ElizabethI stare in shock as Huxley lands on the mat near the assistant. Oh my God. He actually did it.“Wooooooo!” he yells, fists pumping the air. The assistant unclips him from the wire, then helps him out of the harness, laughing as Huxley bounces all over the place, refusing to stand still.“He fucking did it,” Jamie says beside me, “Jesus! I really didn’t think he’d go through with it.”“Me neither,” I whisper.I know what it’s taken for him to do this. I’ve been with him many times when he’s been faced with heights. He can’t go up ladders or outside stairs even if they have a railing, and he won’t look out of airplane windows, or any window in a building that’s more than a few floors off the ground.So for him to jump off a tiny platform six hundred feet in the air, with only a wire to keep him safe, will have taken immense courage.Did he really do it for me?He thanks the assistant and shakes his hand, then leaves the landing area and walks over to us.“Dude!” Jamie runs up

HuxleyI’m convinced it’s going to be the longest ten days of my life, but in the end the time passes pretty quickly. We’re having some renovations carried out on two of the meeting rooms at the club, and we also close the restaurant for two days to have it completely repainted. Even though it’s an obvious loss in revenue, the result is stunning, a vast improvement on the original, and Victoria and I are really pleased with it.Despite the work going on, the club is busy. The available meeting rooms are mostly booked all day, the workrooms are bustling, the bars are packed in the evenings, and the calendar for functions is becoming nicely full. We get a great review on one of the top New Zealand business websites, and the biggest bank in the city contacts us to say they’re interested in using us for their international AGM in September, which would mean huge business for us.Although I’m cautious about jinxing it, I have to admit that the club has been successful, more than I’d hoped,

She comes to stand beside me. “It’s a gorgeous place. Thank you so much for organizing it.”“My pleasure.” I turn and slip my arms around her waist. She rests her hands on my chest again, and she gives a little shiver. “Are you cold?” I ask.“No.”Aw. I kiss her forehead. Then her nose. Then, finally, her mouth.She sighs and lifts her face to me, and we exchange a slow, gentle kiss that sends a frisson running down my back. It would be so easy to turn and direct her back into the bedroom, strip off her clothes, and throw her straight onto the bed, but I don’t want to do that. Even though that’s why we’re here, and we’re not strictly on a date, I want to romance her a little.“Come on,” I say. “Let’s walk slowly down to the vineyard. We can have a drink before we eat.”She blows out what I think is a relieved breath. “Okay.”We lock up the villa and head out into the sunshine. The path leads around the buildings and then along the top of the ridge, with the Pacific sparkling to our le

I shake my head, and Huxley says, “No, I think we’re done with food. Maybe a whisky to finish?”“Of course.”“What’s the best you’ve got?”“We have a thirty-two-year-old Bowmore.” He names the price of a single shot.My eyebrows rise, but Huxley just nods. “Oh yeah, we’ll have two glasses of that, please. Doubles.”The waiter smiles. “Of course. Are you happy staying here, or would you like to come inside? There’s an open fire.”“That sounds great,” Huxley says, so we rise and go inside, over to the sofa in front of the log fire. He sits in the right-hand corner, and I sit in the middle next to him. He puts his arm around me, pulling me right up to him, and I lean against him, tingling at the notion of being so close.Even though I’m still nervous, the wine has done its job. My joints feel loose, and my spine has relaxed. He’s right. I should just accept that we’re going to end up in bed together. There’s no point in fighting it. I can’t resist him, and I think he knows it.I give him

ElizabethHuxley wasn’t joking when he said he likes kissing. His mouth barely leaves mine as he gradually walks me backward through the living room and out onto the deck.When he does finally lift his head, it’s to look out at the view, where he stops for a second and stares. I follow his head and inhale at the sight of the stars popping out on the dark velvet sky. There’s little light pollution here, with Auckland behind us, and the celestial sphere is reflected on the vast expanse of the Pacific, making it look like an endless diamond-scattered carpet. The moon is half-full to the west, and with the stars provides more than enough light to see by.“Normally I’m not a lights-out kind of guy in the bedroom,” he says, “but I might make an exception tonight.” He looks back at me, cups my face in his hands, and strokes his thumbs across my cheeks. “You’re so fucking beautiful.”I’ve watched Huxley turn his charm—his inner light—on so many people over the years, but I’ve never been the f