Freya was waiting in her lounge later that night for Rome to come and collect her for their first date. That in itself seemed weird when they had already spent so much time in bed and a lot of time kissing out of bed. But there was a huge part of her that was really pleased that he wanted to date her, rather than just jump into bed with her at every opportunity.

After his chat with Bella that afternoon, he had come back to the marquee and just held her in his arms for the longest time and she had decided then and there that she was going to enjoy what she had with him. She knew he had feelings for her too and those feelings were growing every day. She would be happy with that.

She heard her flat door open downstairs and Rome called up to her as he ran upstairs. He appeared in the lounge wearing a suit and carrying a bunch of orchids.

‘You brought me flowers?’

‘Well, apparently that’s the expected gift to give someone you’re dating, giving them a flat is not appropriate.’

She laughed and took them from him. ‘Thank you.’

She leaned up to kiss him and he kissed her back hard, gathering her against him. ‘You look beautiful by the way,’ he said against her lips in between kisses. ‘I forgot the prerequisite compliment.’

She giggled as she kissed him. ‘Compliments and flowers, you really are spoiling me.’

He pulled back slightly. ‘I think we better go. If we stay here any longer, this pretty little dress is accidentally going to come off and then I think the sex ban is going to fall apart shortly after.

‘How would my dress “accidentally” come off?’

‘These things happen.’ He pulled away and took her hand. ‘Do you need a jacket?’

‘No, it’s a lovely night, let me just grab my bag.’

She picked her small holdall off the sofa and turned back to Rome who was waiting by the door.

‘That’s a big handbag.’

She laughed. ‘It’s my overnight bag.’

‘Oh. I hope you didn’t pack any pyjamas.’

She arched an eyebrow at him. ‘I don’t think me sleeping naked in your bed will help the sex ban.’

‘I think it will help it very nicely,’ Rome said as he took the bag from her and led her down the stairs and out onto the street. ‘If we can’t make love, sleeping with each other, naked, is the next best thing.’

The sun was just starting to set above them, although it would be several hours before it disappeared into the sea, and the clouds were painted a candyfloss pink, tinged with gold. It lent a magical air to the evening and with Rome Lancaster holding her hand as they walked through the streets, it felt like anything was possible.

‘So you’ll be pleased to know I researched what makes a good first date.’

Freya laughed. ‘I’d expect no less. What did your Book of Love say?’

‘Well, The Book of Love said that the venue was important, as where I choose says a lot about my personality. I’m not sure I agree with that. Envy doesn’t really reflect my personality but it feels like somewhere romantic and the food’s great. Plus we’re quite limited on classy places on Hope Island.’

‘I don’t agree that the venue is important either, I’d be equally as happy with a picnic on a beach or a home-cooked meal at your house. It’s not about the place, it’s about spending quality time with the other person.’

‘Well as a first date, it might be a bit forward to invite you to my house. Statistically only thirty-six percent of people expect to have sex on a first date and you might think it was expected if I invited you round to my house.’

‘But you did invite me round to your house, I’m sleeping with you in your bed tonight.’

‘Well yes, but that’s because our first date is unique. It’s not a typical first date.’

‘Then you can probably forget the typical first-date rules.’

He glanced down at himself. ‘So dressing in my best suit was a waste of time.’

She turned to him, and he wrapped his hands round her waist as she placed her hands on his chest.

‘It’s very sweet that you made an effort but, Rome Lancaster, you’re a beautiful man, inside and out. You could wear jeans and a t-shirt, this gorgeous suit or be absolutely butt-naked and I’d still be head over heels in love with you.’

A smile spread on his face.

She slipped her hand back into his and carried on walking along the street. ‘What else did your dating manual say? Let’s put this to bed right now.’

‘That I should be punctual and polite.’

‘You’re always punctual and… well, politeness is overrated.’

He laughed. ‘Are you saying that I’m not polite?’

‘Only if grumpiness is a type of politeness, but don’t worry, you won’t lose any first-date points for it.’

‘Good to know.’

‘What else should I expect from tonight’s date?’

‘Well, I did think the advice to ask you about your day was pretty redundant as I spent the day with you.’

‘You could still ask?’

Rome glanced down at her for a moment. ‘Um, how was your day?’

‘I bought a house,’ Freya said, excitedly, and she saw the answering smile on his face.

‘You did?’

‘Yes, I’m so excited. It was on my bucket list and now it’s become a reality. You have given me so much and you have no idea what this means for me. I don’t think I thanked you properly before. But I appreciate it more than you know. That’s two of the things on my list that you’ve helped to come true.’

