He tilted her head back up to face him. ‘Yeah, for metoo. I knew it would be amazing, because it’s you, but… I wasn’t expecting that.’
She decided to try and claw back some control. ‘You weren’t expecting floundering fish sex?’
He smiled. ‘Exactly. Look, I know you’re scared by it, but it doesn’t have to change anything. This is something casual, friends with benefits, nothing more.’
She looked at him. The way they had made love, the way he had kissed her and held her after like she was something precious and adored, nothing about this was casual, but at least labelling it as such felt like it gave her some protection.
‘You sure?’
‘Of course,’ he replied. ‘I promise I’m not going to ask you to marry me or anything like that.’
She leaned up and kissed him and he stroked down her bare back, holding her so gently and lovingly, he’d practically gone back on his words already.
She pulled back and started putting on her clothes that had been cast aside in the throes of passion. For the first time, she noticed all the work the elves had done Christmasifying the house over the last few days, at least from the inside. She was part of the outside crew so she hadn’t been part of this. The tree was beautifully decorated, looking like it belonged in a high-end department store or posh restaurant. There was nothing gaudy or tacky about this tree, there were no toilet-roll Santas or handprint angels, or footprint reindeers with googly eyes like she had on her tree. And while this was stunning, she much preferred her own tree; it had character.There were red Christmas throws everywhere, large exquisitely wrapped presents under the tree, a holly and pine cone garland above the fireplace and just the right amount of lights around the room to make it twinkly and cosy. She knew the last thing they would add was a large throne for the big man himself to sit on.
‘We need to make it to your bedroom next time,’ she told him. ‘I don’t feel right about making love somewhere where hundreds of innocent children will be sitting telling Santa their hopes and dreams.’
Quinn pulled a face. ‘Yeah, I know what you mean. I’ll wash all these rugs and throws before Santa gets here. My house isn’t really my own in December, I’m sorry about that.’
‘You don’t need to apologise. It’s not like we can christen every room in my house with gay abandon either.’
‘Well if I do spend the night with you at yours, we’ll just make sure we’re quiet so Zara doesn’t hear.’
‘Oh, it’s OK for you to stay over but not for me to have a parade of random men there?’ Alex teased, referring to his little rant the day before when he found out she was dating. So much had happened since then.
‘I hope there won’t be any random men at all,’ Quinn said.
She smiled. She knew that technically he didn’t have any right to stop her seeing other men as they were supposed to be casual, with no strings attached, but she also knew she could never sleep with another man now. He had ruined her for other men.
She slipped her arms round his neck again. ‘Fortunately for you, I wouldn’t have enough time to teach multiple men how not to be bad at sex. Yours is such a bad case, it will take many months of work, so I’m going to have to work with you exclusively.’
‘And I’m willing to put the work in, whatever it takes,’ Quinn said, although she knew he was talking about a lot more than sex. ‘Come on, let me take you home.’
She pulled on her boots and her coat and stepped into the night. It was magical outside, every surface covered in a sparkly blanket. It was completely quiet, as if the world was just theirs for one night.
‘I’ll just grab my car keys,’ Quinn said.
‘Shall we walk? It’s beautiful out here.’
‘Sure, OK.’
He closed the door and locked it behind him, falling in at her side as they walked through Christmas Gardens. It felt like the most natural thing in the world to slip her hand into his. Without missing a beat, he entwined his fingers with hers.
There was no sound except the crunching of the snow under their feet. The golden streetlights caused the snow to twinkle in the darkness. Flakes were still dancing through the air but they weren’t falling as fast as they had been when she’d arrived. All the roofs as far as she could see were covered in sparkly snow, looking almost blue under the moonlight. It looked like the whole of Lovegrove Bay had been Christmasified by the elves, not just Quinn’s house. It looked beautiful.
‘Oh, I had another message from St Nick,’ Alex said. ‘And he’s a big fan ofMidsomer Murderstoo. But also his second clue points to him being one of the elves.’
‘Wow? That reduces the pool of possible suspects quite significantly.’
‘I know, I’m so excited. Also, he’s married or has a girlfriend.’
Quinn seemed confused by that. ‘Really?’
‘Yes, he said he enjoyed watchingMidsomer Murderswith his other half.’
‘Ah right, yes.’
‘We’ll have to make a list of all the male elves and try to whittle it down from there.’
