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He shook his head, his eyes gently mocking her. ‘I can’t imagine enjoying our dinners so much with anyone else.’
She relaxed into a relieved smile. ‘Then I should thank you for being you because I can’t imagine it, either.’
‘Good to be in accord on that point.’
She laughed. ‘I think we’re in accord on many points.’
‘True. Shall we order now?’
He signalled their readiness to a waiter while Laura happily assured herself that everything was fine between them.
Again it was another brilliant evening with Jake. The dinner was sensational. It was great fun enjoying and discussing the various tastes, comparing it to what they’d eaten in other restaurants. Laura visited the ladies’ room just before they were about to leave and on her way back to their table, she was struck by another little stab of uncertainty.
Jake was not looking for her return. He sat in pensive mode, a dark, bleak expression wiping out all the sparkles he’d shot her way during dinner. It didn’t take much intuition to realise something was wrong—something in the private life he didn’t share with her. Wasn’t it time that he did? They’d been seeing each other on a very intimate basis for almost three months now. Surely he knew her well enough to trust her with what was in his mind.
He brightened as she reached the table, pulling himself back from the place he’d travelled to without her, but Laura’s fighting spirit had been pricked into taking a stand. ‘What were you thinking of just now, Jake?’
He shook his head, a wry little smile curling his mouth as he rose from his chair. ‘A piece of the past. Nothing to do with you, Laura. I’ve called a taxi for us. It’s waiting outside.’
He tucked her arm around his as she frowned over his evasive reply. ‘I want to know,’ she said, shooting him a searching look.
He grimaced at her obstinacy, but did answer her. ‘I was thinking of my parents. How much they enjoyed sharing meals together.’
‘Oh!’ Laura’s heart instantly lifted. The memory had obviously saddened Jake but she felt it did have something to do with her—a connection to what they were doing, which he enjoyed with her! It made her feel their relationship was more meaningful to him than he was willing to admit at this point.
‘I’ve booked us into the Park Hotel tonight,’ he told her as they made their exit from the restaurant.
Another hotel. She knew it overlooked Hyde Park in the city centre, which gave them only a short trip to Paddington and Woollahra in the morning. It always disappointed her that he didn’t ask her home with him but she’d decided never to push it. Besides, she was still cherishing that link to his parents, whom he’d loved very much.
They didn’t chat in the taxi. Laura was keenly anticipating the sexual connection with Jake and she imagined his mind was occupied with it, too. It seemed to her he held her hand more tightly than usual, his long fingers strongly interlaced with hers, their pads rubbing her palm. She silently craved more skin-to-skin contact, barely controlling her impatience to dive into bed with him.
Certainly their desire for each other hadn’t waned at all. As soon as the door of the hotel room was closed behind them they were locked in a fierce embrace, kissing like there was no tomorrow, shedding clothes as fast as they could on their way to the bed, totally consumed with a wild passion that demanded to be slaked before easing into a more sensual love-making.
Even that seemed to carry more intensity than usual, more need for continually intimate contact, and Laura revelled in it, believing it meant Jake felt more for her now, on a personal rather than just a sexual level. It was a long time before they fell asleep and in the morning she woke to the sense of having her body being softly caressed by a loving hand. She rolled over to fling her arm around Jake, who proceeded to arouse her more acutely. They’d never had sex the morning after but they did this time, and Laura took it as another heart-hugging sign that their relationship was beginning to change to a closer one.
They ate a very hearty breakfast.
Showered, dressed and ready to leave, they were at the door of their hotel room when Jake turned and kissed her again, a long, passionate kiss that left Laura tingling with excitement on their elevator ride down to the foyer. Her mind swam with the hope he was going to ask her home with him instead of their going separate ways today.
A taxi was waiting outside the hotel entrance. Jake opened the passenger door for her and she got in, sliding along the back seat to make room for him. Instead of following her he leaned in to tell the driver Eddie’s address and hand him a twenty dollar note.
Startled, Laura blurted, ‘Aren’t you coming with me?’
His dark eyes met hers, flat dark, almost black, devoid of any brilliance. ‘No. I have somewhere else to go, Laura,’ he stated decisively. He reached out and touched her cheek. ‘It’s been good. Thank you.’
Then the brief caress was withdrawn, as swiftly as Jake withdrew himself, shutting the passenger door and signalling the driver to take her away. Which he did, given no reason not to.
Laura was too stunned to protest the move. She sat in total shock, her hopes, her dreams, her expectations crashing around her. That was a goodbye! Not a see you next time. Jake hadn’t mentioned a next time. Her hand lifted and clapped her cheek, holding on to what a creeping tide of panic was telling her had been his farewell touch.
