The Cottage on Sunshine Beach: An utterly gorgeous feel-good romantic comedy

by Holly Martin

  Jamie clearly wasn’t coming.

  ‘And after the meal, Elliot has a spectacular magic show to share with you all,’ Isla said.

  ‘Great food, great company, great entertainment. What more could we want?’ Aidan said.

  Suddenly there was a knocking on the door. Isla got up to answer it, winking at Melody.

  She opened the door and Jamie stepped in.

  ‘I’m so sorry. I overslept, then I took a shower to freshen up.’ He hugged Isla, briefly, his eyes finding Melody’s over Isla’s shoulder as if the apology was more for her than for Isla.

  ‘It’s OK, we’ve just sat down. Apart from an embarrassing episode a few minutes ago, where Leo made me cry, you haven’t missed anything.’

  Leo cursed softly again.

  ‘Well, I won’t ask you to repeat the episode. I’m not insensitive like my brother,’ Jamie said. He moved into the dining area and kissed Tori on the cheek and then gave Melody a brief peck on the cheek too.

  Melody didn’t even know what to do with that. Twenty-four hours before, they had been lying on her sofa, kissing so passionately that she’d thought it was going to move to the next level, and now he was here, after not talking to her all day and giving her a polite kiss on the cheek. Of course he wouldn’t grab her and kiss her passionately again in front of everyone, but she still hoped that there would be more than a peck later and she’d thought he would give her more of a sign that there would be.

  He looked better than the last time she’d seen him, still a bit pale, but certainly not grey like he’d been when he’d ran out of her house the night before. He also looked a bit more relaxed too. No jacket or tie. Just a pale blue shirt that was rolled up at the sleeves and open at the collar. He obviously wasn’t as uncomfortable with friends as he was when he was with her.

  That made her feel a little sad.

  Jamie dished himself up some food and Melody offered him the plate of naan breads. He took one.

  She took a forkful of curry and popped it in her mouth, noticing to her horror that she had spilt a drip of the bright orange sauce down her top. She cursed softly. Why now, when her relationship with Jamie seemed to be hanging in the balance? She grabbed a napkin and started wiping at her top and noticed Jamie was suddenly doing the same. She glanced over at him in shock. She’d never had him down as being clumsy before but, sure enough, there was a small drip of curry down his shirt too. Had he done it deliberately to make her feel better? Or was it just an accident? Either way, her heart filled a little with love for him. When it was apparent the sauce wasn’t coming off his shirt, he shrugged and turned his attention back to his curry and then fixed her with a meaningful gaze that quite plainly told her that the curry down her top didn’t matter either. She purposefully put her napkin down and turned her attention back to him.

  ‘So, how are you feeling?’ Melody asked quietly as conversations continued across the table.

  ‘Better, I’ve slept most of the day,’ Jamie said.

  ‘I’m so sorry.’

  ‘Don’t be, it wasn’t your fault.’

  Melody tore off a chunk of naan bread and dipped it into her sauce, not entirely sure what to say next. Why was it suddenly so awkward? They had been really close friends for the last two months; they had seen each other practically every day. They’d talked and laughed and it had never been awkward then. Now it was difficult.

  ‘I brought your jacket.’ Melody gestured over her shoulder.

  ‘Oh good, my phone is in the pocket.’

  Melody stared at him, pennies dropping into place. ‘You left your phone at my house?’

  ‘Yes, which has been a right pain. I couldn’t phone you and I didn’t have your number to call you from the landline. I even tried to call my own phone in the hope you would pick up, but I’d turned it to silent before I got to your house last night, I didn’t want anything to disturb our evening.’

  ‘Oh.’ Her little bruised and fragile heart was suddenly healing.

  He looked at her. ‘You tried to call me, didn’t you?’

  ‘Yes, twice. I was worried. I wanted to know if you were OK and…’ she trailed off.

  ‘If we were OK?’ he finished for her.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I came round this morning,’ Jamie said.

