Page 36

‘Forget about the movie.’

She swallowed and looked over at him. That blaze was back in his eyes, the electricity back on…and it was like that, because it all just whirred back to life.

‘Of course I want you,’ he said, ‘but Stella, you have to be sure, because after today…’

‘I get it.’

And despite her inner revelation—that it was more than sex she wanted, that it would kill her to never see him again—it would kill her more not to sleep with him.

And this day was surely enough, and she stumbled to him, hot and breathless even before she drank his kiss, and just so relieved not to go, and that she would know this new bliss with him.

‘Here…’ He pulled away, made an attempt with her awful dress, but she pushed his hands away, impatient just to strip off and have him deal with his own attire.

She shed her dress, and he was turned on with this unexpected side to her, the confidence in her body he might never have known, then she paused, her hands behind her back to unclip her bra.

* * *

Not for the first time, she saw his body.

Olive-skinned, toned from running, but then he slipped off his boxers and she saw what she’d only felt pressed against her.

He really was stunning.

Stopping her mid-taking-off-her-bra stunning, and there was a tickle of nervousness low in her stomach as she unhooked her bra and felt his eyes upon her. Watching her as she slid her knickers down, and then his eyes were back on hers.

‘Stay there,’ he told her, and she watched as he turned around and took the natural steps into the water. His back she had already seen and even if it deserved more viewing, her eyes went down to his bottom and she felt sick with want.

He went into the water, and she waited for him to wince at the cold but he didn’t, and then her eyes felt as if they might be playing tricks as she saw a slight mist above the water. Her neck arched back and she looked up at the waterfall and then down to where it fell, and it must be the splash…

‘Are you coming in?’

‘Yes.’

He watched her walk towards him, admiring her soft body, impatient for her skin on his, but he slowed her down.

‘Careful,’ he warned, ‘the steps are slippery.’ He held out his hand, enjoying the gorgeous sight of her full breasts and curvy hips and his hand closed around her wrist to guide her.

As she stepped in, Stella waited for the shiver, the shock of cold water…

It never came.

‘Oh, my.’

It was like slipping into a tepid bath, a little warmer perhaps, but there was no shock to the system, and she looked up at the cascading water.

‘It’s warm…no, not warm.’ It was body temperature—the Rinaldis’ had their own, secret, thermal springs. ‘What’s it like to come here in winter?’

‘I never have.’

‘How can you…’ She stopped herself from asking how he could bear to leave, when she knew there was so much pain here. She wasn’t here to put his world to rights, nor was he here to do the same for her.

They were here for this day only.

She lay on her back and just floated in the clear water, and he loved how her breasts flattened and the dark of her bush. How she rose up when he pulled her arm and, both wet, they faced each other.

His eyelashes were all spiky, his thick hair dripping, and to be naked, standing and held by him in waist-height water was perfection.

They kissed and it was sublime, a kiss that should lead to more, but for now they kissed, slowly, gently, as if they were kissing simply because…