The Holiday (9 page)

"The Kyoto Gardens."

"Excellent. Have fun,"
she said as she took an incoming call. "I'm only accepting good news
today, John."

Leilani watched her new friend
walk away. "I feel guilty. I came here to help her with the show, she's
housing me, and so far all I've done is play with you."

"I don't believe that, and
we haven't played nearly enough. But I promise I'll restrict our outings to
after work the rest of the week if you come out with me today." He brushed
a hand over her shoulder. "I was staring out my office window at the
lovely day, and thinking about you, and I realized that the place I needed to
be was actually Holland Park with you. Say you'll go."

"Let's go," she said,
grabbing her purse.

They arrived a short while later.
The walk through the park was lovely, and she relaxed into his company.

"This is what I wanted to
show you," he said gesturing ahead of them. "Kyoto Gardens."

"It's a Japanese
garden," she said softly, enchanted by the gentle waterfall in front of
them.

"Holland Park houses the
lovely Kyoto Gardens as well as an orangery, a cricket pitch, a youth hostel,
and peacocks."

"Peacocks?" She
couldn't help grinning.

"Hostile creatures, quite
frankly." He squeezed her hand. "You said you missed your father. I
thought coming here might make him feel closer."

Her heart stuttered and then felt
like it filled with warmth. Impulsively, she kissed him. "Thank you. It
does make me feel close to him."

"When I miss my father, I go
to the Bank of England." At her questioning look, he smiled. "My
father loved it there. He used to take me as a child, teaching me about money
and the way it flows through the world. Energy, he called it."

"You miss him."

"I do. He was a good
father."

In front of them, an adorable
little girl tugged on her parents' hands excitedly, wanting to explore a path
to the left. When they let her go, she skipped happily toward it, pirouetting
once on the way.

"I wonder what sort of
father I'll be," Colin said.

She turned to him. "Do you
want children?"

"Yes." There wasn't the
slightest bit of hesitation in his answer. "I used to think I didn't,
because it was expected of me. But in all the things expected of me, that's one
thing that I don't mind doing." He studied her. "Don't you want
children?"

"I haven't thought of it."
She and Aaron were expected to have children—it was what you did. But
since he'd died she hadn't considered it.

The peace she'd been feeling dissipated
a little. She didn't want to talk about children. The subject opened
complicated doors.

She'd have to steer the
conversation back toward safer grounds—sex. So she stopped in the middle
of the path, pressed herself against him, and kissed him.

There was no prelude to softness,
no illusion of sweetness. Their kiss was all passion and heat and need.

She moaned into his mouth,
feeling him stir against her belly. "Colin, take me home."

Colin didn't need to be told
twice. He rushed her to his home, as fast as he dared because he didn't want to
risk killing them.

Leilani laughed as he hurried her
out of the car and into his home, but she didn't fight it. "You're
eager," she said.

He unlocked the door. "You
don't seem to be dragging your feet."

"Feet aren't what I'm
thinking about right now."

She spoke in that soft, slightly
shy, extremely sexy way she had, and he went completely ready and able. He
turned to kiss her, but he cursed when he heard the unmistakable frantic
clicking of the beast. "MacLeod, sit."

But the dog rushed at them, happy
to see them.

Colin stepped in front of Leilani
to spare her the onslaught. "Sit, MacLeod."

The dog sighed and then sat.

"Did he just roll his
eyes?" Leilani asked.

"I wouldn't put it past him.
Come on." He took her hand and dragged her a couple steps. Then, because
it was quicker, he tossed her over his shoulder and carried her to his room.

MacLeod barked once, as though
approving, and trotted after them.

Leilani laughed. "Colin, I'm
heavy. You'll hurt yourself."

"You're a feather. Now don't
distract me. I don't want to drop you."

She laughed again. "MacLeod
thinks we're playing."

"We are, just not with
him." At his bedroom, he turned around and pointed at the dog.
"You're staying out here."

The dog pouted and dropped to the
floor with a huff.

Entering his bedroom, he closed
the door behind him.