‘I want to make all your dreams come true,’ he said, softly, and her heart filled with love for him.

She thought for a moment. ‘The other things on the list are a bit trickier.’

‘Going on safari isn’t that hard to organise. Maybe once this mural is out of the way we could take a few weeks off.’

Her heart soared. She could think of nothing better than going on holiday for a few weeks with Rome. No interruptions, no work, no one poking their nose into their business, it would be bliss. And to do all that on safari would be a dream come true.

‘I’d love that.’

‘And as for the other two…’ he trailed off and she knew he was thinking about her dream to get married. Going to space was an impossible dream but at the moment so was getting married. ‘I’m working on it.’

She didn’t say anything. She wasn’t sure how he could possibly work on her dream to get married. She needed a groom for that and there was only one person she wanted for that job. And although he had casually asked her to marry him a few days before, that was before they had got involved with each other and there had been no mention of it since, so she could hardly set her hopes too high. She wasn’t going to think about that now though, there was no point dwelling on the future, she would just enjoy what they had now. He was making her happier than she had ever been and she would enjoy that.

They had arrived at the restaurant by this point and Rome opened the door for her and the host showed them to their table, a small booth in the corner of the restaurant.

Rome sat next to her, instead of opposite her, and she liked that.

‘OK, so we know what the first-date etiquette says we should do, but as we already know each other so well and already had bloody amazing sex, we can probably skip past the “try to impress the other person” protocol. How about we really get to know each other?’ Freya said, glancing down as Rome took her hand once more.

‘What did you have in mind?’ Rome said, and she could see the wariness in his eyes.

‘A game of “would you rather” will be a hell of a lot more revealing about your personality than which venue you choose for our date. Do you want to play?’

He grinned. ‘OK.’

She thought for a moment just as the pretty waitress who had been chatting to Rome the last time they had been here came up to the table.

‘Oh, hey Rome,’ the waitress smiled and Freya watched that genuine smile appear on Rome’s face as he looked up.

‘Hi Amelia, oh you two haven’t met. Amelia, this is Freya, my girlfriend, and Freya this is Amelia, my…’ he trailed off and Freya was left wondering what he had been going to say. ‘Um, cousin?’ He didn’t sound sure and Freya suddenly experienced a bolt of panic. Was he lying?

‘Step-cousin maybe,’ Amelia suggested.

‘Yes, probably,’ Rome said, then turned to Freya to explain. ‘My dad’s brother was Amelia’s step-dad.’

Freya nearly sagged with relief. That’s why the smile was so genuine, Amelia was family.

Amelia laughed. ‘Yes, for about a year before he and my mum divorced, so I’m not sure what that leaves us as now, ex-step-cousins, maybe.’

Rome shrugged. ‘Amelia and her brother lived here for that year and we all hung out and we’ve sort of stayed in contact ever since. Amelia is over here for a few months working at the observatory at the other side of the island.’

‘Oh, I heard that’s had some massive funding injected into it, is it going to be open to the public soon?’ Freya asked.

‘It’s had thousands of pounds spent on astral imaging equipment, which means we can take some great photos of deep space. We are in such a dark place over that corner of the island – with no other light pollution between here and Canada it’s the perfect spot for a bit of stargazing. It’s not open to the public, it’ll be a few more weeks yet,’ Amelia said, clearly very passionate about what they were doing over there. ‘Oh hell, don’t get me started on it, I could honestly talk about it all night. Let me get you guys a drink and then I’ll leave you alone to enjoy your evening.’

‘Shall we get a bottle of wine?’ Rome asked Freya.

Freya nodded. ‘Prosecco?’

‘Sure.’

Amelia nodded and left them alone.

‘She seems nice,’ Freya said, trying to make up for her earlier slur on Rome’s character, even if it had been entirely in her own head.

‘She is. She had a bit of a rough time of it when she was a teen. They moved here to be with my uncle and then it all fell apart a year later and they moved away again. Anyway, I’m glad you two have met properly.’ He arched an eyebrow meaningfully and Freya blushed, knowing that seeing Rome chatting to Amelia last time had been a very tiny reason for her suddenly storming out.

‘So shall we play?’ Freya said, skating over that embarrassment.

Rome squeezed her hand and kissed her on the cheek. ‘OK, you go first.’

‘Would you rather… have duck feet or a beak for a nose?’

Rome laughed. ‘I think duck feet, you could swim quite effectively and a lot easier if you had webbed feet, I don’t think there would be any benefits for having a beak for a nose.’

