Page 39 of You Had Me At Pumpkin Patch
‘I love that idea.’ Rosie could feel the excitement of it bubbling up inside her, the boat swaying a little more every time she nodded in agreement. ‘You looked into it?’
‘No,’ he said quickly. ‘Not exactly. It’s not like we even have Wi-Fi. I just... had a think about things.’
He rubbed his temple.
Rosie grinned. ‘It looks like all that thinking hurt.’
His eyes sought hers, across the flicker of the lantern. ‘I’ll admit being wrong was painful. You turned up here, all well groomed and bossy, and you tested my views. Thank you for waking me up from my slumber. For being...you.’
Rosie let the words hang in the air. Was he really thanking her for being her? Not that she was sure about the bossy bit. ‘Well, nobody’s ever called me well groomed.’ She gave an embarrassed laugh and rearranged her scruffy ponytail. ‘I could never work my straighteners, and I usually had lip gloss on my teeth. It’s refreshing not to worry about those things anymore.’
‘Whatever you’re doing now, it suits you,’ Zain said simply.
Rosie would usually have put herself down and pointed out her ill-suited pyjamas or the fact her nails needed a date with a nailbrush. Though tonight, she allowed herself to accept the easy compliment.
It felt like they had been out on the lake for hours, eating and talking by the light of the moon, and sampling Bonnie’s elderflower wine in tiny cups. Maybe they had been. Time rarely seemed to matter here, other than the metaphorical clock that ticked above them, against which they’d need to race to get the retreats up and running by sometime next month. Though nothing about this night was being rushed. It was like they were floating, somewhere between ‘before’ and ‘after’.
When it was time, Zain rowed them back to the jetty and helped Rosie out of the boat. She wasn’t going to argue with his chivalry, even though she knew he’d have passed over the oars if she’d wanted them.
‘Need me to carry you again?’ Zain pointed down to her slipper socks. ‘Or I could lend you my boots?’
‘How about a piggyback to my cabin? If it won’t ruin your suit.’
Zain smiled and shrugged off his jacket, taking a moment to open his slightly too tight white shirt a little more. Rosie felt a flush of heat to her cheeks. If he undid any more buttons, it would be the undoing of her.
‘I’ve never worn anything less comfortable. Climb on.’
Rosie beamed as she clambered onto Zain’s back, trying not to get too excited about the firmness of his muscles through the cotton as her hands grabbed his waist and shoulders, trying to find somewhere good to hold. Except that every part of him was far too good. He was solid and warm, and so ridiculously stable for someone who would swear they were the opposite. She trusted him. And was it wrong that she wanted to climb onto him and never get off?
‘Who knew you’d end the evening being my valiant horse? I’m sorry.’
‘Who says this is how we’ll end it?’ His voice rumbled deep against her body as she wrapped herself around his back.
She heard herself sigh involuntarily at the thought. If he knew what he was doing to her, who knew how this night would end, or whether they’d even make it as far as the cabin. Suddenly Rosie felt like she was wearing far too many clothes.
Each step Zain took towards her door vibrated through her, making her cling more tightly. His body felt warm as his muscles worked hard to support her. Her own body was almost melting. The anticipation of what those steps meant was building with every second. Did getting closer to her hut mean she was about to be dropped off chastely? Or was this the beginning of a journey that would end who knew where?
Before she could work it out, they were at the bottom of Rosie’s steps. Zain climbed them swiftly, as though she were weightless. When he got to the top, he twisted his arms and swivelled her from his back to his chest and held her against his front. Their faces were almost touching, his hands gripping the tops of her thighs to hold her steadily against him. She gave him a gentle, breathless nod to let him know that everything he was doing was more than OK.
He took one final step to rest her back against the door, and she used its firmness to push herself into him.
‘Is there a leaf in my hair?’ she asked with a gentle tease, as he looked at her in that intense way of his.
‘There was never any leaf in your hair.’
And then his mouth found hers in the half-light, their lips sinking together and moving like the ripples of the lake, gently and rhythmically, making her feel out of control and yet safe. Her whole body was trembling, and she wanted more.
She pulled at his shirt buttons, eager to put her hands on his naked flesh, to feel his firm, tight muscles against her. His chest half bare, she wrenched up her top, groaning as her skin touched his. He glanced down, his eyebrows rising at the sight of her bra and the swell of her nipples beneath it. His mouth opened as if he wanted to taste one but couldn’t quite reach. Then his eyes were drawn back to her lips, and he kissed her again, deeply, like everything was about this moment. He rocked his body against her in a slow, tempting rhythm as their mouths moved. Her legs still wrapped around him, she was now pulsing, tingling, aching to be touched.
Ohhhhhhh.
When the kiss came to an end, Zain’s arms shaking and Rosie’s wrapped around his neck, it was like returning from another world.
‘Not yet,’ he whispered into her hair, as though he knew she was equally desperate for more. As out of character as deeply indulgent sex on her doorstep was, she would have welcomed it then, in this shadowy, secluded space, the chill of fresh air against her skin, the calls of the wild echoing in the distance. ‘I want to know you first.’
‘OK,’ she replied, reluctantly, taking a moment to get her breath back. She knew he was right. ‘I know what Juliet meant now when she told Romeo that he kissed by the book. Where did you learn to sweep a girl off her feet like that?’ Not to mention the other parts of her that had been willingly drawn to life. ‘Seventy-four per cent of people surveyed would have just had their worlds rocked.’
Zain placed her down gently and they smiled at each other for a moment, as though their kiss had unlocked a secret that was just for them.
