Page 86 of Worth Every Game
When I’ve finished, we gather our things and say thanks to Dan, who waves us off with a profusion of kind words about my work, looking as exhausted as I feel.
I shoulder my guitar as we make our way out onto the street. I need to go home and put my feet up.
“Shall we get dinner?” Jack says, as he takes my guitar from me without a word.
“I’d rather head home. I’m knackered.”
A flinch skates across his face.What’s that about?“We should eat out. I don’t want to cook and I haven’t stocked the fridge.”
“I don’t care. I’ll have a slice of toast. I’m not hungry. I can’t face eating out now. Let’s just go home and be together.”
There’s that flinch again.A bolt of worry races up my spine.
“Okay,” he says, but the tension in his voice suggests he’s very much not okay at all, and he leads me back to his car without a word. I can sense there’s something wrong, and for the duration of the drive back to his house, he’s on edge. I can feel his energy scraping up against me. I figure he’ll tell me what’s wrong when he’s ready, but I don’t like it.
He parks up outside the house, a grim look on his face. And when he gets out of the car, he scans the surrounding area, peering into the shadows like he expects to be pounced on as we walk up to the front door.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I ask. “You were moody in the car, and now we’re here, you’re all jumpy, like you think the bogeyman’s going to spring out of the bushes.”
He sighs. “Kate said Mum was coming up to see me.”
Ah, that explains it. “God, I hate your mum. No offense. She’s always so prickly and judgy. I think she hates me.”
That grim expression fixes itself back on Jack’s face. “She can be tough work,” he concedes, but the tight set of his shoulders has sirens ringing in my head. His mum might be a dragon, but he’s unnecessarily tense about the prospect of her being here.
“She doesn’t have keys, does she? Is she gonna be in there?” I nod at the house, dreading the idea of having to deal with Mrs Lansen right now.
“She does not have keys to my house,” Jack confirms.
“Then what are you worried about? It’s late. She’s not going to turn up now, is she? She probably came while we were out and went home again. Come on. Let’s go have a cup of tea.”
Jack presses his lips into a line and forges to the front door, but before he opens it, he turns back to me. “About last night, and Kate finding out about us—”
“Oh yeah, I was thinking about that too. How did she know? Did you tell her?”
“I didn’t.” He sighs and moves his hair from his forehead with one hand, surveying me for a moment. “You’re beautiful.”
His words slide inside and unravel me, and before he can say anything else, I pull him in for a kiss, and in seconds, his mouth is melting into mine. Kissing someone has never felt as intense as it does with Jack. One touch of his tongue against mine, and my whole body is on fire.
“We don’t have to stop now, do we?” I whisper, recalling how he said we didn’t have time to fool around this morning.
He frowns like he thinks it’s a bad idea, and takes his keys from his pocket to open the front door, but I put my hand on his arm to stop him.
He throws me a questioning look. “Two seconds and we’ll be inside,” he says.
“I’m serious. I want you now.”
He draws back, a smirk on his face. “Really? In the porch?” He hasn’t opened the front door yet, and he glances to the street beyond his front garden and the low wall that separates us from the pavement. There’s a street lamp a little way away, but here, in the shadows, no one can see us and the street is empty. There’s no one around.
“Right here,” I confirm.
He puts down my guitar and pulls me into him, kissing me again, one of his hands tangling in my hair, cupping the back of my head.
And then, again, those words come to mind.
I love you.
I kiss him deeper to drive them away.I cannot fall for this man.His hand runs up my thigh and I hike my leg onto his hip. He shifts us so my back is pressed against the wall.