Except the second she took her first mouthful she realised that something had gone wrong. Really, really wrong. Instead of the nice, tender fish she’d expected, it was rubbery and tough, and the potato cakes she’d made were a bit too crisp at the edges.
‘Oh, no—I’m sure I followed the recipe to the letter. I must’ve had the oven up too high or something.’
But Dylan didn’t look annoyed, just rueful. ‘Well, it looked nice.’
‘And it tastes vile.’ She grimaced. ‘I’m so sorry.’
‘Don’t worry. Tell you what—get rid of this, and I’ll order us pizza.’ He took his mobile phone out of his pocket and tapped in a number.
She took their plates to the kitchen and scraped the food into the bin. Right then, she wanted to burst into tears. She’d ruined dinner. How could she ask him a favour now?
‘Hey, it could easily have happened when I was cooking. Don’t worry about it,’ he said, coming into the kitchen to join her.
She wasn’t worried about the food.
When she didn’t reply, he rested a hand on her shoulder. ‘Emmy, what’s wrong?’
She took a deep breath. ‘I was going to ask you a favour. I can’t now.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because, instead of giving you a decent dinner, I served you something disgusting.’
He waved a dismissive hand. ‘It’s not a problem, Emmy—though maybe in future it might be an idea to stick to stuff you actually know how to cook?’
‘I guess so,’ she said ruefully.
‘So what did you want to ask me?’
She squirmed. ‘There isn’t an easy way to ask.’
‘Straight out will do.’
‘I got a call from one of the big glossy magazines. They want to do a feature on up-and-coming British jewellery designers and they want to interview me.’
‘That’s good, isn’t it?’ he asked.
‘Ye-es.’
‘But?’
She sighed. ‘But they want me to make some jewellery and their deadline’s massively tight. My guess is that someone dropped out at the last minute and I was a second choice, and I think there are another two designers they’ve asked as well, so there’s no guarantee I’ll be included anyway.’
‘But they still asked you, and that’s the main thing. How tight is the deadline?’
This was the deal-breaker, she knew. ‘They’ve asked me to create something totally new for them. So I need to spend the next four days working solidly to get the pieces made on time for their shoot.’
‘So you need me to take over Tyler’s care for the next four days?’
She nodded. ‘But you had an emergency project meeting tonight, so you’re clearly up to your eyes and it’s not doable.’
‘I can delegate.’
‘I’ll just have to pass and ask if they’d consider me in the future. If I tell them about Ty, maybe then they’ll be understanding and won’t think I’m too lazy and just making up feeble excuses.’
He placed a finger over her mouth, making her skin tingle. ‘Emmy, were you listening? I said I’d do it. I’ll delegate.’
* * *
Her eyes went huge. ‘Really?’
‘Really,’ he said softly.
Then he dropped his hand, before he did anything stupid—like moving it to cup her cheek and dip his head to kiss her. That kiss was still causing him to wake up at stupid o’clock in the morning and wonder what would happen if he did it again. He needed to keep a lid on his attraction towards Emmy. Now.
‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘I—well, I feel bad about asking. Four days is a lot.’
‘This is your big break, Emmy. And we’re a team. Of course I’ll do it.’
‘Thank you.’
He couldn’t resist teasing her. ‘I will be exacting repayment, of course.’
Then he wished he hadn’t said it when she blushed. Because now all sorts of things were running through his head, and none of them were sensible. All of them involved Emmy naked in his bed. Which would be a very, very bad idea for both of them. Hadn’t he spent the last week or so trying to get his feelings under control and forcing himself to think of her as just his co-guardian?
‘I mean, I want four days off in lieu,’ he said.
She dragged in a shaky breath, and he had the feeling that her thoughts had been travelling along very similar lines to his own. ‘That’s a deal,’ she said.
The doorbell rang, and the pizza delivery boy saved him from saying anything else stupid—such as suggesting they sealed the deal with a kiss. He made sure they had the full width of the kitchen table between them when they sat down to eat. Maybe, just maybe, his common sense would come back and do its usual job once he’d eaten. He needed carbs.
Sharing a house with a woman he knew he shouldn’t be attracted to was turning out to be much harder than he’d expected. Though he knew that at least work was a safe topic. ‘Tell me about the magazine,’ he invited.
‘It’s one of the biggest women’s monthly magazines, glossy and aspirational stuff.’ She smiled. ‘It’s not exactly the kind of thing you’d be likely to read.’
No, but he knew the kind of thing that Nadine had flicked through and he had a pretty good idea of what they required.
‘And they’re featuring your work?’
‘If they like it. There aren’t any guarantees,’ she warned. ‘As I said, there are a couple of other designers in the running.’
‘They’ll like your work,’ he said. ‘What do they want you to make?’
‘A pendant, rings, earrings, and a bangle—they want an ultra-modern set and an ultra-girly, almost old-fashioned set.’
‘Like that filigree stuff you do.’
She nodded. ‘Exactly that.’
A pendant, rings, earrings and a bangle. And his imagination would have to supply a vision of Emmy wearing said jewellery, and nothing but said jewellery.
‘Are you going to show them your jet animals as well?’ he asked, pushing the recalcitrant thoughts away.
She wrinkled her nose. ‘No, they’re just a bit of fun.’
‘But they’re different, Emmy. People might forget your name if they want to buy your jewellery, but they’ll definitely remember your jet animals, so they’ll look them up on the Internet and find you.’
She thought about it. ‘Fair point.’
‘Go for it,’ he said. ‘Maybe that little turtle you made for Ty last week. And the dolphin.’
‘I could do a seahorse,’ she said, seeming to warm to the idea.
‘That would definitely do it,’ he said. ‘A jet seahorse.’
‘I owe you,’ she said, finishing her pizza. ‘Would you mind...?’
‘Go. You’re off housework, childcare and everything else,’ he said. ‘Go beat that deadline.’
She went off to work, and he made a phone call to delegate his work for the next four days so he could take over from her. It was a lot to ask, but he also knew that if he’d been the one to ask the favour her reaction