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Not that it was left up to her.
Instead of dropping her off, instead of an awkward silence while he waited for her to be polite, Iosef pulled into the driveway and, switching off the engine, climbed straight out, walking with her to the doorstep. When she fumbled with her keys he took them from her, opened the door, and without invitation or consideration took her by the elbow and led her in.
‘Where’s your kitchen?’ He frowned at her bemused expression. ‘Given I can’t trust you to follow my orders without supervision, I guess I’m going to have to fix you something to eat myself. Now, go and sit down and I will bring you some supper.’
‘Hold on a minute...’ Annie started, but it was already too late. He brushed past her and stalked through to her kitchen, and it was either follow him and engage in a pointless argument or take the few moments’ grace to attempt a quick clean-up of the living room.
‘Do you get some sort of kick out of ignoring my advice?’
‘No...’ Flustered, she turned around, a mountain of magazines and a whole load of ironing in hand as he stood menacingly in the doorway. She had no idea how long he’d been watching—if he’d seen her kick her bras under the sofa and polish the table with her sleeve... ‘I was just...’ Her voice trailed off and, placing her load on the coffee-table, she finally followed his orders, sitting down on the sofa and actually stretching out her legs, blinking in surprise when, from the hell of her kitchen, he emerged with buttered toast and some mushroom soup she’d long forgotten was even there! ‘Eat it all!’
And two mouthfuls in, Annie realized just how hungry she really was, doing as she was told and even mopping the plate with her toast.
‘How long have you been on this diet?’
‘Since Monday.’ Annie gave an embarrassed shrug. ‘You’ve seen what Jackie’s like. Could you imagine having to tell her that the dress didn’t fit? So Melanie and I came up with a plan... ’ He didn’t answer her nervous chatter, just stared at her through narrowed eyes, watching her closely as she spoke. ‘Anyway, it turns out that it was just a mix-up. It’s all fine now.’
‘But you didn’t eat anything at all today.’
‘I had some toast at work... I just forgot, OK?’ Annie snapped. ‘What with my leg and the rehearsal and everything...’
‘Youforgotto eat.’
‘Yes.’ She gave a tiny little cough as she said it, didn’t like the way he was staring at her, as if somehow he knew better... as if somehow he knew her secret!
‘You didn’tforgetto go to the gym, though!’
Annie didn’t answer, just sat in a long embarrassing silence, an unbecoming blush creeping across her face as he continued to glare at her. ‘It’s no big deal. Her voice was a croak and again she had to cough to clear it. ‘It was just for a week.’
‘Good!’ Lecture over, he stood up and so too did Annie, against orders.
‘I can see myself out.’
‘Good!’ Annie replied. ‘And I can see myself to bed.’ They walked rather uncomfortably along her narrow hall, Annie in front, achingly aware of him behind her, his unbelievable presence in her tiny apartment completely overwhelming.
‘Do you need a lift in the morning?’ he queried. ‘It’s no problem for me to drop you off at your car on my way to work.’
‘I’ll be fine.’ Annie smiled. ‘I’ll ring Claudia and have her pick me up.’
‘Go to bed, then.’
‘I will.’ Her face was nearly cracking from smiling, from pretending she was OK—he couldn’t possibly have known how much his earlier words had stung, the wretched shame she was feeling at this very moment... Or maybe he did know.
‘Don’t play dangerous games with your health, Annie.’
‘I wasn’t.’ Her heart was hammering in her chest, tears suddenly horribly close again—embarrassed tears, though, like being caught with your hand in the cookie jar—or, to be more accurate in her case, refusing to put your hand into the cookie jar, as if he’d somehow become privy to her dark secrets. A shaking hand raked through her hair, and she was tempted to push him out the door and slam it shut. How did he know what a dangerous game she’d been playing this week? How could he possibly have known that murky piece of her past when every calorie had been counted and exercised away, where every piece of her flesh had been critically scrutinized and loathed. ‘It really was just for one week... ’ Annie closed her eyes for a second. ‘And today was just an oversight...’ Her voice faded, because she had been quite a silly girl this week.
Or, rather, a silly woman.
She should have known that with her past a crash diet was something she should never have toyed with.
She wanted him to go, wanted him the hell away from her, the tears she’d held back all day spilling out now, and she didn’t want him to see.
But he did.
The man who had kept her at arm’s length all week suddenly pulled her in, and when he wrapped her in his embrace, it was such a sweet relief to give in.
And suddenly the last thing she wanted was for him to go—her heart was hammering again, her breath coming hard and fast, but for entirely different reasons now. She’d never been held like this. Even if she knew she should push away, she didn’t want to. For the first time in the longest time, for the first time in for ever perhaps, she didn’t have to pretend, at least for a minute or two.
