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Silence.
‘You were much younger than me when he left. You don’t remember half of what went on—and there was lots of stuff I made sure you didn’t find out. I know you’ve got these fairytale ideas that he’ll come back and it’ll be happy families, but it’s not going to happen, Mel. He’ll pick your pocket the same time as giving you a hug.’
Her voice was quiet. He knew she was on the verge of tears, but he wasn’t prepared to have her hurt. He had to be tough with her now to stop worse pain in the future. All the same, he didn’t want to unleash the anger reserved for his father on Mel.
He softened his voice. ‘I’m sorry, sis, that’s just the way it is.’
‘I know. I just wish it wasn’t, you know?’ She sniffed. ‘I thought I should tell you, that’s all.’
‘Thanks. I’m glad you did.’
Another sniff. ‘Well, I’d better be getting on …’
‘Take care of yourself. I’ll see you on Sunday, okay? Don’t cry for him, Mel. He’s not worth it.’
‘I’ll try. Bye, Jake.’ There was a gentle but despondent click as she put the receiver down.
Jake resisted flinging his phone against the dark slate tiles of the kitchen floor and carefully placed it back in its cradle. Hadn’t that man done enough damage in the past? Why couldn’t he have just stayed disappeared? He wrenched the door of the glass cabinet open. He’d bet last year’s salary that the reason for Charlie Jacobs’s return was not a good one.
CHAPTER FOUR (#ulink_e246ccdc-aa53-508e-b4d7-f91c026ff816)
JAKE walked back towards the bottle of wine. Grinding the corkscrew into the cork felt good. Just the scent of chocolate and cherries as he poured it into a goblet eased the creases from his forehead. The doorbell chimed.
He walked into the hallway, glass in hand, and checked the screen of the video entry system. The camera looked down upon a head of dark, glossy hair. She was fiddling with her nails. Suddenly she turned and stared straight at the camera.
He actually jumped back slightly, almost as if he’d been caught spying. She gave the camera a saucy wink. It took him a good few seconds before he remembered to press the button, and the buzzer sounded long after she’d disappeared inside.
He swung his front door open and waited for her, heart thumping.
Calm. Calm.
Never lose your cool in front of a woman, remember? Who was he kidding? His cool had run screaming from the room the first time he’d laid eyes on Serena, and he hadn’t found its hiding place yet. Still, better not to let her know that.
He held the glass out to her as she rounded the corner. ‘Perfect timing.’
She took it and glided past him into the flat. ‘That’s what I like,’ she said, and stopped to take a sip. ‘A man who knows what I need even before I do.’
Jake took a little bow.
A naughty grin spread across her face. ‘I’m getting a little 1950s flashback here. Shouldn’t I be saying, Hi, honey. I’m home?’
‘Not if you don’t actually live here.’
She ignored him and waved the glass in his direction. ‘By rights, this should really be a martini and you—’ A finger lifted from the stem of her glass and jabbed the air. ‘You ought to be wearing a frilly apron.’
That was what he liked about her. She was always seeing things from a different angle. He pulled her close and kissed her ever so gently on the lips. When they pulled apart she whispered in his ear. ‘Actually, I think you’ll do quite nicely just as you are.’
He took her by the hand and led her into the kitchen.
‘Dinner smells nice. Where did you order from?’
‘Chez Jake. Do you know it?’
‘I’m not falling for that one! Don’t you know that’s trick number five in the bachelor handbook on how to impress women? Order a good takeaway and pass it off as your own. And if I’m not mistaken …’ She edged over to the bin and popped the lid up with a flourish of her hands. ‘Ta-dah!’
The smug smile evaporated from her face as she looked down into the carton-free bin. Her eyebrows rose. ‘You mean you actually cooked it all by yourself? I am impressed!’
‘You haven’t tasted it yet.’
‘But you really cooked? For me?’
‘Yes, I really did.’
A softness glittered in her eyes and she took a quick sip of her wine. When she looked up again it was gone.
He stirred the bubbling sauce. ‘Would you take the wine and the glasses through to the dining room for me? It’s just opposite.’
Serena hesitated, then walked over and gave him a feather-light peck on the cheek.
‘Thank you, Jake.’
He stopped stirring and frowned. Thank you for what? It was only dinner.
Serena placed the glasses on coasters and surveyed the bone china plates, silver cutlery and elegant wine flutes that were laid ready on the table. Long-stemmed candlesticks flanked an arrangement of fresh flowers in the centre. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined a man would pamper her so. Jake must be really serious about her. The ramifications of that thought made her heart skip a little faster.