Her mind railed over why it should be so. Surely there was no reason to give up what had been good. He would call her during the week. This couldn’t be the end. Yet the more she thought about it, the more she felt he had been saying goodbye to her all last night. And this morning. Last dinner, last sex, last kiss, last touch!
But maybe she had it wrong. Maybe, maybe…
The taxi pulled up outside Eddie’s apartment. Laura pulled herself out of her mental torment enough to thank the driver and step out onto the pavement. A glance at her watch showed almost eleven o’clock. She hoped Eddie was having a Sunday brunch with his friends somewhere because she wasn’t up to chatting normally with him, not when her mind kept running on this awful emotional treadmill.
No such luck!
He was seated at his dining table in the living room, a cup of coffee to hand as he perused the newspapers. The moment she let herself into the apartment he looked up to shoot an opening line at her. ‘Hi! Had another great night with Dad’s golden boy?’
‘Yes. A great night.’ Even to her own ears it was a hollow echo of Eddie’s words. It was impossible to work any happy enthusiasm into her voice.
He looked at her quizzically. ‘Tetsuya’s up to your expectations?’
‘Yes. Absolutely.’ That was better, more emphatic.
‘Are you sick or something?’
‘No.’
He sat back in his chair and gave her his wise look. ‘Then why do you look like death warmed up, Laura?’
She sighed, accepting the fact there was very little she could hide from Eddie. He had a very shrewd talent for boring straight through any camouflage she put up. ‘I think Jake said goodbye to me this morning and I’m not ready to say goodbye to him,’ she said, shrugging in an attempt to minimise her dilemma.
Eddie grimaced and rose from his chair, waving her to the table. ‘Come and sit down. I’ll get you a cup of coffee. It might perk you up a bit.’
She slumped into a chair, feeling weirdly drained of energy.
‘Why do you think he said goodbye?’ Eddie asked as he poured coffee from the percolator.
Laura relived the scene in her mind. ‘He put me into the taxi at the hotel, touched my cheek and said, “It’s been good. Thank you.” Usually he shares the taxi with me and tells me where we’ll meet next week, but this morning he shut the door on me and waved me off.’
‘It’s been good,’ Eddie repeated, musing over the past tense. He shook his head as he brought her the shot of caffeine and resumed his seat across the table from her. ‘If he’d said was good…’
‘No, it was been good. I’m not mistaken about that, Eddie.’
He grimaced. ‘Got to say it sounds like a cut-off line to me. Do you have any idea why?’
‘No. None. Which is why I’m so…in a mess about it.’
‘No little niggles about how he was responding to you? Like maybe getting bored with the routine you’d established?’
‘I’m not stupid, Eddie. I’d know if he was bored,’ she cried, though right now she didn’t feel certain about anything.
‘Okay. He wasn’t bored but he was saying goodbye regardless of the pleasures you both shared. That only leaves one motive, Laura,’ Eddie said ruefully.
‘What?’
‘You’ve served your purpose.’
She shook her head in helpless confusion. ‘I don’t understand. What purpose?’
‘You can bet it’s something to do with dear old Dad.’
‘But we’ve kept our whole relationship away from him,’ she protested.
‘You have, but how can you possibly know that Jake has?’
‘He promised me…’
‘Laura, Laura…’ Eddie looked pained. ‘I warned you from the start that this is a guy who plays all the angles. He’s not our father’s right-hand man for nothing. He’s obviously worked at winning Dad’s trust. He’s worked at winning yours. But let me remind you, James Bond plays his own game and I think you’ve just been treated to one of them—love ’em and leave ’em.’
James Bond… She’d stopped connecting Jake to the legendary 007 character. He was the man she wanted, the man she loved, the man she’d dreamed of having for the rest of her life. Had she been an absolute fool, getting so caught up with him? Hadn’t Jake felt anything for her beyond the desire to take her to bed? How could the strong feelings he’d stirred in her be completely one-sided?
The intensity of his love-making last night and this morning had made her believe he felt a lot for her. Eddie had to be wrong. She couldn’t think of any purpose Jake could have in loving her and leaving her. He might very well have somewhere else he had to be this morning—somewhere he wished he didn’t have to go because of wanting to be with her—and that past tense he’d used could have been simply a slip of the tongue. Maybe she’d worked herself into a stew for nothing and he would call her during the week.
Eddie shook his head at her. ‘You don’t want to believe it, do you?’
‘I guess time will tell, Eddie,’ she said flatly. ‘Let’s leave it at that. Okay?’
