The Little Teashop in Tokyo by Julie Caplin Page 0,79
the best train journey I’ve had for quite a while.’
‘We can’t kiss for the whole journey; it’s still another half hour to Fujiyoshida.’
‘Why not? I haven’t kissed you for ten years, that’s a lot of kisses to catch up on.’
And when he put it like that, Fiona couldn’t think of a single reason why not.
In fact, all she could think was that Gabe Burnett was kissing her and that the butterflies in her stomach had dived, soared, and jumped right out of her stomach and were now swirling around her head making everything spin in a dream-like way. Flushed and heated, she also felt relief. No pulling away in disgust at her inexperience. Kissing Gabe was every bit as wonderful as she could possibly have imagined. Her insides seem to have liquified with pure delight, leaving her molten and pliable. She, Fiona Hanning, was kissing Gabe Burnett! Pressing her lips to his, silken, soft, firm and oh so delicious … Then her heart almost burst when he cupped her face with all the tenderness of a thousand rom-coms.
They didn’t quite kiss all the way to the next stop but it was a close thing.
***
When the train slowed to pull in to the station, they hastily gathered their bags with surreptitious grins and made their way to the doors. It was as they stood in front of them that Fiona gave a guilty start.
‘Gabe, I’ve left my phone behind.’ Now it sounded as if she meant she’d lost it but before she could clarify her meaning, the doors opened and Gabe took her bag from her and helped her down without even acknowledging her comment.
‘I think I’ve left it at Haruka’s.’ Peering up and down the platform he sought out the exit.
‘Well at least you know you haven’t lost it,’ he said. ‘Ah, this way.’ He led the way to the right, obviously more cognisant with the Japanese than she’d realised as the English translation was in a much smaller and harder-to-read font.
He didn’t seem the least bit bothered by the information.
‘Would you mind if I borrowed your phone to text my mother?’
Gabe strode on as if he hadn’t heard. ‘Let’s find a taxi.’
Once in the back of the cab, with her bag on her lap, she asked again. ‘Your phone. Please can I borrow it?’
‘No,’ said Gabe.
‘What?’ His implacable answer shocked her. ‘I’ll give you the money,’ she said with a touch of indignation.
‘No,’ he said mildly. ‘I don’t care about the money.’
‘Then why not?’
He turned to her. ‘Because then your mum will have my number and she’ll be texting me every five minutes instead of you and that’s the last thing I want.’
‘She wouldn’t.’ Even as she said it, Fiona knew she would. Even so … he could have been a bit more helpful. Well, if he was going to be like that … It took a lot for her not to fold her arms and pout. Instead she lifted her head, pursed her lips, and stared out of the window.
‘The warrior princess is back.’ His fingers stroked the underside of her chin. ‘Don’t sulk. If she’s worried about you, she can phone Haruka. And Haruka can phone me.’
From under her lashes she peeped up at him and read intractability all over his face. ‘Come on, Fi. You said yourself she cries wolf all the time. This will give you a proper break. Two whole days away from the tyranny of the text.’
With a sigh, she glared at him but there wasn’t much heat behind it. ‘I guess you’re right.’
He winked at her. ‘I have ways of taking your mind off it.’
Her wretched body responded to that by warming up in places that had no place warming, kickstarting the gentle hum of desire that had never really gone away since that initial kiss on the train. It also ignited a debate that had begun to rage as soon as they’d gathered their bags: should she sleep with him …
Not that he’d asked or anything.
Chapter 19
‘Well, this is me.’ Fiona dropped her bag and fumbled with the key card as Gabe waited politely.
The door swung open and she stood there wondering whether to invite him in or watch him walk up the corridor to his room, which by her calculation was another seven doors down.
A hotel room was a hotel room, wasn’t it?
‘Want to see?’
‘I’m sure mine will probably be the same,’ he drawled with a knowing smirk on his face.