He was desperate to kiss her again but he wasn’t sure if that was allowed.
‘Morning,’ he said, moving closer.
‘Hi.’ Her hands moved to reach for him but then fell back by her sides as if she didn’t know the rules either, even though she was the one making them.
‘Where’s Zara?’ Quinn asked.
‘In the shower.’
‘And Immy?’
‘Walking Jacob.’
That was all he needed to know. He stepped up, cupped her face and kissed her and felt her smile against his lips as she slid her hands round his neck. He was never ever going to get enough of this woman. He just wished he could shout about their relationship from the rooftops. And that he could call it a relationship in the first place.
He pulled back to look at her, leaning his forehead against hers, and she smiled up at him.
‘Is this allowed in our arrangement?’ he asked.
‘It’s very much allowed.’
‘Good, I don’t think I could go all day and not kiss you.’ He gestured to the box he’d left on the table. ‘I brought you these. Before you get excited, no apple Danishes today, so these are the strawberry and white chocolate muffins that Zara loves.’
‘Oh, she will love you for that and eating one won’t exactly be a hardship for me either.’
‘Max and Cleo were worried about you after the other night. Max is worried about you dating idiots and Cleo wants to set you up on a blind date. I, umm… told them you weren’t ready to date yet but Cleo was most insistent.’
‘Oh, I’ll make up some excuse, you don’t need to worry.’
Quinn wanted to say that it would be far easier if they were just honest with people that they were seeingeach other but it was so new and fragile, he didn’t want to put any pressure on her.
Just then there was a thunder of feet as Zara came running down the stairs. He took a few steps away from Alex.
‘We have a snow day,’ Zara almost shouted, bursting into the kitchen. ‘The school is closed.’
‘You do?’ Alex said, checking her phone. ‘Oh wow, you’re right.’
‘I heard it on the radio. I’ve never had a snow day before,’ Zara said, bubbling with excitement. ‘What do we do?’
Quinn smiled. God he loved this kid. ‘What do we do? We make snowmen, we have snowball fights, we go sledging and we drink lots of hot chocolate covered in whipped cream and sprinkles.’
Zara’s eyes lit up. ‘I don’t have to do schoolwork?’
He was about to say no but she wasn’t his to make those kind of decisions for. Alex might want her to practise her times tables or write a story about a snow witch or something.
‘Nope, that’s the beauty of a snow day, school’s closed so no schoolwork,’ Alex said. ‘This kind of snow happens so rarely that we have to make the most of it. I’ll have to go to work for a few hours around lunchtime, but we can have fun this morning and this afternoon.’
Quinn knew that this time of year was their busiest period and Alex wouldn’t want to miss out on crucial sales, but lunchtime was the time of day when mostpeople would come so they had plenty of time to have some fun this morning before the lunchtime rush.
‘Yes!’ Zara did a little victory dance.
‘Go and get changed into something warm and then we’ll head out,’ Alex said.
Zara bombed out of the room and thundered back upstairs.
To Quinn’s surprise Alex wrapped her arms round his neck and she kissed him briefly.
‘You don’t have to give up your morning at work for us,’ she said. ‘I know how popular your little monsters are at this time of year, I don’t want you to miss out on any sales.’
