Page 26 of Here Comes Trouble
She turned to look at him, her expression wild and her face flaming red. ‘Can we go?’ it came out as a hushed gasp. She flapped the front of the shirt, clearly trying to cool herself down. He frowned at her extreme reaction. It was warm in the car, but not sweltering.
He started up the engine and drove out of the car park, heading back to the villa. ‘You okay?’ he asked.
‘I’m fine. Just hot. Is it hot in here?’ She wafted the shirt forwards and back creating a slight draught of air, staring hard at the dashboard.
‘Not really.’ He put a hand on her arm and felt the heat of her skin sear through the cotton of the shirt. ‘Jess, what’s going on?’
She wouldn’t look at him. ‘I don’t like showing people my body. I’m not comfortable with it. Never have been. I get a bit… panicked.’
He frowned, baffled. ‘How long have you felt like that?’
She took a deep breath before she answered him. ‘Since my early teens. I’ve struggled with an eating disorder since then.’ She screwed up her face in disgust. ‘But I haven’t let it… you know… get hold of me since my late teens.’
Memories from the last couple of days connected together in his brain like jigsaw pieces. So that explained the baggy, unflattering clothes and her apparent discomfort when eating in front of him.
He leant back in the seat and rubbed a hand over his face. ‘I’m surprised.’
‘Why?’
‘Because you seem so together.’
‘It’s all a front,’ she said quietly.
‘Yeah, well I know what that takes,’ he murmured to himself.
She didn’t seem to have heard him, trapped miles away in her own thoughts.
They reached the villa a couple of minutes later and he parked back under the awning and shut off the engine.
He turned to look at her and waited until she looked back at him. ‘Well, if it’s any consolation, you’re easily the most intriguing woman I’ve met in a long time.’
She snorted, then screwed her eyes shut in embarrassment.
‘Mostly because you’re smart and funny and passionate,’ he said, ‘But I wouldn’t kick you out of bed either.’
She seemed to swallow hard. ‘What?’ Her voice was raspy and appeared to barely make it out of her throat. She frowned at him hard, as if she was trying to root out a lie.
He looked back at her, unblinking. She wouldn’t win this one. Mainly because he was telling the truth.
Jess broke eye contact first and he gave himself a mental high-five, feeling inordinately pleased with himself, until she turned away to stare out of the window.
‘Jess?’
She looked back at him, her expression confused, but wary, and he instinctively leant forwards and cupped the side of her jaw with one hand, his thumb catching against the soft fullness of her bottom lip.
He wanted to kiss her. So badly.
It was instinctive, driven by a mixture of need and curiosity and a determination not to be rejected, but frustration twisted in his gut when he realised she was fighting him and pulling away.
Releasing his grip on her, he reluctantly drew back. ‘What’s wrong?’ he asked gruffly.
She opened her mouth, as if to respond, then shook her head, her long bob of hair swinging round her face, before reaching for the handle to open the door.
He watched her scramble out of the car, banging her arm on the door in her rush to get away from him.
He slumped back in the chair, staring out into the darkness, hot with anger at himself. What the hell was he thinking, coming on to her like that after what she’d just told him? God, how inappropriate. He needed to straighten himself out – fast. Getting close to Jess was going to take more than chucking a few artless, throwaway platitudes her way before steaming in full force.
He got out of the car and followed her into the villa, a little way behind to give her the space she obviously needed. She turned as she reached the staircase and gave him a strained smile.
