‘Well, I have to go, now. I need to pop out into the garden for a moment and run round in circles, punching the air.’
Kate laughed. Even though they were both a little older and much wiser somehow, they’d both managed to put the intervening years aside and go back to the beginning. Could they really be sixteen again, unlearn everything they knew and start over?
‘I have to go upstairs and fling my wardrobe doors open. Scream that I have nothing to wear...’
‘What are you wearing now?’ Ethan’s tone took on a note of the hunger that she felt for him.
‘Blue jeans. A red shirt.’
‘You look beautiful. Come exactly as you are.’
* * *
Kate did just that, although she’d added a pair of high, strappy sandals and some jewellery which had taken her almost as long to decide on as selecting her whole outfit. When she answered the door to him, his face broke into a broad grin.
‘You look far more gorgeous than I’ve been imagining you might. And that’s a tough proposition.’ He held out his arm and Kate felt herself thrill at the slightly stiff, old-fashioned gesture. Last weekend hadn’t just been something that adults had done and then moved on from because it was much too complicated to contemplate anything else. Ethan had come a-courting. There was no mistaking it.
She stepped outside, locking the front door behind her, and took his arm. The two of them couldn’t quite fit on the narrow front path and Ethan walked to one side on the grass.
‘This is nice.’ She smiled up at him as he opened the gate for her.
‘I’m a little rusty. I haven’t done this in a while.’
‘If this is you being a little rusty, I can’t wait to see what happens when you really get into your stride.’ The thought was both exciting and terrifying. But Ethan was doing all the right things to calm her fears. Taking it slowly. Taking it tenderly.
‘Thank you, ma’am. I’ll do my best not to disappoint.’
He couldn’t have disappointed her if he’d tried. She loved the way he’d drawn her hand up to his lips, looking into her eyes when he kissed her fingertips. She loved the quiet, country pub where the food was good and they could eat outside. Loved the way he was so interested in hearing about the things in her life—her job, her family, her childhood—and the way he told her about his.
‘Come back with me.’ He’d paid the bill and they were still sitting at their table, the lights around them beginning to glow bright in the gathering darkness.
‘For coffee?’ Ethan’s smile told her that if it was just for coffee that would be fine with him.
‘No. Not for coffee.’ She leaned across the table towards him. ‘Or don’t you do that kind of thing on a first date?’
This was crazy. They’d already done that kind of thing. But Ethan understood. Last week had been one of those sweet things that had been unplanned, done to escape from the real world. Tonight was the real world and if they spent it together then it was a new and different hope for the future.
‘There’s nothing I’d like to do more...’
* * *
They made love by flickering candlelight, the open windows in her bedroom allowing what breeze there was in the still evening to caress their bodies. And, for every moment of it, Ethan was there with her. In the long, tender embraces when it felt as if he was making love to every inch of her. In the strong, passionate climaxes which came again and again, finally leaving them still, tangled together on the bed.
‘Would you like some wine?’ Kate stretched luxuriantly on the crumpled sheets. The bottle of wine and the ice-bucket had been ready in the kitchen and she’d fetched them on their way upstairs. She was glad now she’d remembered. Kate didn’t want to be away from Ethan for even a moment.
‘So...you had this all planned.’ He reached for the corkscrew, his gaze flipping to the two glasses that sat on the bedside table.
‘Yes, I did. Only, you didn’t keep to the plan.’
He raised his eyebrows, taking the bottle from the half-melted ice and holding it to one side as he pulled the cork so that water didn’t drip all over the bed. ‘I hardly dare ask.’
‘If I’d known you were going to take so long over it, I’d have left the ice-bucket in the fridge.’
‘Too long...?’ His smile told her that he knew darn well that wasn’t the case. ‘I could always hurry things up a bit, next time.’
‘Don’t you dare. I loved every moment of it. So...you’re planning on a next time?’ Kate pulled herself up on the pillows, taking the glass of wine from him. ‘I’d be very disappointed if you weren’t.’
‘Yes. I’m planning on a next time.’