The only problem was the rest of her friends trouped after them, giving her no chance for a private aside with Kirsty. They crowded into the powder room and verbally pounced on her about Fletcher anyway, so in the face of their observations, there was no point in trying to hide what she intended to do.
‘Is it okay with you if I leave the party early, Kirsty?’ she asked.
An unholy grin broke out on Kirsty’s face as she delivered their old catch-cry. ‘Go for it, girl!’
‘Yeah…we’re all rooting for you,’ Lucy chimed in.
‘If he’s your Mr Right, make him believe you’re his,’ Jennifer urged.
Hannah gave her a hug and a kiss. ‘We just want you to have what you want, Tam.’
Celine, who’d repeatedly warned her against any involvement with her brother shook her head in helpless bemusement. ‘He obviously came to the wedding for you. I hope it means something good. I’ll kill him if it doesn’t. You’re my friend.’
‘Don’t worry, Celine. I know what I’m doing,’ Tammy quickly assured her—taking what I can and hoping for more— then gave Kirsty a hug and a kiss. ‘I hope you have a wonderful honeymoon with Paul and a great marriage.’
‘Thanks, Tammy. All the best to you, too,’ she answered with feeling. ‘Now go and make that man love you as much as we do.’
She left to a chorus of well-wishing, returning to the main room to join Fletcher again. Her face was flushed, partly from the embarrassment of having the whole gang aware of her vulnerability to a man who would leave her tomorrow, partly from the rapid pounding of her heart at knowing the moment of decisive action had come.
The old song, ‘Tonight,’ from West Side Story started playing in her mind as she spotted Fletcher across the room and everyone else blurred into non-existence.
There’s only you tonight…
The instant her eyes met his, he started moving, making a beeline for her while she stood watching him, waiting, her feet rooted to the floor, her whole being strangely energised by the purposeful force of the man. He was going to take her, sweep her away with him, have what he wanted with her.
Quivers ran through her stomach. A weird weakness invaded her arms and legs. She felt as though her body was surrendering to his will, yet hadn’t she made up her own mind about this?
Of course she had.
‘Said goodbye to the bride?’ he asked, reaching out, taking her hand, squeezing it to affirm the connection with her.
‘Yes. It’s okay for us to leave now,’ she answered, reasserting her own authority over the situation.
He smiled, warm pleasure dancing from his eyes and encompassing everything she was. At least, that was how it felt. ‘Then let’s go,’ was all he said.
His strength seemed to pour into her from their linked hands as they walked out of the house together. The cool night air was revitalising, too, whisking the heat from her face, making her skin tingle with sensitivity. A sudden burst of joy zinged through her. Tonight…tonight… sang in her mind again. Her feet wanted to dance, to cavort wildly under the moon and stars, her arms swinging out to the myriad city lights around the harbour as she twirled like a dervish, shedding all the cares of her life, being free.
She laughed at the mad image of herself—Tammy Haynes, the smart, sensible member of the gang, completely losing her head and going right off the straightline rails she had drawn for the course of her life.
‘What’s amusing you?’ Fletcher asked, his eyes quizzing hers with acute intensity, not liking her being out of his mental loop.
‘Me,’ she answered, grinning at him. ‘I think there must be a pagan streak in me. Any minute now I might howl at the moon.’
He laughed, the taut wary expression relaxing. ‘Perhaps there is something to lunar madness.’ His mouth curved into a wolfish smile, his eyes glittering with dangerous intent. ‘I’m feeling distinctly primitive myself.’
The childhood story of Little Red Riding Hood with the wolf in her grandmother’s bed popped straight into her mind. ‘Oh my, what big ears you have, Grandmama!’ she recited teasingly. ‘What big teeth you have!’
‘All the better to gobble you up, my dear,’ he intoned darkly.
She laughed at his instant response, giddily delighted that he could share her silly mood and exhilaratingly aware that he meant to do just that—gobbling her up in sexual terms—once they reached his hotel room.
Which reminded her there were some things she had to be sensible about. ‘I didn’t come prepared for this, Fletcher. I haven’t been taking a contraceptive pill or…’
‘I’ll take care of it. I always use a condom anyway. Though I appreciate the warning, Tamalyn.’ He squeezed her hand as he cynically added, ‘Some women don’t play straight.’
It worried her again—how many women he’d played with—if she was just a game to him. Then she firmly told herself there was only one sure way to find out. After tonight she would know.
They rounded a high hedge which had hidden the parking lot and she waved at the rows of cars. ‘Which chariot is ours?’
‘The one with the most horse-power.’
He led her towards a silver Porsche.
‘No speeding allowed,’ she said with mock gravity.
‘In which case…’ They’d reached the passenger door and instead of opening it, he swung her into his embrace. ‘…I need to take a pit stop right now.’
Her heart skipped a beat. ‘Hungry, are you?’ tripped off her tongue.
‘Starving.’
His kiss wiped any further light banter from her mouth, from her mind. If he was starved for her, she was more than starved for him, kissing him back with a reckless abandonment of any inhibitions, flinging her arms around his neck, fingers thrusting into his hair, pressing his head down to hers, demanding the continuation of the fierce flow of passion that was firing from one to the other.
His arms crushed her to him and she revelled in his hunger for all of her, loving the feel of her breasts squashed against the hard hot heave of his chest, the furrowing of her stomach by the strong thrust of his desire for her. She was as feverish as him in wanting and taking every intimacy that could be had.
‘Tamalyn, if we don’t move now…’ Ragged words, bursting with need.
‘Yes,’ she mindlessly agreed.
He bundled her into the passenger seat, secured her seat-belt, kissed her hard and fast, slammed the door shut, and was around the car to the driver’s side and settling himself behind the wheel while she was still catching her breath. The powerful engine roared into life and they were off, headlights scything through the darkness of the park, much brighter than moonbeams, Tammy thought dizzily, a shining path to the bed Fletcher would share with her tonight.