The most she’d ever got from a boyfriend before was a packet of peanuts thrown across the pub table after he’d been to the bar. In her experience, musicians who knew she had a rich father didn’t bother frittering their hard-earned cash on her—quite the opposite. But it wasn’t the quality of Jake’s chinaware that impressed her. It had taken time and careful thought to create all this—just for her. It was utterly seductive.
Jake called from the kitchen. ‘Sit yourself down. I’ll be there in just a sec.’
She pulled out a chair and did as she was told, still marvelling at his domesticity. A vase full of creamy white roses sat in front of her. They were lovely, buds loosening with the promise of the fullness. Just like the perfect blooms of a bridal bouquet.
Clinking dishes announced Jake’s arrival. She was about to compliment him on the table setting, but all she could do when she looked up was hoot with laughter. Over the top of his jeans and shirt he was wearing the most hideous floral apron she had ever seen. Jake just grinned back at her, not fazed at all by the combination of psychedelic blue flowers and designer shirt.
He set the starters down on the table while she wiped her eyes, trying hard to leave her mascara intact. It took quite a while before the end of her sentences weren’t hi-jacked by a burst of giggles.
‘Where the heck did you dig that up?’
Jake did a twirl. ‘You don’t think it suits me?’
‘Oh, beautifully! In fact, I think you should wear it next time we go out.’
‘How about next Thursday? At your special birthday dinner?’
She gasped. ‘How did you know it was my birthday next week?’
‘A handy little tool called a search engine.’
He’d been looking her up on the internet? If anyone else had said that she’d have found it creepy—definite boyfriend marching orders! But she already knew Jake wasn’t like that. Anyway, it would be highly hypocritical of her to be cross. Hadn’t she visited his firm’s website nearly every day, just to look at the pixellated little photo of him and convince herself he wasn’t some longed-for figment of her imagination? She was secretly flattered he’d done something similar.
She tried not to look too gooey as she smiled back at him. ‘So, where are you taking me?’
Jake put a finger to his lips. ‘It’s a surprise. But I promise you this: it’s going to be a night you’ll never forget.’
She hastily studied the goats’ cheese salad in front of her. ‘You’re too good to me.’
He sounded shocked. ‘I thought you’d be used to getting the princess treatment. I can’t believe no one has ever looked into those big brown eyes and said you deserve the best.’
She swallowed a little lump that clogged her throat. ‘Mum did. But that was a long time ago—a different life, almost. She died when I was twelve.’
He took her hand and she looked up into his bottomless blue eyes, so full of compassion. Suddenly it didn’t matter if he saw that hers were tear-filled. He saw parts of her that other men hadn’t even noticed, let alone understood. It was as if she was transparent to him. Yet she didn’t feel naked or scared, she just felt known.
He pulled her hand towards his lips and placed the tiniest kiss on her knuckle. Nothing to prepare her for the shockwave that shot up her arm and bullseyed in her heart.
Her breath caught in her throat as he said, ‘I’m going to have to do a lot of making up for lost time, then.’
Dinner was fantastic. The conversation was warm and intimate. If a world existed outside the candlelit cocoon they shared, she didn’t want to know about it. She swallowed the last bite of her seafood pasta and relaxed back into her chair.
‘That was amazing!’ The corners of her mouth curled up. ‘You could take the apron off now, if you wanted to.’
His eyes jerked downwards, then he laughed. ‘I completely forgot I was wearing it!’ He tugged at the ties behind his back and slipped it over his head.
‘So where did you get it? I’m going to be very scared if I find out you have a row of them hanging in your wardrobe!’
‘No, you’re safe. This belongs to my cleaning lady. She keeps it in the hall cupboard with her cleaning supplies. You don’t think a single guy living alone is this good at dusting, do you?’ He bunched the apron up and slung it under his arm. ‘I’d better put this back. Do you want coffee?’
‘Please.’
Serena busied herself with collecting the plates and followed Jake down the hall. So he didn’t dust—who cared? Neither did she. But in every other way Jake was shaping up to be Mr Perfect.
By the time she’d wandered into the kitchen, Jake was pouring steaming espresso into delicate little cups. He took the dishes from her hands, passed her a coffee, then laced his fingers in her spare hand and tugged her towards the living room. ‘We’ll leave the washing up for now.’
‘Fine by me.’ Her eye was immediately drawn to the tall windows that almost filled one side of the room. ‘Oh, wow! You’ve got a balcony! I’ve always wanted a balcony.’
‘There’s not much to see. In a densely populated area like this, it’s just gardens and back windows.’
‘Can I take a look?’
‘Knock yourself out.’
She put down her coffee cup, unfastened the brass catch, and stepped through the French windows onto a narrow wrought-iron balcony. She could have spent an hour out there, listening to the shuffle of the wind in the trees and nosing into the uncurtained windows.
