I leant over and fingered the soft wool of his beanie that he’d taken off earlier and tossed in the centre console space. ‘Then I really hope he can as I’m thinking that’s going to take some chewing.’
Seb gave me that crooked grin and I felt a rush of warmth flood through me that had absolutely nothing to do with luxurious heated seats.
13
‘OK, turn around.’
‘Pardon?’
‘Turn around. Please.’
‘Lottie, believe it or not, I have seen women’s underwear before. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen plenty of stuff that would make you blush. Just pick some.’
We were standing in a twenty-four hour supermarket, in front of the ladies’ underwear section, stocking up on emergency supplies for me and I was desperately trying to get Seb to drop his usual nonchalant, nothing-phases-me attitude. Primarily because I didn’t possess the same one.
‘I’ve absolutely no doubt about that, but the truth of the fact is that one thing you haven’t seen is my knickers and I’m not about to have you add that to the list.’
‘Shame,’ he said, a smile that now looked positively devilish, making him appear even more good looking than usual, which really wasn’t ideal.
I gave a head tilt. ‘Which part?’
‘Both.’
Following the head tilt with an eye roll, I grabbed his arms and bodily turned him round so that he was facing away from the rows of knickers I was currently considering.
‘If you’re having trouble deciding, maybe I should just pick for you?’ Even without seeing his face, I could hear the smile.
‘That’s really kind, but you’re already putting yourself out for me enough this weekend, I couldn’t possibly ask you to do more.’
‘Really. It’s no bother.’
‘I’m done now anyway.’
Seb turned and I tucked the couple of pairs I’d chosen behind my back. He shook his head and caught my arm. ‘Come on. I need to grab some milk while I’m here. What do you eat in the mornings?’
‘Whatever I find in the cupboard, really.’
‘Cereal? Toast? Eggs?’
‘Seb. You don’t need to go to any extra effort for me. I’m already descending on you unplanned. Whatever you have is fine. In fact, even better, I could take you out for breakfast to thank you.’
He hooked a carton of milk from the metal trolley it was stacked in and we began heading towards the tills. ‘OK. One, you’re not descending, I invited you, and two, you don’t need to thank me for anything, much less take me anywhere. Besides, nothing can beat my cooked breakfast, so unless you have any objections, I’ll just do that.’
We got to the till and, distracted by the thought of sizzling bacon and the like, I swiped my items through the self-service till before grabbing the milk from Seb and putting that through too.’
‘I’ll get that,’ he said.
‘Done now,’ I said, flashing my supermarket loyalty card at the machine before paying and stuffing my purchases in my handbag.
‘Thanks,’ he said, leaning over to grab the carton. ‘Nice pants by the way,’ he added, winking as he did so.
I felt myself blush but couldn’t help laughing too. There was something about Seb Marshall that made me relax, even when I thought I should be tense. And he was right, he probably had seen – and even done – plenty of things that would make me blush. I tried not to think about those right now and instead gave him a nudge with my elbow as we turned and left the shop.
* * *
Seb’s house was one of six fairly new houses off a country lane, not far from town. Each had a neat front garden and a drive, mostly with two cars parked on them in front of the garage door. The houses curved around so that none overlooked the other and the back gardens, although fenced, each had a gate, allowing access to the woods that lay behind them.
‘That was a key attraction as I knew I wanted to get a dog as soon as I was able to get my fitness up,’ Seb explained as he pulled up on to his drive, passing my car that was now parked on the road in front of his house.
