One Bed

Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

‘I ’m sorry.’

Bea sat at the table on the deck, her specs on and her hair pulled up into a messy bun. She’d heard Gib come into the cottage and listened as he went into the bedroom and closed the door behind him. Heard the faint sounds of the shower and the buzz of an electric razor. The opening of the bedroom door, his big feet approaching her.

She’d kept her eyes on her screen, still too pissed off to look at him. ‘Seriously, Bea, I was a prick. I’m sorry.’

Her parents had never apologised, neither had Gerry, and the sincerity in Gib’s voice had her lifting her eyes to his face. His expression echoed the authenticity in his voice and she saw unease, and shame, in his eyes. Having never been on the receiving end of a proper, vocal apology –Golly either apologised via text or with an expensive present –she wasn’t quite sure what to say.

‘OK.’

He rubbed the back of his neck and for the first time she saw the man behind the imperturbable CEO, someone whose confidence wasn’t, for a change, sky high. ‘Do you want an explanation?’ he muttered.

She tipped her head to the side and pulled her heels up to rest them on the edge of her chair. ‘Would you give me one?’

He shrugged. ‘Yeah.’

She rolled her hand, lifted her eyebrows and waited. He rocked on his heels, jammed his hands under his armpits and looked at the view. Gib flipped his sunglasses over his eyes and a few seconds later pushed them back onto his head. He looked down at his feet and rubbed the back of his neck. She knew he was hoping she’d take pity on him and let him off the hook.

No friggin’ chance.

Bea wrapped her arms around her legs and waited.

Gib cleared his throat. ‘I have this thing about privacy. Sharing this cottage with you isn’t easy for me.’

She was tempted to tell him that he’d always had the option to shove off, but she was emotionally exhausted, and she didn’t want to start another fight.

‘I’m never at my best in the morning … but that’s not an excuse for me acting like a prick.’ He dragged his hands over his face. ‘If I give them the option to sleep over, my dates usually leave after sex, or when I leave to workout at five in the morning.’

God, she couldn’t think of anything worse than being booted out of his bed to do the walk of shame at that time of the morning.

‘Don’t frown at me, they knew that was going to happen,’ he told her, with a touch of his previous asperity. ‘Look, I’m just not used to having someone in my space. I’m not interested in a relationship, or any sort of commitment and I reacted badly. I felt uncomfortable with you cleaning up after me, doing my laundry, making the bed, and then rustling up breakfast. It’s too domesticated for me.’

Bea opened her mouth to defend herself, to tell him that while he thought it OK to be a slob, she wasn’t. But she pulled back her words, knowing she was latching onto an easy defence of her actions. He was a little untidy, but she hadn’t given him a chance to clean up after himself. She’d swept in and done it for him, instinctively falling back into her old patterns of behaviour.

And yeah, she’d skipped out of bed this morning, buoyed by a fantastic orgasm and an even better night’s sleep. She’d been raring to go, so she went for a swim, made breakfast, and made this table look like a prop from Mamma Mia . She’d offered him something to eat and handed him coffee. She’d been a heartbeat away from lying down and asking him to scratch her tummy…

She could see why a man who eschewed relationships would feel uncomfortable when the woman he’d made scream the previous night turned into Hannah Homemaker. But she wasn’t prepared to let him totally off the hook. ‘You were a jerk,’ she told him.

His eyes didn’t drop from hers. ‘I know.’

She hauled in a deep breath. ‘If I agree to not tidy up after you, and bring you coffee, will you try to pick up your stuff, make the bed, and stop annoying me?’

The misery faded in his eyes, as confidence rolled back in. ‘Yeah. I’ll make that deal.’ He started towards her, and Bea knew he was about to kiss her. She couldn’t think of anything she wanted more, but it wasn’t going to happen. She wasn’t ready to return to where they were before. Their argument earlier was his fault (and hers), but they couldn’t go back and pretend nothing had happened. She didn’t work that way.

She held up her hand and he stopped abruptly. ‘We need a reset.’

