Page 76 of Three's a Crowd
‘Wait, Daisy, wait… I don’t I want to come yet,’ he muttered.
But it was too late. He tipped over the edge, his body shuddering hard as he came inside her, a low growl escaping from his throat.
They lay there, panting for a moment, limbs wrapped tightly around each other.
‘Hmm, a reluctant orgasm. That’s really hot,’ she said finally, with a grin.
She felt him laugh into her hair.
Drawing himself out of her, he slid his hand back between her legs and used his fingers to make her come too, kissing her hard as she climaxed and trapping her cry of release in his mouth.
After an age, they untangled themselves and looked at each other, their soft breathing the only sound in the room.
Zach seemed to hesitate for a moment before saying, ‘I should probably wait and make some big expensive gesturebefore doing this, but I just can’t. I’ve waited too long already. Will you marry me?’
She gasped, feeling her world falling perfectly into place for the very first time.
‘Yes, yes, yes!’ she said, overcome with a feeling of exquisite rightness.
They held each other tightly, rocking from side to side, laughing and hugging.
‘So,’ Zach said finally, ‘what do we do to celebrate?’ He grinned at her, wickedly.
‘I’m sure we can think of something,’ Daisy replied, waggling her eyebrows, a slow smile stealing over her face, as she pulled him towards her again for a long, loving kiss.
EPILOGUE
SIX YEARS LATER
The air was still and clement in the quaint, Cornish, seaside town of Fowey, where two families were staying for a well-deserved summer holiday.
The sun danced on the waves in the distance and its lingering rays caused the gently swaying trees in their garden to cast long shadows across the lawn of the grand, Edwardian house.
Three young children raced around the garden, enjoying the last of the day’s warmth, completely unaware of the adults in the living room looking out at them.
Zach strolled into the room and wrapped his arms around his wife, nuzzling into her neck and sending shivers of pleasure down her spine. Even after all this time, he could still turn her to jelly just by touching her.
Daisy craned her neck to look up at him and smiled.
‘Where have you been?’ she asked. He smelled of fresh air and salt.
‘Just went for a quick stroll down to the beach to clear my head,’ he replied, kissing her gently on the lips.
‘All right, you two,’ came a deep voice from the corner of the room. ‘We don’t need to be subjected to your public displaysof affection every minute of the day, thanks very much.’ This was said with humour, though there was a mocking dryness to Adam’s tone.
They both rolled their eyes at him. He was one to talk. He could barely keep his hands off Suzie whenever she was within ten feet of him.
Adam stood up and stretched his arms above his head. ‘I suppose we should get them to come in for some tea,’ he said, nodding towards the garden where the children were happily playing.
‘Ah, leave them for a bit longer,’ Suzie said, coming into the room with a tray of pre-dinner drinks.
Once the strangeness of meeting Adam’s new partner had worn off, Daisy had found she really liked Suzie. She was such a positive person and perfectly suited to him.
Not for the first time, Daisy felt a warm sense of satisfaction at the way things had turned out.
It had taken Zach a while to persuade Adam to give him a hearing, but he’d been determined to do it. He’d spent months wearing him down. He’d call or drop in on him at regular intervals, until his old friend was forced to hear what he had to say, just to get rid of him. They’d argued a lot and many a time, Zach had come home to Daisy frustrated and angry at his inability to breach the gap that had grown between them all.
Adam had a huge amount of resentment built up and wasn’t willing to let them back into his good books in a hurry. He had, after all, been subjected to years of angst and jealousy when it came to the relationship between Zach and Daisy and was unwilling to get himself back involved with them in case it brought all the old feelings and paranoia back.
