by Kate Hardy
‘Sometimes mad can be fun,’ Nick mused. ‘Have you never done anything mad in your life, Rose?’
‘No.’ Rose laughed, this time a little hysterically. ‘No—’ she cleared her throat and tried to get a grip ‘—mad really isn’t me.’
‘How do you know if you’ve never tried?’
She had managed to somehow find herself with her back to the wall, which turned out to be not a very good idea as he now laid his hands on either side of her so that she seemed to be surrounded by him, locked in and deprived, if not literally of oxygen, then certainly of the ability to think coherently.
‘Here we are, Rose…on one of the most stunningly beautiful islands in the world. Outside, the night is like black velvet and in here…well, just the two of us…Shall I tell you what my mad thought is?’
No! Her head screamed. ‘What?’
‘This…’ Nick leant into her. She felt his hand cradle the back of her neck and she almost couldn’t believe what was happening even as her skin burned where he touched her.
‘No…’ she protested in a pathetically weak little voice and Nick half smiled, already hearing her submission and knowing, in that instant, that his suspicions had been right: she wanted him just as much as he wanted her. His body reared up with a sudden, savage heat that shocked him, and he brought his mouth down to hers, turned on by her small whimper as she parted her lips and closed her eyes.
Rose pressed her hands against his chest and felt the hard bunch of his muscles under the flat of her hand. Yes, of course she should push him away. That was a given.
She ran her hands over his chest, contouring the outline of his flat brown nipples, and moaned softly under her breath while his mouth continued to devour hers, catapulting common sense into orbit.
When she finally surfaced sufficiently to draw breath and speak, she did manage a weak protest, but her breasts, pressed against him, were aching and sensitive. Weeks of yearning left her helpless. The feel of him was like a miracle of revelation.
What had she ever done before? Had safe relationships and not even very many of them. She had chosen boyfriends on all the right grounds: compatibility, kindness, friendship.
This man was neither compatible, kind nor her friend and, even if she weren’t sharp enough to have sussed that for herself, his background spoke volumes. A life strewn with women who had stepped off the front covers of magazines, dismissive of commitment, driven but for reasons she had never valued.
Nick drew back and looked down at her. ‘One last chance,’ he said thickly.
‘For what?’ She knew exactly what he was talking about.
‘For decision-making. When morning comes, I don’t want to be accused of taking advantage of you.’
‘I would never do that.’
‘You misunderstand. We both go to your bedroom with our eyes wide open or tell me now to leave.’ And what would he do? Nick thought. Have another cold shower? Go for a swim in the sea? Switch on his computer and hope that numbers, reports and figures would distract him from the thought of her separated by the thickness of a wall?
He had never been in this position before, at the mercy of a woman, and he had to restrain himself from the indignity of trying to persuade her into the decision he wanted her to make.
Rose felt his body hard against hers. What choice did she have? Common sense was a plane-flight away. For now…it was time to be mad.
CHAPTER SEVEN
THIS was as overwhelming as the first fantasies of a teenage boy, although Nick was careful not to mention that to Rose. His body didn’t fail to remind him of the fact, though, as he led her into the bedroom and onto the wide, king-sized bed, still rumpled from where she had been lying, with a gap in the mosquito net through which she had slipped out, presumably on her way to the veranda.
His loose cotton trousers couldn’t begin to hide the urgency of his erection, but he was going to take his time, make love to her slowly and thoroughly.
‘Are you sure about this?’ He parted the mosquito net and looked to where she was sitting primly on the side of the bed.
‘Yes, you’re right. Everyone needs a little madness in their lives now and again.’
‘In which case, why do you look scared to death?’
Rose flushed and looked away quickly. ‘Do I?’
Nick, on the verge of slipping off the trousers, hesitated and then joined her on the bed, pulling the mosquito net behind him so that they were now enclosed in a little cocoon of their own. He might have, in the past, made the usual traditionally romantic gestures, sent the flowers, bought the expensive meals and the expensive tokens to go with the meals, but he was not essentially a romantic man. This, however, felt romantic and she looked the part. Eyes wide, mouth parted, hands clutching at the transparent nightgown.
‘You do,’ he said solemnly. ‘What are you afraid of? Haven’t we both established that we…want the same thing?’ He reached out with one hand and trailed his finger along her jaw line, then down to where her fingers were closed tightly around the shimmering, light material. ‘You needn’t worry. I’ll be gentle.’ Just talking about it was sending his normally cool, controlled nervous system through the roof.
‘You don’t understand…’
‘You’re not a virgin, are you?’
‘Of course not,’ Rose said indignantly, although she was guiltily aware that she really only managed to sneak into the experienced category by the skin of her teeth.
‘Care to tell me about them?’
‘No.’
Nick laughed. ‘No need to look so shocked, Rose.’
‘I suppose you do…this sort of thing all the time, don’t you?’
‘Sleep with women? I’m a red blooded male, Rose.’
‘No, I mean…Look, what I’m trying to say is that I’m not very daring in bed, Nick.’ Rose cleared her throat and looked at him defiantly. ‘You can go ahead and laugh now, but that’s the way it is. I haven’t spent a lifetime hopping in and out of beds with men.’
