Three Amazing Things About You(89)

Although if she were being really finicky, it would be nicer not to have to get up at seven tomorrow morning to go and do the make-up for a wedding in Berkshire.

At half past midnight, Rory said, ‘Shall I call a cab?’

‘No!’ This from Joe, who wasn’t nearly ready to end the evening. ‘You can’t go yet!’

‘I’m shattered,’ said Rory.

‘And I’m working tomorrow,’ said Tasha.

Joe looked at her. ‘That might be true.’ He pointed to Rory. ‘But that isn’t. There’s no way you’re shattered. You just want to slope off home and have sex with your new fiancée.’

Rory grinned. ‘It’s a possibility.’

They said their goodbyes. Reaching Joe last, Tasha gave him an extra-big hug. ‘Thank you. Really.’

He hugged her back. ‘My pleasure, darling. You two are perfect together. I’m so happy for you both.’

She kissed him on the cheek. ‘You’re brilliant.’

‘I know I am.’ Joe was indignant. ‘Could you have a word with that nightmare friend of yours and please tell her that? All this rejection’s doing nothing for my self-esteem.’

He’d deliberately said it loudly enough for Carmel to hear. She patted Joe’s arm. ‘You poor fragile flower.’

‘You’re making fun of me now, but you just wait,’ Joe told her. ‘When you’re old and all alone in your rocking chair, you’ll look back on this and regret not giving me a chance.’

‘You could be right.’ Carmel nodded. ‘Tell you what, if we’re both still single thirty years from now, we’ll get together.’

‘Great. Although we should probably have a practice beforehand, just to make sure we’re compatible. If you like,’ said Joe, ‘we could do that tonight, get it out of the way.’

‘You never give up, do you?’ Carmel gave him a good-humoured pitying look. ‘In your wildest dreams.’

‘And he has those most nights,’ said Rory with a grin.





Chapter 41


‘Hey, what’s this? Oh wow, have you just got engaged? Congratulations!’ Alice, the bride-to-be whose make-up Tasha was doing for the wedding this afternoon, spotted the ring in the mirror and twisted round in her chair to clasp Tasha’s left hand.

Tasha said joyfully, ‘It all happened yesterday. I still can’t believe it.’

‘Well that explains why you’re glowing.’ Alice’s eyes danced with mischief. ‘Now we know what you were up to last night!’

Tasha let her think it. In fact, after getting back to Rory’s flat, the wild sex everyone had assumed they’d be having hadn’t materialised. By the time she’d emerged from the bathroom, ready to celebrate, Rory had been out for the count. Well, it had been a long day; she wasn’t offended. And what did it matter anyway? They had the rest of their lives to make up for it.

They’d both slept through until the alarm had gone off at seven. Rory, leaning over for a kiss, had said, ‘Sorry about crashing out.’

‘No problem.’ Smiling, Tasha stroked his chest. ‘I was pretty tired too. What are you going to be doing today?’

He stretched experimentally, winced a bit. ‘Head to the gym. Maybe go for a run later. My muscles are aching after the jump. What time will you be back?’

‘Somewhere around five, I should think.’

‘Want me to cook a roast dinner?’

‘That sounds fantastic,’ said Tasha.

‘Roast chicken, roast potatoes, veg, bread sauce and gravy?’

‘You know what?’ She reached across and kissed him again. ‘That’s a good enough reason to marry you right there.’

‘And after dinner, we’ll make up for last night and have loads of really fantastic sex.’

If only they had time for it now. Sadly, they didn’t. Tasha slid out of bed. ‘Deal.’

But bride-to-be Alice didn’t need to know any of these finer details. Tasha said cheerily, ‘We had quite a party. And the ring’s from Tiffany’s, can you believe it?’

‘Amazing! Do you have photos? I want to see what he looks like!’

So in the middle of doing Alice’s wedding-day make-up, Tasha found herself putting down her brushes and stopping work to show her photographs of Rory.

‘He’s gorgeous. Looks like so much fun. You’ll have beautiful babies.’ Producing her own phone, Alice brought up photos of her fiancé Eric and in turn showed them off to Tasha. A human rights lawyer, Eric was thin, fair-haired and geeky.

‘Yours looks lovely too.’ Tasha much preferred hers.