Nick tried to catch her eye. She could sense his confusion.
“I’m definitely not interested,” he told Elspeth. “You’ll have to find another way to entertain yourself.”
“Whatever.” She reached for the door handle. “You’ll come over for dinner tomorrow anyway?”
“I’ll call in and see Arran after work,” he agreed.
“Great.” Elspeth smiled sweetly. “See you then.”
“Thanks again for all this,” Nick said to Logan. “I think the drinks are on me from now until the end of time.”
“I might hold you to that,” Logan said jokily, then followed Elspeth outside.
There was a brief silence when Nick closed the door after them.
“I didn’t get a chance to tell them,” Lexie said, grimacing.
“Why not?” Nick got the corkscrew and opened the wine while Lexie rinsed a couple of the glasses.
“They were all here and they’d been drinking. The conversation was a bit weird and I didn’t find the right moment to tell them.”
Nick poured wine for them both. “Why was the conversation weird?”
“Erm.” Lexie sipped the wine, then wandered through to the living room.
“What?” Nick asked when she failed to elaborate.
“Elspeth was telling us all what a great kisser you are.”
Nick almost choked on his wine. “That was nice of her,” he said with a teasing grin. “She’s quite a good kisser too.”
Lexie gave him a mock stern stare. “When were you kissing Elspeth?”
“New Year’s Eve.” He set his glass on the coffee table and shuffled closer to Lexie on the couch, resting a hand on her knee. “We were both a bit tipsy.”
Lexie leaned back into the couch.
“Don’t tell me you’re jealous,” Nick said. “It was ages ago. And it didn’t mean anything. I’d been looking for you that evening but you were ignoring me.”
“I was looking for you,” Lexie said quietly.
“You weren’t,” Nick insisted. “You were ignoring my messages, and Elspeth told me you were chatting up some guy.”
“I was. Then I came looking for you. I couldn’t find you so I went home. I was tucked up in bed by midnight, listening to the fireworks from under my covers.”
Nick tilted his head. Then he pulled her hand to his face and kissed her palm.
“I wanted to tell them about us,” Lexie said, getting the conversation back on track. “But Elspeth started talking about setting you up with Meghan and I didn’t know what to say. When I finally got Leana alone, she was rushing to get back to Alasdair.”
“It doesn’t matter. We can tell them together, if you want?”
“I really want to tell Leana myself. I never talk to her properly and I’d like to. I’m not very good talking about serious stuff.”
Nick smiled lightly. “So this is serious, is it? You and me?”
Lexie stifled a grin as she pulled him closer to her. “Yes,” she said, entwining her fingers with his. “I think it is.”
“Good.” He kissed her tenderly. “I think so too.”
“The fireplace is all fixed,” Lexie told him when he pulled away. “We could light the fire and snuggle up to watch something on TV.”
“We could.” He pursed his lips, looking thoughtful. “Have you seen what they’ve done upstairs, though?”
“No.” She couldn’t stop beaming. “I haven’t.”
“Maybe I should show you that.” He stood and pulled her up.
Her stomach fluttered with butterflies as she followed Nick to the stairs.
Chapter Thirty-One
Lexie blinked her eyes open as the mattress sank beside her.
“I have to go to work,” Nick said. “You can stay here and let yourself out later.”
“I can’t,” she said, yawning as she sat up. “I don’t want anyone to see me leaving your place.”
“What are you going to do, slip out the back?”
“Yes.” She nodded and glanced around the floor. “Have you seen my clothes?”
“They were abandoned between the living room and here.” He flashed a boyish grin, then moved to fetch the pile of neatly folded clothes from the chair in the corner.
“Thanks,” she said as she began to get dressed.
“You’re not really going to sneak out, are you?”
“I don’t want anyone to see me,” she said, then caught the crease of his forehead. “Sorry,” she said quickly. “It’s only until I’ve spoken to Leana. Then everyone can know.”
“Okay.” He didn’t seem thrilled about the sneaking around but didn’t comment further.
“My parents know,” Lexie said when they walked down the stairs. “They were happy about it.”
“Good.” He followed her into the living room where she pulled the patio door open. The blast of fresh air made her shiver.
“Will I see you later?” she asked. “I’m working tonight.”
“I’ll come in the pub after work.” He frowned and shook his