He grimaced and did his hand-rubbing-his-neck gesture again. She’d learnt that he only did it when he was thinking about how to respond. ‘So, you’re not moving out?’ he said, trying to inject a little humour into their conversation.

Bea decided she could meet him halfway. ‘Nice try, but no.’ She narrowed her eyes at him. ‘But the pillows are going back up.’

‘Aw, come on, Bea,’ he cajoled, but she saw the understanding in his expression, acceptance in his eyes. ‘I get it. I don’t like it, but I get it.’ He glanced at her laptop and gestured to the lounger. ‘Would I bug you if I sat here, drank a cup of coffee and read my book?’

No, of course not. Of course she could work when the man who made her ovaries spin, her skin pebble, and her lady parts thrum sat just a yard from her, looking hot and sexy and oh-so-beddable.

Well, she could try.

‘Sure, if you make me a cup of coffee. Milk and one sugar.’ She dropped her legs and picked up her glasses, sliding them onto her nose. She’d give work an hour, and then she’d go up to the house and bug Cass and Nadia, or hang out with her godma and the Two Jacks.

Nothing surprised her more when Gib stopped next to her and bent down to drop a kiss on her head. ‘I am sorry for this morning. Sexy glasses, by the way.’

Bea pushed away the urge to run after him and take him to bed.

Bad Bea . Keep your arse on this chair and put your fingers to the keyboard. Get to work. You can’t, as the great Nora Roberts – or was it Jodi Picoult? – said, edit a blank page.

* * *

The next morning, Bea woke up to the dings of a couple of text messages. Swimming out of sleep, she reached for her phone, but couldn’t move because a muscled arm was wrapped around her waist, holding her to a hard body. Her butt was nestled against Gib’s groin and, judging by his massive erection, he was happy to have her there.

What happened to the pillows? She’d rebuilt her Great Wall Of Pillows last night and Gib, to his credit, didn’t say anything about the soft barrier when he slid into bed. He’d just lifted an eyebrow, sighed and pulled back the covers.

She’d noticed he wore a pair of thin, exercise shorts and a loose T-shirt. And seeing him covered up made her sad. A body like his should stay naked.

Right, she wasn’t going there…

‘Who the hell is texting incessantly so early?’ Gib muttered, nestling his face into her neck. His stubble tickled her skin as he dropped an open-mouth kiss in the space where her jaw met her neck. His hand moved up her torso and clasped her left breast, his thumb brushing her nipple. Oh, man, that felt amazing…

‘Judging by the sun, it’s later than you think,’ Bea told him, wiggling her butt into his hard dick. She turned her head to look at him over her shoulder. His eyes were still closed, and he had a small smile on his face. Looking relaxed and turned on suited him.

‘What happened to my pillows, Caddell?’ she asked, aiming for annoyance and missing it by a mile.

He lifted his head and squinted at the bed. ‘Huh, no idea. I must’ve tossed them off while I was asleep. Sleepy me was looking for sleepy you.’

‘Cute.’

Her phone dinged again, and she rolled away from him to reach it. He kept his hand on her, sneaking under the hem of her shirt to stroke her stomach, sliding his fingers under the band of her sleeping shorts. She looked at her phone, and the words danced in front of her. How was she supposed to make sense of Cass’s messages when he was touching her like that?

‘Cass needs me to run into Fira to pick up a few hundred things for the party,’ she told Gib, who was on his side, looking at her.

‘Mmm, later.’ He plucked her phone out of her hand and tossed it towards the bedside table, and she heard it crash into the bedside lamp. ‘Right now, I have other plans for you.’

She smiled slowly. ‘And those would be?’

‘I’d very much like to make you scream, with my mouth and with my cock,’ he stated, his drawl more pronounced. ‘You up for that?’

In his eyes, in his urgent touch, Bea knew he was asking if she was ready, if she wanted him as much as he wanted her. She did. So much. Unable to find the words – strange, because words were her stock-in-trade – she simply nodded.

‘I kinda need you to say it, Bea.’

