It Must Be Love - Jacob and Connie

Chapter Nineteen

They were in the cab on the way back from town, and Jacob took Connie's hands in his.

"Right, I want you to forget about this," he whispered. "Forget about the hectic rush out to town, because today is all about relaxing. You're going to get back to the hotel, and you're booked in for a massage. After that, we can go for a swim, or a relax in the jacuzzi, or go out to the cinema. It's your choice. I want you to let me treat you like a queen for the day." She was touched by his words, and kissed him lightly in thanks.

Back at the hotel, the pair of them climbed out of the taxi and walked slowly to the reception, hand in hand. Connie was still finding it hard to accept that she'd found love again, so holding his hand felt like an indescribable honour. The woman at reception was on the phone, but once she'd finished her call, she greeted Connie and Jacob with a smile.

"What can I do for you today, Sir?"

"Massage booking for one in five minutes, name's Masters." He replied. The receptionist typed his details in to the computer and she printed off something.

"For the lady?" She asked, with kind eyes, and something inside Connie smiled as she was referenced as Jacobs lady.

"Certainly is, do we need to fill anything out?" The woman pulled the form forward and set it on the top with a pen.

"Your wife just has to sign the paper, and confirm the time of entry. Once you're finished, you can go straight in." Connie went red, and Jacob tightened his grip around her, laughing.

"Alright, thanks." He smiled, and they took the pen and paper over to a nearby table.

"Why didn't you correct her when she said I was your wife?"

"If someone said you were a professional footballer when in reality, you only played for the local team once a week, would you want to correct them?" It took Connie a while to understand his reference, but then realised that he was saying that he was proud to be associated with her. The thought made her smile. "So, what are we doing about this form?" Connie hadn't even looked at it, but when she did, she was surprised at the professionalism. The first decision she had to make was whether she wanted a masseur or masseuse. She knew which she wanted, but she didn't want Jacob to feel jealous at having another man's hands roam over her. Jacob had the pen, and must have read her mind, as he ticked the masseur box. She smiled at him, and he didn't seem to even think anything of it, which made her smile more. He handed the pen over to her, and she signed her signature and wrote 10am as the time of entry.

"What are you going to be doing?" She asked. She noticed that it was a massage for one, and knew that it probably wasn't Jacob's thing anyway.

"I'm going to get some stuff ready, because there's one more thing I want to do for you after your massage, before I had you the reigns." He kissed her cheek and stood up, offering her his hand. She took it, and he took her to the masseur, where he gave her a farewell kiss, and left.

A couple of hours passed, and when Connie was finished, she felt so refreshed. She walked out, and Jacob was stood waiting for her. She smiled at him, and he took her into his arms. She and expected to feel tired, and she had when she she was in the warm atmosphere of the salon, but now that she'd walked out, and the crisp, cold air had hit her, she felt so alive.

"Enjoy it?"

"Oh it was fabulous," she replied. "Your demonstrations were good, Nurse Masters, but now I believe there's room for improvement."

"Understood, Mrs Beauchamp." He laughed, before swinging his arm over her shoulder and walking out with her. "Do you fancy something to eat? Nothing gourmet, just you, me, and the outdoors." They were stood just outside the reception, and there was a backpack on the floor, but Connie hadn't paid much attention to it.

"That sounds great."

"Good, because I organised a picnic." Connie laughed. Jacob seemed to have everything covered for these few days, and she felt like the luckiest girl on the earth. She realised that the whole weekend-away thing was a bit over dramatic considering last night was only their first date, but he had a way of making her feel special, and Jacob was an over dramatic person - could she really have expected any less? "There's a gorgeous spot about a mile from here, so it should take us about twenty five minutes." Connie nodded, and Jacob swung the backpack, which she didn't even notice was there, over his shoulder, and they set off on their journey.

The walk was uphill for the most part, only they didn't try to rush it - just walked together, like a couple would, and talked about their interests. It fell silent for a few minutes, and they just listened to the bird song, enjoying each other's company.

"Jacob?" Connie spoke up, after being deep in thought for several minutes.

"Sweet cheeks."

"No one has ever done something like this for me before."

"And I've never done it before; you're a special case, Mrs B." She walked with him, holding his hand and resting her head on his shoulder every so often. They soon stopped at the top of the hill, and Jacob set the backpack down on the floor. The views were gorgeous, and Connie stood gazing at them while Jacob set everything up. He pulled out a mat, and placed boxes of traditional picnic food along it - sandwiches, pork pies, cocktail sausages and the like. He'd brought some choices of sauce, plainly because he couldn't have a pork pie without brown sauce, and set them down too. He had a bottle of pop, and two glasses, and the hissing of the drink while he was pouring it made Connie turn around.

"Oh, Jacob, it's perfect." She said, gasping, and sitting by him. "You're perfect." She sat in front of him, and he wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his head on her shoulder and swaying them both side to side, parallel with the wind. "I don't want to go back to reality." She whispered.

"This is reality, Connie. It's not a dream. You and me, we can have everything, no matter where we are."

She smiled, and closed her eyes, absorbing this feeling that she hadn't felt for so many years. She never remembered feeling it this strongly before, and she felt as though their bubble of happiness was completely impenetrable. She took a bite of a sandwich, and he shared it with her, meeting in the middle to kiss. Though short and sweet, it was a meaningful kiss, and they both felt completely serene in each other's company. She turned around to face him, and soon ended up on top of him. She moved in to kiss him, and he welcomed it, but once she moved her hands to pull his shirt off, he stopped and forced her to break the kiss. She knew what was coming, and she knew he was doing it to make their first time more memorable, but the anticipation was eating her up.

"Tonight," he whispered, pressing a final kiss to her lips.