Page 73 of A Dark Fall
Suddenly, I remember about Robyn’s dinner party on Friday, and a small, nervous ball forms in my tummy. As I look up, I see him put a pot steamer on the hob. As though he senses my stare, he looks up too and smiles a boyish smile at me, making my insides stir.
“You’re so fucking impressed right now, aren’t you?” he says.
I nod, sipping my wine. “Mmm, I’ve never wanted you more. You slaving over a hot stove for me—definitely one of my fantasies.”
“One of?” His smile turns heated. “So then, later, I’ll get you to tell me the rest, and I’ll see what I can do about them.” He holds my stare for a moment before moving to pour water into a pot from the boiled kettle. As he does, I wonder how that conversation would go.You against that window in your office. You in an upstairs room of a party while everyone else is downstairs. You in a slightly public place. You on my Steinway ...
I feel my cheeks flush and look away from him, back down at my emails.
There doesn’t seem to be anything urgent in either my personal or work emails, and so I close the laptop and take another sip of my wine, resting my head on my hand to watch him work. He really is ridiculously gorgeous. A fierce, dangerous kind of gorgeous that’s always excited me. Even here, cooking me dinner, he has that same edge, and it gives me a heady feeling to see him like this. I somehow manage to stop myself from doing another pathetic dreamy sigh before sitting up.
“So, you never said what you got up to today. Apart from watching your well-paid cleaner earn her wages.”
He chuckles. “I went to the gym for a few hours, prepped the dinner, popped into the club for a bit.”
A few hours in the gym? Well, that explains a lot. I wonder how many days a week he spends a “few hours” in the gym. It’s impossible to stop the image that floats through my mind then. Of him working out, dripping with sweat, groaning with exertion. I lift my wineglass and take a deep, thirsty gulp. He notices my glass is almost empty and reaches out to take it, moving to refill it without a word. When he returns, he bends down to kiss me, deep and sensual. He licks his lips as he pulls back.
“Wine tastes better from your mouth,” he says, eyes fiery.
I smile, cheeks warm. “They do say you develop a taste for it over time.”
“Oh, I’ve got a taste for it all right ...” It’s said low and filthy and with so much innuendo I can’t help but laugh. Jake smiles back.
The sound of a pot boiling over grabs his attention, and he goes toward it.
“You’re distracting me even with your fucking clothes on, Alex.”
“Well, I want your best culinary effort, Lawrence, so perhaps I’ll sit in here, shall I?” I throw a glance back at him over my shoulder as I move into the living room.
“Yeah, probably a good idea.”
I pick my handbag up on the way past and fish out my phone as I flop down on his large corner sofa. There are missed calls from Mum and Nick and a text from Robyn asking if Jake can make dinner on Friday so she knows how many places to set. I decide to ignore Mum for tonight. She’ll only want to know where I am, and I don’t like lying to her, so I hit the button to return Nick’s call.
“Hey, sis, how’s it going?” He sounds chirpy.
“Great, you? You called. Everything okay?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine this end. You spoke to Mum tonight yet?”
“She called, but I missed it. Why?” I ask ominously.
“Where are you?”
I look over at Jake, who’s busy setting the cutlery on the large wooden dining table by the window. “At a friend’s, in town.”
“A guy friend?”
I sigh. “Maybe.”
He makes a whistling noise. “So, you saw Ben today, huh?”
“At a conference I was at, yes. Why? What’s going on?”
Nick makes a weird groaning noise as if he’d rather not be discussing this. “So, apparently, Harrie rang Mum tonight. Ben told her he saw you with some guy today. Christ, I sound like some gossiping old lady. And he told her hedidn’t like the lookof the guy or something, so Harrie told Mum that, and, well, you know what Mum’s like. Then she worried when she couldn’t get hold of you and so called me. But you’re fine. Which I told her you would be.”
I feel my entire body clench and my teeth grit. Bloody Ben. So now I’ll have to have a discussion about Jake with my parents whether I want to or not. Jake, who he has already planted a bad seed about in their minds. Bloody wanker.
“He’s unbelievable,” I say through gritted teeth, shaking my head.