"You don't let him in
here?"

He shook his head.
"Performing under his critical eye seems something I don't need to subject
either of us to."

"Good decision." She
gasped when he tossed her on the bed, then she gasped again as he straddled her.

He pushed up her dress so it
gathered above her breasts, revealing the wisp of her panties and her bra. Then
he lowered one lacy cup of her bra, revealing a raspberry tip he couldn't help
but lick.

She arched up into him, spearing
her fingers in his hair as though she wanted to keep him close forever. Wishful
thinking on his part, most likely, but he'd work on it.

Sitting up, he surveyed his
handiwork. She lay flushed and panting under him.

It was enough to drive a man to
distraction. Sitting back on his haunches, he took his coat off and slowly
unbuttoned his shirt. "I like looking at you like this."

"I feel wanton." Her
gaze fell to his chest, and she bit her lower lip.

"You feel perfect." He
shoved his shirt off and undid his belt buckle.

She tugged her dress.
"Should I take this off?"

"Leave it. It's like
Christmas. I like to unwrapped my gifts at a leisurely pace."

"I've never been called a
gift before."

"You're the best gift I've
ever gotten." He shifted to take his pants off, extracting a condom from
the pocket before tossing them aside. She watched him carefully as he slid it on,
and her gaze heated him as surely as her touch.

Her legs wrapped around his
waist, trying to get the hard part of him closer to the softest part of her.

He obliged, pressing himself to
her center, to the lace that covered her moist heat. Unable to take a moment
longer, he pushed her underwear aside and slid all the way into her.

Just like the first time, and
every time since, she felt like a glove—a velvety perfect fit, holding
him tight. He closed his eyes, trying to reign in his control.

She ran her hands over his chest,
pulling him down and rubbing herself against him. "This feels good."

"An understatement."

"Yes." She bit her lip
and threw her head back.

He ran his mouth along the column
of her neck. She smelled perfect. She felt perfect, writhing under him. He
reached his hands under her arse and held her to him.

He'd planned on taking it slow,
but that idea was doomed from the moment he kissed her. So he took her in the
most elemental way he'd ever bedded a woman—a frenzy of need and
desperation and passion so strong he lay dazed in its wake.

He felt her climbing to climax,
her body coiling under his. He held her arms over her head with one of his
hands and drove into her, dying to feel the clench of her desire. He ran his
hand down her body, between them, touching her in that perfect spot.

She cried out his name, and he
felt her grip him inside her as she burst into pleasure. Just like that, she
took him over the edge with her, a dizzying mélange of pleasure so intense he
thought he might die.

Fortunately he didn't. He collapsed
half on her, half off so he wouldn't crush her. Neither could speak, they
breathed so heavily.

Still holding her arm over her
head, Colin laced his fingers with hers. He felt her hesitate the tiniest
moment before she squeezed his hand and nestled closer to him.

He held her there, close to his
heart, and all he could think was that this was the best thing ever. Better
even than lemon cake, and that was saying something. "Come away with me
next weekend," he said.

She lifted her head. "Next
weekend?"

"You and me. To Bath."

The way she looked at him he
thought she was going to turn him down. He braced himself for rejection when
she smiled and said, "Okay."

"Okay," he repeated
with a smile.

It was all Colin could do to keep
the car on the road, he was so jittery.

Leilani sat next to him, calmly
answering emails on her phone. How she could be so cool and collected, he had
no idea. But then she didn't know what he was planning to do this weekend.

Mel would have called it a ballsy
move. He figured he was either absolutely brilliant or completely daft.

She dropped her phone in her
purse and turned to him. Taking his hand, she said, "Tell me about
Bath."

"You know how it gets its
name, I assume?"

"For the restorative baths
the Victorians visited."

"Yes, but the town was a spa
long before that, dating back to the Roman occupation. The Romans liked their
creature comforts, but I suppose we all do. They built a town around the hot
springs and dedicated it all to their goddess Minerva. Recently the largest
hoard of Roman coins was found on a dig near the Roman Baths."

"It'd be exciting finding
treasure like that."

