Page 45 of The Bookshop at the Cornish Cove

‘That’s so lovely, Dennie, thank you.’ I reached out to kiss his cheek and inhaled the expensive woody scent. Everything about Dennie exuded style and money. He was everything I thought I hated in a man but right then it was far from hate that I was feeling for him. ‘I’ll go and put these in some water.’

We danced around each other in the kitchen, both a little nervous again, and I fumbled to put the flowers in a vase while making idle small talk. As I turned to him, he shook his head at me.

‘Nancy, I don’t think you know what you do to me.’

I looked at my feet and he strode across the room and lifted my chin with his finger. His lips were suddenly on mine. Gently at first, but then more demanding, more passionate than I’d ever known him. Mid-kiss, he lifted me from the floor so that I was above him, and I could feel him pressing into me.

‘How long till dinner?’ His voice was deep and low, and oh-so incredibly sexy.

‘It’s ready now but just keeping warm in the slow cooker. We can have it whenever we want.’

‘Maybe we should put a hold on it. I can think of something much more interesting to do than eat dinner. Much as I feel like I’d quite like to throw you on that table, how would you feel about going up to your room? I don’t trust your brother not to interrupt us again but I really need to be inside you right now.’

I shivered and laughed nervously but nodded. We’d struggled to keep our hands off each other over the last couple of weeks, snatching moments to grope each other like kids in the storeroom in the back of the shop. There was nothing that had ever felt more right in my life. As he suddenly grabbed me and picked me up, I gave a little high-pitched squeal and he practically ran up the stairs with me in his arms, stopping only briefly to put the lock on the front door. He grinned as he placed me down on my bed, which I was very glad I’d changed earlier that day, as well as having made a huge effort to tidy my room.

Kicking the door shut behind him while shedding his coat, which he hadn’t even taken off yet before our kisses, he still hadn’t taken his eyes off mine. As I reached out to him and slowly removed every single piece of his clothing, before he did the same for me, he waited for my approval before showing me just how much he wanted me.

27

‘This is delicious. I’ve worked up quite the appetite, you know.’

‘Oh really, Dennie? I hadn’t noticed.’

He winked at me again and my heart gave such a skip. Everything seemed to be falling into place. Me dressed in just his shirt, and him bare-chested and just in his jeans and bare feet, we sat opposite each other at the kitchen table, my cheeks aching from the constant smiling. I didn’t think I could ever have been so happy.

‘Looking forward to tomorrow?’

‘Can’t wait. I just hope it all goes smoothly.’

‘Of course it will. With you doing everything I tell you to, how could it possibly not?’ He stood and put his plate on the side of the sink and came and stood behind me. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on edge, and he ran his finger down my spine. I gave a little shiver, and to my own surprise, also groaned out loud. ‘Let’s run through the checklist one last time.’

He removed a piece of folded paper from his back pocket and started to unfold it, before reading it out loud.

This time my groan wasn’t from pleasure, but from repeating this exercise for the fourth time today. Ever the professional, even now, Dennis had business on his mind.

I stood, moving my own plate, and took the paper from his hand. I wedged myself between him and the kitchen table, hitching myself up so that I was sitting on the edge.

‘I’ve got this, Dennis. Don’t worry. I’m sure there’s something more interesting we could be doing.’

I pulled him towards me so he was up against me and my knees were either side of him, and ran my finger up his chest. He gasped as I circled his left nipple, and groaned when I reached the right. My fingers travelled further south and reached the waistband of his jeans.

‘We’ll get indigestion, you know,’ he murmured against my neck as he started to shower me with soft fluttery kisses which were driving me wild with desire.

‘It’s always life on the edge with you, isn’t it, Dennie?’ I smiled in the most seductive manner I could. ‘Let’s live dangerously.’

As I loosened the button and fly on his jeans, he was soon gasping for breath again, but definitely didn’t seem to mind as we devoured each other right there on the kitchen table.

‘Shit, get up, Dennie. It’s 7.30 and we said we’d be at the shop by now.’

I sprang out of bed and darted for the bathroom, where I threw myself under the shower. I hadn’t even thought to set the alarm the night before because I never slept past 6a.m. – I’d never overslept in my life. Although I also hadn’t ever beenup most of the night alternating between talking and having incredible sex with Dennie before.

I walked back into the bedroom, dragging a comb through my freshly washed hair and Dennie was sat propped up on my pillows, his hands behind his head, watching my every move.

‘You need to get up!’ I yelled at him.

‘That’s exactly what I was just thinking.’ He tried to grab the towel I’d wrapped myself in and flung the duvet back. ‘Come back to bed.’

Shaking my head and laughing at the same time, I moved away and started to blast my hair with the hairdryer. I couldn’t believe that we were already running late on the one day that I really needed to be on the ball.

---