He leaned across and kissed her gently on the lips, holding both of her hands in his. At the brush of his lips a thousand electric impulses exploded inside her. She thought her heart might combust with love. She was crying with happiness and laughing at the same time. He gently wiped the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs.
‘Don’t go,’ she whispered.
‘If you want me to stay, I will,’ he said.
‘I want you to stay. Of course I do,’ she said. ‘We’ve been through so much together, building our business, moving to Italy… It’s just been the most incredible adventure and you have made it the happiest year of my life. I can’t lose you…’
‘You don’t have to,’ he said. The way he was looking at her made her insides melt.
Angus pulled her to her feet. He moved her towards him, dwarfing her completely as he bent down to kiss her. He pushed his hips against hers as her back pressed up against the wall. His kiss was just as she had imagined all those times in her dreams. She could have kissed him for an eternity. She was bewitched by the sensations he was causing inside her. She wrapped her arms around him, moving closer to him, losing herself in the moment completely.
‘God, I’ve wanted to do that for so long,’ Angus said, smiling at her as he pulled away, leaning closer to kiss her once more on the lips. Her spine tingled with desire and her head spun. She felt desperate for him to continue. Her lips parted as she looked at him, unable to move or speak. They fell upon each other hungrily, kissing and exploring every part of each other’s bodies, their clothes disappearing in a trail of discarded items up the stairs and towards Libby’s bedroom door. They fell on the bed and lost themselves in each other, moving together as one, completely uninhibited, abandoning themselves in the moment. Libby had never known anything quite like it. The feelings she felt for him were so strong they overwhelmed her completely.
Later, as she lay in his arms, she felt as though she had finally found where she belonged. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t realised what was there, right in front of her, for all those years.
Having finally confessed their feelings, Libby and Angus’s love for each other deepened quickly and passionately. He turned down the offer of an exhibition in New York. Now that they had found each other there was no way either of them were willing to let the other go. Like a young couple in their very first romance they kissed for hours and hours, unable to pass each other by without some kind of physical contact. Their appetite for each other knew no bounds; they delighted in exploring each other’s bodies, spending endless hours making love. The strength of their feelings for each other had taken them both by surprise. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes of their failed relationships, they had found in each other a love that was stronger than anything they had experienced before. Over the past year Angus had become such a permanent fixture in Libby and Izzy’s lives that making the transition from friend to lover had been a natural and fluid development, as unstoppable as it would have seemed unthinkable just a year before.
Libby had never known such happiness. She floated around on cloud nine, a soppy grin rarely far from her cheeks. There was something incredible about being in a relationship with your best friend. They already knew each other inside out and back to front. There were no surprises. It just felt so natural and so perfectly right.
Epilogue
A cockerel welcomed the rising sun with its cheerful call as Libby threw open the shutters to reveal yet another glorious day. She leant out the window and inhaled the sweet fragrant smell of the honeysuckle plant that curled its way around the windowsill. The hills and fields below were bathed in the golden glow of the sun. In the distance the sea lay calm and majestic, the clouds above tinged with pink. Libby’s heart soared like it did every morning as she drank in her surroundings. It had been nearly a year and a half since Angus and Libby had left London and she couldn’t be happier in her new life, her new home.
She looked at Angus, sprawled across the bed, and her heart swelled with love. He had surpassed her every expectation. He was the perfect friend, the most incredible lover, as well as the best father-figure to Izzy she could have hoped for. He had been her rock as they had adjusted to their new life in Italy. He had thrown himself into the adventure with verve, learning the language, networking and making friends with the locals, building his studio, helping her with the guests, and generally making every day enjoyable. He was relaxed when he saw Luca, never showing any signs of jealousy or anger, despite the upheaval, pain and suffering Luca had caused him. He was always the perfect gentleman, and Libby loved him ever more for it.
She left him sleeping peacefully in bed, and crept along the corridor to Izzy’s room. She was still fast asleep, for once. Libby took advantage of the peace and quiet and went downstairs to make herself a cup of tea. She took her steaming mug outside, a canopy of fuchsia bougainvillea hung high above the patio with its large wooden table and chairs. The garden, full of flowerbeds bursting with colour, was her favourite place. Once the guests had left for their day excursions or their onward journeys, she spent hours out here with Izzy, playing and weeding.
She walked down to the bottom of the garden before turning back to wind her way through the vegetable patches and fruit cages that she and Angus had built. As she approached the house the kitchen door opened and Angus appeared. He waved and smiled at her, saying, ‘Morning!’ Izzy was wearing her pink pyjamas. She rubbed her eyes sleepily next to him, her tiny hand in his. Libby felt a pang of love as she looked at them both. At the same time a tiny kick pulsed deep within her swollen belly. It was as though the baby was reminding her of his presence too, not wishing to be forgotten. She rested her hand on her growing bump and smiled. ‘Breakfast time!’ she called as she walked back up the garden path to join them.
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Acknowledgements
This book was inspired by my lifelong love of Italy. Having studied History of Art and Italian for my degree I was lucky enough to spend four years immersed in Italian culture, including a year living in Bologna. I have travelled all over this beautiful country and adored every part of it, but my favourite place has to be Positano on the Amalfi coast. Thank you to all my lovely readers for supporting me thus far, I hope you have enjoyed visiting Italy with me.
I would like to thank my sisters, Sophie and Emma, and my mother Polly for their invaluable help shaping and editing this story as it developed. I would also like to thank my friend, Emma, for her help in answering numerous questions as I wrote the first draft, and the rest of my family for their support and guidance.
As always I would like to thank my editor, Sarah Ritherdon, for her expertise during the editing process, as well as my copy editor Penelope Isaac and the rest of the team at Head of Zeus: Nia Beynon, Yasemin Turan and Geo Willis. I would also like to thank my agent Beatrice Corlett for her help during the initial stages of writing this novel.
Finally my deepest thanks goes to my husband Tom. He has the patience of a saint and is unwavering in his support for all of my ventures. And to my daughter, Camilla, you have come into our lives and transformed them totally, for the better in every single way. We cannot imagine life without you. Thank you for arriving two weeks late enabling me to finish editing before being immersed in a world of sleepless nights and nappies!
About Georgie Capron
GEORGIE CAPRON lives in South West London with her husband. She works as a primary school teacher, and writes during the holidays. She studied Italian and History of Art at the University of Edinburgh, and loves travelling, y
oga and all sorts of arts and crafts. Just the Two of Us is her first novel.
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A Letter from the Author
Dear all my lovely readers,
First of all, thank you for reading my book. It is just amazing to be able to share the imaginary world I have created with you and to know that you are following my characters on their journeys…wherever they may lead! You are invaluable and there is nothing more exciting than hearing from you as you spread the word and leave those much-appreciated reviews online. If you can spare the time then please do so, it really is the number one best way to help a writer out!
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I love hearing from readers so please message me on Twitter, Facebook or via the contact page on my website.
With love and thanks,
Georgie xx
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Addictive Fiction
First published in the UK in 2017 by Aria, an imprint of Head of Zeus Ltd
Copyright © Georgie Capron, 2017
The moral right of Georgie Capron to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN (E) 9781786693358
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It Was Always You Page 25