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She cleared her throat. ‘Luke, hi.’
He swivelled on his heels, then stood. The air thickened. He really was stupidly gorgeous, even when he was frowning, like now.
‘Hey,’ he said and walked across the threadbare carpet, his long legs in dark jeans eating up the space as he sucked what was left of the oxygen out of the foyer.
Until he told her he was nixing the community service order, there was still a chance he might do it, however slim. But Ruby wasn’t sure that was the only thing making her stupidly grateful to see him again, as she became a bit giddy from lack of oxygen.
‘I’m so glad you’re here,’ she said. ‘I wanted to say yet again how sorry I am about everything that happened at the Serpentine.’
Even though she wasn’t that sorry …
As her gaze took in his fit figure and that incredible face, it occurred to her she wouldn’t be at all sorry to see Luke Devlin in a tool belt.
‘The community service order was a bit harsh,’ she said. ‘But …’ She swept her hand out to encompass the plasterwork he had been examining. ‘As you can see, we could totally use your help around here.’
‘I noticed,’ he said, the stern twist of his lips not all that encouraging. ‘Tell me something, did you know the magistrate?’
‘Absolutely not,’ she said, as the guilty flush spread across her collarbone. Being sorry not sorry about the community service order didn’t make her a more accomplished liar, unfortunately.
‘Funny that, because the sentencing had inside job written all over it.’
‘I beg your pardon?’ she said, trying to channel Jacie’s butter-wouldn’t-melt face, but from the heat threatening to blow her head off, probably getting Guilty McGuilt Face instead.
‘The magistrate. It was like he was channelling the judge from Mr Deeds Goes to Town. You know, not even pretending to be fair or impartial.’
‘You’ve seen Frank Capra’s Depression-era comedy starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur? Isn’t it amazing?’ she said hoping to deflect the conversation from Benjy Gate before her cheeks burst into flames. ‘I have to say, I did not have you pegged as a vintage movie buff.’
‘I’m not.’ He shrugged. ‘But I was force-fed that stuff as a kid because my mom thought Capra and Spielberg could teach us more about life than Darwin and Shakespeare.’
It wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement of the art form she adored, but the dry admission might be a positive. Perhaps a tiny chunk of Matty’s movie-loving DNA had been passed on to Luke, after all.
The door to Matty’s flat creaked open behind her and Luke’s oxygen-stealing gaze jerked above her head. The line of his lips hardened.
‘Hello, Mr Devlin,’ she heard Gerry’s voice say, and swung round to see all the staff – who were supposed to be holding tight until she’d got the low-down on Luke’s community service – crowding into the foyer.
So much for the No Interruptions on Pain of Death promise they’d given her.
‘We just wanted to say, we’re all really sorry you got slapped with three hundred hours of community service here,’ Gerry said, having obviously been elected Liar in Chief. ‘But we’re really looking forward to working with you.’
‘Thank you, Gerry,’ Ruby replied, wanting to die inside, because Gerry was an even less convincing liar than she was.
‘Are you going to duck out of it?’ Jacie asked, cutting straight to the chase as always. ‘Because this place belongs to you now, too, and it needs the TLC like, yesterday.’
Oh, for the love of …
‘Nope,’ Luke replied. ‘I’m gonna do the time.’
‘Really?’ Ruby gasped.
Everyone was holding their breath, all eyes on Luke. The hard line of his lips hadn’t moved. Was he joking? She couldn’t tell.
‘Isn’t three hundred hours of your time extremely valuable?’ she asked, then wanted to shoot herself. What was she doing? Trying to talk him out of it?
‘My time’s not cheap,’ he said. ‘But your friend is right, this place could use the work.’
‘Jacie’s our assistant manager,’ Ruby said. ‘Jacie meet Luke. Luke meet Jacie,’ she added, introducing them formally.
Jacie and Luke nodded at each other as the Mariachi band in Ruby’s stomach began mainlining coke.
