"I should walk you back to your caravan," he suggested.
"Mmm, maybe I can stay here?" Rose wondered.
Alec knew there was no excuse for letting her stay and be with her two nights in a row.
"It's really not a good idea," he tried to object. "Besides, I only have a slightly larger than single bed and the door will not close properly."
Rose let out a laugh.
"You are joking?" she asked him as she stayed where she was.
Alec tried to remove her arms but Rose wasn't budging.
"Rose, I am being serious," he reminded her. "There is just barely enough room for myself."
"I just don't wanna be on my own," Rose admitted.
"Rose, you came down here to forget about your wedding plans," he then reminded her. "You should maybe have stayed at home or brought your fiancé with you."
He felt sorry for her but he was playing with fire here.
"John spends more time at work on one of his projects," Rose told him. "I asked him to come with me. He must be as tired of my mother and her wedding plans as I am."
"Then that is the price you have to pay for being famous," Alec replied. "Rose, promise me this is not just about being with your fiancé?"
"No Alec, of course not," Rose replied as she stood back. "Why do ya think that?"
"It seems to me you cannot accept the fact you are away from him," Alec told her.
"Fine, walk me back then. You don't have to see me again if ya don't want to," Rose huffed, going for her things she'd left on a chair.
She saw the bedroom door was open and wondered if had ever closed.
"Rose, don't leave like this eh?" he asked her as she put her jacket on. "I want us to be friends, I just want to know if this is going anywhere. My ex wife left me because she accused me of always working."
"Are ya still working too much?" Rose wanted to know.
"No, I'm on sick leave but I teach over at the academy in Exeter. Once I have my surgery, I'll be able to go back to my old job, on reduced hours for now. Rose, you will just go home and forget about me."
Rose let out a nervous laugh.
"What makes ya think I'll forget you?" she wanted to know.
He held his arms open and she cautiously moved back towards him. He leaned down to kiss her forehead.
"I never meant you should forget me but you have to justify spending your time here with me," he told her. "What if a stray reporter sees us together and think I am your fiancé?"
"Well if they do, we'll just give 'em the run-around," Rose suggested.
"Have you done that before?" he wondered.
"What do you think?" Rose replied, trying not to laugh.
Alec knew she was never going to be serious.
"Then I have to believe you," he told her. "Rose, it would be a pleasure to spend a few more days with you."
"Really? Yeah, I'd like that Alec. Maybe we can go somewhere tomorrow? Down to Weymouth?" Rose suggested.
"Fine. Now, are you going to your caravan where there is more room or are you staying here and try and fit both of us in one single bed?" he wanted to know.
Rose liked nothing better than a challenge. After dancing some more and having a hot drink later on, Rose had borrowed one of his t-shirts and he had let her get undressed first in the small bedroom. Rose had scrambled into bed, going right up to the window and Alec stood at the bottom of the bed trying to get undressed and desperately searching for another clean t-shirt.
He found one in the bottom drawer and slipped it on, swearing that Rose was sulking under the duvet. Why had he let her stay with him last night after he'd woken her up? If he hadn't called out and woken her, he wouldn't be in the dilemma he was in now. He carefully got into bed, the only light coming from the string lights over the road bridge and the street lamps.
Rose slid over him until she was on top of him, Alec wondering if she knew what she was doing to him. He may have a bad heart but it wouldn't stop all the feelings he was having as Rose lay on him. Rose indicated she wanted him to remove her skimpy underwear, which he was only too pleased to do so but he stopped her going for his shorts.
"Aw come Alec, we can at least have some fun?" Rose hinted.
"Rose, we should stick to the simple things," he suggested. "I'm not saying I don't want to have real sex with you but you have to let your conscious stop you from going too far."
Rose tried to get off him but he held her in place.
"Let me go then Alec," Rose told him.
"Just relax Rose and see how we can compromise?" he asked her.
Rose stopped struggling to find her underwear, which she supposed was by now at the bottom of the bed.
"Well okay then? I suppose you're right and I'm getting carried away a bit?" Rose had to agree.
"Maybe we can just take it easy and relieve some of the tension?" he then suggested. "I have been on my own for a while now."
He didn't want to mention he'd made a complete ass of himself by asking Becca Fisher to spend some time with him. He would rather forget about that but had she told anyone? He hoped not.
Rose initiated the kissing, which were short, sweet kisses and getting used to Alec's scruffy beard was taking some doing but they both began to relax with each other. He left it up to Rose as to how far she wanted this to go but he was determined to stop it before they went too far.
