Sexy Berkeley (1) (31 page)

I'm surprised to hear that they're not in the bedroom, to be honest, knowing what they're like.
"I hope they haven't been waiting for us."

"No,
they've been eating, something we forgot about. I'll get you something on the way."

"I'm fine thanks, Daniel, to be honest, I'm not that hungry. I can eat on the plane."
I couldn't eat a thing, my stomach is in knots, counting down the minutes until I need to say goodbye to Daniel.

"Well, you let me know if you're hungry. You look so hot in your underwear," he says, distracted.

I smile. "Make the most of it, I'm getting dressed."

He wraps his arms around me and runs his large hands all over my naked flesh. He buries his face in my neck. "Mmm. You're skin is so soft and you smell so good, baby. Mmm. I. Love. You." he says, emphasising the last words with three sharp squeezes around my middle, making me giggle.

I wrap my arms around his neck and hug him close before we reluctantly break away and I start to get my clothes on. Daniel sits on the edge of the bed and packs his gifts back up into the gift box. I watch him as he smiles broadly, inspecting each item like a little boy at Christmas. He sniffs the cupcake plush and places it in the box before replacing the lid. He looks up at me and notices me watching him.

"Hello," he says with a smile.

"Hello, Daniel. I think you like your gifts."

"I love them. I like surprises, no one has ever really known what to get me before, for my birthday or Christmas, but you have given me the most perfect gifts, there's so much meaning in them. Thank you, baby."

"You are so welcome," I say as I stroll over to him and stoke his cheek before bending and kissing his lips tenderly. "Shall we go? I'm ready."

Daniel closes his eyes and grunts. "I wish I could keep you here. What would you say if I told you that I locked the door and lost the key?"

"I'd say that someone is telling porky pies because the door is still ajar."

"Huff. Ok then, let's head to the pool-house and get your bags." he says with a cute pout and stubborn tone, "And what are '
porky pies'
?

I giggle and explain the cockney rhyming slang, as we make our way down the stairs.
Entering the living area, we find Tilly and Luke sitting aside each other on the sofa in silence. It seems so odd, they're usually joking about or practically ripping each other's clothes off, but here they are, deathly silent, gazing into thin air.

"Hello you two, are you ready to make a move?" I ask quietly, breaking the awkward silence. Tilly stands and straightens her clothes.

"Yes, let's go," she says, almost a whisper. I look at her with a frown, trying to assess the situation, have they had a fight? She doesn't look at me, just collects her hand bag and makes her way to the door.
Fuck, have I upset her?

"Hey, Bea, you want to take a bottle of water or something?" Luke asks as he stands slowly and smiles a beautiful smile at me. I can't help but notice that the twinkle in his eye is missing, what the hell is going on?

"I'm fine thank you, Luke."

Daniel and I follow them to the car, they walk ahead, next to one another but there doesn't seem to be any interaction between them. I look up at Daniel and frown, gesturing towards Tilly and Luke and he shrugs, he doesn't seem to know what's going on either.

Soon after, we pull up outside Gemma and Jay's house and I take a deep breath in, knowing that the next port of call is the airport. I desperately don't want to go. All the way here, in the back of Luke's SUV, I have held onto Daniel, my head resting on his shoulder as he gently chatted away to me, his deep, masculine tone vibrating, welcome through my body.

Daniel gets out of the car and holds out his hand to help me out. He shuts the door and as I move towards the house, he gently tugs my hand and pulls me back into his arms. I look up into his beautiful eyes and he gazes down at me.
"Let me hold you for a minute," he says, quietly, and I smile, resting my cheek against his chest, wrapping my arms around his muscular torso.

Tilly has already made her way around the side of the house with Luke following her. I look up at Daniel's face again.

"Shall we go to the airport with Luke and Til, or in your car?"

"Let's go in my car, I'm not sure what's going on with those two but I think they could use some space. And I want my last few moments with you, alone."

"Ok, I want to have one last journey in my new favourite car, too."

"Your new favourite car, huh?" Daniel says with an amused, smug look on his face and I giggle.

"Let's go and get the bags."

"Do I have to let go?

"Just for a minute." I smile.

We load the bags into the car and stroll back around to the garden. As we have a short while before we need to leave, Tilly, Daniel and Luke sit by the pool, talking with Gemma, while I take some photos of the pool-house to remember it by.

I take photos of everything, I want to remember every tiny detail of this lovely little holiday home, it's a shame I didn't think to take any of Daniel or Luke's apartments, considering we've spent a fair bit of time there too.

Just as I take a shot of the kitchen from the doorway, I feel strong arms wrap around my belly and soft kisses trail up the back of my neck. I close my eyes and sigh, it's heavenly.
"I love you," Daniel whispers into my ear.

"I love you, too. I'm going to miss you so much."

He turns me in his arms and kisses me, tenderly. It unexpectedly escalates as our tongues desperately caress each other. I close my eyes and moan, lasciviously into the kiss, as Daniel's hands slide over my body. The river of emotions flowing through me, makes the urge to sob uncontrollably whilst, simultaneously, tearing his clothes off, almost impossible to contain.

Daniel moans deep in his throat as he grabs the back of my head through my hair, his other hand at the base of my back, holding me against him. My leg automatically drags up the outside of his thigh as his hand runs under my dress to my bottom. I groan loudly.
Still completely caught up in the passionate moment consuming our senses, Daniel closes the door to the kitchen and gently, pushes me against it.
Oh, Déjà-vu.

His hand caresses my behind while my leg wraps around him, we have no time to have 'kitchen-goodbye-sex' but, oh, how I want to. He lifts the skirt of my dress up around my waist and runs his hand down my belly and inside the lace of my knickers. As his fingers slowly circle my clitoris in time to the gentle caress of his tongue, I grab his face and moan loudly.

