Page 16 of Hit For Six
There hadn’t been the budget for nights out to fly hotspots, and Lola hadn’t felt the urge to put Squiffy on a lead so she could encourage a pet meet-cute in one of the city’s green spaces. She’d long known that romance would need to happen out of the blue. But this was not what she’d had in mind. Monty had probably only kissed her because he felt sorry for her.
She reached the pavement’s edge, wondering how the square had run out on her and why she hadn’t had the sense to ask Maxine where the hidden tunnel to the park was. Many of the Georgian buildings opposite Parade Gardens had one squirreledaway in their basements and it would have made a far better escape route from The Bubble Bath. But here she was and she could hardly zigzag back in a game of cat and mouse. Spotting a fleeting gap in the traffic, Lola darted across the road to safety, determined to keep up her stride, until she heard a mammoth screeching of brakes and a feeble beep.No, please tell her he hadn’t been such a twit!Lola really hoped Monty’s impulsiveness had stopped at him jumping over the bar. Now she had no choice but to turn on her heel, quit running away from her problems and behave like a grown-up.
Monty held an apologetic hand aloft to the stressed-out driver of a cute Fiat Cinquecento and continued to pace toward her. Lola reluctantly came to a halt by the stone wall above the River Avon. Pulteney Weir thundered behind her, competing with the heavy downpour. It would have made the perfect cinematic backdrop for another, much longer kiss as the two of them stared at one another, waiting to see who would make the first move, as if they were in a friendlier version of a Spaghetti Western. Monty’s hair was plastered to his face in a quirky Manchester indie band makeover, while his cobalt eyes pierced her heart and made her knees wobble. Lola felt terrible that he was getting so drenched but then the doorman could have handed him an umbrella too. Okay, sometimes inequality did work in a woman’s favour.
As he stepped closer, the background sound seemed to overpower everything in their surroundings so it was just the two of them. No river to the East, no iconic Palladian-style bridge to the North, no buzz and splish-splash of traffic to the West, no ‘leisure, pleasure and polite society’ gardens to the South. Suddenly their previously risky encounters and their different classes didn’t matter either. Everything that stood between them was washed away in the rivulets of rain so theywere woman and man. Two beating hearts wondering what was going to happen next.
Monty’s gaze drifted to Lola’s lips and she became conscious of herself lusting after his Cupid’s bow mouth. He continued to close the gap. Her heart galloped, his Adam’s apple bobbed. It would have been so easy for her to shut her eyes and let nature take its course. She could already sense him tipping her chin with his strong but gentle-looking hand so it was just the right angle for them to pick up where they’d left off, seeing where more of those delicious kisses would take them. She felt her eyelids grow hooded, the heat pooling in her stomach, but then a group of soaked pedestrians ran past them, knocking straight into Monty and shattering the illusion.
‘Sorry!’ A couple of them cried over their shoulders, leaving a trail of nervous giggles behind them.
Lola opened her eyes just in time to dodge Monty’s stumble. He righted himself against the wall, putting out a hand so he didn’t topple over it and into the water below. The very same hand that Lola had yet to experience touching her body, and now likely never would. She let out a small sigh.
‘Just a tad embarrassing,’ he grimaced. ‘Not that I’m not well-versed in all things cringe tonight. Apart from the kiss. I rather enjoyed that part. If it isn’t… erm… ungentlemanly of me to say so.’
Lola bit her lip, not knowing how to reply.
‘C-can I see you again? Somewhere a little less busy and drier?’ Monty tried another tack, leaving Lola stunned and momentarily speechless. ‘Actually, that was supposed to be my second question. I haven’t even asked you if you’re alright?’
Lola screwed up her features. Hopefully it would make her look less attractive and encourage her mascara to run further down her face. What planet did Monty live on?
‘That… wasn’t exactly a first date and yes, I’ll survive. Us women always do. But no.’ She laughed at the absurdity of his suggestion and then felt even more reproachable. He looked so wounded. ‘I mean… that would be a terrible idea. I think we should never ever have anything to do with one another again. Look at all the chaos we’ve created.’
It wasn’t strictly true. She’d saved someone from getting knocked unconscious on Friday. But the long and the short of it was… had Monty not hit that stupid six and had she not insisted on catching it, letting Julian’s head get even bigger instead, then a catastrophic chain of events would never have been set in motion. No matter how much she examined the details of the last few days under a microscope, the result would always be the same.
