by Kate Hardy
Nobody was home, so she left a message saying she was going out to dinner with a friend—she knew that being more specific would probably result in a barrage of phone calls and texts telling her she was crazy and offering to come and rescue her—and that she would get a taxi home.
When they’d found a restaurant, ordered drinks and sat down, Mitch noticed the slightly anxious expression on Jane’s face as she looked at the menu. ‘What’s the matter?’ he asked.
‘Do you think they’ll, um, cook me something a bit plainer, if I ask?’
She’d enjoyed the rich food they’d eaten before; it was odd that she wanted plain food now. But fine, he’d go with the flow. He didn’t want a fight over something so trivial. ‘Sure. I’ll ask for you.’
‘Thanks. I’m just not very good with strong smells at the moment.’
‘Why not?’
She closed the menu. ‘Morning sickness. Strong smells make me feel a bit queasy.’
Oh, hell. Back to the baby again. He really didn’t want to talk about the baby—even though that was why he was here. He wasn’t ready. Food was a nice, neutral topic—he switched back to what they’d been talking about. ‘What do you want to eat, then?’
‘Grilled chicken, plain boiled rice, steamed veg—that sort of thing.’
‘Sure.’ When the waiter came over to take their order, Mitch explained what Jane wanted, and ordered a jug of iced water to go with their meal. He also made sure his own food wasn’t something that would smell too strong.
And although the food was good, conversation was awkward—and Jane kept disappearing.
At the fourth time, Mitch leaned back in his chair and looked her straight in the eye. ‘Are you trying to avoid me?’
‘What makes you think that?’ She frowned, looking puzzled.
‘You keep making an excuse to go to the loo,’ he pointed out.
‘It’s not an excuse. It’s the effect of hormones—I’m either feeling sick or needing to pee. A lot.’ She grimaced. ‘And I fall asleep at the drop of a hat.’
‘Oh.’ He felt the colour shoot into his face. Stupid. He ought to know.
Then again, he’d never had anything to do with babies. And as for the dark days of two years ago…Well, it hadn’t reached this stage. He’d had no reason to read up on it. And he tended to avoid any book title with the p-word or the b-word anyway. ‘Sorry,’ he muttered. ‘And actually, that’s what I wanted to do. Apologise for the way I treated you. Before. When you told me.’ He still couldn’t bring himself to say the word. Baby.
‘So why did you?’
‘I…’ He knew he should tell her—that he owed her a proper explanation—but the words stuck to the roof of his mouth and refused to come out. ‘It was a bit of a shock,’ he prevaricated. It was the truth. Just not the whole truth.
‘It was a shock to me, too.’
‘I’m sorry,’ he repeated.
‘So what does this mean? That you want to be involved after all?’
‘I…’ He hadn’t expected this. He blew out a breath. ‘Let’s just take this slowly.’
She shook her head, her mouth thinning. ‘You’re unbelievable.’
Ah, hell. He didn’t want her to walk out on him. But at the same time he couldn’t tell her the things he’d kept locked inside for so long. He reached across the table and took her hand. ‘This isn’t an easy situation, Jane. For either of us.’
‘Right. So now you’ve got that off your chest, you’re going to disappear again.’
It was a statement, not a question. ‘No. Well, not immediately,’ he admitted.
‘When are you going?’
‘In about a week.’
‘I see.’
He rubbed the pad of his thumb across the backs of her fingers. ‘I’m here for a few days, Jane. Why don’t we spend the time together? Get to know each other better?’
‘Because I have a job. I can’t just take time off at your whim.’
‘I don’t mean during the day. I have things to do here.’ Nothing he couldn’t do from a distance or leave to Harry, but that wasn’t the point. ‘Look, tomorrow’s Saturday. We can spend the day together. Go out somewhere. You choose where you want to go.’
‘You honestly think I want to spend the day with you?’
‘We had a good time before,’ he reminded her. ‘Walking round, seeing the sights, having tea at the Ritz.’ Having sex. Not that this was the right time to remind her of that. She was clearly still angry with him.
