When Cash walked into the lounge, he found Natalia and Mum standing with their heads together, chatting. Natalia jumped up the minute she saw him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she whispered, “I’m so proud of you.”

Cash leaned across the table to kiss his mother. “Sorry I couldn’t win for you, Mum,” he said with a shrug.

“Nonsense,” Rachael said. “Today might not have been your day, but the pride I felt watching you out there…” She raised a trembling hand to her face, her voice cracking as she brushed away a tear.

Cash swallowed past a lump in his throat. Nine months before, his life had been shit, and now look where he was. His mother was thriving and living life to the fullest, despite missing out on the past thirteen years, and he had his girl, who he was more in love with than he’d ever thought possible.

“I’m going to take off,” Cash said, waving at his mother when she began to stand. “No, Mum, stay. Enjoy the rest of the afternoon. Kinga, can you make sure Mum gets back to the house okay?”

“Of course I will,” Kinga said. “Let’s get you the guided tour.”

“If you’re sure,” Rachael said. “I must admit I’m dying to have a nose around.”

“Shall I book a table for dinner? Say, eight?” Kinga said.

“Oh yes, do,” Rachael said. “Dinner would be lovely.”

Even though it was the last thing Cash wanted, he kept his mouth shut. He could stomach one lousy dinner if it made his mother happy.

“Let me know where,” he said to Kinga. “We’ll meet you there.”

“Make sure you invite Em,” Natalia said. “She’s around here somewhere.”

“Probably chatting up some poor unsuspecting bloke,” Cash said, earning a hard stare from Natalia.

When they stepped outside, Isaac already had the car door open. Cameras flashed, and fans pushed all manner of memorabilia into Cash’s face. He stopped to sign a few autographs and posed for a few pictures before he finally climbed inside. Isaac closed the door behind them, the noise from outside instantly abating. Cash’s head hit the back of the chair as his lids fell shut.

“I’m knackered,” he said, blindly reaching for Natalia’s hand as the car moved off.

“It’s been a hard season. I’m not surprised.”

His eyes opened a crack, and he squinted at her. “The next month is going to be hard too.”

Natalia laughed at the obvious innuendo. “You haven’t even said where we’re going.”

“Correct.”

“But you’ve got it all planned out, haven’t you?”

“Yep.”

“And you have no intention of telling me.”

“Correct again.”

Natalia stuck out her bottom lip. “I hate surprises.”

Cash snorted. “Liar. You fucking love them.”

She grinned then. “You’re right. I do.”

He leaned his head on her shoulder, a contented sigh escaping his lips when Natalia stroked his hair.

“I wish we weren’t going to dinner tonight,” he said.

“Oh, yeah? What would we do instead?”

Cash lifted his head and wiggled his eyebrows. “Sweetness, really?”

Natalia glanced at her watch. “We’ve got a little over two hours. An hour for me to get ready. If you’re not too tired, that gives you an hour to impress me with your sexual prowess.”

Cash moved fast, pressing Natalia flat onto the back seat. “Then there’s no time to waste,” he said, cutting off her surprised giggle with his mouth.

A soft groan sounded low in her throat as Cash moved his lips over hers. He drove his tongue inside, rewarded when she thrust her hips upwards and rubbed against his crotch. Earlier exhaustion forgotten, he willed Isaac to drive faster. He didn’t want to fuck her in the back of the car. She deserved to be cosseted on a soft bed and wrapped in silk sheets. But if she carried on rubbing him like that, his instincts would take over.

“We’re here, sir.”

Isaac’s voice came through the intercom, and Cash tore his mouth from Natalia’s. Like a pair of lustful teenagers, the two of them dashed inside the house he’d rented for Wimbledon fortnight.

He kicked the front door closed, lifted her into his arms, and tore up the stairs, taking them two at a time. She laughed all the way, only stopping when he laid her down in the middle of the enormous bed, and then her face became serious as she watched him drag off his clothes.

As he began to straddle her, Natalia pressed her hand against his chest. “Let me. It’s my turn to look after you tonight.”

A bolt of desire exploded in Cash’s stomach. Although Natalia’s confidence in bed had increased over the last few months, she still preferred Cash to take the lead. He rolled onto his back and held his arms out wide, palms facing up. “I’m all yours, baby.”

He closed his eyes, his mouth parting as she pressed searing-hot lips to his neck, shoulder, chest, working slowly down his body. Her tongue traced warm, wet circles around his nipples and over his abdomen. She licked each pronounced muscle before moving farther down. Oh God, yeah. He thrust his hands into her hair to control the speed. She immediately stopped, removed his hands, and rocked back on her heels.

“Oh no, you don’t,” she said, wagging her finger. She pushed his arms over his head. “I’m in charge. Keep them there, or I’ll tie them up.”

His tongue darted out to wet his lips as a flush of desire made his cheeks burn.

Natalia briefly frowned and then smiled. “You like the idea of that?”

Cash nodded vigorously. He’d never allowed a woman to tie him up, would never have given over that sort of power. But this wasn’t any woman. This was Natalia, the love of his life, the other half of his soul. He’d let her do anything she wanted, and surprisingly, the idea turned him on.

She climbed off the bed and disappeared into the adjoining bathroom. When she returned, she was threading the belt from a dressing gown through her fingers.

“Remember Paris?” she said with a shy smile.

Paris. The time she’d let him tie her up when they’d barely known each other. Cash still found the trust she’d shown in him that night humbling every time he thought about it.

“Baby, how could I forget?”

She straddled him, wrapped the belt around his wrists, and fixed it to the bedstead.

“The minute you say it’s over, then it’s over,” she whispered, repeating the words he’d said to her that same evening.

She began the torturous journey down his body once more, licking, sucking, kissing, tracing every muscle with the tip of her tongue. When she reached her ultimate target, Cash tensed, his stomach clenching. His breath came in short pants as she swept her tongue over the head, removing the bead of moisture that had gathered on the tip. His cock twitched, and a deep growl sounded low in his throat. She looked up at him and smiled.

“More?”

Unable to trust himself to speak, he nodded, and he lifted his hips to stress the point. Natalia pressed the flat of her hand low on his abdomen and pushed him back down. She wrapped one hand around the base of his cock and closed her mouth over the head, beginning a steady rhythm of taking him deep then swirling her tongue over the tip before starting the whole process from scratch.

Cash bit down hard on his lip, barely holding on, but when she glanced up and they made eye contact, he lost it. “Oh, baby,” he groaned, his hips jerking upwards through his climax. Natalia cupped his balls and gently massaged him while he poured himself into her warm, wet mouth. The whole time, she kept her eyes on his. The emotional connection drew out his orgasm until it almost became painful.

He didn’t feel her removing the restraints, but suddenly, his arms were free.

She crawled up his body and rested her head on his chest. Peering up at him through half-closed lids, she smiled. “I love doing that to you.”

“And that’s why I only last thirty seconds every time you do. I can just about hang on, but when I look into your eyes, I’m a goner.”

She twisted around to glance at the clock.

“How long have we got?” Cash said.

“Twenty minutes.”

Cash smiled down at her. “Time to return the favour.”