Page 17 of Next Time I Fall (Excess All Areas 2)

“Now. Any more logistics to be taken care of before I tell you what you need?”

“If it’s a fuck in the bathroom, you can count me out.”

Jase’s eyes ran down to her chest and back. “Yeah. You are so not a bathroom fuck. In that dress, you definitely need a bed. But we can get to that later. Are you going to let me tell you what you need?”

“I’m a little scared to ask.”

Jase waved the server over. “We need cake. Birthday cake with candles. Something chocolate. Oh, and her initial,C, needs to be on whatever she gets.”

Her heart melted a little. Sure, she was half-certain that Jase had already had a few drinks. Perhaps that was why he was being so friendly. So forthcoming with conversation. But she liked it. She liked this more playful side of him than the one she’d seen at the studio.

When the cake arrived, a large chunk of a multi-tiered chocolate cake with two white candles and the letterCpiped in white icing on it, Jase held out his hand to stop her blowing the candles out.

He surprised her by standing and whistling as loud as he could to get everyone’s attention.

“What are you doing?” she hissed.

“Lads. Ladies. I’m in the doghouse. I was late for my wife’s birthday dinner. Can you help a guy out by singing happy birthday with me to make up for it, yeah? Her name’s Cerys.”

“Wife?” she mouthed furiously. God, she was going to die. The whole birthday sing-along was something you did at a cheap and cheerful family restaurant. Not a five-star restaurant that played jazz.

Jase simply grinned. “One, two, three,” he conducted. And to her embarrassment, he led them in a raucous performance. Well, his performance was raucous. Guests too polite to do otherwise joined in with a more mute contribution.

By the time Jase sat down, her cheeks were hot. But she was smiling.

“Happy birthday, Cerys,” he whispered beneath the restrained smattering of applause.

* * *

“You didn’t have to pay, you know?” Cerys said as she changed out of her heels into the chunky boots she’d left in the cloakroom.

Jase shoved his hands into his pockets. “Well, you didn’t need to dress like you were going on the next Apollo moon mission, either.”

“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with these. At least I’ll be able to walk in the snow outside.”

“Fair point. Although, Neil Armstrong called, and he’d like them back when you are finished with them.”

Cerys looked up at him and placed her hand on his arm. “They do not look like moon boots. But thank you. You turned my birthday into something memorable and fun, and I’m grateful.”

Cerys wrapped the long scarf around her neck. “Ouch,” she cried out, then reached for her ear.

He stepped closer to her. “What did you do?”

“Got my earring tangled up in my scarf somehow.”

“Here, let me.” Jase reached for the hoop of her earring gently and studied it in the dim light of the restaurant entrance. The end of the hoop had hooked through the loose knit of the scarf.

Gently, he eased the scarf off the earring, trying to ignore the softness of her skin across his knuckles. Or the way he could feel her breath on his wrist. Her scent was warm and inviting.

She was a ray of fucking sunshine, and at that moment, he was completely blinded by her.

“There you go.”

“Thanks.”

They stepped out of the restaurant into the cold night air. “I’ll just get a cab,” she said, pointing to a line of taxis across the street.

Jase looked down at his watch. “No.”

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