Page 27 of Here Comes Trouble
‘See you tomorrow.’ It was a statement, not a question and he knew for sure there would be no invitation to visit her room that night. Perhaps it was for the best considering how ineptly he seemed to be acting around her.
For the best. Thebest, he chanted inside his head in an attempt to convince himself of it.
‘Goodnight, Jess, sleep well,’ he called after her, knowing full well a good night’s sleep was the last thing he’d be getting.
5
Jess couldn’t sleep. Again.
Her body hummed with unsettling sensations after spending the most sexually charged day of her life with the most disquieting man in the world – who she was pretty sure would have kissed her in the car if she hadn’t freaked out and run away from him. The trouble with being around Xander was that he was such a tactile person she wasn’t sure whether she’d read his intentions all wrong. Maybe he’d meant nothing by it.
The memory of the humiliating jumper incident in the restaurant made her whole body flush hot with embarrassment. Xander had been so cool to whip off his own shirt like that to protect her modesty and then she’d been cold and weird with him in the car afterwards.
He must think she was a total loon.
And what the hell had possessed her to tell him about her eating disorder? It felt now as if she’d opened up the most delicate part of herself and there was a cold draught blowing in, chilling her to the bone.
Not that he hadn’t been sensitive about it. In fact, he’d been lovely about that too, which only made her want him more.
Because she did want him.
More than she’d wanted anyone in her entire life.
And the idea terrified her.
She knew deep in her bones it would be a disaster for her to get emotionally involved with him. He was too wild for her; too… what was the phrase? Too hot to handle.
She’d get badly burned; she knew it.
The most sensible thing to do would be to keep it strictly business for the rest of her time here in case she made even more of a fool of herself. But she didn’t really want to be sensible. Not this time.
Trouble was, she had a feeling her standoffishness was all that separated her from pretty much every other woman he came into contact with, and she’d be a fool to squander the advantage of his remarkable interest in her by making herself too available.
All she had to do was keep things in perspective.
Yeah, good luck with that Jess.
Oh, my goodness, this assignment was hard work.
She sighed and rolled over in bed, trying to quell the deep, vigorous throbbing between her legs at the thought of him sleeping just along the corridor.
Impossible.
Never in all her life had she felt so wildly out of control and it scared the hell out of her.
* * *
The next morning Jess got up early and took herself off for a drive around the lake.
She needed a breather from being around Xander in order to mentally get herself to a place where she could handle the developing situation without freaking out again.
A bit of peace and calm and normality was just the ticket.
Stopping off in a few of the charming towns along the way, she took photos and made notes for the travel piece she needed to write. Each place was very different from the last – with its own unique atmosphere and character – all bordering the amazingly clear, aquamarine coloured water of Lake Garda. She could totally see why the place lured so many visitors to its shores each year.
A tantalising window display in one of the women’s clothes shops drew her in and she found herself trying on and buying a couple of reasonably priced tops – one white and one in a vibrant pillar-box red – a stylish, black fish-tail skirt that fell to just above her knee and a couple of mid-length, sleeved summer dresses. All the clothes were more fitted and flamboyant than the things she’d usually wear, but some, strange compulsion made her hand over her credit card and buy them anyway. She justified the expense by telling herself she needed some more clothes since it looked as if she was staying longer, and it would be unprofessional to keep turning up in the same sad outfit every day.
After gathering as much information as she needed, she finally made her way back to the villa, feeling drowsy now in the afternoon heat.
