The Holiday Cottage by the Sea: An utterly gorgeous feel-good romantic comedy

by Holly Martin

  She lifted her eyes to his face and realised he was staring at her as if she was some rare and beautiful treasure that he wanted to hold.

  He walked towards her slowly, his eyes drinking her in, stopping only briefly to grab a condom from the bedside drawer.

  ‘You look incredible,’ Aidan breathed as he closed the final gap between them. He stroked his hand across her shoulder and down her arm so gently he was barely touching her. ‘The way the sunlight caresses your skin, you look magical. I want to kiss you everywhere the sun touches.’

  He placed the condom on the windowsill and Tori looked down and realised her whole body was bathed in the golden sunlight. She smiled at the thought of him kissing her everywhere.

  ‘I think I’d be OK with that.’

  He smiled and placed a gentle kiss on her collar bone and then on her shoulder, caressing his hands across her body as his mouth followed her arm down to her wrist, her palm and then each one of her fingers. He got down on his knees and placed gentle kisses on her hip, then trailed his hot mouth across her stomach. He licked across her belly button and she found her fingers in his hair. He was barely touching her, but it was so sexy.

  He looked up at her as he kissed across to the other hip and his eyes were so filled with adoration that it nearly brought her to her knees.

  He stroked his hand across her ribs as he moved his mouth up over her stomach and then around her breast. Everything about his actions was about giving her pleasure, not him, and she could see how much he was enjoying that.

  As he slid his tongue over her nipple, he moved his fingers between her legs and any other coherent thought went clean out of her head.

  ‘I don’t think the sunlight is touching down there,’ Tori breathed, her whole body coiling with a delicious need. She felt him smile against her breast and then she was spiralling out of control, throwing her head back and shouting out his name. Her body was so responsive to him. She was almost embarrassed how quickly he could make her come, whereas Luc would often try unsuccessfully for a few minutes and then skip ahead to the main event.

  He moved his mouth up over her chest, slowly trailing up her throat as he stood back up, and then he kissed her hard, his hands going to her waist.

  She snaked her hands up his naked back, feeling the muscles in his shoulders, feeling the tattoo he’d had done just for her, before she let her hands slide down his spine, pushing his shorts off his bum.

  He stepped back from her briefly to kick his shorts off completely and then stepped back, kissing her, cupping her face in his hands again.

  She pulled away slightly, running her fingers across his chest, and he stared down at her with adoration.

  ‘I’ve never been touched or kissed with such… reverence before.’

  She ran her hand down his chest, down his stomach and then held him firmly, causing him to take a deep breath in. He was already so turned on by her, and she relished in the feel of his rock-hard body against hers. She stroked her hand over him and he grabbed the condom from the windowsill. He quickly handed it to her.

  She ripped it open and slid it on and he groaned softly. He lifted her, and she wrapped her legs around him as he pinned her to the wall.

  He kissed her as he slid inside her and she breathed against his lips, he shifted her higher, taking her deeper. She clung to him tighter, kissing him, tasting him, feeling his heart beating against hers as he moved inside her, harder and with an urgency she’d not felt from him before.

  He pulled back enough to whisper against her lips.

  ‘I’ll kiss you like this forever, if you’ll let me.’

  It was the thought of him doing just that that sent her orgasm roaring through her.

  20

  Tori let herself back into Blossom Cottage the following morning after spending several hours berry-picking and another wonderful night in Aidan’s bed. She could have stayed there all day with him, but she wanted to get back to Max. Aidan had stuff to do around the farm and he needed to finish off the boat before the big race the following day. She was meeting Melody, Isla and Elliot later so she had a few hours to work with Max.

  She looked over at Max, poised waiting for her, and smiled. She walked into the kitchen and started boiling the kettle to make a cup of tea while she worked. A bark drew her attention outside of the window and she saw Beast standing guard over the shed door and Dobby the turkey flapping his wings around. It was almost as if they were having some kind of argument.

