‘Tick.’ He dropped a kiss on her wet hair and began to lead her upstairs. The room he took her to proved not to be his bedroom, but the bathroom. The laughter in his eyes subsided. ‘Let’s get you out of those wet clothes,’ he suggested huskily. First he pulled a thick blue towel from the airing cupboard and gently rubbed her hair, then stroked the softness of the towel over her forehead, her cheeks and chin, pausing to kiss each eyelid. Slowly, he reached behind her and tugged at the tie of her dress, smiling in satisfaction when the bow unfastened. ‘I sat behind you at the meeting wanting to do that.’
He unhooked her straps from her shoulders, pausing at every patch of newly bared skin to pass the softness of the towel over it, pushing the dress down over her hips, making her shiver as it dropped around her ankles.
‘You’re still wet,’ she pointed out breathlessly as he flicked her bra undone.
He lowered his mouth to her breasts while he continued to run the towel over her back. ‘Ladies first,’ he whispered, engrossed in playing with her nipple with his tongue.
Though she dropped her head back at the sensation of his boiling mouth on her cold, wet skin, she demurred. ‘Equality Act 2010.’ And began to pull his cold, damp T-shirt over his head.
Taking the towel, she rose on tiptoes to dry his hair, bringing her breasts against his chest, making him say, ‘Hmm-mm,’ deep in his throat and hold her there, while, mirroring his actions of a moment before, she dried the planes of his face, his neck and his shoulders. She slowed her movements across his chest, enjoying both his firm body and his sharp intake of breath.
After drying his arms she nestled ever closer to pass the towel behind him and smooth the moisture from his back. ‘That’s amazing,’ he groaned, swaying slightly so her breasts moved against him.
As she let her fingers drift onto the button of his waistband he began to stroke her bottom through her underwear.
She began to struggle for cohesion, finding herself unequal to unfastening his shorts while she was being caressed so languidly, her breath catching in her throat as her fingers fumbled.
‘Let me.’ With a rapid change of pace Aaron got himself out of his shorts and boxers, dried himself with a few lightning strokes, whipped off her panties, dried her legs and muttered, ‘Anything else can stay wet!’ making her snort with laughter as he put both arms around her and walked her backwards out of the room and across the landing.
Thunder growled outside and from downstairs Nelson gave a grumbling bark in reply. ‘Good boy, Nelson, quiet down,’ Aaron breathed, nibbling the side of Clancy’s neck.
Feeling the backs of her legs collide with the bed, Clancy glanced behind her. ‘My hair’s still wet …’
‘It’s sexy.’ He ran his fingers through the damp tresses. ‘I like the wild look. You’re gorgeous.’
With a squeak of pleasure she allowed herself to be lowered to the cool sheets of his bed, exploring his chest with her lips and tongue while her hands slid down to knead his finely haired buttocks, liking the way it made him groan as his erection pulsed against her. She slid her hand between their bodies to stroke him, making him jump.
His gaze moved between her face and her hand moving on him, teasing him with her fingertips. Then he pulled her further up his body so he could once again bring his mouth to her breasts.
Outside, the thunder crashed as if the storm was angry at sweeping in from the sea and finding this spit of land in its way, as Aaron stroked and explored her, making her melt with every touch of his hands, his body, his mouth.
They hadn’t pulled the curtains and flashes of lightning punctuated the thunder. When he finally sank into her she cried out, pulling him harder and harder against her until she convulsed in a burst of joy and pleasure that made the storm outside seem like nothing.
Clancy woke in the morning to the agreeable sensation of a hot body spooned around hers and a hand stroking the curve of her hip. She relaxed with a contented sigh. She could get used to the delicious spread of tingling desire being stoked deep in her belly.
The hand trailed delicately towards her breasts and a deep voice murmured in her ear, ‘It’s Saturday and I’m taking the day off to—’
Clancy jumped fully awake. ‘Saturday? Crap, it’s changeover day! I have to get going.’ Lifting the hand from her body and giving it a quick, apologetic kiss, she rolled from the bed and began hunting for yesterday’s clothes. She found them, damp and chilly, in various places on the floor.
