said nothing.
He broke the silence. “Let’s go for a burn.”
“We ought to get back.”
“It’s just you, me, a bike and a beach,” he coaxed. “What’s not to like?”
Maggie’s heart skipped a beat. Hannah had said something earlier about arranging a special one-off over-sand permit for the bike, so she guessed it would be okay. It was hard to say no to a dose of Alex; muscled, lean, in leather, on a motorbike. She climbed on and wrapped her arms around his middle. He felt warm beneath the smooth biker jacket, his firm abs divine. She’d heard that Cape Cod was a little piece of heaven. Speeding across the sand, wrapped in designer silk, clinging on to Alex like she’d never have to let go – it truly was.
Holding on to him, like he’d always be there, realization as transparent as a sheet of glass hit her. She’d told Alex that she didn’t believe in The One. Not because she didn’t think she could love one man forever. What she didn’t believe was that one man could love her forever. It felt good that she’d got the AI off her chest, although his reaction had been weirdly nitpicky. Why should he care? She pressed in tighter to his body and flattened her face against his back. He felt sensational and she was going to relax and enjoy the moment.
Far along the beach, and far from the curious eyes of Nick and their colleagues, Alex pulled up and cut the engine.
He sat astride the bike looking at the ocean in silence. Maggie hopped off, bent down and picked up a shell. She held it in the palm of one hand and dusted the grains of sand away with the purple nail of her index finger. Amongst clumps of dry seaweed and mermaid’s purses, she spotted a flash of green sea glass tumbled opaque in the waves. She went to pick it up and suddenly Alex was right there. He reached out and pulled her into his arms. She inhaled sea salt and sexy man.
“I’m going to have to kiss you. You know that, don’t you?”
Um – no. Where did that come from? “I’m not your leading lady,” she joked.
“Oh yes you are.” Now that the photos were done he was smiling his big relaxed smile as if he’d reserved it for her and her alone. “Thanks for your message.”
What message? “Oh, I see.” She got where he was coming from. He’d put the clock back. He was talking about the message she’d left with Nick ten years ago wishing him luck and love. “You can’t turn back time.”
“I wish I could.”
“That’s crazy.”
He tightened his arms around her and her bones dissolved. There was no way they could close the gap, but she went with the flow. Her hands flew up and linked about his neck pulling his head down until his lips met hers in a perfect kiss. Awed by the strength of his body holding hers and the sweet magic of his mouth, Maggie’s heart soared and a flame of longing uncurled inside her. She tangled her fingers in his hair, loving the soft warmth of his clean-shaven jaw against her skin, exploring his soft mouth, craving with each moment just a little bit more heat. Tasting, touching, taking their time, they lost themselves in each other’s spell.
Slowly, oh so languorously, they broke from the kiss.
Still reeling from Alex’s heat, Maggie shivered incongruously. He took off his jacket and wrapped it around her. “Here,” he said. “You wear this.” She shrugged her arms into the sleeves, luxuriating in the leather, imbued with Alex’s warmth.
Kisses like that are all in a day’s work for Alex! He was an actor, for heaven’s sake. He could produce kisses to order like he could weep buckets on cue, or do his own stunt work.
Back inside the temporary base at the cottage, after their blast across the beach, a reality check kicked in. He was a temporary fixture in her work life. Still, she couldn’t wait to see Layla’s face when she told her all about Hot Vampire Guy on a Harley. On second thoughts, maybe she’d keep it to herself. It had been a moment when she’d taken leave of her senses. Why in the world had she kissed him? So much for figuring that she and Alex could be just friends again. That was a giant fail. What was she playing at? One thing was certain. He might be too sexy to resist but she’d fallen for him once before and she wouldn’t be doing it again anytime soon. Scratch that. She wouldn’t be falling in love again – ever.
No matter how great the chemistry, what they’d had before was gone. They had new lives.
Maggie busied herself checking all the clothes. They were mainly press samples and she wanted to return them in good condition. She ignored Alex, tried to appear absorbed in her work, but it was obvious that he could tell she was avoiding him.
His eyes burned the back of her neck. Uncomfortable. They’d agreed to wipe the slate clean. It should be easy. Only he’d gone and kissed her, and she’d kissed him back, and now she was all over the place.
The atmosphere was dynamite. It was crystal clear to everyone that Alex and Nick weren't speaking. They had cooperated with each other during the shoot, just about. As soon it was over, a car had come to collect Nick and he’d left after a luvvy-fest of team hugs, but without a word of goodbye to Alex.
Maggie sighed. Since she’d kissed Alex on the beach she’d been like a cat on a hot tin roof. He was a distraction she didn’t need right now. She wanted to know if her AI procedure had worked. A baby would make her life complete. The perfect man she could live without. A family of her own she could not.
The day her mum ran off, she collected Maggie from school, gave her a big hug and a fancy art kit full of paints and pencils in every color under the sun, and left. Maggie drew pictures until it was time for tea, designing clothes that she thought her mum would like. Only teatime came and went and she didn’t come back. From age eight Maggie had lived with her grandmother. When she’d died the only strong branch on the family tree had gone.
She hadn’t been able to bring herself to do the pregnancy test. She lacked the courage. Something was wrong here. She couldn’t face making this very personal discovery so far from home, and in the midst of a bunch of strangers.
And Alex.
This was a one-woman project. Maybe she should have kept it that way. The best thing would be to wait until she got back to London to do the test. Or better still, go to her cottage in Cornwall and do the test with Layla there for moral support. She’d prefer not to find out alone in a faceless hotel room.
She was desperate to know, but she wasn’t ready to find out. It didn’t make any sense. She needed to relax. There’d be no harm in waiting a couple of days. She’d go on her whale-watch, then she’d fly home and find out if she was pregnant. She still had a feeling it was going to be a yes. Only the doctor at the clinic had advised her not to get her hopes up. She’d said it might take more than one attempt. It was something to do with sperm motility.
“Frozen sperm get lazy.” Like a madwoman she whispered the words aloud to herself as she carefully folded a butter-soft leather biker jacket around some tissue paper.
“Pardon?”
“Oh my giddy aunt. Did I say that out loud?”
“Yes. You did.” Alex’s eyes glittered. They reminded her of sun on snow under a blue sky. They had a charm all of their own. “It’s alright.” His tone was husky and mockingly conspiratorial. “I think I’m the only one that heard.”
“Sorry. I was just thinking.” The clothes that the models had worn for the shoot were piled up around the place. Maggie folded and hung and organized methodically, ticking each item off on her check-list as she did so.
“Does this mean you’re not?”
“Good grief.” Maggie made no effort to hide the fact that she was rattled. Alex had made his feelings about her trying for a donor-sperm baby clear, but she’d thought they’d got past that. “It doesn’t mean anything of the sort. If you must know, I didn’t do the pregnancy test.”
“Maggie? Don’t tell me you’re procrastinating!”