Page 83 of Riding the Waves

“It probably would if we were together.”

She looked at him sternly. “You know that everything you say just sounds as though you don’t want to be with me.”

“I do want to be with you,” he said. “I’m just scared of messing things up. I don’t want to hurt you, and I don’t want things to be any more confusing for the boys than they already are.”

“The boys wouldn’t need to know anything for now. We can take things slowly and see how it goes.”

His chest fluttered with hope, but he dropped his chin to his chest, wondering if things really could work out.

“I love you,” Amy said, squeezing his hand. “And I want to be with you. I don’t know exactly how that will look, but I want us to try. If you want to.”

His eyes met hers and he nodded. “We could start with me visiting you in Oxford sometimes. Maybe in the winter, when things are quiet for me here, I could come and spend more time with you.”

She shifted to sit on his lap and ran her hand through his hair. “I think that would be a nice start.”

His entire body fizzed with desire when her lips brushed against his.

“Where are the boys?” she asked, barely taking her lips from his.

“With Scarlett.”

“How long for?”

“I don’t know, but she’s charging me by the minute.”

Her hands trailed down his neck and over his shoulders while she eyed him seductively. “We should probably make the most of every minute then.”

* * *

Amy’s final few days in Hope Cove went at lightning speed. When she wasn’t with Lizzie, Emily and Scarlett, making plans for her new role in the business, she was snatching every spare minute she could with Damian and the boys. There were surfing sessions and beach time, and a lot of time spent hanging out at Damian’s house. That was probably what Amy enjoyed the most – the relaxed moments of just being in each other’s company and feeling completely at home.

The only frustrating thing was keeping their relationship from Marty and Billy. It put a limit on Amy and Damian’s physical affection, which felt like a slow building torture for Amy. By the time the boys were in bed in the evenings, she practically pounced on Damian.

“Maybe we should just tell the boys,” she said, on their final evening in Hope Cove. At just after midnight Damian was untangling his naked body from hers to go and sleep on the couch. Being left to sleep alone in his bed was something she’d endured the previous four evenings too.

“I thought we decided it was best to wait,” he said, sitting on the edge of the bed and reaching for his boxer shorts.

“We did, but I didn’t realise that would involve you sleeping on the couch.”

“I don’t want them to find us in bed together and be confused.”

“I know,” she said, unable to hide the disappointment in her voice. “I’d just really like to sleep beside you. After all those years of missing you it seems like such a waste.”

“We’ll tell them soon,” Damian said, lifting the duvet and snuggling back down beside her. “Once we’ve figured everything out for ourselves. If we tell them now they’ll have loads of questions that we won’t be able to answer.”

He made a good point. She couldn’t deny that. Maybe it was unfair to tell the boys now when they didn’t know how exactly they were going to manage their relationship. Essentially it would be a long-distance relationship, and it was hard to imagine how that would look in the long run. Even the thought of it made her weary.

“I don’t want to leave tomorrow,” she whispered into his shoulder. “The summer has gone way too fast.”

“Tell me about it,” he replied, holding her tighter. “I’ll see you soon though.”

“The next three weeks will go too slowly.”

That’s when Damian planned to come and visit. His work would slow down then, and he also had people lined up to stay in his house for a few weeks, so it seemed like the perfect time. Amy would have worked her notice and the kids would be settled back into their school routine.

“You’ll be too busy for it to go slowly.” Gently, Damian stroked her hair, which made her immediately sleepy. “On top of finishing one job and starting another, you’ll also be house-hunting.”

She groaned quietly. “I forgot about that.”

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