Page 112 of Last Christmas in London

‘Where’s… the… bedroom?’ I asked messily as he pulled the shirt up and over his head with ease. To be a man without having to care about all the other layers.

His chest made me pause for a heartbeat.

I ran my fingers along his collarbone and down to the fine line of hair across his abs – I was right, they were defined – feeling him shiver in response as he leaned forward to kiss my neck again and I moaned, returning to myself and my need.

‘Up the stairs,’ he said into my ear. ‘I’ll race you.’

‘No!’

We were like overgrown children, suddenly running and guffawing. Both of us charged and playful.

My legs were so heavy I didn’t think I’d ever be able to make it up to the top but, with surprising speed, we landed on his bed up in the mezzanine and quickly fell about on the sheets, wasting no time in removing any additional layers between us.

In what felt like no time his body was suddenly covering mine, his hands reverent as they traced the curve of my spine and as I felt every inch of him.

His lips found mine again, like magnets, and for the first time in a long time, I wasn’t thinking about what came next.

I was exactly where I wanted to be.

Chapter 34

‘It’s just a few weeks,’ I reiterated to Simon, tugging at his collar as he held me in front of airport security. ‘I’ll be back before you know it and I’ll text you every day.’

‘You’d better.’ Simon smirked. ‘I don’t know what I would do without your GIFs and unintelligible emojis. It’s like using Duolingo but without the three-day trial.’

‘Oh, shut up,’ I said playfully, smoothing out the collar of his khaki jacket.

Since we officially got together, I had become even more attracted to his slightly unkempt public appearance. I even requested that he not shave for a day or two just so I could enjoy the feeling of his light stubble against my chin.

‘It feels like I’ve got sand on my cheeks,’ he had complained that morning.

‘I like it,’ I said, kissing him on his jawline. Since it was only for one day, before we said goodbye at the airport, he let me have my way.

He let me have my way with quite a few things, in fact.

We had barely left his flat after returning from my job interview. In fact, we nearly missed New Year entirely – it was a good thing he gave up his slot when we went ice skating, otherwise he would have had to leave the bedroom, which would have been a travesty for both of us. We found our own way of celebrating the New Year. After all, who needs the South Bank fireworks when you’re making fireworks of your own?

You’d think that, after going so long without a tryst, I’d be out of practice and uncertain, but being with Simon was like finding the perfect puzzle piece. The ‘excuse me’s, awkward requests, and occasional recalibration of leg positions only added to the fun.

‘You’re actually listening to me?’ I said at one point, panting through the gymnastics of Round 2 on the floor of the mezzanine. We had fallen off the bed in the first round.

I was shocked that a man was willing to let a woman take the lead and follow her instructions on exactly what she wanted from a sexual moment without any kind of criticism, suggestion, or refusal.

He laughed breathlessly, red in the face, kissed my neck – an instruction he was particularly fond of – and whispered in my ear, ‘You know I can’t help but do what you ask of me.’

I laughed, a sudden image of green paint and a fluffy Grinch costume coming to mind.

‘You know, I think Josh would drop off that Grinch costume if I asked.’

He had kissed my neck down to my collarbone, definitely leaving a mark.

‘I’d rather be John McClane,’ he teased.

‘Leave it a few years,’ I said, turning to ruffle his light blond hair. ‘And you might be.’

The evening continued in bliss and the days had been nothing but blissful ever since.

We’d found our way into every corner of his flat, breaking blinds, damaging the shower curtain, and, most noticeably, bending a chair leg. Neither of us knew how we did any of these things, our attention was solely on each other.