“Let me see if I can surprise you again.” He pushed himself up and reached for the last condom on the bedside table.
“I meant to ask.” She had that amazing twinkle in her eyes. “Do you always have a box of condoms in your trouser pocket?”
“I should be so lucky. I bought these in Jersey.”
She took the wrapped packet from him and looked at it from both sides. “I had no ideaCarolina Herrerawas in the condombusiness.”
George had laughed more in the last five minutes than in all eight months. “I love you so much, do you know that?”
“I heard a rumour recently, can’t seem to remember where?” Millie stretched, arms above her head, body arched, languorous, sexy as hell.
Oh, yes.He reached for the wrapped condom.“I will endeavour to remind you in a way you won’t forget in a hurry.” Just then his stomach gave a loud growl. “Sorry. Haven’t eaten since the coffee and croissant in Brighton.” He flopped on his back next to her. “I didn’t even finish those.”
“Pity there isn’t a café anywhere near here.”
He aimed a playful grab at her, but she leapt off the bed, laughing before he connected. “Come on then.” And she raced through the door to the front of the cottage.
George padded barefoot intothe café.
“What do you feel like?” she called from behind the open fridge door. Unlike him, she had managed to wear a dressing gown.Pity.
“I’m going to need more than weeds and grasses. Sex is hungry work.”
She lobbed an orange at his head; her aim was surprisingly accurate. “Would you like to getdressed?”
“I seem to remember,” he teased, “you saying something about a café where people can eat inwhatever.”
“But you’re notinwhatever, you’rewithoutwhatever.”
“I can put on the condom, if you like.” He could be funny, too. It was easy when you were happy.
“Well, make the tea, then.” She picked up the hat from where it had landed yesterday and put it on her head. It really suited her. She pulled the brim down and hid her eyes from him, then she went back to the fridge. “Sandwiches? Unless you fancy cake.”
“Oh, cake. Always cake.” He found the kettle in her sparkling clean kitchen and filled it with water.
She was still standing inside the open fridge door as if lost in thought.
“Let me guess, there is nothing in your fridge.”
She jumped slightly. Had she been remembering what they’d done in bed?Hewas.
She leaned into the fridge. “Almond cake? Lemon-and-mint tart? Rosemary sea-salt chocolate mousse? Orange scones or cardamom-and-saffron white-chocolate cake?” She was busy taking out platters covered in cling film.
“Impossible to choose. Which are you goingto have?”
“I am going to have a shower,” she said. “Try all of them. Tell me what you think.” She kissed him quickly on his cheek, but before he could respond, she’d hurried to the back, the tail of her dressing gown flying behind her.
George used the time not only to enjoy tea and cake, which were sensational like their creator, but to think about his next step. He’d been flying without charts yesterday, but now he had some time to plan. To prepare what he wanted to say.
She was in the shower a very long time. What was it about women andbathrooms?
He put the cakes away in the fridge, then went to find his clothes. He needed a shower too, but maybe later. What he wanted to say to her required clothes; they could get naked afterwards. The thought turned him on again. Now that his stomach was full, other parts of him were hungry.
He chose a window seat behind a blue table with a little bowl of seashells.Millie, oh, Millie.She had created a thing of wonder in his grandfather’s old fish and chip shop. Everywhere he looked, there was a new beautiful perspective; no corner was the same as the other. And she did all this with practically no money.And a broken heart.
What hadhedone withhis time?
Millie was like a wildflower that thrived in the hardest ground. She could give him lessons onsurvival.