‘Yuck,’ she said, wrinkling her nose at the crumpled and clammy dress. ‘I’m not doing the walk of shame in that. But I don’t suppose anything you’ve got will fit me.’ She glanced at the bed and found herself being regarded balefully. ‘Oh, um, sorry to run out on you,’ she said belatedly.
He sighed. ‘I can’t summon up arguments against you doing your day’s work, in the circumstances, but let’s at least stick your clothes in the tumble dryer while we eat breakfast.’
Clancy opened her mouth to protest that there was no time for breakfast on a Saturday but then the sight of Aaron rising naked from beneath the sheets grabbed her attention. He smiled when he saw the direction of her gaze, dropped a kiss on her hair, groped her bottom, took yesterday’s damp clothes from her and led her down to the kitchen. Once he’d let Nelson out into the garden to dissuade him from his usual welcome dance, bearing in mind his claws and their nakedness, Aaron set the clothes whirling in the dryer.
It turned out that there wasn’t time for breakfast after all. At least, not if they were to share a most enjoyable thirty minutes on the kitchen table. It was Clancy who eventually groaned groggily and said, ‘The dryer’s stopped. I really have to go or we’ll have holidaymakers turning up with no one to give them the key and the cottages uncleaned and beds unchanged.’
‘Suppose so.’ Wearing a smile and a satisfied expression he helped her slide to her feet. ‘I’ll take Nelson for his run then come down and help.’
‘What, aren’t you one of my bosses?’ she reminded him, pulling her dress, still warm from the dryer, over her head. It felt a bit too warm for comfort but it was a big improvement on wearing what had looked and felt like a damp paper bag.
He slid his arms around her, which didn’t make her feel any less overheated. ‘Ulterior motive. I’m hoping to spend time with you later.’
It sounded like a statement but she knew it was a question. She melted a little inside at evidence of this slight vulnerability. They’d spent the night giving and receiving pleasure, but he was still wary of taking too much for granted. She kissed her way up the strong cords of his neck, feeling the scrape of his morning stubble against her lips. ‘I would love that.’
‘If the sea settles down after the storm I’ll show you Secret Beach. It’s not high tide until about six.’ He moved her hair aside to kiss her neck.
‘It’s a date. But now I have to go—’
‘—because it’s changeover day,’ he finished for her with a grin. ‘I get it.’
The storm had freshened the morning, washing away the dust they’d lived with for the weeks of the heatwave. Clouds of palest grey scurried across the sky as if trying to catch up with their big brothers who had stormed through during the night. Clancy sped down Long Lane towards the Roundhouse, enjoying the edge to the breeze and the scent of the nettles that grew at the base of the hedges. The world felt washed and fresh. It suited her mood, the feeling of beginning a new chapter.
Last night had been … She shivered with pleasure as she let herself into the Roundhouse, stooping to pick up the keys on her doormat that indicated the erstwhile occupants of numbers five and four Roundhouse Row had vacated already. Skipping across the flagstones to the central staircase she ran up for a two-minute shower then jumped into shorts and a T-shirt. Getting caught in the rain and an energetic night of sex had given her haystack hair. She twisted it up behind her head, grabbed the cottage keys and her cleaning things and began, belatedly, on changeover day, humming beneath her breath as she worked.
&
nbsp; The beds in number four and number five were soon stripped and the first load of laundry chugging around in the Roundhouse’s washing machine. The guests from number six had left too with a lot of door slamming and arguing about how best to pack the car. Clancy was madly polishing and vacuuming when she heard a bark that she thought might be Nelson. Peeping through the bedroom window of number four she was able to see that Aaron had paused to chat to Ernie over the front hedge, backing away with that half-smile half-frown people wore when they wanted to end a conversation.
He glanced up at that moment and, catching Clancy’s eye, waved. ‘Be up in a minute,’ he called, his voice squashed small by the glass between them. She waved back and danced back to her cleaning, her heart light and skippy.
In minutes Aaron was running up the stairs to join her, Nelson galumphing happily at his side. Clancy was working near the window and Aaron drew her away so he could kiss her out of the view of anyone who might be passing by outside. ‘This changeover day is a total pain in the arse,’ he grumbled, rubbing suggestively against her. ‘But if cleaning cottages is the only way to spend the day with you then I’ll have to put up with it. Give me a job quick before I throw you on that bed and ravish you.’
