Page 11

Lori

When I’d briefly considered the possibility of catching Seb alone to see where things led, I had not imagined the opportunity would fall into my lap.

I’d thought about cornering him in a cupboard and getting hot and heavy for a dirty orgasm and then – done.

I certainly hadn’t pictured the most romantic hotel in the world, floating over dramatic rock faces in the impossibly beautiful Pyrenees.

I was still in my jersey and shorts, now caked with dried sweat.

My hair hung in salty strands around my face and a fuzzy plait past my shoulders.

I was no one’s idea of a well-turned-out date, but none of that mattered when I saw Seb waiting for me outside, holding onto the low lintel of the doorway and stretching.

I’d established he looked great in Lycra: powerful leg muscles, a labyrinth of angles and ripples in his arms and a lean, ridged torso. But it was his smile that made my insides twist with longing – as though I was the only person in the world he wanted to see in that moment, sweat and all.

A sense of inevitability hit me like déjà vu.

I’d fought the attraction for too long. I had to let this happen.

Once. We could do this once and it would be all right.

No one from the team was anywhere nearby.

Camp finished in two days and then I was heading back to Australia for Nationals. Once wouldn’t hurt.

His smile dimmed as I came closer and he reached for me.

I held out my hand automatically before I’d worked out what he wanted and he dragged me close with a kick of a smile that made me light-headed.

He smelled like a strange mix of soap and sweat and I couldn’t think properly, waiting for him to kiss me, my whole body on fire for it.

But he didn’t kiss me. ‘Hey,’ he said, his voice low and rough. ‘You came all the way here for me?’ The wonder in his voice showered tingles over my skin and he punctuated his words with a squeeze of my hand.

‘I couldn’t make one of the support staff drive all the way here again because my brother is a little shit. He said he didn’t expect you to actually make it up here alone.’

He tipped his head eloquently in response, a fleeting grimace crossing his lips. I suspected Colin wasn’t the only one who’d underestimated him.

He gestured through the doors. ‘Come inside. You told me to stay warm and then you came all this way dressed like that!’ With a gentle tug, he pulled me into the tiny reception area and closed the door.

There was no one at the desk and in the confined space, all I could think about was touching him and my skin lit up in anticipation. ‘Did you eat before you came?’

The aromas of paprika and garlic, with hints of beef and fish and everything wonderful in life, wafted from the restaurant, but I only wanted him. Perhaps that should have scared me.

‘Mmmhmm,’ I assured him. Some energy bars and a sandwich counted. ‘But did you get a room? I could do with a shower.’ And maybe you in the shower.

‘That’s the least I can offer, although I don’t mind if you want to head back straight away.’

No, I didn’t want to head back. I wanted to get naked and under the spray and then get him naked too.

Goosebumps blossomed and if my nipples hadn’t already been so hard from the cold, they might have given away my intentions.

As I followed him up the steps, the muscles in his back and the curve of his butt right in front of my eyes, I developed some mighty big intentions, most of them involving my hands and tongue and teeth.

We shared a chuckle at the tiny bathroom, but I squeezed in, hesitating before deciding to shut the door.

I probably couldn’t just strip off in front of him without talking about this first – or could I?

Ditching my hoodie and unzipping my winter jersey, I shoved the doubts away and turned on the spray.

A drawn-out moan escaped my lips as the hot water ran over my head, sluicing down my body. I’d made it through training camp. I was tired and mixed up and turned on and I felt a little dangerous. Warm and clean, I patted myself dry, wrapping the towel around me afterwards.

Flinging open the door before I had time to overthink this, I stepped into the room in my towel and two things struck me at once: first, the room was tiny and the door to the bathroom struck the bed with a little thwack; and second, if I was noticing random details like that, then my bravado was a cover for the prick of anxiety I’d been pretending not to feel.

Seb stood with his back turned, holding his phone, and doubts crowded my mind.

Did he even want this? Sure, I’d done a few ads for the women’s deodorant that sponsored me, but they’d been posed and airbrushed and not really me.

