Bella wanted to whoop for joy. This tension, this spark, the looks, kisses and touches were finally going to amount to something.

She leaned over and grabbed a condom from her bedside drawer and passed it to him.

He looked at it. ‘I’m glad you came prepared. Were you hoping for a bit more than a bedtime story when I offered to tuck you up in bed by ten o’clock?’

She laughed. ‘I was hoping you might join me.’

He placed the condom next to her on the bed. ‘I won’t be needing that just yet. But the speed at which you grabbed that does tell me a lot about the men you’ve dated in the past.’

‘Hey. There’s been nothing wrong with the men I’ve dated in the past. As I’ve said, I’ve had some pretty amazing sex.’

‘Amazing sex that didn’t involve any kind of foreplay?’

‘Foreplay is overrated.’

‘Not the way I do it,’ Isaac said, before kissing her again.

God, he was so deliciously good at kissing, the taste of him was so divine. But instead of the passion she’d experienced with him before this was so much slower, taking his time. The kiss seemed to go on for a while; he clearly wasn’t in any rush to take things any further. He kissed her until her body, which was coiled like a spring, desperate for that release, started to relax and melt around his, until all she could think about was this kiss, his mouth against hers, and the rest of the world just faded away. Whereas before she’d been desperate to sleep with him, right then she was content to kiss him for the rest of the night.

That was until he touched her, his hand snaking between them and stroking at the very top of her thighs. He wasn’t lying about his skill with foreplay, he knew exactly where to touch her to elicit a reaction, his fingers sliding over her most sensitive area and then dipping inside her. She groaned against his mouth, the kiss continuing slowly and steadily, mirroring what he was doing with his hand.

Her orgasm, when it came, crashed through her so hard and fast that it took her by surprise and she writhed underneath him, crying out against his mouth.

As her body came down from her high, the shock waves subsiding, she was aware of him stroking her, soothing her as she clung to him even though she could feel that he was as turned on as she was.

She reached for the condom again but he caught her hand, linking his fingers with hers as he continued to kiss her and stroke her shoulder and arm tenderly with his other hand.

Finally he broke the kiss, kissing her nose, her chin and then layering kisses on her throat.

‘I love the way you smell,’ Isaac whispered. ‘So sweet like coconut.’ He pressed a kiss directly over her pulse point. ‘I love that when I kiss you here, I can feel your pulse hammering against my lips.’ He kissed the hollow at the base of her neck and then peppered kisses along her collarbone towards her shoulder. ‘I love that dress you wore today that showed these beautiful shoulders off and I love that V at the back especially.’ He stroked a finger down her spine and she shuddered against his touch.

‘Isaac,’ Bella said, reaching for him but he captured her hand again, pinning it up above her head as he continued to pepper kisses down her shoulder, down her arm and then moved over to her breast, capturing it in his mouth.

She cried out and strained against his hand, desperate to touch him. He released one of them and she ran her hand through his hair as he continued his thorough attention of her breast. She was already humming with need again, which seemed impossible when she was still coming down from the previous time. He turned his attention to the other breast and she arched against him and his wicked mouth. He finally pulled away, throwing the duvet off them as he feathered tiny kisses over her belly, her hips. She had never felt so exposed before and she didn’t care. She had never been a big fan of her own body – she wasn’t overweight but she wasn’t exactly thin and toned either – but with the way he was adorning her with kisses and the way he was clearly turned on by her, she felt suddenly beautiful. When he dipped his tongue inside her belly button she moaned. His mouth went lower and lower and she arched up to meet him but when he got to the apex of her thighs he just placed the tiniest of kisses there before he continued his onward journey down the inside of her thigh.

She had never been with a man like this before. The most foreplay she’d ever had was a quick fumble, maybe a quick grope of the breasts. This was why she always looked forward to the main event so much because all the men she had been with really had no clue which buttons to press to turn her on. But Isaac knew. Every place he kissed her was sensitive and achingly sweet. He was adoring her and she was loving every second. Everything was about her pleasure not his and she’d never been with any man who put her needs before his own. It was almost as if he was getting as much pleasure kissing her and stroking her as he would from having sex with her.

His mouth travelled lower, kissing the inside of her knee and then travelling onwards towards her ankles.

She had never really thought about her feet as being places that would turn her on before but one feather-light kiss just behind her ankle had her writhing on the bed.

He layered kisses up the arch of her feet and then each toe and then he repeated the process on the other foot before slowly, achingly, kissing back up her leg, kissing her knee and then slowly up her inner thigh.

