Summer Nights at the Moonlight Hotel by Jane Costello

Author:Jane Costello [Costello, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
ISBN: 9781471149139
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK

Chapter 29

After a quick drink in the Royal Oak, Edwin drives me home. And through a combination of incessant babbling and complimenting him repeatedly on his trousers, I somehow manage to cheer him up. As a result of which, the car is filled with unspoken promise – and a big question mark over what is going to happen when we reach my house.

‘Would you mind if I stop off at the garage to fill up?’ Edwin asks. ‘I won’t get home otherwise.’

‘No problem,’ I reply.

As he steps out into the floodlit forecourt I look at his face in the wing mirror while he removes the petrol cap and starts filling it up. It’s a harsh light, but he’s still handsome. I idly watch him replace the pump as a small tingle of possibility warms through me.

I lean back and consider whether I could seduce Edwin tonight. Whether I should throw caution to the wind, invite him in to sample my Molton Brown handwash and make myself irresistible to him. A knock on the window nearly makes me leap out of my seat.

‘Fancy some crisps?’ he shouts through the window. ‘I’m getting some prawn cocktail ones for myself.’

I shake my head. ‘I’ll pass.’

He smiles and a swoop of affection dances through me, as a sentence bubbles at my lips.

I must not think about Joe. I must not think about Joe.

Then –

Why the hell am I even thinking about not thinking about Joe?

My eyelashes flutter open to see Edwin join the end of a queue inside the shop. Deciding to take the opportunity to top up my lipstick, I unstrap my seat belt and kneel up to lean into the back seat to retrieve my bag, where I threw it when we first got in.

I’m on my hands and knees, my bottom on display through the windscreen, when I hear the click of Edwin’s central locking. This wouldn’t be an issue if it didn’t also occur to me that he’s activated the alarm at the same time.

I don’t even get a chance to work out why he’s locked me in: my mind is too busy fretting about how I’m going to get myself from my hands and knees, doggy-style, without setting off the alarm. I glance out of the window to see a woman in her late thirties pausing to peer in at me. I smile. She looks away and dashes to her car, clearly bewildered as to why a grown woman is undertaking a pilates class while poised over the handbrake of a mid-range Polo.

I am about to start panicking when the lock clicks off. I scramble back in the direction of my seat and am a foot away and positioned like an Egyptian hieroglyphic, when the alarm clicks on again. I freeze.

I dart my eyes in the direction of the garage shop and spot Edwin, fiddling with his car key and entirely oblivious to the fact that he’s pressing it on and off.

A click interrupts my thoughts. I scramble into the passenger seat.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.