He lifted his head, eyes meeting hers again, making sure.
She nodded once, breathless.
They came back together, the kiss deepening again as she pulled him closer, feeling the tension in him, the urgency, the relief. It felt natural, instinctive, like something they were always meant to do.
His mouth brushed her jaw, her throat, warm and soft, making her arch into him. Every thought she’d been clinging to earlier dissolved, replaced by one simple, overwhelming truth: she wanted him. Here and now. And so she took what she wanted.
* * *
It was lunchtime and the rain had hit new levels of intensity. Proper biblical stuff. If you stepped outside today, the appropriate dress code would be a bikini and flippers. Maybe a snorkel, if you wanted to be fancy.
Pippa had decided they were going to embrace the chaos, so she’d set up a carpet picnic in the living room, using a picnic blanket she’d found stuffed in the cupboard, plus all the cheese and crackers they’d bought from the deli. Theo had opened a bottle of wine because apparently he’d decided the rain meant day drinking was now socially acceptable. Wetherby’s book lay on the blanket between them like an uninvited but necessary guest.
Just as Pippa was about to cut into the cheese, a loud beep sounded outside.
She jolted upright. ‘Who’s that?’ She scrambled to the window.
There, in the café’s little blue van, were Clemmie and Amelia, both waving madly at her like they were auditioning for some emergency-themed girl band. They were dressed head to toe in rain gear, shiny waterproofs flapping dramatically in the wind.
‘Something is going on,’ Pippa declared, already hurrying to the door.
The moment she opened the front door, Clemmie shouted over the storm, ‘St Swithin’s has a lot to answer for! Last time it rained on the fifteenth of July, in 1965, it rained for forty days! No one could get on or off the island!’
Before Pippa could respond, Amelia and Clemmie began launching sandbags from the van like they were competing in some extreme sport. They hit the grass with heavy thuds.
‘There’s a chance the cottage will flood,’ Clemmie added, ‘so get these sandbags up around the door before the water decides to move in permanently.’
Theo appeared behind Pippa in the doorway, slipping on his coat mid-stride. He began scooping up the sandbags from the verge and stacking them neatly by the cottage door.
Pippa stood and watched as Theo shot her a grin over his shoulder. ‘It’s okay,’ he teased, ‘you just stand there and supervise.’
‘There’s no point both of us getting wet!’
Theo moved twenty sandbags in all and was soaked through by the time he finished. After he and Pippa had waved off Clemmie and Amelia, he hung the coat over the back of the kitchen chair. ‘Another glorious British summer.’
Theo shook his hair, making Pippa squeal as water sprayed over her. She threw him a towel and ran back to the safety of the living room, which now looked like a cosy indoor campsite: blanket spread out, cushions stolen off the sofa, two mismatched wine glasses, and an unnecessarily large selection of cheeses that Pippa absolutely did not regret buying.
She sat cross-legged, balancing a piece of Brie on a cracker. ‘This might be the greatest idea I’ve ever had,’ she announced. ‘A carpet picnic.’
Theo took a sip of wine, considering her. ‘Your modesty is astounding.’
She scrunched up her nose as she took in the blue cheese sitting in front of him. ‘You’re coming nowhere near me after eating that smelly cheese.’
Theo shrugged, unbothered, then grinned.
She nudged his knee with hers. ‘You’re leaving crumbs everywhere.’
He looked genuinely offended. ‘That is a lie. I am a responsible cheese-eater.’
Pippa raised an eyebrow.
Theo glanced down at his T-shirt, which absolutely had a sprinkling of cracker debris across it. ‘Okay,’ he admitted. ‘I am a slightly irresponsible cheese-eater.’
‘Do you think it’s actually going to rain for forty days? The island could potentially sink.’
‘Possibly. You know, the last time the island flooded would have been the same year as the secret commission.’
Pippa picked up another cracker and pointed it in his direction. ‘There are only two people still alive who know what it actually was.’
