Holiday with a Stranger (11 page)

Finally they swung into the long driveway of the farmhouse and Connor jerked the car to a halt, jamming on the handbrake and unfastening his seatbelt in one swift movement.

He turned to face her, his gaze steady and cool, but she could have sworn she glimpsed a flash of confusion in his eyes.

‘Home safe,’ he said.

Without another word he swung himself out of the car and strode away, letting himself in through the heavy oak door of the house.

She sat in stultified silence, staring after him, reluctantly acknowledging the throb of longing deep inside her.

He truly was the most fascinating man she’d ever met—not to mention the most devastatingly attractive. After everything he’d gone through he was still moving on with his life, making things better and infinitely more comfortable for people who had no way of achieving that by themselves. Was she
really
going to give up the opportunity to spend more time with him so easily? She’d be a total fool to end things like this.

Her heart thumped against her chest. Her body was a mess of emotions. That wasn’t what she wanted. When she’d given in last night she’d told herself it was purely for the sex. A physical thing. She was going about this fling in completely the wrong way, pushing him too hard with questions he didn’t want to answer and attaching emotions to things she had no business getting involved in.

And now she was overthinking things, as usual.

Keep it simple, stupid.

Jumping out of the car, she hurried after him, determined to pull things back.

* * *

Connor felt like punching the wall. What the hell was he doing, opening up about his past? For years he’d locked the memories safely in the back of his head and avoided conversations about his family with anyone he met. But Josie was different. The problem was she already knew part of the story, and he was sure she wouldn’t have dropped the subject until she’d got her answers. She was a wily one.

It had seemed the simplest thing at the time to tell her everything and then move on, but in recounting the story out loud he’d brought back the paralysing feelings of insecurity and rejection he’d been repressing for years.

Her reaction had unsettled him—the comment about him being stubborn had made him feel petty and ignorant. After such a long time it seemed completely natural for him to avoid any contact with Abi, but perhaps she
had
changed? He certainly didn’t recognise his sister from Josie’s descriptions of her.

Her about-face on the fling had him rattled too. It was always
him
that decided when a relationship was over and he didn’t like having the power taken away from him.

Not that he should care in the slightest. Josie Marchpane was nothing to him—just a blip on his radar, soon to be history.

So what was this sinking feeling in his gut?

The snug was cool and dim after the hot glare of the sun and it soothed his overheated body to sit alone in the darkness, away from Josie’s tormenting presence. Maybe he should leave? It was going to be awkward as hell to stay here with her in the house—especially now she’d started mining away at his emotional barriers.

But why the hell should
he
be the one to go? The whole purpose of coming here had been to get back to base and attempt to work out why the satisfaction he’d previously reaped from his projects was eluding him now. With a start he realised he’d barely thought about that since meeting Josie.

He pondered it all now.

It wasn’t as though he was bored; he had so much going on and regularly met new and interesting people. His lifestyle allowed him to keep things light and entertaining, to walk away when he felt he’d experienced all he wanted to out of a situation. It comforted him to know he could up and leave when it suited him—he enjoyed being a shadow, a ghost that left an impression but nothing tangible.

The idea of being responsible long-term for someone else chilled his blood; he was more well suited to giving little and often, spreading out the help he could offer to strangers.

Like last night. He’d enjoyed seeing Josie bloom beneath his hands—it had excited him as nothing else had in a long while—but now she knew more of him than he’d usually give up and it had left him vulnerable and uncomfortable.

He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. Maybe he’d made a mistake, getting involved with Josie—even on a superficial level. He’d assumed she was aloof and controlled enough to handle a short fling, but apparently he’d been wrong. And she was too distracting, with her idiosyncrasies and her unnerving ability to keep taking him by surprise.

He sat up straighter in his seat.

Or perhaps this had all been part of a cunning ruse to get rid of him. He couldn’t stop a smile from spreading across his face at the thought. He wouldn’t put it past her.

But he didn’t really believe that. Her body language gave her away; she still wanted him for real, just as he wanted her—he’d bet his Triumph on it.

He heard the front door open and close and braced himself for seeing her again.

The room dimmed even more as she stood in the doorway, blocking out the light from the hallway.

‘Don’t worry, I’ll leave,’ he said, pre-empting her opening gambit. ‘Dibs wins after all.’

‘Don’t go.’ Her voice was firm, but affable.

He frowned, surprised by her sudden change of mood.

‘I’m sorry for asking so many questions,’ she said, moving into the room and sitting down on the couch next to him. ‘It’s really not my place to judge you. Can we forget about it and enjoy the rest of our time together?’ She turned to look at him. ‘I promise—no work and no more questions about your past.’

