"Okay Mum, love you too. Bye." My chest panged as I hung up. He wasn't stupid and had already pieced a few things together. How was I going to explain to my children that Mummy and Daddy were breaking up? How was I going to explain to Nate in a way that he wouldn't hate his father or me for that matter? I sat there momentarily with my head in my hands. What am I going to do? The thought of having to explain any of this, without actually explaining it, was just too much. I couldn't even attempt to figure it out right now, so I walked back out to the balcony.

"Nate?" Bryce asked.

"Yeah," I responded. "He knows something is wrong."

"He's a smart kid, Alexis. I'm guessing he takes after you."

"Sometimes too smart." I sat down and put my head back into my hands. "What have I done?"

"There's nothing you can do right now, so stop torturing yourself." He sounded angry, so I looked up, a little shocked and offended by his tone. "I don't like seeing you do this to yourself, you have done nothing wrong. None of this is your fault, Alexis. So give yourself a f.u.c.king break." He got up and started clearing the plates from dinner. At first I didn't know what to think, everything was going so well, and now I had p.i.s.sed him off.

"Here, I'll do that." I started picking up the rest of the dishes. I seriously felt quite lazy, I hadn't done a single thing since the Sunday night I drove into his garage resembling a Panda.

"No, I've got it." He stacked them all up and went inside. s.h.i.t, well done Alexis. You've p.i.s.sed him off with your constant worrying, lulling and toing and froing. He has organised this dream getaway for us both, has thought of absolutely everything right down to a single rose, and all you have done is feel sorry for yourself. You're a selfish b.i.t.c.h, no wonder he is s.h.i.tty. I watched him angrily move about in the kitchen, I felt awful. I need to make it up to him, what can I do?

An idea popped into my head. It wasn't a grand gesture like he was capable of, but it was an idea, and a good one. I got up and headed to the bedroom. I opened the free standing wardrobe. Excellent! I grabbed the blanket and put it on the bed, then headed to the bathroom and s.n.a.t.c.hed up the candles that were placed around the bath. I need these and some matches. s.h.i.t, I need matches. I walked back into the kitchen where Bryce was finishing up. He looked at me strangely, but didn't say anything.

"Excuse me." I slipped past him. The cupboard under the sink: good place to start. I crouched down and opened it, but there were no matches. s.h.i.t. c.r.a.p. b.a.l.l.s. I need matches or this won't work. Dorothy, yes, surely she'll have some. I stood back up, walked past him again and went back to the bedroom. I scooped up the blanket and candles then headed out the door. "I'll be back in a minute." I shut it and took off. Please don't follow.

I made a quick getaway to the Reception office and opened the door. Dorothy was sitting behind the counter.

"h.e.l.lo, Mrs. Clark."

I smiled at the sound of it again. "Actually, Dorothy, we aren't married."

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, I thought you were on your honeymoon. You both look like honeymooners." We are acting like it too!

"That's okay. Look, I was wondering if you could help me. I want to set up a romantic picnic out near the helipad. You see, Mr. Clark is a keen astronomer and seeing as it is an incredibly clear night tonight, I was hoping to surprise him with a bit of stargazing."

She smiled, which then turned into a sneaky grin. "Ah, yes. I almost certainly can help you." She looked at my items. "No, they won't do, come with me." Dorothy led me out the back of reception and into a store room. She grabbed a large flat trolley then dragged out two sunlounge mattresses and placed them on top. "Put your blanket on here too." I did what I was told. "Okay, just in here we have some heavy-duty big pillar candles, in case of a black out." She opened the box and pulled out six enormous cylinder candles. "And over here are the binoculars." Oh, even better.

"Excellent, thank you. Oh, I need matches too."

"Yes, not a problem." I followed as she pushed the trolley out of the room. "Wait here just a minute Mrs Cla..." She stopped and looked at me for an alternative.

"Alexis, you can call me Alexis."

"I'll be back in a second Alexis." She sounded very excited, I think she liked the whole organising a amission' thing. I liked the thought of it too. It felt nice being able to do something for him for a change. Dorothy returned to the room with a box of matches, a bottle of champagne, and a bowl of strawberries. "Here you go."