This time when he got to the top, he paused, shifting her legs apart with his shoulders as he kissed her right there, lavishing her most sensitive area with an inordinate amount of attention, and in a matter of seconds she was coming again, screaming out his name.

He moved back up her body, kissing her belly, her breasts, before kissing her on the mouth again as she was still trying to catch her breath.

He pulled back slightly to look at her as he settled himself between her legs and moved his hips against hers.

‘I think I can be persuaded to come round to your way of thinking when it comes to sex,’ Bella said. ‘You clearly know what you’re doing when it comes to making love.’

He kissed her briefly then reached over to grab the condom. He tore it open and slid it on. ‘Not really. You’re the only woman I’ve ever made love to,’ Isaac said.

And while she was pondering that statement, he slid carefully inside her. She closed her eyes and arched against him, taking him all in, and he let out an animalistic groan of pleasure and relief.

‘Open your eyes Bella,’ he whispered before claiming her lips with his own in a needful kiss. He was shaking and she wrapped her arms and legs around him, holding him close.

He pulled back slightly to look at her, his breath coming out in shaky puffs.

‘I had no idea how much I needed this tonight,’ he said, as he gathered her close against him.

‘Sex?’

‘No, you. Being with you like this. After my whole world crashed down around my ears a few hours ago, there’s you, my burning light in the darkness.’

She leaned up to kiss him, holding him as close as she could and slowly, ever so slowly and gently, he started to move against her. It was so unhurried, so soft and languid, she’d never had sex like it. There was no rush to get to the end goal for him. This was the end goal, lying here wrapped in each other’s arms, joined in every way possible. And for the first time she truly understood what it meant to make love to someone. He pulled back to stare into her eyes and she saw nothing but tenderness and complete adoration and it was that look that sent her tumbling over the edge again and this time he quickly followed, kissing her hard. She held him close as his body shook against hers and then he collapsed with his face buried in the side of her neck.

‘I think I could really fall in love with you, Bella Roussel,’ he whispered in her ear.

She stroked his hair and didn’t say anything because she knew she could easily feel the same. For the first time in her life there was a feeling inside her chest that she had never felt before. It erupted from her heart and spread out across her body in this glorious warmth. If this was love then it scared her to death.

* * *

It was the early hours of the morning, the sun just peeping up above the waves and painting the sky with a rosy gold.

Isaac hadn’t been asleep but he didn’t think that Bella had either.

He’d scared her off with that comment, he knew that. She was still cuddled up against him, still holding onto him as much as he was holding onto her, but he had sensed her closing up. Everything had been going great; he had made love to her and showed her what it was like to be part of a proper relationship, not one that was born simply out of desire and sex. He had taken care of her, showed her how important she was to him and, just when she was relaxing into this new relationship, he had to go and throw the love word into the mix.

He shifted her against him so she was on top and stroked her hair down her back.

‘Fancy round two?’ Isaac said, his hand drifting down to her bum.

Bella giggled against his chest. ‘I was just thinking the same thing.’

She propped her head up on her hands as she looked at him from her position on his chest. Affection shone from her eyes but he could see there was a wariness there too.

He stroked her hair. ‘Don’t pay any attention to what I said after we made love. It was just the emotions of the moment. I certainly don’t want to do anything to scare you off.’

She smiled at him.

‘I told you last night, you don’t scare me. Love doesn’t scare me.’ She said it in such a way that he knew immediately she was lying. For someone who was so completely honest, lying didn’t come easily for her.

‘It doesn’t?’

‘It’s not something I really believe in.’

Isaac had no words.

He cleared his throat. ‘Yet again you continue to surprise me. You are so warm-hearted, generous, sweet and kind. You never struck me as someone who was jaded, cynical and bitter about love.’

‘I’m not bitter. People bandy the “love” word about so much it becomes meaningless, I love Disney films, I love pizza, I love my Levi jeans, I love Chris Pratt. I hear these words of love every day and the word becomes as common as autumn leaves. And what does it really mean? I just think the concept of love is a false one. Love is supposed to be everlasting but it never works out like that.’

‘Which asshole do I need to punch that made you feel like that?’

She shrugged. ‘There’s probably two assholes actually.’

‘Two?’

‘Yeah, my mum and my dad both taught me that love is disposable, love is nothing more than getting excited over a shiny new toy and when the shine wears off you can just cast the toy aside and pick up a new one.’

