C H A P T E R 3 0 : H I S P R I N C I P L E E L L A S T A N F O R D “I want you, Ella. Damn.” She heard the hoarse sound he made. He pulled her head back and lowered his own, their mouths clinging, filled with a driving physical need that beat through her veins like fire, turning her body into helpless fluidity. Javier held her body between his roving hands and she made no effort to stop him, shuddering with pleasure under the kiss which seemed to last endlessly, as though in itself it were an act of possession. And that was when she realized in the distant recess of her mind that she was in love with him. That she had always been. She had always been more aware of his presence in a room than she had dared admit. He had gradually filled every corner of her heart without her either being able to stop it or admit it. Her driving need to give herself to him, to throw away years of firm principle, was the ultimate expression of a love which, like an unwanted weed, had thrived on
C H A P T E R 3 1 : H E R F I R S T M E E T I N G E L L A S T A N F O R D The correct word to decribe it was ‘strange’, Ella decided. It was strange to fall into a deep slumber when her mind was so disturbed, but her mental and physical exhaustion was such that she fell soon afterwards into bottomless sleep, her body curled on its side, one hand beneath her cheek, in the attitude of a weary child. Perhaps her mind was not completely asleep because she could feel him. She was not sure what the time was and whether she was imagining things or it was truly happening. But she felt his hand touching her face, caressing her cheek, and then she felt his lips on her forehead, giving her a light goodnight kiss someone would give a child. Ella wanted to open her eyes so badly to see whether it was merely a fickle of her imagination or if it was
C H A P T E R 3 2 : W A S T E D T I M E A N D A N E A R M I S S J A V I E R S U M M E R S After finishing his whiskey, Javier placed the empty crystal glass on the counter and walked towards the balcony. He spent a few hours sitting on the balcony, watching the lights of the houses below and the moving waves far ahead. It was around midnight when he finally got back inside. He prompted himself as he passed the bathroom door. He wondered if she had fallen asleep and furthermore, he wondered if she was okay. Walking through the joint bathroom, he slowly opened her door and went inside her room. Everything looked exactly like how he had left it a few hours earlier. Carefully, without making any sound, he walked in further into the room. He found her on the bed, curling on its side with one hand beneath her cheek. She looked angelic but he knew she was tired. Today h
C H A P T E R 3 3 : H I S W A K E U P C A L L A N D W O R R I E S E L L A S T A N F O R D After her brief meeting with Joseph, she had picked up her book and beach towel and gone back to the hotel. Not surprisingly enough, there was no sign of Javier. Almost as soon as she laid her head on the pillow, she fell asleep. After what felt like a few hours later, she woke up and stretched her body. It seemed that the rest had swept away some of her tiredness. Fluttering her eyes opened, she saw him. Against the open french windows, his body taut, Javier was standing, staring at her. For a moment they looked at each other in silence. From complete relaxation Ella felt herself plunge into breathless awareness. His face was an expressionless mask. All traces of the desire, rage, and frustration he had shown last night were gone. “I was beginning t
C H A P T E R 3 4 : T H E A C C I D E N T I N T H E M I D S T O F S T O R M E L L A S T A N F O R D Ella opened her eyes to smile at him. “Just about. I must admit, this sunshine is soporific.” “Sop-what now?” he asked oddly. “What does it mean?” “It makes me feel sleepy,” she said, laughing. “Then it certainly a word that does not describe you,” he said, uncaring of Javier’s listening presence. “You do not affect me like that at all. In fact, you made me wide awake.” She wrinkled her nose at him. In the past such a remark from a young man might have irritated her, but she treated it lightly now. Her realisation that she loved Javier had given the world a new brightness, freeing her from many of her cherished inhibitions. She felt laughter bubbling inside her chest. Happiness see
C H A P T E R 3 5 : W H E N H E O P E N S U P A N D S H E G I V E S I N E L L A S T A N F O R D Javier shrugged. “At least we are alive,” he said. “All I hope is that we can start the car again. We are about a mile from my brother’s cottage and there is no village for hour miles back. The nearest garage is about seven miles off.” They got back into the car. “Okay, let’s try again.” he said, starting the ignition. Astonishingly, it sprang to life at the second attempt, and he carefully reversed back from the tree. They started to drive around the corner and emerged on to a flat narrow road bordered on one side by trees through which she could just see a river bank. On the other ran orchards whose blossom-covered branches tossed wildly to and fro in the wind. Javier sighed with relief, dr
C H A P T E R 3 6 : T H E A R T O F L O V E M A K I N G ❗ W A R N I N G ❗(not that you need any) This chapter contains explicit content. E L L A S T A N F O R D She leaned back against the door and watched as he reached down his back, grabbed a fistful of his drenched shirt, and pulled it over his head. The bottom of his shirt lifted from the waistband of a pair of worn Levi’s resting low on his hips. It rose up the narrow dark line of hair on his flat, six packs belly. His happy trail circled down his navel then climbed up the ridges of his abdomen. He used it to wipe his face then dropped the shirt on the floor. He stood before her in wet jeans and damp skin. He shook his head like a dog, sending droplets everywhere. One droplet landed on her top lip and she took a breath in a
C H A P T E R 3 7 : P I E R S J O S E P H S U M M E R S J A V I E R S U M M E R S Later, she lay in his arms, in the warmth of his embrace and soft glow of good sex and soothing heat from the fireplace. If someone had told her a month ago whether she would end up in a stranded cabin in a wood somewhere in Sicily, naked with her boss's body — also naked— pressed against hers as if they were lovers, she would have laughed out loud. Yet here she was. Would she regret it? In all honesty, she did not know. She was probably going to regret it in the morning, when this dreamy reality would lose the word dream and became nothing more than just a reality — something she had to face head on. What if he was going to leave her in the morning? What if when the sun rose up, he would tell her that this had been a mistake? What would she do then? Her brain wanted her to rethink about all of this but her heart was t