‘You know I do, Mimi. More than I can say.’ Rafe had spread his hands possessively across her back. ‘I want to see everything. Touch every part of you.’
She’d clung to him as his gentle hands did just that and she’d been blind to anything other than Rafe. When he’d lifted her, she’d reached to guide him inside, sighing with him as he’d lowered her back down.
‘You like what you feel?’ He’d whispered the words, his breath caressing her neck.
‘I love what I feel.’
The heat had started to build. Locked in each other’s gaze, breathing together, hearts beating together more and more urgently. His hands had found her hips, suddenly clamping firm, moving her in the urgent rhythm that her body craved.
‘Rafe...I can’t wait...’
‘Then don’t.’
He’d seemed intent on making her come as fast and as hard as he could, and she’d known that if he kept this up he would get exactly what he wanted.
‘Just let go, honey...’
The fantasy vanished abruptly as Rafe jammed his foot on the brake and the car jolted to a halt. Four other cars were all trying to negotiate the forecourt of the hotel and the man standing outside, trying to direct the traffic, wasn’t helping very much. Rafe wound down the window, exchanging good-natured hand signals, and the car that had shot out in front of them backed up.
She could still almost taste his kisses. The last time they’d been here together, she’d been thinking about them for days, but then she’d been basking in a rosy glow of satisfaction and now the memories just left her hanging.
‘Sorry...’ Rafe was looking at her, and Mimi realised she’d let out a gasp when the car had stopped and she’d been thrown forward against her seat belt.
‘Okay. His fault; he was lucky you managed to miss him.’ She tried to swallow down the languorous warmth that she heard in her voice.
‘Getting a bit crowded around here...’ He waved another car past and pulled on to the main driveway, which led back on to the road.
‘Yeah.’ Too many memories. Mimi wondered if Rafe could feel them, hovering in the air. It was impossible to tell; his face was impassive, his gaze trained on the route ahead.
He had been a wonderful lover. Tender, thoughtful, with enough raw passion that they’d lost themselves in each other. But now they’d both found their way again. It was just a pity they’d only been able to do that when they were apart.
The car turned back on to the main road, clear of the water that had blocked their path. ‘What’s the next call again?’ It was better to keep her mind on the job. Better to stop re-examining old wounds and concentrate on moving forward.
‘It’s a Mrs Potter. The controllers couldn’t get much sense out of her; all she would say was that her son might be unwell.’
‘Might be?’
‘We’ll see.’
It turned out that Mrs Potter was panicking because she couldn’t get in touch with her son on the phone. Rafe had swallowed the frustration that Mimi knew he must feel and spent a few minutes checking the number that she was calling. The addition of a zero at the beginning worked wonders and her son answered immediately, clearly in the best of health. They left her in the sitting room, talking animatedly on the phone, and let themselves out.
CHAPTER EIGHT
THREE MORE CALLS and Rafe had successfully managed to scrub the Manor Hotel from his mind. He was about to congratulate himself on that, and then realised that remembering to congratulate yourself on forgetting something was a contradiction in terms.
He could do with stretching his legs, and there were no more calls for them to respond to. ‘Time to take a break?’
Mimi nodded. ‘The park’s only five minutes away.’
That was exactly what he had in mind. The nature park’s picnic area was likely to be deserted and the trestle tables would be too wet to use, but there was a nice view. Maybe Mimi needed to stretch her legs too.
‘Stop!’
Rafe heard Mimi rap out the word at the same time as he saw two small creatures ahead of them, standing in the middle of the road, and braked sharply. As he skidded to a halt, the pair didn’t move.
‘What the blazes...?’ The tiny animals clearly weren’t wild or they’d be long gone by now instead of regarding them solemnly. Wet and bedraggled, they seemed to be all eyes and shivering limbs and very little else.
‘It’s Tommy and Tallulah.’