She was trying to lighten the mood and was relieved when he laughed. She wanted their easy footing back. They’d enjoyed it all through dinner when they’d talked of work, Lily, favourite foods, nothing serious. Not like in the car...
She shifted in her seat as she felt a line being drawn in the virtual sand. One side safe, platonic, friendly. The other... She wet her lips.
She knew which side her body wanted to be on.
And it wasn’t the same as her single, solitary head.
‘No, definitely not three heads...’ His eyes fell to her recently glossed mouth. ‘But you are quite fascinating, Ms Lambert.’
* * *
Jack watched her lips part, her cheeks flush deeper, their freckled warmth a delightful contrast to her sparkling blue gaze. Did she really have no idea how beautiful she was? That the reason her confession stunned him came from his disbelief that a woman with her qualities had avoided anything close to a relationship all these years? And what a waste that was...
‘Fascinating?’ She averted her eyes for a second, reached for her wine glass and took another sip, the rich red liquid disappearing swiftly now that their conversation had taken a more personal turn.
‘You, Jack...’ she waved the glass at him ‘...really are a master of flirtation... Rusty, nuh-uh.’
She shook her head as she made reference to their conversation the previous night, but he didn’t comment, only asked the question he was eager to have answered now. ‘How old are you?’
‘Okay, scratch that last one,’ she scoffed. ‘Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to ask a woman her age?’
She paled as soon as the words were out, her wine glass deposited and her hand reaching across the table to rest upon his arm. ‘I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have... I forgot, I didn’t think—’
‘Hey, it’s fine,’ he assured her, cutting off her panicked apology that she needn’t give. ‘I’ve been fielding questions like that for years; it’s second nature now. Am I to take it you’ve been reading up on me?’ He cocked an eyebrow at her, projecting a jovial arrogance in the hope that she would see that her words didn’t sting.
The colour returned to her cheeks just as quickly, her hand pulling away to stroke the back of her neck. ‘Maybe...just a little.’
‘A little?’
‘Okay, a lot... I happen to find you quite fascinating too, Jack.’
His eyes were lost in the blazing sincerity of hers, his ears ringing with the heat of her admission. Touché.
‘You fancy taking a stroll before I take you home?’
He wasn’t ready to be out of her company and was relieved to see her smile.
‘I’d like that and... I’m twenty-four.’
‘Twenty-four?’ He raised his brow. ‘That’s quite an achievement, to get where you have at your age.’
‘Now you sound patronising.’
He laughed at the scowl she sent him and gestured over her head for the bill, his eyes coming back to her, appreciative, sincere. ‘No, I’m just impressed. I have almost ten years on you to get where I have.’
‘Yes, well, I can’t see me getting anywhere close to you in another twenty, let alone ten. Try as I might.’ She winked on the last, her easy laughter carrying across the table and warming him through.
‘Your parents must be proud?’
The second his words registered, he felt the sudden chill that came over her, her words wooden as she said, ‘I guess.’
‘You guess?’ Had she lost them as well as her sister? Had he inadvertently put his foot in it too? ‘I’m sorry, are they...are they not around any more?’
She took a breath and looked away, a hand smoothing over her hair. ‘No, they’re very much around...we’re just not close.’
‘How come?’ He couldn’t understand it. The way she’d handled Lily, the love she had for the sister she’d lost, he’d expected them to be close. He certainly hadn’t expected to put her on edge. And though he wanted the blush back in her cheeks, the fire in her eyes, the laughter, he wanted to understand more.
‘We drifted apart when...when Amy died.’