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One moment he had been Mr Jackson, after-school coding-club mentor, giving a little back to the community. The next, in an actual tripping-over-a-chair-leg, tray-flying-up-in-the-air moment, he had managed to recreate every teen-movie pastiche of the geek falling for the popular girl. The fact that he and Sephy were both a good few years past their teen incarnation hadn’t, in any way, made the move look ironic.
She had been so sweet about the coffee splash-landing against her portfolio and he had felt like such a schmuck when he had discovered she was waiting to interview for a place as a mature student on a degree course in fashion design. But as if used to men making an absolute fool of themselves in her vicinity, she had calmly mopped up the mess and offered to buy him a replacement after her interview.
Used to having way better game, Luke had spent the wait working out how to charm her into exchanging coffee for dinner. But when she had met with him thirty-five minutes later she’d had a determined look in her eyes that said she had cast their roles the moment of his initial bungled approach. They were going to be friends, nothing more.
Over that coffee, looking into eyes the colour of dark, good-for-your-heart chocolate, he had learnt that once Sephy King made her mind up about something that was that.
So friendship it was, and a year on neither of them had ever overstepped the terms Sephy had set out. Until she had asked him to be in her lingerie ad and he’d had to tamp down the spike of adrenalin that came with being reminded she had the power to surprise him.
‘Daisy,’ Sephy said mock-sternly and pulling Luke’s focus back to the present. ‘I know you know tomorrow is a school day. Stop fishing for more playtime.’
Daisy giggled.
‘Uh-huh,’ Sephy nodded. ‘Knew it. Besides, I really think I’m going to have to limit you on how many marriage ceremonies you perform a week. Your toys must be exhausted.’
‘No, Mummy, they love it,’ came the confident reply as Daisy promptly started preparing to marry another set of toys.
Luke could tell Sephy was chewing the inside of her cheeks to stop herself laughing and as she turned her attention back to him and he mentally took his cue to put her back into the friend box, he knew that aside from the unconscious sexuality she exuded, what really drew her to him, and had him accepting her boundaries, was simple. Put her daughter anywhere in her sightline and the softness that washed over her expression merged with a sort of defiant warrior-like strength that reminded him of the way Lily and Steve Jackson went about loving their kids.
Even him, which he knew he hadn’t made easy.
‘I’m sorry,’ Sephy said, flicking her gaze apologetically to his laptop, ‘I was much longer than I said I’d be and I know it’s impossible to work with Daisy running around.’
‘Relax. I wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t happy to help out,’ and if Ididn’t feel guilty as hell for not helping you with the other thing. ‘Besides, it wasn’t Daisy who stopped me working. It was me.’ He glanced down at his laptop and closed the lid. ‘I’ll get there.’ At least he would as soon as he ‘fessed up his white lie to his foster parents and dealt with the fallout.
‘So are you staying for take-out, or is this a date-night for you?’ Sephy asked.
Luke’s gaze was drawn to the silks and satins and frothy laces hanging out of the leather bag next to him on the sofa and he remembered he hadn’t had a date in…quite a while.
Damn.
No wonder he was focusing so much on Sephy and her out-there request.
Maybe he ought to go home, grab a shower and give the woman from the gaming convention he had attended in London last week a call.
Amy, he thought her name was. Or was it Laney? Jamie?
His gaze slid to Sephy, who was looking at where he had been staring. He caught the tinge of pink high on her cheekbones and noticed she wouldn’t quite look at him as she stood back up and went to give Daisy a quick hug before wandering out to the kitchen, where he could hear her filling the kettle.
When he’d picked up the bra that had fallen out of her bag the other night, he hadn’t liked that his first thought – his only thought – had been that she must have been wearing the bra…and then she wasn’t.
Immediately that had expanded into wondering if it was because someone had taken it off her.
Ryan maybe?
Daisy’s father hadn’t been back on the scene for long, but Luke knew the man was busy trying to lay down all sorts of good impressions along with his good intentions.
A dart of jealousy had hit Luke clear between the eyes and he’d had to convince himself that Sephy was perfectly entitled to do whatever she wanted with whomever she wanted.
Except for with Ryan, he had thought, as his gut had tightened painfully.
Ryan would mean it was serious. She wouldn’t go there again, otherwise. She wouldn’t risk Daisy’s happiness if it didn’t work out.
