Chapter 29
Louis was settling into the taxi ride from Castries to Soufriere, where they would catch a water taxi straight into Anse Chastanet Bay.
With windows down and Caribbean-style Christmas music blaring from the radio, and Hannah leaning into his shoulder, he wasn’t sure he could imagine a better way to spend the day.
The taxi driver made free with the road, cornering like the St Lucian equivalent of Lando Norris, while maintaining a constant stream of chat about the island.
At one point, he took a wide bend at alarming speed, while leaning back to tell them St Lucia was called the ‘Helen of the West Indies’ because it was so beautiful, and almost collided with an oncoming truck, lurching back to the correct side of the road with Hannah squealing and grabbing at Louis for stability.
And in that moment, Louis realised that was what he wanted to offer her.
More than anything else. Although he wanted to feel all the fireworks and the intensity of their physicality and the joy of their shared laughter and looked forward to working out how to make what they’d found into something real and long-lasting, more than all of that was a deep-down desire to keep this woman safe.
Somehow, he had to work out how not to mess this up.
‘I think I might need a bucket after all,’ Hannah said, with a grin.
‘Do you want him to slow down?’
‘I can’t decide whether it’s terrifying, or way better than any rollercoaster ride I’ve ever been on.’
He laughed, taking hold of her hand and threading his fingers through hers. The bracelet was on the wrist of the hand he was holding, and she touched the stars, one by one, with her free hand.
‘Thank you for this,’ she said. ‘It means a lot.’
‘I’m glad you like it.’
Once they’d swapped the land taxi for a water version and were scudding across choppy waves with the same level of unconcerned ease demonstrated by their skipper as by their taxi driver, Louis took a moment to admire the scenery.
This part of the island offered real unspoilt rainforest on top of sheer cliffs, punctuated here and there by the bays providing the beaches St Lucia was famed for.
Water taxi was the most effective way to reach the beach they were headed towards – plus Louis couldn’t resist the pull of a boat ride.
This water taxi was designed to carry no more than a handful of passengers at a time.
Little more than a hull with an outboard motor, and otherwise used for fishing, passengers sat forward on a plank seat, with the skipper behind, one hand on the steering mechanism of the boat, the other pointing out features with an unfalteringly enthusiastic line of chatter.
Bumping over a few larger waves, spray covering them all, had Louis smiling with unfettered joy. This was fun.
Once they’d reached the bay, they headed for the beach bar.
‘I could do with a stiff drink after that,’ Hannah said, running her fingers through wind-buffeted hair and grinning with enthusiasm.
‘It was great, wasn’t it?’
‘Ask me that again once I’ve had a cocktail… or two.’
‘What do you fancy? Sex on the Beach?’ It was an obvious play, but he couldn’t help himself.
‘Yes. But can I have a drink first?’ she countered.
He couldn’t tell her he was falling in love with her, could he? That would be enough to frighten away any rational woman, wouldn’t it? He checked himself and suggested they choose something containing the island’s own distilled rum.
‘In that case I think it’s got to be rum punch,’ Hannah said.
Louis ordered, organised some sun loungers for the pair of them and checked options for lunch.
‘I’m seriously doubting I can eat anything until dinner tonight,’ Hannah said as they settled on the loungers. She peeled off her T-shirt and slid it into her bag. ‘Breakfast today was awesome, and huge. I’m still full.’
‘Good to keep our options open,’ Louis said, trying his best to concentrate on his words as Hannah wriggled out of her shorts and laid them on her bag. God, she looked amazing in that bikini… ‘Especially if we’re expecting Nathan to join us later – he’s bound to be hungry, isn’t he?’
‘True enough,’ Hannah said, taking her cocktail and settling against the lounger, the picture of relaxation.
Louis stripped out of his T-shirt, rummaging in his rucksack until he found his Factor 50.
‘Do you need any sunscreen?’ he asked, spraying some across his chest and rubbing it in.
‘Do you need any help?’ she replied, cocking an eyebrow as she sipped her drink. ‘Or should I just watch?’
Louis was grateful he’d opted to leave his shorts on over his swimming trunks as her words seared a path straight to his groin. He retaliated, leaning across and spraying some of the sun cream across her exposed skin.