She lifted his hand off her stomach and placed it on her breast. ‘Make me scream, Gib. But if you don’t have condoms, I might just lose it, right now.’

‘I’ve got you covered, Bea-baby,’ Gib murmured, his eyes glinting with satisfaction. Should she ask him not to call her that? Wasn’t it the same as calling her a ‘girl’ as opposed to a woman? Why was she thinking about this, right now? She liked hearing Bea-baby coming from his mouth, it made her feel sexy, wanted, and a little cherished. Stop thinking, dammit!

He pulled away and Bea immediately missed his heat, his hands on her body, his mouth on her skin. Gib didn’t drop her eyes from hers as he reached behind him to grab his T-shirt and pull it up and over his head. His chest was tanned, his nipples were flat discs and a light, soft triangle of hair veered into a trail over the hard muscles of his stomach. He was hard, fit and supremely masculine. He made her feel feminine and when he looked at her like that, like she was the last piece of chocolate cake on the planet, her knees softened and the moisture in her mouth dried up.

She’d never felt this way before, needy, lovely, desperate and excited. She had more chance of pushing the earth off its axis than walking away from him now. Oh, a part of her, the sensible, rational part of her, knew this was a mistake, that she was entering too deep waters, but she didn’t care. He made her feel alive, more alive than she had in five years. It was a precious gift…

Bea placed her hand on his chest, her fingers drifting through the light hair on his pecs. So hard, so warm. She pushed her nose into his skin, inhaling his woodsy, sexy scent, part deodorant, part hot-man, and sighed. She was doing this, there was no backtracking now.

Gib swiped his thumb over her bottom lip. ‘You’re so fucking tempting,’ he murmured.

‘Be tempted, Gib.’ Was that really her voice? Low, soft, her words coated with desire? Gib placed his hands on her hips, and his fingertips pushed into her. She placed her open mouth on his collarbone and her tongue slid over his skin.

She wanted him. She’d never wanted anyone as much as she did Gib.

His hand moved to her lower back, and he pulled her closer to him, and her stomach connected with his erection, hard and thick. His eyes, hot and needy, slammed into hers before his mouth covered hers in a kiss that stopped her synapses from firing.

It was hot, wet, warm, desperate… Bea wound her arms around his back and pushed her breasts into his bare chest, needing to push past his skin and muscles, to find herself in the heart of him.

His hands slid up the back of her legs and underneath her shorts to rest on her bare butt cheeks. He pulled away from her, his eyes fever-bright. ‘I think we need to shed some clothes.’

She helped him pull her shorts down, the heat of his hand a contrast to the cool air swirling around her bare thighs and bottom. ‘I like being naked with you, Gib.’

‘Back at you, baby.’

Gib handed her a deep, wet, demanding kiss, and she gripped his thick hair as he plundered her mouth. He approached sex as he did everything else, with complete confidence and skill. Her nipples pebbled and the space between her legs ached. She wanted more, immediately.

Gib yanked her shirt up and tossed it to the floor, before lifting her onto him. He jack-knifed into a sitting position, and it felt completely natural to wind her legs around his hips. This was where she wanted to be, in his arms, where she felt most at home. Her bare core pressed into him, the material of his shorts creating a delicious friction over his steel-hard erection.

She’d never felt both invigorated, turned on and sexy, as well as safe, with anyone but Gib. He, this reticent man, knew exactly how to touch her, what she wanted, how she wanted him. Bea arched back and sighed when his teeth scraped over the cords of her neck, when his lips drifted over her collarbone. He pulled back to look at her, his eyes taking in her small breasts and pebbled nipples. She wished her breasts were bigger, fuller.

‘You’re perfect,’ Gib murmured, alleviating her insecurities with his sexy growl. He lowered his head, pulled her nipple into her mouth and scraped his teeth over its sensitive flesh. So damn good. He switched to her other breast and Bea tipped her head back, floating on sensation.

