He frowns, taking up his mug for a swig. ‘Like what?’
‘I don’t know, something normal that people like to do on their days off.’
Because I don’t feel like working today. Strange, but true. I glance at the sun pouring through the giant steel-framed windows. ‘It looks like it’s going to be a gorgeous day; why don’t we take a picnic to Hyde Park?’
He spits his coffee. ‘Did you seriously just ask me to go for a picnic in the park?’
I shrug. ‘Theo and Sadie seem to like it well enough.’
‘When was the last time you had a meal out that didn’t involve a high-end restaurant?’
‘A woman can change.’
And he only knows the half of it.
He cups my cheek as he stares down into my eyes. ‘Butyou’vebeen the same forever. And yet… this past year since Sadie returned, this past month, this past day even, you keep surprising me.’
‘Is that bad?’
‘No,’ he says softly. ‘It’s dangerous.’
And I don’t have time to question what he means, to ponder it, because he’s there, kissing me. Slow and deep. And the butterflies return, beating against my ribs.
‘Though I am worried,’ he murmurs against my lips, and my entire body tenses.
‘Worried?’
‘That you may have hit your head flooring that McLaren last night, because a picnic in the park… so left field.’
‘Fine!’ I huff, all flustered, and shoving him away. ‘If you don’t wanna go, then?—’
‘Oh, we’re going,’ he says, already moving off. ‘If only to see you sit that pretty arse on the grass.’
I laugh abruptly. ‘You’re maddening, you know that, right?!’
‘You love me really.’
My heart stalls.
Fuck.
I do.
I’m not just falling.
I’m already gone – head-over-heels, helplessly, catastrophically in love with him.
And there isn’t a damn thing I can do about it.
Except follow my own mantra:
Do what feels good.
Don’t overthink it.
Take what he gives.
Don’t scare him away.