  She hurried outside and immediately they both turned their attention on her, Beast barking at her, though not leaving his space in the door of the shed, and Dobby running towards her, making his weird gobbling, barking noise and flapping his wings.

  She stood her ground this time, refusing to be intimidated by a bird. But as she tried to sidestep him to see if Beast was OK, Dobby blocked her path at every turn, not letting her get anywhere near the shed. Beast was still barking, and she decided to go get some food and see if that would help to calm the crazy dog down.

  She returned to the kitchen, poured out a bowl of dried food and topped it off with half a can of wet stuff, which he seemed to like, and went back outside with that and a bowl of water.

  The arrival of food at least had the effect of stopping Beast barking, but he still didn’t seem to want to leave the doorway of the shed, at least not while she was there.

  She went back inside and closed the kitchen door, watching as Beast ran out, took a few mouthfuls of food and then dragged the bowl back into the shed.

  What was going on? Whatever was happening, Jamie would probably be looking for Dobby.

  Tori texted Aidan and asked for Jamie’s number. A few moments later, the number arrived on her phone followed by another text from him:

  Moving on to a different Jackson brother?

  She laughed and texted back.

  He has better elbows than you.

  * * *

  So true. You OK?

  * * *

  Just Beast and Dobby causing some kind of disturbance. Nothing to worry about.

  She dialled Jamie’s number and he answered almost immediately.

  ‘Hello?’

  ‘Jamie, it’s Tori.’

  ‘Hey Tori, how you doing?’ Jamie asked, easily, and again Tori was struck with how laid-back he was, the complete opposite to the way he was when it came to Melody.

  ‘I’m fine. I’m just letting you know Dobby has come round for a play-date with Beast, although Beast doesn’t seem too happy to see him.’

  ‘That’s odd.’

  ‘That your turkey has escaped again and, not content to chase me down the hill, he has now turned up at my house to haunt me even more?’

  He laughed. ‘No, that Beast has taken exception to him, they’re normally best friends. Beast often turns up at my house to see Dobby, although I haven’t seen him for several days. I’ll pop by, see what’s going on.’

  ‘And take your turkey back home?’

  Jamie laughed again. ‘That too. I’ll be there in five minutes.’

  ‘I’ll put the kettle on.’

  ‘I take my coffee with lots of milk and three sugars, please,’ Jamie said, cheekily.

  Tori smiled. ‘It’ll be waiting for you.’

  She hung up and made herself a camomile tea and Jamie’s coffee exactly how he wanted it. Before she had taken her first sip, there was a knock on the door. Sandcastle Bay really was very tiny.

  She opened the door and Jamie was standing on her doorstep grinning at her. She handed him his mug and moved back to let him in.

  He stepped inside and took a big sip, seemingly in no hurry to sort out the turkey problem. His eyes fell on Max and he hurried over.

  ‘Don’t touch him,’ Tori quickly said. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean that to sound so harsh, but we’re between takes and if you touch Max, you could ruin the shot.’

  ‘Oh, I have no intention of touching him. I would freak out if someone touched one of my sculptures before it was finished,�
�� Jamie said, squatting down to have a look. ‘Aidan said you were an animator, how fascinating. What do you use?’

  ‘This is newplast plasticine mainly. There’s a few other things mixed in to get the right colours and to stop it fading under the bright hot lights.’

  ‘I see. I’ve had to do that with some of my sculptures.’

  ‘What medium do you use?’ Tori asked.

  ‘Everything really. Clay mainly. I love porcelain but that’s expensive, but I’ve also used plasticine, Play-Doh, Fimo, anything that’s soft and malleable, and then added other ingredients to some of the things to preserve it.’

  ‘I would love to keep some of my characters, but they are not in any fit state by the end of shoots. But once you’ve made your sculptures, you sell them on; I think that’s got to be hard too.’

  ‘Some I keep. I’ve just started one that I don’t think I’ll ever sell.’

  ‘Oh, what’s that?’

  Jamie took a big slug of his coffee, turning to look back at Max. ‘Will you use the same model for the whole of this project?’