But, as much as she loved his attention, she needed to touch him, to give him as much pleasure as he gave her. Bea slid off his body and moved off the bed. Standing, she brushed her hands over his chest, over his ridged stomach and knocked his hand away from the band of his shorts. She pulled them down his hips, and he sucked in a breath when her fingers danced up the length of his shaft. Gib was a big guy … everywhere. And she was grateful.

She smiled, enjoying the effect she had on him. Wanting to tease him, she ran her thumbnail from the tip down, loving the sounds of his harsh breathing.

Gib moved to the edge of the bed, swung his legs off, and looked up at her with burning eyes. ‘Stand between my legs,’ he ordered her, his voice rough with need. Bea did as he asked and he skimmed his hands up her sides, over her stomach. His thumb skated across her nipples, and she moved closer, needing his lips on her. Needing his lips everywhere. Bea speared her fingers into his soft hair, loving the way he trailed his mouth across his skin, and teased her before pulling her nipple against the roof of his mouth. She was already completely turned on, and she wanted him now, inside her, filling her, completing her.

‘I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you, about this,’ she murmured when his mouth moved to her sternum, his lips streaking over her skin. She clasped his face in his hands, forcing him to look up at her. She couldn’t believe that his light eyes could radiate such warmth…

Gib pulled Bea onto his lap. Her thighs straddled his and he yanked her close, and her core hit his hard, hot shaft and they both shuddered. Gib lifted his lips to grind against her and Bea saw stars behind her eyes. If he kept doing that, she’d come … right now.

As if knowing she was on the edge. Gib slowed down, his mouth skimming her shoulders, his hands running up and down her back, over her bare butt. Her hands did the same, taking in as much of him as she could, loving the muscles in his back, the bumps of his spine, and the feel of the slight scratch of his chest hair against her breasts. Gib lifted his mouth, covered hers and his tongue explored her mouth in a lazy, lovely kiss. The heat was there, but banked, needing just one spark for it to roar into a blazing inferno.

Gib, using just one arm and a whole lot of core strength, picked her up and laid her on her back on the bed. He stood between her legs and dragged his fingers down her, skating over her folds and skimming over her clitoris. Bea moaned and lifted her hips. ‘Gib, please…’ she pleaded. She needed him inside her, filling her, completing her…

‘Not yet.’

Bea sucked in a harsh breath when Gib dropped to his knees and pushed her legs apart. His clever tongue stroked her, causing her to lift her hips and whimper.

‘Please, Gib.’ She wasn’t the type to beg, but she wanted what only he could give her, as quickly as possible.

Gib’s satisfied chuckle warmed her skin, and he slid a finger inside her, his thumb resting on her clitoris. Ribbons of colour and intensity shot through her, and she managed, just, to demand his kiss. Gib kissed her, sucking her into his mouth as he worked another finger into her, stretching her. But it wasn’t enough, she needed him, all of him…

Bea sat up on her elbows, and her ragged breathing filled the room. ‘Gib, come inside me, please.’

He looked up at her, his face tense, and nodded once, before looming over her, his tip probing her entrance. He muttered a curse and pulled back.

‘What?’ What was he waiting for?

‘Condom,’ Gib muttered.

‘Quickly,’ Bea retorted, her hands streaking over his back, his sides, down his stomach and fisting him. He groaned and jerked away from her to open the drawer of his bedside table. Pulling out a condom – thank God! – he ripped it open, and quickly covered himself before turning back to look at her. He picked a strand of hair off her face and tucked it behind her ear. ‘Are you sure about this, Bea?’

Oh, yes. She lifted her hips and shuddered as he positioned himself at her entrance. ‘Very sure. I want you, so much.’

Gib’s eyes held hers and although he didn’t speak, she caught the longing on his face, knew how hard it was for him to slow things down, to make sure they were on the same page, reading from the same book. ‘Make love to me, Gib. Please.’

Gib slid into her and buried himself deep, and Bea gasped, feeling herself stretch to take all of him. She hauled in a deep breath, and felt her body loosen, but the heavy and full sensation remained. In tune with her, he stopped and raised his eyebrows. ‘OK?’ he demanded.

‘Very.’

