Page 29 of A Very Crumbleton Christmas
‘No worries,’ said Jack. ‘The food’s ready when you are.’
‘Okay – thanks!’ said Caroline, pulling a face as she spotted how pruned her fingers were.
How long had she been in there?!
‘Oh!’ said Jack. ‘What do you want to drink?’
‘Erm…’
As much as she’d love nothing more than to settle down with a fancy-pants G&T right now, Caroline didn’t want to give him the wrong impression. Besides, her stomach had started to growl with what could only be described asvigour.Maybe alcohol wasn’t the best choice.
‘Erm… what have you got?’ she hedged.
‘Wine… red, white. Beer, cider… whatever you fancy really!’ said Jack. ‘I can re-boil the kettle if you’d prefer something hot?’
Re-boil?! How long had she been asleep?
‘What are you going to have?’ said Caroline, eyeballing her clothes. She could really do with getting dressed… but she didn’t dare unwrap herself from the safety of the towel until he’d cleared off.
‘Red wine I think,’ said Jack.
‘Count me in!’ said Caroline. There. That was nice and easy. ‘I’ll be down in two secs.’
‘Cool.’
Caroline strained her ears and listened as Jack’s padding footsteps disappeared across the plush bedroom carpet on the other side of the door. Two seconds later, she caught the unmistakable clatter as he trotted back down the stairs.
‘Seriously?’ she muttered, yanking on her jeans while her hair dripped where the ends had rested in the bubbles. ‘You fell asleep in his bathtub?! Smooth!’
As much as her growling stomach was urging her to hurry, Caroline took a few moments to make sure that the bath was clean and then took a peep in the mirror to check that her mascara hadn’t slid halfway down her face. After swiping beneath her eyes for several seconds, she decided she’d have to do – after all, it wasn’t as though she’d brought her makeup bag with her… more’s the pity.
It didn’t matter, anyway. She didn’t need to worry about what Jack thought, did she?
Nope. Definitely not.
She didn’t care what the cute, lovely film star thought of her one little bit.
‘Liar,’ she muttered, unlocking the door and padding across his bedroom. As she made her way past the bed, she spotted a script she must have missed earlier poking out from beneath the edge of the blankets.
Grabbing it and tucking it under her arm, Caroline hurried back downstairs, her stomach grumbling in anticipation as she went. It was only just dawning on her that she hadn’t actually eaten anything since breakfast.
Rounding the corner into the kitchen, Caroline ground to a halt. The sight that greeted her made her hungry in a whole other way.
Jack was sitting at the kitchen island, perched on a stool, engrossed in a script he had open in front of him. It was chunky and closely typed, and he was wearing a pair of dark-framed reading glasses.
Holy moly!
How was it possible for the man to look even cuterwiththe glasses on?! They made him look… well… likehertype of bloke. Whatever that was. He was completely adorable, andhot!
Caroline’s knees promptly turned into jelly.
No way! Get a grip woman!
She wasn’t about to fall for a film star who was only ever in the country for a few days a year. There was no way that’d work out – even if she wanted it to.
Which… she kind of did.
Caroline could feel a blush sneaking across her cheeks again. Suddenly, she wished she was back up in the ensuite so that she could hop into the shower and get a blast of cold water.
