“Tomorrow, then,” he promised. “Seeing that is giving me ideas, now that I’ve got the green light. Tomorrow night. Same time, same place.”
“I’ll be here,” she smiled, kissing him one last time before she got up and went to the door. “You’ve got a date.”
Chapter 26
“I don’t think this is going to be a beach day,” Emma said on Wednesday morning, looking out at the lowering clouds through the wall of windows that made up the back of the bach. “I’m afraid it’s going to be raining on us pretty soon.”
“Pity,” Nic agreed. He looked at the boys, tucking contentedly into their eggs and bacon. “Reckon you lot’ll end up playing the racecar game a bit today. Think you can feature that?”
“Though I did bring along something for a rainy day as well,” he added as they eagerly assented to his plan. “Just in case you get bored with the racecars.” He disappeared into his bedroom, came back with a couple bags and handed one to each boy. “See if this’ll keep you busy.”
“Awesome!” Graham yelped. “A Lego robot!”
“I got a dinosaur!” Zack said excitedly. “T-Rex!”
“What do you say?” Emma asked, promoting a flurry of thank-yous. “And finish your breakfast before you open the boxes, please,” she told them. “You can look at the pictures on them now, and then we’ll clear off the table so you can start working on putting them together. That way you won’t lose any pieces.”
“You’re such a mum,” Nic told her.
“Yep. That’s me. And thanks,” she said as he finished the last of his own breakfast and rose to put the plate in the dishwasher. “That was a great idea. And very thoughtful.”
“I may just get the hang of this boy thing yet, d’you reckon?”
“You just may.”
“If you don’t mind a bit of wind, yourself,” he said, “I did ask Mrs. Jones if she’d be willing to mind the boys this morning. Seeing as we’ve got them well occupied, I thought you and I could take a walk on Pakiri Beach. I know the weather’s not the best, but you’ve got gumboots now, haven’t you? There’s something about all that space that always appeals to me, no matter what. May give us a chance to have a chat, too. Or we could go into town for a coffee, if you’d rather.”
“A walk, please,” she said at once. “If we get wet, we can always dry off afterwards, can’t we?”
An hour later, they stepped off the boardwalk and onto the sand. Not another soul was visible in this weather. Just the curved expanse stretching on for kilometers, as far as they could see in either direction. The surf was running strong, the water an angry green, foaming white where the waves broke. A mass of dark gray threatened overhead, the sun out one minute, obscured by fast-moving clouds at the next.
“This may be a good time to talk about telling Zack that I’m his dad,” Nic suggested after they had walked in silence for a few minutes.
“Already?” Emma hesitated.
“What d’you mean, ‘already?’ It’s been two and a half months, I’m paying the maintenance, and it’s time we sat down with my schedule, worked out a way to get him over to stay with me every week. You can come too, you know. I’m hoping you’ll want to. So there’s nothing to be afraid of, is there? It’s past time for him to know anyway, don’t you think?”
She had to admit that he was right. No matter how uncritically and delightedly Zack accepted his weekly outings with Nic, it was a big leap from that to staying overnight at his house. And she could no longer tell herself that she was unsure of Nic’s intentions. She hadn’t entirely lost her concern about the long term, but he’d been nothing but determined and committed so far.
“All right,” she said. “Not now, while Graham’s here. But soon.”
“I want to get his room set up, at my place,” Nic went on. “Once we’re back. That’d be a good time to tell him, and that he’ll be staying with me, some of the time.”
“Next week. OK. But I want to be there. Because it’ll be a lot for him to hear.”
“We’ll do it together,” he promised. “After all, we made him together, didn’t we? And in case I haven’t said this, we did a hell of a job.”
“We did, didn’t we?” she agreed. “He’s pretty great.”
“Yeh. Pretty good raw material, if we say so ourselves, and you’ve done well too. I’d never have imagined the girl I knew then as a mum. You’ve surprised me, I’ll admit.”
“We’ve both grown up since then, I guess,” she said. “One way or another.” She struggled to zip her anorak as the wind picked up, shivered a bit.
