Strawberries at Wimbledon (A Short Story) Read online

  'We didn’t see eye to eye all the time. We always argued about the housework.' She said lightly, recalling the year in the shared flat, the bickering followed by the frantic make up sex. This was too hard. It brought up too many bittersweet regrets and what-ifs. If she wasn’t careful she might dissolve into tears the way she’d used to after her parents died. She didn’t do that nowadays. This was still grief though, only a different kind.

  'You were lazy,' he replied to her comment, but the corner of his mouth quirked up.

  'Maybe,' she conceded, 'but you were too far the other way. Everything had to be tidied and cleaned the instant it was used.'

  'I couldn't relax with it messy.' He strode past her into the kitchen, opening the fridge and bending over to take something out. 'I'm not as bad anymore.' His disembodied voice floated toward her where she stood on the decking, admiring his lovely bum.

  'N-no?' she fanned her face, glad he wasn't able to see her reaction.

  'No.' He straightened up, a bottle of frosty champagne dangling from his fingers. 'I can leave a bit of a mess nowadays.'

  'Really?' she raised an eyebrow.

  'Yes!' he replied straight-faced, grabbing two flutes and a metal wine cooler from overhead cupboards. Then, gazing across at her, he broke into a wide grin. 'For a few hours at least.'

  'Ha ha. Well, I'm better too. When you live alone you soon learn no-one is going to pick up after you. Anyway…' Swinging around, she trailed her fingers through the hot, churning water. Enough of the yesterdays, it was time to enjoy the here and now. 'How about this dip you promised me?'

  'Right away, Miss.'

  She felt him come up behind her, heard a clatter as he put everything down. Shivered when he pressed a soft kiss on the back of her neck. Let out a quiet moan when he rubbed his whiskery stubble along her bare shoulder.

  'I just thought of something.' She said in a strangled voice. 'I don't have a bikini with me. I'll have to go in, in my underwear.'

  'Or you could go in naked.' He whispered wickedly in her ear, hands sliding down over her hips, a firm finger travelling beneath her shirt to gently stroke her belly button piercing.

  She gulped at the spark of his touch and tried to think clearly. If she took everything off, the treasure on her necklace would be revealed. 'Won't your neighbours see?'

  'It's a pretty private balcony,' he gestured to the side, 'only one other property overlooks it. And I don't think they're in. It'll be fine.'

  'Hang on, I'm not doing it alone!' Knowing he'd never in a million years join her.

  'I wouldn't dream of letting you.'

  Spinning around, 'You'll go in starkers too?'

  'Yes. Why not?'

  She stared at him in amazement. 'God, what happened to you?'

  He shrugged. 'When you've cliff jumped nude in Thailand on a new moon with a beach full of people watching you, sitting in a hot tub on your balcony isn't such a big deal.'

  'How-' she gaped.

  'A dare,' he anticipated her question. 'From a very good friend, who taught me a lot about life and how to chill out.' There was a flicker of pain in his pale eyes but it faded as he looked her up and down challengingly. 'Anyway, get your kit off.'

  'Fine.' She hastily undid the necklace and stuffed it in her pocket. 'Don't want it to get damaged,' she explained. Whipping off her top, she wiggled out of her shorts, kicking them aside. This was it. All or nothing. So what if she was more than four years older since the last time he'd seen her naked? He'd always loved her body, and though she was curvier now, if you were attracted to someone it was the whole package you liked. An extra inch here or a dimple there didn't matter.

  He gulped, stepping back so he could see more of her in the matching red bra and knickers. 'Wow. You look amazing.'

  'Thanks.' Trying not to beam at the compliment but failing miserably.

  'My turn.' Undoing his shirt to reveal the most defined pecs and the most ridiculous set of abs she'd ever seen.

  'You-' her voice deserted her. How embarrassing. 'You look great too. I mean, more than great.' Ryan Gosling eat your heart out. 'You obviously go to the gym.'

  'Nah.' He unzipped his jeans and pushed them down his thighs. She gazed open-mouth as his back muscles rippled. She didn't know they could do that. 'I prefer to be outside,' he explained as he straightened up and stepped closer, 'I run a lot, do press ups and sit ups, mainly in Regents' Park. I love being outside.'

  'That's miles away!'

  'Just over three. Doesn't take too long if you run it.'

  'You never used to be outdoorsy.' She sighed as his fingers trailed along her collarbone and came to rest at the back of her neck, tunnelling into her shoulder-length hair. It felt so damn good, like coming home at the end of a trip to where you belonged.

  'I became a bit of a sun worshipper while I worked abroad. I love the feeling of sunshine on my face, seeing waves of heat rise in the distance, watching a beautiful orange-red sunrise.'

  'You must be bummed to be back in Blighty then.' Why did they keep talking? Surely they should have got down to it by now, should be rolling around on the floor getting messy and sweaty? No point in sex with an ex if you never got to the sex part.

