The journey from the airport takes about forty-five minutes, but I miss the whole thing because me and Nick can’t stop kissing. Nick’s company had arranged for a car service and there’s a black-tinted screen between us and the driver.
‘Are you sure he can’t see anything?’ I whisper as Nick kisses behind my ear.
I twist one leg around the other and shift in my seat. I’m so turned on I could straddle him right now. But I won’t. Probably.
‘Of course he can’t. You can see the screen.’
He pulls on the neck of my T-shirt and kisses gently along my collarbone. I grit my teeth to keep from groaning.
‘But what if he’s got CCTV or something?’
I gasp as Nick’s hand slides across my left breast.
‘Then we’ll be famous,’ he mumbles.
‘What?’
‘Of course he hasn’t got CCTV. These companies are discreet. You know the kinds of people who use these cars?’
‘People like you?’ I say. I sit up straighter, pressing my chest against his. His hand slides around my waist and pulls me closer to him.
‘Well, yeah. But I’m right at the bottom of the food chain. They’ll have seen all sorts in these cars.’
‘I thought the point was they can’t see!’
‘Yeah, that’s what I mean. If these cars could talk … ’
I kiss up the side of his neck, breathing in the scent of him. I can’t quite believe this is happening. I’ve thought about it so much over the past year. I never thought I’d ever be with him again. I shouldn’t be, I know that. But oh my God, I haven’t felt like this since we were last together. I lick behind his ear – I remember how much he liked that. He groans and his hand slides up the back of my T-shirt. His hand on my bare skin makes me shudder and I throw my leg across his thigh and grind against him.
‘Jesus,’ he breathes. ‘Unless we’re actually planning to do it right here, I’m going to have to stop.’
‘Really?’ I suck his earlobe into my mouth and scratch it gently with my teeth.
‘Really,’ he croaks.
I unhook my leg and lean back in my seat.
‘You don’t need to be so smug about it,’ he says, shifting in his seat.
‘What?’ I say.
‘The look on your face. Like a cat that’s just disembowelled a sparrow.’
‘What a lovely image.’
I turn towards him. He looks flushed. And flustered.
‘I mean,’ he says. ‘We could … ’
‘Could what?’
‘Do it right here.’
I shake my head. My stomach flutters with lust.
‘Why not?’ he says. He leans closer to me, pulling on my T-shirt. ‘I mean, we agreed: what happens in New York … ’
I let him pull me up against him again. My breasts press against his chest and I slip my hand between us, under his T-shirt. His skin is warm and his stomach is hard. I graze the line of hair above the waistband of his jeans with my knuckles as his tongue runs across my bottom lip.
My phone buzzes in the front pocket of my jeans and I leap back so fast I almost hit the window.
Nick says, ‘Whoa!’
As I fumble for my phone, I say, ‘Sorry. Startled me.’
‘Obviously.’ He grins. ‘Feeling a bit nervous?’
It’s just a text, so I stick my phone back in my pocket.
‘You can read it if you like. Don’t mind me.’
‘You’re too kind.’ I take the phone back out again and click on the icon – it’s the local network announcing their joy in welcoming me. Of course it is.
‘Local network thing,’ I say.
He’s still grinning at me. I drop my phone in my bag.
‘What?’
‘I make you nervous,’ he says.
I roll my eyes. ‘This whole situation makes me nervous.’
‘You know what it reminds me of?’
‘Oh God. I suppose you’re going to tell me.’
‘It reminds me of the night we first got together.’
I deliberately turn and look out of the window, but there isn’t much to look at – apparently the side of a New York freeway looks pretty similar to the side of a motorway at home.
‘When I sat down next to you –’
‘On that hideous purple sofa with the stain.’
‘On that hideous purple sofa with the stain, yes.’ He says it like he’s telling me a bedtime story. Which I suppose he is. ‘When I sat down next to you on that hideous purple sofa with the stain and you carried on staring at the TV as if we were going to have an exam on it.’
‘That’s cos you were drunk,’ I say to the window.
‘I was not drunk. I’d had, like, two drinks. Same as you. And I moved closer to you … ’ He slides along the back seat of the car towards me.
‘I hope you’re wearing a seatbelt,’ I say.
‘And all I could think about was how much I wanted to kiss you.’
He’s right behind me now. I can feel the heat coming off his body.
‘And you said, “Why isn’t there anything good on TV any more?”’ He guffaws. He presses his mouth to the back of my neck and my whole body reacts – there’s a jolt of adrenaline that I think may have made my hair stand on end and then I sort of melt against him. It’s incredibly annoying. He carries on kissing across my hairline as his hands move up under my T-shirt and his thumbs graze my nipples under my bra. I cross my legs and squeeze my thighs together. My fingernails are digging into the leather of the seat.
‘You need to stop doing that,’ I say.
‘Really?’ he murmurs against my neck.
‘Really,’ I say.
‘Spoilsport,’ he says, sliding back along the seat.
I regret it immediately – I feel suddenly cold and a bit embarrassed – but I turn and say, ‘I don’t want to do it in the car.’
‘Noted,’ he says and smiles.
‘I mean, I do want to do it. Obviously. Just not in the car.’
‘OK.’ The corner of his mouth quirks up.