It’s In His Kiss

Casting one last look at what she saw in the mirror, she left her room and jogged down the stairs.

Having set out the pizza box, plates and kitchen roll on her coffee table, Luke was on his knees picking up the wild flowers Daisy had pulled up from the garden. Next to him was a plastic beaker that he had filled up with water.

Bugger.

How could you stay mad at a man who put wilting wild flowers into water after your daughter had finished trampling her toys all over them?

He looked up as she entered the room and she could feel his eyes on her as she snagged herself a slice of pizza and a plate to put it on.

With her hands full she realised he had moved her bag, complete with all the underwear samples she carried around with her, to her favourite chair and the only place left to sit would be on the sofa next to him.

‘I see you’ve been checking out my underwear again,’ she said as she yanked off a piece of kitchen roll to use as a napkin.

‘Of course,’ Luke grinned, ‘but only as a way of getting into your purse. I had to take it all out to find your money for the pizza guy.’

‘Was there enough in there?’

‘Sure,’ Luke said, and the way he turned from her to put the bunch of flowers into the beaker and set them on the windowsill, Sephy knew that there hadn’t been.

‘How much do I owe you?’

‘Forget it,’ he said, walking over to open the pizza box.

‘No, I will not forget it. I said I’d pay. I’m paying. How much did you have to put in to make up the difference?’

‘Ten.’

Sephy reached over, set down her pizza and rose to her feet at the same instant Luke tried to walk past her and take his seat on the sofa. Their eyes locked as they brushed up against each other and when she pushed her hand into the pocket of her skinny jeans, Luke seemed to press closer, bringing with him a sizzling heat that had all her thought processes scattering.

Sephy’s insides felt as if they were tied to a bungee rope and were hurtling towards the ground before being yanked back up, and then Luke was springing backwards and she was finally remembering why her hand was in her pocket and withdrawing some notes.

Silently she passed him a ten.

Silently he took it from her and shoved it into his jeans pocket before snapping up the control to mute the volume on the TV.

‘I don’t mind if you wanted to watch that,’ Sephy said, glad her voice sounded normal, while everything else inside of her was screaming ‘how do I make it go back to the way it was before I asked him to model for me?’

As if Luke was thinking the exact same thing, he grabbed up his plate and said calmly, ‘You don’t think we ought to try and get past this new weirdness between us?’

‘Weirdness?’ she stalled, her mouth going dry. ‘What weirdness?’

‘The, “you asking me to pose nude in photos to sex up your ad campaign, and me saying no” weirdness.’

‘Oh, that,’ Sephy forced a grin. ‘I’m over that. Although, for the record, I did not ask you to pose in the nude. At least, not entirely,’ she added.

‘So even though you don’t have a model booked and the launch is in less than two weeks, you’re completely okay with how things are?’

Aiming for nonchalance, Sephy waved the hand holding the slice of pizza. ‘Everything will work out,’ she said.

‘You’re not even looking for a model, are you?’ Luke said on a huff of breath.

She stared at the silent TV. ‘I told you – I can’t afford one.’

‘And I told you I’m perfectly happy to help you out with that.’

‘No thanks,’ she said, shoving in a huge mouthful of delicious hot pizza in a bid to keep from following up with a lecture on how she didn’t need anyone’s money.

‘Have you come up with an alternative?’

‘I have chosen to let the banners stand as they are.’

‘And you’re completely happy to do that?’ he pressed.

‘No Mr Spanish Inquisitor,’ she said, with a roll of her eyes, ‘but I have to work with what I have. And what I have is a professionally shot ad campaign that I paid a lot of money for.’

‘Sephy –’

‘What?’ Sephy whipped her head around to look at him, ‘I asked you for help, but you said “no”.’ There was a flash of guilt that dulled the green of his eyes and she really didn’t like how that made her feel, so she added, ‘which you were perfectly entitled to do. I’m a big girl, Luke. I’m not going to hold that against you.’

‘Right. You’ve decided not to resent that the one time you asked me outright for something, I said no?’

‘That’s right, because the last time I checked, I wasn’t a child.’

‘Ha. Let’s put the clucking like a chicken on the evidence table.’

Sephy blushed. ‘That was a mistake.’ She took another bite of food and, after swallowing, said softly, ‘I really don’t resent you for saying no.’

Luke turned back to the TV and lifted the pizza to his mouth before dropping a casual, ‘You know, you could ask Ryan to be your model.’

Sephy snorted and lowered her plate to her lap in shock. ‘I am not asking Ryan.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because.’

Luke turned his head to watch her closely. ‘Because…?’

Because he’s not you.

Sephy was very afraid her eyes had become rather round and large as the realisation that she hadn’t even considered asking Ryan, or anyone else, took proper hold.

Ryan may still have his bad-boy, wild-child looks, but his previous lifestyle had added a tired and jaded edge and, if anything, he now looked like a man who simply wanted peace in his life.

Luke, on the other hand, looked…

Sephy fiddled with the crust of her pizza.

Luke looked like still waters ran deep.