Page 114 of One for the Road
He wore his sunglasses again. The round frames were almost identical to his regular glasses. It was so like Alistair to pick a style and rigidly stick to it. The intimate knowledge made me smile as I said, “Thank you.”
“For not dumping you in the water? Honestly, I was a little tempted for a second there.”
My knees brushed his bare inner thighs. “For being patient. Persuading me to come out here.”
He seemed unconvinced. “I thought you were terrified.”
“I am,” I admitted. Or maybe it was him I was afraid of. Being all the way out here without Teddy as a buffer. “But I’m starting to think it’s good to be a little scared sometimes. If I’d been with Cameron, he’d have been annoyed the second I said no, told me I’d ruined the entire day—”
“Please . . .don’t.” His shoulders tightened. “Don’t compare the two of us.”
“I’m sorry.” I winced, because that’s exactly what I was doing. “All I meant was . . . you’re a good friend, Alistair. A thousand times the man that he is—”
Paddle forgotten, his hands landed on the sides of the kayak, right beside mine. “I’m no better than him, and we both know it.” He laughed bitterly. “If anything, I might be worse for you.”
“No,” I said vehemently.
How could he not see how good he was?
When he replied it was like he hadn’t heard me at all. “There’s this voice in my head that’s telling me to do the right thing,” he said. “To make it through the Cairn & Crust next week, then leave you and Teddy the hell alone because it’s only a matter of time before I fuck up and hurt you.” His cheeks were red. Mouth an angry slash on his severe face. “But I keep coming back to two truths, over and over, that I can’t let go of, and it’s driving me insane.”
“What – what truths?” My mouth was bone dry.
“That I’m fucking selfish.” His nostrils flared. “And I want you more than I’ve wanted anything. Ever.”
The words echoed as we studied each other in the tiny scrap of space. There was a request bubbling deep in my belly. One he answered when he dragged me closer, kissing me as intensely as two people trapped on a floating vessel physically could.
I barely got to return the fervour before I felt the world give way. Heard him grunt right as freezing water sloshed over my head.
I gasped beneath the water, my hands scrambling. Our legs tangled, and he was right there with me as our life jackets dragged us back to the surface.
“Fuck, I’m sorry,” he panted, water dripping down his face as he tugged me into him. “I got you.”
I knew he did.
Not caring about the chill seeping into my bones, my lips sought his again. Too quickly. The pressure too hard andunpractised as our teeth clacked. It was almost as bad as our only other kiss, the fumbled mess in Brown’s.
Alistair didn’t seem to care. Tugging my thighs around his hips, he turned us until my back hit the overturned kayak. “You want this, Isla?”
“Yes.” I nodded recklessly.
“Thank god.” He was like a bear unleashed from a trap. Diving for my lips, then grunting at the first touch. His lips split at the perfect time to envelop mine, his hands balling so tightly into my hair, I let out a surprised exhale . . . This was not a hello kiss. Not the awkward kiss of two neighbours who’d made a temporary arrangement that had somehow got very muddied in the middle. It felt like a continuation. Picking up halfway through a conversation and battling for who got to talk first.
I wish we’d taken our life jackets off for this. The bulky material pressed between us, keeping his hands from touching me everywhere I wanted.
Mindless, I fumbled for the clasp.
He pulled back, eyes widening as he caught the action, impatient as I tore the thing from my body.
I could drown for all I cared, because the way he palmed my breast was way too good to consider ending this. The contradiction of his short nails dragging across my chilled flesh while his tongue danced over my lower lip. God –oh god!This was perfect.
Not enough.
“Alistair . . .” His name was the start of a sentence with no ending, as his thigh wedged between my legs, getting me off or keeping me afloat . . . it didn’t matter. I moaned all the same.
He nodded shakily, pulling back just far enough to pant, “I need to get you home. In a bed.”
Home.
