by Holly Martin
‘You’re such a pervert.’
‘Is that what’s going to happen when I stay with you this time: twenty-four-hour nudey parties? If I’d known that, I’d have flown over earlier.’
‘We are not having nudey parties,’ Eden laughed but Dougie was clearly not to be deterred.
‘In fact, Clare honey, can you take over here for a few hours? Eden and I are going to have a nudey party right now.’ Dougie took her hand and led her to the door and to her total mortification all the island’s residents suddenly cheered their approval.
‘Sure,’ Clare laughed. ‘Knock yourselves out.’
Eden pulled back and Dougie reluctantly let her go.
‘Will you behave? We are not having any nudey parties.’
‘OK, maybe now is not the best time. But promise me we’ll do it later.’
‘No, Rome and Bella are supposed to be coming round to see you and I’m not getting naked in front of my brother and sister.’
He pulled her closer to him again. ‘So we’ll wait until they leave.’
She batted him away, her heart pounding at the thought of the two of them naked together.
She dug into her pocket and passed him her spare house key. ‘Go get yourself settled and unpacked and I’ll be home soon.’
He flashed her a devastating smile and then bent to kiss her cheek. ‘Don’t be late.’
He winked at her, grabbed his bag and left her alone. She brushed her fingers absently down her apron before she turned back to face the islanders who were all grinning at her inanely. She pointedly ignored them and walked back behind the counter. Having him here was going to be trouble but she couldn’t wipe the smile off her face if she tried.
Chapter Two
Eden smiled as she watched Dougie snoring softly, his face lit up under the soft glow of the twinkling fairy lights as he rested his head on the arm of the sofa, his big, strong body stretching out the entire length of it. How could she love him so much? It was ridiculous to feel this way after twelve years but no matter how many times she told herself that, she didn’t seem to be listening.
‘Eden, are you listening?’
Eden looked round and could see that Bella and Freya were watching her expectantly. Oh god, they had been mid-conversation when she had glanced over to look at Dougie and she had zoned out completely after that. Was that how it was going to be now he was home: her staring at him inappropriately every time he came anywhere near her, being unable to carry out a simple conversation or function at work? She was in serious trouble if that was the case.
‘Sorry, I was miles away,’ Eden said, ignoring the smirks from Bella and Freya.
Everyone had come to welcome Dougie back home. Her brother Rome and his wife Freya had cooked for Dougie in Eden’s kitchen, looking every inch the happily married couple as they flirted and touched each other constantly. It filled Eden’s heart to see that Rome was happy again after so many years alone. Freya was showing the first signs of her four-month pregnancy hidden beneath her baggy jumper and, although no one was supposed to know yet, naturally that meant that everyone on the island was aware of it. Freya had been given more knitted jumpers, hats and booties than she knew what to do with over the last few weeks.
Eden’s sister, Bella, and her fiancé, Isaac, had spent the evening talking about the plans for their forthcoming wedding that was taking place at the end of January. It sounded like it was turning into a huge event. Bella seemed to be getting a bit stressed out about all the arrangements, but as an events manager for a local charity, this was the sort of thing she excelled at. Eden was quite sure it would be a beautiful day but she was worried that Bella wasn’t getting the kind of wedding she wanted. She seemed so desperate to impress all of Isaac’s business colleagues that she was putting aside her own dreams. Eden hadn’t said anything to them, and she didn’t know Isaac as well as she knew Bella, but it seemed he was getting a wedding he didn’t want either.
They’d all had dinner together, laughing and chatting as if Dougie had always been part of their family. And in many ways he had. Living in America for twelve years hadn’t changed that. Growing up, Dougie had been best friends with Rome, and with Eden and Bella they had been an inseparable foursome. He had also known Isaac as they’d both been in the computer club at school. When Isaac moved away from the island as a child, Dougie had stayed in touch with him, their mutual love for computer games cementing their friendship for life, and now they were going into business together in Dougie’s own computer gaming company.
It was testament to his friendship with everyone that no one cared that they’d all come round to see him and he was snoring softly in the corner. They all knew he had been travelling for many hours to get there. Everyone was just carrying on as normal regardless that Dougie was no longer part of the conversation.
Rome and Isaac were in the kitchen at that moment discussing an app that Rome wanted for his stained glass shop. They were getting more commissions than they could handle and, as far as Rome was concerned, he and Freya were spending too much time dealing with enquiries on the phone than actually working on the commissions. What they needed was an assistant but Isaac was trying to persuade him that an app that people could use to enquire online would take away a lot of the hassle for them.
Eden, Freya and Bella had been chatting in the lounge. She tried to remember what she had been talking about with them but she had no idea.
Bella took pity on her. ‘We were talking about what love means to us. There was an article in one of those wedding magazines I seem to have collected in abundance over the last few months about what different women expected from a loving relationship or marriage. So, what are you looking for in love, what would your ideal relationship look like?’
‘That the man I love loved me back would be a good start,’ Eden said, unable to stop her eyes drifting over to Dougie again. Bella and Freya remained unfazed; they both knew about her feelings for him.
