Christmas at Lilac Cottage: (#1 White Cliff Bay)

by Martin, Holly

  He laughed so loudly it echoed around the cavern.

  ‘And you don’t think I’m sexy as hell now?’

  ‘Ah, you’re not bad to look at, I suppose.’

  He laughed again and Penny loved the sight of him smiling so much.

  ‘I am grumpy, thankfully not all the time, but when I get in a bad mood, everyone knows about it. I have a hell of a temper, which has only reared its ugly head a few times in my life but it isn’t pretty when it does appear. And I am inappropriate because the thoughts that are currently running through my head about you are completely not acceptable for a first date where I promised to keep everything slow.’

  ‘Oh.’ Penny couldn’t help but blush.

  ‘You see, I am inappropriate. I shouldn’t have said anything. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable.’

  ‘No, it’s fine.’ She ran her thumb over the back of his hand. ‘I’m just not used to it, that’s all. Chris never said things like that to me.’

  ‘He never said how beautiful you were, how much you turned him on?’

  ‘No. We just didn’t have that kind of relationship. He… wasn’t particularly tactile or loving. It’s fine, different people work in different ways.’

  ‘You deserve so much better than him. Let me tell you now, you look incredible tonight.’

  Penny looked down at her menu.

  ‘You don’t like compliments,’ Henry said. ‘You’re going to have to get used to them when you’re with me.’

  ‘I’ll try.’

  He smiled at her. ‘You’re also going to have to get used to standing up for yourself. I’m not going to allow people like Jade and Beth to think you are worthless. No one has the right to treat you badly and you need to tell them that. You deserve the best.’

  She smiled, not quite sure what to make of this protective streak towards her.

  ‘Do you want to share a starter?’ he asked.

  Penny nodded.

  There was a lot she was going to have to get used to around Henry.

  * * *

  Henry pulled up outside their house and turned off the engine. They sat in silence for a moment. It had been a wonderful night. He was so easy to talk to and he made her laugh a lot. But now it suddenly felt like the evening was about to change. Even though Henry had promised to keep everything really slow and not to push her for anything more, she was still nervous about what the night would hold. She hadn’t laid in bed with a man for over eight years. Part of her wanted to take that next step with Henry, she trusted him completely, and even though she had only known him a few days, she couldn’t help the feelings that he caused in her.

  He got out and came round to open the car door for her, taking her hand and pulling her out.

  She looped her arms round his neck. ‘Are you always such a gentleman?’

  He smiled sheepishly, wrapping his arms around her tightly. ‘Well, I was raised to have good manners with women, but I don’t think any of my dates have suggested I’m a gentleman before. When I go out on dates there’s pretty much only one thing on my mind.’

  ‘Do all your first dates end in sex?’

  ‘Most of them do.’

  She sighed softly. Regardless of what he’d said that morning, he must be disappointed it wasn’t going to end that way.

  ‘It’s different with you,’ he said. ‘I don’t want that with you.’

  ‘You don’t want to make love to me?’

  ‘Oh god, of course I do, but it’s about more than that with us. I want it to be special and I’ve never wanted that before. Normally I go back to the girl’s place, we have a quick shag and then the women hate me because as soon as it’s over I get up and come home to my daughter.’

  ‘Do you ever bring them back to your house?’

  ‘No, never, that’s not the kind of thing that I want Daisy to see, hear or even know that that’s what I’m doing. Even with the women that things got semi-serious with, I never had them stay over. I’d have them over for dinner so they could spend time with Daisy but then I’d take them back home again. Any sex always took place at the woman’s house. Everything is different with you. It feels right. When you are ready, I want to make love to you in my bed.’

  She stared at him, feeling her heart swell with love for him.

  ‘Hey, look, a shooting star, make a wish,’ Henry said, pointing out over the sea.

  Penny watched as a slash of gold ripped open the inky blue night sky. She closed her eyes and wished, really hard.

  ‘What did you wish for?’

  ‘I can’t tell you that, it won’t come true.’