  'It has its compensations.' He kissed her, bit her bottom lip, then moved his face a breath away, his fingers massaging her scalp, sending tingles down her entire body. 'And it was time for me to come home. Time for me to settle, at least for a while.’

  'Uh-huh. Good.' Her brain function was quickly disappearing with his fingers working their magic. Eyes sliding shut, she squirmed closer and tucked shaking fingertips into the waistband of his jockey shorts. His skin was burning hot, and smooth. 'Adam?'

  'Yeah?' He cleared his throat, his other hand tracing a circle on her lower back, before sliding into the top of her knickers.

  'Do you think we can hit the hot tub later?' Pushing her bra clad boobs against his solid chest.

  He groaned, squeezing her bum and pressing his hips against hers, so her hands were trapped between their bodies. 'What have you got in mind?' he demanded hoarsely.

  A burning, pleasurable ache started spreading outwards from her pelvis, clenching her inner thigh muscles, tightening her nipples. 'Kitchen. Now.'

  'Yes. Definitely.' He picked her up with flattering speed, arm muscles flexing. Wordlessly she wrapped her legs and arms around him as he strode into the apartment. 'Sod the tub, and the champagne.' He gritted as he set her down on a kitchen unit and sank down to his knees to start kissing the inside of her thigh. 'They can wait.'

  She moaned and grabbed his hair as his mouth travelled higher, his stubble scraping her sensitive skin.

  It took three hours and two attempts before they made it into the tub. The whole bottle of champagne was consumed at a leisurely pace…and neither of them wore a stitch of clothing.

  Lifting her head from Adam's ridged stomach, Rayne started sitting up. Dawn light filtered in through the blinds. It was going to be another sunny day. Despite that, and the incredible night they'd had, she felt dark inside, sad. She'd totally missed the point of Lily's plan. Sex with Adam, without emotions? Yeah, right. All the old feelings had boomeranged on her. The joy of being with him, the person who'd been her world for over two years. The easy pleasure she took in his company and the way he made her body sing like no-one else had ever been able to.

  'Where are you going, Ray?' He tugged her back down to lie across his chest.

  She studied him from under her lashes, the nickname and him lying back against the pillows flooding memories back. Other times and places they'd lain in bed together, talking and laughing. 'I figured it was time for me to leave.' She murmured. 'We got our closure, right?'

  ‘You think so?’ he asked roughly.

  She pulled away, grabbing a duck-down pillow and holding it to her front. ‘I thought it would help. This. But it hasn’t.’ She paused. ‘It was great though. The sex I mean,’ she finished lamely, wishing she could vanish into a convenient cave somewhere right about no
w.

  'I know, to both.' He sat up, raking a hand through his ruffled brown hair.

  The sheet fell to his waist and even with the serious turn of their conversation her gaze flitted over his gorgeous body. ’Are you angry with me? For back then? For now?' This was horrible, the gnawing guilt returning to bite her.

  He took in her expression, and sighed. ‘Honestly? Maybe I was still holding on to some resentment that you didn’t love me enough to come with me, back then. But talking to you about this stuff, and hearing you say last night how hard it was for you when I dropped it on you…I was like my mum, I was selfish to a degree. And before you say it, you probably could have been a bit more flexible too, but I pretty much blind-sided you. So I do understand. Now, I don’t feel anything other than regret that our timing was off.’

  'I see.' At his words more of the tiny, balled up knots of tension and pain she’d felt at lunch the day before unfurled, but it didn’t go altogether. Their timing had been off then, and it was still off now. He’d said he was only staying for a few months. He still wasn’t ready to settle down. And while she wasn’t actively looking for a serious relationship, she couldn’t do this again, couldn’t be with him only to lose him when he went off to see the world again. That hadn’t changed for her. She still needed a place to call home, she still wasn’t ready to give up her life for him. History did repeat itself after all.

  Leaping off the bed, she started toward the door in search of her clothes which were scattered around his flat.

  ‘Where are you going?’

  ‘I have to go to work.’

  ‘You’re leaving? Just like that?’ He bounced up off the bed, completely naked.

  ‘It’s for the best. Nothing’s really changed. I’m settled in London, you’re likely to go off somewhere again.’ Scuttling out of the room she made a beeline for the kitchen, where she found her red lacy knickers on the floor and the matching bra hanging from a cupboard handle. Scrambling around, she was at least in her underwear by the time he came storming out of his bedroom in his jockey shorts.

  ‘So, that’s it? How the hell is this closure?’

  ‘I don’t know what to tell you, Adam, apart from the fact that you’re wrong about something.’

  ‘And that would be?’ Putting his hand on his hips.

  ‘You said I didn’t love you enough to go with you. You’re wrong. I did love you enough. I love- loved,’ she fumbled the words, ‘you enough that I didn’t want you to be unhappy. If you’d have stayed you would have been miserable, you said it yourself. If I came with you, I would have been miserable, you would have known it and it would have dragged you down and ruined your adventure. The best thing was to break up and let us both move on, doing what we needed to do back then.’