The tightness eased in his chest. She was offering him a ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card, but something still tugged at his conscience.

‘I don’t know, Josie. It’s probably better if I go. It’s all got a bit serious and that’s definitely not what I was after. You neither, I suspect.’

Her expression hardened. ‘You think I can’t do this without falling for you?’

He just raised an eyebrow at her.

‘I have no problem with only using you for sex,’ she said, a seductive smile lighting up her eyes, causing the hairs to stand up on his arms. ‘I think we should suspend real life from this point until one of us leaves and do all the things we’ve both been fantasising about for the past couple of days.’

Images of what he’d like to do to her raced through his head and he had to shift in his seat to ease the sudden pressing concern at the front of his trousers.

‘We need to get it out of our systems,’ she went on, leaning in so close he could smell the tang of sea salt in her hair. ‘Purge all that built-up sexual tension and have ourselves a sex banquet.’

Her smile was so provocative he couldn’t help but smirk back.

He was already lost—even before she shifted to straddle his legs, her crotch making contact with his rock-hard erection. The hot kisses she trailed across his cheeks and nose were a light relief compared to the straining pressure in his lap. Putting his hands up to feel the heavy weight of her breasts, he heard her moan and felt her breath feather across the skin of his cheek. The heat lingered for seconds after she’d moved on to kiss the groove between his jaw and his neck.

Taking one of his wrists in each hand, she pushed his arms back, trapping them against the sofa, whilst rocking her hips against him, levering herself up at the top of each movement to catch the sensitive tip of him with the hot softness between her legs. Desperation to rip their clothes away and feel her slippery heat with his hands clawed at him, but she wanted the control here and he was totally fine with that—as long as she didn’t stop goddamn moving.

Just as the thought hit him she moved down his lap, breaking contact where he needed it most, and he almost growled in frustration. Looking up at her, he saw the corner of her mouth twitch in amusement. She knew exactly what she was doing to him. He had a feeling she was paying him back for his anger and disinterest earlier.

She released his wrists so she could grasp the hem of his T-shirt and slide it up his body, the cool backs of her fingers leaving searing lines of sensation on the hot skin of his chest. Leaning forward, he allowed her to pull it over his head, feeling the soft leather of the couch stick to his heated bare skin as he leant back.

Slipping her knees between his legs, she pushed them open so she could slide her body to the floor and kneel in front of him, bringing her hot mouth down to the highly sensitised nub of his nipple. The first, semi-painful graze of her teeth made him jump in shock, before sending currents of pleasure through his body.

After the chafing bite she used her tongue to lick away the pain, before greedily sucking down on his nipple, swirling her tongue around the now erect peak. Her fingers worked the other side, as she alternately sucked and pinched, making him crazy with the dual sensation. This was punishment, all right.

His neglected erection gave a throb as she moved her free hand down the quivering flank of his chest, skirting over the dip of his belly button to find the button of his shorts. She made quick work of popping it open and yanking down his fly, pulling the stiff material away so that all was left was the thin cotton barrier of his boxers. Abandoning his aching nipples, she moved lower, using both hands to pull his trousers and underwear down his legs, then held his gaze as she brought her mouth back down to his exposed erection.

At the first flick of her tongue he nearly lost it, and a groan escaped from deep in his throat.

Any remaining resolve to leave tore out of his head as her mouth covered the tip of him, then slowly slid down, taking him inch by excruciating inch into the furnace of her mouth.

Her cool fingers traced the concavities between the muscles of his thighs, teasing their way higher, until she cupped his crown jewels in one hand and pressed a finger right below them, catching the small knot of nerves there with the pad of her finger and sending his body’s euphoric response into overdrive.

‘Holy hell, Josie,’ he gasped, grasping his hands together behind his head and giving in totally to the pleasure of the moment as she worked her magic.

The torpid air of the snug was chilled compared to the heat that built between his thighs. Shocks of powerful sensation mirrored the still throbbing ache in his nipples as she moved her mouth up and down his shaft, flicking her tongue over the end of him at the apex of each move, drawing him right out of his own head.

How could he even have considered leaving when such sensational sex with Josie was on offer?

Her movements increased in speed, her other hand grasping the rigid base of him as she worked him over. A deep, primal urge to be inside her had him totally captive. He would have done anything for her right then, just to be allowed to reach his ecstatic peak.
Anything.

And then he was there. Riding wave after exquisite wave of pleasure, his body jerking—out of control—before finally plummeting back down to earth again.

