We left the bar and walked up the street to find somewhere else. It was too cold to walk far. I shivered in my coat and huddled down.
‘Where did you meet Patrick?’
‘Here, in Chester.’
‘In a bar?’
‘Yes. This one just up here, actually. Do you want to go in? I promise I won’t cry.’
Anthony laughed. ‘Okay. At least it will get us out of this wind.’
The music coming from the bar got louder and louder as we went up the steps, until I could feel it pumping in my chest. It hadn’t been this noisy the night I’d met Patrick. I cast a doubtful look over my shoulder at Anthony but he was just looking around curiously, his eyes flicking over the groups of people standing in huddles near the bar or else sitting together at tables dotted around the edge of the empty dance floor. We ordered drinks from the bar and found a little booth in the corner with a round table and a bench seat. The lighting was dim and blue and we sat close together, almost touching but not quite.
‘It wasn’t like this last time I came here,’ I shouted.
‘Sorry?’ He bent his head and I put my lips close to his ear to repeat what I’d said.
He shrugged and shifted closer to me. ‘What was it like then?’ His voice reverberated in my ear, making the tiny hairs on the back of my neck rise. Heat and desire melted my insides and made my legs weak.
I turned my head to speak into his ear. The smell of his aftershave made my senses reel and I had to resist the urge to let my lips brush his skin. ‘Quieter.’
He nodded and leaned away slightly to look around the bar again. I wanted to pull him back against me and tell him to look at me, not the other people. I took another sip of wine and then another, realising I felt slightly drunk as I did so. Anthony leaned back against me and spoke into my ear again. ‘You said you met Patrick here?’
I nodded.
‘Were you out with friends?’
‘No, I was alone.’ I blushed and pulled back to laugh. Leaning in again, I put a hand on his shoulder. ‘I’d been stood up and Patrick happened to be in here.’
Anthony looked surprised. ‘Was he on his own too?’
‘Yes, he was in Chester on business.’
‘So, he came to your rescue, did he?’
I shrugged and looked away. I seemed to have talked a lot about Patrick tonight. At this rate, Anthony would think I was still hung up on him and that wasn’t true. The smell of Anthony’s aftershave was giving me a raw hunger in my stomach and I was finding it harder and harder to keep my hands to myself. I looked at the long expanse of his thigh pressed up against mine and wondered if he’d mind if I stroked it.
Anthony nudged me, a cheeky look in his eye. ‘So, do you come here often?’
I smiled and shook my head. ‘Not for ages.’
His eyes rested on mine for a moment and then dropped to my lips. My heart pounded with the expectation of a kiss, but instead he leaned forward and reached for his drink. I was instantly disappointed. Maybe I should try kissing him. He was definitely interested; I could tell by the intensity in his eyes. I hadn’t even felt like this on my first date with Patrick. We’d just talked and laughed and then exchanged numbers before he’d left. It hadn’t felt this intimate or sexually charged. I hadn’t had this heat or these chills that were making me fizz and tingle. Maybe it was the wine, or maybe it was the fact that I’d been quite lonely and sad this past year, or maybe it was simply because he was so damn handsome, but as he put his beer bottle down and turned to talk to me, I couldn’t resist him any more and suddenly I was kissing him.
Anthony didn’t react immediately. He just sat there while I stretched up against him, pressing my lips to his. Had I made a huge mistake? Was this about to become the most awkward moment of my life?
My eyes flickered open and I pulled away, but he placed a hand on the back of my neck, drawing me back towards him. This time, he lowered his face and kissed me properly. I felt like I was floating, soft and weightless, my head spinning. The bar disappeared and all that existed for me was him. My hand was on his face, my fingers tracing the outline of his high cheekbones, the outer shell of his ear, the hollow beneath. I felt him shiver beneath my touch and it ignited a fire inside of me. I kissed him harder, pressing closer as his hand dropped to my waist and travelled down over my hip and thigh before he pulled my leg across his knee. He kissed my throat, sucking and nipping and licking my sensitive skin until I was a mass of tingles. Tipping my head back, I opened my eyes and was suddenly aware that perhaps we shouldn’t be doing this in such a public place. Even though we were in a booth and a table concealed the fact his hand was up my skirt, caressing the inside of my thigh, it wasn’t the time or the place.
Especially with a policeman.
I pushed him away, kissing his nose softly when he looked up bewildered. Understanding dawned in his eyes and he sat up and straightened his clothes. We sat for a moment, leaning into each other, and then he looked at me and raised an eyebrow.
‘Shall we go?’ he said.
I nodded and got to my feet as he took my hand and led me back outside into the night. I barely registered the icy wind, insulated as I was by lust and wine. Anthony pulled me to him and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I couldn’t stop smiling and little bubbles of happiness were bursting inside me. How had this happened? How could I be walking home with this gorgeous man I hadn’t known existed this morning? Everything seemed brighter: the moon, the stars, the streetlights. Even the pavement beneath our feet seemed to sparkle, although that was probably frost.
We reached the bridge across the river and paused to watch the water rush and burble over the weir. The naked branches of the winter trees swayed in the wind and Anthony wrapped his arms around me and kissed me again. His lips and nose and face were cold now, and I covered his skin with butterfly kisses before hugging him fiercely. He laughed and grabbed my hand to pull me on. My house wasn’t far from the bridge, and we stumbled along, laughing and chatting, and it wasn’t until I reached the end of my road that I suddenly started to question what I was doing and what he was expecting. Was he just walking me home like he’d said he would? He seemed quite keen to get to my house. Was I really going to invite him in? I liked him, but I’d only just met him and I didn’t usually go to bed with men I’d just met. My head was at war with itself, with one side telling me to have a bit of fun, and the other reminding me that tonight hadn’t even started out as a date.
The streetlight glowed outside my house and next-door’s cat weaved its way across the small patch of grass in front of my window. ‘Well, here we are,’ I said, slightly hesitant, looking at the white front door of my tiny house.
‘Well, thank you for a lovely evening,’ he said, his blue eyes twinkling as he looked down at me. His fingers were still threaded through mine and I thought how well they fit together, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. I smiled up at him and stood on tiptoe to kiss him.
‘Well, thank you, too. It was certainly unexpected.’
He smiled. ‘The best things usually are.’
With some regret, I let go of his hand and retrieved my key from my bag. ‘Goodnight, Anthony.’
He kissed me again and then stepped away. ‘Goodnight, Rachel.’
Once inside, I made myself a cup of tea and sat down on the sofa to ring Elena. I was impressed that he hadn’t expected to be invited in, considering the mixed signals I must have been sending him. He was obviously a real gentleman.
‘Hi, Rachel,’ Elena said from the other end of the phone. ‘You okay?’
‘Hi! Yes, I am! More than okay, in fact. I was just phoning to say I met someone. Someone gorgeous and amazing and sweet and amazing. And he’s