They began raking the leaves up into huge piles, and even though they had been wet mere days before, the wind had dried them sufficiently that they crackled satisfyingly under their rakes as they gathered them for bagging.

Drew couldn't resist falling, back first, into a huge pile of them, and did so with a loud whoosh as Chiara watched, laughing.

"Normally my brother would be doing this with me," he told her as he stood up and did it again. "And William Wallace as well. And my mum would be taking photographs of the whole process."

"Well, too bad they're not here with you, then," Chiara commiserated.

Drew looked at her with a speculative gleam in his eye that she didn't recognize in time, and the next thing she knew, Chiara was lying in a pile of leaves, looking up at the deep blue sky. A shriek of surprise escaped her, much to her embarrassment.

"I can't believe you did that!" she gasped.

"Oh, come on, it was fun, admit it," he laughed.

"You pushed me, you wanker!" She struggled to sit up. "I am so getting you back--" she warned him. She pushed him before he registered what she was saying, and he went down, hard, in the same pile he'd just risen from.

She then added insult to injury by grabbing a handful of leaves and shoving them down the front of his hoodie while laughing. The leaves tickled him so much that he then started laughing, so hard he could barely breathe. She pressed her advantage by straddling his chest and grabbing another handful of leaves and rubbing them in his face.

"No! Chiara, no! Ouf! That tickles! Oh god, I can't breathe, fuck me!" He was nearly helpless with laughter, writhing underneath her. He finally was able to tip her off into the leaves, and retaliated by sitting on her midriff the way she'd just done to him. The difference was that he outweighed her by at least fifty pounds, and she really couldn't move.

She was wearing overalls, and he did like she had, stuffing the crunchy leaves down the front of her bib, tickling her and making her laugh. She wasn't nearly as ticklish as he was, however, and she did laugh, though not to the point of not being to breathe, like he had.

He was aware of his arm brushing against her not insubstantial breasts as he stuffed the leaves down her front, and he yanked his arm out, wondering if she noticed and would call him out on it. She just kept laughing and rolling around under him, however, and he took a figurative sigh of relief.

She did try to bring her legs up to kick him off her; this maneuver nearly worked, since her legs were so strong; he had to squeeze her very tightly with his thighs to keep her underneath him.

"Stop wiggling, you little minx," he gasped, grabbing her hands and holding them down in an attempt to keep her from struggling.

He could see that her color was high, and she was breathing hard, her dimple was impossibly deep as she grinned up at him. Her hair had come partially undone, and had leaves tangled in it, like she was a woodland sprite, and her lips were impossibly red.

She was beautiful.

While most of him was registering the sunny day, the blue sky, and the impossibly pretty girl lying underneath him, another part of him, some rogue part that he seemed to have no control over, bent down and kissed her on her gorgeous, luscious mouth.

He realized as his lips touched hers that he was still straddling her, holding her trapped underneath him as his hand held both her wrists prisoner above her head.

He immediately released her wrists, hoping that a slap or worse wasn't coming his way, since technically he'd stolen this kiss from her. At the same time, he relaxed his thighs, letting her know that she was free to do as she wished, that she was not his captive any longer.

Chiara brought her arms down from above her head and planted her hands in his soft brown curls, burying her fingers close to his scalp. She also raised her legs at the knee so he had a place to lean. He heard her make a soft sound of eagerness as she opened her mouth slightly against his, pulling them both a bit deeper into the pile of crunchy leaves.

Thank Christ.

He planted his hands in the leaves on either side of her head so he wouldn't crush her with his body and opened his mouth against hers, loving the feel of her lips. The kiss quickly deepened into something neither of them expected a first kiss to be, and the next thing Chiara was consciously aware of was that her hands were under his hoodie and whatever shirt he had on. She was touching his smooth skin, her hands roaming freely all over his hard, toned back as they continued to kiss.

"Mmm," he moaned, his tongue sliding slowly into her mouth. He felt like he'd been waiting to kiss her all his life, this gardener's daughter with the round body, pretty legs and luscious lips.

"Chiara? Chiara."

"Mmm?"

He pushed himself off her and rolled away into the leaves with an effort, taking a deep breath and letting it out through puffy cheeks.

They lay next to each other for a minute, catching their breath, before he sat up and looked down at her.

"You look absolutely glorious," he told her. "And we had to stop before we broke public decency laws."

She nodded.

"Do we both agree that we probably shouldn't go down that path?"

She nodded again. "Yes. I mean, we can barely tolerate each other most of the time."

He smiled.

"Right." He offered her a hand. "Let's get these leaves bagged up, then shall we?"

"Okay, let's," she agreed.

"Hang on," he said, laughing. "Your hair is a right mess, let's get it squared away first."

He had her turn around and he pulled the hair tie out, so he could undo what was left of her braid. He used his fingers as a makeshift comb and raked her thick, dark hair into a pony tail and tied it as tightly as he could.