  Tori noted the quick subject change away from his own work. Some artists, she knew, wouldn’t talk about or share their work until it was finished.

  ‘No, I will probably make between five or ten different models, some for close-ups, some smaller ones for long-distance shots. I normally make moulds for something like this, so each of the models are the same, but I didn’t bring that gear with me. Max here isn’t too hard to do though and as he will be walking and moving it won’t look too obvious if he looks slightly different – well, I will notice but I doubt anyone else will.’

  ‘So, you’re doing an advert for Heartberry Farm? Aidan mentioned that too.’

  ‘Yes, it’s for social media so I can have a bit more fun with it.’

  He stood back up, taking another swig of coffee. ‘I can’t imagine making a sculpture and then spending several days moving it out of its original shape. Please tell me Max here doesn’t get squashed at the end of the advert. I don’t think I could take it.’

  Tori laughed. ‘No, he falls in love.’

  He turned to face her, a mischievous smile on his lips. ‘Ah, and how are things going with my brother?’

  She smiled at the tenuous link and then decided to tease him. ‘Well he’s amazing in bed, he can do things with his tongue—’

  ‘Whoa, I don’t want to know that,’ Jamie said, looking horrified.

  ‘Well then, don’t ask.’

  He laughed. ‘Fair point. It’s good to see him having a bit of fun. He hasn’t been with anyone since Imogen left him and I was worried he would never find anyone again. Now he’s with you and I couldn’t be happier for him.’ He must have seen something in her face because he quickly seemed to backpedal. ‘I mean, of course it’s not anything serious, I didn’t mean that. Of course, it’s never going to end with marriage and babies. It’s not love for him, you don’t need to worry about that. I just meant a casual, meaningless fling is exactly what he needs to get him back in the saddle again.’

  Tori felt the smile fall off her face. The last few days she had pushed away her doubts, just like Matthew had told her she should, and embraced the possibilities of a serious relationship, but Jamie didn’t see it going that way at all. Surely Aidan still didn’t think it was a casual fling as well?

  ‘Oh god, I didn’t mean that, that sounded awful, didn’t it? Not meaningless. I know he likes you, I just meant that it’s never going to be anything more than just sex. I know that Agatha would love to see the two of you get married but that’s not going to happen, is it?’

  Tori swallowed. ‘I’m not sure what will happen between us.’

  ‘But you go back to London in a few weeks,’ Jamie said.

  ‘Yes, I do but we might…’ she trailed off. What would they do when her time here came to an end? Travel back and forth between here and London to visit each other? She worked during the week and Aidan would be busy with people coming to the farm at weekends to pick their own fruit. Could they really make this work? Would Aidan even want to, or was this really a casual, meaningless fling to him?

  ‘Oh crap, I’ve upset you. What the hell do I know about what you and Aidan have? He could be planning to propose to you at the festival of love this weekend. Don’t pay any attention to me. I never say the right thing.’ He finished off his coffee. ‘Let’s go get this turkey.’

  He walked past her, but she caught his arm. ‘Why do you think this isn’t anything serious for him?’

  ‘I don’t think that, I just thought this was just something casual for both of you, just a bit of fun. I didn’t realise it had become something more. Imogen was from London and they met while she was working down here for a few months. He fell in love with her very quickly and he said after they’d broken up that he would never fall in love like that again. He would take his time to get to know someone, work out if he could trust them before letting himself fall in love again. He knew that Imogen would never stay in Sandcastle Bay, he never felt like he had anything to offer her, and in the end, she left him because a life with him wasn’t enough for her. He said he’d never fall in love with someone like her again.’

  ‘You think I’m like Imogen?’

  ‘Oh god no, you’re nothing like her. I didn’t like her at all. I just meant that Aidan knows you’re going back to London in a few weeks and I thought he would be more cautious with his heart after what happened with Imogen. Look, please don’t pay any attention to my ramblings. We haven’t really spoken about your relationship at all, so what would I know?’

