Free The Freefall Trilogy (Complete Collection) by Sadie Mills

at her, squeezing hard.  Lucy closed her eyes, biting her lip.
    'Good!  What would you like to eat?'
    'I...  uhm...'  Lucy stifled a burp, blinking down at the menu with unseeing eyes, smiling politely.  'I really don't mind.'
    The music was fading.
    Oh crap...  
    'The chilli's good,' Josh told her.
    She nodded quickly with a sideways glance. 
    Lucy hated chilli. 
    'OK!  That'd be great!'
    Josh squeezed her shoulder.  Martin stepped aside and let Josh out.  Queen's Don't Stop Me Now kicked in.  Josh paused, turning back.  Froggy and Martin nodded along to the beat.  Lucy looked up.  Josh flashed her a heart-stopping grin. 
     
    By the time the third track came on, Martin and Froggy had drained their bottles and left.  Awolnation's Sail pulsed through the bar.  Lucy and Josh sat in silence, remembering the day they first met, studying each other in sideways glances; eyes meeting briefly, quickly looking away.  She felt his fingers thrumming her thigh.  She felt his taught muscles, sliding her hand up his jeans, across his back, stroking him through his t-shirt.  She leaned into him, breathing in his woody scent.  Josh wrapped his arm around her.  Neither spoke; neither needed to say anything.  By the time the food came, the atmosphere was electric. 
    It was the best chilli Lucy had ever tasted.  She would have finished his too, given half a chance.  She drained her second beer, sliding the bottle across the table, pushing her empty plate away.  Joshua held her.  She snuggled into him, feeling warm and woozy and tired.  He glanced down, smoothing her hair back from her face.
    'You ready?'
    Her blue eyes rolled up to his.  She bit her lip.
    'Uh-huh.'
     
    'Are you warm enough?' Josh asked her as they crunched across the gravel car park.
    'Yes, fine,' Lucy nodded, arms folded across herself.  Josh slung his arm around her shoulders.  She looked up at the stars and shuddered.  There was a nip to the air, but it wasn't the cold that was getting to Lucy.  She was starting to feel very nervous.
    His full beam guided them slowly down the narrow country roads.  She had no idea where they were going.  She'd met Josh a month ago, but she'd never been to his home.  It could have been a house, a flat or a hedgerow.  All she knew was that he lived alone.
    He nodded along absent-mindedly to the beat of the stereo as he drove, tapping his fingers on the wheel.  The occasional glance in her direction sent her stare back out of the window.  It was so dark.  The stars were out in their billions, far from the light-polluted bay.
    The car slowed as they reached a small hamlet on the brow of a hill, swinging into a driveway on the right.  It ground to a halt.  He cranked the handbrake, switching off the ignition and lights.  She caught his smile through the darkness.
    'OK, honey.  We're home.'
     
    She felt a bit shaky as he held the door of the ancient Land Rover open, helping her climb down, closing it behind her with a thump.  He took her hand, guiding her up the path.  Lucy stared up at the cottage.
    A waxing moon shone down on them, illuminating their surroundings in white and blue.  She heard an owl hoot.  It was a little chocolate box house.  She could see the wonky thatched roof; smell the dewy grass, the heady scent of summer roses and honeysuckle as they reached the pagoda porch.  She heard a chink.  Josh let go of her hand, sliding the key into the lock.
     
    'Do you want another beer?' Josh asked her, pushing open the ancient wooden door, flicking on the hall light, kicking off his shoes on the doormat.  Lucy nodded, politely following suit, prizing her Adidas trainers from her feet with her toes and kicking them off without bothering to undo them.  Josh pushed the door shut behind her. 
    Her gaze meandered around the hallway: the antique furniture, oak floorboards, gently ticking grandfather clock.  Never in a million years had she been expecting this.
    'My nan left it to me,'