Not as much as I love you. I pull her closer and walk us towards the building.
“What? The cat got your tongue?”
“Nope, it’s a pointless discussion. I’m the man, when we’re together, I drive. Simple. End of.”
She looks up at me with her lip pinched between her teeth and her eyes fluttering with want. Like she has a million feelings to speak but can’t find the words so instead her hands hold on to me tighter, her body presses closer to my side and her eyes…those fucking beautiful honeyed eyes bore into mine like she really wants to kiss me.
This girl is becoming my whole world and there is nothing I can do. My heart is under siege, all I can do is surrender.
“Are you going to tell me where you’re taking me, yet?”
“I told you, it’s a surprise. Stop asking.”
“Fine.” Resting her head on my shoulder she quickens her steps as Wayne follows us to the entrance with Toby.
“Don’t be long,” he says, as we carry on inside without him.
We don’t take long at all. We replenish our sugar and caffeine supplies quickly. Cassie makes sure she picks him up his usual tea, a treat, and a water.
When we get back to the car, she searches the dash for a moment and then goes for the roof control button. Watching as she puts the roof down, I revel in her contentment.
“The weather’s nice.” She shrugs, slipping her Wayfarer sunglasses on and when we go on our way, she does this cute squee that has my heart skipping beats and all that mushy shit.
The rest of the drive is quick as we get onto the country roads. It’s all open fields and dirt roads.
“Why did you come off early?” She has a moment of question when I take a different exit to the one that we would normally take to get to Heaver’s Hall.
“I thought we could take a detour.”
“A detour?” she asks, checking that Wayne is still following behind us.
Toby has his massive head in the way of her vision, his tongue flapping around in the bluster.
“Yeah, you know, catch some rays, see some sights…”
“What are you up to?” Lifting her sunglasses, she narrows her eyes at me with a pinched smile.
“Lions, tigers and bears…”
“Stop teasing me.”
I drive up the beat up, gravelly road and into the car park. She’s so caught up in staring at me that she doesn’t realise where we are.
“What are you doing?” Cutting the engine, I turn to look at her too.
“Looking,” she winks, “at you, Neat Freak.”
Of course she is, I wonder if she’s hoping to break me with her lusty, longing stares. If she is, it’s working.
“So, you still want to feed some tigers?”
Gasping, she looks around and finally takes stock of where we are.
“Are you kidding me?”
“We didn’t get to do it in London, and you were really disappointed, so…” I don’t get a chance to finish because she clambers over the centre console and straddles my lap.
She picks my sunglasses off my face and drops them into her seat with hers and then, her hands cup my face. Before I can catch a breath, her lips are mashing onto mine. She’s licking and nipping. When she needs to come up for air, she rubs the tip of her nose with mine.