All I Want Series Boxset, Books 1-3: All I Want for Christmas, All I Want for Valentine's, All I Want for Spring by Clare Lydon

to be pleased. Please be pleased.
    “Of course.” She was rubbing her thumb and index finger together nervously. “It was lovely to see you. A shock, but lovely.”
    There was silence for a few moments as we assessed each other. Up close and without Melanie’s prying glare, I could study Nicola’s face properly — and she still held a certain something. Sure, she looked older, but age sat well with her — she seemed comfortable in her own skin. What’s more, she still possessed deep, knowing eyes and full, rounded lips. Yep, those lips were still appealing. I was looking at them when she spoke.
    “We should get together anyway, catch up,” she said. “Me and Melanie, you and whoever. Are you seeing anyone?” 
    “Nobody special,” I said. “And it would be great to catch up.” I gave Nicola my widest smile.
    In response, she took off her hat and ruffled her fair hair, which was shoulder-length but currently tied in a ponytail.
    “Cool. I’ll see if I can work something out in between organising the wedding and working. If Melanie can’t make it, it’ll just have to be you and me, like old times.”
    Which old times was she referring to? The one in the library, where we’d shared that kiss that changed my life? Just thinking about it made me want to do it all again, right there on the pavement before I’d even had my morning coffee. I felt a rush of desire spreading like fire through my body, which was ironic, seeing as Nicola was meant to put fires out, not start them. But she never had where I was concerned.
    Oh Nicola Sheen, what do you do to me? Even after all these years.
    “I would love that,” I replied. And I would love to kiss you again, feel you pressed against me .
    “And next time—” Nicola said, stroking my arm with her right hand.
    I jolted slightly at her touch. “Yes?”
    “—Next time, maybe opt for porridge?” And then she gave me a wink.
    If I didn’t know better, I’d say Nicola Sheen was flirting with me.
    “I’ll do that,” I said before giggling like a teenager. Which in that moment, I was.
    Nicola’s colleague interrupted us — he was sporting a bushy moustache which was either a hangover from Movember or an ill-advised fashion statement.
    “We can take one rig back to the station now and the other can follow — you okay with that, boss?”
    “Yep, sounds like a plan.”
    I opened my eyes wider. Nicola was the boss. A fire chief . How incredibly sexy.
    “Good to see you,” Nicola said. “But next time, let’s do it without a fire in tow?” She raised a delicious eyebrow in my direction.
    “We can certainly try,” I replied.
    Nicola turned to her colleague and they strode back towards their bright red vehicle. I watched her retreating figure all the way, before she turned around and jogged back to me, fishing her phone from her pocket.
    “Should we… exchange numbers or something? So we can get in touch?” She waved her phone in the air in front of me.
    I nodded, fishing in my bag for mine. “Sure, good idea.”
    “You know, you’re not supposed to grab personal items when there’s a fire alarm,” she added.
    “When you’re the firestarter, I think different rules apply.”
    She held me with her gaze as I took the phone from her hands and began to punch in my number. Only a highly-trained eye would be able to tell my hands were shaking slightly. It only took a few seconds, and when I looked back up, her gaze was still on me, all-encompassing, total.
    I wanted to tip-toe across the thread that was drawing us back together, to try and unravel what this all meant. Did Nicola turning up here mean anything? Or was it just pure coincidence? Whatever, Nicola’s intense stare told me she was trying to figure it out too.
    Neither one of us spoke.
    Then Nicola broke the silence. “It’s good to see you again, Victoria.”
    Victoria. Nobody called me that apart from my mum. And of course, Nicola. She’d once told me she loved the name and to shorten it