Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
It was only a quick kiss, a soft peck on her cheek. Until it wasn’t. Evie couldn’t say which one of them moved first. Only that their eyes had briefly locked, and then they’d begun kissing in earnest, hungrily exploring each other’s mouths, hands reaching for each other’s bodies, fighting to loosen the overalls in which they were both trapped.
Evie had one hand in Leo’s hair, loving its softness, loving messing up its perfect grooming. Her other hand was struggling with his overall fastenings, a seemingly endless line of heavy-duty press studs plus hidden zip. Health and safety gone mad. But then it was open, and Evie reached inside, slipping her hand immediately up under his shirt to touch bare skin. Leo still had ripped abs, not a surprise, and Evie traced her fingers around the silken firmness of his muscles until Leo groaned and broke the kiss, reaching down to still her hand with his.
‘Jesus, Evie,’ he said, breathlessly. ‘I’m not sure Dennis would appreciate me returning his overalls with you-know-what all over them.’
‘Are you not wearing trousers?’ She hadn’t explored that far.
‘I am, but they’re lightweight linen.’
Leo sounded so earnest that Evie had to bite her lip. Then she decided she’d much rather bite Leo’s lip, so she gently did that, while sneakily manoeuvring his hand that was meant to be keeping hers off his abs. Her own overall had been unsnapped, and Evie laid Leo’s hand on her loose cotton top, right where her skimpy bralette was failing to conceal the tautness of her nipples.
Leo took her mouth again in a hard kiss and skimmed his thumb lightly over her nipple and the curve of her breast, causing Evie to arch against him in lust. She could feel his erection through three layers of fabric – two if he was going commando – and it became a matter of urgency for her to free that glorious hardness and guide it inside her. So what if they barely knew each other? So what if they were doing it in a stranger’s house on a child’s pink plush bed? So what if they were likely to be interrupted at any moment–?
‘Shit.’
Evie and Leo locked eyes again, but now with mutual awareness that this was not the ideal time or place for stripping naked and doing the wild thing. Their hormones might yell in protest, but their brains were back in charge.
‘Um, I think we should–’ Leo began.
‘Absolutely,’ Evie agreed.
And with that, they disentangled and sat on either side of the bed, hastily re-fastening snaps and zips. Leo got up and checked his hair in the bedroom’s white-and-gold mirror. Evie thought his hair looked fine, but Leo made quite a few adjustments, frowning until he was happy with the result.
In the mirror, he caught Evie’s eye and gave her a self-deprecating grimace.
‘Speaking of habits,’ he said, turning round, ‘when you’ve spent most of your life being judged by your looks, it’s hard not to believe they’re still important.’
‘I get you,’ said Evie. ‘When I look in the mirror, I see that scrawny, wonky-toothed kid. That image we form of ourselves in childhood really hangs around, doesn’t it? And not in a good way.’
‘Did you have to wear braces?’ Leo asked.
‘No, thank the lord,’ said Evie. ‘My adult teeth came in miraculously straight. Although I still have one wonky canine. See?’
She pulled up her top lip to show him.
‘Cute,’ he said, with a grin.
Then his expression sobered. ‘Evie, I–’ he began.
A slow creak of boots on stairs stopped him. The knob rattled, then clicked, and the bedroom door opened to reveal a wide-eyed Ash, toolbox by their feet and in their hand, a tray of takeaway coffees.
‘It was locked!’ they said, astonished. ‘Have you been stuck here all this time?’
‘So much time, Ash!’ Evie scolded. ‘Where in tarnation have you been ?’
‘I got a call from my workmate, who needed something from my van.’ Ash made an apologetic face. ‘Took a bit longer than I expected.’
They held out the coffee tray as a peace-offering. ‘Got these just now, though, so they’ve not gone cold.’
‘Bless you.’ Evie removed the biggest cup, which was obviously hers. ‘Mm, coffee, how I do love thee. I’d count the ways but that would waste valuable sipping time.’
‘And here’s your receipt, and your change, too.’ Ash handed it over to Leo, who, Evie noted, briefly blushed.
‘Thank you.’