Thankfully for Alec, Rose seemed contented after he smiled to himself when she had made some funny noises that he supposed were her way of saying she had enjoyed the feelings that had washed over her. He'd had to admit it had also felt good for him as well but he couldn't let it go any further until she assured him she was going back home to end her engagement to the lucky Doctor John Smith.
He had wondered why she didn't mention her fiancé much though. Had she come here to also forget about the man she was engaged to as well as her mother interfering with their wedding plans? He had to keep reminding himself that not only would her fiancé be upset Rose was at least putting off their wedding plans but her mother may be the one who was most put out.
From what he had read about this Jackie Tyler, she liked showing off her famous daughter whether Rose liked it or not. No wonder Rose had run away from her wedding plans. A wedding was difficult enough to organise for anyone but having the gossip columns and gossip social media accounts waiting for the most tiniest of hints the couple were going to soon announce an actual date must be a pain.
He couldn't really blame Rose for running away and hope no-one would spot her and was now doing her best to make his shorts move out of the way since he wouldn't let her take them off. He wasn't sure though that he was happy at the prospect people may recognise Rose and mistake him for John Smith and get them to pose for photos.
Then Rose's real fiancé would probably get jealous if he saw the newspaper articles and who was claiming to be him out in public on the south west coast that Rose may not have to do anything to tell the man the wedding was being put off, at least for now anyway. Would Rose just put it off for a short time or indefinitely?
"Mmm, Alec, are ya okay?" Rose wondered a few moments later as he lay trying to let the last ebbs of the tide that had washed over both of them subside.
"I am fine Rose, you would know if something was wrong," he tried to assure her.
"I don't wanna cause ya any discomfort," Rose replied as she wondered if she should try and retrieve her underwear or if Alec would prefer to do the honours? "Why won't ya part with your shorts then?"
"Rose, as pleasant as what just happened was, we can't go any further," he reminded her again.
"So ya keep bloomin' well saying Alec." Rose told him.
"It's for your own good Rose, trust me," Alec claimed. "I am not making up excuses but you really need to think about this."
"Ya think I've not been thinkin' about it?" Rose tried to prop herself up on her elbow, which was difficult given the small bed. "I have been thinkin' about it Alec. Who says I can't spend my time down here with you?"
"I am not saying you can't spend your time with me Rose," he tried to assure her once again. "The problem lies with when you go home. Like I pointed out before, you have to face your fiancé and your mother. How far has she got with the plans?"
"Far enough," Rose had to admit. "Basically, she has everything in place once we set a date. John's draggin' his heels tied up in one of his projects and he won't sit and discuss a date."
"A secret project?" Alec asked, since he meant to look the man up once Rose left in the morning.
Then he remembered she'd roped him into going to Weymouth with her.
"I swear I can't tell ya what it is Alec," Rose told him, giving up on him seeking her underwear and she'd just have to get out of bed and find it herself.
"So it is a hushed up then?" Alec wondered as Rose tried to get out of bed without either of them ending up on the floor.
He then thought maybe she was going back to her caravan after all.
Locating her underwear, she quickly put it on and ran off to the bathroom, Alec smiling to herself that she must have really enjoyed what had just taken place and she needed to freshen herself up, amongst other things. He put his arms behind his head and waited for her coming back, hoping she wouldn't fall over anything in the dark.
Rose had kept on her lacy black top, Alec not attempting to remove it but he hadn't quite been able to stop his hands straying under it at some point, he smiled to himself as he thought about it. Rose was much more responsive than Tess had ever been, had he dated and married Tess because there had been a shortage of women who understood the pressures of being in the police? Considering their marriage had broken down after twelve years spoke for itself really, he supposed?
He had just gone with it and been surprised Tess hadn't asked him why he hadn't fought to get her back. He'd just let her go despite her showing off her new boyfriend, not that everyone except him in the station in Sandbrook hadn't known.
Getting back into bed, Rose let Alec go on his side and she snuggled into him.
"So, Miss Tyler," Alec tried to be serious. "If I don't take off my shorts tomorrow night, are you ending our little arrangement?" he wondered.
"What?" Rose tried to look at him. "I never said that Alec."
"I was merely checking," he corrected himself.
He thought maybe he was the only man on the planet who would have gone the whole way with her if they'd been invited and who had flatly told her he wasn't prepared to let things go that far. Had he made the right decision, he wondered as Rose tried to move.
"Well I thought we'd agreed to see each other as long as I was here?" she reminded him.