I was a sportswoman. I didn’t have much fat on me – just enough to stay healthy – but my leg muscles had their own muscles, I had surgery scars down my back and up one forearm and three of my teeth were implants after they’d been knocked out in a crash six years ago.

Maybe he was just a friendly, touchy-feely guy and didn’t actually want to do me.

‘My phone is dead,’ he muttered, still not looking at me.

‘Do you have a charge— Hunh.’ His tight exhale when he saw me was something between a sigh and a wheeze and it was all it took for me to get out of my own head and back in the game.

His eyes were bright as he stared at me, his mouth hanging open. ‘Did you… forget to get dressed?’

I was tempted to just rush at him, letting the towel drop to the floor, but I was a sensible adult and we needed to talk about this – about the ‘once’ thing, at least. So I lifted my chin and sat on the bed, patting the space beside me, where he dropped to join me gratifyingly quickly.

‘Okay, so hear me out,’ I began. ‘It’s been kind of hard to ignore each other and my focus has been off.’

He winced. ‘Focus. Right.’

‘I thought, if we let this… happen. If we…’ Now I’d got to the business end of this discussion, it was surprisingly difficult to come out with the words. ‘We have sex,’ I blurted out as dispassionately as I could. ‘Once,’ I added – my mantra for today.

‘We have sex. Once,’ he repeated, his jaw working. ‘And that will help how?’

‘It’ll be d-done,’ I stuttered. ‘Everything sorted. We… bang it all out and when I get back from Australia in spring, we’ll be back to… friends or whatever.’ Okay, that sounded unhinged, but I couldn’t take the words back now. ‘Maybe you don’t want to,’ I added quietly.

‘Lori,’ he began emphatically, turning to face me and swallowing, ‘You had me semi-hard at, “Okay.” I’m struggling to think straight because your collarbone is right there and…’

‘My collarbone?’

‘Yeah,’ he rasped, rubbing the back of his neck as his gaze slipped down my throat. ‘I keep wondering what your skin there tastes like.’

With a whump, I had full-on goosebumps, tingles and nerves standing to attention in every part of my body – every part. The pull of attraction became a throb and the guy had done nothing except make a comment about tasting my collarbone.

‘Well, you can find that out and I can get past this.’

His gaze snapped up to mine and away again. ‘I hope you can. I really do. If you think sleeping together once will get your focus back, then… let’s do it.’

‘Good,’ I said with a haggard exhale. ‘Once,’ I repeated.

He hesitated, glancing at the ceiling, before he murmured, ‘Once,’ in quiet agreement. ‘Hum, do we need to talk about contraception?’ he asked, turning to me.

‘I’m on contraception and we’re both squeaky clean, or we wouldn’t be here,’ I pointed out.

‘Yeah,’ he said, tapping his fingers on his thigh.

I turned to him until my knees nudged his and peered into his face. ‘Are you nervous?’

He was still staring at the ceiling. ‘A woman I’ve been fantasising about for two weeks – or four months, depending on how you look at it – wants to have sex with me and you think I wouldn’t be nervous?’

My brain was in a fog and I needed him to touch me already – before this conversation reminded me too much of those cosy moments hearing his voice in my ear.

‘Lore,’ he said softly, his palm snaking around the back of my neck and his forehead dropping to mine.

Longing flared up inside me – but for what?

His warm hand was unbearable and necessary on my skin, but a deep restlessness rose up inside me as well.

‘We stay friends, yes?’ It was a condition, not a question.

‘Yes.’

‘I look after you, you look after me. Friends,’ he repeated, this time tilting his head and drawing close enough that his breath feathered my lips. I would have said just about anything to get him to kiss me.

‘Yes!’

His hand slid from my neck to my face, his other hand coming up to my jaw and I had a moment of fear that everything was about to change and any promises we made could end up dust. But he came solemnly nearer, holding me still and, with a slow, purposeful movement, his mouth tasted mine.

I was making a mistake. The ache that started up inside me should have warned me off, but the soothing brush of his lips, the relief that swept through me when he increased the pressure and teased me with the tip of his tongue, pushed out my concerns in a heartbeat.

It might be a mistake later, but right now, the kiss was everything.