Page 67 of A Summer of New Beginnings
When they left the pretty house by the sea on Monday afternoon theywere loaded down with ugly cuddly-toy prizes, far too many sticks of rock, a strip of photos from a photo booth on the seafront – who knew you could fit five adults in one of those things? – and lots of crazy memories of karaoke, including a scarily good duet of ‘What Becomes of the Broken Hearted’ by Marco and Toby.
Monday evening when she arrived home Josh was waiting on the steps inside theentrance to her building.
He stood as she approached him. ‘Ah, here she is, my award winner in waiting.’
She couldn’t help grinning. ‘I might not actually win though.’
He stepped closer and slipped his arm round her waist. ‘You’ve already won something.’
She frowned and tilted her head. ‘What’s that, then?’
‘My heart,’ he informed her and, regardless of how cheesy it was, she kissed him passionatelyuntil things got a little too heated for a public stairwell. He pulled away and gazed down at her. ‘Zara, have you had enough time yet? Can we officially be an us again?’
This was it. The sixty-four-thousand-dollar question. After what he had done for her, she couldn’t fail to see that he was trying hard to make amends.
‘I think… I think maybe we can.’ She smiled.
His handsome grin confirmedhe was both happy and relieved at her answer. ‘Why don’t I carry your bags upstairs and then… perhaps I could carry you to the bedroom?’ His smile had gone and his eyes were hooded. There had been no word from Lachy, in spite of her wishing he would contact her, and so she figured she needed to close the door on that brief chapter of her life.
‘Perhaps you could,’ she whispered.
On hearing herwords, he kissed her again, his hand sliding down to her bottom giving just a glimpse of what was to come.
