When Xander joined Nell in the garden, he pulled her into his arms.
‘Hiya beautiful,’ he said, greeting her with a long kiss.
‘Mmm. Nice. Now get off me, you’re making Colin blush.’ She pushed him back and tapped his nose. ‘You’re early.’
‘Well, I wanted my surprise, didn’t I?’
‘It’s actually two surprises. A planned one and an accidental one.’
Xander raised his eyebrows.
She laughed. ‘Oh God, don’t worry, not that kind of accidental surprise.’
He gave a low whistle. ‘Bloody hell. You had me panicking for a second there.’
‘OK, surprise number one.’ She wriggled out of his arms so she could fetch the bunny girl outfit from her chair. ‘Courtesy of Stevie and a mix-up at the costume shop, tonight’s sexy fun gets to be in fancy dress.’
Xander took the leotard and held it up against him. ‘I don’t know, Nell. It’s going to be a tight fit.’
She smiled. ‘Well, do you want your other surprise?’
‘Is it sexy?’
‘Of course.’
He rubbed his hands. ‘In that case, surprise away.’
‘OK, close your eyes,’ Nell commanded.
‘Yes Miss.’ Xander closed his eyes obediently and Nell took his hand to lead him into the farmhouse.
‘Right, you can open them,’ she said when they reached her bedroom.
‘Wow,’ he said, blinking. ‘That is sexy.’
‘Yep. Biggest one I could fit in the house. They did it in four sizes: queen, king, emperor and deputy head.’
Xander laughed and pulled her down onto the mattress of her brand new bed.
‘Springy,’ he said, nodding approvingly.
‘You can do a lot of bouncing on it. I asked the man in the shop.’
‘I like the sound of that.’
‘Yeah, so did he.’
‘So shall we christen it now, or do you want to slip into something less comfortable first and go get that bunny girl costume on?’
‘If our sex life is supposed to be bringing the school into disrepute then we want to do it in style, don’t we?’
‘Hey.’ Xander rolled on top of her, suddenly serious. ‘Nell.’
‘What’s wrong, love?’ she asked, stroking his hair away from his face.
‘Nothing.’ He smiled. ‘That’s just it, nothing’s wrong at all. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy.’
‘Aww.’ She planted a soft kiss on his lips. ‘Or me.’
‘Nell, I…’ He laughed, rubbing his hair like he always did when he felt awkward. ‘I’m trying to say something important to you here but I’m making a mess of it. Which you could probably say is our entire relationship in a nutshell.’
Nell buried her face in his neck and flicked the tip of her tongue over his earlobe. ‘I’m listening,’ she whispered. ‘Take your time, Xand. I’ve got plenty here to amuse myself with.’
‘I just wanted to say… when you came to Leyholme, everything was the same. I mean, for me. Everything had always been the same here, and I was always the same; always uncertain of myself, afraid, out of place. All my life, I’d dreamed of leaving. And when you came I realised it wasn’t Leyholme that was the problem – it was me. You made it all new, Nell. You made me new. Made me see myself in a different way, as a man I didn’t need to feel ashamed of being – a man who was worth something. You saw that in me, and you made me believe in it too.’ He took a deep breath. ‘So I wanted to say, thank you, Nell Shackleton. For believing in me and fighting for me and making me happier than I’ve ever been in my whole life and… Jesus, Nell, for that thing you’re doing with your tongue right now because it feels fucking magic.’
Nell laughed. ‘It’s kind of sexy when you swear, you know. For some reason it sounds extra naughty when you do it.’ She looked up from his neck. ‘Anyway, I’m the one who should thank you.’
‘Why should you thank me?’
‘Well, because you do some pretty magic things with your tongue too.’ She drew her fingers over his cheek. ‘And for making me fall in love with you.’
Xander was awake long before Nell had stirred the next morning. In the six weeks they’d been a couple, he’d learnt she was a dreadful slugabed on the weekends.
He liked that he was always awake first. It meant he could watch her sleep for a little while. Which depending on how you looked at it was either kind of adorable, like that bloke with the signs in Love Actually, or kind of creepy, like that bloke with the signs in Love Actually. He was hoping to weigh in on the side of adorable, since Nell was actually his girlfriend and not his best mate’s wife. If he was sitting outside Justin’s window with a long-lens camera, watching Sara sleep, that’d be slightly less romantic.
Not that Nell was an especially cute sleeper. She usually had her mouth wide open and quite often honked like a pig. But Xander was looking at her through the eyes of love, so to him she was perfect no matter how much drool had escaped in the night.
