One Day (A Valentine Short Story) by Samantha Young Read Free Book Online

pissed off and ruin it. “Try me,” I finally said.
    “I don’t mean to go all macho cave man on you, but could you not sleep in your camper van tonight? Or any night from now on?”
    Confused, I think I made a ‘huh’ sound.
    Liam glanced back at my sleeping arrangements, scowling. I also noted the muscle in his jaw was flexing with annoyance.
    “Are you trying to scare my sleeping bag out of there with a scowl?” I teased.
    He didn’t laugh. “It’s dangerous. I can’t believe your brothers let you take off in this thing. Sleeping in a camper van in a layby in the middle of nowhere? Are you trying to get yourself hurt, or worse?”
    Oh.
    He was concerned about me.
    My belly fluttered. “I have my penknife.”
    “A lot of good that would do you if someone bigger and stronger than you broke in to attack you.”
    Now I was scowling. “Are you trying to scare me?”
    “Yes. Out of this van.”
    “I’m very careful, you know. Almost bordering on paranoid.”
    “Yeah, I can see that, what with you letting a strange man into your van and then spending the entire day with him alone.”
    “You found me out,” I said dryly, “I’m a thrill seeker.” Shaking my head at his nonsense I pushed open my door.
    “Hazel,” his deep voice stopped me. When I looked back at him, I stilled at his somber expression, “If you sleep in this van, I’m just going to worry about you.”
    My chest tightened with that strange, swelling emotion I’d felt earlier in the day. After a moment or two, I finally managed to find my voice. “I’ll get a room at the inn, too.”
    He gave me a small, relieved smile. “Thank you.”
    It turned out there were a couple of rooms available and we each dumped our stuff in our rooms. I needed a shower, so I told him I’d meet him downstairs for dinner.
    The shower felt amazing. A hot shower, after a few days of none, could make you feel completely human again.
    As I dried my hair, I contemplated my clothes. I didn’t have anything really nice to wear with me, so I had to make do with a fitted turtleneck and my black skinny jeans. I also wore a wee bit more make up than I’d been wearing lately. My reflection didn’t scream seductress but I looked a damn sight better than I had when we arrived.
    Liam seemed to think so too, his eyes raking over me slowly and deliberately as he stood up at the table he’d gotten us in the busy barroom. “You look great,” he said, surprising me by leaning in to press a kiss to my cheek. “Fuck, you smell great, too.”
    I shot him a saucy look as we took our seats near the crackling fireplace. “You’re not shy with compliments, are you?”
    “I say what I think,” he said. “Never seen the point in not.”
    “I’m not complaining,” I assured him.
    Soon a meal was served to us, along with a glass of ale, and we talked about everything and nothing. I told him what magazine I worked for and that my column title was “Dear Hazel”. I regaled him of tales of the plethora of older women who wrote to me about wanting to bonk their personal trainers, and my sarcastic but hopefully helpful advice. He told me about his friends at the Forestry Commission and how wild their Christmas staff parties could get. We laughed as we enjoyed the warmth of the pub restaurant, and delicious food, and as we did so loud Celtic music filtered through from the other side of the inn.
    “There’s a Ceilidh on tonight,” the waitress said, putting our dessert down on the table “It’s always a good night here when there is a Ceilidh band playing.”
    My eyes lit up at the thought. “I haven’t been to a Ceilidh in years.”
    “Yeah, me either.” Liam said and then moaned after putting a forkful of cheesecake in his mouth.
    “Good?” I teased.
    He just nodded, clearly too in love with dessert to form words. I watched him devour the cake as I slowly ate mine, but I wasn’t really focused on dessert. Flushed with food and ale (I was a lightweight), and