She laughed up at him. He smelled of shower gel or shaving foam and his hair looked as if he’d let the wind dry it. He felt big and firm and delicious. ‘You will not! I’ve only just changed the sheets.’
Nelson rose on his hind legs, turning his head to regard them out of his eye as if to join in the hug, so they broke apart, Clancy telling Nelson he was sweet and Aaron telling him that he was an interfering bloody hound.
They broke for lunch in the kitchen of the Roundhouse, sharing a few bawdy jokes about missing breakfast, then hurried on with cleaning the final cottage, number six. The sun had reappeared, the newly washed village rooftops almost steaming in its heat, and they worked with all the windows open, finishing just in time for this week’s guests to arrive. Aaron stood back, holding on to Nelson’s collar as families tumbled out of cars to claim keys, children high-pitched with excitement, demanding to know where they were going to sleep and whether they were allowed to pat the big doggie, attention Nelson bore with a happy wink of his good eye.
‘I’m exhausted,’ Clancy declared, when she’d shut the Roundhouse door on the last guest.
Aaron cocked an eyebrow. ‘Bed?’
She cocked an eyebrow back. ‘Would I get any sleep?’
‘Not at first,’ he admitted, running a hand up over her stomach and onward to her breast.
‘Later then. I’m all hot and sweaty after rushing through the changeover and I believe you promised me Secret Beach.’
Aaron’s eyes smiled. ‘That was foolish of me.’
They took Nelson home, as it wasn’t reasonable to expect him to swim around to Secret Beach, then strolled towards the cliff path, fingers linked, swimwear beneath their clothes.
Clancy felt drunk with happiness, happier than she ever remembered being before. ‘I feel almost like jumping The Leap,’ she declared as they walked past the last of the buildings and a few people gathered in the afternoon sun on the lawn of the B&B.
‘Let’s do it,’ Aaron suggested. ‘It’s the fastest way to Secret Beach anyway.’
Her heart bounced. ‘Really?’ She remembered the last time she’d begun the jump, before Aaron and Nelson had got in her way, the anticipated exhilaration after watching Harry and Rory fly off the cliff. And Aaron had done it before. The sea had forgotten its irritability of last night and serene blue waves were flirting with the sunlight. ‘Then let’s do it.’
They stripped off their shorts and T-shirts and piled them at the foot of a tree. They picked their way to the cliff edge to check the area below was clear. Clancy shivered with a mixture of nerves and excitement as they backed up, the dry grass scratching their bare feet.
‘Sure?’ Aaron’s dark eyes studied her as he took her hand firmly in his.
Clancy’s heart began to gallop, making her feel queasy. ‘Sure,’ she confirmed bravely, gazing out at the glittering sea.
‘Then … threeeee … twooooo … one …’
‘GO!’ she burst out, unable to bear the anticipation. And they began to race for the cliff edge. Clancy thought about closing her eyes but then they were airborne and she was screaming with delight as the wind rushed past them, a cacophony of gulls flapping and shrieking from hitherto unseen perches. Flailing, flying, falling … then the water rushed up and …
Bam!
Clancy hit the surface like a slap. It would have taken her breath away if she hadn’t already been holding it, the sting of impact, the freezing cold that made her recoil as they plunged, down, down, much further down than she’d anticipated, her vision a blur of bubbly turquoise blue. Aaron’s fingers had been wrenched from hers as they’d hit and she struck out for the surface, her lungs beginning to burn.
Then she popped up with a rush, dragging in her first breath with a ‘WHOO!’ The whole experience could only have taken seconds but time had seemed to slow to allow her to savour every sensation, every instant, every inch. Her nose and eyes smarted from the salt water but she’d never felt so alive, gasping and laughing as Aaron bobbed beside her, his skin gleaming wet.
He reminded her of some beautiful selkie-like creature with his hair sleek against his head but not wanting to look an idiot by telling him so, she exclaimed, ‘What a rush!’
‘Want to climb up and do it again?’ His arms sculled beneath the choppy surface to negate the sea’s inclination to push him onto the rocks. ‘Or go straight to Secret Beach?’
