Shaking her head, Thea walked back out to the yard, and a soft warmth hit her face. The sun was setting over the horizon. Despite the cool breeze, spring was in the air. She’d even worn shorts today.
Walking down through the yard Thea’s gaze settled on Phil’sgumboots. They were just where she’d left them, standing next to the wall of the house. She’d worn them this morning, wanting to feel closer to him. But all they’d made her think about was Felix. About the dayhe’dworn them and how much she missed him.
After the ride down to the river with Josh, the urge to see him was all-consuming. The need to be held by him was all-absorbing.
She’d wrestled with the idea of calling him earlier. But then a goat had ingested part of an old boot down in the meadow, so Josh had had to examine it. By the time she got around to thinking about Felix again, it was school pick-up time. Neither he nor Lucas had been there, though.
Thea reached the old barn just as the sun dipped behind the fields. The stone building used to house the pigs, but Kitty had re-homed them to a new, purpose-built shed. They used this one for storage now.
She spotted a large metal spade leaning against the wall and picked it up. Just the thing to scare mice. Who needed dinner plate armour when she had a weapon? Approaching the ancient flint walls of the shed, she gingerly kicked open the wooden door.
Butterflies knocked against her ribcage as Thea stepped inside. With the door and windows shut, the interior was dark, the only light coming from a few holes that had opened up in the roof over the years. In the gloom, she shimmied around the twisted skeletons of old farming equipment. Josh spent hours here tinkering with their old engines. Or at least that’s what he told her and Kitty. Being surrounded by so many women, he probably came to escape.
Thea crept forward, listening for scratching. After a few seconds, her brow creased. There was a glow of light at one end of the barn. She couldn't account for it unless the mice had mastered flashlights or candles. As she moved towardsthe glow, the smell of straw and engine oil tickled her nostrils.
“Hello?”
Her voice echoed around the shed’s thick walls, and when she rounded the corner of an old truck, her eyes fell on an unexpected sight. In the corner, somebody had banked up a huge mound of hay. They’d covered it in blankets and cushions, and a low table set with food and wine sat at its foot. Thea narrowed her eyes into the dark. “Ammy? Josh?” As she stepped forward, though, a low voice emerged from behind her.
“Do you have a license to wield that spade, or is Tottenbridge an open-carry village?”
Thea gasped. She’d recognise the deep, sensual lilt anywhere. She turned around, and Felix stepped out of the shadows.
“Squeak,” he said, giving a tiny shrug.
He held a lantern in one hand, its soft glow casting a thin yellow haze that lit up his face. She could make out his dark jacket and pale shirt in the low light. He looked as boardroom-ready as ever. Thea lowered her spade to the ground with a clunk, leaning it against an old wheelbarrow. Her chest bubbled with anticipation, and her heart thumped in her ears.
“This is a bit extreme, Felix. You could have just called me.”
He stepped forward a little. “You haven’t been answering my calls, and desperate times require desperate measures.”
He had a point. She’d ignored the buzzing of her phone three times earlier this week. Not picking up had ripped her in two, but she hadn’t been ready to talk to him.
Felix stepped towards her. “And what if I wanted your undivided attention, without the farm, or without your family?”
“They come first.”
Felix smiled, the sage of his eyes catching the light. “I know, but sometimes you need to make time for yourself, too. For the things that you enjoy.”
Thea snickered and nodded towards the blankets and cushions spread out on the hay, the platters balanced on the low table. “Food? Wine? A romantic setting? They’re things that Felix Walsh would enjoy. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were trying to seduce me.”
Felix leaned down to put the lantern on the old stone floor. His eyes raked across her face as he stood up. “Perhaps I am. But this isn’t about me. If you’ll let me, I’m going to make thisallabout you.”
Thea’s breath skipped. He’d said those words before, in London, on his balcony at sunrise. Just seconds before he’d buried his face between her thighs. At the memory, a delicious tingle nudged low down in her belly. “I’m listening.”
“Good. Come and sit down.” Felix reached for Thea’s hand and led her to the hay pile.
“What is all this for?”
“An apology. When we first met, I asked, no, I demanded that you match wines to my food. I’ll never forgive myself for my rudeness. My arrogance.”
Thea fought a smile. How could she ever tell him how much his occasional arrogance, intensity, and gruffness turned her on? She enjoyed making him cross so she could sit back and relish the ride.
“You told me at the time that my food was silly. Fancy and overcomplicated. A bit like me. I promise tonight, I’ll keep things simple.”
“I mean, I wasn’t wrong. I remember more cocktails being consumed than caviar at the school, and I’d hardly describe our circumstances as simple.”
“Thea.” Felix ground out her name, just as she loved. His forehead creased, but there was a touch of a curve at his lips. “Please, just listen to me. I know you said you needed time to think, to sort things out in your head. But I have feelings I need to express. Words I have to say. I promise, when I’m done, ifyou still can’t see a way to make us work, then I’ll leave you be.”
