Page 74 of Head Over Wheels

‘Well…’ I lifted my chin.

‘Am I getting you into trouble?’ he asked. ‘Waffles aren’t exactly in the approved diet.’

‘First you introduce me to waffles, then it’s a slippery slope all the way to cheese.’

He gave me a withering look. ‘Something like that. We’ve established that I’m bad for you.’

‘Maybe I want bad. I definitely want a bit of that waffle.’

With a sigh, he held it out for me. Shooting him a sly smile, I opened my mouth wide and took the biggest bite I could manage, chewing and licking my lips until he was staring, slack-jawed, at my mouth.

‘Everything you do turns me on,’ he said accusingly. ‘Especially with your mouth.’

‘Mmmm,’ I said, wiping a drop of sauce off my lips and sucking on my fingertip. ‘The chocolate kind of exploded in my mouth.’

He gave a faint sound like a whimper from deep in his throat. ‘You do realise I have to go back to my twin room with your brother,’ he said, his voice high.

‘Urgh, that is rough luck.’

A few drops of rain landed on his shoulders, then I felt them in my hair and it struck me just how grim the sky looked now and how far from the hotel we’d wandered – without me even broaching the subject of his contract. Maybe we’d find a place in the lobby of the hotel, or the bar downstairs.

‘Shall we head back?’ he asked.

He reached back for my hand when I nodded – and then obviously realised what he’d done and snatched it back. My throat was thick with the loss of whatever that moment couldhave been and maybe it would all be better if neither of us had been pro cyclists, if he’d just been that middle-class Canadian I’d pictured and I’d been…

That was the problem. I didn’t know who I was without a bike.

We headed swiftly back through town, but the intensity of the rain increased steadily until I was shivering. We were still across the square from the hotel when the downpour began.

‘Over here!’ Seb called over the rain and tugged me by the sleeve to the entrance of the cathedral, where we ducked into the stone passageway to the main portal, gazing out into the wet. The rain fell in sheets, but a smile stole over my lips as the back of my hand brushed his.

He glanced at me, catching the smile, and the corners of his eyes crinkled and the bursting sensation in my chest spread again.

The door to the cathedral opened to reveal a middle-aged couple in matching bucket hats – and a hint of warm light from the interior. As the couple exclaimed about the rain in French, I drifted towards the doors, peering in and – wow.

The gothic vaults were illuminated by numerous chandeliers, the sandstone ribs glowing gold. The most astonishing thing was that the vaults were painted with a forest of colours – plants and trees and animals.

Seb folded the cardboard packaging of his waffle and followed me warily inside. ‘You don’t think there will be any severed heads in here, do you?’

‘They’re not going to jump out at you. If you get scared, you can hold my hand.’ I cringed, but it was too late to call the words back.

I brushed past him into the church, staring up at the vaults and the glowing colours of the stained glass struck by the dim evening light. My gaze was drawn to a bright marble sculpture of a muscular man with lush curls and a pair of articulated bat wings. The crease between his eyebrows reminded me of Seb’s wary expression – and his muscles reminded me of the skin and sinew under his clothes that I probably wouldn’t get to see tonight, damn it.

‘He’s a handsome devil,’ I commented lightly.

‘He’sthedevil, I think. Tempted?’

‘Very,’ I joked, taking slow steps further along the nave.

Seb fell into step beside me, his throat working. ‘I’m kind of glad we don’t have to fake break-up today – in case I get scared of the haunted relics. But did you really come back just so I could get mad at you?’

Shit, I couldn’t even lie in a church – and I was worried about losing touch with reality anyway, with everything we were faking. With a sigh, I stuffed my hands in my pockets and turned away, gathering my wits to say what I needed to say.

‘Actually, there is another reason.’ I paused, as though that could make my next comment less bad. ‘It’s about your retirement. Dad wants you to stay.’

Chapter 30

Seb

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