‘Beach!’ she decided promptly, the climb not appealing to limbs growing quickly weary of sculling to keep clear of the base of the cliff after a day’s work and a night’s fun.
He led the way around the rocks, putting himself between her and them. It seemed for a minute as if they were making no headway and the waves were much livelier when you were in them than they looked from above, but then a current swung them around a rock and they were delivered into the calmer water of a cove.
‘Whoa. This is gorgeous!’ Clancy trod water while she took it in. The cliffs overhung, dark red-brown at the bottom and rising in stripes of white and lighter red, protecting a tiny triangular beach of silver-beige sand and a scattering of rocks as if someone had rolled them there like dice. There were only twenty metres to swim before Clancy’s feet found the sandy sea bottom and she could wade to dry land with water streaming off her, Aaron once more taking her hand as they waded onto the beach.
Awestruck by the natural, cathedral-like beauty around her, Clancy breathed, ‘It’s like being cut off from the world.’
‘It used to be,’ a voice remarked drily.
Clancy whipped around to find Harry and Rory sprawled on the sand in the lee of a couple of rocks, gazing up at them with exasperation.
Clancy giggled. ‘Oops,’ she said. ‘Did we barge in? We could leave …’
Harry treated her to a huge grin, saying, generously, ‘We don’t mind sharing if you don’t do anything we shouldn’t see.’
‘What, with all this sand about?’ Aaron joked, dropping to the beach alongside the lads. ‘How are things?’
Brows clunking down over his eyes, Harry shrugged. ‘Dad’s bringing university and girls into every conversation. He’s said everything but “I know how to set you straight”.’ He shared a glance with Rory. ‘He’s being fake and it makes me feel fake. I’ll be glad to get away now.’
Aaron made an ‘awkward’ face. ‘It’s a tough time. You know I’ll support you whatever you decide to say or not say to Jordy.’
‘Not say,’ Harry said feelingly, taking Rory’s hand. ‘We just want to get out and be ourselves.’
The conversation turned to lighter things, to Secret Beach, jumping The Leap and the village in general. When the conversation moved on to villagers she knew vaguely or not at all, Clancy rolled onto her back, an arm across her eyes. It was so peaceful here, letting the
sun dry her on Secret Beach where Harry and Rory felt safe enough for the very minor public display of affection that was the holding of hands. Without opening her eyes, she took Aaron’s hand too. His fingers tightened over hers for an instant’s silent communication.
The waves hissed rhythmically onto the beach and the gulls sounded far away, high on the wind. Clancy thought about last night in Aaron’s bed. And today, working through the chores together, smoothing fresh-smelling sheets and clearing away the combination of dust, crumbs and sand left by every batch of holidaymakers. Being with Aaron gave her a feeling of contentment she never remembered feeling with Will.
Aaron was so much his own man, creating gardens and guitars, things of beauty, with the skill in his hands.
Her life with Will had been so bound up in IsVid, in the industry and intensity she’d come to think of as normal for achievers, the work/life balance tipped firmly in favour of ‘work’ by long hours and the importance of success.
Here … here in Nelson’s Bar her existence was different. Just as yesterday evening she and Aaron had run to the sanctuary of his house from the pelting rain, thunder and lightning crashing and flashing, she’d run to the village to shelter from a life-storm.
In the coming months, she thought drowsily, there would be a lot of money coming her way as Renée bought her out of the apartment and the others bought her out of the company. For the first time she let herself really think that Nelson’s Bar could provide her forever home. She could buy herself a house, get herself a stake in it.
Her parents had derived huge satisfaction in playing their part in building things that not only changed the landscape of the countries they visited but also left the region enriched by their efforts. Schools. Assembly halls. Transport hubs. Perhaps Clancy was only just discovering a similar trait in herself.
She just wanted to build a place for herself in Nelson’s Bar, she thought dreamily …
Aaron lay on the warm sand and watched Clancy as she slept, her chest rising and falling as she breathed. The black and gold fabric of her swimming costume clung to her like a second skin. It was pretty, but he definitely preferred her first skin, the soft silkiness he’d become intimately acquainted with last night.
A Summer to Remember Page 19