Page 26 of Coming Home to Roseford Villas
‘Flattery will get you into my underwear!’ Rory laughed. She rolled back off him and wriggled out of her shorts and knickers. Leo, in a slightly less elegant way, did the same until they were both completely naked.
‘So, where did we start?’ Rory asked. ‘My memory’s a little hazy, after all these years…’
‘Somewhere about here,’ Leo said, running a warm hand over her breast and down her waist. Rory arched her back towards Leo’s touch, and it was soon very clear that they remembered a lot more than they thought about each other. The years had matured their responses, but there was a familiarity that bothwere thrilled to discover was still there. It certainly made things a lot easier.
For a few moments, Rory had felt self-conscious about her body: after all, twenty years did a lot to alter things physically, but Leo’s enthusiastic response to her closeness soon dispelled any worries she might have had. It helped, too, that he was cautious about what he could and couldn’t do. She didn’t want to push him, and she didn’t feel as though she was under pressure. Getting older definitely had its advantages, she thought as his hands began to explore her. She knew what she liked, she remembered how much they’d learned about each other, and this time, she was more than happy to tell him when something was working, and when it wasn’t.
‘How am I doing?’ Leo asked as he caressed her.
‘Just a little to the left,’ Rory breathed, feeling the tingles starting to build. ‘Yes… that’s perfect…’ She let herself float for a moment on the sensations, before she turned her attentions back to Leo.
‘What was that phrase your therapist used? Suck it and see? I don’t think I got around to that just now.’ She raised herself up on one elbow. ‘Shall we give it a try?’
Leo drew in a sharp breath. ‘I’m willing if you are…’
Needing no further encouragement, Rory moved back down the bed and soon had Leo gasping beneath her. Unlike twenty years ago, he had a modicum more control, and, though his hands gripped the sheets in pleasure, he kept himself the right side of the precipice.
‘It’s all right,’ Rory replied. ‘You don’t have to hold back if you don’t want to…’
It gave her the greatest thrill when Leo took her at her word. After all, they had all summer to rediscover each other: this was just the beginning. As the afternoon wove into a delicately falling evening, they talked, and touched, and soon drifted off to sleep.
28
The next morning, Rory awoke before Leo. Lying there, in his bed, she felt the strangest sensations of familiarity and excitement. It was a twinning she was gradually getting used to, but it didn’t stop it feeling odd. Leo was turned on his side, away from her, and she couldn’t help but notice the scars on his back. After a glimpse of them in the garden, she was literally eye to eye with them, and she realised just what a mountain it had been for him to climb to fight his way back to health and mobility. No wonder he’d been so cautious. She couldn’t imagine how terrible it must have been for him. But, on the basis of last night, she got the sense that he was more than ready to test his limits, at least as far as making love was concerned.
She couldn’t help thinking about what might have been. What if she’d taken the leap and gone to university in Melbourne? Or if he’d decided to come back to the UK? How might both of their lives have been different? Would they still have been together, or would first love have petered out once they’d reached adulthood? Teenage infatuation was one thing, but adult love quite another.
But what ifs were pointless. They were where they were, and she couldn’t complain. Last night had been gentle, and sexy, and promised a new beginning and she couldn’t wait to see where things were going to go next.
As she was contemplating all this, Leo stirred and rolled back towards her.
‘Hey,’ he murmured. ‘How did you sleep?’
‘Beautifully,’ she replied, smiling. ‘You?’
‘Like an absolute log. Haven’t slept like that since I got here.’
Rory grinned. ‘I’m glad to hear it.’ She glanced over at the alarm clock by the bed. ‘God, it’s eight thirty. Wedidsleep well.’
‘Eight thirty? Shit!’ Leo jumped out of bed. ‘I was supposed to have breakfast on the table for 7a.m. Mr and Mrs Cross are going to be livid!’ He hastily pulled on his boxers and shorts and reached for his T-shirt.
Rory reached for her own clothes and threw them on. ‘What can I do to help?’
‘Can you go and switch the coffee machine on in the dining room? I’ll check if they’re still about and go and apologise, see what they want to eat.’
‘Sure thing.’ Rory hurried out of Leo’s room and downstairs to the large dining room. She filled up the reservoir on the coffee percolator and hastily spooned the ground coffee into the filter. Just as she was heading to the kitchen to see if she could find some milk, Leo appeared in the doorway, looking sheepish.
‘They’ve gone out for the day,’ he said, ambling over to where Rory had paused. ‘They, er, left me a rather snotty note on their bedroom door, requesting a refund for breakfast.’
‘Shit!’ Rory began to laugh. ‘That’s your perfect, five-star rating on Tripadvisor toppled, then.’
‘Oh, well.’ Leo smiled, and Rory felt that fizzing tingle low down in her belly again. He drew closer to her, and wrapped an arm around her, bringing their bodies together. ‘I guess it’s onething to own up to Aunt Vi about when she FaceTimes me next!’ He leaned down and kissed her lingeringly. ‘In the meantime, though, I’ve got a load of croissants and jam in the kitchen, and the coffee’ll be ready in a few minutes. How about we head back upstairs and have a picnic in bed?’
The morning, and most of the afternoon, with a brief stop for more snacks, consisted of much of the same activity that they’d spent the night indulging in. Rory was still very aware that Leo might have limits, and worries, and although she was beginning toreallywant to take the final step and feel all of him, she silenced that thought and tried to focus on their voyage of rediscovery. And what a journey it was. With no anxious parents to interrupt them, and very little else to occupy them once the guest house was empty, they took their time, until, sweaty and sated, they lay next to one another in Leo’s bed, chatting and giggling like the teenagers they used to be.
‘So, what are your plans for the next few days?’ Leo asked as they both stared at the patterns of sunlight rippling across the ceiling.
‘Well, I should be cracking on with looking at the material I photocopied from the Roseford Hall archives,’ Rory replied. ‘It was fascinating stuff, and it’s really given me a lot to think about. Simon Treloar’s been great about wangling me access to whatever I need, and Edmund’s diaries have been really enlightening. I can see the parallels with the contemporary story I want to tell already. It’s just a question of working out how best to link the two, so it makes sense to someone else outside my own head!’