That was how he felt about her.
He cleared his throat. "We'll go to the Roman Baths of course, but as I
understand Carolyn's created a bath of sorts on her property."

"Who's Carolyn?"

"My cousin. A number of
years ago she bought a house on the outskirts of Bath and converted it to a bed
and breakfast. It's apparently quite lovely."

"You've never been there?"

"I was a workaholic,
remember?" And he'd never had anyone he'd wanted to take.

They arrived at Carolyn's guesthouse.
Parking the car, Colin took the bags out of the boot as Leilani looked around.
"It's beautiful here."

It was. Carolyn had picked a good
property, nestled in the rolling hills and surrounded by lush greenery. "We're
at the edge of an Area of Outstanding Beauty."

Grinning, she moved to help him
carry one of the bags. "That sounds official."

"It's the official title for
the Cotswolds, this range of hills. We're at the southern end, though Bath is
situated in a valley." He closed the boot and nodded to the front door.
"Shall we?"

"I keep expecting MacLeod to
bound over and join us," Leilani said as they went up the cobbled walkway.
"I've grown oddly attached to that dog."

"He is a loveable beast,
isn't he?"

"It was nice of George to
take him."

"Nice has nothing to do with
it. George uses him to pick up women."

The front door burst open, and
his cousin stood in the threshold beaming in an unholy manner. Carolyn was only
a dozen years older than him, but she'd always looked like an upper-class
British matron, even as a teenager. Her wardrobe of elegant but simple dark
dresses didn't help. Even her hair was in the same pageboy it'd always been.

"Colin, you devil you. If I
wasn't here to see it with my own eyes I'd never believe it." She lifted
her face, waiting.

He kissed her proffered cheeks.
"Carolyn, you look just as you always have."

She giggled, smoothing her hair.
"You've always had a glib tongue, haven't you? Although not as glib as
George."

"There's nothing glib. I
mean it."

Carolyn turned to Leilani, her
expression eager and curious. Holding out her hand, she said, "I'm Carolyn
Wakefield, Colin's cousin."

"Leilani Wakida."

"
Such
a pleasure meeting you. I had you booked in the blue
room"—she winked at him—"but I'll move you to the rose
room, of course."

"Of course," he
muttered.

"Up the stairs and all the
way to the back. The door is open. Colin, be a dear and take the bags with
you."

Family. Resisting the urge to
shake his head, he smiled at Leilani. "Shall we?"

She nodded and then smiled at
Carolyn. "Thank you."

"Oh, it's
definitely
my pleasure." Based on the
look in his cousin's eyes, she was calculating who she was going to call first
to announce that he'd gone on holiday with a woman. "Tea is at four, in
the sitting room through those doors."

As they went up the stairs,
Leilani whispered, "What do you think is in the rose room?"

"She made it sound like it
was full of naughty toys or some such things, didn't she?"

"A heart-shaped bed at the
very least." She walked up to the doorway and looked in.

So did he. The room was decorated
in rose hues, soft and romantic. The bed wasn't heart-shaped, but it dominated
the room, with filmy drapes cascading down the sides. There was a fireplace,
and a quick peek in the bathroom revealed a Jacuzzi tub for two.

"This is great,"
Leilani said, joining him in the doorway to the bathroom. "I love the rose
room."

He set down the bags in a corner
and gathered her in his arms. "I believe we should inspect the bed."

Her eyes betrayed her amusement.
"Do you think there might be something wrong with it?"

"We should check." He
walked her backwards until her legs touched the high mattress. "Carolyn
would want to know if we weren't comfortable."

"Then we should make sure we're
comfortable." She unbuttoned his shirt slowly, kissing him like always—like
she wanted to devour him.

"I love this," he said
softly against her mouth. "I love that you didn't hide how much you want
me."

"It's so much, I couldn't
possibly." She trailed her fingers over his chest and she pushed his shirt
off.

It was heady, that she was so
vocal about wanting him. No games, no pretenses. He loved how she saw who he was,
and what he was, and didn't care about the trappings.