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A million excuses and reasons ran through her mind. She wasn’t ready, she wouldn’t be very good, she’d disappoint him, her bikini line was probably a bit of a state.
He must have seen all of that ru
She flushed with embarrassment. ‘No, for one reason or another, there hasn’t been anyone for eight years. He was my first boyfriend too.’
She thought he might laugh at this. She was nearly thirty and had only ever been with one man, whereas Henry had probably been with lots of women, whether they were serious or not. But he didn’t laugh at all.
‘So we’re going to take this really slow, we won’t do anything until you’re ready. We can date and get to know each other and I promise I won’t try to take it any further. Doesn’t mean I’m not going to want lots of kisses though.’
She smiled with love for him. This wasn’t real, men weren’t patient when it came to sex, well, Chris never had been. Someone like Henry could have any woman he wanted, if the reactions of Jade, Beth and Clara had been anything to go by. So why would he waste his time waiting for her when he could have a quick shag with any single woman in the town, especially as when he arrived in White Cliff Bay he wasn’t even looking for a serious relationship.
‘I want this to work,’ he said softly, obviously having a knack for reading her mind.
She reached up and kissed him softly, hoping the mint had done a good enough job. He pulled her tighter against him, deepening the kiss.
He pulled back slightly, his eyes alight with mischief. ‘Or you know, if you didn’t want to wait, we could get down to the hot, passionate sex now.’
He quickly rolled on top of her, pi
‘NO!’ she squealed, trying to escape from his merciless hands.
‘Come on, give me all the sex.’
She laughed. ‘No, you’re not having it, never.’
She wriggled from his grasp, quickly climbed out of bed and ran laughing from the room but he was hot on her heels. He caught her by the waist and pi
He pulled back slightly and frowned. ‘What time are you meeting Maggie?’
‘Maggie?’
He smiled. ‘Your friend?’
‘Oh, erm, twelve.’
‘Pity, it’s half eleven now.’
Her eyes widened as the fog cleared. ‘What? How is it so late?’
‘Well, if you were anything like me, I spent most of the night lying awake thinking about our date.’
She smiled. ‘I did too.’
He pulled back, reluctantly. ‘Go and get ready and I’ll see you tonight. You’ll stay with me, right?’
She nodded and he walked down the stairs, leaving her alone. Her face was aching from smiling so much. Renting out the a
Pe
Tilly suddenly came ru
Pe
Tilly nodded excitedly and then signed back. ‘The heating has broken so the school is closed. It probably won’t be fixed before Friday.’
Well, that explained the extra customers and probably why Maggie was late if she was looking after her two boys.
‘How cool, you get an extra long break. Are you helping your mummy and na
‘I’ve been making mince pies, do you want one?’
‘That would be lovely.’
Tilly ran off and Pe
‘You need to keep your energy up,’ Linda winked and her daughter Polly, standing next to her, giggled.
Confused slightly, she found a table just as a young couple were leaving and a moment later Maggie burst into the bakery.
‘I’m so sorry.’ Maggie took an appreciative bite out of her bacon sandwich, moaning with pleasure. ‘The kids are off from school and I’ve been trying to keep them entertained all morning as I finish off the preparations for the ball. Seven days and I’m starting to panic that I’ve forgotten something big, the pregnancy is playing havoc with my brain.’
‘I’m sure you have everything pla
‘No, I think we’re nearly there. The marquee arrives tomorrow, which is being used for the gingerbread house competition on Saturday and your workshop on Sunday, then everything else is arriving on Tuesday, the day of the ball,’ Maggie rattled off her mental list of preparations from her head. ‘Anyway, my mum has the boys for an hour, I told her I had an emergency lunch meeting with you.’
Pe
‘Your big date tonight.’
She felt her eyes widen. ‘How do you know about that?’
‘Well, Jade was quite vocal about it in the pub on Saturday night after she had been spectacularly rejected by Henry, although she obviously didn’t put it like that, and it’s been quite the talk of the town ever since.’
‘The talk of the town?’ Pe
‘Everyone is happy for you, they’re all very excited,’ Maggie soothed, though Pe
‘We’ve had a meeting and—’
‘A meeting? Who’s “we”?’ Pe
‘The book club,’ Maggie said, talking of the little group of mothers who would escape their families once a week to go round each other’s houses, get drunk and let their hair down. No actual reading or discussions of books ever went on in their club meetings if the drunken photos on Facebook were anything to go by.
‘I was the subject of a book club meeting.’
‘Yes, now, the girls have all agreed to help. Natalie is going to do your hair and then Christine has you booked in for an all-over wax. Monica wants you to come to Silk & Lace afterwards and she’s going to help you pick out some sexy underwear, I know you don’t possess such things and all your bras and knickers are grey with holes in, that’s not the look we need tonight and…’
‘Wait, I’m not sleeping with him,’ Pe