Page 64 of Duty and Desire

“Saturday.”

He laughed. “Apart from being a Saturday. We met six weeks ago today.”

I was shocked into silence.Only six weeks?It felt like months had passed.

How little time one needs to fall in love.

A loud cough snapped me out of my musing.

“I’m going to leave you to it.” Aulani waved her cup. “I’ve washed it. See you on Monday.”

We waved at her, and as soon as the gate clicked shut, Gio bounced to his feet, picked me up in his arms, and carried me into the bungalow.

“Do you want to share your plan?” I teased.

He kissed my neck. “I’ve just finished a chapter, and I’ve decided to take a break.”

I wrapped my legs around him, hooking my ankles, my arms locked around his nape. “So I’m taking a break too?”

“Any objections?” Gio pushed the bedroom door open. “Or would you rather I carried out my wicked plan on the veranda table?”

“That wouldn’t be my first choice.” And then all the air whooshed from my lungs when Gio dropped me onto the bed. I laughed, but a heartbeat later I moaned when feverish fingers removed my shorts. I stared at him, my pulse racing.

“I’m all yours.”

And I was—heart, body, and soul.

Gio

The ceiling fan’s soft whirring was a comforting sound as we lay in bed, Nick’s head on my chest, a habit of his I’d grown to love. He pressed his ear to my chest, as though he was listening to the beat of my heart.

“I did a little calculation this morning,” I murmured. “I have just over ten weeks left until I have to leave.”

Nick craned his neck to peer at me. “Could you finish the book in that time?”

“The first draft, maybe.”

“Then what happens?”

“Usually, I put it aside for a while, then come back to it. I re-read it, I hone it, polish it, delete bits, add bits…” My sigh stirred his hair. “But the last time didn’t work out that way.”

Nick sat up. “Why? What happened?”

I pointed to the bedroom door. “It’s still sitting in a folder on my laptop. I haven’t so much as glanced at it since the day I finished it. And to be honest, I’m not sure itisfinished. I think I simply ran out of steam.”

He said nothing for a moment, his brow lined with a faint furrow.

“What’s on your mind?” I stroked his thighs, reaching higher to rub his stomach.

“Could I read it?”

I stared at him. “You don’t understand.No onehas seen it, not even my publisher.”

Nick resumed his original position, snuggling up to me. “Then forget I asked.”

The softwhirrof the ceiling fan became the only noise in the room, but outside I caught the hum of boats out on the lagoon, and the faint drone of a plane, the gentle lapping of water around the stilts the bungalow sat on.

There was another noise, the low voice in my head that became more and more insistent.

---