But when I walk to the back of the plane to stretch my legs, he catches up with me in the narrow galley kitchen.
‘Wait up,’ he says, as I try to move past him.
I’m tired and I’m not in the mood to talk, but I’m stuck.
‘I was thinking,’ he begins, his hand brushing my elbow. ‘I know this trip was supposed to replace the hen and stag parties but I wanted to organise something more for Theo. Nothing hard core, just a trip to Leeds so we can have drinks with our old uni friends. Thought you’d want to know in case …’
‘In case Tig hears about it and wants something extra, too?’
He smiles wryly. ‘Exactly.’
‘To be honest, I’ve been thinking the same. I might organise a spa day to help take her mind off any last-minute stresses.’
He nods. ‘This wasn’t the most relaxing of trips.’
‘That’s a massive fucking understatement.’
He raises an eyebrow. ‘A rare swear word from you.’
‘Do you blame me? We had a near drowning, a mad dash to the emergency room. Getting caught in an electrical storm.’
‘Then,almostgetting caught …’
I hold up my hand to stop him. ‘Me missing that Pen was having a breakdown right under my nose, some pointless conversation about shagging on sofas that you hadverystrong opinions about, and far, far too much drinking.’
He smiles. ‘Don’t forget a marriage proposal.’
I can’t help smiling back. ‘Sorry, how could I? For future reference, it’s customary to go down on one knee.’
‘Noted.’
‘I didn’t mean to upset you last night,’ he says after a beat. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘You didn’t upset me. You just … came on too strong. And I’ve got a lot on my mind. With Pen.’
We hit a pocket of turbulence and pitch sideways. He grabs my hips to stop me hitting the toilet door, and his right hand takes the weight of the impact. It thumps against the door and a wave of panic hits me.
‘Your hand, Mark. It’s your livelihood.’
He opens and closes his fist to show me he’s fine. ‘I’m not that fragile, I promise. I can take a bit of rough and tumble.’ He leans in close. ‘In the shed the other day, your epic arse bouncing against my cock did mewaymore damage.’
A bolt of arousal zips through me. ‘You seemed happy enough at the time.’
‘All I’m saying is, I can handle you, Nella.’
He smooths a lock of hair that’s escaped my ponytail. His nearness does what it always does – it makes me shiver.
‘I know what you’re capable of,’ he murmurs, his mouth close to my ear so I can hear him above the engines, ‘so it kills me to say this, but when the right guy comes along, let your hair down … properly.’
I feel a tug at my scrunchie and my ponytail falls loose.
His lips graze my temple as he slips past me to return to his seat.
And it’s only after a few moments, once I’ve caught my breath, that I realise he’s made off with my hair tie.
We land at Heathrow just before midday. My bag’s the last to come out. Theo, Tig and Pen have already gone through customs and told us to meet them by the M&S.
Yan and Mark have their bags and are waiting for me. Yan’s on the phone when I spot my bag coming through the hatch and onto the conveyor belt. Without me asking, Mark goes to intercept it so I don’t have to wait for it to do a whole loop.
