Page 49 of Kiss Me Like You Mean It

Rita tuts sympathetically beside me. ‘You’ll have to do a lot more than touch the poor girl’s knee if you want to sell this thing, Nicolas,’ she whispers in my ear, and then she lets out one of her too loud laughs as I wince.

‘So, as long as everyone is happy to agree to our little charade, it seems we’re done with the matter for now,’ Magda adds. ‘Obviously, once we know the details of the trustee’s arrival, we’ll send out a town-wide alert. Code name Operation Wedded Bliss,’ she adds, and everyone perks up again at this bit of subterfuge.

‘Not a very subtle code name,’ I point out.

‘That’s what I said,’ Phoebe sighs. My daughter’s potential for devious machinations is clearly being thwarted by the quality of her co-conspirators.

Magda, however, ignores this. ‘So unless there’s anything either of you want to add…’ She looks at me and Lee expectantly.

‘Nope,’ I say. I stretch my legs out in front of me and cross my arms, glad that this bit is over.

Lee only shakes her head.

‘Okay then,’ Art says, reclaiming his position. ‘With that first matter sorted, let’s talk other business. It seems Russell has been up to his old tricks…’

Chapter Sixteen

Lee

By the time Phoebe and Magda have headed back to her place, and Nico leads me through the door into Darlene’s, I am extremely ready for a drink. At this point I could do with being hooked up to an IV that delivers cold gin directly into my veins.

I thought Nico was exaggerating, but if anything he had played down the eccentricities of small-town life. That meeting was a lot of people having very loud feelings everywhere and I’d be feeling overwhelmed even if it hadn’t been for the part where they all volunteered to be in on a town-wide lie with me at the centre.

‘Come on,’ Nico’s hand is on the small of my back and I swear I can feel the warmth of his touch through my coat, ‘time to return to planet earth.’

‘Is there gin there?’ I manage.

‘I fucking hope so,’ he mutters.

We’re hit by a wall of heat and sound as we enter the bar, and I instinctively flinch – my body and my brain would quite like a nice dark room to sit down in for a bit – but Nico’s hand rubs in small, reassuring circles at the base of my spine.

At least I assume they’re meant to be reassuring, and not intensely arousing, which is what they actually are. Even the bizarre scenes at the town meeting weren’t enough to distract me from how close the two of us were sitting. Every time his shirtsleeve brushed against my arm, a firework display of endorphins went off inside my brain.

Dragging my attention away from the man beside me, I turn to take in our surroundings.

Quite a few people from the town meeting have drifted over to join the patrons already propping up the long bar that stretches against one wall. At the back of the room there’s a small stage with a giant juke box next to it, and a cluster of high-top tables. The walls are covered in music memorabilia, and pictures of handsome cowboys astride gorgeous horses. Across from the bar are a bunch of booths with battered red leather seats. The twang of country music fills the air.

‘Nico! Lee!’ A woman in one of the booths lifts her hand to wave at us. She’s a gorgeous, curvy brunette in a plaid shirt, and she’s sitting with Luke and another woman with long, ink-black hair who has her back to us.

‘Hey, Kat,’ Nico calls back. ‘We’ll grab some drinks and be right with you.’

We make our way to the bar and join the crowd of people waiting to order. Nico tucks us into the corner with me against the wall, and he puts his body between me and everyone else.

‘Thought you could probably use a second before you have to meet more people,’ he says, leaning down close to my ear so that I can hear him over the noise. ‘We can take a beat.’

I swallow hard, and focus on the buttons of the dark green shirt he’s wearing. ‘Thanks,’ I manage.

Nico lapses into silence and for a whole minute or two – maybe even longer – we stand there, close together but not touching. I concentrate on my breathing as the smell of his aftershave wraps itself around me. All I can see is him, his hard torso like a shield, holding the rest of the world at bay. My nervous system starts to regulate, tension leaves my body. I can feel my muscles relaxing, my shoulders coming down.

That’s the thing about being around Nico, it settles something inside me. He makes me feel safe, he always has.

When I finally look up at his face, he’s totally relaxed, idly scanning the room, one arm resting against the bar. I get a funny feeling in my stomach when I realise he would stand here quietly, comfortably like this with me for as long as I wanted.

I take another deep inhale and breathe out slowly, then I reach out and touch his arm.

‘Thanks,’ I say again. ‘You were right. I did need that.’

He smiles down at me. ‘Don’t worry about it. You know we can skip out on drinks?’