‘I’m not. And can we please stop talking about Charlie? It kind of feels like he’s on this date with us.’
‘Heaven forbid,’ Alex said as I leant against his car whilst he wrestled the toy into the back seat. He closed the door and came to stand in front of me. ‘That would never do,’ he said, leaning down for another kiss.
Away from the nosy gaze of wandering tourists and drunken clubbers, I relaxed and smiled against the kiss as Alex’s hand traced up the side of my bare arm. Little ripples of shivery pleasure coursed through me. I wasn’t sure whether it was from the slight chill now coming in off the sea or from the heat of the intimate touch but could hazard a guess. I felt Alex smile in response and when he pulled back, there was merriment in his eyes.
‘See? Most definitely just the two of us.’
‘Well, that’s good.’
‘I don’t want to take you home yet,’ he said, his fingers sliding down my arm and entwining with my own.
‘What time is your shift tomorrow?’
‘I’m on lates tomorrow.’
‘Sadly I’m not.’
‘Shame,’ he said, a teasing look flashing in his eyes.
I stood straighter and gave him a playful shove. ‘Now I understand the warning. I hate to disappoint you, PC McSpeedy, but I’m not a first date kind of girl. No matter how gorgeous the man involved is.’
A deep laugh rumbled in his chest and burst out. ‘I didn’t think you were. But you can’t blame a guy for trying.’
‘Watch me,’ I teased back.
‘OK. I apologise.’ He stroked my arm. ‘Don’t tell you-know-who, will you? I promised him I’d behave.’
‘So definitely no reformation of the Lothario, then?’
‘No. I mean yes. That is… Oh, come on, show me a man who would turn down a beautiful girl offering to take him to bed, whatever number date they’re on.’
‘I didn’t offer!’
‘I know you didn’t. It doesn’t mean I don’t live in hope.’
‘Besides, I think you’re wrong there.’
‘I am?’
‘Yes. There was an article in theTelegraphabout how three quarters of the men surveyed would turn down first-date sex.’
‘Really? When was this study from – 1953?’
‘Funny.’ I pulled a face. ‘Actually, it was 2015.’
‘Interesting.’
‘Clearly you weren’t part of the survey panel.’
‘Clearly not.’
I laughed and shook my head, keeping my face turned away for a moment until I could feel my heart slowing down a little. I had a bad feeling that, reformed or not, Alex Ford might well have the ability to charm a woman who had never once slept with a man on a first date into doing just that.
‘Everything all right?’ he whispered, close to my ear.
I nodded.
‘I’m sorry, Libs.’ His voice was soft but sincere, the teasing note gone. ‘I shouldn’t have said—’