  Aidan and Jamie hadn’t spoken about her. Was that a good thing or bad? It had been a long time before Luc had introduced her to any of his friends, most of them hadn’t even known she existed. Luc had said that he wanted to keep their relationship special and just between them, but had it been because it didn’t really mean anything to him at all, or so he could just keep playing the field? Had Aidan not talked about it with Jamie because he didn’t see it going anywhere? And why was she suddenly second-guessing this thing between them? She was happy, why not just enjoy it now and stop worrying about the future?

  ‘Let’s go and get Dobby before I say anything else to upset you,’ Jamie said.

  He moved into the kitchen and she followed, hating the ache in her heart that this conversation had given her.

  She needed to talk to Aidan, she hadn’t discussed any kind of future with him. As far as he was concerned, she could just want something casual.

  Urgh! Relationships were so complicated and tricky to navigate. One or both parties invariably got hurt and that was why she had avoided them for so long.

  Beast had returned to his spot near the door of the shed and Dobby was patrolling the garden as if he was on guard too.

  Jamie stepped outside and immediately Beast started barking at him. Dobby charged towards Jamie and she wondered how he would deal with the turkey but, to Tori’s surprise, Jamie immediately bent down and hugged the bird, actually hugged him, Dobby wrapping his wings around Jamie’s back. It was the sweetest thing she’d ever seen.

  ‘Hey you,’ Jamie said, softly.

  It was no wonder that Melody had fallen head over heels in love with this man. Apart from his ability to put his foot in it every time he opened his mouth, he was really very likeable.

  Beast was continuing to bark as Jamie scooped the turkey up in his arms and walked back towards the house.

  ‘I’ll just put Dobby back in the car and I’ll be back in a second to see what’s wrong with Beast.’

  ‘OK.’

  He disappeared inside the house and Tori heard the front door close as he went out to the car. He reappeared a few moments later and dug into his pocket, fishing out a bag of chicken.

  ‘Let’s see what’s got Beast so upset, though I have a fair idea.’ Jamie walked towards the shed and Beast continued to bark, though Tori could tell he was interested in the chicken, as he licked his lips.

  She followe
d Jamie. ‘You do?’

  ‘Hmm, when he roams the streets of Sandcastle Bay, he is often seen in the company of another dog called Beauty. No idea where she came from, she might have escaped from one of the tourists that came down here. Beauty is skittish and nervous and won’t let anyone near her and Beast kind of takes care of her.’

  ‘You think Beauty is in the shed?’

  ‘Yes, Beast is guarding something, and I haven’t seen Beauty for several days.’ He offered out the chicken and Beast stopped barking and wolfed it down. Jamie peered into the shed. ‘Ah, yes. Seems I was right. I thought Beauty was getting a bit fat, although hard to tell under all that fur.’

  Tori looked round the door and saw a large scraggy grey dog lying on the mattress. Next to her was a whole bundle of black curly-haired puppies.

  ‘Oh, Beast is a daddy.’

  Jamie grinned at her. ‘Seems that way. No wonder he was so protective. I wonder if he’ll let us in to check on them, though Beauty might not be too happy.’

  ‘I’ll get some more food and drink for her. If she’s feeding that many puppies, she must be starving.’

  Jamie nodded. ‘Good idea.’

  She rushed back into the cottage, filled two bowls with food and then carried them back out to the shed.

  Jamie squatted down, so he was face to face with Beast, offering out some chicken. ‘Hey Beastie, can we come in and see your puppies?’

  Beast took a piece of chicken and moved back inside, dropping it in front of Beauty. It was so sweet the way he was looking out for her.

  Jamie inched into the shed and Tori followed him. He crouched down slowly in front of Beauty, offering out the chicken. The dog hesitated, and Beast snuffled against the side of her head. It was as if reassuring her it was OK because, after that, she took the chicken from Jamie. Whether she was too tired from the constant demands of the puppies or she sensed that Jamie wasn’t a threat to her, she didn’t get up or try to get away. Tori moved forward and squatted down next to him, holding out her hand so Beauty could sniff her.