anything with Guy was such a good idea.
‘I can easily take you home,’ he responded.
She let out a sigh that she hoped he didn’t hear. It would be ridiculous to create a fuss. She may as well accept the lift.
He made a call on his phone, then gestured for the waiter to bring the bill.
When it arrived, Emma opened her bag. Before she could remove her wallet Guy waved her action away.
‘Do not think of taking out money,’ he ordered.
‘But—’
‘Non,’ he interrupted.
She ignored the insistent tone and stood up as Guy got out a credit card and beckoned the waiter with the chip and pin machine.
She looked out through the restaurant windows at the front of the building and saw it was raining. It had been so hot lately thunderstorms were forecast almost every day. She wished she’d thought to bring a jacket.
‘Shall we go? Sean will only be a few minutes,’ Guy told her.
She nodded and followed him towards the exit.
As he pushed open the glass door a loud crack of thunder boomed from above them and Emma jumped with fright. Rain was pelting down on the ground and a bright flash lit up the night sky.
‘Are you OK?’ he asked, touching her arm. They’d stopped short of the street and stood in the entrance underneath the restaurant’s canopy.
‘Yes. I just wasn’t expecting that,’ she admitted. The storm had already cooled the air and her arms started to pimple.
‘You have no coat,’ he observed.
‘I’m fine,’ she lied through chattering teeth.
‘Here,’ he said. Before she could protest he had taken off his jacket and slipped it around her shoulders. He straightened out the collar and made sure it was comfortable. She looked up at him. He was so close to her. His fingers fastened the three buttons, just touching her blouse, making the silk graze her skin. Her resolve was close to breaking. She could feel it happening. He reached up to touch her cheek and instinctively she shut her eyes.
The sound of a car pulling to the kerb and stopping in front of them broke the moment. Emma snapped open her eyes and took a half step back.
‘It’s my car,’ Guy said, stating the obvious.
She nodded. He stepped out into the rain and opened the back door. The rain soaked him instantly, turning his shirt translucent, flattening his dark hair against his head.
‘Emma,’ he called, indicating the open door.
She put her bag over her head to shield it from the rain and hurried across the pavement to the waiting vehicle.
She dived into the car and slid over the cream leather seats leaving space for him. The rain was hammering against the roof of the car like it could break through the metal at any second. She had only heard something as harsh as the sound once before.
Guy leapt into the car, pulling the door closed behind him. He shook himself, spraying drops all over the seats, the door and the floor. He was saturated.
He pressed a button for the intercom. ‘Sean, we need to go to…’ He stopped talking and looked to her.
‘14 Windsor Avenue,’ she filled in. ‘It’s a mile from here.’ She tried not to look as Guy undid the top two buttons of his shirt and fanned the material in an attempt to remove the water.
‘Wow, it is wet,’ he remarked with a laugh. Emma laughed too and watched him shake his head. It sent a flurry of moisture everywhere, a few specks landing on her face.
‘Stop!’ she said, wiping at it.
He smoothed his hair back behind his ears and turned his body towards her.
‘Do you remember that storm in La Baume?’
She nodded. ‘There was no warning. One minute we were in brilliant sunshine, the next the heavens opened.’
‘We ran for the barn and…’
As he spoke the memories overwhelmed her, grabbed at her heart, pounded her chest, overloaded her mind. All she could see was the boy she adored, sat next to her, dripping wet, gorgeous, just as he was.
She had no idea who moved first but their lips met and she had her first taste of him in eight years. There was nothing slow or tentative about it. Passion and desire ripped through her body as she caught his face in her hands and begged him to deepen the kiss.
She felt his fingers brush the skin on her shoulder as he ran a trail down to her elbow, skimming the flesh so lightly. That scent, that same scent of citrus and Merlot and the freshness