A Walk in the Park (17 page)

Last night had been eventful in more ways than one. Lara had fallen asleep at midnight, thinking of Flynn and that Interrupted Kiss. She'd been hoping to dream about it in more detail but the inside of her head was never that obliging; instead, she'd dreamed that the shop had been crammed with angry customers shouting at her because they'd wanted to buy jewelry and she'd sold them giant pork pies instead.

Neither Flynn nor the Interrupted Kiss had put in an appearance, but the memory of it had continued to occupy her thoughts on and off all day. Basically because it had been like being presented with the most sensational dessert in a top restaurant but only being allowed to taste the tiniest morsel before it was whisked away…

And now he was back again, ostensibly to drop Gigi home from work and to give her a lift to the spa but in reality with plans to spend the evening being her chaperone.

Which was amusing in its own way, but not what a twenty-first-century eighteen-year-old was likely to tolerate. Still, it was up to Gigi now to handle the situation. Lara had already had her say and been rebuffed.

Having Flynn here wasn't doing a great deal for her equilibrium, to be honest.

“Right, I'm ready!” Gigi came skipping downstairs in her black cotton sundress and silver ballet pumps, swinging a cream tote bag. Unzipping the bag, she produced a lime-green and orange sequined bikini with a flourish and waggled it at them. “Look, I got it at lunchtime, isn't it fantastic? Super sparkly!”

“It's beautiful,” said Lara, because it was.

“It's… small.” Flynn's tone was disapproving.

“It was six pounds fifty.” Gigi was delighted with her sale bargain. “I splurged. And yes, it is quite small. I tried to find a bikini bigger than a king-sized duvet, but they didn't have any left in the shop.
Ooh
.” Her face lit up as a throaty roar reached their ears. “That's them now.”

Lara glanced out of the window and saw the Maybach pull up at the gate. She also saw Flynn's jaw tighten.

“I said I'd take you down there.” He watched Gigi stuff the tiny bikini back into her bag.

“I know, but now you don't need to. Enjay said it was no trouble to pick me up. And he'll drop me home later too.”

“But I was going to come along with you. I think I should.”

“Dad, stop it! Mum, tell him I don't need a chaperone. We're not in Jane Austen's world now.”

“Enjay's certainly no Mr. Darcy,” Flynn retorted.

“Hey, don't worry, she'll be fine.” Lara rested her hand in the small of Gigi's back and said, “Have a good time, sweetheart. Got your front-door key?”

“Yep. Bye, Mum, see you later. Bye, Dad.”

“Just let me have a word with him first.”

“Oh God,” Gigi groaned as Flynn opened the front door and headed over to the car. “How embarrassing.”

“He's your father,” said Lara, “and he's new to the job. It's nice that he cares.”

Gigi grimaced. “He really needs to have a learner's permit.”

***

The Maybach purred off down the road with Gigi inside it and Lara watched from the front door as Flynn made his way back to her.

God, she loved the way he walked.

“What did you say to him?”

“What do you think I said? I told him to watch himself or he'd have me to answer to.”

“And what did he say?”

“He gave me the kind of look you'd expect. Which made me want to wring his neck. Then he said it was cool, she'd be OK. Which means nothing at all.” Flynn shook his head. “Then Gigi jumped into the car and said she'd email me a photo of the spa.” With visible frustration he said, “She also called me Mr. Bennet.”

Lara did her best not to smile.

“It isn't funny.” Flynn's voice rose. “He's booked one of the private pools.”

“Calm down. She'll be fine.”

“Are you mad? He's a rapper who gets everything he wants. I can't believe you're just letting this happen.” He followed her through to the kitchen. “You should have told her she couldn't go.”

“Of course. Why didn't I think of that? Silly me,” said Lara.

“Are you really not bothered?”

“Flynn, she's eighteen. For one thing, I can't tell her not to go. For another thing, Gigi's my daughter and all I can do is trust her. She knows how I'd like her to behave. There's no point going on and on about it.”

“Even after what happened to you?”

OK, this was starting to get irritating now. Lara said, “Especially after that. Because all my father ever did was lay down the law and threaten me, and look how well that worked out.”

“So now you let your daughter do whatever she wants.”

“Can we stop this now?” She held up her hands. “You can double-check with the police if you like, but I'm fairly sure handcuffing children and locking them in a cupboard isn't actually legal.”

