Page 87 of Daydreaming at the Boathouse Cafe

‘I need to ask you something,’ she said, biting her lip.

‘What is it?’ he asked, going up to stand in front of her. ‘Are you OK?’

‘I’m fine,’ she replied. ‘But it’s personal. About you, I mean.’

‘OK,’ he said slowly.

She took a deep breath. ‘Are you still going out with Aimee?’

Alex was startled by the unexpected question and shook his head. ‘No. We just went out that one time.’

‘Once?’ Hannah stared at him with wide eyes.

‘I mean, she’s lovely but we’re not very suited, as it turns out,’ he carried on.

‘Justonce?’ she repeated.

Alex nodded, wondering why she was asking and hoping that he knew the reason why.

To his amazement, Hannah suddenly burst out laughing. ‘I don’t believe this!’ she said, shaking her head. ‘I thought you were with her.’

‘I’m not,’ Alex told her, taking a step forward. ‘I’m here. With you.’

And Hannah’s laughter faded as she looked up at him before clearing her throat. ‘Wow, this is really hard for me even though it’s you,’ she began. ‘Right. OK. Well, I’ve kissed you twice now.’

Alex’s mouth fell open in shock at her words and found he couldn’t speak. She sounded like a whole new Hannah, assured and confident.

‘And I was drunk the first time, of course,’ she carried on.

He nodded.

‘But then we had that second kiss two nights ago.’

He nodded again, feeling like a dummy but unable to form any kind of words. Was this really happening at last? Or was she about to reject him?

‘Listen, I think it’s admirable that you’ve been such a gentleman with me,’ she told him. ‘But you’ve been so perfect and so nice to me,’ she carried on, giving him a soft smile. ‘The trouble is, well, it’s not very flattering. Makes a girl think that perhaps you’re not into her after all. That perhaps you wish those kisses had never happened.’

‘Nothing could be further from the truth,’ he said, finally finding his voice. He took a step forward to take her hands in his. ‘I’ve waited so long to kiss you properly and then you get drunk and steal my thunder.’ He reached out to stroke her face. ‘And then you kiss me when I’m upset and it still isn’t the right moment. But here, now, this is finally the right time to tell you that I am completely and utterly crazy about you.’

Hannah was staring up at him with her beautiful blue eyes and he still couldn’t quite believe that they were finally having this conversation.

He took a shaky breath and ran a hand through his hair. ‘This is ridiculous. I’m actually nervous,’ he said, with a small laugh of disbelief.

Hannah grinned up at him. ‘Well, that’s not very good, is it? If we’re both this nervous then nothing’s ever going to happen between us.’

He looked at her and smiled, suddenly relaxing. It was Hannah, beautiful, kind, gentle Hannah who he knew so well.

He reached out and drew her near as he wrapped his arms around her.

‘Oh, nothing is a terrible word,’ he told her, pulling her close so that their bodies touched. ‘We should definitely work against that.’

‘We should,’ she murmured, reaching up with her hands to draw them up to his chest.

He wondered if she could feel his heart thumping under his shirt. Suddenly their heads were leaning towards each other at the same time and their lips met.

It was a kiss of desire, of passion and of familiarity as well. He lost all track of time, only aware of Hannah and nothing else as he held her close at last.

Much later, when he was looking down at her pretty face in wonder, she said, ‘Perhaps we should get going before anyone misses us.’