‘I don’t give a shit what people say about me, Fliss, whether they’re well-meaning or not. What I do care about is you. I’m happy with you and despite what you might have thought, frankly I’d wanted to kiss you since I first saw you flailing about in the mud in that ridiculous paper suit.’
‘Kinky,’ I replied, squishing the tears, kicking and screaming, back down the way they’d come. I’d never cried in front of people and I wasn’t about to do it in front of Jesse for a second time, even if we were seeing each other.
‘There’s other things higher up on that particular list, but we can certainly hold it in reserve for posterity.’ The sexy smile flashed briefly before his expression returned serious. ‘I care about you, Fliss. I know you’ve been through your own stuff.’
‘Losing my allowance hardly equates to losing a spouse, Jesse.’
‘It’s not a competition. And you didn’t just lose your allowance, did you? You lost your whole way of life and everything you’d known.’
‘And I made it all up again.’
He paused for a beat. ‘Did you though?’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘You made the money, sure. But you don’t have any contact with your family, do you?’
‘No, and I don’t want any. My father made his choice a long time ago.’
‘And what about friends?’
‘What about them?’
‘Where are they?’
I sat up straighter. ‘What do you mean?’
‘It’s just that I’ve never heard you refer to one friend, or have one person visit. You certainly didn’t seem keen to keep up contact with that Minty woman, although I can’t say I’m sorry about that, bearing in mind who she’s related to.’
‘She’s not a friend. Anyway, it’s not like there’s a luxurious country house for them to stay in, is it? And what has that got to do with anything anyway?’
‘You could have met up for the day somewhere though, couldn’t you? If they did come down and didn’t want to stay in the village, there’s bigger hotels not that far.’
‘What’s your point, Jesse?’ I was getting edgy now.
‘My point is that I think this is where you’re supposed to be, and I think you know that too otherwise you’d have already found a way to sell up and hotfoot it back to London. And I don’t want some busybody’s gossip spooking you.’
‘It takes a lot more than people’s words to spook this nag. Believe me, I’ve heard way worse.’
His hand cupped my face. ‘You are not a nag. And for the record, if I hear anyone referring to you even the slightest bit detrimentally, I will not be happy.’
‘Jesse Woods, are you going all alpha on me?’
His lips tilted up just a little. ‘And what if I am?’
‘Then…’ I leant over, my voice low ‘…I suggest you get this truck back on the road as soon as possible.’
Believe me, I was as amazed as anyone that I would find this a turn-on. I never relied on anyone but myself. Maybe I’d given off that vibe – or maybe I’d just not met the right men – but every time Jesse did something for me, whether that was opening a door or switching me to the inside of the pavement or – well, let’s just say sex with Jesse had been a revelation in more ways than one – I got a rush of warmth through me that wasn’t just attraction but something deeper, closer. With the smallest gesture, Jesse made me feel as if I was the most important person in the world and that was both a huge turn-on and scared the crap out of me at the same time.
He gave me a long look. ‘I’ve got a better idea.’ He pulled the truck back onto the road then took a left almost immediately down a heavily wooded lane.
* * *
The next few weeks passed in a blur of activity. The house was moving along and I was gaining more work, not only from Jesse’s properties, but quickly through word of mouth, and the fresh diary that Jesse had given me was rapidly filling. I was now staying at my house but that wasn’t to say there weren’t sleepovers at Jesse’s.
‘I need to go home and get changed. I hadn’t planned on staying last night.’ More than once, Jesse had suggested that I start keeping some clothes at his, but I was adamant about keeping my clothes in situ.
‘Why won’t you bring some over?’ he asked, looking ridiculously hot as he lounged in the bed on a rare lie-in Sunday morning.
