‘I had fun tonight,’ he said into the semi-darkness.
‘You sound surprised.’
Even without the lights on, I could feel the smile in his voice. ‘I didn’t know what to expect. You’re very easy to talk to.’
I punched my anaemic pillow and curled my arm underneath my head, keeping as much distance as I was able. His body ran hot, I could tell that from here. ‘Good bedside nature is part of the job.’
‘That must be it,’ Callum replied. ‘Does that mean our conversations are covered by the Hippocratic oath?’
‘No, so don’t tell me anything you don’t want plastered all over the Fuck Callum McClay Facebook group.’
‘You’re joking but I’d be shocked if it doesn’t exist.’
It wasn’t quite dark enough in the cabin, the beige plastic recast in shades of grey as light leaked in from underneath the cabin door and all around the edges of the blind that covered the window.
‘It’s probably because I’m your fake girlfriend and you fake love me very much,’ I reasoned. ‘Caroline might be a lot of terrible things but she’s also a pretty good listener.’
A low chuckle rumbled out of his chest, vibrating across the meagre mattress and into me.
‘That must be it.’
‘Or because you know it’s not real,’ I suggested, gripping the edge of the bed, my back to Callum. ‘And this time next week, Caroline will be back in London, you’ll be off to Paris and who knows when we’ll even see each other again?’
‘Who knows?’ he said, the mattress shifting underneath me as he rolled over to face the wall. ‘But at least this week will be a laugh.’
‘Yes,’ I agreed weakly. ‘A real laugh.’
Chapter Eight
Like a true idiot, I’d always thought travelling overnight on a train would be romantic. Who wouldn’t love being gently rocked back and forth, lulled to sleep by the chug of the engine, the rush of the rails?
Me. That’s who.
For what felt like forever, I had tossed and turned on my six inches of mattress at the edge of the bed, too hot, then too cold, almost rolling across the cabin every time the train swept around a bend, which it did roughly eighteen thousand times between London and Scotland. According to my watch, time ticked by but I was almost positive it was moving more slowly than usual. That or I was trapped in some sort of too-tired purgatory, dehydrated from the whisky and wine and, whether I liked it or not, horny as hell. For all my talk about being able to sleep anywhere, I’d forgotten how difficult it was to sleep next to anyone. Naturally, Callum passed out the moment he turned out the light. Eyes closed, arms above his head, dead to the world, and every time he moved, I was hyper aware of him, the heat thatemanated from his body, the soft sighs issuing from his lips, the gentle nudges against my back each time he rolled over.
Eventually, right as it was almost time to wake up anyway, overwhelming exhaustion loosened my tight muscles and pulled me towards a fitful sleep, the room slipping away and dragging me down into relaxation. Until an arm slung itself over my torso, drawing my stiff body in towards a warm, supple one. Suddenly wide awake, I froze as Callum stirred, pressing against my back and curling in closer, one huge hand passively wrapping itself around my waist and making my skin tingle from head to toe. His breath was soft on my neck, making my hair dance with every exhale. Unfortunately, his breath was the only thing about him that was soft.
A low groan rumbled out of his body, sending shockwaves all the way through me and straight between my legs. Ripping my phone and its charger from out the wall, I shot out of bed and into the bathroom, where I slammed the door shut and locked it behind me. I was practically panting when I closed the toilet lid with a noisy clatter and crouched on the top like the floor was on fire. The tingling was an automatic physiological response, nothing but frisson. Blood vessels dilating, blood rushing to the surface of my skin, a perfectly understandable reaction to one body’s physical closeness to another. My heavy breathing, dilated pupils and unexpectedly clenched thighs on the other hand …
My phone buzzed to life in my hand. Startled, I almost dropped it but managed to catch the tail end of the charging cable before it could clatter to the floor.
Banged him yet?
Of course it was Joel, an annoyingly chipper earlyriser. Desi wouldn’t see anything other than the insides of her eyelids for another two hours at least.
Don’t ask why but we had to share bed …I typed furiously, still crouched on top of the toilet.
Just woke up, I added,he’s got a …
Before I could complete the sentence, Joel replied with a barrage of GIFs: a rocket taking off, Pinocchio’s nose growing and a skeleton shooting up straight to attention.
Not helpful but yes,I replied.What should I do?
Grind on him and see what happens, came Joel’s helpful reply.
When I sent him a thumbs down, another three bubbles appeared.
Can you shuffle around and pop it in?