Though there was also still that spark between them. The feeling that made his blood heat. And he could see in her eyes that it was the same for her, too—even though she was clearly trying to resist it.
‘I’ll think about it.’
He wasn’t going to beg. But he did his best to be charming, amusing company until the end of dinner. Until she started yawning—hadn’t she said that she fell asleep at the drop of a hat at the moment?
‘I’ll take you home,’ he said. He called a cab and settled the bill while they were waiting. When the taxi pulled up outside her house in Old Isleworth, he kissed her cheek. ‘See you tomorrow, then. Ten o’clock.’
‘I…’ She sighed. ‘OK. Ten o’clock.’
‘Good.’ He made the taxi wait until Jane was safely inside and had closed the front door, and then headed back to the short-let flat Harry had organised for him.
He actually slept properly, that night. And the next morning he rang Jane’s doorbell at precisely ten.
To his relief, she was the one who answered it rather than any of her housemates. He wasn’t in the mood for any of her friends having a go at him.
‘Ready?’ he asked.
‘Ready.’ Her eyes widened as he shepherded her to the car and opened the passenger door for her. ‘I thought you said you lived out of a suitcase?’
‘I do. This is a hire car.’ He shrugged. ‘It’s easier than sorting out garaging and what have you while I’m out of the country.’
‘But it’s a soft top. And low-slung. And…’
‘Extravagant. Yes, I know. It’s still a lot cheaper to hire it than to buy one and deal with all the administrative hassles and maintenance and stuff.’ He waved a dismissive hand. ‘Hop in. So where do you fancy going?’
‘How about Hampton Court?’ she suggested. ‘It’s a nice day, and the gardens are really pretty.’
‘Sure.’ He smiled at her. ‘You’ve been before?’
She nodded. ‘Not for a while, though. And I haven’t found my way through the maze.’
‘I’m good at navigation.’
‘You think you can do the maze?’
He shrugged. ‘It’s a mathematical puzzle. I work with numbers all the time. It shouldn’t be a problem.’
‘No way.’
‘Is that a challenge?’ He raised an eyebrow. ‘Right. If I do it, you buy me a cream tea.’
‘And if you don’t?’
‘Then you can choose a forfeit.’
Their eyes met, and he really hoped that the forfeit she was thinking of was the same one in his mind.
And then she smiled. ‘Deal.’
He drove them out to East Moseley and they spent the day wandering through the state rooms and Tudor kitchens at Hampton Court. There were some old documents on display in one of the exhibitions, and Mitch noticed how Jane’s eyes lit up.
‘Can you actually read that?’ he asked, staring at the illegible squiggles.
She raised an eyebrow, then read the first couple of paragraphs out loud to him without so much as a stumble, as if she were reading capitals on a ten-foot-high poster.
‘That’s impressive,’ he said.
‘It’s practice. I’m used to the style of handwriting and the kind of abbreviations they use. So I know that squiggle there above the G—’ she pointed it out to him ‘—means the clerk missed out the I and the N before it. Just as you could look at a weather map and tell me exactly what was going on, whereas to me it would look like random blobs and lines.’
‘You love that stuff, don’t you?’
She nodded. ‘It’s a window into another world.’
Mitch found himself holding her hand while they walked through the gardens. And her fingers were curled just as tightly round his as his were around hers.
When they’d reached the centre of the maze and came out again, he breathed on the nails of his free hand and polished them on his T-shirt. ‘I believe you disputed my navigational skills. So you owe me a cream tea, Ms Redmond.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘Do you ever stop thinking about food?’
He leaned over to whisper in her ear. ‘Yes. I have a two-track mind.’
She blushed beautifully, and he grinned at her. He laughed even more when she cuffed his arm. But when they finally returned to the car, he realised how much he’d enjoyed the day. How much he’d enjoyed just being with her.
Dangerously so.
He knew he should drive her home and spend the evening working on the data Brad had emailed to him. And yet he found himself suggesting having dinner that evening at a small pub. And from there somehow they ended up back at his place. Just sitting quietly on the sofa together, listening to music—and she fell asleep in his arms.