Luke could still remember the feel of the satin between his fingertips, even as he’d scolded himself that he really did not need to be thinking about Sephy and sex.
With anyone.
‘No, no date tonight,’ Luke said now, ignoring the voice in his head telling him he really ought to go home and force himself to put in a few hours’ work. He wandered into the kitchen and added, ‘Take-out would be great.’
Sephy stared at him for a second longer than he was comfortable with and then, with a brisk nod, walked over to the dresser drawer, where she kept all the local take-out menus.
‘What do you feel like having?’ she asked, tucking a strand of hair back behind her ear.
You.
Luke balked and shoved his hands into his jeans back pockets. Crap. He had to nip this in the bud. Now, indeed ever, was not the time to be taking himself off the leash where he and Sephy were concerned. ‘I’m easy,’ he said and then cursed inwardly when she whipped around from the dresser, a teasing note lighting her eyes.
A heartbeat later and it was gone.
Like she too couldn’t get her head around how asking him to model had created this awkwardness between them.
He should have left while he’d had the chance. Now, tonight – later, when he was supposed to be thinking about work, he was going to be thinking about how he hated saying ‘no’ to people he cared about; hated being the bad guy.
Hated that her asking him to help her had made him think about all those times the car had come to pick him up from where he was living and take him to someone else’s home, where he’d been looked at and assessed for fitting in, and found wanting. Or rather…unwanted.
Luke knew his jaw had tightened when he felt the roots of his teeth protest. Deliberately he faked a yawn to try and relax and then tipped his head one way and then the other to try and release some of the built-up tension in his neck.
‘Why don’t I order while you get Daisy ready for bed?’ he asked, taking out his wallet to check what cash he had.
‘I can pay for a take-out, Luke.’
Luke studiously ignored the note of censure in her voice. ‘Does it matter who pays for it?’
There was a moment’s silence and then, ‘I take it you were the one who bought Daisy that Darth Vader outfit?’
Luke caught the catch of chastisement in her voice and wished he could decipher whether it was down to the fact that he’d spent money on Daisy when Sephy was touchy about money, or whether it was because he wasn’t Daisy’s dad.
‘I guess I should have run it past you, first.’ Feeling sheepish, he thought he might as well confess all. ‘I also bought her a lightsaber.’
Sephy reached over with a mug of coffee for him and Luke winced as the chunky porcelain landed extra hard on the large wooden kitchen table. The bee in her bonnet was definitely more about the money, then.
‘In my defence,’ he said lightly, ‘you were only saying the other day that you really hoped she got over her sickly pink phase soon.’
He risked a glance, caught the twitch of her lips and thought a smile might be in the offing.
‘So what you’re saying,’ Sephy said, ‘is that I should be thanking you for helping her transition from Princess to Sith?’
‘You’re welcome,’ he grinned.
Sephy rolled her eyes. ‘And you let her watch Star Wars again, didn’t you?’
Oops. ‘Have some pity. There are really only so many times a guy can watch Frozen.’
Now Sephy’s grin spread across her face as she lowered her mug to the table and said, ‘But Luke – don’t you know? Love is an open-’
‘Argh,’ Luke stuck his fingers in his ears as Sephy started singing a tune from the film. When she saw him cross his eyes in pain, she laughed and sang louder until he was forced to start humming the theme tune to Star Wars to drown her out.
The louder she sang, the louder he hummed, until Daisy walked in, dragged off her helmet and in solidarity with her mum performed her own ear-splittingly loud rendition of ‘Love is an Open Door’.
Luke and Sephy grinned at each other like big kids, near-argument over money and over-stepping the boundaries of friendship totally forgotten in the moment.
‘Right then, Darth Daisy,’ Sephy said once Daisy had completed every verse and chorus, ‘say goodnight to Luke while I get you a quick drink. Then its bath time, followed by bed.’
‘’Night Luke,’ Daisy said, making him proud when she started singing the theme tune to Star Wars.
‘You,’ Sephy said, pointing to him as she ushered Daisy out of the kitchen, drink in hand, ‘order take-out and don’t for one minute think that I’m not paying. If the food comes before I finish putting this one to bed, my purse is in my bag.’
Luke watched them depart the kitchen.
