Free Good Girl or Gold-Digger? by Kate Hardy Page B

standard.’
    ‘This is lovely,’ Felix said, meaning it. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a picnic with anyone. Or when he’d wanted to lie on his back, looking up at the sky as the sun set.
    They finished their meal with ripe nectarines that made a tiny rivulet of juice dribble at the corner of her mouth, and seriously tempted him to lick it off, and finally rich, chocolate brownies. ‘I thought I’d better bring these, seeing as you’re such a cake fiend,’ she teased.
    ‘They’re fabulous. Did you make them?’
    ‘No. I can’t believe you did a stint in the cafe and didn’t spot Shelley’s famous brownies.’ She scoffed. ‘Talk about unobservant. You’re slipping, Mr Gisbourne.’
    ‘I was on the cash desk,’ he defended himself. And then he frowned. ‘Does Shelley know why you wanted these?’
    ‘Yes. For dinner.’ She smiled. ‘I often buy something from the café for dinner, because I’m too busy to cook—or too lazy, depending on how you see it—so don’t worry. People aren’t going to be gossiping about us.’
    ‘Good.’ Finally, he let himself give into temptation, leaned forward and kissed her. ‘You taste of nectarines and chocolate.’
    ‘So do you.’ She stroked his arm. ‘And this is really gorgeous.’
    Him, or his sweater?
    ‘So soft.’
    The sweater, then.
    But it wasn’t as soft as her hair. ‘So’s this. And I really, really need to do this, Daisy.’ He slid his hands into her hair. ‘This is so lush. Like your mouth. It makes me want to…’ He kissed her again.
    As the kiss deepened, he lay back against the rug, drawing her down on top of him.
    He could feel the softness of her breasts against his chest. He stroked one hand over the lush curve of her bottom and settled the other against the flat of her spine, just as he’d wanted to do all day.
    Right here, right now, it was just the two of them. It could’ve been blowing a gale and hailing and he wouldn’t have noticed. His senses were completely filled with Daisy Bell: with her glossy brown hair that smelled of strawberries, her lush mouth that tasted of nectarines, and the softness to her body that made him want to sink into her and lose himself completely.
    Best of all, she was kissing him back.
    Clearly he’d died and gone to heaven.
    But, when he finally surfaced from the kiss, he saw wariness in her face.
    ‘I’m not going to hurt you, Daisy,’ he said softly.
    ‘Good.’
    He sat up so she was kneeling astride him and cradled on his lap, and wrapped his arms round her. ‘I wasn’t expecting this to happen, either. But we’re going to have to deal with it.’
    ‘We’ll be sensible about it,’ Daisy said.
    ‘Will we? I can’t get you out of my head, Boots. And I have a feeling this whole thing has thrown you as much as it has me.’
    ‘Yes,’ she admitted.
    ‘So maybe we should…’ Looking into her face was a bad idea. Because her mouth was just centimetres from his. All he had to do was lean forward slightly, and…
    ‘Felix, we can’t. This is meant to be business.’
    Her eyes were wide and full of panic. Time to back off. He kissed the tip of her nose and released her. ‘We’re adults. I think we’re both capable of separating business and whatever else this thing is, but I’m not going to push you. I’ll help you pack up.’
    Once he’d shaken the grass off the rug and folded it up and everything was back in the picnic basket, he walked back to where they’d left her bicycle and his car. ‘Do you want to put that in the back of my car and I’ll drive you home?’ he suggested.
    She shook her head. ‘It’s fine. I’ll see you tomorrow.’
    He smiled at her. ‘Thank you for this evening. I enjoyed it. And you’re right, I get it, now. It’s the lights and the music and the movement. It makes it feel as if the very air is sparkling.’
    She blinked at him, looking surprised. ‘That’s exactly how I feel about it.’
    But not all of it’s the fairground,