He groaned inwardly. She always seemed so happy and although he knew a bit about her past he hadn’t realised that it had left her with such a huge emotional scar. But of course it would. Her parents abandoning her would obviously have an impact.

‘My dad married my mum, stood at the altar of the church and promised to love her forever, through good times and the bad and until death do us part. I came along, this little girl that was half him and half her, and my dad left. He didn’t love my mum enough to want to stay. He didn’t love me enough to want to stay. What does that tell you about love?’

He thought carefully how to answer. The man was clearly a dick but he could hardly say that. ‘Well, that tells me that your dad never really loved your mum in the first place if he could walk away from her so easily. Maybe he liked the idea of love and marriage and thought he was in love with her but he wasn’t.’

‘It tells me that love fades fast, if it ever was there in the first place. And what about the unconditional love of a parent? They are supposed to be the one person that will love you no matter what. But my dad left me when I was five years old and for the next year, right up to my sixth birthday, my mum told me she hated me. It wasn’t every day but it was fairly often. Every day she would sit and cry over my dad leaving and she blamed me entirely for it. He broke her heart and she hated him for it even though she never stopped loving him. What kind of messed-up love is that?’

‘She actually told you she hated you?’

‘Yes, frequently.’

Isaac swallowed down the pain that clawed at his throat. Bella had been through hell and there was nothing he could do to take that pain away.

‘I spent a lot of time with my aunt and uncle and the time I spent there grew longer and the time I spent with my mum grew shorter until one weekend she dropped me there and never bothered to pick me up again. That was the last time I ever saw her. She never wrote, never sent me a card or a present, she just vanished and wiped me from her world altogether. There was definitely no unconditional love there. I just think love is a farce. It’s a word people use to describe a deep feeling of affection but it’s not as infallible and everlasting as the movies and books will have you believe.’

He stroked her hair and ran his hands down her back, holding her to him. He understood now why the most important thing in a relationship for Bella was affection. Words were meaningless; sex had always been physical for her, until last night. But gestures like cuddling and hugging, holding hands like she had held his the other night when they had met on the walk, those gestures showed love and care and she needed that in a relationship. He would just have to show her what a loving relationship really looked like.

‘Bella, you had a really crappy start to life and I totally get why your opinion of love has been tainted. No one should have to go through what you went through and I understand that you would be scared of falling in love knowing that it could just get thrown back in your face. But just because you’ve never experienced love, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t real. There are thousands or millions of people out there that are in loving relationships, couples that live very long and happy lives together, parents that absolutely adore their children. You must have seen it yourself. You can’t tell me that love is a farce for them.’

She nodded to concede this. ‘I think some people are lucky enough to experience real love, though the high divorce rate in this country tells you that it fails for a lot of people. I think some people are definitely more suited to love than others. Maybe it’s an inherent thing, like playing a musical instrument or being good at art. Maybe some people are born capable of love and some aren’t. I think that as my parents were completely incapable of it, then I doubt that loving gene was passed down to me.’

‘Being able to play a musical instrument or paint a picture is something that can be taught. Maybe you can be taught to believe in love again.’

‘Maybe,’ Bella said, though she didn’t sound convinced.

‘So you don’t love Rome and Eden? You don’t love your aunt and uncle?’

‘No, I do love them. Very much. But that’s a very different kind of love. I’m not sure I could trust anyone else with my heart.’

He frowned. ‘So what are we doing here? Was this always just about sex with you?’

But as soon as he asked that question, he knew that it wasn’t. Last night she had taken care of him after the fire. This was a lot more to her than just sex and desire, whether she wanted to admit it or not.

‘I really like you Isaac, we get on well. I like to talk to you and spend time with you. I really do care about you. And the sex is… well, honestly the best sex I’ve ever had. It doesn’t need to be more than that, does it? We can just enjoy this until such a time that you’re done with me.’

And right there was the crux of it. She was waiting for him to finish with her. Her parents had rejected her and so she would never let herself fall in love again because she would inevitably be rejected again.

But this was something he could work on. He just had to prove to her that she could trust him. He had to show her what love really felt like, how wonderful it was. Because after last night, he had no intention of ever letting her go.

‘We can enjoy it. I’ve got something very enjoyable planned for the next few hours before we have to get up for work.’

She smiled, catching onto his mood. She kissed his chest, right above his heart, and then sat up straddling him. God, she was a glorious sight.

‘What is it you have in mind?’

He ran his hands down to her hips, running his thumbs over the apex of her thighs and she shuddered against him. ‘Let me show you.’

