Man of the Match: hot celebrity romance (FULL NOVEL)

7. On the balcony

[RECAP: After breaking up with her fiancée, student Cara goes on holiday to Sri Lanka and starts a forbidden fling with England cricket captain Matt Curran. He's invited her to watch him play cricket as he thinks she brings him luck.]

Cara awoke. It was still dark and the alarm clock told her it was only just past midnight. Matt was no longer in bed beside her. There was only an empty space with rumpled sheets and she felt a pang.

It was only their third night together but she was already getting used to him, which was dangerous.

Looking up she noticed that the balcony door was open, the curtain billowing gently from the sea breeze. She got up and saw that Matt was standing out there, looking at the ocean. She felt joy and relief surge inside her which was an even more dangerous sign.

He turned his head and saw her. "I didn't wake you, did I?"

"No. Have you been awake long?"

"Just a few minutes. Come and join me."

Winding a sheet around her Cara stepped outside and stood against the railing next to him. He put his arm around her, his hand resting gently in the curve of her lower back. She was surprised and happy at the intimacy.

"One of the perks of the job. This..." he indicated the sea, sky and stars. It was one of those tropical nights that people describe as velvet: an ink-black sky with night air warm enough that even the sea breezes didn't chill the skin. A pale gold moon, shining on the waters.

"It must be interesting, all the travel," Cara said.

"It is. I wanted a job where you could see the world. I studied engineering at university, I had ideas of working in the Middle East if cricket didn't happen."

"Have you been there?"

"Only as a tourist, a week in Dubai," Matt said. "What about you, with biochemistry?" He had seen the textbooks on the table in her room.

"The same, actually." One of the reasons Cara had chosen it was for the research opportunities overseas. Years ago she had visited Geneva on a school trip and dreamt of living there one day. She told Matt this.

"How's your Swiss?"

"French, in that part," Cara told him. "I'd have to brush up. Do you pick up different languages on tour?"

"Mainly expletives at the stumps. If I ever need to swear fluently in Urdu I'm set."

Cara laughed.

Matt looked at her, her eyes shining, her hair loose. She was so beautiful and natural. So easy to be with. If it was a different time in his life, if they were both in different places... but there was no point thinking about it. It was something to enjoy for the moment.

"Would you like a drink?" he asked. "I'm a million miles from sleep but I have to be up in a few hours. I could do with something to knock me out."

"I can see what's in the minibar," Cara said.

"Let's go up to my room, then we can raid it properly. My tab gets covered."

Cara slipped on a robe and Matt pulled his clothes on and they crept along the corridor to the lift. If anyone was up at this hour of the night and encountered them it would be disastrous. It felt like they were co-conspirators, the risk adding an extra frisson.

When they got to Matt's room, immaculately made up by the chambermaid earlier that day and still untouched, he put his arms around her and kissed her. "The drink can wait."