‘That’s a given – in this hypothetical conversation, you’re married to the man of your dreams,’ Freya said, stroking her belly unconsciously.
‘Would you get married?’ Bella asked. ‘Is that important to you? Some people don’t believe in marriage.’
Bella knew as well as Eden did that Dougie wasn’t exactly a fan of marriage after his own parents’ relationship ended so badly. But that was quite important to her.
‘In an ideal world, yes, I want to get married. There’s something special about standing up in front of your family and friends and declaring your love for each other and promising to love each other for the rest of your life. It’s not essential though. As long as we were together I’d be happy with that. But yes, if we are talking a perfect relationship, then marriage would feature in that.’
‘So what does your perfect happy marriage look like?’
Eden thought about this for a moment. She had spent almost her whole life in love with Dougie, and a good too many years to count hoping and wishing on every birthday cake, shooting star, or lucky penny that he would someday be hers before she’d finally given up on that dream, but she’d never really stopped to think what a perfect marriage to Dougie would look like.
‘Amazing sex,’ Eden giggled.
‘Of course,’ Bella agreed. ‘Every day, twenty times a day.’
Eden laughed. ‘I want to talk with my husband, come home from work and we’ll talk about our days and the other person will genuinely listen and care even if it is mundane. I want to laugh a lot, make silly jokes, tease one another; I don’t want that to change just because I’m married.’ Her eyes fell on the small bunch of white roses that Dougie had given her when she had got home from work that night and how ridiculously touched she had been by such a small gesture. ‘I think romantic gestures are important, or romantic moments. Little Post-it notes of love left around the house, flowers – not for my birthday or Valentine’s Day, but just because my husband had thought of me on his way home from work. Romantic dinners at home, sitting at
the kitchen table with candles on the table, taking baths together… I just want to lie in a bath with my husband, cuddled against his chest. Watching movies, the cheesy romantic ones that I love and the big action films that he’ll love, and neither of us will complain because we just like watching films together, going for walks along the beach, holding hands while we walk, holding hands when we watch TV. Cooking for each other, massages…’ Eden was getting into her stride now. ‘I’d love to do a couple’s massage, I think that would be sexy as hell. I want to make love in front of the fire in a room lit only with candles. Picnics, flying a kite, playing board games, watching a sunset together, watching a sunrise together. A horse carriage ride. Spooning, I’ve never done that and I’ve always thought it would be nice to fall asleep wrapped in my man’s arms. He’d let me sit on his lap and at the end of the night he’d carry me to bed. I want to dance, a lot. We’d get a puppy and it would be our baby. I’d dress it up in ridiculous costumes and my husband wouldn’t care. Then later we’d fill the house with real babies of our own.’
Bella smiled at her, fondly. ‘You don’t want much then?’
‘I want the fairy tale,’ Eden said dreamily and then the smile slid off her face. ‘But fairy tales don’t exist.’
‘Of course they do, me and Isaac are proof of that,’ Bella said.
‘I never thought anything would happen with me and Rome, but it did. Your fairy tale is waiting for you, it’s just not your time yet,’ Freya said. ‘And maybe it won’t happen in the way that you hope it will,’ she eyed Dougie who was still fast asleep. ‘But true love and happiness might come along when you least expect it with someone that you never expected, if you open your heart to possibilities.’
Eden knew that this was Freya’s attempt to persuade Eden to move on and fall out of love with Dougie. If only it was that easy. She had even wished for that once too. The one time her wish had deviated from the usual one was when she’d wished that she was no longer in love with Dougie – and that hadn’t worked either. She glanced across at him. She would always love him.
Dougie knew he needed to get off the sofa and go upstairs to bed – he would ache tomorrow if he slept on the sofa all night – but the bedroom was too far, his whole body felt too heavy and he was unable to open his eyes.
By his calculations he had been awake for over thirty-six hours, though his brain was such a fog of exhaustion he wasn’t sure if those calculations were right. He had dozed on and off for the last hour or two, aware of his friends there, but not really aware of what they were talking about, or of anything beyond the comfort of their voices. Though silence had descended on the house a while ago so he guessed they’d gone home at some point.
Nearby the crack of the log fire told him it was still burning merrily and he could hear Eden softly moving around tidying things up. He needed to get up and help her but his body wasn’t responding to any commands at the moment.
He was suddenly acutely aware of her leaning over him, her wonderful sweet scent that reminded him of toasted marshmallows drifting around him.
‘Dougie, you need to go to bed,’ she whispered, gently.
‘I’m sleeping,’ Dougie muttered, still unable to open his eyes.
The glow of the fairy lights was suddenly turned off, plunging the world beyond his eyelids into darkness.
He felt her lean over him again and tug on the blanket on the back of the sofa. He forced his eyes open. The blanket was clearly stuck, probably because he was lying on top of it, and as she frowned as she tried to release it, he couldn’t resist running his fingers across that spot he knew was really ticklish right above her hip bone. She squealed in protest, bringing her arm down to protect herself, and fell on top of him, hard.
He quickly wrapped his arms around her so she couldn’t escape. ‘This is the only thing I need to keep me warm.’
