Falling for Alexander (Corkscrew Bay #2) (12 page)

Not quite phone sex, and yet her body hummed with awareness of him on the other side of the line while bath oils caressed her tingling skin. The intimacy wrapped around her heart, warming, binding them as close as when their bodies had been tangled.

Closer, now that he was opening up to her, speaking about his day, his life. Slowly, she was beginning to believe he’d let her over onto his side of those walls. The bonds of trust spinning a web around her, drawing her in, were real this time. If she blinked, Alexander would still be there, would still be hers. Probably crazy, but he filled her completely, with an intensity unlike any other emotion she’d ever experienced, and she didn’t want to reserve any space for doubt.

“
Not that I’m complaining,” Alexander cut into her thoughts, “but you’ve read that last sentence five times.”

“
You’re not seriously interested in Mrs. Sellman’s mole infestation theories, are you?”

“
I just like listening to your voice,
cara
.”

Kate closed her eyes as his sensual confession
washed over her.

What are we doing?
She bit down on her lip to keep the question inside her heart. Too serious. Too soon.

But as the week passed, each day ending with a phone call from Alexander, as they spoke for hours about everything and nothing, she c
ould no longer pretend that she didn’t know exactly what she was doing.

She was falling in love.

Chapter Fourteen

Sunday arrived with a light drizzle that made no impact on the turnout for the Easter egg hunt. At least three-quarters of the town had come out for the day, four generations of local families swarming between the tents that dotted the field sloping from the east wing into a wooded area.

If Kate had needed confirmation that she wasn
’t alone in missing the connection between the castle and the town, she was looking at it. She couldn’t keep the smile off her face as she wove a path through the sea of familiar faces, waving, calling out greetings and stopping to chat every now and then as she went.

She finally caught up with Finn at the panca
ke line, his arm around a sun-kissed brunette he introduced as Melanie, down from Newcastle for the week.

Kate exchanged a few pleasantries with the girl, who seemed nice enough but wouldn
’t be around for long. None of Finn’s girls ever were. The last time he’d actually dated anyone, let alone someone from town and not simply passing through, was…well, she couldn’t even remember.

“
You’re unusually happy.” Finn’s gaze slid over her with amusement. “Something you want to share?”

“
No secret.” Kate threw her arms out. “It just feels like a bit of normal has been restored.”

“
From what I’ve seen this morning, the entire town agrees,” Finn said, his tone touched with warm sincerity. “I know we give you a lot of grief over it, but some traditions are worth the fight.”

“
Thank you!”

He chuckled. “
Keep playing nice with Darrock’s owner and this might become an annual event again.”

“
I haven’t been
playing nice
with Alexander.”

“
What have you done to the poor man now?” came a lazy drawl from behind.

She rolled her eyes at
Harry as he joined them. “Why do you always assume it’s what I’ve done? Did it ever occur to you he might have done something to me?”

“
Did he?” Harry cocked a brow at her.

Finn gave a shout of laughter. “
Good luck getting that story out of her.”

“
Who’s Alexander?” asked Melanie.

“
You’re all so hilarious.” Kate turned from them to walk away. “Excuse me while I go and kill myself laughing.”

She hadn
’t gotten far before Finn came after her.

“
Hey, is everything okay? Is it something I said?”

She shook her head
.

He grabbed her arm, forcing her to stand and face him. “
We were just messing with you. You know I’d never breathe a word of what you told me about you and Alexander. Not even to Izzy.”

“
I know.” Kate met his worried gaze with a weak smile, only now realising that her sudden unease had everything to do with what Finn had said. “I’m just not in the mood for a Harry lecture and I promised Marge I’d help shepherd the kids through the forest trail.”

“
Are you sure?”

“
I’m fine, Finn.”

But her smile collapsed the
moment she turned from him to walk on.

How naï
ve was she, imaging a future with Alexander?

She respected his need for privacy, to distance himself, his home, from the outside world. If he needed those walls, she no longer wanted to break them down. He was
n’t the recluse she’d initially assumed, obviously, but Castle Darrock was his sanctuary.

Could she really stand by his side, however,
ignoring petitions every year.

Could she ever live on his side of the wall, being the one that disappointed the town?

The questions and doubts churned her stomach throughout the day and when she spoke to Alexander later, she couldn’t stop herself from asking, “Where are we going with this?”

“
I don’t know,” he said after a small pause. “Does it matter, so long as we’re going there together?”

Together.
One little word with the power to erode most of her doubts. Sometimes, she was such an idiot.

Alexander had already shown he was prepared to compromise, and so could she. If they somehow worked out, if the intensity of what she f
elt after such a short time wasn’t all purely in her head.

“
Is that enough,
cara
?”

“
That’s perfect.” She bit her lip on a smile. “I miss you.”

“
I miss you, too.” His voice deepened to a rumble that rolled along her spine. “And I have so many ways to show you just how much.”

“
You are such a tease.”

“
It’ll be worth the wait,” he promised.

As much as Kate tried not to put her life on hold, waiting, she found herself counting down the days, and then the hours when she knew his flight had touched down in Heathr
ow.  Butterflies took up residence in her pulse, and she wasn’t even expecting to see him until the following day. He still had to make the long journey down to Cornwall.

She screwed her eyes at the computer screen, determined to apply her mind to the list
of summer internship applications she was reviewing. She now had two part-time employees who contributed feature columns and she’d recently contracted a marketing agency to help drum up advertising sales.

This was the first year she felt the paper suffici
ently established to offer internships and she was possibly more nervous than the applicants.

She didn
’t want to fail any of the starry-eyed students who dared to dream big. The Corkscrew Weekly wasn’t exactly a glam rag or thrill ride.

