to resolve the situation between them before she spontaneously combusted.
Hannah was already in bed by the time Rob emerged from the en-suite bathroom, his hair damp from the shower and wearing nothing but a pair of shorts. It was hotter tonight than it had been since Hannah had arrived in Spain, and her plan was to strip naked and lie on top of the bedding as soon as he’d gone to bed. Scrumpy sat up from his position on the tiles by the bathroom door, poised and panting to follow Rob to whichever bed he was sleeping in.
‘Can I stay here?’ asked Rob, like that question hadn’t been hanging over them since lunch. Hannah nodded, unable to trust herself to say anything sensible, and scooted over so Rob had plenty of room to wriggle under the sheet. Scrumpy stayed on the cold floor and without him, the gap between them suddenly felt like a canyon of wanting.
‘Goodnight,’ said Hannah, her voice sounding like air being squeaked from a balloon.
‘Sleep well,’ said Rob, turning on his side with his back facing her as Hannah turned off the light. She lay in total stillness for a while, marvelling at Rob’s ability to fall asleep so quickly. For her, turning off the light was an invitation for her mind to fill with a million different thoughts and doubts and anxieties, like they’d been waiting patiently for darkness to fall so they could start a party in her brain.
She moved her legs to find a cooler bit of the sheet, listening to Rob’s slow, steady breaths, overlaid with the gentle hum of the crickets outside the open window. The mosquito mesh theoretically kept the bugs out, but Hannah knew she’d be covered in bites by morning. She thought about their tennis match this afternoon, alone on Joyce’s court for the first time. They’d both played hard and been fiercely competitive, like they were using it as an outlet for all their unrequited passion. Over dinner Barnaby had wanted to talk about his conversation with Luke, and the glances she’d shared with Rob had felt strained and awkward, like both of them had food on their face but neither of them wanted to be the first to mention it. A big, sexy elephant in the room.
Hannah’s brain started to play out an imagined scenario between her and Rob, mostly involving him pressing her up against the wall of the tapas restaurant and kissing her hard. The thought made her breathless, so she slowly and carefully slid her hand into her pyjama shorts and dipped a finger into the wetness between her legs. She obviously knew about women getting hot and wet for a man, but it had never really happened with Graham – he couldn’t light a barbecue, never mind a fire in Hannah’s knickers.
But Rob had kindled something that had been lying dormant for a very long time, since the confused teen years when Hannah had silently touched herself at night, her eyes screwed shut and her head full of muddled thoughts about lust and sin. She had no idea what was going to happen at the end of this road trip, or whether she’d ever see Rob again. But either way she’d lifted the lid on some kind of well of female desire, and she had no intention of screwing it back on again. There was a lot of lost time to make up, after all.
She removed her hand before she lost herself in the moment and woke Rob up, then turned on her side to face him, pulling her knees into her chest. The glow of the full moon through the window cast silvery shadows across the hard muscles of his shoulders and the bumps of his spine. There was a tiny mole on the back of his neck, just below his hairline, and a pink scar across one shoulder blade. Hannah reached out to brush her finger along it, then changed her mind and withdrew her hand – that definitely wasn’t going to help the pulsing heat between her legs. But the compulsion to touch him was too strong, so instead she covered the scar with the flat of her palm, resting her whole hand against him as softly as she possibly could whilst still maintaining contact. His skin was smooth and warm, and for a moment she closed her eyes and breathed in and out, just needing a few seconds of human connection before she would absolutely, definitely take her hand away.
‘Don’t stop,’ whispered Rob. Hannah gasped and guiltily buried her hand under her pillow as Rob turned over to face her.
‘Hi,’ he said with a gentle smile.
‘Hi,’ said Hannah, hoping he couldn’t see her blush.
‘That felt nice.’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Hannah, her mouth feeling like it was full of dust. ‘I thought you were asleep.’
‘I was,’ said Rob, his voice gravelly and full of sleep, ‘until you started touching me up.’
Hannah smiled. ‘I’m not sure that qualifies.’
‘Did you want to talk?’ he asked, raising his eyebrows.
‘No, it’s fine,’ said Hannah. ‘I think we said all the important stuff yesterday.’
‘Right,’ said Rob, huffing out a short breath. ‘Did you want to get naked instead?’
Hannah laughed, feeling her heart start to pound in her chest. ‘Yes, but I’m not sure that’s helpful.’
