“It was pretty obvious.” She should probably stop with the teasing, but it was too easy and too much fun. “I mean, there’s no way we could take Mel to meet your family. It should just be me this time. I was already thinking we should have a conversation about where our relationship is at, but we can skip that now because obviously we’re at the stage of meeting each other’s families.” She beamed mercilessly. “I’m so glad we’re on the same page.”
He rolled his eyes. “You’re kind of evil, you know?”
“Sorry. I couldn’t help myself. But you didn’t need to look quite so horrified by the idea.”
“I wasn’t.” His shoulders relaxed as a smile broke over his face.
“Just to make sure weareon the same page … I’d put our relationship at the stage of snogging on park benches without caring if anyone sees us.”
His eyebrows twitched in amusement as he leaned close. “I like that stage of a relationship.”
“Me too.” Her stomach flipped as his lips pressed against hers, softly at first, then with more intensity.
Too soon, he pulled away, gazing at her with a serious expression. “You could come with me … if you want …”
“Where to?” She assumed the kissing was having the same effect on him and he was thinking they needed to take it somewhere more private.
“My mum’s birthday dinner.”
She drew back. “Are you pranking me now?”
“Do you want me to be pranking you?”
She chewed the inside of her lip. “I don’t know. You’re not seriously inviting me to meet your family, are you?”
“Maybe.” He took her hand, his fingertips trailing over her knuckles. “I realise it’s way too soon, but I had this image of you out for dinner with my family and it felt really natural.”
Keira’s heart was galloping uncomfortably and she wasn’t sure what to say.Noshould probably be the immediate answer. Itwastoo soon. They’d only been on two dates, and Mel had joined them for one of them.
“I’ve freaked you out, haven’t I?” Noah said. “Shall we pretend I was joking?”
“I’m not freaked out. At least not by you inviting me. I’m slightly freaked out by how much I want to say yes.”
He beamed. “Say yes then.”
“Okay, I’ll come. If you’re sure?”
“I’m sure.” He looked thoughtful. “We need to leave pretty early on Friday afternoon. I’m meeting Trystan in Exeter and we’ll go together from there. We’d need to stay the night.”
“Just to check… we’re talking about this Friday? Like, the day after tomorrow?”
“Yeah. Is this all a bit ridiculous?”
“I think it should be, but I also feel as though I’ve known you for ages … probably because I have I suppose … from the pub … I’m waffling, aren’t I?”
“Yeah.” He smiled cheekily. “But I know what you mean. I feel the same way. So, do you want to come with me on Friday?”
She nodded, feeling slightly giddy with anticipation. “I’ll ask to finish work at lunchtime.” She checked her watch. “Speaking of work, I should probably be getting home. If I want to finish early on Friday I shouldn’t be late tomorrow.” Standing, she looked back at Noah, catching the exact moment that the light went out of his eyes and his smile froze.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.” Brightening, he shot off the bench. “I’m great. Let’s find a taxi.”
The taxi driver was the chatty type and peppered them with questions about the cinema in the park, saying he might take his wife sometime. It meant Keira didn’t get a chance to quiz Noah any more on the plans for the weekend. It also meant she struggled to tell whether she was being paranoid that the atmosphere between them had changed or if something was bothering him. She had the distinct feeling that he was already regretting inviting her.
On the street in front of her building, they lingered outside the door. Keira placed her hands at his waist as she pressed onto her toes to kiss him. He kissed her back, but wasn’t as enthusiastic as earlier.
“If you’ve changed your mind about me coming with you on Friday, it’s fine.”