Leo’s tone was back to being coolly formal, and Evie felt a pang of anxiety. Maybe, before Ash rescued them, he’d been about to say that what they’d done was unforgivably unprofessional and must never, ever happen again. It wasn’t a recommended manager-underling interaction, she had to admit, but you could argue that they’d been off the clock. On a very extended morning tea break or something.
‘I’ll be about an hour fixing this shower stall,’ Ash informed them. ‘You don’t need to stay and watch. You probably need some air, am I right?’
Evie made a determined effort to keep her face poker-like. Had Ash guessed what they’d been up to? Were their snap fasteners done up wrong? Was there a lingering scent of unbridled lust?
‘A walk would be welcome,’ said Leo. ‘We’ll meet you at the van in an hour.’
‘Gotcher,’ said Ash, but with no hint of irony. Their mind was now solely on the job.
‘After you,’ Leo said to Evie, his gentlemanly gesture slightly marred by the fact that he refused to meet her eye as she went past.
As Evie went down the stairs, she sensed Leo behind her at every step. Her mind was boiling away like a milk steamer, and normally, in such times of anxiety, she’d vocalise every thought. But she kept quiet, somehow convinced it should be Leo who broke the ice.
Letting themselves out of the front door, Evie noticed the key in the lock. Having been locked in, she wasn’t now keen to be locked out, so she took it.
‘What if Ash needs more tools from the van?’ said Leo.
It wasn’t the icebreaker she’d hoped for, but it was better than nothing.
‘I guess we don’t need to come back here,’ she replied, replacing the key. ‘We could spend the hour in a local café?’
‘Mm,’ Leo sounded evasive. And he still wasn’t meeting her eye.
‘Look,’ he said. ‘I don’t think this expedition needs two of us. I’ll walk back to the office. There’ll be a ton of emails waiting for me.’
‘Walk?’ said Evie. ‘In that get-up? In this heat?’
Leo glanced down at himself as if he’d forgotten. ‘Right.’
Swiftly, efficiently, as if he was very used to changing clothes, Leo got out of Dennis’s too-large overalls, and stood before her in a plain grey T-shirt and tailored linen pants in a colour Evie wanted to call ‘ecru’, though she might have made that up. Despite their sweaty entanglement, Leo looked crisp and fresh. And ridiculously handsome. And outrageously sexy.
‘Don’t–’
Leo had spotted that she was about to make a move and held up his hand to ward her off.
‘Really?’ Evie said. ‘Is that – it?’
‘I’m your boss !’ he protested. ‘I’m not even a week into this job! It’s the most senior job I’ve ever had and if I fuck it up, I’m done for. I’ll be squirting special sauce on beef patties before you can say “L for loser”.’
It was on the tip of Evie’s tongue to say that he could squirt his special sauce on her anytime, but that was habit talking. Resorting to jokes when she felt threatened. And she did feel threatened. By the loss of something she’d only just had a taste of. Snogging Leo had been more than physically astounding. It had felt – right. Like the two of them were meant to be together. Evie knew this was probably still her hormones playing up, but it didn’t feel like that. Leo and she had connected more deeply that morning than she ever had with any of her previous boyfriends. And she was only just starting to get to know him.
Thing was, she understood his position. She might not have liked it, but she got it. Leo needed to prove himself, and right now, he felt exposed and vulnerable. A relationship with her would only make him feel more so.
‘Okay, fine,’ said Evie, with a sigh. ‘But Leo, I’d hate for us never to talk again. I mean, properly talk. Not just about market share and paradise shifts.’
The corner of Leo’s mouth twitched. ‘Paradigm.’
Evie waved her hand. ‘Potato-potahto.’
Then she said, ‘I mean it. I really feel we could be good friends, as well as colleagues.’
Finally, he looked her square in the eye. Evie held her breath.
‘I’ll think about it,’ he said. ‘But I can’t make any promises.’
‘Can’t ask for more than that,’ said Evie.
It was a lie. She totally could. And as she watched Leo walk away up the street, she made a vow to do so at the earliest opportunity.
Mission accomplished, but we still have work to do. These two are being cautious, which is sensible, given their professional obligations. Sensible, however, is the nemesis of love. We must put an end to sensible as soon as we can. Stay alert and wait for my signal.