"Shh, baby..."

"Oh, Daniel..." I whisper, leaning my head backwards, against the door and he kisses my neck.

"Mmm," he murmurs against my skin, "you're my girl, baby. Don't let anyone else here until I come for you." And as he says it, he pushes two fingers inside me, exquisitely slowly.

"Oh, fuck..." I whimper, my voice a croaky whisper.

"Please, baby?"

"Daniel, we can't, long distance... oh, god... it feels so good."

"I love you," he whispers into my ear, his fingers slowly, but forcefully circling inside me, brushing against that all important spot, "I want this, I want you."

"I want you, too, you know that. I love you so much. Oh, yes, Daniel... keep going, don't stop..."

"I want you to come, baby, I want to feel it, see your body react to my touch, one last time."

"Yes, yes... I will... I am... Oh yes, Daniel!" And as the waves of sheer ecstasy roll through my body, I pull his face to mine and kiss him, forcibly.
I hold his face, his lips against mine as the ripples inside, fade around his fingers. I frown and pant against his mouth.

"Fuck, Daniel. That was so good," I whisper, "and naughty, someone could have tried to walk in!"

"But they didn't and I got to pleasure you one more time." He grins, cheekily.

"And what a pleasure it was, my Daniel," I say as I stroke his cheek with my fingers, "you're an amazing man."

He smiles at me, affectionately and we stare into each other’s eyes for a moment.

"Bea... Daniel..." Tilly's voice disturbs us and I immediately straighten myself out, Daniel turning to the sink to wash his hands as I respond.

"In the kitchen, Til," I open the door and she's in the living area, her eyes are red and she looks so... fragile.

"I've just said my
byes to Gemma, Jay and Jack, so Luke and I are going to head to the airport now." Her voice is small and gentle, and I know immediately that she's really sad. I offer her a sympathetic smile.

"We're going to leave now, too, Tilly," Daniel says in a soothing voice as he walks over to her and puts his arm around her shoulders, "you'll be back here before you know it, Tilly. It must be difficult to live so far away from someone you're so close to." His voice is so caring and comforting,
oh
, he is adorable.

Tilly looks up at him with a smile and a frown. "You're amazing, you know that?"

Daniel chuckles, shyly, that's the second time that he has had that compliment, in about a minute.

"You really are, Daniel, and sadly, in a few short hours, you're going to find out just how difficult it is to live so far away. I really hope you two manage to figure something out. You're perfect for each other."
Oh, Tilly, so do I.

"We will. I'll make sure of it. Now, let's make a move. Baby?" He holds out his hand to me.

"Oh! Let me just put this out for Gemma..." I pull a gift and thank you card that I bought at the shops today, from a bag, and place them on the coffee table. It's only a candle that matches the pool-house blue decor, but I thought it was pretty and hoped she would appreciate it. "Ok, I'm set."

Before we get to Daniel's car, I hug Gemma and Jay and give Jack a big squeeze. They've been so wonderful, especially considering I've spent so much time doing other things, they're the most perfect, accommodating hosts.

"You're welcome back, anytime, Bea. Although I'm sure you'll have another place to stay when you come back to LA...." Gemma says with a wink, and I thank her, again, for her fabulous hospitality.

Daniel starts the engine and pulls away from the house. "So, this is it. I'm officially on my way home," I say, solemnly.

Daniel looks at me briefly and smiles before putting his hand on my knee and squeezing it gently. I don't know what I'll do when you're gone, baby. I'm going to feel like crap. Maybe I should go home, try to sleep."

"So am I. Maybe you and Luke can go and chill out together, I think he's a bit sad that Tilly is leaving, do you?"

"I think so, and that's a real first, if someone had told me, last week, that I'd be thinking Luke had fallen for someone, I'd have laughed in their faces."

"Do you think he loves her?"

"I really don't know, I've never seen him in love, but I've never seen him like this before, either."

I like the idea of someone being in love with Tilly, she's so blasé about falling in love but secretly, I think she'd love it. She's been hurt before and I think that has discouraged her from showing her true feelings, claiming to want 'fun' and nothing more.

I gaze out of the window, taking in my last views of LA, and my thoughts turn back to our lovely day, and Daniel's face as I gave him his gifts. It gets me thinking.

"Daniel, what do you do at Christmas?"

"That's very out of the blue, baby?"

"I know, I was just thinking about the presents I got you and it made me think of you at Christmas. I'm trying to picture you, all festive."

"Oh, ok, well we usually go to Aspen for the holidays, my mom likes the snow and festivities. I'd love you to come there with me, you'd love it."

"Oh wow, how festive! I love snow, especially at Christmas, I'd love to do that."

"Well, maybe, one day, you will."

I reach over and rest my hand on the back of Daniel's gorgeous neck, stroking his short hair. "I hope I will."

Daniel takes a turning off the highway towards the airport and my stomach flips. I feel sick. I can't bear leaving him. As he finds a spot to park in, I tell myself that it's ok, we might be at LAX, but I still have a little while until I need to leave. He turns the engine off and looks at me with a gorgeous, sad smile on his face. "Well, we're here." He shrugs.

I simply nod and look down into my lap, if I continue to look into his beautiful turquoise eyes, the floodgates will open and that'll be all I do for the next... well, I don't know how long.

Daniel reaches for my hand and brings it to his lips. "Look at me," he says against my knuckles.

"I don't want to cry, Daniel," I whisper, but the tears are already flooding my eyes and as one drops down into my other hand, he lifts my chin and leans in to press his soft, soothing lips against mine. I instantly wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him back.

"We'll be ok, baby. I'll make sure to find an urgent reason to come straight to the London office for a meeting," he says with a small smile.

"Really? I hope so."