Page 44 of Teacakes & Tangos
‘You don’t have to do that,’ I told him, although secretly, I was glad. It was late and the close was in darkness, and we were parked some way from my front door.
He shrugged. ‘I just want to make sure you’re safely inside, that’s all.’
‘Well, thank you.’
We walked to my house in silence, our footsteps echoing on the pavement.
‘Do you... would you like to come in?’ I asked a little awkwardly as I slid my key in the lock. ‘For a cuppa?’
He smiled, his teeth gleaming white in the darkness. ‘Tempting. But I’d better get home. Work tomorrow.’
‘Of course. Well, thanks again.’
‘No bother.’
‘Well, itwasa bother. Driving me to the hospital and back. And I just want you to know how grateful I am.’
He gave me a sheepish smile. ‘So you should be. I wouldn’t do that for just anyone, you know.’
I laughed and reached up to hug him.
As I planted a kiss on his cheek, his arms went round me and I felt myself pressed close so that I could feel the hard muscles of his body against me and I was breathing in his tantalising male scent at close quarters.
My head spun crazily in response.
Instinctively, I nestled my cheek into the side of his neck, prolonging the delicious intimacy of our embrace...
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
‘That feels good,’ he murmured, stroking my hair.
‘I know,’ I whispered back.
Gripped by a sudden fierce longing for Xander, I turned my face up to his.
It was an invitation for him to kiss me if he wanted to, but I felt him hesitate. He was gazing down at me but in the darkness, I couldn’t make out the expression in his eyes.
Then I heard him groan as if all his will power had crumbled, and his mouth came down on mine.
And then we were kissing urgently... breathlessly... and I lost all sense of place and time as we clung hard to each other, locked in a mutual passion that made me feel as if I was flying through the air and a million stars were exploding in my head...
Xander!
*****
The sound of an engine penetrated my state of bliss.
We drew apart, both of us panting slightly as we watched a car drive into the close and onto a neighbour’s driveway.
‘Oops.’ Chuckling, I buried my flushed face in Xander’s shoulder. Itwouldhave to be the street gossip, Mavis Jenkins, from number eight! ‘It’ll be all over the close by nine tomorrow morning that Anika Martin was caught brazenly snogging a strange man on her doorstep in broad moonlight.’
He chuckled softly. ‘You hussy, you.’
‘I know.’
Mavis and her long-suffering husband Peter were getting out of their car. It was unusual for them to be out this late, so they must have had some kind of special occasion. Usually they onlywent out on Tuesday evenings, Mavis to the WI and Peter to his Spanish evening class.
A thought occurred to me.
