‘I was wrong to doubt you in front of so many people, then. By the time I realised that it really was a conversation we should’ve had in private, it was too late. It was just… I didn’t expect to hear that, and the shock took over all logical thought.’
His hand is lying on the table, and I reach over and give it a squeeze, deciding to voice something I’ve figured out in the last few days. ‘It was you who persuaded your father to look at my application, wasn’t it?’
His eyes flick up to mine like he didn’t expect me to know that and then flick back down to our joined hands and he nods.
‘Even though you knew what might happen? You knew there was a chance he’d go with my idea?’
‘Yeah. I meant what I said about wanting the best for Ever After Street. I know the council have to go with the best option, and I knew that was you – you were so much more of a better fit than I ever would’ve been.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me that the other day? It would’ve made a difference.’
‘I didn’t want you to know.’ He sighs and shrugs at the same time. ‘I have a thing about people liking me – you know that. If you liked me, I wanted it to be because you liked me, not because you thought you owed me something. The other day, I wanted you to know I was telling the truth because you trusted me, not because I suddenly pulled an ace from my sleeve.’ He looks up and winks at me. ‘And I’m weird, sometimes that’s the only explanation you need.’
‘And I love every single weird thing about you.’
He lets out a loud laugh and smiles like he couldn’t stop himself if he wanted to and pushes his chair back to stand up. ‘Okay, you don’t get to say things like that without letting me kiss you. May I?’
‘If you think you need to ask permission every time you kiss me, we’ve got a probl—’
Before I’ve finished the sentence, he’s pulled my chair out, turned it to face him, and crouched down in front of me. One hand is on my thigh and the other slides upwards to cup my head and he crushes our lips together.
I let out a happy sigh and one leg hooks around him to keep him close as our mouths meet. The force of the kiss has knocked his baseball cap off and his mouth is hot and he tastes of tea and the sweetness of the cake. His hands are everywhere, and mine are all over him, clawing at him, unable to pull him close enough, like the emotions of missing him so much in the past few days finally break loose.
I can feel the glitter on our lips from the mugs, and this has got to be the sparkliest kiss ever, which is somehow really fitting for someone who’s made my life sparkle since the moment I met him.
My hand tangles in his hair to pull him closer, and he grunts into the kiss as he nearly overbalances, using one of his legs to push himself up a bit higher, get a bit closer, kiss me harder, and then harder again, but this time it’s with such force that my chair tips backwards and I squeal and grab the table to stay upright, breaking the kiss.
‘You know it’s a good kiss when someone nearly gets injured.’ He’s still crouching as he makes sure all four chair legs are safely on the floor, and when I start giggling at how lost I got in that kiss and how abruptly it ended, he starts laughing too. His hands are on my knees to keep himself upright and he’s gasping for breath as much as I am.
He leans forward so his forehead rests against mine, breathing hard. ‘God, I’ve needed to do that again so badly since the carousel the other night.’
‘Me too.’ My fingers play with his hair while the other hand runs up and down his back, and every shiver it elicits makes me grasp him tighter.
‘This is probably not the ideal time to bring up my dad again, but he did ask me to say something,’ he says between pants. ‘The lease is still yours if you want it.’
I’d been hoping that was the case, and at some unknown point this week, I’ve also worked out what my response would be. ‘I don’t.’
‘What?’ His eyes fly open, his head shoots up and his body stiffens instantly. ‘Cleo, come on, you hav—’
‘Not alone.’ One hand is holding his shoulder, and the other is stroking through his hair and he watches me with eyes that turn from shocked to hopeful. ‘Not without you. I want us to go into this together – to take over the lease as partners, both of us.’
His legs give way and he slips over and sinks down to sit on the floor with a thud, shaking his head in surprise, both hands still holding onto my knees. ‘Seriously?’
‘I can’t do this without you, Bram. The theme might’ve been my idea, but you’ve brought it to life. Without you, it would just be a decorated tearoom, but you make it Wonderland. I want us to be “in” this together for real. Equal partners.’
His eyes meet mine, like he’s silently asking me if I’m serious, and I hold his gaze, watching as his smile gets wider and wider.
‘I just have one very important question…’ He lifts my hand and brings it to his mouth, pressing his lips against the back of it and letting his dark stubble graze against my skin. ‘What are your thoughts on mixing business with pleasure?’
I laugh out loud and it turns into a whimper when he repeats the motion. ‘I could be persuaded on the merits of it.’
He lets out a whoop and gets onto his knees and leans over to kiss me again. It’s gentler this time, but his elbow is digging into my ribs, he yelps when his knee crunches against the floor, and it’s such an awkward angle that it makes me laugh again, even though every kiss with Bram makes everything inside me soar with happiness.
He pulls back, laughing too. ‘One day we’ll have a kiss that doesn’t result in mortal injury.’
‘Where would be the fun in that?’
‘My thoughts exactly.’ He gives me a seductive grin and leans over for another kiss, and then sits back again without letting go of my hands.
‘I had another idea too,’ I start. ‘When you talked about the shop you used to run and showing kids how to do magic, it was obvious how much that meant to you. You know better than anyone how much of an impact magic can have on a young person. What if, once a month or something, you hosted some kind of workshop to show youngsters how to do some of the things you do? Pass on your knowledge to the next generation?’
He blinks for a few moments, seemingly lost for words. ‘I would love that.’
‘Me too.’ I take a deep breath. ‘So, what do you say? Will you be my Mad Hatter on an eighteen-month rolling contract?’
The phrasing makes him laugh and he thinks about it for a moment, his face contorting as he gives it serious thought. ‘On one condition… Come and stay with me. At least park your caravan on my driveway. You know how many empty rooms I have, and if one of those happened to be more appealing than sleeping in a caravan… I’d love you to be there, and you’d have easy access to the kitchen where it seems we’re going to be spending a lot of time… I’ll say yes if you will.’
I’ve been spending so much time at Bram’s lately that it doesn’t require much thought, and Marnie’s neighbours aren’t very happy about the rusty old caravan cluttering up their road, although Marnie’s neighbours aren’t quite the deciding factor here. ‘Good job you’re impossible to say no to, isn’t it?’
‘Yes!’ He does a victory punch and scrambles to his feet, pulling me with him until we’re both upright and he wraps me in his arms and hugs me so tightly that he lifts me off the floor and I squeak and cling onto him.
Endless minutes pass as he rocks us gently, pulling back only enough to share the occasional kiss, until my entire body has melted against his and everything that’s felt wrong in my life for the past few years is suddenly right again, because it led to here, and this is exactly where I was supposed to end up.
‘If you believe in me, I’ll believe in you,’ he murmurs against my ear.
He always does have a way with words. It’s something the unicorn says to Alice in Through the Looking-Glass and it’s such a perfect fit for us, and it has been since the very beginning, except unlike Alice, I’m not about to wake up and discover this was all a dream, because even in my wildest wishes, I couldn’t have imagined a future so rainbow-coloured with brightness, and a spectacular nut who makes the whole world feel like Wonderland every day.
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