ave to pick Charlie up,’ she murmured, her voice half-muffled by his chest. ‘I’m hoping she’s feeling as tired as I am, I’m going to need an early night.’
She felt his laugh, as his chest rose and fell against her. ‘So I did wear you out.’
‘We wore each other out. You don’t seem full of beans either, my friend.’
‘Yeah, well sex every other hour will do that to you. And maybe you’re right, I must be getting old.’
‘You’ll never be old.’
‘Tell that to my muscles. Right now they’re saying I’m beat, and that even if I wanted more sex – which I do, by the way – they’re not going to play ball.’
Her smile deepened. ‘I like playing with balls.’ When she looked up he was grinning at her. He was devastatingly attractive. Her golden man with the sexy smile.
‘I know you do, London.’
Funny how she’d bristled at that nickname when he’d first used it. Now she loved it. It was like a little secret only the two of them knew. She wanted to cover it in bubble wrap and keep it safe, protect it from the harsh winds of the outside world. Because right then everything felt fragile. Like a wisp of smoke blowing on the wind.
‘What are you going to tell Charlie if he asks what you’ve been doing?’
‘Ah, I’ll probably say something like “sailing, eating … spending some time in London”.’
She sat up on his lap, slapping him on the arm. ‘Stop it!’
He shrugged. ‘Charlie’s not going to care what I’ve been doing. He’ll be too full of his sleepover and the movie to ask me how I’ve been. And that’s how it should be, he’s a kid. He doesn’t need to worry about his old man.’
He was staring at her, making her body react in that old, familiar way. Her chest tightened, her thigh muscles ached. She couldn’t get enough of him. ‘Poppy will definitely want to know. That girl can smell a lie from a mile away.’
Ryan brushed her hair from her face, his hands gentle as he trailed them against her cheeks. ‘So what are you going to tell her?’
‘Well, nothing about this, of course.’ Her eyes widened at the thought. ‘I guess I’ll tell her about clearing the shop out, and making plans for the holiday displays, hopefully that will get her excited enough to stop her asking any more.’
‘What if Charlie tells her we went sailing? He was in the car when I asked you, remember? I told him we were going out on the boat.’
‘You did? Damn.’ She pulled her lip between her teeth, biting hard enough for it to hurt. ‘Ugh, I’m such a terrible liar. She can read me like a book.’
He was laughing again, pulling her into him, wrapping the blanket around them snugly. ‘Hey, calm down, it’s not that bad. And so what if Poppy finds out? Is that the end of the world?’
She stiffened in his arms. ‘Only if she tells Thomas … ’ She trailed off, not even wanting to think about it.
He tightened his hold on her. ‘Poppy won’t think to tell him, and neither will we. So we’ll be fine.’ His voice was reassuring.
She looked up at him, blinking rapidly, his face obscured by her lashes. ‘We will?’ She wanted to ask him what he meant by ‘we’, but the question died on her tongue. She wasn’t supposed to be thinking about the future.
‘Sure. Look, it’s not long until Christmas, the kids will be going crazy for the holidays, the school’s going to send them crazier still. And it’s not as if I’m going to be marching into your kitchen at tea time while the two of you are eating and kiss the hell out of you against the stove, is it?’
Her breath caught at the image. Why did that turn her on so much? ‘Um, no?’
‘Well, at least not when the kids are around. But if I catch you on your own, or bending down planting some flowers on a day Poppy’s not here, then I can’t be held responsible for my actions, okay?’ He grabbed her hair, pulling it into a thick ponytail in his palm, then slowly tugged, until her face was inclined to his. ‘Because if I catch you alone, London, I’m going to have to kiss you.’ His mouth brushed against hers. ‘And if I kiss you, I’m going to have to take your clothes off,’ he whispered into her lips. ‘And if I take your clothes off, I’m going to have to have sex with you.’
‘I don’t know if that’s a threat or a promise,’ she replied, her words mumbled against his mouth.
‘It’s both, beautiful. It’s both.’
18
Sin from thy lips? O trespass sweetly urged!
Give me my sin again