  Henry took her hand and led her round the back of the house. He let them into his kitchen and undid her coat, not taking his eyes off hers for a second.

  He stared down at her, as if he was trying to work her out. Whatever he saw made him smile. He kissed her, softly, sweetly but, as with every time he had kissed her before, desire ripped through her at the slightest of touches.

  ‘I want to spend the rest of the night kissing you in my bed,’ he mumbled against her lips. ‘Come on, let’s go to bed.’

  Henry started pulling her up the stairs.

  ‘Wait,’ Penny laughed at his urgency. ‘I haven’t got any pyjamas.’

  ‘You can sleep in one of my t-shirts.’

  He led her into his bedroom and she watched as he started undressing. She slipped off her shoes, and undid the plait, combing through her hair with her fingers as she watched his shirt and then his trousers come off so he was left only in his tight black boxers. He was watching her too and she felt suddenly shy about undressing in front of him.

  He grabbed a t-shirt and put it on the bed in front of her.

  ‘Why don’t I leave you to get changed?’ Henry said, softly.

  ‘Wait, can you unzip my dress at the back?’

  Henry moved behind her and the touch of his hands was like fire at the top of her neck. He unzipped the dress slowly, his hand caressing her back with the softest of touches.

  ‘Oh,’ Henry said, his hands parting the dress at the back. ‘You wore the snowflake lingerie.’

  ‘Well yes, you seemed to like it so…’ She trailed off as he moved his hands back to her shoulders and slid the straps down her arms. The dress slithered off her body into a puddle on the floor. At least the black satin camisole top and tiny shorts seemed to cover her body more than the skimpy bra and thong sets she had been forced to buy earlier.

  He cupped her waist and pressed his mouth to her neck, sending desire and need hurtling through her as his hands wandered around to stroke across her satin-clad stomach.

  ‘Do me a favour.’ His voice was coarse. ‘Just wear this tonight, forget the t-shirt.’

  She tossed the t-shirt over the chair and climbed into bed. He was quick to follow, immediately pulling her to him and kissing her.

  Where before the kisses had been slow and tender, now they were laced with an urgency and hunger. He moved slowly on top of her, pinning her with his weight as the kiss continued.

  She could feel how turned on he was getting.

  ‘Sorry, just ignore it,’ he mumbled against her mouth and she giggled.

  Knowing how his body had reacted to her just from a kiss made her heart soar and all thoughts of being slow and cautious went straight out the window.

  ‘I don’t want to ignore it,’ she whispered.

  He carried on kissing her for a few moments before he stopped. ‘What?’

  Flushing, Penny stroked his face. ‘I want you to make love to me.’

  He stared at her, not blinking. ‘Now?’

  She nodded.

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Do I need to beg?’

  ‘No, Christ no.’ He immediately pulled her top off, and trailed reverential kisses across her shoulder down to her breast. His hands caressed her skin, moving slowly down to her hips and sliding her shorts down her legs. She ran her hands down his back, feeling the warm, soft velvet over a wall of muscle as he
peppered kisses over every inch of her body, taking his time to touch, stroke, caress and adore her until her whole body was thrumming with need, responding to the slightest of touches.

  Finally he knelt up and grabbed a condom from the nearby bulging bag. She giggled as he tried to find one he liked but he quickly did, and a few frustrating moments later he settled himself between her legs, carefully lowering his weight onto her. He kissed her deeply as he slid slowly inside her, capturing her moans with his mouth, he let out a deep guttural moan too.

  He pulled back slightly to look at her as she ran her hands round the back of his neck and she was thrown by the look of pure love and adoration in his eyes. She was falling for this man and there was no way back now. Any hope of trying to protect her heart from the devastating pain she had felt eight years before was gone. It didn’t make sense to fall this hard, this fast, and as he frowned slightly, she could see he was thinking it too.

  ‘Do you know what I wished for?’

  She shook her head.

  ‘I wished that I can make all your wishes come true.’