It was a few seconds before he felt able to open his eyes and check she was okay.

‘You’re an amazing woman, Josie Marchpane,’ he groaned, still riding the glorious aftershocks of his orgasm.

The beatific smile she gave him when she looked up made his heart turn over. The breath rasped in his throat and his pulse raged in his veins as the blurring alarm of his reaction hit home. It was just a heat of the moment thing, he reassured himself. A crazy, abnormal response to the intensity of his climax.

Reaching down, he put his hands under her armpits and lifted her up, flipping her onto her back on the sofa and climbing over her.

He needed a way to eradicate the disturbing panicky feeling that was rising like a geyser in his chest again.

Unpopping the button of her shorts, he pulled them away, then yanked her knickers down her legs.

‘Your turn,’ he said, before lowering his mouth to her, obliterating everything but the sweetly aromatic smell of her skin and the intoxicating taste of her arousal.

* * *

Afterwards they took a long bath together in the claw-footed tub.

They left the windows open and the late-afternoon sun bounced off the surface of the water, reflecting shards of light against the tiled walls.

Josie swished the water in front of her, sending ripples right down to where her toes poked up through the surface. Even now she was sitting in front of him her feet stopped well short of his.

It was so peaceful she experienced a pang of pre-emptive holiday sickness. At least that was what she thought it was. She’d never had this particular feeling before. Normally she was too intent on getting back to work to feel anything but relief at returning home. But the rush and hustle of the city felt a million miles away from them right at that moment.

He’d been right about her needing distraction. The twitchiness she’d been living with for so long was greatly reduced when he was around. This was exactly what she needed.

Space. Time. Calm. A hot man and plenty of no-strings sex.

EIGHT

They spent the
next day in and out of bed, both hungry for more as they continued to explore each other’s bodies.

They’d come to a wordless agreement to keep things only about the sex, taking care to skirt around anything personal or vaguely emotionally inflammatory. After the intensity of the past few days Josie found it a welcome relief. This kind of arrangement should have felt sordid, but Connor’s easy nonchalance made it easy to bat away any niggles of apprehension. They both wanted the same thing and that made for the perfect balance in their non-relationship.

That night Connor tried to teach her how to make the dish he’d served the first time they’d eaten together, but they didn’t get very far before things escalated into a food fight and they ended up having messy sex on the kitchen floor.

She hadn’t laughed so much in her entire life.

This free love thing was a welcome antidote to the stress and rapidity of real life. She was a different person with Connor—someone who laughed and played around and woke up with a smile on her face instead of a frown. There was no urge to constantly compete and improve, and the surges of panic and anger that she’d lived with for as long as she could remember barely touched her consciousness.

She finally got why sex was so damn popular, having spent years feeling ho-hum about it. It was especially diverting when you had someone as moreish as Connor on tap.

Josie was in the kitchen washing up the breakfast things when Connor strode in and pressed himself close into her back, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing the side of her neck.

‘I just heard from one of the other project leaders. There’s been a delay in getting materials out there so they don’t need me for at least another week,’ he murmured against her skin, his breath tickling the fine hairs there and sending sparks of longing straight to the erogenous zones he always made come alive when he touched her.

‘Oh, okay.’ She feigned nonchalance while all the while her heart sang with joy in her chest, beating out a happy rhythm.

He gave her one last sucking kiss on her neck before releasing her and leaving the room, his heavy footsteps sounding a happy pattern on the wooden floor.

She was glad he hadn’t asked whether she minded, because there was no way she’d have been able to lie well enough to convince him that she didn’t care whether he left or not.

* * *

A couple of days later they drove into Aix and wandered around the street markets, passing brightly canopied stalls groaning under the weight of gargantuan-sized fruit and vegetables. Josie’s mouth watered as the sweetly aromatic smell of produce ripening in the sun hit her nostrils.

Stopping to point out his selection to a stallholder, Connor chatted away in rapid French, making the guy chuckle so much he slipped them a free handful of strawberries. Josie marvelled at Connor’s ability to find common ground with everyone he met, tossing a compliment here and an interested question there, drawing everyone in to the warmth of his company. She envied his people skills—they were something she knew she’d do well to study and replicate.

The alien sense of belonging left her dumbstruck as he included her in the conversation, turning his body to encompass her in his personal space and directing every other comment in her direction. They could have been a couple out for a leisurely afternoon amble around the city for all anyone else knew. A twinge of gloom came out of nowhere, pinching her chest and leaving her breathless as it hit home how false this all was. How fleeting.