  ‘You did? When?’

  ‘It was early, you were paddleboarding. I watched you from the beach, you looked… magnificent.’

  She stared at him, a lump forming in her throat. ‘Why didn’t you come and talk to me?’

  ‘You were completely absorbed. And I didn’t want to do anything to cause you to lose your balance. Besides, I was still feeling rough and I had to rush home because I thought I was going to be sick again. I’m sorry I missed you and caused you to worry all day.’

  The others were all laughing over a story that Tori was telling them and she got the impression that Isla and Tori were talking extra loudly so that she and Jamie could have some privacy.

  She was aware that their curries were going cold as they continued to stare at each other. He hadn’t been avoiding her at all. He’d even come to see her. So what happened now?

  He slipped his hand into hers underneath the table, effectively answering the question. Her breath caught in her throat.

  ‘Did you think I would walk away from you? Last night was incredible,’ Jamie said, quietly.

  She frowned in confusion. ‘I poisoned you and made you sick.’

  ‘And that kiss was the most amazing kiss I’ve ever had. There was no way I was walking away from that.’

  ‘So… we’re dating? We’re really doing this?’

  ‘Yes, if you still want to date a man who throws up at the merest sniff of oyster or any other shellfish.’

  Melody smiled. ‘We can’t all be perfect.’

  He laughed and she squeezed his hand.

  ‘I want this to work, I really do,’ Jamie said. ‘I’m crap at relationships and knowing what to do or say with women. So I’m going to do my best to get this right.’

  ‘I don’t want you to change for me; I don’t want you to wear a suit to go on a date with me, I want you to be comfortable. I don’t want you to have to second-guess what you’re saying or constantly be worrying about making the best impression on me. We were friends before anything happened between us and you were relaxed around me then. Things don’t need to change. We can still be friends, but we’ll be friends who kiss, and go on dates and spend time together and we’ll talk and laugh like we’ve always done and if things go well… maybe there’ll be more…’ she trailed off, leaving what the ‘more’ would be to his imagination.

  ‘I especially like the sound of that last bit.’ He sexily ran his finger over her wrist. God, just that simple touch made her pulse race and he smiled because he felt it too. ‘So… friends with a side order of dating?’ he asked.

  Melody cringed a little inside because it sounded like she had just agreed to friends with benefits and that wasn’t what she wanted at all. She wanted to say that maybe if this friendship worked then one day they would get married and promise to be friends forever. But it was way too soon to think about that. He was scared of having any kind of relationship at all. It could end in disaster after just a few weeks. She didn’t want to scare him off with talks of marriage and forever. And she’d never really had any kind of serious relationship before either. She had dated several men, some of them for a few months, but she’d never been in love before, never thought that the men she’d dated were going to be the one she would be with forever. Until now. This felt different and exciting and she wanted to do it right. They had to go slowly, she knew that. Maybe if he relaxed enough, he might actually enjoy what they had enough to want to take it further, to want to be in a serious relationship with her, and then they could see where it led.

  ‘Well, the dating will be the starter, the main course and the dessert. The friendship will just be the plates and bowls the dating is served on,’ Melody tried, really not want
ing to agree to friends with benefits. ‘We’ll just take things slowly and you’re going to try to relax.’

  ‘OK,’ he nodded.

  She wanted to reach out and stroke his face, but she knew how much of a private person he was.

  ‘I so want to kiss you right now,’ Melody whispered.

  ‘Believe me, when we leave here and I walk you home, we’ll be doing just that.’

  Her heart soared, her stomach doing butterflies at that thought.

  To her surprise, Jamie put an arm around her and pulled her into him, kissing her head. She couldn’t help the smile from erupting on her face.

  ‘Finally!’ Isla said, holding up her glass across the table in celebration. Melody laughed but she couldn’t help echoing that sentiment. Maybe, finally, her own love life was getting sorted too.