“Too cold?” he asked, taking her hand and threading his fingers through hers. “Want to go back?”
“No,” she said, loving the feeling of her hand in his. Something so simple, but it felt so good. Warm, and strong, and comforting. “Our beach experiences this time around have been a bit different, haven’t they?”
“You’re right. Heaps more clothes on.” He smiled down at her, his cheeks wind-reddened under the All Blacks beanie. “Not quite as easy, is it? In any sense.”
“No. But still good,” she assured him. “Do you still remember?” she went on hesitatingly. “What it was like?”
“I don’t think I’ve forgotten a single minute. How about you?”
“Me neither. But I haven’t had as much to compare it with. And I suspect you have, haven’t you?”
“D’you really want to know?” he asked, serious now.
“No,” she decided. “Probably not.”
“Good. Because I don’t want to tell you. It’s enough to say that, yeh, I remember. Because it was the best.”
The clouds that had been threatening since they’d started walking suddenly decided to make good on their promise, the first drops of rain spattering them, hitting the ground hard and creating pockmarks in the sand.
“Beach walk’s over,” Nic decided, pulling her around again. “Back to the car.”
They began making their way back across the broad expanse of sand, hurrying now. The drops increased, and then the cloud was directly overhead, and the rain was pelting, and they were running, gasping with the cold and wet, laughing, Nic matching his pace to her slower one. They found the track to the carpark, made their way up over the sloping approach, heads bent against the driving rain. Nic had his keys out, was pressing the remote. He pulled her door open, helped her out of her anorak before he ran around to the driver’s side and jumped into the ute himself.
“Bloody hell,” he swore, pulling off his own anorak, then turning the key in the ignition and shifting the heat to full. “I’m freezing. Whose idea was it to take a romantic walk on the beach?”
“Yours,” she said, a bubble of laughter escaping her. Then they were both laughing as she reached over to pull off his beanie, soaking wet now. He grabbed her hand, pulled her against him, and kissed her, his mouth still curved in a smile. And suddenly they weren’t laughing anymore. His hands were under her sweater, and she was pulling up his hoodie and the T-shirt beneath in her turn as they continued to kiss, lips and tongues exploring.
He sat back at last. “Back seat,” he got out. “Come on. Quick as you can.” He opened his door, dove into the back and pulled her between the seats to join him.
“What if somebody comes, though?” Emma moaned as he yanked her sweater over her head, reached for the clasp of her bra. “They’ll see.”
“Nobody here to see. And the windows are steamed up anyway,” he pointed out practically, turning his attention to her sodden jeans. “Geez, these are tight,” he complained. “Hard as hell to pull down. And get those boots off, or we’ll be stuck, good and proper.”
She reached down to pull off her gumboots and socks as he did the same, then wriggled out of the jeans with his help. “You saying I should change my wardrobe?” she asked, helping him get rid of his shirt and hoodie in her turn. “You don’t like my tight jeans, or how I look in them?”
“You know I do.” He was unfastening his ankle brace, divesting
himself of his track pants with her eager help. Their sodden clothes lay in a heap on the floor, the car was steamy and warm, and they were kissing again, their hands moving over each other.
“Lie down here.” He was pulling her towards him, pushing her down on the seat.
“There’s not enough room,” she protested.
“Shift round.” He pulled one of her legs into the gap between the front seats, shoved the other one up over the top of the rear seat. “Like this. Stay there.”
She saw him grabbing for his pants again, searching the pockets, pulling out the condom. Suddenly realized how she must look, how exposed she was. She wriggled to pull her legs down, to sit up again.
“No,” he told her sharply, pushing her down again, shoving her leg back up. Then amended his tone. “Please. Stay there. Like that.”
“But I look . . .” she said in embarrassment.
“You look,” he said, finally reaching to kiss her, to touch her, “like every man’s dream. Open. Ready. Waiting for me.”