Bea closed her eyes as sensations, tinged with pinks and blues and yellows, rolled over and through her, every wave lifting her higher.

‘No, look at me, Bea, I want to watch you as you come,’ Gib demanded.

She looked at him through half-closed eyes, thinking he looked like a warrior, his face a study in concentration. He was waiting for her, and only then he would let loose and fly. She wanted to see him lose control, to see him when his defences were down, when he was open and needy. Using all her strength, she pushed him onto his back and dragged her core across him, before pulling his cock back and slipping down to take him inside. He groaned and gripped her hips, biting his bottom lip in concentration.

She was so close, but she wanted him wild and free, she wanted to watch him lose control. She lifted herself, slid down slowly and then clenched her internal muscles. His eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open, as he struggled to hold onto his orgasm. She repeated the motion and he groaned. ‘Bea, I can’t … please … you’ve got to…’

She liked the turbulence in his eyes, wild with need. He was usually so controlled, a little remote. She rocked again, squeezed again and told him to let go. Gib tried to hold on, but then he sighed and bucked his hips, driving up into her, pounding her. She found his rhythm, and her climax built with all the speed of a bullet train. She saw him grimace, and his fingertips dug into her hips, and his face ended up in her neck and she felt, deep down inside her, his release. And as he fell apart, she followed … falling, tumbling, spinning…

Landing in his arms, against his neck … it was her new favourite place.

* * *

Later that morning, Gib found Bea in the kitchen of the villa, helping Cass pack away the shopping she’d picked up in Fira. He’d offered to join her, but as they were leaving, he received a call from Hugh who needed his urgent input on a joint venture with a famous Nashville music producer.

Bea told him to take his call and to find her later. Not having much choice, he watched her leave, uncharacteristically pissed at having to work. After his call finally wrapped up, ninety minutes later, he listened for Bea’s rental and when he heard it return, he ambled over to the villa and headed for the back door leading into the kitchen.

He leaned against the doorframe and watched Bea help Nadia move groceries into the pantry. Golly, Reena and the Two Jacks sat around the kitchen table, eating fruit and cheese and drinking wine. He glanced at his watch, it was just twelve, but Golly and her friends evidently believed in the adage that it was five o'clock somewhere.

He stood there unnoticed by everyone but Bea, who sensed his presence and gave him a long, slow, knowing smile. He responded in the most male way possible, and he had to do multiplication tables in his head and recite the American presidents backwards to get his dick to stand down.

When things went back to normal, he tuned into a lively conversation between Golly and her friends. Bea winked at Gib – she really shouldn’t do that –and looked at her godmother. ‘Should I ask what you’re wearing to your party, Godma? Have you chosen some weird outfit that’s going to cause a stir?’

Golly lifted her nose. ‘What I wear has nothing to do with you, Bea-darling.’

‘Fair enough,’ Bea replied, looking mellow. He knew he was at least eighty per cent responsible for her feeling relaxed and laid back, and that knowledge made him feel like he could move mountains. Weird, because he never usually felt so satisfied after sex. It was a biological urge and the effects rarely lasted. But this was Santorini, the island of sunshine, and he was bound to feel different here. He just had to be careful that this romantic place didn’t affect his common sense.

Bea dropped a kiss on Golly’s cheek. ‘Wear what you want, Gols. Hell, if you want to channel Wednesday Adams or Catwoman, go for it. It’s your party.’

Golly narrowed her eyes. ‘What’s got into you?’ Her eyes danced over to him, and she grinned. ‘Well, good morning , Gib. I think that answers my question.’

Jesus.

Bea tapped her godmother’s pink head. ‘Golly, behave.’ Her eyes found his, and she shrugged and mouthed, ‘Sorry.’

He wasn’t. About any of it.

Nadia smiled at him and asked if he wanted coffee, but he refused, thanking her. ‘Actually, I’ve come to steal Bea away, I’m hoping to buy her lunch in Oia.’

Bea grinned at him. ‘That sounds like a great idea.’ She gestured to the shopping. ‘Let me just finish up.’

