In the Heat of the Spotlight

His response made her own need flare deeper, and she kissed his mouth again, deeply, rolling on top of him. Luke placed his hands on her hips to steady her and as Aurelie pressed against him she felt that need flare again, white-hot, burning so brightly she couldn’t think for a moment.

‘Touch me,’ she whispered. ‘Touch me back.’

‘Where?’ Luke whispered, and she felt another thrill of pleasure just at the question.

She took his hand and slid it up along her side, placed it on her breast and closed her eyes. ‘There.’ And when Luke took that touch and made it his own, his fingers stroking her softness, she let out a shudder. ‘And here.’ She took his other hand and placed it on her tummy, dared to slide it lower, and another shudder ripped through her as his hands slid under her dress, edged her underwear aside. ‘Yes...’ She pressed against him as his fingers moved deeper, pleasure shooting like sparks through her whole body. There was a freedom in this, and a wonder. She felt a kind of amazed joy, that she could feel so good, that a man could make her feel so good. That Luke could.

‘I want to take off my clothes,’ she managed.

‘With or without my help?’

She heard a smile in Luke’s voice and smiled back. ‘With.’

He tugged the zip down her back and she shrugged her shoulders so the dress slid off her. Luke managed the rest, and her bra and panties too. She was naked, and with one swift tug of his boxers he was naked too.

‘There.’ She spoke on a sigh of satisfaction and Luke smiled as he stretched out next to her.

‘Now what would you like?’

She laughed, because it felt so amazing to be asked. ‘Hmm...let me think.’ She touched his cheek, his jaw, the smooth hardness of his chest. Slid her hand lower to the dip of his waist, and then slowly, wonderingly, wrapped her fingers around the length of his erection. ‘More of the same, really,’ she whispered, and on a groan Luke kissed her.

They didn’t say much of anything any more; she didn’t need to give instructions and he didn’t need to ask permission. This was what sex was supposed to be, she thought hazily. Making love. Moving in silent and loving synchronicity, hands and mouths and bodies, all of it as one together.

And when he finally slid inside her, filling her right up, she felt a sense of completion and wholeness she’d never felt before. Never even known you could have.

Gently, still moving inside her, he wiped the tears that had sprung unbidden to her eyes, kissed her damp eyelids. Aurelie let out a wobbly laugh.

‘I’m just so happy,’ she choked, and Luke kissed her mouth.

‘I know,’ he said. ‘I am too.’

* * *

Sunlight streamed through the bedroom windows, touched Aurelie’s sleeping form with gold. Smiling, Luke rolled over on his side, smoothed her skin from her shoulder to hip with his hand. He loved the feel of her. Loved the taste of her too, the look of her, and most definitely the sound of her. He loved her, full stop.

It didn’t scare him, now that he knew who she was. And who she wasn’t. No, it thrilled him and made him incredibly thankful at the same time, because he was pretty sure she loved him too. He’d earned her trust. He’d won her love. He felt a sense of completion and wholeness that came not just from last night, but from finally, wondrously coming full circle after a lifetime of feeling only failure and regret. He’d made this right. He’d made them right.

Aurelie’s eyes fluttered open and, still hazy with sleep, she smiled. Reached for him with such simple ease that Luke’s heart sang. Who would ever have thought that it could be so easy between them? That it would be so wonderful?

‘Good morning,’ he murmured, and kissed her. She kissed him back.

A little—or perhaps a long—while later, they showered and dressed and ate breakfast out on the terrace overlooking Victoria Harbour.

‘Look at this.’ He’d been scanning the headlines on his tablet computer and now he handed it to Aurelie. She glanced at the article, her eyebrows rising at the headline: Aurelie Returns, Better than Ever.

‘That was quick.’

He smiled. ‘I knew they’d like the song.’