Page 53 of One Bed

It was the most personal thing she’d heard him say since she’d met him. ‘You should come to Santorini more often.’

‘I should get out of the office more often,’ he countered, stretching out his long legs and tipping his face up to the sun. ‘Any chance of getting my sunglasses back?’

‘None,’ Bea replied.

‘Thought so.’

She pulled her sundress further up her thighs to get some sun on her legs. ‘Is your work really that demanding?’

He lifted a shoulder and rolled his head to look at her. ‘My uncle would say that I make it harder than it needs to be. He’s always on at me for being too much of a control freak, and for not giving our highly paid managers enough responsibility. He’d like to see me let go a little.’

‘So, why don’t you?’ she asked.

‘Because I am a control freak,’ he admitted. ‘And a workaholic. Work is my mistress and my number one priority.’

There was a warning in his words, one she needed to take in. ‘There’s this concept called work-life balance,’ she said. ‘Are you familiar with it?’

He banged his hand against his ear. ‘I must have water in my ears, I didn’t hear a word you said.’

And that was his way of telling her, as gently as he could, that the subject was closed. A silent reminder that he didn’t like to talk about himself. OK, then, they could just sit in the sun and listen to the sea roll against the rocks. Easy enough to do.

Five minutes later, Gib lay down, the back of his damp head resting on Bea’s thigh. ‘I could take a nap,’ he told her, sounding lazy.

She finger-combed his hair off his forehead, happy to sit here, not saying anything, with him. ‘Are you looking forward to the party tomorrow night, Bea-baby?’

‘Yes, but more for Golly than for me. She loves parties, loves the attention.’

‘Really? I would never have guessed.’

She smiled at his dry comment. ‘I know she’s over-the-top, but I adore her. She was there for me, as a child and an adult, when many people weren’t.’

He lifted his arm behind his head to grip her thigh, his fingers lightly digging into her skin. ‘Your parents?’

‘Fairly bloody useless. I lived with my dad, and I only saw my mum a couple of times a year. As per their custodial agreement, she got me for six weeks in the summer holiday but having me underfoot was inconvenient for her, so she shipped me off to Golly, which wasveryconvenient for me. I spent many summers here on Santorini.’

‘Lucky you.’

She had been. ‘Where did you spend your long summer holidays?’ she asked. It was a fairly innocuous question, one she hoped he wouldn’t object to.

‘Here and there.’ He opened his eyes and tipped his head back to look at her. ‘I loved making love to you this morning, Bea.’

She stared at him, confused by his abrupt change of subject. How could he be so frank and open about sex, and how much he wanted her, but so reticent about himself?

‘Bring your mouth down here, I need to taste you.’

She bent down and settled her mouth on his, tasting the salt on his lips, loving the heat of his tongue. Their kiss quickly turned desperate, and Gib gently pushed her up and away from him. He sat up and lifted her –how did he do that so easily? – onto his lap. She sat astride him, her panties against his damp briefs, his cock swelling between them. His hand snuck up the back of her skirt and palmed her butt. ‘You’re so fucking sexy,’ he muttered, the tips of his fingers sliding under the band of her panties.

In his arms, she felt sexy, wanton, freaking incredible. She held his face in his hands and kissed him, her tongue tangling with his. He might not talk about himself, or give anything away, but what did that matter when he kissed her like this, when he made her feel like she was lit from the inside.

She rocked her hips, loving the friction against her clit, but Gib grabbed her hair and gently pulled her head back. ‘Bea-baby, if you do that, the people on the path are going to get more than they bargained for.’

She cocked her head and heard laughter drifting over to them. Damn, tourists! She scrambled off his lap, tossed his shorts in his direction and he pulled them over his lap, hiding his erection. At that moment an older, fit couple came into sight and called out a cheery greeting.

Bea stood up and walked up to the path, distracting them by feeding them facts about the islet and the tiny chapel while Gib pulled on his shorts, shoes and T-shirt. When he joined her, Bea noticed he’d raked his hair off his face.

He snatched his sunglasses back and put them on before taking her hand and sending the older couple a shit-eating grin. ‘I don’t mean to be rude, but my wife is ovulating and we’re trying to get pregnant, so we need to be off.’

The couple’s mouths dropped open in shock and Bea stared at his back as he led her down the path. She let him lead her out of earshot of the couple before punching his bicep.

---