Not really. Harry didn’t have to insist on the daft corporate Friday afternoons out, Monty could have pursued a different sport, Julian could have stayed the fuck in the sister company and behaved himself, and as for you, Madam… you could have followed your heart straight out of uni to the West End and inched your way up the rungs of theatre management instead of settling for a second best job where you are undervalued, underpaid and overlooked. And then there are all the poor trees you’re helping to fell in the process, fighting a losing battle for the sake of nostalgia when eco-conscious humans are sending one another those cute animated Jacquie Lawson ecards. All of which means you know exactly what you should be doing with your life right now.
‘I don’t believe that,’ Monty cut through Lola’s irksome inner voice and she tried not to show her relief.
‘Excuse me?’
‘I think we have an undeniable chemistry and it would be a crime not to–’
‘Please don’t even think about finishing that sentence. There’s only one way it will end and it will come back to haunt the pair of us for ever.’ Lola took a deep breath. ‘Listen, I’m flattered at the attention but you’re wearing cocktail goggles. We’re from alternate universes with not a thing in common. The novelty would soon wear off.’
She would just have to recapture the sights, sounds and feelings of this crazy evening instead. And if that failed, at least she knew that she could forever evoke the memory of this snapshot in time, smiling a secret smile every time she walked past this spot. She turned to walk away, but then Monty blurted:
‘I work at Beau-re-mi… the company that made your dress.’
Lola’s heart sank. She slowly turned back to face him, slapping her forehead. And if that little piece of body language had the bonus effect of smudging her eyeliner, all the better!
‘This gets worse and worse.’ She shook her head in a make-it-make-sense style. ‘What I’m supposed to do with that nugget of info? And I don’t understand. How can you be a top cricketerandhave a day job?’
Monty laughed. ‘I hate to break it to you but T20 cricket is not quite the same as premiership football. We’ve got to have a plan B. Some of us even need a plan Z.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
He was totally stalling her escape by throwing these little gems into the conversation, his luscious blue eyes twinkling in delight that he’d managed to keep the dialogue afloat. Frustratingly, it was working and Lola was too fascinated to move.
‘It means that for the past eight years I’ve been cajoled into working for the family business.’ Lola’s eyebrows reached dizzying heights at this news. His family owned Beau-re-mi? They must be blimming minted! ‘Let me walk you home and I’llbore you to tears with the details.’Absolutely not.It might be raining but she refused to be thunderstruck.
‘There’s no need. I’m getting the bus,’ she said, surprising herself. ‘Which stops right outside my house. It’s still light. We’re not living in the 1800s. I don’t need a chaperone.’
She hated turning ice maiden but what choice did she have? Especially after her self-imposed rules in the wake of Orlando. The novelty of dating a working class woman would soon wear off. She couldn’t compete with the kind of girls on Monty’s radar. Any fantasy she had about spending future moments with this man needed to be thwarted immediately. She was plain old Lola Smith. Besides, how could a romance possibly blossom on the back of so much embarrassment. She’d never live it down.
‘As long as you’re sure.’ He ran a hand through his hair taking her right back to thatjumbotronat the game when she’d first feasted her eyes on him. He looked incredibly sexy when he did this. It gave her a very good insight into Monty Beauchamp-Carmichael stepping out of the shower with nothing but a very loose towel around his hips. But somehow he looked vulnerable, too. ‘I’m going to be honest with you,’ he continued. ‘Even if we hadn’t shared that heartstopper of a kiss, I don’t give a damn about anything tonight except getting you home in one piece. Especially not my idiot of a teammate, who I will do everything in my power to kick out of the Beasts. Let me walk you to the bus stop at least?’
‘Fine.’ Lola held her free hand up in surrender. ‘But I’m not going to break, it’s not far, I’m still not sharing my umbrella as that would take us right back into forced proximity territory, and Ireally– like truly, totally and utterly– don’t get why you are being so nice to me when all of the evidence points to the fact that you should be doing the complete opposite. Oh, and for the record,’ Lola came up briefly for air, ‘what happened tonight was an adrenalin-fueled reaction. That’s all. I don’t knowwhy I’m telling you because we’ll never meet again but I have a mild case of SPD.’ Monty looked blank. ‘Sensory Processing Disorder,’ Lola filled in the gaps. ‘I’m terrified of the dark. The kiss helped to ground me. Thanks.’ There. Hopefully her reply was convincingly perfunctory.