  He started moving, slowly, tenderly, without taking his eyes off hers, but with every breath, every movement, she knew she was falling deeper in love and deeper in trouble.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Henry woke the next day to the winter sun pouring through the open curtains and a stark naked Penny lying asleep on his chest, wrapped tightly in his arms. He pulled the duvet over her shoulders, and resumed his hold on her.

  So much for taking things slow. He’d hoped to get to know her properly, date her, spend time with her, start a proper relationship and not one that was based on sex. Two minutes kissing her in that unbelievably sexy underwear and he’d forgotten all his best intentions. He wanted this to work with Penny. She felt like the start of a wonderful new chapter in his life, one that he wanted to last a lifetime. He didn’t know how Penny felt about them, whether for her this was a long-term thing or nothing more than a fling to get back in the saddle after all this time. But one thing was for sure, he wasn’t letting her go without a fight.

  She stirred and looked up at him, her conker brown hair sticking out everywhere and a huge grin spreading on her face as she clearly remembered the events of the night before.

  He brushed her hair from her face. ‘Hi.’

  ‘Hi.’

  ‘I know last night didn’t go according to plan but—’

  ‘Last night was—’

  A door slammed downstairs. ‘Dad?’ Daisy shouted. ‘Get up, you lazy sod.’

  Penny’s eyes widened with fear.

  ‘Crap. I didn’t expect her back so soon,’ Henry whispered.

  ‘Dad!’

  ‘Yeah hang on, love, I’m just getting dressed, I’ll be down in a second.’

  Shit, he was going into full-blown panic mode here. He didn’t want Daisy to know about him and Penny, not yet, and he absolutely did not want her to know that he’d slept with his neighbour just five days after meeting her, what kind of example was that to set for his daughter?

  Henry scrabbled up and started throwing on his clothes. ‘Get dressed.’

  Penny quickly climbed out of bed too, her gorgeous, naked body disappearing into her underwear and dress. Jesus, there was no way to explain what she was doing upstairs in his room, dressed clearly in the clothes she had worn the night before. There was only one conclusion that Daisy could come to and that would be the right one.

  ‘What do we do?’ Penny said.

  ‘I’ll take her out somewhere and then you can escape.’

  A thunder of feet came racing up the stairs and Henry thanked god that the door was closed and Daisy would never just walk in out of fear of seeing her dad naked.

  ‘Dad, is the laptop in there? I want to Skype Melissa.’

  Henry looked around and saw the laptop on top of the drawers. ‘Yes, hang on, I’ll bring it down to you.’

  ‘It’s OK, I was going to Skype her from my room, come on.’ She rattled the doorknob impatiently.

  ‘In the wardrobe, quick,’ Henry whispered and he felt a stab of guilt and pain at the look of hurt that flashed across Penny’s face as she stepped into the wardrobe and closed the door. He grabbed the bag of condoms and hid it in the drawers, quickly straightened the duvet and pillows, kicked Penny’s shoes under the bed, gave the room a quick cursory glance to make sure there was no other evidence, and then opened the door.

  ‘Took you long enough,’ Daisy grinned up at him.

  ‘I’d just got out the shower when you came in, I didn’t know I’d have to get dressed in record time.’

  Daisy walked in and grabbed the laptop, sitting on the edge of the bed and firing it up.

  ‘How was your date with Penny?’

  ‘It was…’ brilliant, wonderful, fun and ended in the best sex he’d ever had, ‘fine.’

  ‘Fine? That doesn’t sound good, was she boring or a terrible kisser or something?’

  Could the morning after the most wonderful night end more badly than this?

  ‘It wasn’t a proper date, you know that, so there was no kissing and no she wasn’t boring, she was great fun.’

  ‘But?’

  ‘There’s no but.’

  ‘There was definitely a but.’

  ‘There isn’t. We went for a meal, we chatted, we had a lovely time and we came back here and went to bed.’

  ‘Together?’ Daisy’s eyes lit up, mischievously.

  ‘No, of course not.’

  ‘Did she come on to you? Did she try to kiss you or something, because you’re acting all weird?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Did you kiss her and she rejected you?’

  ‘No, what’s with all the questions?’

