Page 59 of Not in a Million Years

I trailed my fingertips from his shoulders over his chest then down to his abs, feeling them tense under my touch, the line of soft, fine hair guiding me unerringly to the fastening of his shorts. Fumbling slightly, I undid the button then pulled down the zip, releasing the hot, springy hardness of his erection in his boxer shorts. I slipped my hand between the fabric and his skin, wondering again at its softness, then closed my fingers around his cock.

‘Jesus, Kate. This is…’

‘I know it is,’ I murmured. ‘I know. Don’t stop.’

He kicked off his clothes and lay next to me, and we kissed again, exploring each other’s bodies with our hands and mouths. His buttocks were firm and smooth. I could feel the separate muscles on his thighs, and the point where they dipped in towards his groin. I could smell the musky man-smell of him.

His hand moved between my legs and he stroked me, the merest brush of skin on skin at first, then deeper, searching, parting me and feeling how wet I was, how much I wanted him. A finger found my clit, and my hips arched involuntarily upwards towards him.

I moved onto all fours and crouched above him, leaning in for another deep, endless kiss as I guided his cock towards where we both yearned for it to be, sliding my body downwards until the entire hard, hot length of him was inside me and we were moving together, our lips and tongues and hair and limbs intertwined, even our breath mingling in the cool air.

Twenty-One

I slept so deeply that night it was like falling into warm, dark water and not needing to come up for air. I slept more deeply than I could remember ever sleeping before. When I woke a few hours later, roused by the unfamiliarity of Daniel’s body next to me in bed, I rolled over and embraced him, fitting myself tightly against him, and that woke him, and we had sex again in a somnolent, almost dreamlike way. Then I slept again and stayed asleep until the sunshine woke me.

Daniel was up already. He was standing in the balcony doorway, a towel wrapped round his waist. I could smell coffee and hear the regular spurts of the sprinklers watering the gardens outside and the early-morning birdsong. The outline of sky I could see framing Daniel’s shoulders told me it was another dazzling, perfect day.

But I didn’t feel dazzling or perfect. My hangover had descended with a vengeance, blotting out all the giddy happiness of the night before. My mouth was dry. I could smell stale perfume on my sheets – and something else as well. I closed my eyes and pieced together the events of the previous night: the yacht, the endless flow of champagne. The kisses. The rest of it…

How could I have been so utterly stupid?

‘Daniel?’ My voice sounded dry and croaky when I said his name. He turned around, his face still.

‘Morning. You all right, Kate?’

‘Not really. Daniel, last night – we didn’t use a…’

‘No,’ he said. ‘We didn’t.’

‘Shit. Why the hell didn’t you…?’

‘Bring condoms on a trip abroad to find my missing friend, with a woman who can’t stand the sight of me? I can’t imagine.’

‘Total lack of foresight on your part,’ I said, in a lame attempt at a joke. ‘I should have expected it. Rank incompetence.’

‘You didn’t either, did you, Ms Shit Hot Risk Manager?’

‘I think that was what in the trade we call a black swan event,’ I said. ‘Unexpected and unprecedented.’

‘And presumably unique.’

‘I’ll need to get to a pharmacy,’ I said. ‘Thank God we’re flying home today. I wouldn’t fancy navigating that in Turkish.’

‘I’m sorry, Kate. I should have thought…’

‘There wasn’t a whole lot of thinking going on back there though, was there?’

He shook his head. ‘Like I said, I’m sorry.’

‘Not as sorry as I am.’

My stomach gave a queasy lurch, and I tasted acid in my mouth. ‘Fuck. Going to be sick.’

I pushed the duvet aside and stood up, pressing my palms against the wall as the room wheeled around me. It steadied just in time for me to make it to the bathroom, where I dropped down onto the tiled floor and retched, feeling like the tide of nausea would never stop.

When at last it did, Daniel was there, fully dressed, passing me a cold flannel and a glass of water.

‘Are you okay?’ he asked.

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