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“I didn’t think of it like that. I’ve always had more of a plan, and moved sequentially.”
“Change the sequence. If you can’t, who can?” He glanced at Dorian who seemed thoughtful.
“I suppose you have a point.”
The carpark was full of arseholes who appeared to have abandoned their vehicles but, after a bit of circling, Alex managed to find a space. “Seriously, lose the sunglasses. You look more conspicuous with them. Now come on, let me get the mail out of the way then we can see what you can buy.”
He needed to send a couple of letters by special delivery otherwise he’d have passed them on to the estate office, and he wouldn’t have had to contend with Dorian trying to act inconspicuous in a small market town.
“Go get a coffee or something,” he said, shooing him away outside the post office. “The place just down there is pretty decent. Mine’s a cappuccino with chocolate.”
The queue was not insubstantial, and he was trapped behind a woman who wanted to send letters to six different countries and buy a range of collectable stamps. He emerged back onto the high street to see Dorian leaning against the wall reading his phone, and two coffees in the other hand. The size of his ruddy great paws made Alex swallow, and he had to force away the image of Dorian fromThe Escortsliding his hands up a pair of shapely thighs.
Dorian suddenly looked in Alex’s direction, and grinned. It did not help calm Alex’s ardour one little bit. “Hey, I thought we’d drink and walk.”
He sipped at his coffee and wandered up the high street. The town wasn’t busy, but it struck Alex that humans were very good at not noticing things they weren’t expecting and Dorian strolled along without a second glance from anyone.
“Did you hear that Ashley managed to persuade Simon to move in?” Alex asked.
“No, I knew he was going to try. Least it’ll stop Robin clucking.”
“Do you mind? He is Robin’s boyfriend… might be awkward.”
Dorian shook his head. “Not at all. Decent bloke, and if it helps him recover and not kill Robin it’s all good by me. Anyway, it’s Ben’s house, he can have whoever he wants there.”
“Talking of Ben, any thoughts on what you might like to get Ben and Ashley?”
“This is possibly going to sound ridiculous, but when we were at school together our parents used to send us sweets since we were away from home so I thought I could find a load of his favourites.”
A gift more for Ben than Ashley, but it was a nice and somewhat surprising sentiment. “There’s an old-fashioned sweetshop on the market square if that’s the sort of thing you had in mind.”
“Oooh yes!”
Twenty minutes later they were still in the shop, Dorian almost exploding with excitement as they entered to see rows upon rows of sweets. That they were weighed and measured into little bags made him even happier. The pile on the counter had risen steadily, until Alex was sure Dorian had something from almost every jar.
“Are you finished? What about the liquorice?”
Dorian made a gagging. “Foul stuff… we both hated it.”
“An acquired taste.”
The bemused man behind the counter filled two carrier bags and Dorian paid. Before they left Alex got himself a small bag of jelly babies. “I could have got you them,” Dorian said as they left.
“It’s fine. Now, do you still want crisps or can we get your unreasonable amounts of confectionary back to Crofton Hall?”
“I would like some crisps.”
Alex handed Dorian his car keys. “You go back to the car and I’ll pop into a newsagents.”
He watched in amusement as Dorian hurried away, he really was the most ridiculous of men. Alex laughed and bought him six bags of cheese and onion crisps.
CHAPTER21
Dorian fiddled with his cufflink and Ben laughed. “What’s so funny, Crofton?”
“You’re nervous. Bless you. I didn’t think you’d be nervous over this… first fake date.”
“It’s a milestone. I know it’s not real, but every other time I’ve been out in public with a date it’s been with a woman.”
