He turned back to the young desk clerk. ‘A taxi sounds fine.’
‘Very good, sir. And will you be dining in the hotel restaurant?’
Beside him Fliss stiffened; evidently she preferred the structure of a known location. Yet another reason to change things up and see if he could get past those prickly defences of hers.
‘No,’ Ash decided. ‘Thank you but I think we’ll wing it and enjoy the festival atmosphere. Major, I’ll be over by the lifts when you’ve concluded here.’
Before she could object to the change in evening plans he hoisted up the rucksacks, ignoring her attempts at a protest and leaving her with only a smaller one for appearance’ sake. Then, making his way to the seating area, he watched her ramrod-straight back as she controlled her frustration, instead maintaining her charming smile for the clerk whilst she concluded her check-in.
By the time she finished and marched over he was already holding a lift for her and she stepped inside and pivoted stiffly around, opening her mouth.
‘Which floor, Major?’ he enquired politely, effectively cutting her off.
‘Oh.’ She halted, flipping the keycard over to check her room number. ‘Fifth. Please.’
She waited for the lift doors to close before turning on him.
‘Why did you do that?’
‘Do what?’ he asked innocently.
‘Decide we should go to the parade?’
‘Don’t you want to?’ He kept his voice deliberately even. ‘It sounded like a bit of fun after the last six months you’ve had out there. Is there any reason you wouldn’t want to go?’
She hesitated a fraction too long. ‘No.’
‘Okay.’ He smiled carefully. ‘So, what’s the issue?’
Fliss lowered her bergen, clearly buying herself time. ‘I thought tonight was about...’ She flushed. ‘I don’t know what it’s about. Talking, or...sex, I guess.’
He deliberately didn’t react. He couldn’t say the same for his body.
‘You weren’t planning to eat?’
‘I...obviously.’
She didn’t fool him; she clearly hadn’t considered food at all. He suspected she’d been so caught up in doing something out of character that she’d only geared herself up for the moment itself, without thinking around it.
In a sense it was flattering.
‘You just thought we’d go to the room and get down to it?’ he continued, not unkindly.
‘Well...no.’
‘How exactly did you think the evening would pan out, Fliss?’
‘I don’t know but I...we were going to...sleep together...the other day,’ she croaked eventually.
‘For the record, there wasn’t going to be any sleeping going on.’ He arched his eyebrows.
She shivered in appreciation. ‘No.’
‘But at least then it would have been spontaneous. Natural,’ he pointed out. ‘This isn’t the same. I just thought it would be nice to go for a meal together, chat a little, let things develop at their own pace.’
She paused. He was throwing her off, one minute firing her up and the next trying to relax her. She wasn’t sure if it was deliberate, or if Ash himself was having trouble deciding which he’d rather do.
‘That does sound...nice. But why go out? The restaurant has a good reputation.’