Page 30 of Tears of Gold

“I want to stop it. It’s horrible for you.”

He chuckles and brushes a kiss across my forehead. “I love your enthusiasm. But with Mother and Gran it’s easier to just put up and shut up.” Dropping his head, his lips find mine and he distracts me with a delicate kiss that flutters across my lips. “Dare I even ask where my suits are? Or am I turning up tomorrow in the clothes I’ve worn today?”

I grin in the darkness. “I did have the foresight to organise you some clothes, but I didn’t know where to put them, so I hung them in the kitchen.”

“Well, Miss Beesley will be in for a shock tomorrow morning.”

I chuckle and pull him close. I could stay with my mouth and nose pressed against the warm skin of his chest for hours. “Is it weird being in what was supposed to be Peter’s home?”

“Yes.” He nods, his fingers running across my hair. “But I think it’s weirder knowing this was supposed to be his home and he never lived here. I don’t think I will ever get over the secrets he kept.”

“Maybe he just tried to protect you.”

“Maybe he was protecting himself.”

I roll over and stare at the ceiling. “Doesn’t everyone want to protect themselves?”

“By withholding the truth?”

My fingers grasp his and squeeze tight. “Maybe it was easier for him to be in denial.”

I know he’s watching me closely. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing.”

“Faith?”

“It’s nothing. I just had to tell Angela and Miriam, and well more people that I’d want to, about my trip to the police in Brighton.”

“You did?” He leans up onto an elbow and trails his fingertips along my side.

“Well, yeah. I had to give them the chance to choose someone else. I don’t know what’s going to happen, or what’s going to come out.”

“The truth, Faith. The truth will come out.” He pecks another brief kiss across my mouth.

I shudder internally. It’s the truth coming out that scares me. What if the truth isn’t what I think it is? What if I got it all wrong?

What if the police think I’m a fraud?

“Faith.” His hand cups my cheek, his fingers sliding into my hair. “Trust me and trust those around you. You’re the right person for the job.”

“They also said they were going to hire me a co-star… I mean, come on. I don’t play well with others.” I have to giggle a little, no matter how heavy my heart is.

“It had better not be a hot guy.”

“You are the only hot guy I am interested in.”

He rolls me over, his kiss harder, deeper, seeking me out and claiming me, and with his kiss I lock all my worries back into their dark box.

Later, when my body is aching and my heart is flying free, his elbow nudges me in the ribs. “Are you going to show me this new house of ours or not? I don’t like this room; we need a better bedroom.”

“Now? Don’t you want to sleep?”

He rolls from the bed, picking up his discarded boxers from the floor before grabbing my underwear and his shirt and throwing them at me. “I know you don’t like to walk around naked.”

“You like to walk around naked too much.”

“Are you complaining?”