"Not half bad, if I say so myself," he said when he was finished.

"Thank you." She felt her hair, checking his work.

Next, they pulled out all the leaves the other had shoved down their fronts, laughing as they shook the leaves out their pant legs and sleeves.

They made short work of bagging up the leaves, then moved on to clipping broken branches and tying up straggling bushes.

"You don't have to help me with this, honest," Chiara told Drew. "This is my job, it feels strange to have you out here."

"How about this, then? I'll go in and order us some takeaway for dinner?" he suggested.

"You don't have to--" she began.

"I know I don't have to," he interrupted. "But the company would be nice. Unless you have to get home to your dad?"

She shook her head. "No, he won't mind."

"Ace." He grinned at her. "You like sushi? I'll order some sushi and we can watch a movie or something, what do you say? We might even make it an entire day without an argument."

"Sounds nice," she agreed with a nod. "I'll be finished out here in about half an hour, okay?"

He went in and Chiara bent to her work again. She rubbed her lips, remembering the kiss they'd shared. Amazing how there could be so much heat between them, when he was someone she thought she despised, someone who'd made it so clear he thought so little of her.

She went in about forty-five minutes later, and they scrolled through the movie menu, finally settling on "The Descent," a truly frightening horror movie about a bunch of women who embark on a spelunking trip that goes terribly wrong.

The sushi arrived shortly after the movie began, and both were pleasantly surprised that the other actually liked real sushi, that is to say chunks of raw fish on top of rice mixed with vinegar, and not rolls of cooked things mixed with mayonnaise as was frequently passed off as sushi outside of Japan.

"Do you like uni? Sea urchin?" Drew asked Chiara, pointing to a yellowish piece with nori wrapped around it.

"I do, but it's so expensive I rarely order it," she said, grasping it and popping it in her mouth.

"Good girl," he said approvingly.

"What about ikura? Salmon roe?" She asked him, pointing.

"One of my favorites," he declared. "Why do you think I ordered so much of it?"

"You actually did order quite a bit of food," Chiara noted. "Enough for at least four people."

"Well, I figured if you stayed for a double feature, we might want to nosh on it later?" He looked at her, eyebrows raised.

"Let me send my dad a quick text," she said, pulling out her phone.

"Of course," he wrote back. "You never have any fun, please stay out as long as you like."

"Thanks, dad. Love you."

"Love you, too."

"All set?" Drew asked.

She nodded.

For their second movie, they decided they wanted something a little lighter, so they watched "Call Me By Your Name," which was a drama, but at least not gory and terrifying like the other had been.

Chiara was surprised when she heard sniffing and she turned to find Drew crying during one part of the movie.

"You old softie, you," she declared, passing him a tissue.

"Don't tell anyone," he laughed. "Only the lads know this about me."

"Your secret's safe with me," she assured him.

"Speaking of 'the lads,' when are they coming back? I thought you guys were going to do some recording here or something?" Chiara asked.

Drew nodded blowing his nose. "Well, the studio won't be finished until the spring, so I'm thinking of having a house warming or something in April or May and then having them stay to do some then? Ned might come back before that, just because he's not close to his real family, so he tends to spend holidays and such with me and mine."

Chiara nodded. "I liked Ned. He was lovely, like  a wonderful puppy."

For some reason, Drew didn't like hearing this. Nor did he want to tell Chiara that Ned had been a little smitten with her as well. He held his tongue.

As the movie was ending, Drew began to really cry.

"Oh god, Drew, are you okay? Have you not seen this before?"

Drew shook his head. "It's so awful, you know? To really love someone, probably for the first time, and to have to part?"

Chiara was speechless.

She scooted over and hugged him, pulling his head down on her shoulder. She hoped this was okay, and that he wouldn't feel she was trying for a repeat of the afternoon in the leaves.

His arms came around her and they just stayed that way while the credits rolled.

He finally released her and reached for a tissue.

"Thanks," he said, his voice soft. "I guess I've been a little too much on my own these last couple of weeks."

"Maybe so."

"My mum and brother are coming back in a few days, so no worries," he assured her, seeing the look on her face.

Chiara just looked at him. "Well, this has been so fun, but I guess I'd better be going," she finally said.

And for a split second it was on the tip of Drew's tongue to ask if she'd just stay, but then common sense took over.

Was he crazy?

"Okay," he agreed. "Please be careful driving, it's awfully late, and quite dark on the roads. You live on the other side of Beresford Road, right?"

She nodded. "No worries, I've been driving these roads my whole life."

He walked her to her truck, and leaned in and pecked her on the cheek.

"Thanks for staying, darling," he said without thinking. He heard his words and blinked. "I mean, thanks for staying."

"Thanks for having me," she replied, thankful it was dark so he couldn't see her blush at the term of endearment.

"Night, then."

"Night.