"Oh, Dorothy, this is just wonderful, thank you."

"Take this flashlight, Alexis. I know just the place to set up your picnic." I followed her out past the helipad, and down a small mound, stopping at just the perfect spot. She helped me set up the candles in a large circle, then we dragged the mattresses into position.

"Thank you so much, Dorothy, I can't tell you how much this means to me. He is going to love it." I looked at our handy work again, satisfied with our efforts.

"You're welcome my dear, anything for young love. Now, when you are done, give me a buzz and I'll come and pack it up for you." She touched my shoulder and headed back up the mound. I surveyed the area and it was perfect, the sunlounge mattresses now looked like a bed surrounded by a circle of candles, the champagne, and strawberries were in an ice bucket, the binoculars were neatly placed in the middle of the bed, and most importantly, the stars were out and shining brightly. I clapped my hands and headed toward the tee-pee. When I opened the door, he was sitting on the edge of the bed looking as pale as a ghost. He shot up, and at first, I thought something terrible had happened.

"What's wrong Bryce? Are you okay?" I walked up to him, and waited for an answer I may not have wanted to hear.

"Alexis, where have you been?" He was well and truly traumatised.

"I...I...I told you I'd be back in a minute."

"I didn't hear you, and you left your phone, I didn't know where you had gone or if you were coming back." If I was coming back? We are in the middle of the freaking desert. Where would I go?

"Why wouldn't I come back?" There was something tormenting him, that was obvious, and for some reason he had it in his head I was going to leave him. "Bryce, how many times have I told you? I'm not going anywhere." He pulled me to him and held me tighter than ever before, I looked up and the colour started to return to his cheeks.

"Hunny, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry I snapped at you before. I thought you'd gotten upset and just left."

"Oh, Bryce, no. You had every right to snap. You have been so amazing, organising this incredible escape for the two of us, pampering me, and giving me everything I need, and I go and ruin it by sulking, whinging and feeling sorry for myself. I'm sorry. I wanted to make it up to you, so I organised a surprise." He pulled away and looked at me stunned.

"A surprise?"

"Yes, come on." I grabbed his hand, and we headed out the door.

There was not a cloud in the sky, nor was there a breeze, the conditions for my stargazing picnic were perfect.

"Okay, close your eyes."

"Alexis, wait..."

"Bryce, just shut up, and close your eyes." He did as he was told, so I grabbed his arm and slowly led him down the mound. "No peaking, now stand here. Don't move and don't open your eyes until I say so." I let go then positioned myself in the middle of the makeshift bed. "Okay you can open them." It took a second for his eyes to adjust to what was in front of him. He blinked a few times then realised what this little candlelit circle in the middle of the desert was "I know it's not your amazing observatory, but the sky doesn't get any better than this. So, I was hoping you could teach me a little of what's up there." He shook his head at me, stepped into the circle and dropped to his knees.

"Alexis, I love you. Marry me."

CHAPTER SEVEN.

Um, yeah can't quite do that right now! I touched his face, and giggled at his request.

"Bryce, you seem to have forgotten that I am already married."

"Minor details my love. Don't worry about them." He took both my hands in his. "I will propose to you properly one day, trust me. But until I do, I want you to promise that no matter what we come up against that you will one day walk down the aisle with me." He was obviously pleased with my surprise, but he also seemed anxious. The confident man I had fallen in love with had all of a sudden become unsure of himself and us.

"Bryce, you need to just come out and tell me what you are afraid of." He fell back on the mattress, and put his arm out for me to rest upon.

"I'm afraid of losing you."

I shuffled over and placed my head where he had indicated.

"You won't if you are honest and upfront with me, I've already been with a man who took that for granted. I will not make that same mistake again."

He squeezed my arm. "So, Ms. Summ... Sorry, Ms. s.e.xya.r.s.e."

"You can't call me that." I rolled my eyes at him.

"Yes, I can, Ms. s.e.xya.r.s.e."

"No, you can't. It's all right, Summers is just a name. I was being silly before and sulking. I'm stronger than that. Anyway at this point in time it is my name and will remain my name until I change it."

