Page 87 of You Only Live Once
A swirl of emotions flooded through me. Did this mean anything? Was it purely to thank me for hosting him? Did that mean that he would be moving out soon?
Jack rubbed the back of his neck. ‘You’re taking longer than I would have hoped over this decision. If you don’t want to, then—’
‘I do. I do want to.’
‘You don’t have to look quite so terrified. It’s just two friends having dinner.’
‘Ha! I’m not terrified. You’re not that scary.’
Jack picked up his fork and made the motion of a circle around his own face before digging back into the pasta. ‘Try telling your face that.’
‘My face is fine. I’m just out of the habit of going out to dinner.’
Jack looked up at me. ‘The place I’ve booked is really quiet, and I’ve asked for a table in a more secluded part of the restaurant.’
‘You’ve already booked the table? There’s confidence for you.’
‘Not at all. In fact, this is probably the least confident I’ve ever been asking a woman out to dinner. And I was proved right. The table could always have been cancelled or, more likely, I’d have just gone there alone.’ He looked down at the dog. ‘Or maybe taken Clive as a partner.’
‘Clive has a very busy social diary. We’d have had to see if he was free anyway.’
‘Is that so?’
‘Uh-huh.’ I popped a forkful of dinner in my mouth.
He shook his head at me with a glimmer of a smile before focusing back on his own dinner.
‘By the way, your face is a hell of a lot more than just fine.’ He flicked the green gaze up and met my startled blue one before smiling again and returning to his dinner.
* * *
‘I knew this was going to happen,’ Poppy practically squealed when I spoke to her later on the phone.
‘Nothing is happening. It’s just dinner between friends. He said that himself.’
‘He also said your face was a hell of a lot better than fine.’
‘I knew I was going to regret telling you that.’
‘Too late.’
‘Yes. Unfortunately. Anyway, what am I supposed to wear?’
‘What’s the sexiest thing you own?’
‘The dress that we bought for the premiere. One, he’s seen it, two, I think it’s a little dressy for the occasion and three, I don’t want to look sexy. It’s friends, remember.’
‘I’ve got a feeling he’s going to think you look sexy in whatever you wear.’
‘Will you knock it off? It’s not like that at all.’
* * *
The following evening, as Jack and I practically fell through the front door and he pushed me up against the wall, his lips exploring my throat as his hands explored other areas with an erotic growl of appreciation, I had the brief thought – very brief – that the next time I spoke to Poppy, I might have to eat humble pie. Apparently, it was very much like that.
‘Oh God, Lily,’ he whispered. ‘I’ve been wanting to do this for so long, but I didn’t want to rush you before you were ready.’
I’m not sure I am ready, I thought briefly, but I knew I wanted this. I wanted him. I’d known it for a while now but had kept talking myself out of it, convincing myself that my life was full enough, that I didn’t need, didn’t feel a desire for anything else, especially Jack. But I’d been lying to myself. I knew that too. The only thing I hadn’t realised was that Jack had wanted more as well. But I was certainly in no doubt of that now.
