Page 28 of All Yours

Willow murmured again. ‘Saved by the bell,’ Robyn said quietly.

‘Yep,’ he managed, trying to save face. ‘We need to keep things professional. Everything else is in the past, after all.’

She turned to him and for a moment he couldn’t read her face. The baby squalled again.

‘You’re right. Probably best to leave it there.’ Robyn grabbed her hoodie from the floor and pulled it over her head.

‘Robyn,’ he said. Thinking it better to use her real name. ‘Are we okay?’

She straightened and blinked slowly.

‘Of course. Better not to complicate things. Easier if it’s all separate.’

‘See you tomorrow then. At Tutto Mio? You said you were going.’

She nodded.

‘Sure. See you there.’

She padded through to the back bedroom and he stood for a full twenty seconds, staring at the door she’d closed behind her, before letting himself out. It took him about thirty minutes and a cold shower before he could say that it was probably for the best.

Chapter Thirteen

Robyn

Robyn heard the rasp of her own breath as she woke. Her sheets were twisted around her legs, her body shining under a light sheen of sweat, and she felt the hot warmth of desire between her legs. God, she was turned on. The image of Fox’s face was fading along with her dream, but her body still tingled where she imagined his fingers had touched her, her skin flushed where she’d dreamed of his stubble lightly scratching her. Her whole body felt alive. Every cell screamed out for more. She threw herself onto her back and let her own hand cup her breasts, circling the nipple, feeling it stiffen under her fingers, and then travel slowly down, under the elastic of her pyjama bottoms, down towards her core. She arched upwards on the bed, closing her eyes, seeing Fox’s face as if he hovered above her. She strained towards him. Just as her fingers found the centre of her need, Willow woke next door, cooing and burbling to herself.

Robyn’s eyes blinked open and she sighed heavily. Thanks for that, Willow.

But God, that almost-kiss. She let out a long, slow exhale. It had probably been for the good that Willow did disturb them or she would have stripped him naked on a bean bag in front of a video game like a horny teenager. She hadn’t thought about sex for so long.

Now it felt like her body had woken up. Ever since she’d seen Fox’s face again, in fact, she had felt more present, more womanly, more sexual than she had for a long, long time.

When Robyn was travelling, she’d taken her sexuality for what it was. She was confident in her body and free with her enjoyment of it – looking for nothing serious, with no consequences, only pleasure and fun. But pregnancy and Willow’s arrival had changed nearly everything.

When she took this job, she’d actually thought it would be easy to remain professional because her sex drive had been low for the last few months and the memory of him in bed just visited her occasionally in a dream. She hadn’t counted on the fact of Fox just being so gorgeous and manly around her all the time.

The scent of his aftershave in the mornings when she could see his hair was still damp from the shower. His strong, tanned wrists under the folded-up sleeves of his checked shirts as he reached to take toast from the rack, and the way his jeans defined his thighs when he sat at the table. Even the slightly tousled hair and stubble at the end of the day when he emerged from his office. Everything about him screamed ‘sex’. His silver hair just added to the whole sexy dad look. Altogether gorgeous – and very dangerous.

Robyn had endured it for two weeks, that feeling in the pit of her stomach when he entered the room, and last night she’d nearly let it take over. She wanted his mouth on hers, his voice against her lips, his hand in her hair.

Willow was quiet again and Robyn hoped she might have a few more minutes before the baby woke fully. She rolled over to her bedside table and reached inside the drawer for her bullet vibrator, as she had at some point every day since arriving in the pool house. Tiny enough to conceal easily in a rucksack, she was never without it. Something about the fact that he was lying in his bed in the house next door increased her need. She pulled a strand of her own hair across her face. Was that the scent of his skin she could still smell?

Robyn pressed the button and the vibrator buzzed gently into life. She closed her eyes and let it follow the same trail that her hands just had, the path of his hands in her dream. The vibrator sent shockwaves to her nipples as she passed her breasts, but she hardly paused. She touched the tip to her navel, holding it against her stomach and feeling the pulse begin between her legs. The anticipation. Her breath hitched and she bit her lip hard, turning her head on the pillow as she finally moved the wand to her clitoris.

The vibrator stuttered, started again and then stopped.

She glanced down at it, quickly turning it off and on again so as not to lose momentum. Nothing. She shook it and tried again. Still nothing. She tried a final time. It was completely dead. She checked the drawer for new batteries and pulled out an empty cardboard box. Hardly surprising. Sexual satisfaction hadn’t really been at the forefront of her mind for a while now. Being pregnant had definitely been a distraction and, since then, she’d been so absorbed with Willow, she’d felt like her body belonged to someone else. Gone were the days when she enjoyed carefree, physical connections with people along the way. Recently she’d been more interested in a good night’s sleep. She shook the vibrator one final time and then threw it into the corner in frustration.

A knock at the door echoed through the house.

She groaned out loud at the ceiling. Of all the moments.

Wrapping herself in her fluffy dressing gown, Robyn padded barefoot through to the lounge, conscious of her pink cheeks and naked body under the robe.

Fox stood outside the bifold doors, looking shower fresh and holding a cloth-covered plate. The sight of him hit her in the stomach. Her dream hadn’t done him justice. In real life, he was hotter than hell. She slid the door open, feeling the delicious rush of cold air as it hit her flushed skin.

‘Morning,’ he said, eyes on hers. She swallowed. The things she wanted to do to him.