Page 46 of Dance With Me
“I have dessert if you’d like some. I’ve got some lemon sorbet, or I made a fruit salad earlier. We could have it with some cream or ice cream if you’d like.” Joe stood up from the table and went back into the kitchen.
“I’ll take the salad, seeing how you took the time to make it. Cream would be great.” He could easily think of other ways they could use the cream!
Joe did a serving for both of them and placed one in front of him, and Seb blushed at his wayward thoughts. Yeah, cream would be good right about now.
“I hope you like it.” He sat down with his bowl and topped Seb’s glass up again.
“Cheers.”
Seb clinked his glass. Looked like he was staying the night then.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Joe
After clearing the table and tidying the kitchen between them, they took their wine to sit in the lounge. Joe had closed the doors to the outside, and Rocco was now lying on the cold tile floors in the kitchen.
Another of Seb’s playlists was playing in the background, a compilation of easy listening songs, some Adele and Sam Smith.
Seb looked really relaxed, and Joe was glad that he’d been able to do this for him. He’d needed it with all that was going on. He just wished he could do more.
“So…” Seb looked over at Joe. “Have you always lived here? I know your parents are here and your sister.”
“Apart from when I was in university. I lived with my parents until then, and when I came back, I got a place of my own. Mom and Dad helped with the deposit, same as they did with Jayne and Aidan. I worked with a small accountancy firm for a couple of years, then moved to Atkins and Partners when I was twenty-four, and I’ve been there ever since. I became a senior partner about six or seven years ago and bought this place four years ago.”
“It’s a beautiful house, not what I expected.” Seb looked around the room, and Joe wondered what he saw. Did he see him or Clare?
“What did you expect?” Joe asked him, curious as to what he was thinking.
“I’m not sure, really, just not this. It’s beautiful, though.” Seb had a glazed look in his eyes.
“I did promise you the grand tour.” Joe stood and held his hand out to Seb. He took it gingerly, and Joe pulled him to his feet, reluctantly letting go of his hand. “Let’s start with down here.”
He led Seb through the kitchen and through another door, which led to a downstairs bathroom and a utility area where the washing machine and dryer were.
“Not too much to see down here. Most of its open-plan as you can see. He continued into the hall and opened the door that had been closed earlier.
“This is my office space for when I work from home and another sitting room. I don’t really use it much.” When did he start using ‘I’ and not ‘we’?
They went back into the lounge, and he heard Seb making appreciative noises as he looked around. Joe took them upstairs onto a large landing. Two doors led off to the left of the staircase and three to the right. Joe turned right first, opening the doors.
“These are the two guest bedrooms.” He stepped back so Seb could get a good look inside. “You can take one of these tonight. It doesn’t matter which.” He opened another door. “This is the bathroom. Feel free to take a shower if you want to.”
He moved to the other side of the stairs and opened the first door. “This is the door to the en-suite, but you can get to it from the master bedroom too.” He closed that door and moved to open the remaining door. “This is the master bedroom.” Joe had tidied up earlier, so he knew there was no mess, but Clare’s things were scattered all around the room, knick-knacks, bottles of perfume, and photographs.
They lingered there for a moment whilst Seb took it in.
“That’s it, not much to show.” Joe stood with his hands in his pockets and waited for Seb to say something.
“It really is lovely, Joe. I could only dream of a house like this,” Seb said wistfully.
Seb stepped out of the room and stumbled into Joe. He caught him before he fell, but it brought Seb close to him. He could feel the heat from his body as he pressed close, the warmth of his breath against his neck. Joe was so tempted to put his arms around him and bring him closer, but before he could, Seb moved away from him.
“Sorry, I’ve drunk a bit more than I thought.” Seb laughed quietly and patted Joe’s cheek. Joe held his breath, waiting to see what Seb would do, but he stepped around him and made his way downstairs. Joe took a deep, calming breath, closed the bedroom door, and followed him back down the stairs. They sat on the sofa and picked up their drinks again.
“How did you get into dancing?” Joe asked, breaking the comfortable silence.
“I pestered my parents to go when I was about four, I think? I used to watch Angelina Ballerina and wanted to be just like her. They were unsure to start with, but as soon as I started to dance, they realised how much I loved it, and I’ve never looked back.
