Coming back from that explosion of sensation wasn’t easy, not even when Kong scratched at the door and barked urgently.
Ruby gave a half-moan, half-laugh. ‘That’s Kong.’
‘No, it’s the neighbour’s dog,’ Sam said, enjoying the sensation of having her beneath him, wrung out from the pleasure he’d just given her.
‘In the bedroom?’ She laughed, wriggling out from under him. ‘I hope not. Sam—let me up—he must need to go out.’
Sam groaned and rolled onto his back. ‘That dog has the worst timing in the world.’
‘You’re hungry, anyway,’ she reminded him, scooting out of bed and grabbing his T-shirt off the floor.
He let his eyes travel over the long length of her before his T-shirt swallowed up the view. ‘I know.’
‘For food.’ She gave him a stern look and reached for the door. ‘Ah, I take back what I said.’ She glanced at him over one shoulder. ‘Kong doesn’t need to go out. He’s already left you a surprise.’ Laughter lit her voice. ‘Lucky for you, Miller and Valentino have floorboards.’
‘Yeah, lucky for me,’ Sam grumbled, not that he was truly upset. How could a man be upset on such a great day?
* * *
Somehow Sunday morning turned into Sunday evening, then Monday morning and now Monday afternoon. Neither she nor Sam had mentioned hiring a boat to return to Sydney, and when she’d called to ask after Miller’s mother, she had blithely said that she and Sam had decided to stay at the beach house to discuss the big case they were working on.
She doubted Miller believed her, but she didn’t push it. Maybe she could sense Ruby’s emotional fragility down the end of the phone. Which, if she was honest, came and went depending on what they were doing.
If they were in bed together it was somehow nonexistent. Her mind, body and very essence were wholly taken up with Sam and everything they did to each other. There was no room for doubts when he laid his masterful hands on her body, expanding her sexual repertoire in ways that were utterly exhilarating.
If they were doing something casual like cooking together, or out walking Kong, taking in the bush setting and listening to the kookaburras herald that night was fast coming, then she felt a little more out of her depth.
Coming across the grand old beach house near Miller and Tino’s, as they had done earlier that morning, had completely thrown her for a loop.
Having remembered Miller’s comment that it was for sale, Sam had immediately wanted to investigate.
‘I don’t think we should,’ she’d told him, trailing after him. ‘It’s private property.’
Sam had looked at her like a kid spying a Christmas tree. ‘Where’s your sense of adventure, Clarkson?’
‘I lost it at law school,’ she deadpanned, making him laugh.
‘So what do you think?’ he asked after peering into the downstairs windows.
‘I love it.’ She glanced at the peeling paint, and the overgrown vines spiralling out of control around the veranda posts. ‘It’s got so much character.’
‘Want to buy it?’
‘Me?’ She laughed lightly, a sudden vision of her and Sam poring over paint samples and soft furnishings filling her head. ‘Miller suggested you buy it so your future kids could all grow up together. I wasn’t a part of that deal.’
She’d wandered away from him then, a bittersweet ache welling up in her chest. ‘It looks like hard work,’ she’d added, refusing to get caught up in the romance of the images that had taken hold and wouldn’t let go. ‘To make it beautiful again, I mean.’
Sam had come up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist. ‘You should know by now that I don’t mind hard work. Especially when it comes to beautiful things.’
Ruby had a strange feeling that he’d been talking about her and she’d blindly reached up to kiss him, replacing her intense emotional reaction with heat and need. He’d swiftly taken over the kiss and they’d barely made it back to Miller and Tino’s house before he’d ravished her again.
Now, as they lay together under an ancient gum tree, the mid-afternoon sun dappling the lawn with interesting shapes while a few brave insects buzzed lazily in the heat, Ruby was trying not to go into full-on panic mode. Kong lay beside them, his fur slightly damp from where Sam had playfully hosed him down to help him cool off. They’d gone for a short run together along the beach, and the pup was exhausted from the effort.