“I'm just saying you don't seem to be taking the situation seriously. This isn't some teenage boy we're talking about,” said Flynn. “He's a grown man with a reputation.”

Pot. Kettle.

“If you're worried about him seducing her, don't,” said Lara. “It won't happen.”

“You don't know that.”

“Gigi doesn't approve of people having sex on the first night. Says it's stupid and a waste of anticipation. She tells her friends off when they do it.”

“You can't be sure.”

“I know that too. And sometimes I don't want to know. But she's an adult and whatever she decides to do, you still can't stop her.” Lara checked her watch; it was six thirty and she was meeting up with Harry in an hour. “Plus, I brought her up and I don't enjoy having my parenting skills criticized.”

“You don't say. I'd never have noticed.”

“Especially by people with far less experience than me.”

“Thanks to you,” Flynn pointed out. “That was your decision, not mine.”

OK, blood pressure. Time to relax. Lara exhaled and said, “Can we change the subject before we get into another argument?”

He was looking at her mouth, which wasn't helping. For a couple of seconds the only sound in the kitchen was that of a fly buzzing furiously as it flung itself against the glass, desperate to escape.

Flynn reached over, opened the window, and let the fly out. Then he turned and said, “What would you rather talk about?”

Had he been thinking about yesterday's Interrupted Kiss too? From the glint in his dark eyes it seemed like a distinct possibility. Lara swallowed; all the feelings were back in her stomach and now she couldn't stop looking at
his
mouth… right, that was it, just go for it…

“To be honest, I'm not that bothered about talking.” She closed the distance between them. “There's something else I'd rather be doing. Any idea what that might be?”

A flicker of a smile. God, he just had one of those faces capable of melting you with a look. All kinds of havoc were going on inside her.

“I think I might have an inkling,” said Flynn and she was near enough to feel his warm breath on her cheek. OK, she was really going to do it now. Reaching up, Lara wound her arms around his neck and drew his mouth down to meet hers. He didn't object; she'd guessed he wouldn't. And here were all the magical sensations back again, those hopelessly addictive chemicals flooding her bloodstream. When it came to kissing, Flynn was in a class of his own… it was a kiss you could lose yourself in. Almost two decades on from the first ones they'd shared, this had stood the test of time.

And… finish, over,
done
. Lara ended the kiss and drew back. She smiled at him. “God, you're good.”

“Not so bad yourself.” He broke into a slow smile of his own. “So what happens now?”

“Nothing happens now. That was it.”

His breath audibly caught in his throat. “Why?”

“Because we were interrupted yesterday. I hate it when something's interrupted and you don't get a chance to finish. You know, like when you just need to find out what the rest of it would have been like,” said Lara. “The not-knowing just kills me. You must be the same.”

“And now I've satisfied your curiosity, is that what you're saying? This is as far as you want to go?”

“Yes it is.” She stood her ground.

“You know what?” Finn raised an eyebrow. “I don't believe you.”

“Fine then, but it's as far as I'm going to go.” He was gazing at her intently and it was very off-putting. “I told you before, nothing can happen that might make things awkward for Gigi. You and I have to stay on good terms, we can't hate each other.”

“I don't hate you. You don't hate me.”

“We don't now, because we're not together. That's why we're never going to start anything. As long as we aren't involved, we'll be OK.”

“And what you did just now.” Flynn waved his index finger between her chest and his own. “That's not what you'd call starting anything?”

“It wasn't a start. It was a finish. We've done it now. And we're still friends.” Lara willed him to understand. “For Gigi's sake it has to stay that way. We're not going to do anything to spoil it.”

“What,
never
?”

He really didn't understand. She shook her head. “Never.”

“Not even if you were completely crazy about me?”

“I'm not completely crazy about you.”

“I know,” said Flynn. “I'm just saying. Hypothetically. If you realized you'd fallen madly in love with me and I felt the same way about you, if we were in love with each other… would you change your mind then?”

“No. But that's the thing, it would never get to that stage. We aren't going to let it happen because there wouldn't be any point.”

“And there wouldn't be any point because…?”

Lara said steadily, “Because we both know there's never going to be any sex.”

“Right.” Pause. “To be fair, I've only just found this out.” Apparently no longer sure what to do with his hands, Flynn stuck them in his trouser pockets.

“You haven't. I told you before.”

“I didn't realize you meant never. As in,
never
ever
.”