The only exciting n
ews the town had seen in decades was Alexander and the celebrities he apparently hosted from time to time, and that was all strictly off limits.

Kate sat back with a sigh. She
’d be a liar if she didn’t admit the slight tug between her personal and professional life. Damn, but that would make a good story.

She glanced up and her gaze landed on the man himself. Her cheeks flamed with guilt, and then there was no space for anything else except Alexander.

“I didn’t think you’d get here until at least midnight.” She pushed to her feet, drinking in the sight of his rumpled hair, those gorgeous grey eyes, the grin sliding over his granite jaw.

“
I was able to charter a flight to Penzance,” he explained, long strides bringing him closer and closer. “I was going to phone, but decided to surprise you instead.”

Her fingers flew to her hair, to the messy knot she
’d tied at some point during the day.

“
You’re beautiful,
cara
,” he said, as if reading her mind. He came to a halt on the other side of her desk, his gaze softening on her. “
Dio
, I’ve missed the sight.”

His adoration nearly undid her.

She wasn’t beautiful, but to him, she felt like the most beautiful woman on the earth. Unable to be apart from him a moment longer, she rounded the desk and threw herself into his arms.

He held her tightly, his heart thudding against hers, his words a blend of foreign phrases and sin murmured into her hair.

When she recognised the word
adoro
she strained back to look into his eyes, a smile sneaking over her lips. “I adore you, too.”

“
Oh, you do, do you?” His hands slid over her backside, pressing her flush against him as his mouth covered hers in a kiss that lingered with tantalising nips and licks.

When he didn
’t deepen the kiss, she took the initiative, thrusting her tongue inside. He met her thrusts with increasing urgency, stroking, mating, his tongue curling around hers, claiming.

Her hands dipped beneath his thin sweater, her fingers grazing warm skin. His back was lean, rippled muscle, burning up her fingertips. His body was amaz
ing, athlete fit without an inch of slack. He was gorgeous, deliriously so, but the sensations stirring up her hormones were so much more, a unique blend of his essence with hers. The chemistry between them was electrical, pulsing through her veins.

He pul
led out of the kiss, bumping up against the desk. His arms remained around her, loosely circling her waist. “Kate, I didn’t come here for this.”

“
I should hope not,” she said breathlessly. “That doesn’t mean it can’t happen.”

“
Not here.” His gaze hooked hers. “Not like this.”

Her nails raked his skin lightly as she slid her hands from his back and rested them on his shoulders. “
We can go to my place.”

“
I can’t stay,
cara
. I just needed to see you, to say hello.”

“
Of course,” she said, the disappointment not making a dent in her arousal. “You must be exhausted. I understand.”

“
I also needed to talk to you,” he said softly. “It’s going to be difficult for me to spend much time with you this week.”

Wow! Her spine stiffened. She hadn
’t seen this coming.

She star
ted to back away, but his arms locked her in. She lowered her eyes to his chest, not knowing what to say…what to think…what to feel. Black holes seemed to open behind her knees, threatening to suck the whole of her in.

“
No, Kate, don’t do that. Look at me. I want to spend time with you. I want you.” His voice was gruff with the want he spoke of, pulling her gaze back to his. “My life’s just complicated for the next few days, okay? Busy. Come the weekend, and I’m all yours.”

She struggled to get a breath of
air in. But the longer she looked at him, into those eyes still stormy from that kiss, the easier breathing became.

Strength ebbed back into her bones.

“Dammit, Alex.” She slammed her palms against his chest. “I thought you were dumping me.”

His hands cov
ered hers, his fingers entwining with hers. “I wouldn’t know how to let you go,
cara.
”

He leant forward, dropping a kiss on her forehead. Their fingers still joined, he whispered kisses across her temple, down the line of her cheekbones, finally capturing
her mouth with a force of passion that drowned her senses.

“
And I want
this
,” he murmured on her lips. “
Dio
, I’m so hard for you, but this isn’t how I want to make love to you.”

“
Feels good to me.” She shifted closer, rubbing against his erection. Maybe it was the adrenaline after that brief shock. Or maybe it was the way he had of tearing her heart open a hundred ways and managing to seal it back with a hundred more pieces of himself inside. But she was burning up for him.

A guttural curse left his throat
before he said hoarsely, “I didn’t stop by to get laid on my way home. I won’t treat you like that.”

“
You can wine and dine me when your life un-complicates itself.” She rocked her hips, groaning as she felt him thicken and lengthen through the denim he wore. “I’m so turned on right now, Alex. I’m so hot for you.”

“
I don’t have protection with me,
cara
.”

Was he looking for an excuse? She took her hands from his, weaving her fingers through his hair as she looked into his eyes. Was he really too tired? The
weight of his erection riding up along her belly indicated otherwise. He was just still hung up about this being a booty call.

“
Second drawer.” Her fingers trailed down his neck, over the corded muscle at his shoulders. “There’s a pack of condoms.”

He lean
t backwards, slanting his head from her as he reached for the drawer on the other side of the desk. “Ribbed for your pleasure, huh?”

“
A welcome-home gift for you,” she murmured, gliding forward with him. “Not ribbed. Strawberry flavoured…” She nipped his earlobe, then circled her tongue in the hollow behind. “And definitely for my pleasure.”

“
Strawberry.” He came back up with the box, his body tense and rigid beneath her. “Does it make a difference?”

Small talk? Really?

But then she saw what he was doing. His eyes had darkened to charcoal with the desire he was trying so hard to resist.

She
’d had just about enough of his restraint. He could be a gentleman some other time. Right now, she wanted fast and wild. She wanted him anyway she could get him.

Straighte
ning slightly, her nails scraping down the front of his sweater, all the way to his belt, she smiled. “It certainly will, when I nibble it off you.”