‘Get off me,’ she laughed, trying to get up.
‘Stop wriggling, I’m trying to sleep,’ Dougie said, closing his eyes again.
‘With me on top of you?’
‘Can’t think of a nicer way to go to sleep.’
She sighed and rested her head on his chest, curling her fingers gently into his shirt. ‘You know this isn’t normal, right?’
He opened his eyes to look at her. She was looking up at him, her blue eyes inky in the darkness.
‘It’s normal for us, we’ve slept in the same bed together before.’
She rested her chin on her hands to look at him more easily. ‘Do you have this relationship with any of your other friends? Have you ever cuddled in bed with Rome?’
He laughed. ‘That’s different.’
‘Why is it different?’
He stroked a hair off her forehead. ‘We have something special.’
‘But that something special is just friendship right? You said this is normal for us, so… are you saying it doesn’t mean anything?’
He swallowed, not entirely sure what the right answer was and too tired to think it through clearly. Of course it wasn’t normal; he was closer to her than any of his previous girlfriends. He had been flirting with her for years with little or no reaction.
‘Of course it means something,’ Dougie said, his eyes drifting closed without his permission. There was silence from Eden and he replayed what he’d just said in his head. That wasn’t good. He definitely needed to be more awake to have this conversation. He was in dangerous territory here. ‘You’re my best friend and you have no idea how much you mean to me.’ That wasn’t much safer either.
Eden didn’t answer for a while, then she rested her cheek right over his heart. ‘I have some idea.’
He pulled the blanket off the back of the sofa and covered it over Eden, making sure the blanket was tucked round her shoulders, then he wrapped both arms around her in case she tried to escape and let his head fall back on the arm of the chair and closed his eyes. Her tiny, warm body against his was the best feeling in the world. Well, it would be even better if neither of them had any clothes on but he’d take any victory he could. The conversation about their relationship seemed to have passed but he knew it was only temporary. Now he was back on Hope Island for good, things would have to come to a head at one point and he wasn’t sure how that would turn out. But for now he needed to go to sleep.
‘I’ve travelled thousands of miles, three plane journeys and a boat ride and right now it was all worth it. Falling asleep with my girl in my arms, nothing beats that.’
He forced open one eye to see what her reaction would be to that – she was resting her head on his chest with a big smile on her face. He closed his eyes again and shifted her tighter against him. Sleep was taking him now and he knew it would be several hours before he’d wake back up. A sense of complete and utter contentment washed over him. He was home.
Chapter Three
Eden woke the next day to find she was lying side by side with Dougie, her arms wrapped round his neck, one leg hooked over his hips, the other tangled between his own legs. His arms were around her, one hand on her waist, and the other had slid up the back of her t-shirt and was warm against the lower part of her back. It looked like they had spent the night making love when nothing could be further from the truth. The best thing was their mouths were mere millimetres from touching – she could feel his soft breath on her face and it felt incredible. If she just leaned forward she could press her lips to his and then they’d be kissing. Well sort of. He was still fast asleep.
‘Thinking about kissing me?’
Her eyes snapped up to see his were filled with amusement as he watched her fondly. She tried to shift back a bit, embarrassed at being caught out in her fantasies even if he couldn’t read her mind to see what she had been thinking, but his arms were locked around her and she was unable to move.
‘You can kiss me if you want to, I wouldn’t mind,’ Dougie grinned at her.
‘I bet you wouldn’t.’
He laughed. ‘What does that mean?’
‘You’re s
uch a flirt. You flirt with anything that moves.’
‘That’s true, but I don’t give my kisses away to just anyone, they have to be special.’
‘And I’m special enough?’
‘Oh definitely.’ His eyes still sparkled with amusement; he wasn’t taking this remotely seriously. But that was Dougie all over, everything was a joke or a game to him, he had no idea how much this conversation actually hurt. How badly Eden wanted to kiss him, how her heart ached for him. And whereas before when he used to visit she’d managed to put up with this pain, knowing it was only for a few weeks, now this was what it would be like for the rest of her life.
‘What’s the frown for?’ Dougie said, his eyes filling with concern as he gently rubbed away the frown between her eyes with his thumb.
‘Just thinking how much my life is going to change now you’re home,’ Eden said, honestly, though she’d never reveal the reason why.
‘Change for the better?’ Dougie asked, the grin back on his face.
‘The jury is still out.’
‘It’s going to be amazing, we’ll get to hang out all day every day.’
‘I have a pottery painting café to run, you have your big gaming empire, so I don’t see that we’re going to be in each other’s pockets all day.’
‘I can run my gaming empire from anywhere as long as I have my laptop. I could sit in your café every day and you can bring me cups of coffee and Clare’s delicious cake while I work.’
Her heart sank a little. ‘Is that really what you plan to do? Won’t the noise of the café disturb you?’
He shook his head. ‘Not really, I can zone it out. But don’t you think it’ll be fun to work alongside each other?’
He was winding her up, she could tell by the little smirk on his lips. ‘Oh sure, I can come over every five minutes and ask you what you’re doing, spill coffee over your laptop, get cake crumbs over your papers. It’ll be a blast.’