She must have made some sort of gasping sound, because Connor shot her a look of concern.

‘You all right, Josie?’

She nodded, flapping away his concern while scrambling to re-establish the sanguine mood she’d been so captivated by only a minute ago. It was like tipping over from being fun drunk to having had one drink too many.

‘Fine, I just need to sit down and have a break. It’s pretty hot out here.’

* * *

Connor took in Josie’s flushed face and the deep pinch of a frown on her forehead and realised it was time to move on. The last thing he wanted was for her to collapse in the heat again. Nodding a goodbye to the stallholder, he took her arm and guided her to the side of the busy street, searching around for somewhere to sit down.

‘Do you want to get a cold drink?’ he asked as she lifted the hair away from the back of her neck and flapped her hand up and down to create a wave of cool.

‘Actually, I’m gasping for a coffee and something to eat,’ she said, her eyes wide and troubled. ‘I think my blood sugar’s a bit low.’

He nodded and pointed to a small side street. ‘Let’s cut through here and find somewhere a bit quieter.’

He still had hold of her arm, but he didn’t feel like letting it go, so he looped his wrist through the curve of her elbow, keeping her close, but still free to move easily. It comforted him to hold her near him.

The end of the street opened out onto a small square with a long strip of sandy-coloured gravel running to one side, where a group of men were playing pétanque. They paused for a minute to watch the game, and the men shouting and joshing each other as their balls landed miles from where they’d intended.

The convivial atmosphere heartened him. He was exactly where he wanted to be right now, which was a new experience. Usually he was eager to move on quickly to the next place and begin something new, always thinking ahead, not giving himself time to fully experience the moment he was in. The weight of duty he normally carried around had lifted for the time being; it was doing him good to slow down for a while.

His train of thought ground to a halt as a small hand landed on Josie’s shoulder, making her jump and tug sharply on his arm.

‘Excuse me, do I know you?’ an English voice asked.

They both turned to face a short, middle-aged woman with a badly sunburned face and a voluminous chest spilling over the top of her ill-fitting vest. Connor could tell by Josie’s expression that she was building herself up for the usual polite conversation about her sister and his hands twitched uncomfortably in sympathy. He should find a way to get them out of there quickly; he didn’t want some ignorant tourist ruining what was turning out to be a pleasant outing.

The woman wrinkled her nose as she scrutinised Josie, her beady eyes raking her face.

‘No, sorry, we’ve never met,’ Josie said patiently, clearly hoping the woman would fail to make the connection and walk away.

‘You look so familiar...’ the woman said slowly, her brow creased in confusion.

Josie flashed her a polite smile and went to turn away just as the woman’s eyes sparked with life and her brain caught up with her mouth.

‘I’ve got it! You look just like Maddie Marchpane from
Sensational Science
—except not quite as...’ She wrinkled her nose again disdainfully and wiggled her fingers in Josie’s face, eager to bestow her insensitive pearls of wisdom.

Connor took an instinctive step forward, anger flaring in his chest at her witlessness, aware that the look he was giving her was less than friendly. The woman’s gaze flicked to him and she stopped short, flapping a hand in front of her own face now, clearly backtracking on whichever tactless adjective she’d almost let slip.

Her face flushed red with embarrassment. ‘Um...not quite as blonde.’ She gave them a quavering smile. ‘I’m a huge fan of Maddie—her show is wonderful,’ she rushed on.

‘I’ll let her know you said so,’ Josie said kindly. ‘My sister’s always delighted to hear it when people enjoy the programme.’

The woman gave her a beaming smile in return, relief that she hadn’t offended Josie clear on her face. ‘How nice to have a famous sister. And one as popular as Maddie too.’

‘Have a great holiday,’ Josie said firmly, moving away and pulling on Connor’s arm to suggest he come with her.

They’d walked to the end of the square before he trusted himself to speak, the irritation still bubbling like acid in his veins. ‘You’re one classy lady, Josie Marchpane.’

She looked at him and laughed out loud. ‘I thought she was going to pee her pants when you shot her that intimidating glare of yours.’

‘Well, maybe that’ll teach her to keep her pedestrian opinions to herself in the future,’ he said, scowling at the woman’s retreating back.

‘Have you ever thought of hiring yourself out as a bodyguard? You’d make a fortune just by glowering at people.’

He snorted in response. Usually he didn’t get involved in other people’s conflicts, but he didn’t seem to be able to stop himself when it came to Josie. She brought out the warrior in him.

