Immy didn’t say anything else. She wasn’t sure what she could say. Tell him she was just teasing him, ask him to set a date, agree with that fact that her euphoric brain had acted without her consent or just pretend it never happened? The latter seemed like the safer option because if he stopped now and asked her that question she knew she would say yes. So she lay there and concentrated on every touch, focussed on what his hands were doing, how good it felt, rather than what an idiot she’d been to say those words.
Ten minutes later she was fast asleep.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Immy woke the next day as Xander was moving around the room getting dressed. He smiled at her when he saw she was awake and came over to give her a brief kiss.
‘Good morning, beautiful.’
‘Hi.’ She kissed him back, stroking his face. ‘Thank you for my massage last night, my body feels wonderful.’
He stroked his hands across her shoulders and breasts. ‘Yup, feels pretty wonderful to me too.’
He pulled away to finish getting ready and she watched him for a moment, wondering if she should address the elephant in the room or if it was just best to continue pretending she hadn’t accidentally proposed to him the night before.
She cleared her throat. ‘You, erm… certainly have magic hands. I don’t think a massage has ever felt so good before. I’m… umm… sure I made some weird noises of appreciation.’
‘Snoring mostly.’
‘Ah yes, sorry I fell asleep.’
‘It’s OK, I wanted to help you relax and I clearly did that.’
‘You did.’
She searched around for how to address the topic but she couldn’t find the words. He seemed to be OK with it, maybe she didn’t need to address it at all. It was a silly nothing comment, it didn’t mean anything. Everything was going to be fine.
‘So we should probably go and see the registrar this afternoon,’ Xander said, as he pulled his t-shirt over his head. ‘Set a date. I think we have to register our intention to marry a minimum of four weeks before so we can’t get married straightaway but four weeks should be enough to get everything ready. We’ll need to go to the jeweller, get some rings, and get a dress, some flowers, plus we’ll need to find somewhere that will cater for our reception. Are you wanting a big thing or a small ceremony? I know I have a huge family, but we don’t have to invite all of them. My brothers will all be best men unfortunately, I can’t get rid of them, but it doesn’t need to be a bigger thing than that if you don’t want it to be.’
He glanced over at her and she couldn’t disguise the look of shock on her face. She couldn’t get married to him. Could she? Oh, her stupid romantic heart wanted that so much. But it was way too soon. Alex would probably kill her. She had to claw back some kind of restraint. She had to find a way to stop this without hurting his feelings.
Immy suddenly realised he was grinning at her. He was messing with her.
He came over and kissed her again. ‘You don’t need to worry I’m going to be setting a date for our wedding any time soon. I know what that was last night, you don’t need to be embarrassed.’
She sighed in relief. ‘Oh thank god. You had me really worried there for a moment. Although I must admit, there was a second or two I was already imagining my dress.’
His face softened. ‘Yeah? What did it look like?’
‘You’ll have to wait and see. Eventually.’
He kissed her again. ‘I can’t wait to see it.’
There was a knock on the door. ‘Daddy, can I come in?’
Xander quickly threw Immy a t-shirt and she pulled it on and then grabbed the duvet to cover the rest of her nudity. She nodded at Xander and he opened the door and swept his daughter into his arms.
‘Good morning, sweetheart.’
Etta giggled. ‘I came for a cuddle but you’re already dressed.’
‘We can still cuddle,’ Xander said, moving over to the bed with his daughter in his arms. He sat down next to Immy and placed Etta in between them. Immy kissed her on the head, slinging an arm round her to hug her. Etta leaned her head against her shoulder.
‘Hello, beautiful,’ Immy said.
‘Hello,’ Etta said.
Xander took Etta’s hand. ‘Now today we are going tobe painting Immy’s shop but if you don’t want to do that, Max has said he’d take you and Zara to the beach. It’s up to you.’