“Oh. Well, I did. I wasn't just playing hard to get.” Lara shook her head impatiently; had he really thought that? “If this whole co-parenting thing's going to work, it's the only way.”

“Right. And no way of changing your mind?”

“No!”

“Thought not.”

Lara relaxed; everything was going to be OK. “Hey, cheer up. Want to hear the good news?”

Flynn exhaled. “Go for it.”

“Like mother, like daughter. Once Gigi decides not to do something, she doesn't give in. That's how I know we don't have to worry about her tonight.”

“Hmm.”

“You should be pleased.”

“I'm pleased about that part of it.” His tone indicated that as far as the other aspect was concerned, not so much.

“Look, I'm right and you know I am. Anyway”—Lara glanced again at her watch—“I'm meeting Harry and he hates it if I'm late. So I need to jump in the shower.” She led the way out to the hall and opened the front door. “But thanks for everything.”

Flynn said drily, “Don't mention it.”

Was she doing a good job? Lara thought she was. “And no worrying about Gigi; she can look after herself.” Mischievously she added, “Like I said, I taught her well.”

“You're late,” said Harry when Lara arrived at the pub.

“Not by much though. Only ten minutes. Come here, Grumpy.” Lara gave him the monster hug she hadn't had the opportunity to bestow yesterday. “I can't believe what's been happening to you. It's the weirdest thing ever.”

“Tell me about it.” Harry smiled his deprecating, lopsided smile. “I'm spending a fortnight with someone whose music makes my ears bleed. Half the time I need subtitles to understand what he's saying. He's like a spoiled child who always has to get his own way and when he takes his socks off he throws them ‘in the trash' because he never wears the same pair twice.”

“Wow. Are they cheap socks?”

“What do you think? Cashmere.”

“But you're having an adventure. It's brilliant.” Last night at the house Enjay had been the center of attention; it was nice to have the opportunity to talk properly now. “And how's it going with Moira? She didn't mind you doing this?” Moira, who ran a health food shop in Keswick, was Harry's girlfriend, although you wouldn't call it the romance of the year. Moira was an earnest character with unfortunate ears and a tendency to bang on about healthy eating. For someone so obsessed with whole grains, mineral supplements, and leafy green vegetables, it was ironic that she looked as if she'd spent the last decade living underground.

“We decided to call it a day.” Harry didn't sound bothered. “It wasn't working out. To be honest, it's a relief not to have to swallow all those horse pills anymore.”

“So you aren't sad?”

“I'm not sad.”

“That's good then. She was a bit scary sometimes.” Lara had done her best to be friendly, but when she'd once eaten three chocolate cookies in a row, Moira had fixed her with a beady, mascara-free gaze and said, “If you clog your arteries up, you're just going to have a heart attack and die.”

Which was always nice to hear.

“She could be a bit intense.” Harry was a gentleman who would never say anything mean about a girlfriend. “Anyway, not a problem now. And how's it going with Flynn?”

“Brilliant. You saw Gigi last night,” said Lara. “She loves him.”

“How about you?”

“I don't love him. And I'm not going to love him. Because that would make things too complicated for words.”

Harry said, “I saw the way he was looking at you. When he wasn't busy glaring at Enjay.”

OK, if even Harry had noticed, it had to be blindingly obvious.

“I'm being mature and sensible.” Lara employed her best mature-and-sensible face.

He nodded sympathetically. “Good for you. Hard work?”

“Killing me.” Harry was the one person she could admit it to. “But I'm going to stick with it.”

“You'll be fine.”

“Flynn's worried about Enjay trying it on with Gigi tonight.”

“Well, he will. He can't help himself, he tries it on with practically every female who crosses his path. But she can say no. I did have a few words with him myself.” Harry grimaced. “But it's like trying to tell a wasp to keep away from the jam.”

“She'll be OK. Anyway,” said Lara, “how's Nettie? She always tells me everything's fine when we're on the phone, but I hope she's not lonely. Do you think she misses us?”

“I saw her at the market last week and she was on top form. And there's been a bit of gossip going around,” said Harry. “Betty told me about it. Apparently Nettie's been spending some time with Fred Milton.”

“Fred? She kept quiet about that! I told her she should get together with Fred and she pretended not to be interested! You know what?” Lara spread her arms. “I'm brilliant. I should be one of those professional fixer-uppers. That's so good to hear, though. Such a relief. I was worried she might be miserable on her own.”

