Page 108 of Take My Breath Away
We had to make some changes to the kitchen, which included putting in an additional large double oven so Perry could bake several things at once. The utility room also got a complete refit, providing all the storage and refrigeration he needs — and to comply with food safety regs — not just for now but for the growing business it’s already proving to be. There was, however, one bone of contention.
Perry insisted on paying for the adaptations with the money he’d inherited from his grandfather. We had some lively arguments over that, but they’d all resulted in lots of make up sex, so… But I really didn’t want him to touch a penny of his inheritance. For somebody so sweet and soft natured, he’s got an iron hard core. And a hell of a lot of pride.
“Life’s good,” Elliot says, his voice soft and warm, like the sun on my face. The words are for him and Freddie, but they’re for Perry and me, too.
I drag open my eyes, and look across at my best friend. He’s smiling at me, and I return it with interest.
“It is. It’s more than good.”
Once again, I close my eyes and tilt my head to the sun.
More than good…It’s the plain and simple truth, and they’re the only words I need.
* * *
PERRY
“Hmm, this is nice.”
I nuzzle in closer to James and he tightens his arms around me as we sway to the sultry jazz number the band’s playing. Mabel’s voice is as sweet as sugar, butterscotch smooth, and underscored with a smoky tang.
Along with James, I’ve become a diehard fan of Mabel and her band. We’re almost groupies, and both Elliot and Freddie had been hooked when we’d dragged them out one evening to one of her gigs. They’d booked her for the reception on the spot.
It’s the last dance. It’s been a glorious though long day, yet most of the guests have stayed the course. But it’s nearly over and now I’ll be more than happy for James and me to go home.
Home.
The word still has the power to send a delicious shiver down my spine, because that’s what the lovely Highgate house really and truly is.
But it so nearly wasn’t. Before I can stop it, a hard shudder rushes through me.
James pulls away, just enough to fix me with his moss green eyes. He arches a brow, and it’s so James I can’t stop the little laugh that bubbles up on my lips, but it dies away a second later.
“Perry?” he says, a frown creasing his brow.
“I—I was just thinking that us here today, the business, all of it, how close it was to not—”
James presses a finger to my lips, stilling my words.
“Don’t. You never got on that train, and that’s all that matters. Noifs, nobuts, none of it.”
He’s right, of course, although it still doesn’t stop me from thinking about it. Yet in a perverse way I like to think about it.
It’s a heart thumping reminder not just of how much I have with this man, but of how much I love him. I never, ever want to forget or take that for granted, because I know — we both know — how close we were to letting it all slip away.
The music’s stopped. This beautiful day filled with warmth and love has come to an end, and I yawn as the long day catches up with me.
It’s time to go home.
* * *
“Lovely,” James says as he wipes his fingers clean of the last of the little almond tarts. “You know, I think I like these even more than your Victoria sponge.”
“You say that about everything I bake.” I laugh and shake my head, before taking a sip of the sweet, heavy almond liqueur.
It’s almost two-thirty in the morning and I should have crawled into bed when we tumbled out of the cab, but James persuaded me into the garden. To look at the stars, he said, but in Highgate it’s more about the glow of street lamps.
It’s beautiful in the warm night air, the garden bathed in soft light from lanterns hanging from trees and bushes. And so quiet, in the early small hours. Somewhere in the garden there’s a faint rustle as a night animal makes its way through the shadows.