Jake’s presence was noticeable more from the heat of his body behind hers than the sound of his footsteps. He draped his arms around her shoulders like a knotted pullover and she sank back into him.
‘If I lived in this flat, I’d spend all my time out here.’
‘Would you? I like the trees, but it’s a bit too crowded. Still, it’ll do until I’ve saved up for my house in the country.’
‘Don’t you think it looks magical? Especially now people are starting to put their Christmas lights up.’
Jake grunted. ‘It’s only the second week of December! Far too early for all that stuff.’
‘So that’s why your place is twinkle-free, is it?’
‘I don’t do Christmas lights.’
Serena thought of the dog-eared tinsel and her mother’s hand-made decorations that graced the nine-foot tree in her living room. ‘Shut up, you old humbug, and give me a kiss!’
She swivelled to face him and their lips met. All she was conscious of for the next few seconds was the heady mixture of Jake’s lips on hers and the heat trapped between their torsos. Even after three weeks, his kisses had the power to reduce her nerve-endings to frazzles. If anything, there was a cumulative effect. It seemed impossible that each kiss could be sweeter than the last, but Jake was doing his best to give her solid empirical proof.
The mood shifted. What had started out as romantic and sensual was rapidly intensifying into something else entirely. Her guard was too far down. It was all she could do to lock her knees and keep herself from puddling to the floor. Jake’s hand was under her jumper, caressing her midriff and snaking a tantalising journey up her body.
A tiny voice screeched at her from the back of her head, telling her it was too soon, too intense. She’d promised herself, no matter what, that she’d use her brain rather than her hormones to set the pace. If Jake really liked her, he’d wait …
Trembling, she let the cold air rush between their lips and slid round in the circle of his arms to face outwards again. Her heart stamped an angry beat in her chest and she took a few deep, cleansing breaths.
She closed her hands over the top of his, if only to stop the mesmerising rhythm of his fingers as he stroked her bare flesh. The slice of December wind against her face was a welcome jolt. Nearly as good as a cold shower.
However, Jake didn’t seem to notice it. He nuzzled into the side of her neck and placed tiny kisses along her jaw. She had to do something to break the spell, so she straightened a little and ordered herself to pay attention to the view.
‘Isn’t it fascinating—looking into all the windows, watching other people go about their lives?’
Jake clasped her even closer, his breath raising the sensitive hairs inside her ears.
‘Riveting.’
She struggled to ignore the exquisite tickle of his lips on her earlobe. She was pretty sure if anyone took an X-ray of her insides right now, they’d be staring at a quivering mass of strawberry jelly.
She picked a window and focused intently on a mother pacing a repetitive circuit with a tiny baby propped on her shoulder. Although the pane muffled any sound, she could tell by the infant’s red scrumpled face that it was not in a happy place. Every few seconds they disappeared as the woman changed direction, but she always reappeared in the same place.
The hypnotic quality of her movements was certainly working on Serena, who suddenly noticed Jake’s hands had worked free of hers. The combination of lips and fingertips was fatal. Her eyes slid closed and her lips parted. A tiny intake of breath that sounded very much like an ah brought her to her senses slightly.
Focus, girl. Focus.
She wrenched her eyelids open and searched for another window. Two floors down, she found one. A couple—married, probably—pottered around their kitchen. He stirred a pot; she opened a bottle of wine. They were so unhurried, hardly making eye contact, but they moved around each other in a well-choreographed sequence they must have practised a thousand times, opening drawers and cupboards, dishing up their meal. She couldn’t tear her eyes away. Even the movement of Jake’s lips against her skin was almost forgotten as she watched them circling round each other in their seemingly mundane dance.
In the pit of her stomach, she ached for just a little of what they had.
‘It’s freezing out here, Jake. Let’s go back inside.’
He made no fuss, only smiled at her and opened the door for her to step through. Once inside, he fastened the catch and closed the curtains, so not a chink of the outside world remained visible.
But in her imagination she could still see the couple, sitting at a little square table, swapping stories from their day at work. She gave him an easy smile, sweet with promise. He touched her hand as she reached for her glass …
Serena tried to erase the image by taking an active interest in her surroundings. Jake’s furniture was expensive. Classic designs with a modern twist. She could have opened the pages of any one of the aspirational interior design magazines at the supermarket and seen something identical. Almost.
As she looked more closely, she noticed elements that jarred. There were too many books for a truly minimalist look—and not just work-related tomes. Novels, poetry and biographies jostled for position on the cluttered shelves. Colourful modern art canvases hung on the walls. She would have expected abstract designs in beige and brown, not Kandinsky and Chagall. In the corner, a glossy acoustic guitar with a ratty strap was propped up against a small table.
‘Do you play?’ she asked, nodding towards it.