‘I like that,’ Nick murmured. Surprisingly, he really did, although he couldn’t say that he had encountered the situation before. Some of the women he had slept with were bolder than he was.
‘Furthermore…’
‘Furthermore?’ He couldn’t help himself. He leant towards her and planted a kiss on the side of her neck and he felt her shiver against him.
‘I…you’re not…’ She wished he wouldn’t look at her like that, giving her his undivided attention. ‘You’re…not the sort of guy…I mean, Lily normally…well, girls like Lily…’
‘I’m flattered that you have such a high opinion of me.’
‘I’m just talking about the way you look.’
‘That’s better. A bit of Rose rage.’ He grinned and she smiled sheepishly back at him. ‘You’re beautiful, Rose.’
‘Oh, please. There’s no need for that, Nick.’
‘Stop running yourself down,’ Nick said forcefully. He gently took her fingers in his hand and unpeeled them from their stranglehold on her nightgown. Then he pushed her back onto the bed, where she fell, breathing thickly, her hair splayed out in unruly curls around her face.
What had he ever seen in those stick insects with their angular bodies and bony limbs?
He slowly pulled her nightgown over her head and there she was, in all her fulsome, voluptuous, sensual splendour. For a few seconds, Nick feasted his eyes on her and Rose looked back at him from under her lashes. Watching me, watching you, she thought, getting so turned on that she thought she might explode at any minute.
All doubts that he might have found her less attractive than the models he cavorted with were driven out of her head by the naked appreciation in his eyes.
And that did something to her. Like a dam being unblocked, every inhibition she had ever nursed about the shape of her body flowed away in a rush of wild, abandoned passion.
Nick, watching, sensed the change of mood, something in the sinuous way she moved under his raking eyes,
and with a low groan he bent his head so that he could nuzzle her generous breasts.
These weren’t small tomatoes, they were heavy, ripe fruit with big, defined nipples that hardened as he lavished his attention on them, suckling and feeling her wriggle underneath him in instant response.
Her skin was as smooth as satin and felt just as he had anticipated it would. Soft and womanly.
He dragged himself reluctantly away from her glorious breasts so that he could kiss her, long, slow kisses, punctuated by her soft moans.
‘Touch me again,’ she whispered.
‘Where?’
‘Where you were before…’ Never had it felt so good to have her breasts touched. Having spent a life time being self-conscious about the size of them, she felt wildly liberated at Nick’s obvious delight.
‘Enjoyed that, did you?’ he murmured, licking the side of her neck. ‘My mouth all over your breasts…your spectacular breasts…I’ve never seen such succulent, big nipples before.’
Rose was shocked by the sexuality of his language and turned on at the same time. His voice was dark and velvety and caressing and the way he moved against her…He was as turned on as she was, of that there was no doubt.
She reached down to touch him, but he covered her hand with his.
‘Not yet, my darling. I have to take things at my pace or else I might end up letting us both down.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘I’m so turned on for you, I have to take things slowly.’
Rose smiled, understanding, and was filled with a sense of heady power that she could have this effect on this man.
She sighed as he massaged her breasts, lifting them to his mouth so that he could continue lathering them with his tongue, taking the nipples into his mouth and teasing the throbbing buds with his teeth. Wantonly, she arched up, thrusting herself towards him and moaning loudly as he ravaged her sensitive breasts.
She curled her fingers into his hair and half opened her eyes, following his progress down and then, as he parted her moistened labia, she fell back feverishly, hardly able to believe that she was allowing such an intimate exploration of her body.
She barely knew what to expect. Her knowledge of foreplay was limited and so her body was shameless and involuntary in its arousal.
As he flicked his tongue along the delicate pink flesh, and then deeper, sliding and rubbing her most feminine area, Rose felt herself spiralling into orbit. She writhed against his exquisite invasion and knew that she lacked the will-power and fierce control not to be tipped over the edge.
With a little tug, she pulled Nick up and he laughed softly, but obediently stopped his relentless assault that threatened to send her spinning out of control.
‘That was…’ Rose heard her own voice and barely recognised it. It was husky and breathless.
‘Mind-blowing?’
Before she could find a suitable answer, he parted her legs with his muscular thigh. ‘Now let me really blow your mind,’ he murmured.
It was one deep thrust. She would never have imagined that such a powerful and impressive member could enter her with such effortless ease to fill her up. He began moving inside her, slow, hard, rhythmic and he seemed to know exactly how her body worked because every time she felt herself reaching the inevitable, shattering climax, he would ease his tempo, allowing her to come back down so that he could remorselessly take her back up again.
Somewhere along the line, she was too lost in a world of sensation to really know when, he flipped them over so that she was lying on top of him, with his hands on her buttocks and her breasts dangling down, their swollen nipples perfect targets for his eager mouth.
There was no part of her body that wasn’t aroused. Bliss to feel him in her even while his mouth was avidly on her.
Bliss, even, afterwards, as she eased herself off him, wonderfully fulfilled, like the cat with a very full bowl of cream.
