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‘Bloody hell, Liv, you make me feel like a teenager again.’

‘Well, it would be a shame not to take advantage of that,’ she purred against his ear.

‘You’re right. We’ve already wasted too much time.’ He grabbed her by the hips and rolled her beneath him, leaving her giggling as he pinned her to the bed. But he soon hushed her laughter with his lips, working hard to make up for lost time. He hated that there was already a limit on how much time he had with Liv, and he intended to enjoy every second possible of their new “adult” friendship.

Chapter Ten

Liv glared at the clock in the corner of her computer screen and willed the seconds and minutes to speed up and tick by just a bit faster. Even if they just returned to their usual, reliable pace, it would be better than the speed they were currently crawling by at. She usually loved her work, and found the interactions with patients fascinating and rewarding, but today, she’d struggled to focus and had been forced to call on every bit of her professionalism to make it through the afternoon.

It had only been a few weeks since she and Callum had stopped being friends in favour of . . . well, whatever you called it, it was good fun. And distracting, in the best possible way.

She tried to focus on her notes, and the barrage of emails that had built up during her afternoon surgery, but her mind kept wandering. And it really didn’t help that the source of her distraction was wandering around the building, flashing sweet and sexy smiles her way at every opportunity.

As if summoned by her thoughts, he knocked at her door and slipped into the room. In a few short steps, he covered the space between them and pulled her into a warm embrace, then stole her breath with a searing kiss. ‘Is it bad that I’ve been thinking about this for half the day?’

‘I hope not, because I’ve been struggling to concentrate too,’ Liv admitted as she rested her head against his shoulder.

‘I’m going to pick Sarah up from her netball club, and drop her off at Jake and Evelyn’s. But I promised we’d go via the store so she can pick out marshmallows and sweets for her camp out.’

‘Is she looking forward to her sleepover?’

‘Yeah, she’s been talking about it for days. She’s adored Summer since they met, and is so excited that they’re going to be “officially, properly family”.’

‘Tell her I said hello.’ Liv planted a kiss on the tip of his nose. ‘And hurry back.’

‘Oh, I will,’ he promised fervently. ‘I haven’t got much food in. We can order takeaway, or I can pick something up?’

‘I really don’t mind, but I wasn’t planning on spending lots of time cooking this evening.’ She blushed as she realised what she’d implied.

‘Understood.’ Callum grinned. ‘I probably won’t be more than an hour or so.’

‘You know where I’ll be.’

‘I can’t wait.’

* * *

Liv allowed herself a moment or two to catch her breath and check that her make-up wasn’t too obviously smudged, before hitching her bag onto her shoulder and sauntering down the corridor. She waved to Millie as she left and walked home through the village, enjoying the sun on her back and the peace of her commute. Within minutes, she was back at her cottage, and toed off her shoes at the door before heading to the kitchen. A few minutes more and she was padding barefoot down the garden path, a steaming cup of tea in hand as she headed for her favourite spot.

She perched on the edge of the well and sighed happily. The evening light turned the garden golden, and the ancient stones were warm beneath her. Everything about the little cottage and its garden was cheerful and welcoming, and made her feel safe. As her fingers traced the almost invisible patterns in the stones, she found herself wishing this feeling could fill her always.

* * *

‘I really think two packets of marshmallows, biscuits, chocolate raisins and chocolate is enough.’ Callum stood in the middle of the crisp aisle, not wanting to give in to Sarah’s demands, but not wanting to argue with her either. ‘And you know Evelyn is going to make you dinner too.’

‘We’re having cheesy, sausage pasta.’

‘So you probably don’t need crisps then, do you?’

‘No, but I like them.’ Sarah pouted, her bottom lip sticking out and starting to wobble dangerously. ‘And the raisins are for Uncle Jake.’

‘All right, all right.’ Callum lobbed the crisps in the basket while internally cursing his weakness. He didn’t really want Sarah eating so much junk food, but it wasn’t something that happened very often, and the last thing he wanted was a meltdown in the middle of the shop.

‘When I’m seeing Summer are you going to be seeing Livvy?’ Sarah tucked her hand into his, almost skipping along by his side and making him wonder if he’d just been rather expertly played.

‘Yes, is that OK?’

‘Yup. I like Livvy.’