‘Do you think I passed the meet the parents test?’ Rhys asked, slipping into the driver’s seat beside me.
‘With flying colours.’ I turned towards him with a grin. ‘In fact, I think they like you even more than they do me.’
His soft chuckle resonated around the car.
‘Only because I flip a mean burger.’
I smiled in the green glow of the dashboard lights.
‘Well, that definitely helped, but it was more than that. My friends really like you. I knew they would.’
We were paused at a set of traffic lights on red. It wasn’t the place or the time that I’d envisaged dropping my guard, but sometimes you don’t pick the moment. The moment picks you.
An amber light clicked on beneath the red.
‘I like you too,’ I said.
His smile could have melted polar ice caps. It certainly dissolved away the last of my hesitation.
The lights turned green, but Rhys was still looking at me and not the road.
‘A lot,’ I added softly.
‘That’s good to know, because I’ve more-than-liked-you a lot for a long time now.’
It was a special moment, or it would have been if it hadn’t been pierced by the strident blare of a car horn from the driver behind us.
Rhys swore softly, put the car in gear, and pulled away with a raised hand of apology. He didn’t return it to the steering wheel but captured mine within his grip. We were probably breaking innumerable Highway Code rules as he drove one-handed through the surprisingly busy late-night traffic. I knew the ball was still firmly in my court. He’d given me the power weeks ago to set the pace and the direction of where we were going, and it felt like tonight we’d reached an important fork in the road.
Cars were flashing past us on both sides. His concentration was on the traffic. I probably should have waited, but the words were right there in the back of my throat. I had to set them free or risk losing my nerve.
‘I don’t want to go slowly.’
His eyes dropped to the speedometer. ‘I’m already on the limit for this road.’
‘I’m not talking about driving. I mean us.’
He took his eyes off the highway briefly, and I really hoped my face was saying all the things that my voice seemed incapable of doing.
‘I know it’s late, but I don’t want tonight to end yet.’
I saw in silhouette the way he swallowed at that.
‘Are you sure, Ellie? We don’t need to rush things if you’re not ready.’
‘Oh God, I’m so ready,’ I said on a shaky laugh.
It was good to see him smile even while he was shaking his head in slight disbelief.
‘You had to tell me at a time when I can’t pull you into my arms and show you exactly how much I’ve been waiting and dreaming of hearing you say that.’
‘Sorry,’ I said, not sorry at all because anticipation was fizzing through me more potently than one hundred per cent proof alcohol.
‘Should I be driving towards your place or mine?’ he asked. We were at the point in the road where we had to decide which way to go, in more ways than one.
‘Yours. It’s closer,’ I said decisively.
My legs felt as though someone had replaced the bones with rubber. And there was a kaleidoscope of butterflies in my stomach, frantically swirling around as though caught in a tornado. This was far from being my first time. I shouldn’t be this jittery. I knew what turned-on felt like, but this excitement was raw and primal and unlike anything I’d experienced before.