Читать книгу The British Bachelors Collection - Сара Крейвен, Kate Hardy - Страница 45

TWELVE

Tea, glorious tea. A celebration of teas from around the world.

A simple infusion of chamomile flowers can help to relax the nerves and aid in sleep by creating a general feeling of relaxation.

From Flynn’s Phantasmagoria of Tea

‘Not coming back? Then I only want to know the answer to one question—and I don’t want to hear it over the phone or in an email. Don’t treat me like one of your managers. Talk to me. I want to hear your answer here and now. In person. To my face.’

She pressed both hands flat against his shirt so that the racing beat of his heart flittered up through her fingertips.

He was hurting just as much as she was.

‘Do you want to see me again, Sean? Because if you don’t it would be better if you told me now and be done with it, so that...’ She lifted her chin. ‘So that we can both get on with our lives.’

‘Do I want to be with you? Oh, Dee.’

His right hand came up and flicked his suit jacket onto a patio table, exposing her skin to the cold night air, and instantly she could feel her nipples pebble with alertness. His long fingers slid down the whole length of her body from her neck, down the treacherous front of her jacket to her hips and back again.

Without asking for permission or forgiveness he slipped his warm hand up inside her jacket and cupped her breast. His thumb moved over her nipple with the perfect amount of pressure to fire up every nerve in her body.

But Sean had found the perfect distraction, kissing her forehead, temple and throat with such exquisitely gentle kisses that any idea of a question was driven out her mind as her desire for him built with each touch of his lips on hers.

And, just when she thought that her legs were going to buckle, his fingers slid away until her entire breast was being cupped by his hand and her bra was redundant and getting in the way of the exquisite pleasure.

Then slowly, slowly, his hand slid lower onto the bare skin at her waist and rested there for a second before moving away.

Arms wrapped around his head, Dee hung onto Sean as he wrapped both arms around her and held her to him.

She could feel the supressed power of his answer pressing against her hip and his short, fast breaths on her neck, fighting, fighting for control.

‘Oh, Sean,’ she whispered through a closed throat, and she dropped her head down to the safety and warmth of his broad chest.

They must have stayed there for several minutes, but time seemed to stand still, and it was Sean who broke the silence.

‘I have been down this road before, Dee. My last girlfriend was so patient and we tried so hard to make it work. But in the end we were both worn down with the constant struggle to make time for one another between going back and forwards to the airport. It was exhausting. And it killed a great friendship. I don’t want that to happen to us, Dee. Not to us.’

He was stroking her hair now, running his fingers back from her forehead. ‘It could be six months before I get back here, and even then it would only be for a flying visit. There will always be some crisis somewhere, like tonight, which needs me to fly out at a moment’s notice. I can’t plan holidays or down time. You deserve better than that. A lot better.’

Dee looked up into his face and blinked, her mouth part open. ‘No. I deserve you. All of you.’

Her words stung like ice on hot skin, burning into his brain and leaving a scar.

‘The last thing I want to do is hurt you, Dee. That’s why it’s better that we part now and remember the good times.’

She laid her cheek on his shirt and dared to finally find the words. ‘Does it have to be that way, Sean? Is there truly nobody else in the company that can cover your job? What happens when you are ill or burnt out? You can’t keep going like this for ever. You have to take a break some time.’

‘Don’t feel sorry for me, Dee,’ he replied, his hand cupping the back of her head. ‘My family are very close, we always have been, and I owe my father everything. This hotel chain is my life and I want to make it special.’

‘It seems to me that you have paid your family dues, Sean. Paid in full.’

‘What do you mean?

Dee forced herself to raise her head and slip backwards so that she could look up into his face. ‘This is your decision to leave tonight. Not your father’s. Or your brother’s. Yours. You have recruited an amazing team of talented professionals who would be only too happy to take on some of those troubleshooting challenges if you gave them the chance. You have made these hotels your life—and I understand that. Look at me—the tea grower’s daughter who wants to set up her own tea company. We are both following in the family trade. But maybe it’s time to think hard about what you want to do with your life. And who you want to spend it with.’

Then she stood back and slowly slid her fingers from his, one finger at a time, breaking their connection with each movement as she spoke.

She stood on tiptoe, pressed her lips against his in one last, lingering kiss, then ran her finger along his jaw and smiled.

‘Good luck, Sean. Goodbye and thank you for everything.’

Then she turned and walked away, back into the conference room and out of his life. Without looking back.

And this time he didn’t follow her.