‘You’re not good at the angry sex,’ she teased.
‘You want me to be more ferocious?’
She stroked a thumb across his lips before giving him a sweet kiss. ‘I’m not sure you have it in you.’
He gave a little growl that sounded more like a kitten purring and she let out a snort of laughter. ‘Oh my god, I love you.’
He stilled, the smile falling from his face. ‘What?’
Oh god, the horror of telling him she loved him the second time they were making love. Why had she said that? Did she love him? She knew she was falling for him fast and hard but this felt too soon even for her.
‘I didn’t meanthat.It was more the kind of “I love you” that you might say to a friend.’
‘A friend?’ Luke said in surprise, which was understandable considering he was buried deep inside of her.
‘Not a friend, you’re much more than that, but it was a different kind of “I love you” than the “I’m in love with you” kind. It wasn’t that. You don’t need to worry.’
‘OK. I’m not worried.’ Although he was still looking at her as if he was.
‘Let’s just put that in the “never happened” box too.’
He let out a little sigh of relief and smiled as he started moving against her again. ‘OK. But that box is getting rather full and it’s only been a few days.’
She stroked his face and kissed him, trying to distract him from her faux pas, even though she felt a little bit hurt by his reaction to it. Of course he wasn’t going to fall in love with her after a few days and she was silly to let her heart get so carried away. She just needed to enjoy it for what it was.
He shifted her higher and she gasped as he touched that sweet spot inside of her.
She tried really hard to concentrate on what he was doing, how wonderful it felt as he made love to her, and that feeling that was already building again in the pit of her stomach. She tried not to think about how she really needed to leave her emotions at the door when it came to Luke. He was leaving in a few weeks, she couldn’t let herself fall in love with this brilliant, kind, wonderful man because it was quite likely when he left, he’d put her in the ‘never happened’ box too and move on with his life for good.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
By the time they’d got back downstairs, the wonky tree had amassed quite a crowd. Word had either spread very quickly or people had seen it from the town and come hurrying up here to see what had happened to their treasured landmark for themselves. The atmosphere was quite subdued, people were sad or shocked. Although the wonky tree was important to them, most of them clearly hadn’t been up to see it in person or they’d have realised that it was slowly dying over the last few years and it was only the cables holding it up.
Luke did feel a little bit guilty that while people had gathered around the tree to mourn its loss, he’d been upstairs having the time of his life, but he certainly didn’t regret it. It wasn’t as if not having sex would have changed the outcome.
Ethel eyed them as they walked over to the tree and joined the crowd. ‘Where have you two been?’ she saidin such a way that said she knew where they’d been and what they’d been doing and how disgusted she was by it.
Luke couldn’t care less what she thought. He couldn’t be happier and nothing could burst his bubble of happiness. He thought about telling Ethel he’d just had Flick pinned to the wall and again in the shower just to see her face but he didn’t think Flick would appreciate that.
‘We were trying to contact an arborist,’ Luke said, calmly, which was partly true. He had phoned one while Flick was getting dressed.
‘Why?’ Aidan scoffed. ‘The tree is dead.’
‘The roots are still intact, we might be able to do something to save it.’
‘Why?’
‘Look around, Aidan. These people have come up here because the tree means something to them, it means something to the many people who have captured stunning pictures of it over the years or come up here specifically to see it. It’s been here for over a hundred years, it’s part of the heritage of Lovegrove Bay and while we might not be able to save the life of the tree, we should try to save the structure of it. Restore it back in its place.’
‘Well, I for one will miss seeing it,’ Ethel said, pulling out a tissue from her sleeve and wiping her eyes. ‘Every time I drive back from London and I come over this hill towards the town, the tree is like a sign that I’m finally home.’
‘I agree,’ Rose said. ‘It’s a symbol of Lovegrove Bay.It’s on every postcard, it’s used as the logo for lots of local establishments, it’s not just iconic for the people of Lovegrove Bay, it’s a national landmark.’
‘It’s also been the inspiration for a lot of art over the years, paintings, sculptures, embroidery. I’ve even done mosaics of it,’ Katherine said.
‘Well, yes, I suppose it would be a shame if it wasn’t there anymore,’ Aidan back-pedalled.
‘If we can’t save it, we can lift it back up and set it in concrete so it doesn’t fall over again,’ Luke said.