She was cute right now though. Her cheeks were pink, hair tangled and Dynasty huge after their bed-testing exertions of the night before (further testified to by a crumpled bunny girl outfit tossed over the bedroom door). Xander bent to leave a kiss on her parted lips.
Nell grunted and swatted at him. In her dreams, she was probably being attacked by some slimy face-sucking insect. So much for romantic gestures.
Last night had felt significant. Their lovemaking had felt significant, despite the costumed fun. Like it meant something… new. The next stage. Nell had said she loved him, and later as she’d cried out and climaxed and he’d wrapped her up tight in his arms, Xander had whispered it back. He’d felt it for so long – since before they’d become a couple, although he’d hardly dared admit it to himself, then. But he’d waited until last night to finally say the words. They had power, even more than sex. After them, nothing could ever be the same.
He stroked gentle fingers over Nell’s hair. Beautiful girl. He loved her a hell of a lot, in fact, and that in itself was pretty damn miraculous.
After Marie had left he’d thought that was probably it for him and women. He found them hard enough to talk to at the best of times, and it said a lot for Marie’s dogged pursuit of him in the face of his social incompetence that he’d managed to find himself in even one long-term relationship. And it had hurt so much afterwards, for so long, he really hadn’t felt like he could muster the energy again.
But then Nell had come along and made it all seem so easy. It had just needed the right person; that was all. The right fit.
He was seized with a desire to do something for her, to show her what she meant to him. Quietly so as not to wake her, he snuck out of bed and tiptoed into the kitchen.
He’d make her breakfast. Breakfast in bed. Wasn’t that the sort of thing boys in Richard Curtis films did when they weren’t stalking people with signs? Anything Hugh Grant could do, Xander Scott could do better.
Just inside the pantry hung a striped apron that Nell always forgot to wear. Xander grabbed it and pulled it over his naked body, tying it in a bow at the back.
After all, Nell had dressed up for him, and very sexy it’d been too. Now he could pay her back with a bit of naked butlering. Plus, sizzling fat and exposed genitals: probably not a good combination. He didn’t fancy having to explain that one down at A&E.
Right. Breakfast for Nell. What could he make? He opened the fridge to explore.
Slim pickings but there were a couple of eggs, a block of butter and some milk, and a few slices of bread in the bread bin.
Scrambled egg on toast it was then. Everyone liked that, didn’t they?
He took out the ingredients and started hunting around the kitchen cupboards for other useful equipment.
It didn’t take him long to locate a pan, then he started pulling open drawers looking for a fish slice or a wooden spoon or something.
He had to smile at Nell’s system of organisation – or rather her lack of system. In the top drawer, where most normal people kept their cutlery, she had a microwave instruction manual (although she didn’t own a microwave), a torch, a packet of crayons and a tin opener. The middle drawer just seemed to be piles of old bills and other bits of correspondence.
Xander was about to close the drawer when he did a double take, spotting a signature on the letter sitting at the top of the pile.
Dominic Leary. Why did that name ring bells?
He looked more closely. It was a letter to Nell, saying how sorry they’d been at St Margaret’s to receive her resignation.
Of course. Dominic Leary was the headteacher there. Xander had known the man a little when he’d been at St Mags’ on placement, although Dom had only been a humble Year 6 class teacher then.
Hang on. Resignation? Hadn’t Nell told him she’d been made redundant?
He jumped when he felt a pair of hands sliding over his bare buttocks.
‘Mmm. I could get used to this view in the morning,’ Nell murmured, kissing the back of his neck.
Xander turned to give her a proper kiss. ‘Now you’ve spoiled my surprise. I was making you sexy breakfast in bed.’
‘How about you come back to bed and make me sexy something else? Then we can both cook breakfast.’
He smiled. ‘Sounds good to me.’
She glanced at the open drawer. ‘Reading my post?’
‘I was looking for a fish slice. Why don’t you put things in normal drawers like normal people?’
‘Because I’m me.’ She opened a cupboard over his head and nodded to the pile of assorted utensils shoved in there. ‘There you go.’
‘You keep fish slices in the cupboard?’ He shook his head. ‘You’re a monster.’
‘Come back to bed, Xand,’ she whispered, nibbling his earlobe. ‘I’ll make those noises you like.’
‘Do you want me to keep the pinny on?’
‘I shouldn’t even need to dignify that with an answer.’ She planted a soft kiss on his lips. ‘Hey. Love you, OK?’
‘I know.’ He kissed her back. ‘I love you too.’