Automatically, I glance behind me.
‘The treehouse. Have your café in the treehouse.’
I stare at him. ‘Are you mad?’
‘No.’ He laughs. ‘I’m actually being serious. Think about it. A treehouse café. You can’t get more unique than that.’
My mind is still rejecting the idea as ludicrously outlandish. But when I begin to imagine what he’s suggesting, I find my heart swelling with excitement. Could it be possible?
‘But how would it work?’ I ask with a doubtful laugh.
My brain is coming up with all sorts of reasons why it absolutely couldn’t. It’s a lovely, romantic idea, but completely nuts.
‘I’d have to have a system of pulleys to bring up the coffees and the cakes. Or one of those dumbwaiter lift-type things. Except it would be cunningly disguised as a tree.’ I nod, grinning up at Theo. ‘Yes, I can definitely see that working.’
He shrugs, conceding it’s a bit far-fetched. ‘I’m not sure the elderly population would spring up the treehouse ladder with the greatest of ease.’
‘Oh, I don’t know. My mum’s friends, Betty and Doreen, managed it the other week. They just needed a very small shove from behind.’
‘You could have a Tom Hiddleston lookalike on double duties at the bottom of the ladder.’
‘Yes! He could be Chief Shover-Upper!’
‘Sounds painful.’
We catch each other’s eye and laugh.
After a while, Theo says, ‘I’ve got a good mate who’s a carpenter. I reckon he could extend this treehouse into an amazing café with a proper walkway and everything.’
‘Walkway?’
‘You know, like one of those swing bridges, where you hold on to the rope at either side.’
I stare at him. He can’t be serious. But there are two deep grooves between his eyebrows as if he’s actually pondering the idea, ridiculous at it sounds to me.
I grin. ‘With a swing bridge entrance, the liability insurance would be through the roof.’
He shrugs. ‘Jake’s clever. He could make it secure enough to pass any health and safety inspection.’
‘Jake?’
‘My carpenter mate. He lives on the south coast.’
I smile. ‘And you’re living in cloud cuckoo land if you think I really could have a café in a treehouse!’
He leans sideways and lazily bumps my shoulder with his. ‘You, Twilight Wilson, clearly have no imagination whatsoever.’
My skin, where he makes lingering contact, fizzes and burns, and I have to stop myself from leaping away in shock.
‘That’s … that’s very unfair,’ I protest stiffly, choking out the words, my throat suddenly as dry as the desert. ‘I have a fantastic imagination.’
Theo moves away slightly and I breathe more easily. ‘But – I also have a foot planted firmly in reality and something tells me a treehouse like that would cost an absolute fortune to build.’
He frowns. ‘Not necessarily. You’ve got the basics here already.’
‘Yes, but it would cost thousands, not hundreds. And I don’t have that kind of money.’
I can’t even pay off the mortgage arrears, never mind fund the sort of project Theo is talking about. Sadly. Because the more I think about it, the more amazing it seems.
Theo is still close enough for our arms to be touching, and I’m breathing in his lovely masculine scent and something lemony that must be his body spray. A surge of desire springs from deep within and spreads like wild fire through my entire body. Stunned, I glance up at him and at the very same moment, he turns his head a fraction to look at me. My heart gives a giant leap at the intensity burning in his eyes.
We stare at each other for a long moment, our eyes locked. My head is swimming and my whole body is pulsing wildly with a desire I haven’t felt in forever.
He moves towards me, his mouth only inches from mine, and when I arch my neck in response, he slips a hand around my waist. A second later, I feel his strong arms pulling me towards him …
I’m slowly melting with desire, past the point of return, aware of Theo’s powerful body pressing into me. His breathing is ragged and suddenly his mouth comes down hard on mine and I feel myself transported on a tide of desire too powerful to resist.
I cling to him, kissing him back as my head spins off into space.
Then abruptly, he pulls away.
Bewildered, I stare up at him, gasping for breath. Despite the warmth of the balmy evening, I feel the chill of the sudden separation keenly.
Theo makes a rasping sound in his throat and springs to his feet, avoiding my eye. I’m at a loss to know what I did wrong. Because it must have been something I did, to make him pull away so abruptly …
‘I’d better be going,’ he says matter-of-factly, looking at his feet, the wooden railing, the garden. Anywhere but at me.
‘Right,’ I mutter at my hands. ‘Yes, of course.’
He stares down at me for a moment, a peculiarly intense expression in his blue eyes, and I wish I were a mind-reader because I’m floundering here, wondering what just happened between us. Then he holds out his hand and after a second, I reach up and he pulls me to my feet. Nervous, I wobble slightly and fall against him, and he steadies me, holding both my arms. But then very deliberately, he steps away from me.
‘Don’t bother coming down,’ he says, heading for the ladder. ‘I can see myself out.’ At the bottom, he walks round so he can see me.
‘See ya!’ He holds up his hand, his usual relaxed smile back in place now there’s a safe distance between us. ‘And think about The Treehouse Café! It could work.’
When he’s gone, I sit there for ages, staring out over the garden, my head a whirl of confusing images and emotions.
He couldn’t wait to get away from me.
What the hell just happened there?
Chapter 22
It’s only when there’s a rumble of thunder, and my heart nearly jumps out of my chest at the sound, that I realise rain has been falling while I’ve been sitting here in a trance.
I’m not sure how long it’s been pattering