  ‘Because you never take a woman out on a date as friends, never, not once.’

  ‘This was your idea.’

  ‘I know, but I didn’t think you’d actually go through with it. Do you like her?’

  ‘No.’ Horribly aware that Penny was listening to every single word that was being said and he had lied to his daughter about ten times in one conversation, he needed to say something that would rescue this situation. ‘Yes, as friends.’

  ‘Nothing more?’

  ‘No. Maybe the friendship could turn into something more, but not yet. I need to get to know her a bit more first.’

  ‘So more dates?’

  Daisy looked down at the computer as she logged in, but not before he caught the flash of worry in her eyes.

  ‘Yes, as friends.’

  She nodded. ‘I’m going to phone Melissa.’

  ‘OK, don’t be long, I thought we could go out, catch a film, have some lunch.’

  ‘Cool.’ She got up and walked to the door. ‘We can ask Penny too, if you want.’

  ‘I think she’s out.’

  ‘Her car is here.’

  ‘She could have gone for a walk.’

  ‘Bernard is here.’

  ‘Maybe she went out without him, I don’t know, but there hasn’t been a peep from her side of the house all morning. Come on, phone Melissa and we’ll go out in ten minutes.’

  ‘Make it fifteen,’ Daisy grinned and walked off into her bedroom.

  Henry waited a moment and then closed the door and rushed back to the wardrobe. He opened the door and saw Penny was sitting on the floor looking angry. Shit, it wasn’t possible for it to get any worse.

  He crouched down to her height. ‘I’m so sorry, about all of this. I didn’t mean…’

  ‘I don’t want to talk about this now, not here when I’m stuffed in the wardrobe like a terrible mistake that you’re ashamed of. We can talk about this later.’

  ‘I’m sorry, I—’

  ‘Dad, Melissa isn’t answering, we can go out now if you want,’ Daisy called from her room and Henry quickly closed the wardrobe door again. He knew he was handling this terribly but he had no idea how to handle it in any other way.

  ‘OK, I’ll just grab my shoes and coat, give m
e a minute,’ he called. He turned back to the wardrobe and whispered through the door, not wanting to see the hurt and anger in Penny’s eyes again. ‘Give us five minutes and then you can escape.’

  There was no answer from inside. As he grabbed his coat and left the room, he knew he would have a lot of making up to do.

  * * *

  Penny was beating the eggs so furiously in the bowl that splashes were hitting the worktops. Feeling somehow dirty after it had all ended that morning, she’d had a shower, walked Bernard and tried doing some sketches for future ice sculptures, but had failed spectacularly to do even the simplest of drawings. She couldn’t do any carving either because she was too angry for that. Cake making seemed to be her best bet, she couldn’t go too far wrong with that and couldn’t really injure herself too much like she could if she was carving.

  She heard a car pull up outside, doors closing and the sounds of Henry and Daisy chatting as they walked round the side of the house.

  She saw them walk past her back door and then Daisy scooted back and let herself in.

  ‘Hey, there you are, we didn’t see you this morning. We were going to ask you to come to the cinema with us, where were you?’

  ‘Out.’

  Daisy hovered awkwardly, clearly sensing how angry she was and not knowing why. Penny took a deep breath. She refused to be angry at Daisy, none of this was her fault.

  She looked up at her and saw Henry waiting outside.

  ‘Sorry, just had a bad morning. Did you enjoy the film?’

  ‘Yeah, some Christmas fiasco, families warring thing, it was very funny. Can we do some more carving later?’

  ‘Not today, honey, I’m going to be really busy. We can do some tomorrow though. I promise.’

  Daisy seemed satisfied with this. ‘Dad said you had a wonderful date last night.’

  ‘It wasn’t a date,’ Penny said, adding the eggs to the cake mixture.

  ‘But…’

  ‘Daisy, come on, leave her alone,’ Henry said. ‘She just said she was really busy.’

  ‘OK, are you coming for dinner tonight?’

  ‘No, sorry love, I can’t.’

  ‘Tomorrow then?’