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The sun felt truly wonderful as it warmed her skin.
“I will have this fixed in no time,” John said with absolute confidence.
“Without tape or a pump?” Emma questioned, not opening her eyes as she lifted her face towards the sky. She should do this more often, enjoying the weather, and not thinking or stressing about work. If only they could stay here for a few more days. Patting the grass beside her, she said, “Before we walk back to the village, let’s just enjoy the weather and the quiet, please.”
She couldn’t help but smile as she felt him sinking down on the grass beside her, their shoulders brushing. Every touch felt different here. There was no need for professionalism now. No one here knew them, or their ranks. They could just be a man and a woman who stayed in the same hotel room.
“You know,” he said, after a few moments of silence. “I can just hold the bike while you sit on the frame in front of me.”
Emma opened her eyes and fixed her beadiest stare on him. “I sat there once, never again. And I absolutely refuse to explain to Stover why I can barely move or even sit in a chair.”
John raised his hands in surrender and nodded. “Understood.”
Smiling, Emma laid her head on his shoulder. Her smile only grew as she felt him press a kiss to the top of her head.
Looking down the hill, her eyes moved over the Surrey farmlands and the forest beyond, which seemed to disappear into the horizon, a gentle golden glow meeting the tops of the trees. This view, so unlike from what she would see back home in Chicago, or at Thorpe Abbotts, filled her with a sense of peace. This piece of England somehow seemed to have escaped the war.
“Despite the flat tire, I hope you’ve enjoyed the last two days?”
“Of course I did,” Emma said, frowning. Lifting her head she turned to look at him. “Did I say or do something that said I didn’t?”
“No, no, I just— I wanted our first trip to be special for you, Emma.”
Emma blinked, her confusion only growing. “But this isn’t our first trip, John. We spend time together in London.”
She could feel her cheeks reddening at the memory of those two days. She hadn’t known he was in the same city until she was at that party Alice dragged her along to. One moment she was dancing with some man she’d never learned the name of, and the next, their eyes met across the room. His astonishment quickly turned into delight and soon she was in his arms. And that night she was in his hotel room.
A smile spread across John’s face, clearly reading her face as well as her thoughts. He leaned closer and gave her a gentle kiss on the corner of her mouth.
“Our time in London was an unexpected pleasure, but things are different now, you know between us. And—I— I just wanted to show you that I can take things seriously. And that what’s between us is important to me,” he said, twisting a blade of grass in between his hands.
Her heart skipped a beat. She never had any doubt about his dedication to the war or his commitment to his men. And since they'd returned from London, things had changed between them. He respected, most of the time, her wish to remain professional while they were working. But she was the only one he’d danced with now, they sat next to each other whenever they could, and they’d been exploring all the private — or as close as you could find — places on the air base. But to hear him say this did something to her.
“It’s important to me too,” she said, intertwining her fingers with his.
John turned to look at her, a small smile on his face. “Good. That’s good.” He gently kissed her again, this time on the other corner of her mouth. “But you also know that I will make sure to make you laugh, right?” he whispered against her lips.
“I do know that,” she said, smiling. Where was he going with this?
“Good,” he said.
A laugh burst out of her as she fell backwards on the grass, squirming madly as she tried to escape his fingers as they found every ticklish place he knew of.
“John!”