Page 62 of Where the Heart Is

‘I just got out of the shower. Back in a minute,’ he said, all but running from the kitchen, and she stifled a laugh.

What the hell had she done?

Mauling her husband before she divorced him hadn’t been on her agenda. What they’d just done … what she would’ve done if he’d let her whip off that towel … a giant complication she hadn’t anticipated.

Considering their lack of intimacy for the last few years of their marriage, she’d long ceased to equate Jack with sex in her head. The two were poles apart. But their passionate interlude a few minutes ago seriously messed with her logic.

They’d spent fourteen years apart.

She’d walked away from him, and he hadn’t come after her.

She had to finalise their divorce and stop skirting around it.

So how could she explain their make-out session? She might’ve lost her head in the heat of the moment, caught up in her gratitude for his thoughtfulness.

What was his excuse?

She paced the kitchen and eyed the back door. She could make a run for it. But what would that achieve other than staving off the inevitable? She couldn’t avoid him forever—she had no car, was taking advantage of his hospitality, and he lived about a hundred metres away.

When Jack hadn’t appeared five minutes later, she filled the kettle and flicked the switch on. A nice chamomile tea would be perfect right about now to calm her nerves, but she settled for English Breakfast.

She’d just poured boiling water into two cups when she heard Jack clearing his throat behind her. She didn’t know what to expect when she turned around. Would he be able to look her in the eye or would mortification set in? Would he make light of what they’d done or avoid the topic altogether?

The old Jack would’ve chosen the avoidance method, but when she turned, the vulnerability in his eyes slayed her.

‘I fancy a cuppa,’ he said, crossing the kitchen, and she bit back her first flirty response,‘But do you fancy me?’

‘I made it extra strong.’ She handed him a cup, and as their fingers brushed a sizzle shot up her arm. So much for forgetting their lapse in reason. Looks like her body hadn’t got the memo.

‘Thanks.’

He didn’t sit and she didn’t either. No point getting cosy. They needed to confront the elephant in the room before she escaped, never to come out of the bungalow ever again until her car was fixed and she could zoom out of town. After that one important meeting with the lawyer, that is.

Adelaide inwardly groaned. What would Jack think when she told him about making an appointment with Samuel Nobil to get divorce proceedings underway? After their kissing session, he’d probably think she’d been buttering him up, and that didn’t sit well with her. She’d never do something like that. Underhanded wasn’t her style. Then again, Jack probably already thought the worst of her, considering she abandoned him years ago.

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, gathering her nerve. ‘Jack, we probably need to talk about what happened.’

‘Let’s not,’ he mumbled, staring into his teacup as if the leaves would tell him his fortune. Pity she’d used tea bags.

This was the Jack she knew. Recalcitrant. Guarded. Non-communicative.

But she’d learned a lot the last fourteen years—particularly never put up with shit—so she confronted problems head-on.

‘I like how we’ve been getting on. Dinner at the pub last night was great, best time I’ve had in ages, so I don’t want what we just did to ruin the tentative friendship we’ve re-established.’

He raised his head and eyeballed her. ‘Is that what we’re doing here? Becoming friends?’

‘Honestly? I haven’t got a clue what we’re doing but I’d like to think we’re friends.’

He snorted and gestured at the bench where they’d knocked the pot off in their stumbling around while lip-locked. ‘Friends don’t do that.’

‘Friends with benefits do.’

His eyebrows rose so high they almost reached his hairline. ‘Is that what you want? A quickie for old times’ sake before you hit the road again?’

She winced at how crass that sounded. ‘I don’t know what I want.’

But that was a lie.

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