"Yes, if you still want to?" Alec asked her.
"Yeah, I do, you plum," she teased him, kissing his shoulder where she could reach, since he'd got too warm and taken his t-shirt off.
Rose was doing more than just keeping him warm, he had to admit. She had made sensations he thought were lost come alive again. Now, in a few days, she would be gone, going back to her old life.
"When do you leave the caravan?" he changed the subject.
"I have to hand the keys in before ten on Friday morning," Rose admitted, running her finger along his other shoulder.
"Then stay here with me, until Sunday?" he asked hopefully, thinking she was bound to say no.
"Well?" Rose debated.
"Geez Rose, does it need thinking about?" Alec wondered, getting him a nudge. "Just say yes or no, eh?"
"Yeah, okay then," she had to agree or they would be debating this all night and Alec needed his sleep. "Well, you come back to the caravan with me in the morning and leave a few things, then we can go straight back there when we've been out," she suggested.
He supposed it did make some sort of sense? After kissing for a while longer, Rose thinking he was a better kisser than John was but she supposed Alec had a better advantage in such things, they fell asleep with Alec hoping he didn't hit her or she fell on the floor should he wake up suddenly. She also thought that explained a few other things as well because she was almost certain she'd never had a first time with John.
Maybe John didn't know nearly as much as a normal human male in that department though, Rose thought as she relaxed even more closer to Alec. Could she go back to John now? Maybe if nothing else happened between her and Alec but what if he did want to take things further?
Alec managed not to wake up before his alarm and felt Rose leaning on him and thought himself to be very fortunate. Even if Rose wasn't so famous, they may have come across each other at some point? Rose felt him moving and yawned.
"Hey," she greeted him.
"Hi. Do you need to move?" he had to give her the choice since if he wasn't very, very careful, nature would take its course.
"Yeah but that depends," she teased him again. "I could go for more of last night," she hinted.
So could he, he thought to himself as Rose gave him another hint.
"Wanna swap?" she asked him with a big smile on her face.
"I'm too heavy to just lie on you," he thought she meant.
"I didn't mean you lying on me Alec. I know ya have to be careful," she told him.
"You are most considerate Rose," he replied. "Ah, you mean for me to lose my shorts?"
"Now ya getting it Alec," Rose laughed.
"That's not a good idea Rose," he tried to tell her.
"I won't let anything happen," Rose then insisted. "I won't make things bad for ya."
"I know that Rose but either one of us could get carried away," he reminded her. "You may regret it if things get out of hand."
"Ya don't know that," Rose then insisted. "I just wanted to feel what it would be like, I mean with me keeping my underwear on and you, well ya know what I mean?"
Alec knew full well what she meant, that he had to take the responsibility of how far they took this. He was skating on very thin ice and they both knew it. Who would be the one to give in and Rose betray her fiancé or was John Smith still her fiancé?
The way Rose had been talking, it seemed like she had to make that decision when she got home but her conscious wouldn't be clear if he let her finish what she was now trying to do.
"Rose, think about it eh?" he tried to ask her.
Rose stopped tugging at the waistband of Alec's shorts.
"One of us can call out to stop," she reminded him.
"Maybe so but it may be too late and you could get up and leave," Alec told her.
"I wouldn't do that Alec," she told him. "I may get scared and back away."
"Scared of what?" he wanted to know. "Rose, why are you scared?" he tried to look at her in the morning sunshine coming through the wooden blinds. "Oh, something you may lose?" he wondered. "Rose, I would never go that far without your permission," he promised her. "Has your fiancé been pressuring you?"
"No. What makes ya think that?" Rose wanted to know.
"All the signs are there Rose," he told her. "You have nothing to worry about with me. I'm not that capable at present."
"Aw, don't put ya self down," Rose turned her head to reach for a kiss.
"Rose, as much as I want to make the attempt, it may be impossible and I would end up in the hospital," he warned her. "I once asked the owner of the hotel I was staying at before I got this place, she turned me down and rightly so. She had to call for an ambulance a few nights before when I collapsed in my bathroom."
"Geez, ya must be really bad then?" Rose decided to move her hand that was hovering over his shorts.
"Don't worry about it," Alec told her.
"Well tough Alec, I would be worried about ya," Rose replied. "Well I guess we'll have to stick to kissin' and me losing my underwear?"
"Rose, we don't have to continue, you can back out," Alec offered. "We could still be close friends, if you want?"
"Well I do want more kissin'" Rose admitted. "Okay, see what happens tonight?"