  9

  They said their goodbyes to the others and then Jamie took her hand and started walking down the hill. It was a perfect night. The moon was shining over the sea, adding a silvery glow to everything it touched.

  ‘That was a long night,’ Melody said. ‘I love hanging out with them but all I really wanted to do was kiss you again.’

  Jamie quickened his pace. He needed to kiss her too. It had taken all his willpower to focus on the conversations around the table and not what it would be like to have his lips against hers again, to feel her body in his arms.

  The thought of that now spurred him on to move quicker.

  ‘Where are we going?’ Melody asked as she jogged a little to keep up with him.

  ‘Your home.’

  ‘And why are we going there so quickly?’

  ‘I really need to kiss you.’

  He pulled her onto the beach and she tugged him to a stop.

  ‘So kiss me.’

  He turned to look at her. ‘I kind of intended to do it somewhere a bit more private.’

  It was dark down here on the beach, making them seem cut off from the rest of the world, but she seemed to glow in the darkness, the moonlight catching her skin, caressing her hair and causing her eyes to sparkle with mischief.

  She stepped up to him, so her body was warm against his and he put his hands round her waist, holding her against him.

  ‘Are you planning to take me home and make love to me, Jamie Jackson?’

  He swallowed. She was teasing him, he knew that. There was a huge part of him that wanted nothing more than to do just that, but he wanted to get that part of their relationship right if nothing else.

  ‘No, I… don’t think we’re there yet, it’s too soon.’

  ‘You have rules for when you sleep with a woman?’ Melody played with the top button of his shirt.

  Usually his rule for when he slept with women was whenever the woman instigated it or made it crystal clear that she wanted it. He’d never really thought there was a right or wrong time to have sex in a relationship before. But this thing with Melody, however she wanted to define it, was important, he knew that. He wanted her to trust him completely. He wanted it to be the natural next step to their close and wonderful friendship. He didn’t want to rush things between them because of lust and need. Although there was a lot of that coursing through his veins right now.

  He held her closer. ‘I think if we’re going to be friends who make love, there need to be certain rules for that.’

  ‘What are the rules?’ She popped open the button and placed a gentle kiss on his chest.

  His mind went blank. He had no idea what rules there should be, all he could think about was her mouth on his chest. He stroked his hand through her hair, wondering why he was holding back from this. They had been friends for a while so maybe they had already done the early stages of a relationship, the getting to know each other and finding out if they were compatible. She trailed her mouth up to his throat as he tried to hold onto his self-control.

  ‘I don’t know… I’m sure they were good rules,’ Jamie said, his voice rough.

  Melody laughed. ‘OK, I have rules too. We kiss often, whenever the feeling takes us.’

  ‘Good rule.’

  ‘There should be dancing, on the beach, under the stars.’

  ‘I can do that.’

  ‘Public displays of affection. If we’re together, I’m not going to hide it. I’m not talking about having sex in broad daylight on Sunshine Beach, but if I want to hold your hand or hug you, I want to be able to do it. I don’t care what the people of the town make of that, or Agatha or anyone else. I’m not going to pretend that we’re just friends.’

  Jamie wasn’t totally happy with that. He preferred that any affection was behind closed doors. All of his previous relationships had been very private. He hated the townspeople talking about his life. But they were going to talk about them whether they were open about their relationship or not. Past experience had proved that. He was quite sure half the village already knew about their date the night before. And he liked the idea of holding hands with Melody so he wasn’t going to say no to that.

  ‘OK,’ he said.

  ‘And we’re honest with each other,’ Melody said.

  ‘These are good rules, but my rules were more about… protecting you and what we have. I don’t want to lose you and the very last thing I want is to do anything to hurt you. I want to do this right. I don’t want to rush into this and ruin what we have.’

  She nodded. ‘I think taking it slowly is definitely the right thing to do. This is all new for us in many ways and, while we know each other well, we don’t know each other intimately and when that happens, everything changes between us. I’d be lying if I said I’m not nervous about that part.’

