Summer's Lease (The Shakespeare Sisters 1)

‘It scares me, too.’ It was all she could do to whisper.

Sam leaned closer. She could feel the warmth of his exhalations. ‘I can’t go back and make up for what I did, but I can fight for you. I’ll do whatever it takes, Cesca, to show you how much I care for you. I nearly ruined everything once, because I was scared of being real with you. I won’t ruin it again. Please say you’ll forgive me?’

The vehemence of his words took her breath away.

‘I forgive you,’ she whispered. ‘How could I not? Your words are so beautiful.’

‘They’re true. The only thing I want in life is standing right in front of me.’

‘But your work is in LA, and I’m thousands of miles away.’

This time he smiled. ‘We have the best jobs for being flexible on location. I’m an actor, you’re a writer, we can be wherever the hell we want to be. When we’re working, of course we’ll need to be on set, or in the theatre or wherever. But when we’re on a break – and I intend for us to take lots of those – we can be wherever we want to. And I don’t care where that is as long as we’re together.’

‘I don’t care, either. You can even bring your friends if you like,’ she said, pointing to the ever-growing crowd.

‘He really should kiss her now,’ the teenage girl next to her whispered. ‘Otherwise this is going to get pretty boring.’

They both laughed, the girl’s words somehow managing to cut through the tension. ‘The director has spoken,’ Sam whispered.

Was she ready for her close-up? Cesca had no idea, but she was pretty sure it was going to happen whether she was ready or not. And when Sam took her in his arms, pulling her body tightly against his, she was overwhelmed by the sensations pulsing their way through her body. There was lust there, of course – how could she feel anything else when he was pressing his sinfully gorgeous hips into hers? But there was something else there, too, something deeper and more cerebral. It heated her from the inside out, as the man she’d fallen for pressed his lips against hers. And when she closed her eyes, the camera flashes around them reminded her of the fireworks exploding that last night on Lake Como.

In the screenplay of her life, it felt as though every scene had been working up to this. The rejection, the fall, the long, hard climb back up again. And now she was almost at the summit, only to find the man who had broken her standing up there already, reaching out a hand to help her up the final few feet.

Sam’s tongue slid against hers as he pushed his hands into her hair, angling her head to give him better access. She looped her arms around his neck

, fingers brushing against his neck, as their bodies pressed closer still.

‘We’d better get out of here,’ Sam whispered in her ear, as they caught their breath, ‘before this becomes something that’s definitely not a spectator sport.’

Cesca laughed, then buried her head in his shoulder, wondering what on earth she was doing in front of quite so many people. ‘I should ask my boss . . . ’

‘Yeah, no need.’ Simon was only a few feet away from them. ‘I think you’ve probably given us enough publicity for one night.’

‘She might need a few days off,’ Sam told him, while Cesca pressed her lips against his neck. ‘Maybe even a week.’

‘No problem at all,’ Simon said. ‘Take as much time as you need.’ When Cesca finally looked up she could see a big smile on his face. He was probably already counting the customers that this free publicity would bring in. ‘Let me know when you’re coming back, OK?’

She nodded, though deep inside she suspected she might never be back. Sam tugged on her hand, pulling her outside into the pouring rain, and across the road to a waiting taxi. In their haste to leave, she’d forgotten her coat, and her blouse and skirt were soaked by the time they climbed inside. The fabric clung to her body, and the cold air inside the cab made her shiver.

Noticing her discomfort, Sam pulled her close, then leaned forward and tapped on the glass between the back seats and the driver. ‘Could you turn the heating up, please?’

‘Sure.’ The driver turned the dial on the dashboard.

They were alone at last – well almost – and it gave Cesca a chance to really look at Sam. Of course, he was beautiful. All the world knew that. But it was what lay underneath the skin she cared about the most. The man, the one who had left behind the boy she once knew, the one who made her feel as if she was the most treasured prize.

‘You look tired.’ She traced the dark shadows beneath his eyes. His skin was soft to the touch.

‘I’ve got jetlag on top of my jetlag,’ he admitted. ‘But it’s not just that. I haven’t been able to sleep much since I last saw you.’

‘I haven’t either,’ she said. ‘I haven’t stopped thinking about you.’

An expression of relief crossed his face. ‘I wasn’t sure if you were. I wondered if you left that night because you were done with me.’

‘I’ll never be done with you.’ It was almost a relief to say it. Sitting there, in the black cab idling at the side of a busy London street, Cesca could feel the emotions inside of her starting to explode.

‘I wouldn’t let you be.’

‘We should probably get out of here,’ the driver said through the intercom, as more flashes went off, and the crowd started to surround the cab. ‘Where to, guvnor?’