She moaned as he moved over her. “I shouldn’t let you do this,” she got out. “Oh, no.” The leather was cold under her bare skin, her legs were splayed uncomfortably, and her arms were fluttering, trying to find something to hold onto, reaching behind her for the door handle, hanging on. And none of it mattered. Every bit of her was focused on where he was touching her, how hard he was driving her.
“Come on,” he was telling her. “Give me some of that. Give me what I want. You know it’s mine.” He was touching her, kissing her in exactly the right places, in exactly the right ways, and she was going up fast, forgetting where she was, her awkward, exposed position. Up, and up higher, hearing him urging her, until she reached the top and went over with a broken cry. Before she was done, he was finally, blessedly, inside her, and her arms were around his back, finding the purchase they needed.
It was hot, and hard, and fast. And when it was over, and she was in his lap, his hand stroking her hair, she let her breath out in a long, audible sigh. “Wow. That wasn’t at all what I was expecting, this morning. Funny how you just happened to have a condom with you, wasn’t it?”
“Mmm. Lucky,” he agreed.
“That has to be the most . . . adolescent thing I’ve ever done,” she mused. “If I ever had had sex in the back of a car, I can’t imagine it would have been that good. Because you always make sure I get there first. Even in the back of a Toyota, in the rain.”
“That’s because I’m a gentleman,” he told her with his lazy grin. “Ladies first, that’s my motto.”
“Is that what you are? Who knew?”
“Oi,” he protested, dipping his head to nuzzle the side of her neck, making her shiver. “Are you complaining?”
“No,” she sighed, her arms tightening around him. “No complaints here. Not from me.”
Getting dressed again was a cold, clammy business, accompanied by a fair amount of swearing on his part, and giggling on hers. “Now I know why I got the Land Cruiser instead of the RAV4,” he told her, wrestling his way back into his sodden pants and pulling on his boots. “That was a tight enough fit as it was. I would’ve strained something.”
“You should just be smaller,” she told him saucily, working on her own socks and boots. “I fit fine.”
“D’you want me to be smaller, then?” he grinned at her.
“Well, no,” she said, considering. “On second thought, I think you should stay big. If we’re talking about what I like.”
Back at the bach again, they endured a clucking lecture from Mrs. Jones. “What an idea,” she scolded Nic. “Taking this poor girl out in the rain, getting her so cold and wet. Go on, pop yourselves into the bath and into some dry things before you catch your death. Meantime, I’ll make a pot of tea.”
“Did you have a nice walk, Mum?” Zack asked when they were warm and dry again. Mrs. Jones had come through with cocoa and cinnamon toast as well before she’d left, and Emma smiled at the brown mustaches, accented by sprinklings of cinnamon sugar, that both boys were sporting.
“We had a very nice walk,” she assured her son. “The nicest walk ever.”
“I don’t want to leave,” Emma sighed as she packed up the contents of the fridge the next morning. “This was really good. The best holiday I’ve had in years. Maybe seven years,” she decided with a laughing glance at Nic.
“It was pretty good, at that,” he agreed with a warm smile. “This ready?” he asked, indicating the chilly bin she’d just filled. He hefted it at her nod, then set it down again as a thought struck him. “How about extending it a bit? D’you think you could get that neighbor of yours to mind Zack tomorrow night, so I could take you to dinner? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you dressed up to go out, you know. I always like how you look,” he went on hurriedly. “But I’d like to see some high heels again. Think there’s a chance of that?”
“Let me ring Lucy first,” Emma decided. “She may be able to take Zack, since she’s on holiday too. I hate to ask Lois again so soon.”
“OK.”
As he continued to look at her expectantly, she faltered. “What? You want me to ring her right now?”
“Now’s good. Because I want my date.”
She went into her bedroom for her mobile, came out again a few minutes later. “She says she can take him overnight, actually,” she said, trying to sound casual.
What Lucy had said, in fact, was a lot more than that. “You’ve just been on holiday,” she had complained. “Why do you need another night out?”
“Because,” Emma said, her color rising as if her sister could see her, “Nic wants to go out to dinner.”
