Last Christmas by Talli Roland

Author:Talli Roland [Roland, Talli]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romantic comedy, humour, christmas, Talli Roland, holidays, rom com, Contemporary Romance, festive, chick lit, Romance
Publisher: Notting Hill Press
Published: 2013-12-08T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

I sank onto a metal chair in Kingly Court, glancing at my watch. Seven o’clock – James should be here any second. Nerves circled inside as I smoothed down my jeans and re-tied a shoelace. Why did he want to see me, anyway? Maybe it wasn’t a date. Maybe he just wanted to talk about the watch. Maybe—

‘Hello there.’ James’ deep voice cut into my questions, and my head snapped up to meet his friendly smile.

‘Hi!’ For God’s sake, why did my pitch magically rise two octaves whenever I talked to him? I cleared my throat. ‘Um, hello. Good to see you again.’

James sat down beside me, and a lovely whiff of wool and cologne met my nose. ‘It’s nice to see you, too. Thanks for meeting me for a drink.’

‘No problem.’

An awkward silence filled the air, then James laughed, shaking his head. ‘Look, I should warn you – I’m a bit out of practice with this whole dating thing.’

So this was a date! Happiness flowed through me. It was comforting to know he was as nervous as me, too.

‘Don’t worry.’ I put a hand on his arm, admiring how solid it was beneath my fingers. ‘I’m very out of practice, too. In fact’ – I paused, wondering if I should tell him this was my first date in over a decade – ‘it’s been a while since I’ve dated.’ Best to keep the particulars to myself, I thought. Mimi would kill me if I scared him off with info like that.

‘Good.’ James flashed me another smile and stood, pulling me up. ‘Let’s go grab a drink and we can practice on each other.’ He led me down a corridor to a nearby bar, ordered a bottle of red, then poured the crimson liquid into a glass. I took a big gulp, the wine sliding down nicely.

‘I’m glad you were free tonight,’ he said. ‘I know it was kind of out of the blue.’

‘Out of the blue?’ I sipped more wine. ‘No, my party invitation was out of the blue. I’m sorry about that – I mean, I barely know you. My colleague Mimi decided to send out invites to all my email contacts.’

‘What, so you invited me by mistake? Can I still come?’ James raised an eyebrow.

Oh, Lord. Leave it to me to stick my foot in it within five minutes. ‘No, no, of course I want you to come,’ I babbled. ‘I’d love it if you were there.’ I could feel heat spreading up my neck and across my cheeks.

James grinned, reaching out to touch my fingers. ‘Relax, Lucy. I’m kidding. I really will try to make it out – sounds like it’s going to be good fun.’

I gazed down at his olive skin against my pale hand, then met his eyes again. God, I could stare into them for hours . . .

‘Lucy?’

I gave myself a shake. ‘Hi. Yes. So tell me, why are you out of practice dating?’

His warm, open face closed up, and I wanted to kick myself.

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