Page 50 of The Cosy Seaside Chocolate Shop

What was he doing? Em just stood and stared, wondering what on earth had brought this on – though it wasn’t a bad sight at all. Just a little out of character. Then he started undoing the belt of his jeans, the top button … She was amazed and a little taken aback. Was he intending to remove the lot? What the heck had set all this off? Jealousy? Was it to do with Nate?

Good lord. ‘Max … what if someone …?’ Em started. But glancing up and down the beach, it was obvious they had the whole bay to themselves.

The jeans came off, the boxer shorts next. And there was her gorgeous, if rather grumpy boyfriend, standing stark bollock naked on the beach. Her mouth creased into a wry smile.

‘Joining me?’ he asked, smirking somewhat. ‘Or are you too bloody scared? Or, in fact, boring yourself?’

Ah sod it. If you can’t beat ’em join ’em. But this was the North Sea, and despite it being summer it was always chilly if not bloody freezing. She’d only ever braved it up to her ankles before and that was bad enough; it had set her off shivering for hours.

‘Right then,’ she snapped back, taking off her clothes in a rush before the cold air or the appearance of a dog walker made her change her mind. Spaniel Alfie stood staring at the pair of them, barking, then leapt into the water.

Max ran at the sea and took a dive into a foaming white wave, Emma dashing in after him. OMG! Just up to her knees and it was flippin’ freezing! In to her waist now – oh crikey, this was torture. She plunged forward after Max in a now-or-never moment of madness, the chill of the water taking her breath away as a frothy wave washed over her.

‘You silly bugger. You’re mad!’ she shouted across the boil of the surf. It had been windy last night, and the sea was still a bit whipped up. As another blast of icy wave slammed against her, she shouted, ‘We’re going to die of bloody hypothermia.’

Max was laughing now, the anger zapped out of him by the chill of the sea and the craziness of the situation. He swam across to her and she kicked up an arc of cold water at him.

‘Now that means trouble.’ He was grinning as he splashed her back, soaking her hair, her face, the salt stinging her eyes now.

‘Right, that’s it!’ With both hands she scooped up as much seawater as she could and launched it at him, then doused him again, over and over.

He ducked and was there next to her, pinning her arms beside her. She could feel his strength, but it was measured with playfulness. He was shaking his head exaggeratedly, as though wondering what to do with her next.

He took her into his arms and planted a wet, salty kiss firmly on her lips.

And they both felt a sudden huge relief; that this was still good, that they were still right.

‘I can’t believe you’ve got m-me into this, Max Hardy.’ Emma tried to remain indignant as she finally pulled away, her teeth chattering now.

He wrapped his arms about her and lifted her feet up off the sand-bed. They rocked together, laughing and shivering for a while, getting bashed by the pulsing waves, then he carried her back to the shore. This was the moment they should lie back on the sands in the breaking waves of the shoreline and make love, but that was in the movies and probably on location in the Caribbean – it was too bloody cold here for that. Though, they might just continue this back upstairs in The Chocolate Shop – maybe after a thaw out in the shower first.

All too soon it was time for her to open up the shop, and for Max to leave. The afternoon had turned to rain, so the courtyard had to close, which meant the shop’s café was rather crowded. But at least working single-handedly this afternoon, as Bev wanted to spend some time with her mum and Holly had to get back to her studies, meant she didn’t have to be in three places at once, just the two – the shop and kitchen. Emma’s own exam for the licensing was this coming week too, so she’d cram in a few hours of study herself later.

Emma sighed; it was exhausting, it seemed like she was on a hamster wheel at times. Working, chocolate crafting, baking, serving, paying bills, seeing Max, studying, working … It’d all be worth it in the end, though, it had to be. And, if she passed this exam then she could start her prosecco parties for real. Something which would take her through into the autumn and winter months too.

She just felt so very tired of late, but there was no chance of taking a rest just yet. With The Rock Shop on her heels – oh yes, she’d spotted the stripy pink-and-white bags making their way past her shop, clutched in the tourists’ hands – she needed to keep The Chocolate Shop as appealing as it possibly could be to keep drawing the customers in. It took a hell of a lot of determination to get that chocolate crafted, and Emma knew she couldn’t afford to take anything for granted. As long as people wanted their day brightening with a fix of cocoa and a friendly smile, Emma would be there, ready and waiting.

27

‘Sorry, Em, but I’m not going to manage to get up to see you this weekend,’ said Max down the phone line. It was already mid-week, the busy days having passed quickly.

‘Oh Max, not work again.’ Emma couldn’t hide her disappointment.

‘It’ll be the last big push on this Leeds project, and we’ll need both Saturday and Sunday to get it to finishing by Monday, handover day. I know it’s a pain, but after this is done, life’ll be much easier for us, and we’ll have a bit more time.’

Time … it was so precious. Living an hour apart as they usually did, and both of them running businesses, was bad enough, but the Leeds job had meant they were nearer to three hours apart.

‘Okay, there’s not much I can say or do is there? But yes, I get it,’ Em conceded.

‘The contract has time penalties, as you know, so I absolutely can’t afford for the job to run over. But after that I can’t wait to come back up to Warkton and to chill out with just you and a bottle of lager.’

‘Ah, and who said romance was dead?’ Emma joked. ‘Well, maybe I’ll try to come down to your house after work and see you one night next week, then.’ She was trying her best to sound upbeat. Max was working hard, after all, and she did admire that he was dedicated and ran his own business – she knew herself how much time, organisation and energy that took. She had, in fact, only been down to his place a couple of times in the whole of their eight-month relationship, being holed up working in The Chocolate Shop all hours too.

‘Yeah, that’d be great, Em. I’d like that. But I’m likely to be wrapping up here in Leeds, at least for the first part of the week.’

‘Okay, well, let me know which day might work best.’

‘Will do.’