It was quiet and secluded in the bookshop clearing. There was no reason for anyone to come this way at night with the bookshop closed and all the bars and restaurants at the other end of the island. There were plenty of quiet stretches of beach for romantic moonlit strolls close to the villas, or cocktails in Reef with candlelight flickering across the table.
Aaron pulled her into the shadow of a cluster of trees.
‘I wish I could go back and change what happened, I really do.’
Freya sighed. She was done with there being this weird tension between them. ‘Just be honest with me in future, that’s all I’m asking.’
‘Okay, deal.’ He swept the hair from the side of her face and tucked it behind her ear. He was looking down at her, long, black eyelashes framing his deep-brown eyes. His dark skin looked even darker in the dusky light. Back home she’d been purposefully avoiding men and yet here she was beginning to fall for someone she was only beginning to know.
‘If we’re being honest,’ he said. ‘Then I should tell you, I don’t want you to leave after your nine months is up.’
‘Oh really,’ Freya said, smiling. ‘You’d like me to stick around for longer?’
‘I really would.’ He caressed the sides of her arms and down to her waist. ‘Is that a possibility?’
‘I think so. I mean the job is definitely for nine months and it was obvious from the interview process that it could be extended if Zander felt it was working out and I was the right person.’
Freya could barely concentrate as Aaron left a trail of kisses from her lips to her neck.
‘And are you the right person? Does he like you?’ His voice was muffled where he was buried in the crook of her neck, but his tone made her wonder if he was worried she’d end up leaving.
She smiled to herself.
‘I think he does like me. I mean he’s slowly allowing me to have more say and I’m finding him a little easier to deal with than when we first met. So, we’ll see.’
‘Well, I’d like you to stay.’
His words made her heart soar. Everything was accentuated, the sound of the ocean, the constant noise of insects and bats in the trees surrounding them, the feel of his hot firm chest as she slid her hands beneath his T-shirt.
‘I’d like to stay longer too.’ She reached up and kissed him. ‘So, if we’re being honest, tell me something. What makes you think your son’s not your son?’
‘It’s a long story; I don’t want to go into it.’
Freya bit her lip. She wanted to press him on the subject; she wanted to know why someone who was seemingly so loving and caring would abandon a child and a fiancée. Did he know for sure it wasn’t his? It didn’t add up, but then when she thought about it, she didn’t actually know Aaron that well. A few weeks, a few conversations, some flirting, a visit to his home, and a couple of hours of passion. That was it. And there was stuff she hadn’t told him. For whatever reason she was holding back from opening up old wounds, stuff that was just too difficult to talk about in a place so beautiful and far removed from her old life. Except that she’d already opened up to Drew...
‘What I do know, is I want you.’ His lips left hers and kissed the side of her neck and across her throat, his hands caressing through the thin material of her top to the bikini beneath it.
He obviously didn’t want to talk... Freya closed her eyes and leant her head back against the tree trunk. She wanted him too, but not like this. It felt naughty and sexy but also dangerous and reckless, and she was still confused, about him, about his secret, about the way he had acted. She’d partly come to the island to escape the muddle of emotions and here she was feeling conflicted over a man who thrilled and confused her.
He dipped his hands beneath her skirt and caressed his way up the inside of her thighs.
‘We can always go into the bookshop. No one will see us there.’
‘We’re not doing it in there.’
His fingers snuck beneath the edge of her bikini bottoms.
Freya put her hands firmly on his. She breathed deeply, fighting back reckless desire. ‘We’re not doing it here either.’
She felt him falter and then a tug on her bikini, his fingers hot against her skin. She tightened her grip on his hands. ‘I said, not now.’
His fingers retreated and he leaned his forehead against hers. Her heart thudded in her ears and where her hand was pressed against his chest, she could feel his heart pounding. Her skin tingled from his touch; her senses were alive with the intoxicating scent of his aftershave, of sunscreen and hot skin.
They were hidden from the moonlight in the shadows of the trees, but they were exposed on an island where someone could stumble across them at any moment. She wished it felt romantic, but it didn’t. Unlike the guests who got to stroll hand in hand along the beach, kiss beneath the starlit sky and head back to their candlelit villa to make love, the idea of having sex up against a tree was far from romantic.
They walked back in silence, both lost in their thoughts. Maybe they should have stayed just friends; their relationship had been fun when it simply revolved around friendship and flirting. Now it had been muddied by sex and secrets.
Chapter Twenty-One
Freya threw herself into work. From hoping things were okay between her and Aaron, she’d been left confused by their encounter in the bookshop clearing. He was still hiding things from her, the same way
