‘Not even close.’
He bent his head to my lips again, this time for a proper kiss.
I couldn’t shut off the voice in my head.I’m kissing Simon! With tongues!I’d imagined this a hundred times and here he was, flesh and blood and putty in my hands.
His arms were suddenly scooping me up off the bench and onto his lap. His hands were in my hair, and mine were roaming his broad back.
He broke off the kiss, and rested his forehead on my shoulder.
I stilled my hands. ‘Everything okay?’
He looked up. ‘I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time.’
I smiled. ‘Me too.’
He ran his thumb over my cheek. ‘You’re beautiful.’
I could sense a ‘but’ coming and swallowed back a ball of lust and disappointment.
‘What is it, Si?’
‘I have all these feelings swirling around my head, confusing the hell out of me. Until a few months ago, I was desperately trying to make my marriage work. And now I’m in London with you, and I don’t want to mess things up.’
‘You haven’t messed anything up.’
He hugged me closer. ‘You’re amazing and sexy and God, I feel like I could fly right now.’
I grinned, even though he couldn’t see me. ‘You’re not too bad yourself.’
‘But I need us to take things slowly. Could you bear that?’
‘Of course I can, Si. We can take all the time you need.’I’ve been waiting half my life, I wanted to say,what are a few more weeks?I couldn’t stop smiling as we walked back to the party, my hand in his. Fucking hell, I wanted to scream: Simon and me. It was finally happening.
As we reached the patio door, our hands uncoupled. Probably best not to give Georgia a hint of anything. Not when it was all so brand new. I went straight to the loo to give myself a chance to compose myself. My pink-faced reflection stared back at me. My hair was mussed up and the red lipstick was gone – hopefully not all over Simon’s face.
I wanted to stay in my little post-kiss bubble for a bit longer. Simon’s stubble had left a track of pink from my jaw down my neck, where he’d planted soft kisses.
A knock at the door made me jump. I guess twenty guests sharing two bathrooms meant my time was up. I flushed the toilet, ran the tap for a couple of seconds then made my way back to the living room.
Simon was deep in conversation with Dean. They seemed to be discussing alloy wheels. Or at least, Dean was leading the charge, even getting his phone out to illustrate his question about whether to choose eighteen- or nineteen-inch rims on his new car.
Simon was the least car-crazy bloke I knew, but he was ably holding his own. His eyes locked on mine for a second and a smile played at his lips, but then his attention was back to Dean.
I could tell without looking that Georgia’s eyes were burning a hole in me. She had a sixth sense like that. I kept myself busy chatting to others so she wouldn’t get the chance to interrogate me. She only got her chance when we hugged just as I was leaving with Simon at 1 a.m.
‘I will want every salacious detail, madam,’ she whispered in my ear.
Later, in the taxi ride home we sat side by side, my leg pressed against Simon’s. The driver was listening to Smooth Radio, and it was nice to have soft, soothing music serenade us as we drove. I felt like I was in some sort of alternate universe, my head resting on Simon’s shoulder, his hand stroking my knee. As we turned into my road, ‘My Heart Will Go On’ came on.
I lifted my head and Simon smiled.
‘Sometimes I put this on when I want to be reminded of you.’ His voice was low.
‘Same,’ I said, my heart feeling like it was going to burst.
A few short moments later, the cab was pulling up outside my flat.
We got out slowly, the spell broken.
