In Bed With...Collection

Definitely water under the bridge now!

And she’d managed it with reasonable dignity.

A waiter arrived to take their order and Jake asked for two cappuccinos, quickly inquiring if she wanted something to eat as well—a toasted sandwich? Laura shook her head. Her stomach was in knots. After the waiter had left them, Jake regarded her seriously for several moments, making the knots even tighter.

‘It’s not over, Laura,’ he said quietly. ‘There will be ugly things said about me in the days to come.’

The dirt her father had up his sleeve.

‘Will they be true?’ she asked.

‘Not on any professional level. He can’t deny the evidence against him. It’s too iron-tight. So I’m confident that nothing will change the eventual outcome. He’s gone from the industry, regardless of what he uses in an attempt to discredit me.’

‘Do you know what he’ll try to use?’

He made a wry grimace. ‘You were my only weakness, Laura. I’m anticipating an attack on my character revolving around my involvement with you.’

She frowned. ‘But that had nothing to do with how he ran his business.’

‘I think he’ll try to link it up.’

A fierce rebellion swept through Laura. Her father had been too successful in hurting others, deliberately doing it and taking malicious pleasure in it. She wanted him to fail for once, and be shown up as the liar he was—some justice for the months of misery he’d given her.

She leaned forward, earnestly pressing for Jake to agree with her. ‘I’ve taken this week off work. I could testify on your behalf. I know you didn’t do me any wrong, Jake.’

His face tightened in instant rejection. ‘This isn’t your war, Laura. It was wrong of me to put you in the line of fire and I won’t do it again. I’ll ride it through.’

‘It is my war,’ she cried vehemently. ‘I’ve taken the bullets and I want to return them. I’m not ashamed of my involvement with you. It makes a much stronger stand if we ride this through together. Publicly together. Surely you can see that any capital my father might think he could make out of our connection becomes utter nonsense if we’re still connected.’

He didn’t offer any quick rebuttal this time. The riveting dark eyes scoured hers with blazing intensity. Laura had the sinking feeling he was unsure of her staying power. She hadn’t remained strong against her father’s manipulation in the past.

‘There’s no other man in your life, Laura?’ he asked quietly.

The question startled her—not what she had been expecting. It offered hope that Jake was considering her suggestion. ‘No. I’m free and clear,’ she stated firmly.

It suddenly occurred to her that he might not be. He hadn’t touched her. Just because the memory of him had made her disinterested in other men didn’t mean he’d felt a similar detachment. She’d certainly opened the door for him to move on when she’d shut it on her life.

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t think,’ she blurted out, flushing self-consciously over her single-mindedness, her hands fluttering an apologetic dismissal of her impulsive ideas. ‘If you’re in another relationship, of course this won’t work.’

‘I’m not,’ he said swiftly, reaching across the table to take one of her hands in his, long strong fingers stroking, soothing her agitation. ‘There’s nothing I’d like more than to be connected to you again, Laura. I just want to be sure it’s right for you.’

A wild joy burst through her heart. She stared at him, scarcely able to believe she did have another chance with him. Warmth from his touch ran up her arm and spread through her entire body, a blissful warmth, promising her the loving she craved. She wanted this man so much, yet it hadn’t really been right for her before, not with him limiting their relationship to great dinners and great sex. The temptation to take whatever she could of him played through her mind, but she knew that would never be enough.

‘Will you show me the house you’re now working on?’

It was a critical question, challenging how much he wanted to be connected to her.

His face relaxed into a smile, his eyes twinkling sexy delight. ‘Would after we drink our coffee be too soon?’

She laughed in sheer ecstatic relief. ‘No, not too soon. Where is it?’

‘Petersham. It’s about ten minutes in the train from Town Hall, then a short walk from the station. An easy commute to the city centre.’

‘Is it another terrace house?’

‘No. A two-bedroom cottage with a yard, both of which have been neglected for years.’ He grinned. ‘Maybe you can give me some ideas on what to do with the yard.’

It was so wonderful that he was willing to share this project with her, she grinned straight back. ‘I’d love to design a cottage garden. Something delightfully old-fashioned. All I’ve done so far at work is very modern landscape.’

‘Then you’ll have to go shopping for plants with me,’ he said decisively. ‘Guide me into buying the best.’

More sharing. Laura’s cup of happiness was suddenly bubbling to the brim. ‘No problem,’ she assured him, revelling in allowing herself to love this man all over again.

The waiter returned with their cappuccinos. Jake released her hand and they sat apart again, but another journey had begun—one that shimmered with the promise of far more than the first they’d taken together. Laura couldn’t remember a coffee ever tasting so good.

Jake could scarcely believe this incredibly fortunate turn of events. Laura hadn’t moved on. Not from him. And the time apart had not been wasted. She had achieved complete independence from her father and quite clearly would never allow herself to be subjected to his influence again. It was now totally irrelevant that she was Alex Costarella’s daughter. She was simply herself—the beautiful, strong, giving woman he had come to love. And since her mother no longer needed her in any protective sense, the way ahead for them was free of any insurmountable complications.

He could throw caution to the winds, share whatever he wanted with Laura without any sense of guilt over how hurt she might be from associating with him. The whole truth was out in the open now. There was no reason to hold back on anything. Where the future might take them as a couple was entirely in their own hands. The most important thing was he could have her again. Nothing else really mattered.

Froth from the cappuccino coated her upper lip. He wanted to lick it off. Her tongue slid out and swept it away. Her beautiful blue eyes twinkled at him teasingly as though she knew what he’d been thinking.

‘I haven’t wanted any woman since you, Laura,’ he said softly. That was the truth, too, and he needed her to know it. The damning photographs could have left doubts in her mind about how deeply he’d felt connected to her. This was a new start and he couldn’t bear anything marring it.

She smiled, happiness lighting up her lovely face. ‘It’s been the same for me, too, Jake, though I did have a lot of bad thoughts about you.’

‘The woman in the photographs…she said she was being stalked and pleaded with me to walk her home from the gym. It was an act of kindness, Laura, nothing more.’

The smile broadened. ‘I like kindness in a man. Nick is very kind to Mum. She never had that from Dad.’

Neither did you. Only demands and abuse if they weren’t met.

Jake understood where Laura was coming from, why marriage was not an attractive proposition to her, but maybe he could change her view of it, given enough time together. She was certainly seeing the difference for her mother.

He wanted a family in his future. The loss of it had driven him all these years and now that the goal he had set himself had been reached, he could plan a different scenario for his life, hopefully with Laura. It was like a miracle that it was possible at all.

She put down her cup and gave him a look of eager anticipation. ‘Are we done here? Ready to go?’

Desire roared through him like an express train. He couldn’t get her out of the coffee shop fast enough. They started the walk towards Town Hall hand in hand, a joyous bounce in their step. It was rush hour, people crowding past them either way. They came to a building with a recessed entrance and Jake instantly pulled Laura out of the m?lеe on the sidewalk and into his embrace against a sheltered side wall.

‘I’ve been wanting to do this ever since I saw you yesterday,’ he murmured, his eyes blazing with naked need.

‘Yesterday?’ she echoed quizzically.

‘I thought you’d come for your father. If I’d known you’d come for me…’

He couldn’t wait. Like in the garden the first day they’d met, like on their first date on the way to the hotel…he had to kiss her and she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him right back, their passion for each other as wildly exhilarating as ever, more so with the freedom from all restrictions.

But they couldn’t give it full expression in this public place.