April wriggled her hips and pulled him down to lay over the top of her. With her fingers in his hair, she brought his mouth back to hers and kissed him with an intensity that sent shivers down to her belly. He settled between her legs, a low moan coming from his throat when she hooked her heels around the backs of his ankles to keep him in place.
His broke the kiss, pushed himself up on his hands and stared down at her with glazed eyes. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”
April laughed at the battle of emotions in his eyes. “We can do whatever we want to do, David.”
He pushed himself back and rolled away from her, his breathing ragged. “I guess we can but I’m not going to make love to you and have us regret it in the morning. I told you I can’t commit and I refuse to use you like that.”
Now she knew just how much she affected him, April was prepared to work for it. No way she was letting go without a fight. He was just what she wanted. “Why don’t we take it slow and see what happens? I don’t mind seeing if we can make this work before we commit to something a bit more permanent. I think we have something, David, and by the look of that little performance, so do you.”
Chapter Fifteen
He lay in his bed staring at the ceiling. Last night he’d tossed and turned getting very little sleep. When he did it was to dream of Elise and her telling him she was done. He’d woken up thrashing around the bed, legs caught in the sheets. How could he risk having his heart broken again? It’d taken him ages to get over that breakup and he knew that was one of the things that put him off another relationship. The thought of risking that kind of pain again made him sick in the stomach.
And to risk it all for someone who was so different to him was bordering on insane. At least that was what he was trying to tell himself. Shame it wasn’t working a hundred percent. The problem was, April was such a nice, vibrant person who he felt drawn to as much as he didn’t want to.
She was like a sugar fix he couldn’t let go. Only problem was, they didn’t have a cure for what ailed him. Either he was going to have to go cold turkey and ignore her or take the chance and risk being hurt again. He couldn’t decide which option to take.
David drove to work earlier than usual. He’d given up trying to sleep and didn’t feel like his usual morning routine and Oscar had to be satisfied with a short walk up the hill behind their house. All he wanted to do was get out of his quiet house where his thoughts tortured him, and be around people. He parked his car, decided on coffee before he went into the clinic and headed down the street to the café.
As he passed April’s shop, he slowed down his walking pace and stared inside hoping to get a glimpse of her. The lights were on in the back of the shop but there was no sign of her. He lifted his head and looked up at her flat. The windows were open letting in the cool early morning air. If he wasn’t mistaken, that was Hamish’s nose he could see resting on the window sill.
David stood in line for his coffee, gave his order and stood staring outside. He really was in a funk. It was so unlike him. It would seem the flower child had really gotten under his skin.
“Coffee for David!”
He took his extra-large flat white and made his way back to his clinic pausing to exchange small talk with the people he met along the way. He entered through the back door and called out. “Morning.”
Monica, his receptionist called back. “David, you’re in early. Everything alright?”
“Couldn’t sleep.” He walked into reception. “Your excuse?” She was always in before him to open up and sort out the day’s appointments but this morning it was before her starting time, too.
“I want to sneak off early so I thought I’d get a head start.” She nodded her head at the display of flowers on her desk. “Looks like we’re not the only ones up early. April dropped this off just as I arrived. You must have said something nice to her to warrant such a beautiful bunch of flowers.”
They were stunning. Nicer than anything he’d expected. Bright yellow roses mixed with a generous bunch of shiny green leaves took pride of place on the counter. In between them, branches with round brown berries gave the bouquet structure and character. “Wow. She’s really outdone herself. These are great.”
“They sure are. But you should see what she put in your office.” Monica gave him a smile, touched her finger to her nose. “Someone keeping secrets, are they?” Even though he’d known her most of his life, sometimes familiarity wasn’t such a good thing. Hard to have secrets when everyone knew what he was doing.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. You were the one who insisted on having her do flowers for us. I only passed on the order.” He gripped his coffee and headed down the corridor to his office. David stood in the doorway, staring at the display hanging on his wall.
“Kind of says a lot, doesn’t it?” He might have known Monica would follow him.
David stared at the arrangement. April had made a heart shaped design out of dried twigs and decorated it with dried flowers similar to the ones he’d watched her
