‘I said that I thought she looked…well, very let down… that your plans for the evening had changed… I’m sure she’d appreciate you going over and, honestly, there’s no point you being here if Anna’s sleeping…’ She wondered whether he had detected any desperation in her voice. He was still gazing at her with every semblance of attentiveness, though she had a feeling that she was getting precisely nowhere. ‘And I…I hadn’t planned on any company. There’s nothing to eat in the house…’
‘Nothing to eat in the house?’
‘Well, nothing fancy…’ He had managed to make her plausible-enough excuse sound ridiculous, as though a rooting-through of her cupboards and fridge would unearth nothing more than a few crusts of bread and some mouldy cheese.
‘I’d prefer to stay here. I understand your evening’s been spoiled, but I’m relieved you had nothing planned…’
Tessa felt her cheeks burn at what she thought was amusement in his voice. ‘Lucy’s away for the weekend…I enjoy the peace and quiet…’
‘So you said. Now, what were you planning on eating?’
‘Nothing! I mean, nothing much…’
‘Nothing much. Sounds fine. Unless you’d rather I went and brought us back something? There’s a supermarket I noticed on the high street. I’m pretty sure it’ll still be open.’
‘No, that won’t be necessary,’ Tessa said in a strangled voice. Visions of him returning in his fast car with shopping bags for an evening in cooking together was enough to bring her out in clammy perspiration.
It occurred to her that she had never entertained a man at home, not in the sense of make a meal together, sit and watch television. She had had a scattering of dates but no one important and she had always been happy to either go out somewhere or meet in a crowd. No wonder this man found her so amusing, accustomed as he was to the women he went out with.
‘I was just going to make myself some pasta,’ Tessa said reluctantly. ‘If you wait here, I can stretch it to two. I guess.’
He could hardly blame her for the lack of graciousness in her offer. He had descended on her with Anna in tow, ruined the peaceful evening she had planned, and she had now been further inconvenienced because his daughter had decided to fall asleep in her bed, leaving him here like a spare part.
That being said, Curtis didn’t for a minute contemplate taking her up on her suggestion that he return to his date for the rest of the evening.
‘I’ll go and check on Anna,’ he informed her, ‘and pasta sounds great.’
‘You can watch a little television if you like. Nothing much on and I’m afraid we don’t have cable, but…quiz shows can be quite entertaining…provided you don’t want to think too much…’ She knew that she was gabbling on, but his eyes were mesmerising, that was the only word to describe it. She had to inhale deeply and turn away to break the connection, then she hurried top speed towards the kitchen, hearing him as he headed up the stairs towards the bedroom.
Calm down, she told herself! She took a few steadying breaths and switched on the portable CD player on the kitchen counter. Lucy found it hilarious that her big sister actually listened to easy listening music, but right now it was exactly what her jangled nerves needed.
A soft, soothing melody filled the little kitchen and she began to slow down, humming quietly to herself as she began chopping onions and mushrooms and tossing them into the plastic bowl next to her.
She imagined Curtis sitting in the room watching a tedious quiz show and couldn’t stop herself from smirking.
In all her life, she could think of no one less suited to being condemned to enforced immobility in front of a boring television programme. Curtis Diaz had way too much energy surging through him for that. Well, she couldn’t help but think that there was a spot of justice to be found in the fact that he had wrecked her evening, intruded upon her private life despite her having made it absolutely clear from the word go that it was off limits, only to now find himself forced to sit down and kiss his own thrilling evening goodbye in front of the box. She began peeling the cloves of garlic, sniggering heartily at the thought.
The grin was still on her face when she swung around to grab a frying-pan from the cupboard, only to hear the subject of her musings say, in his smoky, sexy voice, ‘Care to share the joke?’
Tessa looked up in sudden shock. She had been so absorbed in her pleasant thoughts, so lulled by the melodic strains of music, that she had had no inkling of his presence. She hadn’t heard him approach! How long had he been there? Watching her? It made her feel as though he had been standing, spying on the workings of her mind.