Goodbye, Isabella.
Amy was pleased that Jake had more taste than Steve. For both the men in her life to fall into the clutches of predatory blondes would have been altogether too wretched to bear. Not that Jake was an intimate part of her life, but he was a big chunk and she wanted to respect his judgement of character.
His quirky little smile came back. “You are quite a formidable fighter, Amy.”
She shrugged. “You did encourage me, taking my side. If you’d clamped down on me…”
“And miss that performance?” His eyes sparkled admiration.
“The fact remains…” It felt really good that he’d supported her. “…You let me win, Jake.”
He lifted his glass of champagne in another toast. “We’re a team, Amy. A great team.”
“A team,” she echoed happily, and drank to the splendid sense of well-being flowing from being a solid team with Jake.
Their first course arrived.
Amy ate with gusto. Not only was the food fantastic, her tastebuds were fully revived from the weekend when everything she’d tried to eat seemed to have the texture of cardboard, indigestible. Maybe having a healthy appetite was a side effect from feeling victorious. Defeat was certainly the pits.
“More champagne?” Jake asked, seeing her down the last drops in her glass.
“No, thanks. I’d better move on to iced water. I think I’ve been hot-headed enough today.”
He grinned. “Some things need letting out of your system. Especially the deep down and poisonous stuff.”
“Well, I’m almost squeaky clean again.”
“What a shame! So much volatile passion flying around. It’s been quite an exciting experience watching it in action. Intriguing, too. Shows me a side of you you’ve kept under wraps. Not that I didn’t suspect it was there.”
Amy sat very still because her heart was fluttering extremely fast. Jake was regarding her with simmering speculation. The cat was out of the bag, well and truly, and she’d let it out with her wild flights off the rails. If she wasn’t careful, the cat would feel free to pounce!
Twice she’d zoomed out of control, losing any semblance of the cool she’d kept with Jake. She could make excuses for herself. Jake was obligingly accepting them. But that didn’t put things back the way they were between them.
“Anything else you’d like to spit out? Get off your chest?” he invited, clearly relishing exploring this newly revealed side of her.
Amy needed a safe topic fast, preferably focused on him instead of her.
“Yes. Since I’ve now been introduced to your sister, would you mind telling me about your family?” Her curiosity had been piqued by Ruth’s revelations this morning.
“Not at all. What do you want to know?”
“Is there only you and Ruth?”
“Ruth is the youngest. I’m the next youngest. Above us are two older brothers, both very respectably settled down with families. Mum does her best to rule over us all and Dad lets us be.”
“Do they all live in Sydney?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re the wild one.”
He laughed. “They called me the adventurer when I was a kid.”
He still was, Amy thought. “Tell me why,” she prompted, eager to know more about him, to understand where he came from.
Again he obliged her, putting her at ease by regaling her with amusing stories from his childhood. Freed from the disturbing sexual pull he could exert on her, Amy enjoyed listening.
It was easy to imagine a little Jake trotting off on his own to explore the exciting things the world had to offer, worrying his mother, trying the patience of his older brothers who were sent to find him after they’d neglected to mind him properly. Ruth had become his partner in voyages of wonder when she was old enough, happy to be led anywhere by Jake.
The first course was cleared from their table. The main course was served and consumed. They were both persuaded to order the divine-sounding apple and brandy souffle´ served with a lemon and kiwi fruit compote to finish off the meal.
The stories went on, eagerly encouraged by Amy. Hearing about a happy childhood, and a family that wasn’t in any way dysfunctional, was something new to her, almost magical. She tended not to think about her own—no happy memories there—and Steve had been an only child whose parents had divorced when he was eight. He’d virtually lived in a world of computer games through his teens and they were still an escape for him whenever an argument loomed.
She wondered if his blonde knew that about the man she’d snaffled. Avoidance was Steve’s answer to confrontation. Which was probably why Amy had been presented with his fatherhood and the date of his marriage, showing in one inarguable stroke there was no point in fighting.
Anything for a peaceful life. Steve’s philosophy. She’d thought it was good but it wasn’t really. Problems never got properly aired.
“I’ve lost you.”
Jake’s dry comment drew her attention back to him. She smiled. “No. I was just thinking how lucky you are not to have any fears. Or inhibitions. You were very blessed being born into your family, Jake.”
He cocked his head slightly. The speculation in his eyes gradually took on the wolfish gleam that usually played havoc with her nerves. Maybe she’d been lulled by her good fortune, the champagne and fine food. Instead of alarm, she felt a tingling thrill of challenge.
“Everyone has fears, Amy,” he drawled. “And inhibitions are placed upon them, whether they want them or not.”
“Like what?” she said recklessly.
“Well, take you and me. I’d like nothing better than to race you off to bed and make mad passionate love for the rest of the afternoon.”
For one quaking moment, Amy was tempted.
Then Jake gave his quirky smile and added, “But if I had my wicked way, I’m afraid you might bolt out of my life, and I wouldn’t like losing you. So here I am…hopelessly inhibited.”
The souffle´s arrived.
“Consolation,” Amy said, doing her utmost to hide both the shock and the relief she felt.
Jake laughed and picked up his spoon. “Bon appe´tit!”
Off the hook, Amy thought gratefully. The temptation had come so swiftly and sharply, she was still quivering inside. She sternly bent her mind to reasoning it away.
It was because the physical attraction had always been there, and with Steve’s defection, pursuing it was no longer forbidden. And it felt great having Jake at her side, fighting on her behalf against Steve, against the blonde, treating her as though she was precious to him.
But it would be crazy—absolutely crazy—to get sexually involved with Jake. She’d only be one of an endless queue—another little adventure—and how on earth would she be able to work with him afterwards? She’d hate it when he dumped her and took up with someone else. As he surely would.
Besides, she didn’t really want to make love with him. It was just that he’d made her feel desirable, like a winner instead of a loser and a reject. It was simply a seductive situation. And he’d thought better of it, too, applying solid common sense.
Here she was on a winning streak and it would be really silly to spoil it. Today had brought her a wonderfully ego-boosting salary, and an apartment that was close to paradise. However tempting it might be to add a new lover to the list, it was best to get any thought