In their wake, the sudden silence reminded him of being in his own place and how he tried to avoid that as often as possible. Ears straining, he could just about make out Sephy and Daisy chatting away about their day. Glad of the background noise but needing more, Luke picked up his coffee and wandered back into the lounge to switch on the TV. He knew to leave at least fifteen minutes before he ordered food or it would be cold by the time Sephy got to it.
His gaze was drawn to where Daisy had set up her wedding chapel. With an amused shake of his head he tore his gaze away and made a grab for the TV remote control. Flicking through the channels to get the first station playing any kind of sport, he settled on the sofa and reached for his laptop again.
Opening up the email from his foster parents, he turned his head again towards ‘wedding central’, and damned if it didn’t get him thinking.
And then he did some thinking about Sephy’s predicament.
And then he started smiling.
He might just have come up with a genius idea.
CHAPTER THREE (#ubb881ea2-9388-550c-aac5-b8e62c800f99)
Sephy pulled the door of her daughter’s bedroom gently shut and turned to follow the scent of double pepperoni pizza.
At the top of the stairs, she stopped to drag a hand through her hair and then, instead of descending downstairs, backtracked down the corridor to her bedroom with its en suite, to freshen up.
‘Not for Luke’s benefit,’ she whispered to herself, mentally flicking the ears of the little devil she imagined perched on her shoulder, holding its belly to try and contain its peal of laughter.
No, all she was going to do was splash some cold water on her face, because, wow, was she tired.
The amount of work she still had to do to get Seraphic under way meant that even her check list had check lists, but the tiredness wasn’t going to magically disappear after the launch, so her only option was to suck it up and keep going.
In the mirror over the en suite vanity, Sephy peered at her reflection and took stock. Okay. It wasn’t too bad.
But she was definitely going to get rid of the smudge of hours-old eyeliner, and maybe swipe on some lip-gloss. What? she asked her reflection. It was important to keep your lips hydrated. Everyone knew that.
Reaching out she plucked a face-wipe from the pack and let out the breath she’d been holding, hoping that along with it would come the release of at least some of the stress of the day.
But all she felt was a grinding pain in her stomach.
It wasn’t hunger that was producing the sensation.
It was the certain knowledge that if she didn’t get some more money coming in soon, she and Daisy were going to have nothing left to live on. By her calculations they had enough for two months. Depending on orders for Seraphic, three months absolute tops.
God, she must have been mad to think launching Seraphic would make all her money problems disappear, but it had been the only way she could think of bypassing asking her mum or Jared or Nora for help.
Sephy stretched to try and ease the tension in her belly.
If it came down to it, she would forsake pride and go to them. No way was Daisy going to go without.
But she wasn’t quite there yet. First, she was going to try to fix things by herself.
It would work, she tried to reassure herself. It had to.
She wasn’t sure she could endure the look on the faces of her family if she had to go to them for funds. Not after spending month after month turning them all down so vociferously.
Jeremy King had done what he’d done. Arguing about how archaic the terms of his will were, or how they didn’t understand how he could have hurt her this way, wasn’t going to change anything.
Sephy needed her family to be able to love him, not spend more time resenting him. Leading by example was the only way they would all heal from the giant hole his passing had left.
She knew why he’d done what he’d done.
Putting Sephy’s inheritance into a trust fund for Daisy – making it so Daisy couldn’t access it until she turned twenty-one – wasn’t really as disrespectful to Sephy as the family thought.
Looking at things longterm, she even agreed with what he had done.
It was just this massive short-term problem it had created that she had to deal with.
Sephy looked at her reflection and reached for her lip-gloss. Slicking the wand over her lips, she supposed she could take on a few more couture clients.
But creating couture lingerie couldn’t be rushed and the only uninterrupted time she had was when Daisy was at school or asleep.
She was already maxing out those hours as it was.
Finding another seamstress who took as much care as she did over putting her designs together, again, took time and money she didn’t have.
No, the completely outside-of-her-comfort-zone forecasts and charts she had made herself do all told her the same thing. She needed the Seraphic ready-to-wear line to sell in volume.
Which brought her back to Luke.
Sort of.
She was a little mad at him still.
Not for saying no to her, although, yes, that did smart! It was more that as well as the shock on his face, she had glimpsed how difficult he’d found it to say no and had seen in the darkening of his eyes the temptation to say yes.
She was mad to be wondering what had made him say no. She didn’t have time to indulge an overactive imagination. Luke had said no and that was that. She only had time to move on and keep focusing on the launch.
