Page 29 of Wilder at Heart
It obviously helped that the guy is ridiculously good-looking. And knows how to wear a suit. And touch a woman. And it also helped that we’d had a moment of shared success when we steered the conversation with his dad around to Theo’s vision for the SoHo hotel.
But the nerves, and slight horror, I felt as he lowered his face to mine, disappeared pretty much immediately after he touched my lips with his. Because holy hell. The expensive scent of him, and the unexpected friction from that designer stubble-slash-beard, and the soft fullness of his lips were a pretty heady combination.
So myoh, crapand myfuck you, Jonathanthought processes went out of my head pretty quickly as Theo worked his magic, one hand caressing my waist and hip as the other moved in my hair and his lips sucked on mine, and the kiss that was supposed to be phony, just for show, quickly escalated into something so smoking hot that Ilet him put his tongue in my mouth.
Oh my God.
But the moan was a low point. Or a high point, depending on which way you look at it. Look, the kiss was nowhere near as feverish and debauched as I remember our kiss at uni being. But it felt like he was hungry for me. And boy, did my body respond.
If he was acting that, then he’s a very clever boy.
I was getting so into it that when he pulled away, I had total brain-loss for a minute. I wasn’t sure which way was up until I jolted myself back to reality, and asking if Jonathan had seen us was kind of a knee-jerk reaction, I suppose. To cover up how flustered I was.
(Yes,flusteredis a euphemism forturned on.)
I suppose I should be happy. I stuck it to my ex, helped Theo get his dad’s attention, and got a damn good snog out of it. I’d call that a successful evening. So I’m not quite sure why I feel a bit upended.
Theo swept me out of there pretty soon after that, and I just caught Jonathan putting his hand up and saying my name, but Theo hissed at me that I should leave him hanging, and I suppose he was right.
I lean my head back against the headrest and exhale. I’m knackered. Drained, more like. Surely cars this expensive should have more comfortable seats? I just want to crawl into bed. I pull my phone out of my bag and glance at the lock screen.
‘Oh, shit.’
Theo turns to look at me. ‘What’s up?’
‘I don’t know. But I have loads of missed calls from Elle and Adela, our housekeeper.’
I hit Elle’s number. She picks up immediately.
‘Nor. Where’ve you been?’
‘Sorry. I was at a work thing with Theo. I’ve just checked my phone. What’s going on?’
She exhales. ‘A fucking pipe has burst at home. In the upstairs bathroom. Apparently, the water’s come through the ceiling to your bedroom and bathroom. There’s water damage, though Adela got hold of me and we got someone out to turn off the water in time.’
I rub my forehead with my hand. Jesus Christ. This is the last thing I need. There’s something particularly cruel about being told your bed, the only thing you want in the world right now, is being withheld.
‘Oh, bugger. Shit, Elle. Ugh, I’m so sorry.’ I attempt to process the problem rationally. ‘Where’s Adela—where’s Olive? Are they okay?’
‘They’re fine. I’ve booked Adela into a hotel. She’s going to wait for you to get there and hand Olive over to you. ’
I go into action mode. ‘Okay. I’ll sleep in the spare room tonight with Olive and then we’ll get some plumbers in to assess the damage. I don’t want you worrying about it while you’re shooting. I’ll get it sorted.’
‘You can’t stay there tonight, Nor. The water mains will have to stay off till they can fix the pipe. I’m going to find a dog-friendly hotel for the two of you. My PA’s on it.’
‘What’s going on?’ Theo asks.
‘A pipe’s burst, all over my bedroom, and they’ve had to turn the mains off.’
‘Put Elle on speaker,’ he orders.
I sigh. ‘Theo. I’m handling it.’
‘Put her on.’
Grr. ‘I’m with Theo,’ I tell Elle. ‘I’m putting you on speaker.’
‘She can stay with me, cous,’ he says as soon as I put the speakerphone on.
