Page 35 of Kiss Me at Christmas
“I saw that,” he said. “What is it?”
“Nothing.”
James continued to look at her. Waiting.
“It’s just. I’m trying to imagine what you look like when you’re not dressed in formal attire. I can’t imagine you not in a suit.”
He speared her with a look.
“You’ve seen me at my most informal, Ms. Smith.”
She instantly flushed, remembering his taut body hovering above hers, the heat of his skin as their naked bodies crushed together, moving in the rhythm of lovers, her hips pushing up to meet his.Get agrip!she told herself, wiping the back of her hand across her forehead. His mouth twitched into a smile.
“I—” Her voice came out as a strangled croak, and she cleared her throat. “I meant, I can’t imagine you slopping around in a tracksuit.”Is there a heater on in here?She shrugged off one of her cardis.
“You see me more as a smoking-jacket-and-silk-pajama-bottoms sort?”
She burst out a laugh. “I didn’t, but now I have a very clear image of what that would look like.”
“And?”
“I think you could probably pull it off.”
He shook his head, smiling, and went back to filling his black sack while she concentrated on clearing the dress circle of sweet wrappers and other detritus, screwing her face up in disgust at the number of used condoms she had the misfortune to find.At least they’re practicing safe sex?
She considered what James had said in her flat. Had she met men who claimed they wanted to do better? Not often, she concluded. Plenty felt that they deserved points for being up-front about the fact that they were only interested in sex. Many assumed that simplyprofessing themselves to be feminists would get them laid, and ninety percent of those thought that feminism was something to do with burning bras and taking their jobs.
Did James’s quest for betterment mean that he was genuinely looking for something deeper? Or did it simply mean he intended to be more courteous after one-night stands—breakfast and a handshake before parting? Had he really been hoping that their night together might lead to more? She sneaked a glance his way.
He was classically tall, dark, and handsome, albeit in a buttoned-up sort of way. Yes, he walked around like he had a rod up his bottom and he was quick to judge, but equally, she noticed, quick to apologize and learn from his mistakes, and that was an attractive personality trait. However, he was essentially acting as her parole officer, and this was a strike against him. As was the mysterious Lyra, who could be significant or a family member or friend.The odds are even thus far; I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, she thought.
Half an hour later, a maintenance team composed of at least forty people wearing boilersuits in blues and dark green arrived and immediately took up stations all over the building to begin the task of reinforcing, replacing, securing, and the general fixing of the countless things that creaked ominously in the dilapidated theater.
Harriet finished up another work call and turned to James.
“It’s a bit late for them to be starting a job, isn’t it?” she asked.
“You can talk—you don’t seem to finish work at all.”
He looked pointedly at her phone, which had managed to interrupt every conversation they’d had at least once since they’d arrived. She bristled.
“I have a demanding job.”
“Indeed, you do.” The heavy quiet of the theater had been replaced with the hammer and whirr of tools. “With so much work needing to be done in such a short time, Evaline gave me the go-ahead to instruct an around-the-clock maintenance team.” He speared an orange peel in the orchestra pit and added, “It’s for insurance as well as for the renovations. She doesn’t want to be sued when a student falls through rotten floorboards or gets squashed by a sandbag because the ropes on the rigging system have perished.”
“She’s all heart.”
“It’s an expensive window-dressing exercise, but Evaline is hopeful that showing the theater in its best light will encourage the right kind of buyer.”
“Does she care who buys it? Does it matter?”
James considered. “I had always thought not. Her relationship with this building is complicated, and I had thought she’d be glad to be shot of it. But when we received a generous offer for the land from a company that wanted to raze the theater to the ground, she turned them down, even though it was the best offer we’d had on the table in years.” He stood and looked around the empty stalls as though suddenly remembering where he was. “Forgive me, I’ve said too much. I’m not usually so free with my clients’ personal matters. Please, can we strike all that from the record?”
“As you wish, Mr. Knight. Sustained!” She’d known that binge-watchingThe Good Wifewould come in handy one day.
James turned away, smiling. She heard his low chuckle as he moved along the stalls. She liked making him laugh.
“Why is she really making me clean the place upwhen she’s obviously got professionals on the payroll? Does she honestly believe her own rhetoric?”