Hannah squealed, then giggled as he launched himself towards her and began to rub it in.
Her giggles subsided as his fingers circled, her breathing deepening as the cream spread its way across her belly.
He found it impossible to ignore the way her nipples pressed through the fabric of her bikini.
Straddling the sun lounger and with her legs wrapped around his thighs, he leant forward until he could kiss her, and nobody could see where his fingers chose to trail a path.
Hannah hadn’t ever really thought herself the type of person to have sex on a beach – other than in drink format – it was one of those things that remained on the fringes of her imagination, something that gave a frisson of excitement but seemed ultimately unworkable.
What happened about all the sand, for starters?
Not to mention the fact that there were other people around.
But if Louis didn’t stop soon, she wasn’t sure she would be able to retain any control.
The realisation of how free he made her feel – how damn sexy he was and how uninhibited she felt in his company – was something outside Hannah’s frame of reference.
She’d always scrabbled to keep up with Ian, in terms of that side of their relationship – it hadn’t been bad, just not as good, or spontaneous, as this.
Hannah wasn’t sure how much of that was on her, and was a result of her being able to view herself in a completely different way on this cruise. Or how much of this wasn’t real, how far she would revert when the cruise bubble popped.
She shifted on the lounger and Louis seemed to sense the change in her demeanour, giving the remnants of the sun cream on her belly a final rub with his thumb before grinning at her.
‘My turn,’ she said, taking control of the sunscreen bottle and indicating for him to turn and face away from her.
She took her time to ply some cream to his shoulders, her fingers easing their way across his back as she savoured his warm skin against hers.
If she looked past him, the view was of uninterrupted sapphire sea, lapping at the elegant, and surprisingly dark, sands of this beach.
Behind her, palm trees rustled in the gentle breeze. It was idyllic. Perfect.
Hannah swallowed. Perfection was something she wasn’t sure she could deal with – because the only way from perfection was down, wasn’t it?
And she didn’t want to acknowledge the thoughts lurking at the very fringes of her mind – that this was simply a snapshot in time, that this – however much she was enjoying it – wasn’t reality.
At least, it wasn’t her reality. Her fingers stilled, and Louis took it to mean she was done with the sunscreen.
‘Time to soak up some sun?’ he said, easing himself onto his lounger and taking hold of his own drink.
‘I can’t believe I’m sunbathing on Christmas Day,’ she said. It almost sounded like that had been what she’d been thinking about.
‘There are definitely worse ways of spending the time.’
Hannah dropped the bottle of sun cream down beside the lounger and picked up her own drink, sucking in a decent mouthful and savouring the cool, fresh notes of the rum.
They sat, side by side, for a while, her eyelids resting as she allowed the heat from the sun to soak into her skin until it felt as though it was seeping all the way into her bones. The combination of relaxation and satisfaction was intoxicating.
‘Are you still awake?’ he asked.
‘No,’ she replied. ‘I’m fast asleep. I’ll probably begin to snore in a minute. Why?’
He stifled a laugh.
‘I was going to offer to get you another drink, but you won’t want one, what with you being fast asleep.’
Hannah opened one eye, peered across at him as she began to grin. ‘I’m not that asleep.’
‘Same again?’
‘Yes, please. That would be lovely.’
She watched him wander along the beach, barefoot and bare-chested and the most attractive man on the sand by a country mile.
Pulling in a long breath and feeling like the cat who had just polished off all the cream, she shifted on the lounger and checked the time.
Maybe she had fallen asleep for real – the time had ticked on at an unexpected rate, and she still hadn’t talked to Louis about his father.
Ever since Ruth had introduced her to Teddy and the connection had revealed itself, Hannah had mulled over the best way to broach the subject.
Had hoped for the ideal moment to present itself.
But she couldn’t wait forever – the Herring entourage would be arriving on the beach in a matter of hours, and it was only fair to Louis to let him know his father would be amongst the group.
And to do that, she needed to know more about their relationship.
Hannah felt a touch of annoyance that it had been left it up to her to explain the whole situation to Louis – she wasn’t sure she fully understood it herself, but if she didn’t say something that would be far worse.
Louis wandered back, lodging a fresh tall glass on the low table beside Hannah’s lounger before he settled and took a sip of his own bottle of cola.