"Very well, Ms. Summers. So, do you know of any constellations?" Um, apart from the Southern Cross, no. They twinkle, Madonna has a aLucky' one, and you can wish upon a shooting one, but that's as far as my knowledge of stars go.

"I know those ones over there are called the Southern Cross." I pointed to the left and quite low near the horizon.

"It is also known as Crux Ms Summers, and is the smallest of 88 constellations." Ooooo, he sounds very s.e.xy when he is Mr Teacher Clark.

I put on my best schoolgirl voice. "Very interesting, Mr. Clark. And those two really bright ones near Crux, what are they called Sir?"

He leaned up on his elbow and smirked down at me. "You really are quite cute Alexis." He touched my face and kissed me softly.

"Oh, I've never been kissed by my teacher before, how naughty of you. Is that the end of my lesson, Sir?"

"I'm glad you've never been kissed by your teacher before, and no, Ms Summers, it's not finished. Those two bright stars you referred to are commonly known as The Southern Pointers or Alpha and Beta Centauri." Alpha, Beta, What? I kept surveying the sky.

"I know what that one over there is, it's the aSaucepan', it's sort of on its side." I tilted my head, and he laughed.

"Yes, you are correct, Ms. Summers. However, you only score a aB-'."

"A aB-?' Pffft! Why?" Surely my knowledge of the saucepan was A+ worthy.

"Because, the aSaucepan' is not a constellation, it actually forms part of Orion, or the aHunter'. The bottom of the aSaucepan' is his belt, the sides of the saucepan are the tops of his legs and the handle is his sword." He picked up my arms and pointed to the stars that formed Orion's body. "Those two bright stars there are his shoulder blades, called Bellatrix and Betelgeuse."

"Bellatrix? That's a character in Harry Potter!" He scoffed at me. What? It is! Apart from the aSaucepan', and Southern Cross or aCrux' as he put it, I couldn't really see what he was pointing at. I was more fascinated in listening to him pa.s.sionately talk about something he obviously enjoyed and knew a lot about. "What's that really bright one over there Mr Clark?"

"That is Aldebaran or the aBull's Fiery Eye'. It is one of the brightest stars in the night sky, and forms part of the zodiac constellation, Taurus."

"What's that little group of stars there, near the bright one?"

"That's a star cl.u.s.ter called Pleiades or the aSeven Sisters', you can only see the seven bright stars with your naked eye, but the cl.u.s.ter actually has hundreds of stars, I'll show you properly when we get home." Home? I liked the sound of that, but his apartment was not my home. We laid there together in silence, gazing up at the crystal clear sky for several minutes.

"I really can see why you enjoy this; it is very peaceful and relaxing."

"Yes, that is one of the reasons, but I really enjoy how it is endless, just continues on and on, it has no boundaries. I like the fact there are things in life that do not know boundaries." Ha, that does not surprise me. Explains your privacy-invading antics.

"Boundaries, Mr. Clark, can also be a good thing you know."

"Hmmm. Sometimes, Alexis."

I sat up and gave him a sceptical look. "So, would you care for some champagne, Mr. Astrology Teacher?"

"I wouldn't say no to my favourite student." I poured us both a gla.s.s and opened the bowl of strawberries, plonking one each into the bottom of our gla.s.ses. He looked into his gla.s.s. "I've never understood why people do that?"

"What?"

"Put a strawberry in the gla.s.s."

The roles were now reversing. "Well, Mr. Clark, you will learn something from Ms Summers now, and might I add when you sit in MY cla.s.sroom you need to sit up straight and pay attention." I hit his leg with the top of my hand indicating he do as he is told. He did, but with a sarcastic smile on his face. Then I used the most posh, toffee-nosed voice I could manage. "The strawberry, Mr. Clark, is placed in the gla.s.s to simply enhance the flavour of the champagne."

"I know something else that enhances the flavour even better." His devilish smile crept across his face as he placed both our gla.s.ses down. I had only a second to foresee an attack, which wasn't long enough, because he grabbed me around the waist and wrestled me down until he was on top of me, pinning me into the mattress. "Have you ever been to second base with your teacher Ms Summers?" He slowly began to unb.u.t.ton my vest, revealing my white singlet top.

