Angus had only had a mouthful or two of the champagne but maybe it had worked a little magic on him. Maybe he had caught a moment of that happiness and could see a glimmer of light at the end of his tunnel of heartbreak.
Maybehisboundaries were blurred enough to go a little too far, as well, because Tilly could feel his face getting even closer to hers. Touching the mouth of the bottle just after it had left his lips had sparked a totally unexpected reaction from her body.
Therealtouch of his lips as they touched hers as softly as a feather landing made her realise instantly that she’d had no idea at all what it would be like to kiss this man.
And when his mouth moved over hers – his lips and,oh, mon Dieu, histongue– as if they knew the steps to a dance that created its own music, it was better than champagne. And sunshine and summer and… and Tilly could swear she felt every bit of sparkle in every cell of her body for as long as that kiss was happening.
Which wasn’t nearly long enough. It was Angus who drew back. For the time it took to draw in a deep breath he held Tilly’s gaze but she was starting to realise how hard he was to read. Hadhefelt a sparkle?
Maybe not. He was the first to speak and his tone gave nothing away. His words, on the other hand, held no hint of romance whatsoever.
‘My feet,’ he said, ‘are absolutely freezing.’
8
The kiss had changed everything.
Or maybe it was because everything had already changed that Angus had given in to the astoundingly strong desire to kiss Tilly.
Whatever…
The kiss itself had been even more astonishing than how much he’d wanted it to happen. The softness of Tilly’s lips. The taste of her. The way she responded to him that somehow made it feel like an entire conversation had taken place – like telepathy but in physical form.
When had he ever experienced even a hint that a kiss could be that complex?
Not to mention intriguing. And so unexpectedly delicious.
Never, that’s when.
It had been a revelation and, yes, something was most definitely changing and maybe it was Angus himself. He clearly wasn’t the angry, disappointed,rejectedman who’d walked off the plane, good grief, less than twenty-four hours ago.
And it feltgood, dammit.
So good, he could almost believe that he was capable of becoming a person who was the opposite of boring. A person who could make anywhere in the world feel like the most exciting place on earth for someone, even? If he was ever going find out, this might be his only chance. For just a few days – a length of time that had a very clear finishing point, which by default was a safety valve – he could experiment with following Tilly’s example and letting emotions flavour his decisions. If he did what hewantedto do instead of what he thought heshoulddo, he might learn something about himself that he’d never otherwise discover.
Kissing Tilly had definitely been what he wanted to do. A spur-of-the-moment reaction to a feeling that was overwhelming enough to be stealing the oxygen from the air around him, and it was even more noticeable when they had closed the car doors and shut themselves away from the world in the cocoon of this small space. Would it be preferable to put the roof down? The ambient temperature was certainly warm enough.
No, Angus wasn’t quite ready for that. He needed to read the instructions before attempting something he’d never done before and maybe he wasn’t quite ready to do something that was… what? A bitwild? Racing along a road – on thewrongside – with the distraction of the wind in his hair and a beautiful woman in the passenger seat?
He stole a peep at Tilly but she was looking at her phone. He opened his mouth to say something but then closed it again. It would feel strange to say something that had nothing to do with what had just happened, but what if he did say something about the kiss and she told him to forget it because it was no big deal?
Being that impetuous was ahugedeal for Angus. He’d never kissed a woman before a third date and he’d never ever kissed a woman quite likethat. He didn’t want to find out that Tilly foundit easy to dismiss. That, in her world, it might be a tad boring, even?
Music, Angus decided. That was what was needed to cover the silence. And what music could be more appropriate to play in this particular car than the origins of the soundtrack to the movie. He opened the streaming service on his phone and downloaded an entire Simon and Garfunkel album.
The universe had to be laughing at him with the haunting melody of the first song that came through the Bluetooth speaker cleverly hidden under the vintage dashboard.
‘The Sound of Silence’.
The music did more than cover any reluctance to open the can of worms that saying something about the kiss represented. Along with his new familiarity with the Alfa Romeo’s gear changes and coordinating them to the rev counter and speedo, it meant he could relax and enjoy the performance of the car, which was a world away from his super-safe, stress-free Volvo with all its built-in advanced driver assistance. He was sitting far lower now and he had direct steering, which gave him constant feedback from the road and felt like they were talking to each other through the steering wheel. Curiously, it made Angus think, again, of what it had been like to kiss Tilly.
The unexpected frisson of delight it was delivering – both the driving and remembering the kiss – changed this ride from a matter of getting from A to B into something far more pleasurable. An escape. A road trip. A summer holiday kind of adventure where the destination was not as important as the journey.
Somethingfun.
Something the emerging version of Angus McLeod might actually want to allow himself to embrace – just for a day or two – to see if it might stay this good. Or get even better?
He would exert some level of control, of course. He wasn’t about to leap into another hot-air balloon, for example.
