looked at her like that before—the night she’d told him how she really felt about him at university—and the impression it had left on her had stayed with her for the rest of her life.
That feeling of being so coveted, so wanted was a hard one to forget. She’d craved it over the years, desperately trying to find a way to feel like that again, but she’d not been successful.
Until now.
She knew she was being reckless here, jumping into something so intense with him so quickly, but she was sick and tired of being sensible. It had brought her nothing but pain and stress in the past and it was high time she started being brave and taking some risks with her heart. Otherwise her life would only ever be half lived and what a waste that would be.
After drying herself, she pulled on an oversized towelling robe that she found on the back of the door and padded quietly back over to the bed.
He was lying on his side facing away from her, towards the wall, apparently still asleep if his regular breathing pattern was anything to go by. Moving to stand by his side of the bed, she looked down at him, at his strong, arresting face, with his usually neatly swept back dark hair mussed and falling over his forehead, making him look younger and less fierce.
She jumped in shock as his eyes sprang open and he grabbed for her, wrapping his arm around her legs and pulling her roughly towards him so she lost her balance and toppled onto him with a squeal of surprise. He kissed her hard before rolling her over, so he was on top now, his brow momentarily pinched as he remembered his damaged rib.
‘What are you doing, you maniac?’ she spluttered, laughing at his self-reproachful grimace.
‘Just saying good morning,’ he replied, flashing her a grin before he kissed her again so thoroughly it made her toes curl.
‘Well, okay then,’ she purred, cupping his jaw in her hands, her whole body buzzing with the joy of finding herself in his arms again. ‘I’m so glad we’re friends again.’
He frowned, looking a little perplexed. ‘Friends? Do you do this with all of your friends?’ he asked, nuzzling her neck and placing soft, sensuous kisses against her hyper-sensitised skin.
She laughed, then sighed, running her hands into his bedhead hair. ‘No, just you.’
Pulling back, he looked straight into her eyes, his gaze unflinching and determined.
‘I know you don’t need to be here with me any more, but I want you to stay for a bit longer. We should go to Gaudi’s Park Güell today. It’s an amazing place. I’d like to show it to you.’
‘I don’t know, Caleb; perhaps you should rest today—’
He held up a hand to cut her off. ‘You can’t come all the way to Barcelona and not visit all the places of interest.’
‘Places of interest? You sound like a tour guide,’ she said with a tease in her tone.
‘There’s no one better than a resident to show you all the best bits of a city,’ he said with a seductive lift of his eyebrow. ‘I know all its secrets,’ he murmured, lifting his hand to trace the line of her jaw and sending little currents of sensation down her throat, which joined with the ones already humming deep inside her body.
She gave him a dazed sort of smile, barely able to concentrate as he slid the backs of his fingers down her throat, then lower to skim over the swell of her breasts.
‘Well, that would be...really...amazing...’ she murmured, her voice coming out broken and husky as she struggled to concentrate on forming the words.
Lust twisted her insides as he leant forwards and kissed her hard again. She responded instinctively to his touch, sliding her arms around his back and wriggling closer to him.
Pulling her underneath his strong, hard body, he murmured, ‘Okay, but we’ll go later. Much, much later.’
* * *
They spent the rest of the morning in bed, only getting out of it for a minute to fetch some food from his fridge for lunch, which they ate right there, sitting naked on top of the covers.
‘This reminds me of all those meals we ate sitting on my bed whilst working on our project at uni—though of course we were fully clothed for those,’ Elena said, grinning at him with one eyebrow raised. ‘I found breadcrumbs in my sheets for days after that. Who knows where we’ll find them after this.’
She laughed and he smiled back at her, wishing he could remember the time she was reminiscing about. It was getting harder and harder to pretend he knew the stories she relayed without it seeming suspicious that he didn’t bring up some of his own recollections.
He felt a little guilty about lying to her last night, but he’d been so sick of her holding back and wasting time when it had been so clear they were destined to end up like this anyway.
Anyway, she seemed much happier now, and if she was happy then so was he.
After they’d finished eating she left the room and returned a few minutes later in a pair of jeans and a loose-fitting, soft pink T-shirt with her hair scraped back into a ponytail, her lips shiny with some kind of clear lipstick that he wanted to kiss off immediately. She didn’t need make-up; she was just as beautiful without it.
‘Come on, lazybones, get your carcass out of bed. I thought you were going to show me some of your secrets,’ she said, giving him a wide grin.
He rolled out of bed with a grunt and stood up. Pulling her towards him, he kissed her until she squealed with pleasure, but she pushed him away when he began to drag her back towards the bed.
‘No, no, you said we should go out and I think you’re right; we can’t spend all day in bed.’
‘Why not?’ he murmured, thinking it would be more than okay with him. He couldn’t get enough of her—the scent of her soft skin, the feel of her strong legs wrapped around him, the little breathy moans she made in his ear as they moved together...
‘Caleb, seriously, get dressed so we can go out.’
He shot her a grimace of annoyance. ‘Okay, okay, but it won’t be as much fun as staying here,’ he ground out. ‘I have plenty more secrets I could show you right here in the bedroom.’
‘Later,’ she said with laughter in her voice.
He loved it when she smiled like that—like she couldn’t have stopped herself even if she’d wanted to.
* * *
He took her to Palo Alto, an enclosed old manufacturing complex situated a few roads back from the beach, which was like a hidden island of industrial-style buildings festooned with brightly coloured creepers and greenery that had turned it into a wonderful garden oasis. The buildings had all been converted over the years into light, open workshops for businesses focused on regeneration and rehabilitation of the city and beyond.
‘No tourists know about it, only the residents of the city,’ Caleb told her as they walked through the alleyways between the buildings, soaking up the effervescent but peaceful air of the place. ‘I love wandering around here; I find it a really inspiring place to be. You know, Araya Industries started out in one of these workshops so it’ll always be a special place for me. It’s where I realised my dreams.’
‘It’s wonderful. Thank you for trusting me—an outsider—’ she winked at him ‘—to see it. I’m honoured,’ she said, turning to kiss him next to a cascade of fuchsia flowers and russet-coloured leaves.
Then afterwards, at Elena’s request, they took a cab out to the spectacular multicoloured Park Güell, which had been designed by Gaudi. He watched her run her hand along the top of the wave-shaped benches that had been decorated with millions of pieces of brightly patterned broken tiles, enjoying her delight at the eccentricity of the design.
After sitting for a while, looking out over the picturesque views of the city and the fairy tale–style gatehouses