The kisses grew deeper, and as Charlie felt Holly’s warm hand raking through his hair, the back of his neck been to tingle. Drawing her closer to him, feeling that quick, white heat of arousal, her body against his felt instinctively right. There was so much he wanted to say, so much he wanted to do. Her lips were warm, and soft, her mouth sweet-tasting. Charlie had the sensation, right then, that he’d come home.
The insistent ring of Holly’s mobile on the kitchen counter brought them both out of the moment. Holly, regretfully, broke free from Charlie and, with an apologetic smile, wandered on unsteady legs to answer it.
‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘I keep the phone on because Harry’s having a bit of a tricky spell at the moment.’
‘No problem,’ Charlie said. He finally sat down on the sofa, but, realising that his suit trousers left very little about his arousal to the imagination (not that Holly could have failed to notice when she was in his arms and pressed against him), he grabbed his wine glass again and rested it in his lap. The cool glass took the edge off things a little bit.
‘OK… No, that’s fine… I’ll drop it over to you as soon as I can… No, don’t worry.’ Holly threw an apologetic glance in Charlie’s direction. ‘I’ll see you in a bit.’ Tapping to end the call, Holly wandered back to the sofa. ‘I’m really sorry,’ she began. ‘I’ve got to dash out and pick up some Creon granules from the late-night chemist in Stavenham for Harry. Mum and Dad are away visiting friends in Bristol tonight and Harry’s been quite poorly.’ She smiled regretfully. ‘He needs it to help him digest his food properly, so it’s kind of an essential. I’m not sure what time I’ll be back here. Can we, you know, pick this up another time?’
Charlie, stung with disappointment, but knowing there was little else to be done, smiled back. ‘Of course.’ He drew her to him as they both stood up. ‘You’ve given me a lot to think about, Holly Renton.’
Holly laughed nervously. ‘In a good way, I hope!’
‘Definitely.’ Charlie dipped his head and kissed Holly lingeringly on the lips. ‘This is the kind of kiss I desperately wanted to give you, all those years ago on that dance floor. But I was so scared you’d run away. You looked absolutely terrified when we did actually kiss.’
‘I was,’ Holly admitted. ‘I’d only had one serious boyfriend when I met you, and I guess that’s why I was so nervous that night.’
‘You looked so gorgeous. I can’t believe I didn’t realise it was you.’
‘I look a whole lot different now,’ Holly smiled as they broke apart. ‘And so do you, Lovely Charlie.’
‘Still gorgeous, though,’ Charlie stroked a stray tendril of hair back from Holly’s face. ‘I’ve got a hectic weekend coming up,’ he said. ‘A couple of events and a whole pile of paperwork to get my head around. But we need to continue this conversation. Will you text me if you get a moment? Perhaps we can meet before I head off to Westminster again.’
‘I’d like that,’ Holly murmured. ‘And I’m sorry it can’t be now.’
‘Me too.’ Charlie pulled her close again and felt another surge of heat. ‘But we will find the time, I promise.’
Kissing her deeply, one last time, he headed towards her front door. Although his body was tingling from their contact, his mind felt free of the niggling, nagging feeling he’d had since he’d met her again. His discomfiture suddenly all made sense. With a surge of excitement that his adolescent self would have been proud of, he headed off home, determined to see Holly again before the weekend was out.
18
‘I’m sorry to drag you over here on a Friday night,’ Rachel said as she flipped the kettle on in the kitchen. ‘I honestly thought I had all bases covered, but then I realised I was completely out of Creon, and Harry’s been so low lately, I just didn’t dare risk not giving it to him, even for one night.’
Holly felt a stab of sympathy for her sister. Rachel looked preternaturally tired, more than the usual tiredness that came from looking after a young child, especially one with Harry’s condition. Although she worked in Holly’s shop a couple of shifts a week, the added stress of looking after Harry when he had one of his wobbles was obviously taking its toll on her. Despite the fact that her sister had got into a brilliant routine over the years, ensuring Harry took his medication like clockwork, like any parent, she had her good and bad days. Being a lone parent was an added strain, although she dealt with it in the same calm, efficient way she handled everything in her life. Holly was constantly in awe.
‘It’s fine, sis, don’t worry about it. I wasn’t, er, busy.’ Holly felt her cheeks start to burn as she remembered just what she’d been doing about an hour ago, before Rachel’s call.
‘Are you sure I didn’t drag you away from anything?’ Rachel said. ‘Weren’t you supposed to be seeing the Honourable Charlie tonight?’
‘Well, yeah,’ Holly admitted. ‘In fact, you caught us in the middle of, well, not exactly that, but…’
Rachel, tired as she appeared, perked up instantly. ‘Oh yes? Do tell!’
‘Nothing to tell,’ Holly said quickly. ‘Except…’
‘What? Spill!’
Holly giggled in a most un-Holly-like way. ‘He’s rather a good kisser.’
Rachel squealed, then, remembering that Harry had only just got off to sleep, clapped a hand over her mouth. ‘Well, it’s about time.’ She gave Holly a playful nudge on the arm. ‘Let me make this tea and you can tell me all about it.’
Holly found herself giggling again. ‘What are we, fifteen? Do I have to give you all the gory details?’
‘Absolutely,’ Rachel said firmly. ‘It’s just a shame I dragged you away from him before things got really interesting.’
Holly rolled her eyes. ‘Well, I was right about one thing,’ she said. ‘He can kiss like no one I’ve ever kissed before. Makes me kind of wish I’d been braver back when we’d first met.’ She sighed. ‘Who knows what might have happened.’
‘Oh, come on!’ Rachel said. ‘You were so flipping square back then; you’d have been terrified if he’d put any moves on you. Probably best nothing more serious than kissing happened.’
She passed Holly her mug of tea and they wandered through to the living room, which was still scattered with Harry’s favourite toys. What a contrast, Holly thought, to the nursery medical cabinet upstairs with its wide variety of suspensions, nebulisers and medicines that Harry was, even at age three, so proficient at taking. The little red tractor and its toy farmer that Holly had bought him for his third birthday took pride of place in the middle of the living room floor and Holly stepped around it carefully.
‘I wasn’t that much of a nerd,’ Holly insisted, but she knew that Rachel was probably right. All the years she’d spent studying English Literature at university, all the passionate poems, plays and novels she’d read, and it wasn’t until quite a while later she’d let herself feel the heat she’d spent so much time reading about.