‘Okay.’ He gave her a sympathetic look. ‘In the meantime, chalk up the positives. You’ve had the experience of dining in some of the finest restaurants, staying in very classy hotels, plus a fair chunk of great sex. Not a bad three months, Laura.’
She managed a wry smile. ‘No, not bad at all.’
But I want more.
Much more of Jake Freedman.
And I desperately hope I get more.
CHAPTER TEN (#u88344777-0a29-5978-86f6-4112556745ea)
THE rest of Sunday went by without a call from Jake.
No contact from him on Monday, either.
It would probably come on Friday, Laura told herself, doing her best to concentrate on her uni lectures and not get too disturbed by the lack of the communication she needed. Regardless of the situation with Jake, she still had to move on with her life, get the qualifications necessary for her chosen career. Yet all her sensible reasoning couldn’t stop the sick yearning that gripped her stomach when her thoughts drifted to him. And telling herself he would call soon didn’t help.
It surprised her to see her father’s car parked in the driveway when she arrived home on Tuesday afternoon. He never left work early and it wasn’t even five o’clock. A scary thought hit her. Had something bad happened to her mother? An accident? Illness? She couldn’t imagine anything but an emergency bringing her father home at this hour.
She ran to the front door, her heart pumping with fear as she unlocked it and rushed into the hallway. ‘Mum? Dad?’ she called anxiously.
‘Get in here, Laura!’ her father’s voice thundered from the lounge room. ‘I’ve been waiting for you!’
She stood stock-still, her heart thumping even harder. He was in a rage. No distress in that tone. It was total fury. The only concern she need have for her mother was being subjected to his venom again.
The double doors from the hallway into the lounge room were open. Laura stiffened her spine, squared her shoulders and forced her feet forward, knowing that her mother would be spared the full-on brunt of savage remarks when he turned them onto her. It didn’t matter how much she hated these vicious scenes. Better for her to be here than not here.
On entering the war zone, she found her mother cowering in the corner of one of the sofas, white-faced and hugging herself tightly as though desperately trying to hold herself together. Her father was standing behind the bar, splashing Scotch into a glass of ice. His face was red and the bottle of Scotch was half-empty.
‘Are you still seeing Jake Freedman?’ he shot at her.
No point in trying any evasion when her father was in this mood. He’d dig and dig and dig.
‘I don’t know,’ she answered honestly.
‘What do you mean “you don’t know”?’ he jeered, his eyes raking her with contempt. ‘Don’t pretend to be stupid, Laura.’
She shrugged. ‘I was with him on Saturday night but he made no plans for us to meet again.’
Her father snorted. ‘Had a last hurrah, screwing my daughter.’
‘Alex, it’s not Laura’s fault,’ her mother spoke up, showing more courage than she usually did. ‘You introduced him to her.’
It enraged him into yelling, ‘The bloody mole played his cards perfectly! Anyone would have been sucked in by him!’
‘Then don’t blame Laura,’ her mother pleaded weakly, wilting under the blast.
What had Jake done? Laura’s mind was in a whirl as she crossed the room to where her mother was scrunched into as small a space as possible and sat on the sofa’s wide armrest next to her. ‘What’s going on, Dad?’ she asked, needing to get to the crux of the problem.
He bared his teeth in a vicious snarl. ‘That bastard has taken all my business to the Companies’ Auditors and Liquidators Disciplinary Board and had me suspended from any further practice in the industry, pending further investigation.’
‘Suspended?’ This was why he was home, but… ‘Investigation of what?’
His hand sliced the air in savage dismissal. ‘You’ve never been interested in my work, Laura, so it’s none of your concern.’
‘I want to know what Jake is accusing you of.’
He shook a furious finger at her. ‘All you have to know is he was hell-bent on taking me down every minute he was supposedly working for me. Rolling you was icing on the cake for him.’
‘But why? You’re making it sound like a personal vendetta.’
‘It is a personal vendetta.’ His eyes bitterly raked her up and down. ‘How personal can you get with his hands all over you, exulting in taking every damned liberty he could.’
‘Alex!’ her mother cried in pained protest.
She was ignored.
‘And you let him, didn’t you? My daughter!’ her father thundered.
Laura refused to answer.
He sneered at her silence. ‘He would have revelled in every intimacy you gave up to him.’
‘This isn’t about me, Dad,’ she said as calmly as she could. ‘I’m obviously a side issue. Why does Jake have a personal vendetta against you?’
‘Because of JQE!’ The words were spat out.
‘That doesn’t mean anything to me,’ Laura persisted.
