Page 38 of A Touch of Magic at the Comfort Food Café
I smile, and reach out to twine my fingers into his. It feels strangely natural, having him here, and I have to fight down the urge to question that. Just like with Aidan’s sister, one of the biggest victims of this whole thing has been my belief in my own judgement. It wasn’t just that I stopped trusting other people; I stopped trusting myself. That’s something I very much need to work on.
‘I wasn’t going to say no, Aidan. I was going to say thank you.’
Chapter Fourteen
The rest of the night was actually a lot of fun, with both of us seeming to decide that we had dealt with enough heavy issues.
I put on a pair of deeply enticing flannelette pyjamas, baggy, washed a million times and in a faded shade of pale blue, and took off all my make-up before emerging back into the living room. It was a far cry from my foxier earlier self, but was more genuinely me. Aidan took one look, laughed, and said: ‘You’re so hot right now. Where did you get those PJs? Was it Victoria’s Secret?’
I threw a pair of balled up fluffy bed socks at him, as they were the only items of clothing in the flat that stood a chance of fitting him. Turned out even they were too small, and the poor man was forced to sleep in just his boxers.
We talked until the early hours, catching up on important topics like our favourite movies, first kisses, childhood pets and whether pineapple is a valid topping for a pizza. It’s so not.
In the end, we both slept in the small room that the twins usually share, in single beds that are barely a foot apart. He wasway too long to be comfortable on the sofa, and I assured him that I’d be able to restrain myself from ‘jumping his bones’, as he put it.
We laughed a lot, maybe inspired by the teenaged décor, and it was exactly what I needed. He was flirtatious as usual, but I never felt at all uncomfortable. The only physical contact was actually kind of sweet. He reached out his arm as we were drifting off to sleep, and we held hands for a while. Considering how anxious I felt when I walked into the apartment, it was quite the turnaround– and all thanks to him. Instead of spending the night in a hotel, or coming back here alone and being completely freaked out, I ended up falling asleep with a smile on my face, feeling completely safe and relaxed.
I woke up a few minutes ago, and I still have a smile on my face. I roll over onto one side, and look at him. A few stray fingers of sunlight are creeping through the curtains, falling across the gorgeous man lying across from me. It’s like he’s a work of art being lit up in a gallery.
He’s half kicked the covers off, and is naked apart from his black boxers. While he’s still sleeping, I allow myself the indulgence of taking it all in, the defined muscle of his chest, the broad shoulders, the meaty curve of his thighs. I blush as I let my eyes roam over his body, feeling slightly indecent but not quite able to stop. He really is something.
‘Like what you see?’ he murmurs, opening one lazy eye and peering at me. I immediately hide beneath the covers, face blazing, while he laughs long and hard. ‘I could feel you looking at me, Sarah Wallis. It’s outrageous, really. I’m not just a piece of meat, you know!’
‘I know! I’m sorry!’ I bleat from beneath the covers. ‘Please go away so I can come out of the covers and not die of shame!’
I hear movement, and he replies: ‘Okay. I’m heading to the bathroom. This is your chance to run.’
The door to the en-suite opens, and I hear the shower switch on. I try very, very hard not to imagine him in that shower. Not to picture the water cascading over his shoulders, his hair wet against his skin, his gorgeous backside on full display… Yeah. I’m failing. I sigh and go to the other bathroom to do the same myself.
I stand beneath the jets, washing my hair and wondering what it would be like if he was in here with me. Wondering what it would be like to touch as well as look. To soap each other up and wash each other clean. To be kissed like I was kissed last night…
‘Stop it,’ I say out loud. ‘You’re a dirty old woman!’
Once I’m done, I dress in jeans and a nice sweater in lovely shades of brown and orange. It always feels like a good thing to wear in autumn– like camouflage. I raid the freezer for some bread, toast it up while I make black coffee, and open up a fresh jar of jam. Laura was making jam the day before I left, and the café was saturated with the delicious aromas of blackberries, plums and sugar. I’m looking forward to going back, I realise. Back to Budbury, the place that now feels more like home than anywhere else I’ve ever lived.
Aidan emerges into the room with damp hair, wearing his clothes from last night. He still looks sensational.
I pass him a coffee and some breakfast, and say: ‘I’m sorry I hijacked you. I’m sure you could have been staying with your mum and sister, getting looked after.’
‘Don’t be sorry. I had a great time. What’s your plan today? I’m going to call in at their place in Kensington and get changed. They’ll be waiting to grill me on why I’m doing the walk of shame, and I can’t promise to keep it all a secret once they start waterboarding me…’
I raise my eyebrows, while sipping my drink. ‘There’s nothing to tell, is there? It was just a performance for my family. It was all fake.’
‘If you say so,’ he answers, staring into my eyes. Damn him. He knows exactly what effect he has on me, and he enjoys it. I turn away, suddenly having an extreme need to wash the plate I just used.
‘I’m going to pop in and see my sister for an hour or so, then head back down to Dorset. Thank you. For last night. All of it.’
I sense him standing behind me, close enough that I could lean back and nestle into him. He smooths my hair away from my neck and drops a single kiss on the side of my cheek. ‘You’re welcome.’
Yikes. Every time this man touches me, I melt. His fingers, his lips, the slightest contact and I lose all brain function. It’s very unsettling, and also really quite wonderful.
I grab my bag and recheck all of the window locks before we leave. The low buzz of the alarm activating sounds out as I close the door behind me. I have no idea when I will be back here. I really can’t imagine staying in the place alone ever again. I have fairly regular meetings in London for work, but moving forward I guess I’ll book a hotel, or crash at my sister’s. I should probably just put the flat on the market, and say goodbye to that part of my life. It’s a big decision, though, throwing all my eggs into the Budbury basket, and not one I’m quite ready to make yet.
My car is in the underground car park, and Aidan insists on walking me there. I’m actually quite pleased, because it’s a bit creepy. I never liked it, even before any of the other stuff happened. You can’t write the books I write and feel comfortable in a secluded subterranean car dungeon, even if there are cameras.
I’m offering to drop him off at his mum’s when I first feel it– the sense that I am being watched. I trail off in the middle ofa sentence. I’m holding my car keys so tightly they dig into the skin of my palm. My eyes range around the place, but my body remains still.
‘What is it?’ he asks, his voice quiet, one hand on my shoulder.