She reached over to grab a condom from the drawer and he caught her hand again, cupping her face in his hands as he kissed her.

‘There’s no rush, Bella,’ he whispered against her lips, then wrapped his arms around her, hugging her to him. ‘In fact, I could stay here forever.’

He caught the wariness in her eyes but he didn’t care. She was just going to have to get used to him saying it.

* * *

Bella ran back up the stairs and into the bedroom just as Isaac walked out the bathroom, dripping wet and gloriously naked. He was using the towel to dry his hair but he had no reason to be hiding his nudity; she had spent the last few hours becoming very accustomed to every hard inch of his wonderful body.

‘See something you like?’ he said, clearly amused by her staring.

‘Just some guy I fancy.’

‘Fancy? I don’t think anyone has told me they fancy me since I’ve been at school. Next thing you’ll be telling me you have a crush on me too.’

‘Isaac Scott, I have a crazy crush on you. I bet all the girls do. But I’m the only one that gets to squeeze this gorgeous piece of ass.’

‘And I’m glad of that. I’m a “one-ass-squeezing girl” kind of guy.’

Bella laughed. ‘I got you some clothes. I asked Kevin next door. He’s very tall so I thought something of his might fit.’

She didn’t tell Isaac that Kevin’s wife had been asking about the two of them, had heard that they were dating and knew he had spent the night. He didn’t need to know anything that might scare him off.

‘Thank you, that’s very sweet. I have a spare suit in the office, so I just need something to wear so I can get there. I need to go in early as I have a Skype call from Japan at eight and then I need to get some new clothes delivered. I need to sort out a hotel or somewhere to stay until I can get my house rebuilt.’

‘But you can stay here, you know that.’

‘That’s very kind but this is so new between us and I think it’s best if we don’t leap straight into living with each other within days of knowing each other. We probably need a bit of space.’

‘You can’t live in a hotel for the next few months.’

‘I can’t live here either.’ He grabbed a shirt from the bed and pulled it on. It was tight across his arms but it mostly fitted everywhere else. ‘I’ll rent somewhere, I just need somewhere to stay until I can find somewhere to rent.’

‘Look, stay here for the next few days.’ She rooted in her drawer and found her spare key. ‘You’re in London all of next week anyway. Then you can find somewhere to stay when you come back.’

He thought about this for a moment then nodded, taking the key from her.

‘What’s your schedule like today? Maybe we could do lunch?’ Bella said, then felt her heart crash into her stomach when he hesitated. What did she expect, they’d been on one date and it technically wasn’t even that. Now she was inviting him to come and live with her and wanting to see him all the time. Could she be any more needy? ‘Actually I’ll probably work through lunch, there’s loads to organise ready for the fair next weekend.’

‘I have a ton of stuff to sort out with the house and there’s a few meetings too,’ Isaac said. ‘So probably best if we don’t.’

Bella nodded. ‘Right well, I’ll, erm… see you tonight. I better go, I’ve got to take Alfie for a walk before work.’

She stared at him for a moment, wondering if she should give him a kiss goodbye or just a wave.

Was this actually it? Was this thing over between them before it had even really begun? She had bared her soul to him the night before and now was he running for the hills, too scared to get involved with the emotionally stunted crazy lady from work? She didn’t really blame him if he was.

He must have seen all these doubts running across her face as if she had shouted them out loud because he quickly moved across the room and took her face in his hands, kissing her softly. ‘You don’t scare me, Bella.’

She smiled against his lips.

He pulled back slightly. ‘I would like to keep it a secret at work though. I’m sure half the island must know we are together by now after all those people who offered to help saw us and the fire brigade, and we weren’t exactly subtle in the taxi, but I don’t need to hear the comments from people at work and I would prefer you not to have to put up with that crap either. If we are seen together having lunch every day or walking in and out of each other’s offices all the time, people will start to twig and I’d like to keep this just between us for as long as possible.’

She nodded with understanding, though she couldn’t help but feel a little bit disappointed with that.

‘I better go.’ He kissed her on the nose. ‘Message me on the internal message system when you get in.’

‘OK.’

He kissed her sweetly on the forehead and then left the room. A few seconds later she heard the front door close.

She ran to the window and watched him leave. She noticed the curtains of Indigo Cottage were twitching as he walked down the road. Dorothy would be delighted at this turn of events. But if Isaac thought he could keep this thing between them a secret, he had forgotten what island life was like.