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The thought made her heart slam against her ribs.
‘Don’t paint all us men with the same brush.’ Reaching out his hand, Jake gently loosed the glossy strand of hair that Caitlin had tucked behind her ear and watched it glance against her cheek as it fell silkily down to her shoulder. ‘I sincerely hope I’m not as shallow as you seem to think I am. When you get past the physical attraction, I’m quite aware there’s got to be something deeper and more compelling to keep both parties in a relationship interested. If I found a woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with I’d never let her go…no matter what happened.’
Jake’s arresting blue eyes were regarding her so intently that Caitlin felt the imprint of his gaze resonate deep inside her. Along with the heartfelt words he’d expressed, his intensely examining glance shook and unravelled her. It made her body burn and her heart race. It stirred a longing in her for things that she knew could never be.
‘This is the last outfit Ronnie gave me to try on. I think I’ll go and get changed now. I suddenly feel quite cold.’
Despite the intimacy that Jake had woven round them, the harsh cold reality of the situation suddenly doused the heat that had all but drowned her just a moment ago. Caitlin was beginning to care too much for Jake and that was dangerous.
Turning away, she rubbed briskly at the chilled flesh on her arms in the diaphanous blouse, and was taken aback when he moved swiftly behind her and turned her firmly back round to face him.
‘That first outfit you tried on…the purple velvet top and the long black skirt with the chain belt? That looked great. Shall we go with that for starters?’
A muscle flexed in the side of his lean jaw. The outfit he’d described was one of her favourites, too. It seemed that they agreed on something after all.
‘Okay.’
‘And, by the way, we’re not going straight home after this. We’re going back to Ronnie’s place for a while, then I’m taking you to a club. We’ll eat dinner there and enjoy some entertainment.’
He was taking her to a club? What was that all about?
‘Why didn’t you mention this before? What kind of club?’
Jake’s expression remained as inscrutable as ever, yet he definitely had a twinkle in his eye. Caitlin frowned. What on earth was the man up to?
‘I wanted it to be a surprise,’ he drawled. ‘Hopefully an enjoyable one.’
‘I’ve hardly got the right clothes with me to go out for the evening…especially to a club. Can’t we leave it for another night?’
Ignoring her hopeful plea, he clenched his jaw and firmly shook his head.
‘Sorry, but you’re not going to wriggle out of this one. Trust me. Tonight will be just what you need. As for not having the right clothes—why don’t you pick out one of the outfits you were looking at to wear? You can get ready at Ronnie’s.’
‘Those outfits are ludicrously expensive, Jake! I can’t afford—’
‘I’m footing the bill. You can have anything you like—and I mean anything. Think of it as a gift.’
More than a little overwhelmed by his unexpected generosity, she was almost lost for words. ‘Well…I mean, that’s very kind of you, but just what kind of place is this club you’re taking me to?’
He smiled one of his maddening sexy smiles that could stop a woman in her tracks in less than a heartbeat and said, ‘It’s classy…very classy. That’s all you need to know.’
‘Let me help you to choose something. Jake has told me where you’ll be going and I know the perfect outfit. We’ll also need to accessorise you with shoes and jewellery to complete the look.’
The fragrant Ronnie was suddenly at her side and, whilst Caitlin had plenty of reservations about being kitted out for an evening out with Jake somewhere ‘classy’, she sensed that any more attempts at wriggling out of the night’s events would be a waste of energy.
* * *
In the sumptuous mirrored enclave of the exclusive members-only jazz club, frequented not just by aficionados but by many well-known celebrities from the worlds of music and film, Jake sat opposite Caitlin at a beautifully laid dining table and thanked the gods for giving him a legitimate excuse simply to sit and gaze at her.