"Ummm." I thought for a second, purposely drawing out the hum in my voice. "Well there was that one time..." His eyes began to widen. "No, Mr Clark, but you can be my first."

He smiled greedily. "Good." He grabbed my tank top at the neck and tore it apart, exposing my white lace bra, making me gasp again.

"You can't keep tearing my clothes off Bryce."

"It's what I do, Ms Summers."

"Yes it is, but you can stop it."

"No, it's the quickest way to get them off you." Well if it's good for you, it's good for me then. I reached up and grabbed his t-shirt at the neck and pulled as hard as I could, it tore, but only slightly. d.a.m.n it.

"Stupid thing," I said, annoyed at the pathetic rip. He mockingly laughed at me, which only provoked my second attempt. So, I gritted my teeth-for some reason that helps-and wrenched it apart, only this time I was successful. I clapped my hands together like a child. "Ha, take that." He smiled then held up his gla.s.s of champagne and tipped it towards me very slightly. "What are you doing?"

"I told you, I know something else that enhances the flavour." He tilted it further sending the champagne splashing all over my chest. I squealed and closed my eyes, and before I had opened them he was licking, sucking and kissing my chest and neck. It felt wonderful, but also tickled like h.e.l.l. He slid his hands behind my back, and tried to unhook my bra. "I hate these silly things."

My laughter increased. "They really aren't that difficult. How is it that you can fly a helicopter, but cannot unhook a bra?" He gave me his devilish glint again and I knew what he had planned. "Don't you dare, Bryce, I love this bra." I put my hands behind my back and unclipped it with ease. He basically wrenched it from me exposing my b.r.e.a.s.t.s, so I did the same with his shredded t-shirt. f.u.c.k me, his chest is glorious. I would never get sick of seeing this man naked, he was just simply s.e.x-on-a-stick, and I wanted to lick him all over like a lollypop.

I propped myself up on my elbows, inviting him to tip a little more onto my chest. This time when he did, he quickly caught the drips with his tongue as they went down my stomach. He then trailed my favourite muscle of his all the way back up to my nipple and engulfed my breast with his hungry mouth. The feeling was sensational. The champagne was cold, but his tongue was warm and it neutralised the temperature exquisitely. He grabbed a strawberry and placed half of it in my mouth, so I bit down. Yum, strawberries are so tasty and s.e.xy. He wiped the remainder of the berry down my stomach and around my belly b.u.t.ton leaving a pink juicy trail. It was sort of sticky, but when he ran his tongue up and down me cleaning the traces, it was very sensual.

I rolled him over and sat upon his pelvis, grabbing the bottle of champagne. I tipped it, not gently mind you, because I felt he needed a little punishment for tearing my tank top. He screwed up his face only a little, but smirked at me and stood his ground by keeping his eyes well and truly fixed on mine. He is so stubborn. I slid down his legs and began my consumption at his happy trail.

"You're right, it definitely enhances the flavour." I continued licking and sucking around his navel and up over his six pack. I sat back up and put the bottle to my lips taking in a mouthful, then leaned over and kissed him transferring some of the contents. We continued our kiss, swallowing the champagne. Mmmm yummy. He sat up and we maintained our lip and tongue locking. I pulled away, grabbed another strawberry, and stuck it half out of my mouth. He leaned forward and bit down on the exposed half, until our mouths met once again.

"Have you ever seen the movie Lady and the Tramp?" he mumbled as he ate his half of the strawberry.

"No, believe it or not it is one Disney Cla.s.sic I have not seen. Why?" I answered, while sucking the strawberry juice from my fingers.

"You remind me of Lady." He grabbed my hand, and placed my fingers in his mouth, so that he could suck them clean for me.

Correct me if I am mistaken, but lady was a dog yeah? "Are you saying I remind you of a dog?"

He laughed. "No. Well hang on, bark for me."

My eyes widened. I pulled my hand away from his mouth. "Really?" I lifted the champagne and poured the remainder of it on top of his head. He just sat there with me atop him displaying a shocked smirk on his face. "Woof." I smiled satisfactorily.

"Are we playing dogs now?" He asked sarcastically.

"You started it."

"In that case." He shook his hair and sprayed me with droplets. I screamed and screwed up my face as they landed all over me.