Page 105 of Kiss Me Like You Mean It

‘Shhh!’ I glance around the thankfully quiet coffee shop. In my short time here I’ve learned that gossip spreads like wildfire in Roseport and I’ll admit this is particularly juicy gossip. If I’m not careful, Rita will be passing the news out with her ice cream sundaes and people will be high-fiving me in the street.

‘Sorry,’ Tara whispers, eyeing me over the top of her latte. ‘But also not sorry. Finally!’

I manage a smile. Honestly, it’s been three hours and I haven’t even started to recover my equilibrium. My body feels achy and used in the best possible way, my heart rate has yet to return to normal. The shower that I had before driving over to meet Tara hasn’t washed the smell of Nico off me, and I swear I can still taste him. Someone once told me that you can get hooked on heroin the first time you use it. Well, I get it now. All I can think about is having sex with Nico. My body still hums with the force of what we did, but I want it again. And again. And again.

I don’t know how to sit in a coffee shop and hold a conversation. I don’t know how to be around people. I don’t know how I’m just supposed to function like a normal human being anymore.

‘Was it amazing?’ Tara asks.

‘It was… He… We…’ I trail off, unable to find the words and gazing hopelessly at her.

‘Woah,’ Tara says reverently, and I nod.

‘Yeah. Woah.’

‘Okay, tell me everything.’ She settles in and I give her a brief recap of events, the tasteful highlights, only occasionally losing my train of thought.

‘Holy shit,’ Tara hisses. ‘Right on the desk? That’s so fucking hot.’

‘I know,’ I nod, taking a long sip of the chamomile tea I ordered in the hope it would calm me down.

‘So you just, like, pounced on him? I’m so proud!’

‘I went there to talk to him,’ I say. ‘I really did. But when I got there…’

‘What?’

‘He was on the floor, fixing things.’

‘Oh no.’ Her eyes widen.

‘And he was… he was wearing… a plaid shirt.’ I sound desperate.

Tara puts her cup down with a clink. ‘With the sleeves rolled up?’

I nod. It had been a disaster. It was like walking into some sort of soft porn film made specifically for the female gaze.

She reaches across for my hand and squeezes it. ‘Babe, there was simply nothing else you could do in the circumstances. You’re only lucky he wasn’t wearing the tool belt as well or you’d probably be knocked up by now.’

‘Tara!’ I exclaim and she giggles.

‘Although maybe not, seeing as you’re apparently the queen of prophylactics. Tell me again how you went over there to “talk” with a pocket full of condoms.’

‘Obviously I was planning to seduce him if the opportunity presented itself,’ I huff. ‘Last night you told me I needed to be clear and direct. I was being responsible.’

‘Sounds like there wasn’t much seduction required.’ Tara’s grin widens.

I feel a matching smile slip over my own face. ‘Not really.’

‘Okay, you’re starting to lose the scary eyes. Welcome back to planet earth.’ She holds up her mug in a small toast. ‘So I take it you two didn’t actually get around to having the talk?’

‘No, we only just managed to get our clothes back on before Magda turned up.’

I flush at the memory. Thank god she hadn’t been ten minutes earlier when I’d been transcending the boundaries of the observable universe and having an orgasm so intense I think I sprained muscles I didn’t know I had.

Magda didn’t seem to catch on to what she’d walked in on, but she did keep talking about the incredible energy in the room, and fussed at length over the sex-desk, which is apparently some sort of priceless antique.

I shot Nico an appalled glance at this, but he only looked smug. I suppose it was a very sturdy piece of craftsmanship.