Page 41 of One More Sleepless Night

‘So what plans do you have next?’ he asked, ignoring the little voice inside his head demanding to know where he thought he was going with this, because she might not really be over it and she might need looking after but he definitely wasn’t the sort of person who should be getting involved.

She lifted her eyebrows. ‘You mean beyond some more of that lovely restorative sex?’

‘Beyond that.’

She blinked and shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I’m not very good at living beyond the present.’

‘Well, I’m at a loose end… You’re at a loose end… What would you say to tying our loose ends together for a while?’

She grinned. ‘I’d say does that line really work?’

Rafael frowned because oddly enough it hadn’t been a line. ‘I have no idea. You tell me.’

TWELVE

Apparently it did because a week later Nicky was back at the cortijo with Rafael, and she was loving every minute of it.

And why wouldn’t she be when she was being so well attended to? she thought, feeling a sleepy satisfied smile spread across her face as she yawned and stretched gingerly so as not to wake Rafael, who was still asleep beside her.

Since they’d been back he’d been pretty much the perfect host. Not only had he made sure she was well fed and well rested, but he’d kept her entertained too. He’d taken her to the beach and taught her the basics of kite surfing. He’d driven her up into the coolness of the hills to a fabulous little restaurant overlooking a sparkling lake and fed her lobster. He’d spent an afternoon showing her round the vineyards and explaining how the fino she’d acquired quite a taste for was made. And then yesterday he’d asked her if she’d like to help with the harvest and they’d spent the day cutting away fat heavy bunches of grapes, until she couldn’t bear her aching back any longer and had begged him for a massage.

As for the nights—and the siestas—well, those were something else. Nicky had always thought she’d had an active and relatively adventurous sex life but sleeping with Rafael took it to a whole new level. Over and over again she hit heights she’d never reached before, experiencing pleasure she hadn’t known existed. The lavish attention he paid her body and the wild intensity with which he devoured her blew her mind every time.

She didn’t regret telling him all about her recent history one little bit. Back then, sitting on his bed in Madrid in the wake of that extraordinary afternoon, it had felt like the ideal opportunity to test her emotional strength, and it had been everything she’d hoped for.

Opening up to him had been wonderfully liberating and that feeling of relief and freedom still lingered so she’d had no problem with answering the dozens of other questions he had about what had happened. She’d happily spilled out the details he’d asked for and at some point during the last week she’d felt something shift inside her. Something heavy dissipate. And she rather thought that at last—finally—she seemed to be getting over what had happened to her.

How she’d ever imagined that she and Rafael had nothing in common other than Gaby and a dislike of complicated relationships Nicky would never know. Apart from being astonishingly compatible in bed, they shared a love of the outdoors and travel. Of good food and hard work. Of books and art. Intrigued, she’d interrogated him about his fascination with plants and he’d been equally curious about her unconventional upbringing.

They seemed to be able to talk, laugh and argue about virtually everything under the sun. In fact pretty much the only thing that they hadn’t talked about was his marriage, and it sat between them like the proverbial elephant in the room. Or at least her corner of the room because, while Rafael was no doubt perfectly happy to leave it alone, she was becoming quite obsessed with wanting to know all about it.

As she’d got to know him better, she’d found herself wondering what kind of husband he’d been, what his wife had been like, what kind of marriage they’d had and why it had failed. None of which she needed to know, of course, because she certainly wasn’t interested in him—or anyone else for that matter—in a matrimonial kind of way, but that didn’t stop her whiling away endless hours wondering.

And because she could never ask such intrusive questions her imagination had been working overtime. He’d be protective, she’d decided. Passionate. Loyal. And caring. Oh, he might like to make out that he was only interested in himself but that wasn’t true at all, was it? Over the last few days she’d gathered plenty of evidence that contradicted that claim. She’d seen it in the way he’d provided food and water and shade for the temporary workers who’d been brought in to help with the harvest. In the way he’d frogmarched the housekeeper, Ana, to her room when she’d been stoically trying to carry on her duties through a stre

aming summer cold.

And in the way he’d kept a distant yet watchful eye on her.

Not that he’d needed to keep an eye on her because she was doing fine on her own, but that didn’t stop warmth stealing through her whenever she glanced at him and caught him looking at her with what she thought might be concern and heat and something else that she was struggling to identify.

The warmth would have been worrying if she hadn’t known perfectly well that she and Rafael wouldn’t—couldn’t—last. She hadn’t been lying when she’d told him she wasn’t interested in anything long-term; now she was back to her usual self, she fully intended to resume her old life and globetrot her way across the planet in the way she knew and loved.

Besides, they’d soon be going their separate ways. Once the summer was over Rafael would head back to Madrid and work, and she’d be back in Paris and lining up work of her own. And if that didn’t sound quite as appealing as it should, well, that was just nervousness about having been out of the game for a while, nothing more.

Rafael stirred and Nicky frowned. Hmm. Maybe the fact that this thing between them would inevitably come to an end—and sooner rather than later—was something she ought to keep in the forefront of her mind. She couldn’t stay here for ever, and right now she might be having a great time but it wouldn’t do to get lulled into a false sense of security, which would be all too easy to do seeing as this last week had been so idyllic.

She should probably stop spending quite so much time in his bed, she thought, carefully disentangling herself from the sheet and shifting away from him. In it she tended to lose all sense of perspective and reality and, while it was utterly lovely, getting used to it wouldn’t do her any favours at all. Even if she wanted to, with the way she scooted around the world, living in hotel rooms and out of a suitcase, she simply couldn’t afford to get used to anything.

Barely managing to resist the temptation to flop back and wake Rafael up in the most delicious way she could think of, Nicky was in the process of swinging her legs round when a hand snapped round her wrist and stopped her in her tracks.

‘Where are you off to?’ he said sleepily.

She twisted round and glanced down at him, drinking in the rumpled hair and sexy smile, and for a moment couldn’t remember. ‘I thought I might get up.’

He rubbed his eyes, gave his head a quick shake and shifted up onto his elbow. ‘Why?’

‘Because it’s five in the afternoon.’

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