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. It would have 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 only went out on Tuesday evenings, Mavis to the WI and Peter to his Spanish evening class.
A thought occurred to me.
Minnie had told me she was a WI member. Maybe I could ask Mavis if she knew where Minnie lived so I could return her cash? Mavis seemed to know everything about everybody, so she was sure to know...
‘What are you smiling at?’ Xander asked, his arms still loosely around me.
‘Oh, nothing,’ I murmured, knowing what Xander thought about me returning the money. He thought I should accept Minnie’s kind offer of help. ‘So... does that kiss mean we’re an item?’
‘An item?’ He grinned. ‘You make us sound like we’re a parcel the Royal Mail were unable to deliver.’
I chuckled. ‘Funny.’
‘No, but seriously, I’d very much like it if we were... an item. I’ve been wanting to kiss you properly for a while now.’
‘Have you?’ Feeling suddenly shy, I gazed up into his handsome, smiling face.
‘I have. And I’d kiss you again if that nosy woman wasn’t twitching her net curtains over there.’ He nodded in the direction of number eight.
‘Mavis is a pain in the proverbial. She’s probably got her binoculars out by now.’
His eyes twinkled with mischief. ‘In that case, I say we give her something even more juicy to gossip about.’ And with that, he pulled me against him, grabbing my bum and pretending to be gnawing on my neck.
As I shrieked with laughter, we lost our balance and tumbled against the slightly open door, all of which resulted in us landing in a tangle of arms and legs on the floor of the hallway.
We lay there laughing for a moment.
Then Xander got up and reached for my hand to haul me to my feet. This turned out to be not quite the simple job it should have been, mainly because I was still feeling quite weak with laughing so much.
‘Sorry,’ I gasped, leaning my head against his shoulder. ‘I think I’m a bit hyper.’
He smiled. ‘It’ll be relief because of your dad.’
I nodded. ‘I still can’t believe he’s woken up from the coma. I feel like I’m dreaming after all the worry of the past few weeks.’
‘You should sleep well tonight.’
‘You think? I might just be counting down the hours until I can get back to the hospital again.’
‘Maybe.’
‘And by the way, my happy mood isn’t just because of Dad.’ I reached up and kissed him on the mouth. ‘You have a lot to do with it as well.’
He smiled. ‘Good. How about we plan a proper date?’
‘A proper date? That sounds nice. Are you going to wine and dine me?’
‘Maybe.’
‘Actually, no, you’ve been far too generous already, paying for the ballet and everything and driving me everywhere. It’s time I treated you.’
‘You can’t afford it.’
‘I can! I’ve got a job now, remember?’
‘Yes, but you won’t get paid for a while.’ He leaned down and kissed me softly and lingeringly on the lips. ‘So in the meantime, let me treat you. You can return the favour later, okay?’
‘Okay.’ I smiled reluctantly.
He frowned at something over my shoulder. ‘What’s that?’
I looked round and it was the plant I’d bought for him, which I’d dumped on the hall table after I’d decided it wasn’t a good enough gift.
I grinned. ‘I bought it for you, actually, as a little thank you for the ballet. But then I decided I couldn’t possibly give it to you because its leaves were already going brown.’
He walked over and bent to assess the sad-looking plant. ‘It looks half-dead.’
‘Well, yes. That’s what I thought. I decided not to insult you by giving it to you.’
‘I kill houseplants,’ he said cheerfully, still peering at the odd specimen in front of him.
‘I’m the very opposite of green-fingered.
If we ever had a house together, you’d have to be in charge of the garden because I’d murder everything in a few short weeks.
I’d let the dog pee on the lawn and turn the grass brown. ..’
He turned and met my eye, and we exchanged a rather surprised look.
Then I laughed awkwardly and glanced away. And so did he.
There was a pause. Then he said, ‘Just to clarify, that’s a hypothetical house share I was talking about there.’
I nodded solemnly, although inside I was feeling all kinds of emotions, mostly good ones. ‘We don’t actually have a dog. So I guess he’s also hypothetical?’
‘Absolutely.’
We laughed, again rather awkwardly.
Then Xander turned and scooped up the plant.
‘What are you doing?’ I looked at him in surprise. ‘You’re not taking that away with you, are you?’
‘Well, you did buy it for me, didn’t you?’
‘Yes, but you don’t need to feel obliged to take it. I mean, look at it!’
He grinned. ‘Ah, but it’s just begging to be loved.’
‘Look, why don’t I get you a nicer one? One that’s alive for a start.’
He hugged the plant in its pot and gave me a pained look. ‘I don’t want another one. I want this one. And stop being so rude about it. Plants have feelings, you know.’
I chuckled. ‘Well, okay. Take it. It needs to be put out of its misery, so I guess as a plant-killer, you’re the best person for the job.’
‘Yup. Give me three days and it’ll be dead as a doornail, I promise.’
We lingered in the hallway, and I asked Xander what we’d do on our date.
He smiled. ‘Well . . . I thought maybe we could . . . go to the tango night?’
‘Really?’ I looked at him in disbelief.
He shrugged. ‘I know you’d like to.’
‘Yes, but you’re on this date as well. Would you like to?’
He gave me a sheepish smile. ‘Actually, I would. Dancing’s obviously been a big thing in your life. So it seems to me that if I want to get to know the real Anika, learning to tango with you would be the perfect way to do it.’