No doubt girlfriends in the past had just gaily stripped off and jumped into bed without a thought in their pretty heads except how to please him and how he could please them—young, carefree, eager beauties who were self-assured and modern without any hang-ups. She envied them. How she envied them.
The pool complex was gorgeous but they didn’t tarry there. The very capable Rosie had packed Nick’s fridge with everything needed for a romantic supper for two, and within a short while they were sitting outside at the patio table, which was spread with all sorts of delicious delicacies. Nick had apparently asked his sister to put a bottle of champagne on ice, and after pouring two glasses he handed her one, saying, ‘To us.’
It was a perfect summer’s night. Stars overhead, the stone beneath their feet still retaining the day’s heat and the garden bathed in a moonlit silence which was magical. The air was rich with the perfume of scented stock and fragrant night lilies which were in pots all around the patio, a faint breeze carrying the delicious scents on its meanderings.
Cory breathed very deeply and took a sip of the ice-cold champagne that tasted faintly of strawberries. ‘I wonder that you can bear to leave here for the city.’
‘So do I tonight.’ His voice was husky and his blue eyes held hers in the glow from the candles he had lit before switching off the outside lights. The house behind them and the grounds stretching in front had all been relegated to the shadows of the night; it was as if they were the only two people in the world in their flickering circle of light.
Cory shivered suddenly but the chill was from within, not without. She wished he had been an ordinary sort of man—one who did a nine to five job, who was perhaps a little overweight, who maybe had smelly feet. There might have been a chance he wouldn’t grow tired of her then. But that was silly—he wouldn’t be Nick and she wouldn’t love him if he was any different. She’d ignored the caution light even when it had turned from amber to red, flashing its danger sign in great big letters. Don’t let him into your heart and your life. Yes, she’d ignored it. She only had herself to blame.
But she wasn’t going to think of all that now. She gave a mental shrug. There was tonight, this entrancing garden and Nick. Her blood heated, singing along her veins. If this one weekend was all she had, then it would be enough.
CHAPTER SEVEN
WHEN they had finished the dessert Rosie had brought—a wickedly frothy concoction of raspberries, dark chocolate and meringue topped with lashings of thick cream—Nick disappeared into the house with the dishes and empty champagne bottle to make the coffee. He refused to let Cory help, kissing her very thoroughly before he left until she felt she was drowning in the taste and feel of him.
She sat in the balmy quiet of the scented garden, wrapped in a sensual glow that didn’t fade before he returned. As he placed the coffee tray on the table she wrapped her arms round his neck, pulling his mouth to hers. ‘I’ve missed you,’ she said throatily, half smiling.
‘I’ll have to leave you more often.’ He kissed her again before he straightened, adding, ‘Drink your coffee. It’s one of my specials.’
‘Specials?’ She picked up her cup, running her tongue dreamily over the creamy foam. It tasted wonderful. ‘I didn’t know coffee could taste like this. What’s in it?’
‘I told you, it’s one of my specials. I’ve quite a range,’ he said lazily. ‘This one’s got spices and whipped cream and a coffee liqueur a friend of mine from Brazil brings me when he’s in this neck of the woods.’ He sat down in his seat again, stretching out his long legs, his body relaxed and at ease.
Cory glanced at him from under her eyelashes as she sipped at the fragrant drink. The black denim added to the aura of masculinity and he made her legs weak. Tonight he would take her into that enormous bed. The morning could take care of itself.
They talked of inconsequentials as they sat there, the flickering candles slowly burning down and the starstudded sky above. When Nick at last rose to his feet, pulling her up with him, Cory felt a brief moment of panic.
She wasn’t experienced like his other women. She didn’t know any little tricks or moves