“Oh. Oh. What happened?” Lucy demanded. “Did you . . .”
“Yeah,” Emma said, laughing. “I did. We did.”
“Oh, boy,” Lucy breathed. “Can’t say I’m entirely surprised, but wow. Wow. OK, here’s the deal,” she decided. “I’ll take him all night. Because you’ve been up there with two six-year-old boys, gettin’ busy in a bach? Not exactly a honeymoon.”
“Would you really?” Emma asked gratefully. “That would be amazing.”
“In return,” Lucy continued inexorably, “for you coming over tomorrow and giving me the whole scoop.”
“Trust me,” Emma said, “you don’t want the whole scoop.” She just wished she had more to keep from Lucy. She’d had more great sex in the last few days than she’d had in the last few years. But despite her reassurances, she could tell that Nic was still holding back a bit. An overnight, though . . . an overnight could be just what they needed.
“OK. The expurgated version,” Lucy decided. “Seriously, Em. Come over and talk to me. I need to make sure you’re OK. That’s my babysitting fee.”
“Overnight?” Nic said now. His eyes had that gleam in them again. “So what you’re saying is, this is going to be a really good date.”
“I don’t know,” she said, tossing her hair a bit and turning back to the fridge, then peeping back at him over her shoulder, sticking out her bum just a little. It was so much fun to push his buttons. “I guess that depends on you.”
He laughed. He could see exactly what she was doing, she could tell. Oh, yeah. The overnight was going to work.
“I do like a saucy woman,” he said. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Chapter 27
No Emma answering Nic’s knock at the door the following night. Instead, there stood Zack, already dressed for bed in—what else—his favorite pajamas.
“Hi, Nic!” Zack said happily. “Mum’s not ready. She’s getting pretty. And that always takes a long time.”
“Bet it does,” Nic said seriously, following Zack into the lounge. “But you’re ready, eh.”
“Because boys go faster,” Zack explained, plopping himself down on the coach. “I get to spend the night at Auntie Lucy’s, did you know?”
“I heard. What’ll you do over there?”
“I get to sleep in the guest room,” Zack told him. “The bed’s real
ly big, like Mum’s. It has heaps of pillows, too. And then, in the morning, Auntie Lucy says we can make Mickey Mouse pancakes! With chocolate bits in, she says.”
Emma interrupted this catalog of delights. She was still in her dressing gown, Nic saw. And he’d been right. It was pink. With flowers on.
“Sorry,” she said, looking a bit flustered, but so pretty. Her makeup was done, he could tell, and her hair too, falling in soft ringlets around her face. It wouldn’t be too long, then.
“It’s OK,” he told her with a smile. “Looks like it’ll be worth the wait. I can always ring the restaurant, change our booking.”
“Five minutes,” she promised. “I just have to get dressed.”
She appeared not too much later than that. “I was right,” Nic told her, standing to greet her with a decorous kiss on the cheek, mindful of Zack. “Definitely worth the wait.” Her skirt was a silvery gray, a bit clingy, a bit short. With it, she was wearing a soft, fine sweater in a deep blue. That was clingy too, with a wide V neckline leading to a row of tiny square buttons down the front. Buttons he knew he’d be unfastening, in a few hours. She put a hand on his shoulder, crossed one leg over the opposite knee, and reached down to buckle the strap on her high-heeled sandal.
“OK,” she announced, switching hands to buckle the second shoe. “I’m ready. And wow, you look gorgeous. Guess this really is going to be a date.”
He looked down at the white-on-white stripe of his dress shirt, the black jacket, dark gray pants and black shoes. “Pretty simple for me. Shined my shoes, gave myself a bit of a shave. That was about it.”
“Well, it worked. I’m going to have the best-looking date in the whole place, aren’t I, Zack? Get your pack and your jacket and let’s go, OK?” She pulled her own short wool coat from the hook and Nic took it from her, held it for her to slide into.
“OK,” Zack said. “I put Raffo in, though. D’you think Tom will say I’m a baby? That I have to harden up?” He glanced at Nic, then looked away.
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