Page 56 of A Dark Fall
Robyn calls me sometime before lunch on Tuesday, catching me completely off-guard. She never calls my office line, which should have been the first clue. Though, when I check my phone later, I see a text and two missed calls from the morning.
“So, who’s the guy?” she starts, voice accusatory, almost shrill.
“What?”
“Dan saw you last night in town. Said you were snogging the face off some guy. I figured it couldn’t have been Sam because you cut that off, and I know it wasn’t the prick ...”
Oh, god.Embarrassment rushes over me. A little panic too, though I’m not sure why.
“Where was this?” I ask tentatively. Of course, I know where it was; I’m trying to buy myself time to formulate an explanation, decide exactly how much I’m going to tell her about this thing with Jake. I need to stop calling it a “thing.”
“At the docks. He’d a late client meeting there and saw you outside a restaurant. I told him he should have gone over and said hello, but he said he didn’t want tointerrupt.”
“Interrupt” is said with inflection. As if we were having sex outside the restaurant, not kissing.
“Well ...?” she presses.
I close my eyes and let out a breath. “Of course it wasn’t Ben.”
“And it wasn’t Sam?”
“No.”
There’s a pause. “Righttt,so ...?”
As much as I love Rob, as much as she’s my best friend and there are no secrets between us, I resent that I don’t get to keep Jake to myself a little longer. I ignore the part of me that asks why I want to. Why I’m not bursting to tell her about this new, exciting thing in my life.
There I go again ...
“Can you come over tonight? I’ll tell you all about it.”
There are a few seconds of silence on the phone before she speaks. “Yeah, okay, I’ll come straight after I finish. About seven?” she says as she hangs up. Okay, so she’s definitely put out that Dan found out about this before her.Not that I blame her. I’d be the same if the situation was reversed. I know I would.
Just before lunch, Anna buzzes through to tell me someone is asking to see me. Someone who isn’t a patient. By the girly lilt to her voice, I know who it is.
I stand up and get ready to chastise him for coming to my office, but then he walks in, and like always, all rational thought leaves my head. My brain turns to syrup—warm, sticky, and slow-moving. He takes off his sunglasses as he comes in, and before the door has even closed behind him fully, he’s pulling me into him, kissing me deep and rough, his tongue sliding easily between my lips. When he pulls back from my mouth, he looks me over from head to toe appreciatively.
“So, I thought since I’m not allowed to send you flowers anymore, I’d send you something else instead.” He reaches out to take my hand and places it over the front of his jeans.
A small gasp escapes my mouth at the semi-hardness there.
“Thought you might fancy lunch.” His hands slip around my waist before he begins to slide my dress up my thighs.
“Jake, stop. Are you mad?” I peel his hands off me and take a step back, glaring at him.
He pouts sexily.“You sure?” He eyes the high bed against the wall and gives me a wicked look. “I’m fucking starving.” Oh, lord, he’s serious. “Okay then, fine. Not here. Back at yours? How long do you get for lunch?” He licks his lips, and my stomach flutters with want.
When he kisses me again, it’s more chaste, less urgent, his hands staying by his sides this time. Kissing him in my office feels wrong, but I let him do it anyway because I’m weak. Go home and have him for lunch? It feels wild and out of character, and I want it so bloody badly. My desk phone buzzes again, startling me out of my lust-filled trance. Jake makes a small noise of irritation as I pull away from him to answer it.
“Yes?” I say in the most normal voice I can muster.
“Hey, Alex. I’m just checking if that’s you out for lunch. Will I hold your calls now?” Anna still has the lilt to her voice. It’s knowing too.
I look at Jake whose eyes are on fire and unflinching, already roaming my fully clothed body as though I’m already naked. I’m not seriously considering saying no to him, am I?
No, I’m really not.
“Yes, please, Anna. When’s my next appointment?”