Yes, of course, the reality of the situation was only a thought away, but she was being mad, wasn’t she? Taking chances for the first time in her life? And it felt good.
‘We should get some sleep now,’ Rose said regretfully, ‘or else we’ll be like zombies in the morning.’ This was like a dream, lying here, curled into him and everything making sense because she loved him, against her will. Piercing through the dream, however, was the sure and certain knowledge that there was no way she could let him know that. Unrequited love was only bearable if it remained a secret.
But…
Rose hugged this thought to herself…what if he fell in love with her? Against all odds?
Sure, she wasn’t his type of woman, at least not in the expected sense, but he was seriously attracted to her, wasn’t he? And he did like her, didn’t he? Put those two things together and there it was, like a root beginning to take hold in the soil, the notion that in the days remaining to them she might just discover that her love stood a chance after all.
Having fought for a life that contained no nasty shocks and hence no surprises at all, Rose now found herself walking the perilous but exhilarating path of toying with what had seemed an impossible dream.
‘I’m lying in bed with you and you talk to me about getting some sleep?’ Nick ran his hand along her thigh. Sleep was the last thing on his mind, never mind the hour.
Rose smiled and closed her eyes. He made her feel wanton, something she had never felt before, and she stretched her arms above her head, tempting him with the breasts he seemed to like so much, loving the way his eyes darkened as they swept over her.
Their love-making was long and languorous. He touched her everywhere and she, emboldened by him, touched him everywhere and revelled in exploring his body.
It was five before they finally fell asleep, wrapped in each other’s arms, and Rose awakened to the sun doing its utmost to get a foothold in the room.
And an empty space next to her.
The dreams she had nurtured the night before, when everything had seemed tantalisingly within reach, began to dissipate like mist in the sun, but then she heard a slight sound and there he was, standing in her doorway, with a cup of coffee in his hand.
Rose sat up, pulling the sheet up to her neck, and drew her knees up with a smile.
‘For you.’ Nick strolled towards her with the cup of coffee.
‘How long have you been up?’
‘Oh, an hour or two.’
‘You should have woken me up.’ She yawned and took the cup from him, hoping a healthy injection of caffeine would revive her.
‘And missed the sight of you sleeping the sleep of the innocent?’
Rose marvelled that someone could look so good in a pair of baggy shorts and a fairly disreputable tee shirt.
‘I don’t feel innocent this morning,’ she confessed, shifting to make room so that he could sit on the bed next to her. ‘In fact, I feel…’
‘Wicked? Decadent?’ He tugged the sheet down and nodded. ‘Much better. I like the view far more without the sheet covering it.’
Rose blushed and grinned and gulped down some tea. Mrs Rose Papaeliou. Nice ring to it, she thought.
‘Something like that. I’ve never…just had a one-night stand. Believe it or not, I’m not that kind of girl.’
‘I believe you, and whoever said that this was going to be a one-night stand?’
Hope flared but she managed to keep her expression neutral. ‘Give me fifteen minutes and I’ll be up,’ she said, changing the subject. ‘What do we have planned for today?’
‘Oh, I thought we would spend the rest of our time here doing a little exploring of our own.’ He stood up and shot her a wolfish grin that made her toes curl in anticipation. ‘How do you feel about scuba-diving?’
Rose thought that pretty much anything in the company of Nick Papaeliou would be an inviting prospect.
And there was no Lee Peng in tow. He had flown to Indonesia for a week to oversee another building project. The various people with whom they had liaised were no longer nec
essary, Nick informed her.
Which just left the two of them on their own and the delights of Sabah and its surroundings.
Nick thought that boredom might set in. After all, wasn’t that the way of the world? And they were in each other’s company twenty-four seven.
Good old common sense told him that, without those necessary absences during which batteries could be recharged and tedium kept at bay, he was almost certain to tire of her company.
To his surprise, he didn’t. She teased him mercilessly and he discovered he enjoyed it.
It was relaxing and invigorating being in her company. They scuba-dived and she proved herself pretty fearless, a side effect of having nomadic guardians, she explained, while sniggering that he seemed a little wary of the big blue sea.
They went to the local open market, which sold fruit and vegetables of every shape, size and description, many of them unrecognisable. They ate miniature figs that were sweet as sugar and drank ice-cold coconut water straight from the split coconuts that were sold in the stalls.
They dared each other to cross a bedraggled suspension bridge and then congratulated themselves afterwards by making love in a secluded part of the dense foliage and bush that fanned the river.
Without the rigid dimensions imposed by everyday life, it was easy to take that step out of sync, to explore each other without guilt and, as Rose admitted to herself, to make no attempts at holding back her headlong fall into love.
But it didn’t matter because she was seeing a new side to Nick. He laughed a lot and was utterly relaxed. He had even stopped working. He took only essential calls on his mobile. Most of the time, he would glance at the number and ignore it.
Rose took that as a very good sign indeed. He wanted to spend time in her company, he enjoyed being with her to such an extent that he was willing to forgo work, and that said a great deal because, having worked alongside him, she knew that work was something Nick never, ever sidelined.