Page 107 of The Blind Date

“Is that…?” Cedric asked, his voice trailing off.

“Our parents, yes.” I nodded with wide, disbelieving eyes. “What are they doing here?”

"Probably the same thing we are, but what are the chances?"

"Incredibly low,” I lowered my voice, slid down in my seat and tucked my chin into my chest in hopes that one of them wouldn't spot us if they glanced over their shoulder. "But if our parents see us, they’ll know we’re together and never let us hear the end of it.”

“Should we leave?” Cedric asked, but he didn’t sound all that convinced himself.

"That would probably be the smart idea, but I want to watch the rest of the show."

“Me, too,” he agreed. “And it would be a shame to waste these tickets.”

I slid further down my seat and laughed quietly when Cedric moved to do the same, playfully knocking his knees against mine.

“We need to leave as soon as the show is over, or they'll catch us,” I said.

Surprisingly, the position was rather comfortable, and we sat like that for the next hour and a half until the show ended.

Before the curtains could drop, Cedric grabbed my hand and pulled me up to my feet. In a bid to avoid our parents, we turned left and apologised profusely as we rushed out of the row and then out of the theatre. As people had already started to pile out behind us despite our rushed head start, there was still a small chance that our parents could be among them and spot us together.

Cedric tightened his grip on my hand as we ran from the theatre. Even though I was wearing heels, I was able to keep up with him for the most part, but the darkness of the night sky and the heavy rain that had started while we were inside made it so much worse.

Any other time, I would have stuck around in the theatre in hopes that I would be able to wait out the rain, but time was not our friend tonight.

Thankfully, we made it to the tube station without our parents anywhere in sight, but before we headed inside, Cedric pulled me to a stop.

“What are the chances of running into our parents at The Lion King?” He chuckled, giving my hand a gentle squeeze.

"Very low," I laughed, but as I stared up at him in the darkness of the night and heavy rain, I found myself at a sudden loss of words.

I thought Cedric looked handsome before, but now, I knew just how wrong I was. I had believed him to be the most beautiful man I had ever seen, but now, it was as if he was the only man left in the world. And to me, he was, because everyone else paled in comparison.

He was the only man for me.

Gulping, I stepped up on my tiptoes and pressed my lips against his in a hard, bruising kiss. He immediately responded and kissed me back with equal fervour and passion, embracing me as if I was the only woman in the world for him.

Uncaring of all the disapproving looks we received from passers-by coming in and out of the tube station, Cedric and I continued kissing in the rain like our lives depended on it.

And at that moment, it truly felt like they did.

ChapterTwenty-Eight

"There needs to be a rule where we can only do three releases a week," Arthur groaned beside me, taking his frustrations out on his chicken pie.

I stabbed a slice of chicken. “I vote for two.”

"You two always harp on about that, but Derek never listens," Owen huffed, sitting across from us with another co-worker, Michael.

“We’d be releasing something every evening if Derek had his way. Even on Fridays," Michael groaned. "I'm glad you two take charge of most of the releases." He pointed at Owen and me. “Any chance you want to take over my release this evening? I was just being dramatic earlier. Ignore everything I said before. I doubt it would last long. Maybe an hour or two.” More like three or four.

“No chance,” I snorted, speaking for the both of us. “This is the first week all year where I haven’t been pencilled in for a release. I plan to keep quiet about it.”

“If Derek catches wind of that, he’ll find something for us to release,” Owen chuckled. If Michael and Arthur weren’t the primary developers on this sub-project they had been working on this past month, I'm sure our boss would have made Owen and I work the late shift.

“I just know this one is going to run long,” Michael groaned and buried his face in his hands. “I should have worked from home today.”

“You still can. I’m heading home after this. That way, if, I mean,when, the release runs long, at least I don't have to think about needing to get home," Arthur said.

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