“I asked her if she was missing you,” said Harry. “She thought that was hilarious and said she was having the time of her life.
Ow
, what was that for?”

“Because you're not being very diplomatic. I'm glad Nettie's happy,” said Lara, “but it would be nice if you could pretend she's missing us a little bit at least.”

***

“You know something? You're quite a girl. I had fun tonight.”

The words, spoken in that intimate American drawl, were designed to seduce. Gigi knew it and he knew it too. The weird thing was, she was going to laugh at him and turn him down, but secretly it felt really nice. Enjay had the knack of concentrating all his attention on you and making you feel… special. She'd enjoyed herself this evening. Floating in the steaming spa baths on the roof overlooking the city had been an amazing experience, doing it in the company of EnjaySeven even more so. He'd been funny and charming, and the sight of him in his board shorts had been… well, spectacular, basically. Enjay had the kind of toned, muscular body you could just gaze and gaze at.

Not that she had, of course. She'd called him flabby and done handstands in the water and sung country and western songs deliberately off-key to make him wince.

“I had fun too.” Gigi began to sing in a quavering Tammy Wynette-style voice, “Oh mah kids all have nits an' mah bikini's cheap, Next man Ah marry, Ah'll look 'fore Ah
leeeeeap
…”

“You're crazy. Cute but crazy.”

“Don't forget intelligent,” said Gigi.

They were standing on the pavement beside the Maybach. Enjay reached out and touched her cheek. “D'you know what I hate about me?”

“Tell me.” His fingers were cool. She loved the way his skin gleamed in the dim light from the street lamp. And how were his teeth so white? Even Simon Cowell's teeth weren't as white as that.

“I have principles,” Enjay murmured. “I'm a man of my word. I want to kiss you, but I promised your father I'd treat you with respect.” He exhaled regretfully. “Man, I wish I hadn't now.”

“He's just being protective.” Gigi smiled; she'd teased Flynn about it earlier, but having him there defending her had actually felt fantastic.

“And Harry gave me a hard time about it too. Well, in his own way.”

Oh bless him. She loved Harry and his morals and his gentle manner; he would have said it so politely as well.

“What makes you think I'd want to kiss you anyway? I'm eighteen. You're twenty-eight. That's ancient.”

“Hey, girl.” The white teeth flashed. “I'm EnjaySeven. All the girls want me.”

“But doesn't that feel kind of horrible? That means they don't care what you're really like, deep down. They'll chase after you anyway just because you're famous.”

Enjay shrugged. “And why would that bother me?”

He was like Joey in
Friends
. He
had
no deep-down. As long as he was being chased by girls, Gigi realized, that was all that mattered. Their personalities were irrelevant.

“Well, I don't want you.”

“You're just saying that.”

“Because it's the truth,” Gigi said patiently. “It's interesting talking to you because I've never met anyone like you before. But you're so old. All the boys I've kissed have been teenagers. It'd be like if you had to kiss a woman ten years older than you—”

“Evening!”

“Oh hi.” It was their neighbor, Jacqueline Cumiskey, pulling up in her lime-green Fiesta after a night out and greeting Gigi with a cheery wave through the driver's open window. Jacqueline's dark eyes widened as she saw Enjay and realized who he was.

“You mean like her?” Enjay murmured under his breath. “I could kiss her right now. And I bet she wouldn't object.”

“She might,” said Gigi. “She has a fiancé. Anyway, don't even think about it. You have to go back to the hotel.” Just to make sure, she pushed him into the car before he could race over to Jacqueline and give her the shock of her life. “I need to be up early tomorrow. Night.”

Enjay winked at her as the ever-discreet Maz restarted the engine. “OK, bossy girl. But can I just say something?” Reaching for her hand and raising it to his lips—the contact sent a tingle up her arm—he said, “I bet you dream about me tonight.”

“Goodness. He's a bit flirty,” said Jacqueline when the Maybach had disappeared down the street.

“He is.”

“Sounds quite confident.”

“Or you could call it full of himself.”

“So what's he doing here, then? How do you know him?”

“He's just a friend of a friend,” said Gigi.

Jacqueline raked her scarlet manicured nails through her hair. “He's very attractive.”

Oh crikey, had she overheard Enjay's comments?
This
was
what
it
was
like
to
be
him.
Gigi said, “I think you're probably safer with the one you've already got.”