All They Need - By Sarah Mayberry Page 0,76
we can have a glass of wine and you can wind down and not have to worry about being anywhere.”
“It sounds like a lot of trouble. Especially when I’m supposed to be taking you out for dinner.”
“It isn’t. Drive carefully, okay?” Her voice was soft, concerned.
His chest got tight as he imagined what it would be like having Mel to come home to every night. “I’ll see you soon.”
He threw himself into work and managed to drag himself away from his desk by eight-thirty. He hit the road, yanking his tie off as he drove toward the freeway entrance. He hit heavy rain halfway there and shook off his tiredness to concentrate on the wet, dark road. He exited in Frankston and hit speed dial.
“Thunderbirds are go,” he said when Mel picked up.
“I’ll see you in ten.”
He was opening the main gate at Summerlea when she pulled up behind him. Even though it was still drizzling, he abandoned the task to approach her car. She wound down her window but before she could get a word out he leaned in and kissed her.
“Hey,” he said when he finally came up for air.
She looked gratifyingly dazed. “Hey.”
“You look good.”
“You look tired.”
“I’m very resilient. Give me ten minutes and I’ll prove it to you.” He gave her his best dirty look.
She cocked an eyebrow in challenge. “Okay, then. Your time starts now.”
He laughed, striding back to the idling Aston. She followed him up the driveway, parking behind him. He waited while she collected a shopping bag from the passenger seat and they walked up the front steps together. The porch was pitch-black and he swore under his breath as he tried to identify the door key.
“Remind me to get a sensor light installed here,” he said.
Mel followed him into the living room and stopped in her tracks as she registered the king-size bed he’d had delivered during the week. The only real furniture in the room, it dominated the left wall.
“Where did this come from?” she asked, bemused.
“The local bed place. I left a spare key out last weekend and organized for them to deliver it.”
A selection of bedding, still in its packaging, was stacked on the end of the bed.
“I would have helped if you’d asked,” she said.
“I don’t want you running around after me.”
“But you’ll let complete strangers do it?”
He thought about it for a moment. “Okay, I understand what you’re saying. But it still feels wrong. I’m willing to workshop it, however.”
“Workshop it?” she asked as she started pulling plastic containers from her shopping bag.
“It’s the latest buzz word. You don’t like it?”
She pulled a face. He reached out and pulled her into his arms. She came willingly, her hands sliding to his backside.
“I promise never to use it again,” he said as he zeroed in on her mouth.
They kissed, tongues stroking one another, bodies straining together. He reached for the waist of her long-sleeved T-shirt just as a low gurgle sounded. She smiled against his mouth.
“Was that your stomach?”
“Ignore it,” he said, tugging her top up.
She slipped away from his embrace. “Eat your dinner first, while it’s hot. Then you can have dessert.”
“I’m going to hold you to that.”
She finished setting out containers of food and he crossed to the fireplace and laid a quick fire. By the time she’d handed him a plateful of savory beef Stroganoff and a hunk of crunchy garlic bread the fire was blazing. He grabbed the pillows from the bed to serve as floor cushions and poured them both a glass of wine.
“This looks great, Mel,” he said as she joined him in front of the fire.
They talked casually as they ate and it wasn’t long before he’d wolfed his meal down.
“That was just what the doctor ordered,” he said as he pushed his plate to one side. He focused on Mel. “Come here.”
“Maybe we should let our dinner settle first.”
“In case we get cramps and drown?”
She laughed. “Something like that.”
“Get your delectable ass over here.”
She placed her wineglass carefully on the hearth and moved toward him. Bracing one hand beside him, she leaned close and laid her lips against his. Her mouth was hot and spicy with wine and he made an approving noise in the back of his throat. Then he put his hand on her shoulder and pulled her off balance and into his arms. She collapsed onto his chest with a muffled yelp.
“That’s better,” he said, rolling swiftly so that she was beneath him, his body splayed over