‘Sure.’ He was super comfortable standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame, the sun on his back. Watching her.

Bea handed Nadia a huge basket of eggs and turned to Reena. ‘Reen, you do know that you can’t wear your jodhpurs to the party, right?’ she asked, returning to their sartorial choices for tomorrow night’s party.

Reena didn’t blink. ‘Not even my new black ones with a black T-shirt and black boots? I’ll even polish them.’

Her tone was so bland that Gib didn’t know whether she was messing with Bea or not. ‘ No , Reena.’

Those bushy eyebrows pulled together. ‘I’m not a complete idiot, child. Jacqui organised something for me to wear.’

Jacqui laid her exquisitely decorated fingernails – was that a miniature portrait of Golly on them? The mind boggled! –on her heart. ‘A Fendi sheath, and you are going to look stunning, Reena.’

Reena looked horrified. ‘A dress means I have to shave my legs, Jacqueline! I asked for a trouser suit, dammit!’

Gib sucked in his cheeks to keep from laughing. Hell, he’d never been so entertained by a random conversation before. Jacqui didn’t drop her eyes from Reena’s. ‘Shall I get the strimmer out of the shed for you?’

Bea rolled her eyes at Gib.

Jacqui and Reena argued, Jack popped a piece of croissant in his mouth and wiped his carefully trimmed moustache with a linen serviette. ‘And what are you wearing, Bea-darling?’

Bea sent him a quick, naughty glance. ‘I’ve been frantic, so Jacqui kindly went shopping for me and sent me a few outfits. I finally decided on a white trouser suit with a Halston neckline and some sort of slit up the leg.’

Gib knew she was lying. He lifted an eyebrow at her, calling her out and her grin was wide. And naughty. She didn’t want him to know what she was wearing…

That was … hot . It shouldn’t be but it was.

‘You’re not going to be boring and stay in the cottage all alone, are you, Gibson?’ Golly demanded.

He hated being put on the spot, but he’d known for a few days, since he first kissed Bea, that he’d be attending Golly’s party. He wanted to be anywhere Bea was, and if that meant him being at Golly’s big bash, he’d put on his suit and socialise.

‘I’ll be there,’ he told Golly and saw relief shoot across Bea’s face. She wanted him there, with her. He shouldn’t feel happy about that, as this was, at most, a brief fling. Nothing serious. Nothing to get excited about.

Reena interrupted Jacqui’s lecture about how it was important for women to take pride in their appearance. ‘How come Bea gets to wear a trouser suit and I don’t?’ she demanded.

‘For the love of God, Reena, you are making my headache worse,’ Jacqui whimpered. ‘Nadia, do you have any painkillers?’

‘You can’t mix painkillers and booze, Jacqui,’ Nadia told her, sounding uncharacteristically bossy. Now that she felt secure around Golly and Bea, her maternal side was starting to emerge.

‘Pfft! Take a few pills, and have another drink, Jacqui,’ Golly told her friend. Gib thought abstaining, a few glasses of water and a nap might be a better idea, but what did he know?

Golly pushed away from the table and Bea raised her head to see her put her hands together in front of her chest as if she intended to pray. ‘I’m going to meditate before my big day of adulation tomorrow. Namaste .’

Golly drifted away singing Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’ off-key. Gib looked at Bea, who met his gaze, laughter and ‘do you see what I have to deal with?’ in her eyes.

‘Ready to go?’ he asked, holding out his hand. She nodded and slipped hers into his, and behind them, he heard a collective sigh, followed by a couple of ‘ aws ’.

He looked down at Bea, who looked unfazed. ‘I think they know about us,’ he deadpanned.

She faked her surprise, her eyes wide and her gasp unnaturally loud. ‘Really? What makes you think that?’

Gib laughed and tugged her toward his Jeep, resisting the urge to take her back to bed. They’d made love twice this morning and then indulged in some heavy petting in the shower afterwards. She had to be sore, and he desperately needed food.

They’d have lunch, and then they could come back for an afternoon non -nap.