Page 39 of The Night Before Christmas
‘That’s none of your business, actually,’ said Felicity. ‘Anyway, he’s not a titan. Fair enough he’s pretty tall but I wouldn’t say titan, exactly.’
Adam took a sip of coffee and looked up at her. ‘Whoever he is, he’s really into you,’ he said.
Felicity flushed. She brought her cup up to her face to try and hide the involuntary smile at the thought of Penguin Man being into her.
Adam caught it though and leaned in towards her. His dark eyes were serious. ‘He’s not the one for you,’ he said, and put his hand on her knee.
‘Is that so?’ she replied, looking at his hand but making no attempt to remove it. She wasn’t going to admit it to him, but his touch felt good. She felt a stirring in the pit of her stomach.
‘That’s so.’
Felicity studied his face, which was inches from hers, and her heart started to thump. That handsome face was so familiar to her, so dear. She knew every inch of it, every inch of him. He had been there practically since her childhood, by her side. He had supported her through some very dark times. And, in return, she had broken his heart.
‘Felicity, I…’
‘Oh my God!’
At that moment a squeal from the doorway nearly sent lattes flying everywhere. Felicity’s friend Bex was making a beeline for them. Felicity had a sudden urge to hide under a cushion, but it was too late and all the cushions in this place were freakishly small. A trend, presumably.
Bex – all stunning six feet of her, water bottle in hand – was pulling up a stool and dumping many, many expensive-looking bags on the floor and then looking from Adam to Felicity, Felicity to Adam expectantly, as if trying to read their thoughts. Felicity’s thoughts wereOh, bugger. She had no idea what Adamwas thinking – okay, that’s not true, she knew exactly what he’d be thinking. He had always had a soft spot for Bex but she could be, well, a lot.
‘Darlings! How wonderful to see you both,’ said Bex, not adding the word ‘together’, though she clearly wanted to.
‘Rebecca,’ said Adam, nodding, with a rueful grin.
‘Bought the whole town, I see,’ said Felicity, indicating the bags. ‘You do know it’s not even lunchtime, right?’
‘What? Oh, yes, just can’t resist a sale, darling, you know me!’ replied Bex, tossing her beautifully dark, glossy hair over her shoulder. Her voice seemed a bit more plummy than usual. Was that for Adam’s benefit?
‘How have you been?’ said Adam, glancing at Bex.Good of him to make her feel included, thought Felicity.
‘Fine, darling, just fine. It’s wonderful to see you,’ she said, giving him a long look up and down.
‘Don’t sound so surprised,’ said Felicity, a bit more strongly than she had intended. ‘You and Sophie were the ones who told him where I was!’
‘Oh, rubbish,’ said Bex, flapping her hand dismissively at her and taking a sip of water. ‘He would have found you eventually.’
Felicity was already plotting all the messages she would send her traitorous friends later.
‘You make him sound like a stalker,’ said Felicity, trying to keep her voice light as she glanced at Adam.
He looked back at her intently.
‘Oh my goodness, you were stalking me?’ she said, eyes widening.
Bex giggled again, louder this time and some of the customers crowded around neighbouring tables looked sharply over at her.
‘I wasn’t stalking you,’ said Adam, spreading his hands wide and smiling nervously. ‘I was… I told you, I wanted to keep an eye on you, that’s all.’
‘He was watching out for you. That’s what he told us,’ said Bex. Adam shot her a look.
‘Watching out for me?’ said Felicity. ‘What does that even mean?’
Adam looked uncomfortable. He ran his hand through his hair and a memory stirred.
‘Felicity, it’s not what you think. I…’
‘Yes?’