  He didn’t want her to be nervous. He hated the thought of that.

  ‘Why are you worried about it?’

  ‘What if it’s crap? I’ve slept with two men in my life and you’ve slept with… a lot more than that.’

  ‘I haven’t slept with any men.’

  Melody laughed and he liked he could put her at ease.

  ‘You know what I mean,’ she said.

  ‘Seven.’

  ‘Seven men?’ she teased.

  He grinned. ‘I don’t think that’s a lot. Certainly not enough to put me in the experienced camp. I’m confident that I know which bits go where.’

  ‘Well that’s a good start,’ Melody giggled.

  ‘I’m not really selling this, am I? If I was Leo I’d probably say something like, “Baby, I’m going to rock your world,” or “I’m not going to stop until you’ve had twenty orgasms.” But all I can say is the women I’ve been with seemed to enjoy themselves so I must have been doing something right. I hope you don’t think it’s crap.’

  ‘What if we have zero chemistry?’

  He smiled. ‘That’s one thing I’m definitely not worried about. After that kiss last night, we can absolutely put that fear to bed.’

  She grinned. ‘It was pretty hot, wasn’t it?’

  ‘Smoking.’ God, he wanted a re-run of that kiss. He wanted to hold her body against his and kiss her until every fear and doubt in her mind drifted away.

  ‘Let’s do it again, here, now, under the stars,’ Melody said.

  Hell, he didn’t need to be asked twice. He bent his head and kissed her.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. His heart soared, filling with so much joy and excitement. This was what kissing was supposed to be like. He ran his hands up her back, stroking her body. She slid her hands down his arms and round his shoulders. As she ran her tongue inside his mouth, he lifted her against him. But as she shifted her legs around him, he stepped back a little and stumbled in the sand, taking her with him as he landed flat on his back with her on top of him.

  She barely took her mouth off his, though she did giggle a little against his lips. He ran his hand through her hair, feeling the silky softness slide against his fingers. She gave a little moan and the sound of it sent a kick of desire straight to his stomach.

  He rolled so he was on top of her. As
he ran his hand up her side and his fingers grazed against warm, bare flesh, he realised that her strapless dress had slid down and she wasn’t wearing a bra.

  The kiss continued, but he had no idea what to do with his hand. His brain battled with doing the decent thing and pulling her dress back up or doing what he wanted to do and stroking his hand across her breast. His desire for her won out and he filled his hand with her breast, stroking the nipple with his thumb.

  ‘Oh god, Jamie,’ Melody groaned. Her need for him was so clear with those words. It was such a turn-on. He kissed her bare shoulder and then kissed her breast.

  Suddenly, a bright light was shone on them and Jamie looked up, blinking into a torchlight as he quickly yanked Melody’s dress back up so she was decent.

  ‘What’s going on here then?’ a man said, and Jamie recognised the voice of Trevor, the part-time village policeman.

  Melody giggled as she no doubt recognised his voice too.

  ‘Nothing Trevor, I mean, Officer,’ Melody said. ‘I just fell over in the sand and, um… Jamie was helping me back up.’

  There was no way Trevor was buying that; Jamie had had his mouth on her breast for goodness sake. They couldn’t even claim he was giving her CPR with those actions.

  ‘It certainly didn’t look like that from where I was standing,’ Trevor said, obviously taking his job way too seriously. ‘There are a number of laws surrounding having sex in public places. Outraging public decency is a law protecting the public from seeing lewd behaviour and—’

  ‘Trevor, we were kissing, we’re not having sex, not even close,’ Jamie said, getting increasingly frustrated. He wouldn’t have minded being told off for having sex if he’d actually been doing it. But all he could think of was that Trevor had interrupted the best kiss of his life.

  ‘There are laws surrounding indecent exposure as well but, as I didn’t see any genitals, I’m prepared to let you off with a warning,’ Trevor said.

  Under him Melody’s giggles got louder, her whole body shaking.