Enlightened by Alice Raine Page B

meticulously clean his fingers before gingerly placing them on his thighs. Clean freak . My eyebrows were almost bursting from my forehead at that action. Nathaniel Jackson was still an enigma to me in so many ways. He was also wearing his trademark suit even though it was Sunday, so he looked even more out of place amongst the casual weekend travellers. As odd as they were, I had to admit that I quite liked his quirks, so I merely shook my head and supressed the smile that wanted to break on my lips.
    It had taken lots of persuasion over the last few months, but miraculously, even with his loathing of public transport, not to mention his clean hands fetish, I now had Nathan using public transport on quite a regular basis. Mr ‘I only like to travel in my car’ even knew how to work the ticket machines now. Wonders would never cease.
    ‘Because you said you wanted to help, and because we’re combining it with lunch and a few drinks,’ I reminded him patiently. ‘The idea for the hen do is that we’ll be out for most of the day, possibly having afternoon tea somewhere at about two-ish to start the day, and then drinks and dancing. Maybe a meal, but that will depend on if we do afternoon tea or not. So I need to find a good bar, restaurant, and club that might be suitable, I thought we could visit a few of the contenders today and see what we think.’
    Rolling his eyes with a small smile Nathan pretended to be hard done by, but I could tell that he was actually quite excited by the prospect of an afternoon spent bar hopping. Standing from his seat as the train pulled into Covent Garden station he flashed a wink at me and then held out his newly cleaned hand. Accepting his palm I smiled happily as his warmth re-invigorated me and we departed the train and made our way down the platform. The familiar whoosh and clanking of the train leaving the station sent a rush of air around my ankles and I leaned into Nathan a little as the train sped up. As we reached the end of the platform I groaned and pulled to a brief stop. Damn it. I’d forgotten the lack of escalators at this station and seeing as I don’t do lifts because of my mild claustrophobia we would now have the joyous task of taking the stairs. All one hundred and ninety-three of them. My face twisted into a grimace.
    Beginning my plod up the spiral staircase I quickly found myself puffing and slowing down much quicker than usual. Fitness guru Nathan wasn’t struggling at all though – in fact he sped off at such a rate that I quickly fell behind and cursed his rapidly disappearing bum. Another twenty steps and I was definitely starting to sweat. What was wrong with me? It wasn’t like I was particularly lazy or anything. This staircase just seemed endless today. Just when I started to wonder if there really was a top to the bloody thing I finally emerged into the sunlight to see Nathan leaning on a pillar, cool as a cucumber with his suit completely unruffled and a smirk on his handsome face.
    ‘Looking good, Stella,’ he quipped, causing me to narrow my eyes at him. No doubt I was red and sweaty, but my time with Nathan had obviously had some effect on him and his manners, because instead of just openly laughing at me he just smirked quietly to himself and found us a seat on a bench so I could recover. I had no idea what had caused my sudden bout of unfitness, but thankfully after just a few minutes I was feeling much better. My throat felt a bit sore, but I probably just needed a drink so we set off meandering amongst the cafés and side streets of Covent Garden.
    Feeling Nathan’s hand slip into mine and link our fingers made me grin so broadly that my lips hurt. He was regularly the one to initiate contact like this these days, and I loved it. I felt a little smug really, because life with Nathan was pretty amazing at the moment. Since the dreadful day just over a year ago where Nathan’s father had reappeared and thrown both Nathan and his brother’s