They passed by a small café with tables lined up on a raised terrace, the red checked tablecloths and vases of vivacious sunflowers cheerfully gaudy against the subtle sandy gold of the stone buildings surrounding them.

‘That looks like a good place. Fancy it?’ he asked, nodding behind them to an empty table.

‘Sure,’ she said, turning and heading back to where he’d pointed.

They made themselves comfortable and a waiter brought them menus and a basket of bread.

‘Hmm, there’s some peculiar-sounding meals here,’ Josie said, scanning the specials list she’d been handed.

‘You should try something new. You never know—you might find you like it,’ he said, throwing her a challenging smile.

‘You’re not going to try talking me into eating snails for a laugh, are you?’ she asked with a shiver, her eyes alive with mirth and her lips quirking into a bewitching grin.

He leant forward in his chair, locking his gaze with hers and tipping his head in an attempt to convey being conspiratorial. ‘I don’t think we need to be feeding you an aphrodisiac right now, Josie. Delicate parts of us might fall off if you get any hornier.’

She raised a defiant eyebrow. ‘I seem to remember
you
jumping on
me
in the shower this morning.
And
forcing me to abandon our game of chess last night for a quickie on the floor of the snug.’

His pulse raced at the memory. He shrugged, his grin widening at her playful expression. ‘I was running interference. I knew I was going to lose so I thought I’d make the game a bit more interesting.’

‘You big fat cheat,’ she said, kicking him gently under the table. ‘Although, to give you your due, what we ended up doing after abandoning the chess game
was
much more fun.’

Gazing at her, with the hazy afternoon sunlight on her face, he thought she’d never looked so beautiful. If he’d found her impressive before it was nothing to the way he reacted to her now. She was definitely a grower; the more he was around her the more she drew him into her web of temptation.

The low pulse of arousal he experienced whenever she was near intensified exponentially. At this rate they wouldn’t make it back to the farmhouse before he felt compelled to jump on her. Alfresco sex wasn’t normally his bag, but he felt sure he could overlook that fact just this once.

Why couldn’t life always be like this?

The question came out of nowhere, slamming him in the chest with the force of a bullet.

He needed to pull himself together. The stupefying heat and relaxed atmosphere were tricking his senses into believing this was all real, but he knew the truth. It was temporary, just like all holidays away from the humdrum of normal life.
She
was temporary, and he needed to keep a handle on that or he was going to find himself in big trouble.

* * *

The following day Connor left the farmhouse and went to the bank to handle some business transactions, leaving Josie alone for the first time in days. She’d assumed she’d be pleased to have some time on her own, but after only an hour without him she was aching for him to come back and found herself pacing the house, a nervy energy keeping her on the move between kitchen and snug, bathroom and bedroom.

In each room she delighted in the cosy comfort she’d come to know and love. A warm blush travelled across her cheeks as she realised there wasn’t a room they hadn’t had sex in—even the junk room hadn’t been left out after she’d discovered him in there looking for a book he’d packed away and one thing had led to another.

It was already hard to think about leaving all this behind. Had it really only been two weeks? It felt as if she’d been here for months and the days and nights had merged into each other.

Despite her promise to herself to treat their affair as what it was—a fun holiday fling—she couldn’t stop herself from wondering what it would be like to have Connor as a partner.

He excited and challenged her, opened her mind to things she’d spent her life hiding from, and she’d never known such peace as when she was with him. She felt so protected. As if she could leave it up to someone else to look out for her for a change.

Before she’d met Connor an incident like the one with the woman yesterday would have stayed with her for days, eating away at her fragile confidence, feeding her sense of failure and driving her to work harder, longer, faster. But not now.

His presence galvanised her, inspiring in her a poised indifference she’d never known she had. The realisation that she was learning by his example hit her like a jackhammer. Her confidence was emerging bit by bit from the dark vault of her mind and it was Connor she had to thank for pointing the way out.

Over the past few days she’d allowed her overactive imagination to flit around the idea that he’d changed his mind about only treating this as a fling—that she’d somehow penetrated that wall of detachment he protected himself with. But surely she was kidding herself. There was no way Connor wanted more from her than a casual holiday affair. How could he? He was a drifter who didn’t seem to stick anywhere for long. She needed stability in her life. Her time here had been a roller coaster, but she couldn’t live like that.

* * *

Later that evening, after dinner, they snuggled up on the sofa drinking a peaty-smelling whisky that Connor had unearthed from the sideboard.

‘Do you spend any time in London?’ she asked tentatively.

Connor was sitting behind her, holding her against him, so she couldn’t see his face, but she felt him stiffen.