Page 55 of A Summer Scandal

It was enough. He wrapped his arms around her, one hand in her hair, the other banded around her hips as he lowered her onto him, taking the sound of her gasp into his mouth when his body locked inside hers, an intimate thrust of hard heat, a rush of delicious relief that it had happened.

‘Fuck.’ He shuddered, holding her down on him.

Seawater shimmered on his lashes when Violet opened her eyes and looked into his, and for a moment they held perfectly still, not even breathing. If she could have pressed stop there and then, she would have, because there had never been a moment in her life when she’d felt more womanly or powerful or sensual. But then she’d have needed to press go again, and then fast-forward, and then rewind and play again in slow motion, because she wanted Cal in all of those ways; fast and then slow, and then again and again.

She might have said those things, she couldn’t remember forming the words, but she heard his murmured, ragged replies, his hands all over her, the rhythm of his body moving steady and sure and then more urgent, his grip on her sexy and then fierce and almost protective when she started to shudder, her cries muffled against his shoulder. He held her, watched her, kissed her hard as she came, and she kissed him back, wild, their roles reversed as his hips jerked and his dark eyes flooded with animal, primal release.

‘Jesus, Violet,’ he whispered, holding her weight in his arms, his body still inside hers. It was a moment of beauty, her head on his shoulder, their eyes closed, their bodies cooled by the seawater.

‘You’re part of Swallow Beach forever now,’ he said, his breath warm on her ear as he stroked her back.

She didn’t have any adequate words; what had happened between them in the sea had felt like magic; ethereal, spellbinding. He carried her from the water to their clothes, setting her down and wrapping a towel around her shoulders. They dressed, snatching looks at each other, and when she straightened, dressed again, he reached for her hand and pulled her closer.

‘No regrets?’ he said, his eyes searching her face as he finger-combed her hair.

She smiled, almost shy as she turned her face into his palm. ‘None. It was perfect.’ She saw his throat move as he swallowed. ‘How about you?’

He cupped the back of her neck and pressed a kiss against her forehead.

‘It was more than I expected it to be,’ he said. ‘You’re under my skin, mermaid girl.’

From his words, Violet couldn’t discern if that was a good or a bad thing; he sounded conflicted. She knew enough of him now to understand him a little.

‘Look, Cal. It was … well, it was unplanned, and it’s happened, and it was far too lovely to say it shouldn’t have happened. But you’re not in over your head, and neither am I. We’re neighbours, and we’re friends, and what just happened out there stays out there, in the sea, in some place that isn’t real.’

It cost her to say those words. It cost her to detach emotion from the physical act, but she knew it was what he needed to hear. She had her own fears and hang-ups, but he had his too and right now she was taking care of him the way he’d been taking care of her ever since she’d arrived at Swallow Beach.

He studied her face as she spoke, his fingers still in her damp hair.

‘I don’t think so,’ he said, and then he lowered his head and kissed her, slow and sweet and full of the emotion that Violet had denied existed. ‘I didn’t bring you to the beach for this. I didn’t plan to have sex out there, Violet, I promise, but your body and mine … you and me … I don’t know what it is, what this is. I don’t want to lead you on.’

His words were a plea:Don’t fall for me, because I can’t fall for you.

So that hurt. ‘You’re not, Cal. You’re not leading me on. You’ve told me you have a wife, and you’ve told me you might even still love her. I’m not a child. I made the choice to have sex with you. I even asked you to, out there in the sea. You haven’t done anything wrong; we haven’t done anything wrong. We’re consenting adults, and we had sex. Please let’s not beat ourselves up or ignore each other for days after this, okay?’

As she spoke, Violet’s mind wandered to her grandmother’s diary back in the Lido, to the secrets she’d kept and the lies she’d told. If there was one thing she was going to learn from Monica, it was that secrets and lies can tear you apart from the inside.

‘Let’s go home,’ she said, holding her hand out to him, in charge of the situation because he needed her to be.

He looked at her, and then he took her hand and kissed the back of it. ‘I’m glad you came here, mermaid girl.’

Violet smiled, even as her throat thickened with tears. ‘Me too.’

He slung his arm around her shoulders as they tracked up the beach, damp and tired, and they didn’t speak much as they let themselves quietly into the Lido and made their way up the stairs. On the first landing, Cal snagged Violet’s hand and pressed her against the wall, kissing her in a deep, languorous way that made her sigh his name against his lips.

‘Come to bed with me,’ he said, resting his forehead against hers. ‘I don’t want to let you go tonight.’

‘Yes,’ she said, because there wasn’t a thought in her head or her body to say no. Her hand moved over his skin beneath his T-shirt as she opened her mouth under his lips, taking his kiss in, his tongue over hers, intimate and personal. She wanted him in a way she’d never wanted anyone, her heart and her body wanted him in a euphoric way that made her want to cry and laugh and come apart over and over.

They took the remaining two flights of stairs, her hand in his, her heart banging behind her ribcage.

It was only when they turned to take the final flight of stairs up to the top landing that they saw someone sitting on the top step.

Violet noticed them first and slowed, surprised, and then Cal stopped altogether, dropping her hand like a stone as the long-limbed stranger unfurled herself into a standing position. Even before anyone spoke, Violet knew.

‘Hey Cal,’ the woman said, all smokey eyes and bed-head blonde hair. ‘Long time no see.’

Vi looked at Cal, but he didn’t look back. His eyes were trained on the woman at the top of the stairs.

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