Page 85 of You Only Live Once
I turned back, one stair down. ‘No! It’s not like that.’
‘Could have fooled me.’
‘It’s not,’ I repeated, although if I was truly honest with myself, I wasn’t sure what it was like. I loved Jack’s company and spending time with him had become one of my favourite things to do. From what I could tell, he felt much the same, but nothing physical had happened between us.
‘It’s not,’ I repeated to Poppy. ‘You know what Jack’s like. If he’d have wanted anything more, he would have made a move in that direction and he hasn’t. We’re just friends. Close friends.’
‘Have you ever thought that Jack might be waiting for you to make the first move?’
The thought hadn’t crossed my mind.
‘We both know that Jack’s definitely an alpha male. He wouldn’t be waiting for me.’
‘We also both know that Jack now is not the Jack that he once was. He’s matured, and he knows you’ve had a lot to deal with in the past. Maybe he’s just waiting for a signal.’
‘He’s not,’ I said definitively. ‘And if the boys have eaten all the dessert while you’ve kept me up here nattering, I’m definitely going to give you a signal.’
Poppy laughed but put her hand on my arm to stop me as I headed back towards the kitchen.
‘Just think about it.’
I nodded, knowing that it was the easiest way to close the conversation down. But I had absolutely no intention of thinking about any of it.
27
That truly had been my intention, but reality proved different. Once Poppy had brought it up, I couldn’tstopthinking about it.
Surely if Jack wanted something more than a friendship then he would have broached the subject by now? He had never exactly been backwards in coming forwards before, and certainly not when it came to women. Yes, Poppy was right in that he had matured and was a much better man for it, but a leopard doesn’t entirely change its spots.
‘You look deep in thought.’ Jack’s melodic tones interrupted my musings as I crouched low and stared out over the wildlife pond that he’d been putting in, theoretically looking for creatures but in reality just daydreaming. I shot up at his presence and got a head rush, immediately looking for the nearest sturdy thing to hang on to as the blood rush settled. The nearest sturdy thing was, of course, Jack, and he laid an arm gently around me as I got my balance.
‘Better?’ he asked as I made to move away.
‘Just didn’t hear you come up.’
‘Maybe just step back from the water a few paces.’ Concern creased his brow as he guided me. Did his arm linger a little longer than was necessary?
‘I’m fine. I’ll just go in and sit down.’
He nodded, looking a little confused as I marched off back to the house.
Bloody Poppy. Now she had me overthinking every little moment. I needed to just stop. Yes, Jack was gorgeous, and yes, I’d had feelings and sensations at times in his company that I hadn’t experienced for a long time, but none of that meant anything. Any warm-blooded, heterosexual female with a pulse would be able to see that Jack was the epitome of tall, dark and handsome, with a strong, hard body gained from manual work and a love of being outdoors. As the weather had warmed, I’d had to close the blind in my office on occasion when Jack was out working in the garden, because the sight of Jack stripping off his top to wade into the pond and add rocks or plants or whatever else he was doing was seriously affecting my word count. On the other hand, he was damn good inspiration for writing a hero.
‘Just came to check on you. Seemed a bit odd out there.’
‘I’m OK, honest.’ I held a glass of cool water to my head as I sat on the kitchen sofa facing the garden.
‘How do you think it’s looking?’ He motioned in the direction of the pond with his chin.
I let my eyes drift up from his fitted T-shirt, over the strong jaw now darkened with a day’s growth of stubble, and met the hypnotic eyes.
‘It’s gorgeous,’ I said.
‘Great! I was hoping you’d say that.’
‘You were?’
‘Yes. But what do you think about adding a fluffy diplodocus over on this side?’