Freya smiled at his practicality. ‘Good point, I agree.’

‘OK, would you rather… fight a hundred duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck?’

Freya burst out laughing. ‘A horse-sized duck would be quite scary, especially if I had to fight one, but there’s only one of them, so once I defeated it, the battle would be over. Whereas if there were a hundred tiny horses all fighting me at the same time I think it would be too many for me to stand a chance.’

Rome smiled. ‘I love the thought that went into that answer.’

He looped his arm around her shoulders but, as he did so, his fingers touched the back of her neck in the lightest of touches, making her gasp and goosebumps erupt all over her body. How could one tiny touch from him have such an effect on her?

She glanced up at him and he must have seen the effect he’d had on her as his eyes darkened. He continued stroking the back of her neck, his fingers touching the top of her spine and then slowly caressing the hair at the bottom of her head.

She leaned back into him, resting her hand on his chest. He stared down at her with such need for her but there was so much fondness and adoration in his eyes too.

‘We should look at the menu and decide what we want, Amelia will be back soon with our drinks.’

‘I agree, we should,’ Freya said, not moving from her position and Rome didn’t move either. Eventually he picked up the menu with his other hand, and as he continued to stroke her neck, he held the menu between them.

Freya tore her eyes from him to briefly glance at the menu. ‘I’ll have the chicken and pasta.’

‘Sounds good.’ Rome snapped the menu closed and bent his head to kiss her, just as Amelia returned with the wine.

‘Are you guys ready to order?’

‘We’ll both have the chicken, thanks Amelia.’

She nodded and poured the prosecco into the glasses then left them alone. They both took a sip of the wine and then Freya snuggled back into his arms.

Freya reached up and stroked his face. ‘OK, I have one based on our current ban. Would you rather make love to me every night for the rest of our relationship but never kiss me, or kiss me every night but never make love?’

His eyes widened at that question. ‘That’s a hard one. I love making love to you, it’s quite honestly the best sex I’ve ever had.’

Freya smiled at this.

‘But I think I would choose kissing you.’

‘Over sex?’ Freya hadn’t expected that at all.

‘I could kiss you for hours and never get bored of it, I could kiss you all night and wake up in the morning and carry on kissing you. I doubt I would have the stamina to make love to you twenty-four hours a day. I could kiss you in the street, on the beach, at this restaurant but I could only make love to you privately. I could kiss you all over your beautiful body, not just on the lips, and I know I’d enjoy that or miss that if I could never do it any more.’ He moved his head closer. ‘Kissing you is like an addiction and not one I think I could ever break.’

Then he kissed her, not caring who saw. His lips were soft against hers as she ran her fingers through the curls at the back of his head. His tongue slid against hers and she could taste the bubbles and prosecco. He ran his fingers down her cheeks and ever so gently he traced his fingers down her neck and across her shoulders, making her shudder with his touch.

Eventually, he pulled back slightly. ‘What about you, which would you rather do?’

She thought for a moment. ‘Kissing you is like heaven but I think I would choose making love to you.’

He arched an eyebrow. ‘And you were the one that said this was only about sex for me.’

‘Hey, I wasn’t complaining. Making love to you is wonderful, the way you look at me and hold me, for a little while it feels like you love me too. The connection we share when we make love is incredible, I’ve never felt that way before with anyone.’

He swallowed as he stared at her. ‘I feel that connection too,’ he said, softly.

Her heart filled for him. ‘You do?’

He nodded. ‘And that’s what confuses the hell out of me. I was in love with Paige and this feels so different to what I had with her. But so much better. This feels so much closer and intimate with you. And not just the sex – this, what we share. And I know we’ve known each other longer and maybe that’s the reason. I just need some time to figure this out in my head. God, that sounds awful. What kind of idiot doesn’t know whether they are in love or not? What kind of idiot would make you wait? You’ve been so patient with me and I don’t deserve it but that’s kind of the reason for the sex ban. It would be so easy to fall into that kind of relationship where we’re tearing each other’s clothes off every second but I had that with Paige and I want so much more with you.’

She placed a finger over his lips. ‘You don’t need to explain. I know you loved Paige and I know this is confusing for you. But you make me so happy and you’ve already shown me how much you care, I don’t need anything more than that. And although not making love to you for the next week is going to frustrate the hell out of me, I’m happy to wait if that’s what you need.’

He smiled with relief and bent his head to kiss her briefly. ‘I’m crazy about you and I don’t want to do anything to screw this up.’

‘And I won’t let you.’

His smile grew and he kissed her again and this time he didn’t stop until their food arrived at the table.