the house in the ’burbs, the kids and the dog.
She’d wanted the promise of everlasting love.
His fists tightened against the mattress but he forced himself to remain still. He’d been unable to give it to her and he’d had to let her go when she told him she wouldn’t accept less.
What did Ellie want?
She turned towards him in sleep, shifting nearer. Too near. One arm slid over his chest and a breast snugged up against his torso. Intimacy and trust. His body tightened further. He closed his eyes, refusing to acknowledge it. Despite her assertion to the contrary, he had an edgy feeling Ellie wasn’t the kind of woman who’d be satisfied with a fling either. He’d allowed himself to get too close on an emotional level. Dangerously close.
It was a long time before he slept.
THERE really was nothing quite like waking up next to a warm woman on a winter’s morning. Particularly if that woman had hair that smelled of hyacinths and a firm smooth bottom snuggled against his hardening groin.
Unlike last night, the room glowed with a crimson dawn. Rather than the possum party, a couple of kookaburras exchanged a cheery good-morning in the gums outside the window.
But the urgency hadn’t lessened. If anything, it had increased. Again Matt was hit with the same headlong, mind-blowing rush to have her. That same sweet desperation to bury himself inside her.
He fought the feeling down, throwing off the bedclothes, welcoming the cooler air over his heated flesh. He needed to get out of here, away from temptation. She did things to him he didn’t want, didn’t need. ‘Time to rise and shine,’ he said, forcing a brightness he didn’t feel into his voice. ‘Why don’t you take the first shower. I’ll make us some breakfast. I want to be on the road asap.’
‘Okay.’ Ellie half expected him to ask if he could join her, but no matter how attentive he’d been last night and how sensational their lovemaking, she’d sensed the barrier he’d put between them. She told herself it was a relief, not a disappointment. He played it casual, she would too. That’s what they’d agreed to.
From beneath the covers, she watched him stroll naked to the mirrored wardrobe and pull out a thick aubergine dressing gown. That butt was magnificent, no doubt about it. Tight, taut. Tantalisingly touchable. She’d known that, but she’d only seen glimpses. Her imagination had filled in the gaps. Now, seeing him for the first time in all his glory in the full light of day…Then he turned around, and, oh, my…
He was an architectural masterpiece in himself. Hard planes over well-defined muscle, sharp angles that caught the early sunlight filtering through the window and cast navy shadows in dips and hollows. Not to mention all that…that glorious masculinity.
No, not to mention that at all. Swallowing, she struggled to pull her lust-crazed thoughts into some sort of order. Then he stepped into a pair of boxers and her lip-sucking moment was over.
She realised he’d picked up her discarded clothes while she’d been lying here like lady of the manor. He laid them at the foot of the bed with the robe. ‘You’ll find towels in the bathroom.’
‘Thanks.’ That wild fantasy of making him her love slave surfaced and she fought down a blush, but it wouldn’t have mattered because he gave her no more than a glance.
She waited till he’d pulled on jeans before easing herself off the bed, clutching her clothes to her breasts and heading to the bathroom.
Ellie soaped herself up beneath the hot spray with exquisite care, every dab, every glide of her hands over her skin, a reminder of another pair of hands. Her body quite literally sang.
A tiny flash of movement caught her eye through the fogged glass. She cleared a space and saw a black-and-yellow honeyeater flitting in and out of the courtyard’s fernery.
She could get used to this, she thought. Shaking her head she switched off the taps with unnecessary force and reached for a towel. Forget it. Wasn’t going to happen. Wouldn’t know what to do with it if it did.
Because it would end. It always ended.
She tugged at the tangled curls, secured her hair at the back of her head with an elastic this morning and stared at her own face in the mirror. ‘Repeat after me,’ she told her reflection. ‘Don’t be fooled again, Ellie Rose. Guys like Matt aren’t looking for long-term with girls like you.’
Matt had breakfast in the oven and ready to dish up when his mobile rang. ‘Hello.’
‘Matthew.’
He smiled at the sound of the familiar voice. ‘’Lo, Belle. How’s everything going?’
‘Very well, dear. Or it was, but there’s a bit of a problem here.’
‘What’s wrong?’ His hand hovered over the stove, breakfast forgotten. ‘Anything I can do?’
‘No, no. It’s just that Miriam wanted to go skydiving and she talked me into—’
‘You did what?’
‘You heard correctly,’ she said with a smile in her voice. ‘If ninety-year-olds can do it, why not me? When you get to my age you realise that sometimes you have to take chances before it’s too late. It was a tandem dive with a fully qualified instructor. Anyway,’ she hurried on before Matt could get another word in, ‘Miriam landed heavily and twisted her ankle. She lives alone and I’d like to stay on a day or two to help but I don’t want to put you out longer than I have to.’
‘No need to hurry back. Everything’s fine here.’
‘That’s good to hear.’ She paused. ‘How’s Eloise?’
He smiled at her usual formality. ‘Fine. The weather’s been a bit wet for gardening but I kept her busy.’ He was suddenly excruciatingly aware of how his response might be interpreted, so he added, ‘Your windows now sparkle.’
‘Oh. Thank her for me.’ Pause. ‘Matthew…I know when you’re not saying something…Have you been seeing her?’
Seeing her—Oh, yeah, images of last night were imprinted on his eyeballs. ‘She works for you, Belle, of course I have.’
‘You know what I mean.’
‘Don’t go getting any romantic ideas, Belle.’ He struggled with a feeling that he was scaling his own skyscraper with one hand tied behind his back. ‘It’s not…’
Then he noticed Ellie in the doorway, looking unsure, and Belle’s voice faded into the background. He beckoned her in. How long had she been standing there? What had she heard? And while he tried to recall what he’d said, he watched the way her nipples poked at her T-shirt as she stretched and studied the view from the window and everything else flew out of his mind.
He turned away, rattled off, ‘Have to go, Belle. We’re about to have breakfast. Talk to you soon, bye.’
Ellie’s arms dropped and she spun to him, the
