In her head she could hear his voice—so low, so seductive, so tempting...
Come to New York with me...
In her body, deep in the core of her, she could feel the hectic pulse ebbing slowly, leaving only the incandescent afterglow of passion. She felt her breathing ease, her heated skin start to cool. But in her heart there was a tightening.
There was one thing she must say to him—only one thing. The sensible thing.
He was nuzzling at her ear, his breath warm, his touch sweet.
‘Come to New York,’ he murmured, coaxing and caressing. His mouth moved from the delicate lobe of her ear, grazing along the line of her jaw. ‘Come to New York,’ he said again.
She could feel his mouth break into a smile suddenly, and his arms tightened around her.
‘Come to New York,’ he said, and she could hear the laugh in his voice. ‘Because I’ll go on asking you until you give in and say yes.’
He was kissing her eyelids now.
‘Give in and say yes... Give in and say yes. You know you want to.’
He was laughing, and so was she, and suddenly, out of nowhere, she couldn’t fight it any longer.
‘Yes! OK—I give in! I’ll come to New York with you!’ Her capitulation was complete.
He gave a low, triumphant rumble and she was grinning, too, half shaking her head and then kissing him. Oh, what the hell? She hadn’t been sensible at all. But she didn’t care—couldn’t care—not now...
Wrapping his warm, strong body against her, she wound herself tighter into his embrace. She felt a singing inside her. She was going to New York with Nikos—their holiday would be longer, their time together would be longer, there were still more glorious days to come.
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘IS THAT YOU guzzling rum cake again?’ Mel’s voice was humorously indignant.
‘Just testing it for quality,’ Nikos assured her, licking his fingers after eating a slice of the cake that was the speciality of the island.
‘Yes, well, if you test much more of it there’ll be none left,’ she riposted, removing the cake tin from him and placing the lid firmly back on top. ‘I’ll keep this in my room, I think.’
Nikos laughed. ‘We can always go to Nelson’s Harbour and restock.’
‘We’ll need to if you keep eating it like that.’
She dropped a kiss on his head before stepping over the dividing wall between their patios and heading indoors. Emerging again, she saw Nikos was pulling on his shirt. Despite the rum cake, his pecs and abs were still spectacularly honed.
Mel felt a ripple of desire go through her. But this wasn’t the time to indulge in a siesta—not least because it was only just after breakfast and they were about to head to the beach.
As they stretched themselves out on their beach loungers, just above the tide line so that the spray from the waves breaking exuberantly into airy foam on the soft pale gold sand could cool their sun-heated bodies, lying on the beach seemed especially blissful.
But that, she knew with a squeezing of her heart, was because their days here were finally running out...
Then they’d be off to New York—for their last, final few days together.
And then goodbye...
Finally, goodbye.
Despite the heat of the beach a sudden draught of cold air seemed to be playing around her body. She fought it back.
But it’s not the end of the holiday yet! I’ve still got time with Nikos.
And yet it was precisely the fact that she’d felt that cold draught that caused her concern.
I shouldn’t be so eager to stay with him—I shouldn’t be clinging to our time together like this. It isn’t what I intended at all. I should be excited at the prospect of going on to see the rest of America—exploring all the places I’ve only ever read about or seen on films or TV. I shouldn’t be wanting to go on being with Nikos all the time—I shouldn’t...
But the problem was she did just want to go on being with Nikos. Here on Bermuda. In New York. And beyond...
For a moment she tried to force herself to imagine exploring the USA on her own—but her mind had gone blank. Beyond New York there seemed to be nothing at all...
Dismay filled her. This was not good—not good at all. For so long she’d thought and dreamt of nothing but being footloose and fancy-free, going where she wanted, when she wanted, making her own way across the world, free as a bird... Yet now there seemed to be only a blank ahead of her.
The time would soon come when they would go their separate ways—she to see the rest of America, he to head back to Athens, to his life. Their holiday together over.