Page 61 of Merrily Ever After
‘On that note, you do remember promising to pick us up and drive us home?’
‘Beautician and taxi driver.’ He grinned. ‘I get all the best jobs. By the way, what are you wearing under that towel?’
‘Just a tan. Oh, and a couple of white bits.’
He moaned. ‘Tease.’
I leaned forward and kissed him. Heaven. This man. He was sexy and fun, and I loved him with every inch of my body. ‘When I’m home, I’m all yours,’ I promised. ‘Although I must admit, I do regret having to leave you all alone when the fire is lit, and the candles are burning.’
‘Don’t regret anything,’ he said softly. ‘You’re going out to celebrate marrying me. What better reason to leave me than that? Anyway, I’ve got some emails to reply to from the accountant. I’m sure the time will fly by.’
I touched his face. ‘You work so hard. It’s late, you haven’t had dinner yet. Why don’t you find something good on TV and put your feet up instead?’
‘Maybe I’ll have the TV on in the background.’
‘That’s still working,’ I said sternly. ‘OK, your turn. Haircut.’
We changed places so that he was sitting on the sofa, and I plugged in the hair clippers.
‘Not too short,’ he instructed, checking the setting.
‘Relax,’ I said, starting at the base of his neck. ‘I’m getting quite good at this.’
I caught his eye, both of us remembering my first attempt in the summer which ended up with Cole having to wear a baseball cap for a month to cover up his bald patch.
‘I think the second time you allowed me to do your hair was one of the scariest times of my life,’ I admitted, carefully holding his ear out of my way.
He pulled me onto his lap, his deep brown eyes suddenly serious and I switched the clippers off. ‘Merry, there’s something that scares me too sometimes.’
‘Oh?’ I held my breath. Our bodies were so close, my heart pounding so hard that it felt impossible that he couldn’t feel it too. This was the moment, the perfect opportunity to tell him what Freya had said, to hint at what Harley had confessed to me without betraying his confidence. But before I could formulate the words, Cole continued.
‘I stuffed my marriage last time by working too hard, losing sight of the important things. What’s to stop that happening again? I’m still the same man, I haven’t changed.’
I touched his face and smiled at him. ‘Well, that’s good because I never want you to change. You are amazing just the way you are.’
He shook his head, frowning. ‘You say that now, but I’m making the same mistakes. Take this year for example. My plan was to sell the houses at Orchard Gardens and use the profits to buy a place of my own –our own. A proper home where the kids can have their own rooms and feel settled in. Instead, I ploughed the money back into the business, I’m building more houses for other people and Christmas has rolled around again and I’m …we’restill living in a rental and when the kids come over, they’re squashed in the spare room.’
‘It’s not any old rental,’ I reminded him, brushing his lips with my own. ‘The landlord of this one is really hot.’
‘Yeah, yeah, I know.’ He exhaled, smiling softly, and tightened his arms around me. ‘It just feels like Groundhog Day, like I should have moved on.’
‘That’s not how it feels for me. It feels exciting and new.’ I traced my fingers along the side of his jaw and he pressed his lips against my hand. ‘And next year, when we look for a proper forever home, it will be as Mr and Mrs Robinson. If you’d bought a house earlier this year, it would always have felt like yours, but now I know it’ll be properly ours.’
The worry lines between his brows softened. ‘I don’t know how you do it, but you always say exactly the right thing to make the sun come out in my world.’
‘Our world,’ I corrected him, putting my hands behind his neck and bringing his mouth to mine.
It wasn’t the right moment to tell him what Freya had said after all. Why ruin a perfect moment?Let’s keep our world full of sunshine, I thought. Just for a while longer.
Chapter Twenty
Merry
Nell tapped her fork on the side of her champagne glass to get everyone’s attention. She cleared her throat and got to her feet. ‘I wish to say a few words about my dearest friend, Merry.’
Hester put her fingers in her mouth and whistled and everyone else cheered.
‘This should be interesting,’ I said, steadying Nell’s arm. Two drinks in and she was already a bit wobbly. ‘Please keep it clean.’
