“No,” I told him quickly. “No, of course not. I was right there with you. That was . . . That was freaking amazing, off the charts amazing. I’ve never felt anything like that before in my life. Ofcourseyou didn’t hurt me.” The words were out before I could register what they would reveal. His frown smoothed out, his eyes flared and I wished I could claw them back. “Okay, so I’ll just be moseying off to–” I started to sidestep towards the back door but he caught me around my middle and pulled me, gently, back into him.
“Stop running away from me.” The frustration in his voice caught me off guard, but then he did something so un-Barclay Lucas Conservative Politician that it shocked me speechless. He turned me into him, one arm went around my back and the other under my knees and he swung me up in his arms against his chest. My mouth fell open and my eyes went wide as I stared up at his stubborn face. “You’re staying.”
“I am?”
“Yes,” he told me as he stalked out of the kitchen to the stairs and proceeded to take them two at a time, not like he was carrying a full-grown, custard-cream-eating woman in his arms. “With me.”
“Okay,” I said, the shock doing my talking for me.
He pushed through into what must have been his bedroom then kicked the door shut behind us. “And . . . and don’t cry again,” he commanded. I smiled. There was still some concern there and he was hiding it by barking out orders.
“I don’t always have total control over my tear ducts,” I told him. “But I will resolve not to cry from this point forward.”
“Good, as long as we’ve cleared that up,” he said as if he was in a Cabinet meeting and would be sending me a memo to that effect in due course. He put me back on my feet by the bed and took a step away. Now that he’d done the whole caveman bit in response to my distress, he seemed to be at a little bit of a loss. He lifted his hand towards me then hesitated before it went to rub the back of his neck. Those two slashes of red appeared high on his cheekbones again. It was becoming clear to me that Barclay found all pesky emotions, even his own, difficult to deal with. Unable to stop myself and wanting to ease his discomfort and the worry I could see still behind his eyes, I reached up to his tie and started grappling with the knot. His eyes flared again and he started to help me, pulling off his tie and making short work of his shirt buttons.
As he shrugged off the shirt, my hands made a thorough investigation of his warm skin, pulled tight over the musculature of his torso, and then delved into the dark hair on his chest. He shuddered beneath my hands and made a choked sound of need before pushing me back onto the bed and hovering over me. My hands snuck around to feel the smooth expanse of his back and he let out a low sound before he drove one hand into my hair, the other around my back to arch me up into him and he kissed me.
“Are you quite sure this is acceptable?” he asked against my lips, his body moving against mine as he reached up under my shirt. His stiff, formal tone made me smile against his mouth. Ever the stuffed shirt – even in the bedroom.
“Yes,” I breathed, letting out a low moan as the friction built, my eyes rolling back in my head. “Anything with you isacceptable.”
Chapter 17
Glitter blessings be upon you!
Barclay
I blinked against the bright light pouring through the window. I wasn’t used to waking up to full daylight but this was the second time it had happened in a month. Normally I never slept past five-thirty in the morning. My body had adjusted to that. And I never usually sleptwell– at least I hadn’t for a good few years. My dreams were always a constant battle against all of the urgent things I had to get done the next day. Endless lists and conversations I needed to have, speeches I needed to give, constitutions I needed to answer to. I hadn’t felt fully rested in years. But, as I slowly swam up to full consciousness, I realised I felt great. Being around Kira seemed to be some sort of sleep cure.
I rubbed my eyes and focused on my watch. It was eight in the morning.Eight. Totally unheard of. Yes, it was Saturday, but my security team must have thought I’d died up here. I smiled as I remembered just why I’d managed to sleep and turned over in bed ready to pull her towards me. But there was nothing there. Only the small indent in her pillow and her scent still lingering in the air – but no Kira.
I frowned. We’d taken our time on the second round. It had been much more like making love than the frenzied desperation of the kitchen. And after we’d finished, I’d held her to my side, kissed her temple and swept the hair back from her damp forehead as she snuggled into my chest. I’d kept my arm around her as her breathing evened out and her body relaxed against mine. I didn’t sleep then, not for long time. Just revelled in holding her small, soft, relaxed body, appreciating her stillness – something that was in short supply when she was fully conscious, smelling her hair and basking in her glow, her . . . aura (I couldn’t believe I’d actually used that hated word – Kira would be proud). There was something so alive about Kira. It wasn’t just her beauty I’d missed so much over the last two weeks – it was her irrepressible optimism, her humour, her life force. Even in sleep that energy still vibrated around her.
So no, I hadn’t slept for a long time but when I did, I must have done it deeply as I hadn’t felt her disentangle herself from me or heard her get dressed and sneak off.
I swore and swung out of the bed, grabbing my phone from the nightstand, punching one of the numbers and holding it up to my ear.
“Where is she?” I clipped as I rounded the bed and headed to the bathroom.
“She got an Uber about two hours ago,” Sam told me. I gritted my teeth in annoyance. Why couldn’t the sodding woman ever do as she was told? Every other female I’d ever been with would have to be prised off me with a crowbar the morning after. Why didthisone, the one I actually wanted to be clinging onto to me like a limpet, have to keep slipping through my fingers?
“I’m going to her flat.” It was Saturday and I had my constituency clinic soon, but I could maybe make it there before.
“She’s not at her flat.”
“Well, where the hell is she then?”
There was a long pause.
“Trust me, Mr Lucas – you don’t want to know.”
*****
Kira
“Oh! Do me! Do me!” I shouted, and I was promptly covered in a shower of glitter.
“May all your dreams and fantasies come true.
