"What's that song? You know that I'm no good."

Carla finished her second glass of wine and grinned cheekily as she leaned across the table, dipping her spoon into the ice cream still in Nick's dessert bowl.

"So stealing my card wasn't enough, now you want to steal my food an all?" The smirk on his face again reassured Carla he didn't care at all so instead of apologising for the hundredth time that hour she just smirked back, seductively licking the remainder of the ice cream from the underneath of the spoon and shrugging her shoulders.

"Eh, what happened to 'I just want you to be happy', Nicholas? Honeymoon period over already? Tut tut." He hasn't seen her smile that wide in the longest time and he thinks he'd give all the ice cream in the world to see it again.

"And eating my pudding is making you happy, is it?" He's already put his spoon down anyway, suddenly he's not that bothered about the chocolate mess in front of him.

"Uh huh." Carla's childish grin makes him laugh and he leans back in the chair with his arms folded, watching her take his bowl and place it in front of her, tucking in again.

"You.. are awful." He's smiling though, as he shakes his head and he doesn't care in the slightest because it's the most content he has felt in weeks.

"Ah but you love me, remember Nicky?" She's teasing him with the name and a smirk again and he loves it. Which annoys him even more.

"You're asking for trouble, Connor."

"Always Tilsley."

The sexual tension between them is brewing to an all time high as Carla puts the spoon in the empty bowl and rubs her stomach in content, licking her lips.

"Was that worth it?" Nick leans closer to the table and sips his wine before pouring them both another. He knows he should encourage her to slow the drinking now but for tonight, he lets it slide. "Depriving your ever loyal boyfriend of the dessert he has been thinking about all day?"

With a satisified smile, Carla leans on her hand, her elbow resting on the table, "there's a lot you've still got to learn about me Nicholas but I'll tell you something for free. So listen good..." She motions for him to come closer with a single finger and he does because he cannot bare to deny her anything at all. Her grin makes him weak at the knees and he's thankful that he's sitting because they're close now, her lips are puckered and for a second he thinks she's about to end his misery and kiss him but instead with a sultry smile, she tortures him some more, "ice cream is allllways worth it, darlin'" before he can stop her she is leaning back in her seat and swigging her wine, the laugh she is holding back twinkles in her eyes instead and he merely shakes his head.

"And anyway, I thought it were meant to be me you couldn't get off your mind?" Her smile is suggestive and he can't help but grin, his mouth dry at thought of the nights they have already spent together, "You.. and ice cream". It's his turn to smirk

Carla throws her head back with a delicious dirty chuckle in response, "Now there's an idea."

They drink more wine and carry on in this seductive manner because they can. Because it's normal. And Carla can do normal. She has done it before, she did it with Peter for the longest time. Normal, married, even a baby. It was not her that put an end to the normality of everyday life that time and she swears it won't be her this time either. Because normal with this man in front of her is really all she wants these days.

Plenty of wine later and Carla's legs swing freely as she perches on one of the tables, Nick sitting on a chair in front of her. She has lost her shoes and he has lost his jacket as they relax in each other's company, neither wanting to leave and head home, the atmosphere in the now completely deserted Bistro too enjoyable to end just yet.

Carla finishes her own shot of whiskey just after Nick finishes his and she pulls a face down at him as it burns her throat. He chuckles at her and she kicks his leg with her bare foot, "Don't you laugh at me, Mr. I could drink you under the table."

She grins drunkenly and Nick holds his hands up in surrender, "Oh I don't doubt it for a second sweetheart." He reaches out and grabs both her hands, delighting in how she giggles and half falls off the table, perching on his lap instead, "Mm this could be seen as inappropriate in the work place Mr Tilsley."

He grins softly, just as drunk, and nods, "I won't tell anyone if you won't."

Carla acts as though she is debating it, as though she doesn't have every intention of letting him have her right there, not caring where they are. Eventually she grins, giving in and between their kisses she mumbles, "told you I was no good, Nicky."

As she kisses him, he grins more because he knows he has won and he isnt even bothered what name she calls him.

Not only has he won in that moment, relishing as she already tugs at his clothes in the desperate need for him, but he has won all around.

He has won the girl. His girl. She finally is all his. He realises now the answer to a question he and Leanne had faced so many months ago. Nick realises Peter had to flee the street because he had to flee this woman. The very woman in his arms. He gets it finally. Once you've had this, how could you ever give it up? And to have it then lose it and watch her from afar? It's a torture he knows even he isn't strong enough to handle. So he decides he won't ever give it up. Give her up. He kisses her back just as desperately as she kisses him and they tumble onto the floor of his restaurant and the rest is history.

Later, Carla's head rests against Nicks bare chest and it's now the early hours of the morning as they lay across the cold Bistro floor. His fingers gently stroke her naked back and her breathing is softer now than it has been for a long while before.

She smiles up at him sleepily as he presses a lingering kiss to her forehead, "You know I'm bloody knackered but I feel so.. Alive." Her voice is husky, laced with lasting pleasure and sleep and joy all at once. He smiles because he knows what she means. He knows she is thinking about how she so nearly wasn't alive and he pulls her tighter against him without even realising.

"I love you." He whispers and feels her smile, her eyes half closed.

"I know."

She chuckles sleepily as he nudges playfully, exhaustedly, and she nods, "I love you too, Nick."

He is content with that and even though they both know they have to wake soon, dress and leave before morning, before they are caught, they allow themselves to slumber peacefully for a while, simply too happy to care for now.