The silence seemed immense while Andy grabbed his jacket and put it on, and after he had left it seemed even bigger. Keri seemed aware of every sound in the universe-the faint cry of seagulls outside, the occasional blast of a ship's horn. And her heartbeat. That was absolutely deafening, especially now, because he was strolling across the room towards her, a lazy smile on his lips.
'Do you realise we haven't said hello properly?' he questioned silkily, and pulled her into his arms.
She had been practising for just this moment, and had planned to resist, but now-faced with the reality-resistance flew straight out of the window.
'Hello, Jay,' she said pertly.
He allowed himself a small smile. 'Ah, Keri,' he murmured, brushing his mouth tantalisingly over hers. 'Haven't you been wanting to do that all morning?'
She had been trying her best not to think about it, with varying degrees of success. 'I've actually been concentrating on my painting,' she managed.
'And just how do you concentrate on painting?'
'I … oh, God … I don't know,' she gasped, as he flicked his tongue out and teased it against her lips, and she closed her eyes and gave in, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and pressing her body to his.
He groaned, sliding his hand down over her dungarees and cupping her breast through the rough denim. 'I must have been out of my mind,' he whispered. 'Thinking that I could have you anywhere near me and even think straight, let alone do any work.'
She jerked her head back with a monumental effort. 'Well, you're going to have to try,' she said shakily. 'Otherwise your business will go bust and you'll blame me.'
'I want you.' He drifted his hand further down and heard her moan.
Someone had to stop this and it had better be her, since Jay's eyes were smoky with the kind of desire which was reminding her all too vividly of what he was like as a lover. Any minute now and she wouldn't be able to resist anything.
'The … the wanting has never been in any question,' she agreed firmly. 'But, Jay, we mustn't.'
'Mustn't what?' He dipped his head to trail a featherlight kiss along the line of her jaw. 'We aren't doing anything.' He nuzzled again. 'Just kissing.'
But it was more than that. At least for her it was. This warm sense of homecoming, as if no place in the world could be more perfect than in Jay's arms. And this kind of kisses could lead you to only one place if you weren't very careful. Look what had happened before.
'Andy will be back in a minute.'
'It's his lunch-hour. I'll tell him to go take a walk in the park.'
'It's the middle of winter!' she protested.
'Oh, Andy's tough,' he said easily. 'Like me. We're used to the elements, sweetheart. He'll understand.'
For one second she was tempted as she imagined an erotic way of spending the rest of the lunch-hour. Jay had awoken in her a voraciously hungry sexual appetite and she would have liked nothing more than to feed it.
But then what? She would have to field Andy's curious and knowing stares all afternoon and live with the feeling that where Jay was concerned she was in danger of always selling herself short. She wasn't going to use sex as a weapon or a tool, but she needed her self-respect as well as his respect-and a quick bout of lovemaking in between coats of paint wasn't designed to help achieve that. Either they did things properly, or not at all.
She shook her head. 'No, Jay.'
He gave a faintly disbelieving moan. 'Are you trying to drive me out of my mind?'
'There wouldn't be a lot of point, would there? Not when you just told me you're already losing it!'
Reluctantly, he laughed and let her go, which made the aching slightly less intense, but his eyes glittered with curiosity. 'So what had you planned? To keep me at arm's length?'
'Certainly during working hours,' she said steadily.
He heard the underlying message. 'You want to go out later?'
It was unbelievable how he broke all the normal rules of conventional behaviour and managed to get away with it. She had heard invitations phrased far more elegantly, but she had never been so excited by one before.
Yet she had vowed not to make it too easy for him, and if she went out with him tonight would she honestly be able to resist him?
He observed her hesitation. 'Or are you "busy" tonight?' he suggested mockingly.
Determinedly, she made herself focus on a pile of bills waiting to be paid. 'I'm afraid I am.'
'Oh, I see.' Suddenly the air became full of tension. 'That's your plan, then, is it, Keri?' he questioned softly. 'To tempt and taunt me and ultimately to tease me, by saying no?'
His bad-tempered response made her realise that her instinctual refusal had been the right thing to do. She raised her eyebrows.
'My, my, my-is that always your reaction when a woman turns you down?'
He was frustrated, and temporarily wrong-footed, but not shortsighted enough to point out that it was the first time it had ever happened. 'So you aren't going to go out with me?'
She paused just long enough to give him doubts. 'Not tonight, no. Ask me again.'
So beautifully sure of herself. Had she read all those rulebooks which told you that to hook a man you had to play games-never be free and never return his calls? Because if she was holding out for commitment she was in for a disappointment.
'I'm not a man who likes waiting,' he warned her darkly.
His arrogance fuelled her indignation and she shrugged her shoulders. 'Then don't wait,' she answered coolly. 'Go ahead-ask someone else. And now, if that's everything-I'm going out.'
He watched her grab her coat from the hook, his eyes drinking in her graceful beauty with admiration. She must have been reading some book-because if there was anything which made him want something it was being told that he might not be able to have it.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
KERI quickly learnt that she didn't like to be kept waiting either, and Jay made her wait three days before he asked her out again. Three days which were an agony of excitement and expectation and fear that he might have decided against it. Three days during which time she learnt that he liked his coffee black, his bread brown, that he worked non-stop and that he wouldn't take telephone calls from a woman called Candy.
'Who's Candy?' asked Keri casually, as she carefully tore off a piece of masking tape.
'Just some broad,' replied Andy. 'One of many.'
Maybe her face remained quizzical.
'Like moths to a flame,' he added with a rueful kind of look. 'But half the time he doesn't notice.'
Or doesn't care? she wondered.
When Andy went out to fetch sandwiches at lunchtime, Jay wandered through, rubbing his eyes and stifling a yawn.
'Late night?' murmured Keri, but she felt the powerful tug of jealousy.
'Late-night call to the States.' His eyes drifted over her. 'You have paint on your nose.'
'Paint everywhere,' she agreed steadily.
I'd like to see it. 'So, are we going out together tonight?'
'I thought you were tired.'
His eyes widened by a fraction. 'Suddenly I'm wide awake.'
She'd done the self-respect thing. Now surely she could relax a little. 'Okay, then.' She smiled up at him and suddenly ached to put her arms around him. 'What would you like to do?'
I think we both know the answer to that, sweetheart. 'You choose.'
She wanted something normal. Something which didn't involve her gazing into his eyes and thinking how bloody gorgeous he was. 'How about a film-we could grab a bite to eat afterwards?'
'A film?'
'You know. Man and woman go to into large, darkened room. Man and woman watch story told on big screen-popcorn optional.'
He gave a reluctant laugh. It wouldn't have been number one on his list. 'Okay-why not?'
'Anything in particular you'd like to see?'
He shook his head. 'You choose.
The door opened and Andy reappeared, carrying a brown bag full of food.
Jay's first thought was that this wasn't proving quite as simple as he had anticipated.
And his second was one of suspicion.
All he had wanted was to take her to bed-so how come he'd agreed to see a film with her? He hadn't been to the movies with a woman for years.
The night was dark, but there were no stars. That was the trouble with cities, thought Jay-too much man-made light which killed the natural beauty of the heavens. The neon lights of the cinema complex made Keri's face look ghostly and unreal.
'Did you enjoy it?' she asked.
'It was okay,' he said. 'Though I'm not crazy about subtitles.'
'Because you didn't need them, unlike me.' She looked up at him. 'It isn't just wine labels that you read, is it, Jay? You understood the entire dialogue of the film. You speak French.'