‘Hey, sleepyhead,’ he said, gently waking her.
‘Huh?’ She yawned and blinked. ‘Sorry. Better call a taxi.’
He’d had a couple of glasses of wine with his meal, so he couldn’t drive her home. And besides, he didn’t want today to end. ‘Why don’t you stay here?’
‘Because you’ve only got one bed. And we’re sitting on it.’
But he had a feeling that her protest was half-hearted, because she hadn’t moved out of the warmth of his arms. He kissed the top of her head. ‘By the time you’ve called your housemates and cleaned your teeth—and I just so happen to have a spare toothbrush still in its box—I’ll have this made up.’ He held her just a little bit more tightly. ‘Stay with me tonight.’
She tensed for a moment, and he guessed what was worrying her. ‘I’m not going to pounce on you.’ Even though he wanted to. ‘You’re tired. You need some sleep. Better to go to bed now, than go home in a taxi and end up with a crick in your neck from falling asleep at an awkward angle.’
Put that way, it made sense. Jane relaxed. ‘OK. Thank you.’
And by the time she’d called Hannah to explain she was really tired so she was staying overnight, Mitch had found her a toothbrush—as promised, still in its box—and left her a pile of towels and his robe.
When she’d finished in the bathroom, he’d made the bed. And when she slid under the covers beside him, still wearing his robe, she felt self-conscious. Couldn’t relax. She wriggled further down the bed, but she just felt too awkward to get comfortable. Curled away from him felt wrong. Curled towards him felt needy. In the end she lay on her back—and that wasn’t comfortable, either.
He leaned over and kissed the tip of her nose. ‘You’re all tense. And I happen to know a pretty good way of relaxing.’
Sex?
She must have spoken the word aloud, because he laughed. ‘Contrary to popular belief, most men don’t have a one-track mind.’
‘Don’t they?’
‘No. And I said I wouldn’t pounce on you.’ He brushed his mouth lightly against hers, then whispered, ‘Take that robe off and turn over. Onto your front. And close your eyes.’
And then he was stroking her back. Gliding his hands all the way up to her neck, then feathering them down her sides. Slow and easy. A rhythm that melted away all the knots in her back and made her feel as if she were floating on a cloud.
‘Like it?’ His lips brushed her earlobe.
‘Mmm.’ The noise came out practically as a purr, and he laughed softly.
‘Told you so.’
‘You have amazing…’ She couldn’t open her eyes any more. Or her mouth. She just slid into blissful sleep.
Mitch switched off the light, turned onto his side and pulled Jane into the curve of his body.
But it was a long time before he slept.
Right now he had the closeness, the intimacy he’d missed so much since Natalie. And it scared him stupid.
How could you want something so much and yet not want it at the same time? he wondered. It would be so easy to fall in love with Jane. She made him smile, she fenced intellectually with him and she could arouse him with a single glance. She was his opposite in many ways—and yet he liked that.
But if he let himself love her…supposing it all went wrong again? The chances were, he wouldn’t lose her the way he’d lost Natalie. But there was another problem. He was never in one place too long—his job took him away a lot. And she was settled here—too settled to want to move. Although their differences made things interesting, maybe in the end they would be too much for a relationship to survive.
And he didn’t think his heart would survive the shredding.
Tomorrow, he’d work out how to tell her that they should maybe cool this off. He’d support her and the baby financially, but he couldn’t give her more.
But tonight he’d just enjoy her being in his arms.
Jane woke the next morning, warm and comfortable with a body spooned round hers. A very male body. Mitch had one arm wrapped round her ribcage, and his fingers were curved round her breast.
‘Just relax and go back to sleep,’ a voice murmured drowsily in her ear. ‘I’m comfortable.’
‘I need the loo.’
‘What, again?’ He groaned, but released her so she could go to the bathroom. And the second she returned to bed, he pulled her close again. ‘Go back to sleep,’ he muttered.
