Wyatt nodded and took her arm, worried that she would stumble because she looked so shaken, and led her outside. ‘What’s happened?’ he asked softly as they walked around the café to the gardens at the rear.
She was still gripping her phone tightly, but then she handed it to him, and he looked at the screen.
‘Oh…’ He grimaced. ‘That’s not good.’
‘Not at all.’ She peered up at him. ‘What am I going to do? This is a disaster.’
He handed her the phone and then rubbed his brow as if trying to summon a solution genie. ‘OK… It’s OK.’
‘How is it OK?’ she asked. One of her hands fluttered in the air then settled on his chest like a butterfly in need of a perch. The warmth of her skin seared through his shirt and his heart stuttered as other parts of him stirred at her proximity.
Not now, Wyatt!he told himself sternly. But it had been so long since she’d touched him in this way, so long since she’d stepped into his arms and kissed him.
‘We can sort this,’ he said, covering her hand with his.
‘How?’ Her beautiful eyes scanned his face, and he knew in that moment that he would do anything in his power to help her.
‘I have contacts. There will be somewhere else.’
‘But there’s only just over a week until the wedding,’ she said. ‘I can’t believe this has happened to the venue.’
‘It’s pretty grim, but things go wrong sometimes.’ Even as he said the words, he couldn’t help thinking that it was pretty darned unfortunate. The luxury hotel where Finn and Titus were due to get married had been flooded with sewage. Work in the gardens had gone wrong, and a pipe had been damaged. ‘We can find somewhere, I promise.’
Edith sucked in a shaky breath, her lower lip trembling, her eyes glistening. There was a tsunami of panic building inside her, and he knew that this was huge for her because she was a professional who valued her business and because two of her friends were getting married. This situation intensified the pressure.
For a heartbeat, neither of them spoke, but he kept hold of her hand and she didn’t pull hers away. In fact, she stepped closer to him, and when she sighed, he felt the warmth of her breath on the skin of his throat. Her perfume, a subtle blend of lavender and vanilla mixed with wildflowers and the fresh sea air, was intoxicating.
To him, she smelt like home.
‘What are you thinking?’ she asked.
‘Oh… nothing… I…’
‘Tell me,’ she whispered.
He took a breath before responding. ‘I thought that you… you smell like home.’
‘Home?’
He nodded.
‘Like New York?’ She blinked.
‘No. Like… the way you always smelt. Beautiful as a meadow full of flowers. As uplifting as the beach on a sunny day. As fresh and fragrant as lavender and warm as vanilla.’
She opened her mouth as if to speak but then shook her head. ‘Please don’t. Not now. I can’t… I can’t even go there.’
‘Sorry.’ He squeezed her hand then let it go, and she lowered hers from his chest. ‘I spoke out of turn.’
‘When you say things like that, it gets me here.’ She patted her chest. ‘It’s like all the feelings I’ve buried away come to the surface. I know if I let them out, I’ll never be able to lock them away again. It’s so nice to hear you say things like that, and yet what good will it do either of us? The wounds are still raw, and I don’t know if I’d have the strength to heal again.’
He gave a resigned nod. ‘I know. I do understand and I’m sorry. It’s just very difficult when I’m around you to hold back how I feel… How I feel aboutyou.’
He cleared his throat then gestured at the gardens. ‘Shall we walk?’
‘Sure.’
They strolled side by side and reached the chicken enclosure. It was a large steel pen with a coop inside. Lots of different chickens roamed around, watched over by a proud rooster that puffed up its chest when it spotted them as if to warn them to stay away.
