Page 35 of Finding Love at Roseford Blooms
Elspeth was playing with Holmes in the garden as he thundered down the path, and he forced a smile as she waved him goodbye. Of all the people Sarah could have hooked up with, why did it have to be bloody Jago?
Striding purposefully towards the centre of the village, Simon tried to walk out his frustrations. Sarah was perfectly entitled to spend time with whomever she wanted, after all. He couldn’t help but acknowledge that the feelings of frustration also stemmed from having his night with Lizzie cut so short by Elspeth’s arrival. And that he’d unwittingly made things easier for Sarah and that wanker Jago to have their own night of passion off the back of it.
Almost without realising it, he walked through the village, and his feet seemed to take him up the hill to Bee’s cottage. He wondered if Lizzie would be up for a cup of coffee. He definitely felt as though he needed it, or something stronger, despite the early hour. It was only when he was opening the front gate and heading up the garden path that he remembered how scruffy he looked. The old T-shirt and jeans he’d thrown on were hardly ‘hey, let’s pick up where we left off last night’ material. Especially when last night he’d been in areallygood suit. Simon wasn’t vain, by any stretch of the imagination, but nor did he want to look like a total slob in front of Lizzie.
He stopped dead on the path, wondering if it was too late to scuttle away and try again when he looked smarter. But as he was in the process of deciding, the front door opened and out popped Lizzie, smiling broadly at the sight of him.
‘Hi!’ she said, as brightly as her grin. ‘I was just about to text you. You must have read my mind.’
Simon, despite his embarrassment, found himself smiling back. ‘I was out and about, dropping Elspeth back home, and I thought I’d see if you fancied a coffee.’ He patted the back pocket of his jeans absently, only then realising that he’d obviously left his phone in the kitchen.
Lizzie looked quizzically at him. ‘Everything all right?’ Was he imagining it, or did she glance him up and down?
‘Yeah, fine.’ He looked back at her. ‘Just doing the old phone-check-patting dance. Are you familiar with it?’
Lizzie laughed. ‘I think I know the one.’
Simon decided to seize the moment, regardless of his scruffy attire. ‘So, would you like to grab a coffee with me?’
Approaching him, Lizzie took a moment to answer. She glanced up at him from under her lashes and there was no mistaking the look in her eyes. Simon’s pulse quickened.
‘After where we left things last night, I was rather hoping for something a bit more adventurous than a coffee,’ Lizzie murmured. ‘If you’re on the same page, still, of course.’ She traced a hand over Simon’s cheek, and he found himself leaning into her touch like a cat.
‘I’d love that,’ Simon replied, his body responding immediately to her touch, and the tone of her voice. ‘So I suppose the question is, do you want to make it your place or mine?’
Lizzie grinned up at him, a naughty glint in her eye. ‘Well, my bed in Bee’s spare room is only a single. We might be better off back at yours.’
He was smiling back broadly as Lizzie’s warm, gentle mouth met his. After a kiss they both wanted to savour, they began a brisk walk back to Roseford Hall.
31
Lizzie cast a quick glance at Simon, who looked adorably unkempt and scruffier than she’d seen him thus far. His faded T-shirt, with the remnants of the logo of some rock band from the 1990s, was clean but creased, and his jeans were a medium blue wash, softened through age. He looked quite different from the carefully presented figure of yesterday. In fact, his appearance reminded her of the teenager he’d been that fateful weekend she’d come to stay in Roseford. For some reason now, though, that memory didn’t haunt her so much.
‘What?’ Simon asked, clearly catching her appraising look. He unlocked the private entrance to Roseford Hall and they hurried through.
Lizzie grinned. ‘Oh, nothing. It’s just that I haven’t seen you looking so casual before.’ She drew closer, pressing herself against him and feeling the heat from his torso emanating from under his T-shirt. ‘I like it.’
‘I’m glad,’ Simon replied, a husky note in his voice. He reached towards her and wrapped an arm around her waist, bringing her even closer to him as he leaned back against the whitewashed wall.
Lizzie stood up on tiptoe and brushed her lips against his. ‘I take it you’ve already had breakfast,’ she said playfully.
‘Am I going to need a lot of energy?’ Simon said, teasing Lizzie’s mouth with the warmth of his own.
‘Well, put it this way, I made sure I had an extra round of toast when I got up this morning!’ Lizzie gave a giggle and she was shocked at how carefree she sounded. But then so much had happened in the space of so short a time, she really did feel as if she was healing, and not just from a broken collarbone.
The kisses they shared became deeper and with them the playful mood shifted into something entirely more intense. Lizzie’s free hand reached up through Simon’s unkempt blond hair, ruffling it even further. She shivered as his right hand moved its way under her shirt, stroking and caressing her back, and she felt the beginnings of a slow tingling warmth rolling through her. In response, she pressed even closer to Simon, standing between his parted thighs and feeling how aroused he was through his jeans as he pressed back.
It was soon clear that kissing the life out of one another in the hallway was an entirely impractical idea. Simon gently disentangled himself from Lizzie and she immediately felt the loss of warmth against her own skin.
‘Shall we, um, take this somewhere a little more comfortable?’ he murmured, still kissing her despite introducing a little distance between their bodies.
‘Definitely,’ Lizzie replied. She looked up at Simon and saw that the pupils of his dark blue eyes were wide with lust, and there was a flush to his cheeks that she found infinitely desirable. ‘If you’re sure that we aren’t going to get interrupted by your sister, her daughters or their dog!’
‘I’ve banned them all from the house,’ Simon said, giving a little laugh. ‘We definitely will not be disturbed this time.’
Hand in hand, they made their way out of the kitchen and up a small set of stairs to Simon’s bedroom. Situated at the back of the house, overlooking the walled garden that had once grown produce for the estate, it faced south-east and the sun was already shining through the tall window. Despite its elegant proportions, the bedroom was reassuringly normal and functional-looking in contrast to the highly dressed and arranged rooms that comprised the public parts of Roseford Hall.
Lizzie felt some of her residual anxiety dissipate as she caught sight of a homely looking duvet cover on a modern king-sized bed. She laughed out loud.