But she couldn’t.
Not when he was touching her like this.
‘Mitch?’
‘What now?’ He sounded resigned rather than grumpy. Good.
She wriggled slightly. ‘Do you know where your left hand is?’
‘Uh-huh. And it’s very comfortable where it is. Go to sleep.’
How could she? She was too aware of him—of his clean male scent, of the warmth of his body. And of his erection pressed very firmly against her back. She wriggled again.
‘You’re such a fidget,’ he protested.
‘I’m awake.’
‘You’re a morning person?’
‘Yes.’ She sighed. ‘Don’t tell me you’re a night owl.’
She felt his mouth against her shoulder. ‘No. I burn the candle at both ends, honey.’
Oh, God. The pictures that roused in her mind.
She shifted again, and he pulled her closer. ‘I wouldn’t wriggle about too much if I were you.’
‘Why?’
‘Because…’ He tilted his hips slightly, pushing his erection against her. ‘That’s why.’
‘Oh-h-h.’ She felt her face flame.
‘Go back to sleep. I’m tired. You kept me awake all last night, snoring.’
‘I do not snore,’ she said huffily. At least, she was pretty sure she didn’t.
‘I was teasing.’ His mouth drifted along her skin again. ‘Mmm. You smell nice.’ Another kiss, and this time his thumb moved to stroke her nipple; the friction between the pad of his thumb and her skin made her shiver.
‘You’re wriggling again, Janey.’ There was definite amusement in his voice—along with something much, much headier.
Arousal.
‘Mmm.’ He smoothed his hand over the undercurve of her breast, down over her abdomen; then his fingers hooked over the edge of her knickers. ‘These are in the way of what I really, really want to do right now.’
She shivered. ‘Mitch.’
‘You feel nice,’ he said softly. ‘You smell nice. And right now there’s nothing I want to do more than to make love with you.’
Her breath hitched. He hadn’t said ‘have sex’. He’d said ‘make love’. With her, not to her. What he had in mind was clearly very much mutual.
‘Janey.’ He tilted his hips again.
‘I…I don’t know what to say.’<
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‘“Yes” would do,’ he said, and nuzzled her shoulder again.
‘I…’ She tipped her head back, then wriggled round so she was lying on her back. ‘Yes.’
Her smile could have melted snow—and it made his blood sizzle.
Mitch temporarily lost it. He had no idea who actually finished removing her knickers, and he didn’t care—because then they were skin to skin, just the way he’d ached to be, and he was kneeling between her thighs. She was kissing him back, stroking him, teasing him to the point where he was going to implode.
And then she moved slightly, so the tip of his penis nudged against her entrance. Like warm, wet silk sheathing him.
His resistance went completely and he tilted his hips. Thrust slow and easy and blissfully deep.
‘That’s good,’ she whispered.
‘Yeah. You feel incredible,’ he whispered back. ‘The perfect fit.’
And then it hit him. They weren’t using a condom.
Considering the situation, it would’ve been like closing the proverbial stable door.
But even so—they really shouldn’t be doing this. He was supposed to be cooling things down.
And then he stopped thinking at all as her muscles tightened round him. All he could do was keep pushing deep inside her. Watch the way her pupils expanded, her breathing grew shallow, and then suddenly she was there, at the peak, her body tightening round his.
She called out his name, her voice all shuddery, and he jammed his mouth over hers, not wanting the moment to end. The moment when his climax hit him and pushed him over the edge, right along with her.
He wasn’t sure how long they lay there together afterwards. Fulfilled. Warm. At peace.
But finally she stirred. ‘I should go home.’
‘It’s Sunday. Do you have to be anywhere?’
‘No-o.’
‘Then spend today with me. I promise I’ll take you home safely tonight.’ He wasn’t quite sure why he was saying this but right now he didn’t want to move. He was comfortable with Jane in his arms, her head pillowed on his shoulder and her arm wrapped round his waist.
‘Mitch. I need a shower.’
He dropped a kiss on her hair. ‘Want me to join you and wash your back?’
