Free Delicious Desires by Jackie Williams

arrangements. But after the drug thing he seemed so caring, I thought that perhaps he liked me. He seemed to like me. I didn’t realize, until right now, how much I liked him. Oh God Cathy, I know I’m being ridiculous, but I think of him all the time. Day and night. I can’t get him out of my head.” She choked out the words as she confessed her hidden feelings, her eyes pleading with her friend to understand. “I’ve spoken to him for probably less than an hour all told, but it’s more than enough. I think I’m in love with him. And now I’ve left it too late.” She paused, tears streaming down her face again.
    “H e…He was having sex with that woman, I could hear them. She was telling him to slow down. She was gasping and he was almost panting in her ear! God! I don’t even want to think about it.” Her heart felt too big for her chest as it pounded out a frantic rhythm. “I’m sorry Cathy, do you mind if I go for a walk? I need to clear my head.” She choked out the words and feeling that she needed some fresh air, she loosened herself from Cathy’s grasp and walked outside.
    She wandered along the sea front, watching the waves rush up th e sand and draw back, leaving a soft, scummy foam along the shore. She picked up a pebble or two and weighed them in her hand as she stared out at the swirling water, wishing with all her heart that she had never made the call. She knew that she had never felt quite so miserable.
    Caroline jumped back a pace or two as the water suddenly rushed up the sand towards her. She knew it was her own fault that she had lost him. She knew that she should have called him weeks ago, given him some hint of her interest, but at the time, it hadn’t seemed to matter. He was going to see her anyway. He’d said he was going to call and she had believed him. She thought he liked her too. He had been so angry, so violent with the two men attacking her and then so gentle, so loving in the way he’d held her in his arms the day she had been ill.
    Had he been faking his concern? Could she have completely misread the signs?
    If only she had swallowed her pride and phoned the man. There had been no girlfriend three weeks before and he had said that he didn’t want one. However he had inferred that he wanted her in his bed, not that she would have jumped straight into it with him as she wasn’t that type of woman, but right now, right at this very moment as she stood so horribly alone on the beach, she wished desperately that she was.
    The tide was only about half way in and she threw a couple of the smooth stones towards the water. They fell pathetically , far short of the water, onto the wet sand, and her shoulders drooped as she felt as pathetic as her throw.
    The screaming seagulls came in low over her head, gliding on the wind and making noises as though they were laughing at her.
    Angrily she aimed the next stone at one of them, but that fell short too and she had to duck her head as the stone fell back to earth, missing her by inches and rolling away down the sand. The big bird flapped away lazily, still mocking her as it went.
    The wind caught her hair and blew the long strands about her face as she stood and watched the birds diving and then rising in the air again. She rather wished that she could fly away with them just as Adam had said he wanted to.
    It had taken her twenty minutes to walk to the jetty and she turned wondering if she should get back to help Cathy. The wind gusted along the sea front and her hair became a swirling mass of dark brown as she faced away from the sea.  She turned back again to let it blow away from her face before she caught hold of the thick tresses and twisted them into a tight plait to stop it blowing about.
    There was a commotion at the lifeboat station and she stopped to watch. Several men were standing about, their expressions tense. She stopped by the sea wall, not wanting anyone to see her tear-stained face, but it seemed they weren’t