Page 79 of Five Things I Love About You

‘Hey,’ I say, hoping he didn’t notice me staring.

He opens both eyes and turns to look at me properly, then leans over and kisses me on the lips. He smells like morning but I know I do too so I linger a while, enjoying the moment.

‘How did you sleep?’ he says, pulling away. A smile tugs at the corner of his mouth.

‘Very well thank you,’ I say primly, pulling the duvet up under my chin.

‘That’ll be all the exercise,’ he says.

‘It will. I told you I’d missed it.’

He sits up beside me, the top of his arm pressing against me. ‘Well, I’m always happy to help you keep fit,’ he says, and I smack him on the chest.

‘Don’t get too cocky.’

‘What, you mean you don’t want to give it another go?’ He inches his hand up the duvet and I turn away.

‘Not right now,’ I say, swinging my legs out of bed. ‘I need to get showered before I meet Kirstie for breakfast.’

‘Oh, man,’ he says, throwing himself back against the pillows dramatically.

I don’t reply and hurry self-consciously across the room to the door. It doesn’t matter that we were much more intimate than this last night; it still feels odd to be naked in front of someone I barely know in the cold light of day. I grab my dressing gown from the back of the door, throw it around myself, then blow him a kiss and disappear.

As I stand under the shower, hot water hammering down, my skin tingles and I feel… what is that feeling? Happiness? Of course. Attraction? Definitely.

Regret?

No, not regret. But something, a little niggle of something deep inside me that I don’t want to examine too hard. I need to just let myself enjoy this, give in to it and give myself permission to fall for the lovely, sexy, handsome man currently naked in my bed.

Oh myGod, there’s a naked man in my bed!

By the time I return to the bedroom Jay is dressed and sitting on the bed scrolling through his phone. He looks up as I enter and smiles a warm smile that lights up his face. I sit down next to him, chilly in my towel, and he leans in for a kiss.

‘Are you off already?’ I say when he pulls away.

‘As much as I’d love to stay in bed with you all day, I have to let you go and meet Kirstie and spend some time with her,’ he says, standing. I look up at him and wish I could pull him back into bed again and stay there. But he’s right.

‘Are you sure you don’t want to come?’ I say.

He shakes his head rather too vigorously. ‘Uh-uh. I don’t think Kirstie would be too thrilled, and besides, I do actually need to go home and get some work done. And I can’t leave poor old Alan with my neighbour any longer, he’ll never forgive me.’

I raise my eyebrows. ‘You were sure of yourself, planning for Alan to be looked after.’

He shoots me a grin and waggles his eyebrows. ‘Hopeful, rather than sure,’ he says, plucking his trainers from a pile in the corner of the room. He leans over for a kiss. ‘Anyway, have a great day and text me later about getting together in the week, okay?’

And before I can say anything else he whisks out the bedroom, through the living room, then the front door closes firmly behind him.

27

‘He stayed the night, didn’t he?’ These are the first words Kirstie says to me when I meet her outside the Pink Lane Bakery a few minutes’ walk from my flat.

‘Maybe,’ I say. I’m trying for coy, but the big grin plastered on my face is giving me away.

‘I knew it!’ She grins back. ‘So, how was it?’

‘It was…’ What’s the right word? Good? Nice? Amazing? ‘It was as good as I hoped it would be.’

She studies me a moment, then nods, and hooks her thumb over her shoulder. ‘I wantmuchmore detail, as you know, but can we eat first? I feel like I might keel over if I don’t get something inside me soon. Fnar.’ She snorts with laughter as I roll my eyes.

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