  ‘Move on? I was miserable for months out there. I was helping build villages and they gave me an award for being the quickest worker. Heaving bricks around and mixing cement until I ached all over so that I could fall into bed every night exhausted, was the only thing that helped me survive.’ He stopped and ran a hand around the back of his neck. ‘Thank you for saying it, but I can’t believe you suffered the same.’

  ‘I did.’ Shaking her head. 'I adored you.'

  ‘Really?’ He stared at her, waiting for her to say more.

  'Yes. Here, if you don't believe me …' She was committed now, she may as well own up. She owed him the truth. Maybe this would give him the closure he needed, even if it didn’t bring her the same peace. Going over to the sofa, where they’d brought their clothes in from outside in the early hours of the morning, she dug around in her shorts pocket. Padding over to him, she placed her gold necklace in his open palm, watching him expectantly.

  He frowned down at it. 'Your parents' Claddagh rings. And…'

  'The ring you bought me for our first anniversary, that we always joked was a pseudo engagement ring.’

  ‘You kept it.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And you wear it every day,’ he mused, running his fingers over the jewellery.

  ‘Uh-huh.’ Tears were welling up.

  ‘I always thought you’d never agree to marry me. That’s why I never asked. If I’d asked when I wanted to, it would have been about two weeks after we met,’ he admitted.

  ‘Wow,’ she gulped, touched. ‘What made you think I wouldn’t have married you eventually, if you hadn’t decided to go abroad?’

  ‘Your parents never married, so I thought that like them, you didn’t believe in all that.’

  ‘We were too young to think about it back then. If my parents were still here now, they'd probably want me either barefoot and pregnant or campaigning for justice in some way, but ultimately they'd respect my decisions.’

  He squeezed her fingers lightly. ‘What are your feelings? Do you want to be barefoot and pregnant at some point? Will you settle down?'

  'Not yet, no. But yes, one day. I'm really enjoying my career, I'm only just coming up twenty-six and I've not met anyone I'd even consider having kids with. But someday I'll get married and start a family.'

  'Interesting.' He lifted a hand, hooked her hair behind her ear, stroked her cheekbone.

  She gulped. 'What's interesting?'

  'Considering what you've just said, I've got a proposition for you.'

  The breath left her lungs. 'What’s that?'

  'I’m sticking around, Ray. I haven’t got any plans to go abroad again, other than the occasional holiday. I said that it might only be temporary because I didn’t want to scare you off. I was trying to keep things light-hearted. But I’m here to stay, to settle down in the UK. In fact,’ he reached around her and pulled some paperwork from a drawer, ‘one of my jobs this weekend is looking for a property to buy.’

  ‘You are?’ she gazed at him, afraid to hope. ‘It is?’

  ‘Yes. So, how would you feel about having sex with someone who's no longer an ex?'

  'You want to try again?' She squeaked, heart thudding. ‘Even though you agreed with me that you can’t go back?’

  Picking her up against his chest, he ambled to the sofa, stopping to kiss her tenderly a few times on the way. Sitting down with her on his lap, he hugged her against him and rested his forehead against hers. 'Going forward seems like a plan to me.' He kissed her again, inched back to meet her gaze. 'We've both grown up. We'll talk more this time and make decisions together, instead of getting distracted by fun and sex.'

  Her mouth curved slowly. 'Well, I wouldn't be too hasty…'

  Throwing his head back, he laughed loud and low, making her stomach do that swoopy-turny thing.

  'Seriously,' she grabbed his face between her hands, 'why would you risk it? Are you really sure?'

  'I am.'

  'How? Why?'

  'Because,' he placed his long, magic-making fingers over hers, 'I knew I had to try again, when I realised I was still in love with you.'

  'When did you realise that?' She grinned, the sound of him saying it heavenly, as crazy as it was after so many years apart.

  'Isn't it obvious?' he grinned back. 'After I'd begged the couple sat behind you to swap tickets with me, while you were eating strawberries at Wimbledon.'

  Coming soon from Nikki Moore…

  Tap the cover to pre-order now.

  Also by Nikki Moore…

  Cocktails in Chelsea

  New Year at the Ritz

  Skating at Somerset House

  Crazy, Undercover, Love

  Nikki Moore

  I've adored writing and reading since forever and have always been a sucker for love stories so I'm delighted to be part of the fabulous HarperImpulse team! I write short stories and fun, touching, sexy contemporary romance and really enjoy creating intriguing characters and telling their stories.

  A finalist in writing competitions since 2010, including Novelicious Undiscovered 2012, I'm a member of the fantastic Romantic Novelists’ Association. I blog about three of my favourite things – Writing, Work and Wine – at www.nikkimooreauthor.wor
dpress.com and am passionate about supporting other writers as part of a friendly, talented and diverse community, so you'll often see other authors pop in!

  You can find me at https://www.facebook.com/NikkiMooreAuthor or https://www.facebook.com/NikkiMooreWrites or on Twitter @NikkiMoore_Auth to chat about love, life, reading or writing… I'd love to hear from you!

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