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“That’s okay. I wasn’t pushing for an answer, merely checking you hadn’t forgotten.”
“I hadn’t.”
“Good,” Frances said, pausing to drop her rubbish into a nearby bin.
Lucie finished her drink, wondering how she was going to forget that the woman she was inconveniently crushing on — her boss — had asked her to come into her home to care for her mum. There had been an incessant push-and-pull ever since. Most of her thoughts had reached the realisation that nothing could, or would, ever happen between them, so helping wasn’t inappropriate — even if a few of her thoughts were.
As Frances returned, a slight frown formed on her forehead.
“You’ve got a little cream...”
Lucie’s heart lurched as her hand shot to her lips to wipe them. She looked hopefully at Frances, desperate for a nod of approval that it was gone. Instead, Frances stepped closer and removed her right glove.
“Here,” she said softly.
Lucie stilled, eyes closing as the warmth of Frances’s breath reached her. A second later, her thumb brushed beneath Lucie’s lip.
“All gone,” Frances murmured.
Lucie opened her eyes as Frances stepped back, sucked her thumb, and put her glove back on.
“Thanks.”
Inwardly, she was screaming. How could something be so embarrassing and yet incredibly hot at the same time?
Frances held her hand out. “Let me take that if you’re finished.”
Lucie looked down at the empty cup in her hand. “Wow. Full clean-up service too.” She stuffed the serviette and spoon inside and handed them over. “I’ll have to leave a five-star review for the attentiveness of the CEO.”
“Let’s not get carried away. Not everyone gets such attention.”
The warm expression Frances flashed before turning towards the bin made Lucie’s legs wobble again. She took the moment alone to steady herself, willing her body to calm down.
“Shall we?” Frances said as she returned.
She nodded across to the snow globes, and Lucie gave her a brief, quavering nod in return.
They found her dad, Mandy, and Rose tucked into the small glass globe closest to the hall. Frances ducked in first, settling beside Rose. Lucie squeezed into the remaining space beside her. It was tight, and she found herself pressed right up against Frances.
Heat radiated into her skin from Frances’s legs, their closeness impossible to ignore. She went still, not daring to move in case it made her pull away. Even her breathing slowed; she was acutely aware of every point of contact, of the steady rise and fall of breath beside her.
Outside, light spilt across the hall’s Elizabethan façade, colours drifting over stone and glass in slow, deliberate patterns. The murmurs of awe from the others filled the globe, but Lucie barely registered any of it. Her attention kept slipping back to the presence at her side and the effort it took not to move at all. Despite the undeniable tension — perhaps even because of it — there was nowhere else she would rather be.
As the light show came to an end, Frances stood. “We should get you home now, Mum.”
Lucie didn’t want her to leave, but she reluctantly shuffled off the seat to let them out.
“All right,” Rose replied softly. Even in the moonlight, her eyes looked heavy.
“It was nice to meet you both,” Frances said, turning to Lucie’s dad and Mandy.
“Likewise,” they replied in unison.
Lucie followed them out and without thinking, said, “I’ll walk you back... if that’s okay.”
Frances didn’t hesitate. “Of course.”
She leaned back into the globe, where her dad and Mandy were zipping up their coats. “I’ll catch you up. I’m going to walk Frances and Rose home.”
