‘I love you,’ he said quietly, looking deep into her eyes.
‘I love you too.’
And then his grip on her tightened and he was moving harder and faster and she was grinding down onto him and then with one last powerful thrust he buried himself deep inside her. She felt him pulsate and throb, and the vibrations and the words he groaned into her ear tipped her over the edge, her body erupting in ecstasy.
*
Lying on the sun lounger and gazing up at the canopy of stars with Lily snuggled between his legs, her head resting on his shoulder, both of them wrapped in his sheets, Kit thought it was kind of hard to believe that only a couple of hours ago he’d been considering jacking it all in with her.
At one point he’d been about as low as he could be but now, after the craziest, best afternoon he’d had in years, there were possibilities. Infinite possibilities.
Just as the storm had cleared the heavy tropical air of dust and heat, leaving everything clean and fresh, they’d cleared the air of the doubt and frustration that had lain between them.
Now he and Lily had the chance to make a new start, and he intended to take full advantage of the fact that those doors were no longer merely ajar but wide open.
‘Have you really been thinking about this for the last four days?’ Lily murmured, cutting into his thoughts as she gently ran her fingers along his forearm, which lay across her beneath her breasts.
‘Pretty much every second.’
‘I never guessed.’
‘Nor I about you.’
‘What a lot of time we’ve wasted.’
Her words held a note of regret and he smiled faintly. ‘I don’t think so.’
She tilted her head back and round to glance up at him. ‘No?’
‘Well, put it this way, if we’d done this days ago we’d never have seen or done half the things we have. In all likelihood we wouldn’t have left the villa.’
‘That’s true.’
‘I’d never have learnt how good you are at fishing.’
‘That was just beginner’s luck.’
‘We wouldn’t have seen the Madagascar anemonefish.’
‘We wouldn’t. And it was incredible. Still, I’m pretty sure I’d rather have been doing this.’
She had a point. ‘Good to see our ability to communicate is as strong as ever,’ he said.
‘Yeah.’
‘When did we get so bad at reading each other?’ he murmured, idly stroking his fingers through her hair and feeling her shiver.
‘You have to ask?’
He grimaced in the dark. ‘Not really.’
More of a gradual descent than a sudden drop, it had started at around the time of the third failed cycle of IVF, he knew. They’d had such hopes. Dashed once again. Unable to deal with the devastating disappointment, Lily had withdrawn into herself, slowly turning into someone he didn’t recognise, and as he hadn’t had a clue how to help her he’d spent more and more time at work, telling himself he needed to do it in order to move on and up, but, more likely, subconsciously wanting to avoid her, the situation and the disintegration of their relationship.
‘Anyway,’ she said, pulling him back, ‘I think the last couple of hours proved that we’ve rediscovered the art.’
They had indeed. Their bodies instinctively recognised each other. Moved together as if they’d never been apart. He remembered what she liked with barely any effort of thought and she remembered what drove him wild.
A gentle gust of wind ruffled her hair and he felt it slide against his fingers like silk. ‘I like this,’ he said.