All Work and No Play (5 page)

And then we would spend the rest of the night taking it slow, exploring, talking. Sharing and getting to know each other again.

He took a long, shaky breath, and looked back at what he had typed.

It took a moment for his eyes to focus, and then the impact of his words registered in his brain.

He’d just had cyber sex with Jane.

He lifted his hand to his mouth and bit the side of his finger. His heartbeat throbbed almost painfully even in this little piece of him. Inside his boxers, his penis was like a rod of red-hot iron, pulsing and insistent and wanting to rob him of every single bit of his intellect and conscience and modesty.

What had he just done?

She’d asked for his fantasy. Not what he’d actually planned on doing this evening, which was having a terrific date and seeing how they felt about each other. Not what he thought was probably best for them to do, which was talk about how she felt about her break-up and decide to take it easy until she very definitely wasn’t on the rebound.

No. She’d asked for his wildest fantasy and he’d given it to her, including groping in public and sex up against a wall.

And she was probably about to give him the internet equivalent of a slap in the face.

He shifted in his seat again, intensely uncomfortable. She wasn’t replying. Maybe she was too disgusted. Maybe she was so angry she was waiting to meet him in person before she slapped him.

Maybe she was as turned on as he was.

His laptop dinged.

Thanks, Jonny. Talk to you soon.

Jonny jumped up and paced the hotel room. He couldn’t walk quite as he normally did because his hard-on was becoming distinctly bothersome.

Thanks? What did that mean? Thanks, but no thanks? Thanks for showing me what you’re really like, you lech? Thanks for giving me evidence I can take to the police?

Thanks for the fantasy, you hot stud, it was exactly what I was thinking myself, and I’ll be ripping my clothes off as soon as we get to that wall?

Jonny had always liked the internet and the freedom it gave you to meet new people, discover things, and make contact in a way that had never been possible before.

Now, he could see its downside. What was the point of a mode of communication that didn’t allow you to see the person you were talking to? That relied on words rather
than tone of voice, electronic representations rather than bodies?

He checked his watch. Half an hour, and he’d know what Jane meant by ‘Thanks’.

CHAPTER THREE

J
ANE
asked the cab to stop at the end of the street so she could walk to the restaurant and cool down a little bit.

As she walked Jane plucked at the neckline of her dress, lower than she was used to. She’d bought it for a Pearce Grey cocktail party a year ago, and never worn it because at the last minute she’d decided that a suit would be more professional. But tonight she’d dug it out, on Jonny’s advice.

Jonny’s advice. Her stomach spiralled as she thought about following it. Imagine grabbing Jay and pulling him into a cab, with the full intention of having frantic sex with him as soon as they got to her flat. This beautiful, perfect man.

Her legs swished against each other as she walked in her high heels, arousing her even more. Meeting Jay this
afternoon, and then Jonny’s unexpected words on the laptop, had conjured up images in her head that were almost shockingly explicit. She wouldn’t quite have expected it of Jonny, not something so blatantly sexy. But then again, in the past, their online relationship had been a little flirty, but mostly friendly. She’d made it clear she had a fiancé.

For all she knew, Jonathan Cole was a sex god in real life, or at least he had the imagination of one. Maybe he had a steady stream of women who were turned on by computer geniuses in glasses, and he was doing them all up against a variety of walls all over the north of England.

The thought made her smile, and it also made a twinge of jealousy tickle deep in her chest. Because Jonny’s words had struck something in her, had interested her more than just anybody’s sexual fantasy would’ve done.

It was an insight into Jonny she’d never had before … and also an insight into her own desires. Every single thing he had described had sounded exciting and perfect and right, even though she’d never done anything like that before.

And it bothered her a little bit that he might be describing his experience with someone else. Even though she fully intended to experience it with someone else, too.

Jane paused at the door of the wine bar where she’d arranged to meet Jay before dinner, and took a deep breath. It was very difficult to believe she had a date with a male model, and even more difficult to believe that she planned to seduce him, if she could.

She pushed open the door. The bar was crowded, but she spotted him immediately, as if she had been programmed to find him.

He wore a stylish dark suit and a patterned white shirt, open at the collar. His brown hair was short and casually styled. He’d shaved and without a shadow of a beard his jaw was even stronger and more defined, emphasising his cheekbones.

She bit her lip, and then remembered she would ruin her lipstick.

He checked his watch; his expression looked a little anxious, and that gave Jane a boost of confidence. He was waiting for her. When he looked around the room she stepped forward and approached the table.

Jay stood when he saw her and strode to meet her, and his smile took her breath away.

‘You came,’ he said, and his voice sounded almost comically relieved. He kissed her on her cheek, and she could smell the subtle scent of his shaving lotion. His lips were gentle and welcoming and they made a shiver run through her.

He stood back and looked her over, from head to foot. She’d been aroused walking in here, but under his gaze she felt her nipples hardening inside her silk bra, and felt a bolt of warmth between her legs.

‘You look fantastic,’ he said.

‘Thank you.’ With him looking at her like that, she could almost believe it. He was a charmer, she knew, but she could use all the confidence she could get, especially when in the company of a physically perfect male who was wearing a suit that fitted as if it were made for him.

‘You look great,’ she told him, because he really did, though she was also sure he heard that all the time.

She was a little surprised when his cheeks flushed slightly with pleasure. ‘Thanks,’ he said, and took her hand to lead her to the table, where he pulled out a chair for her.

He’d done that twice today, she remembered. She worked with men all the time and they rarely did anything like that. It was a totally unnecessary courtesy, a little bit of gender conditioning that she would normally laugh at, but just this minute it felt nice.

She sat in her chair and crossed her legs, letting her skirt slide up her bare thighs. She saw Jay notice, and saw him swallow.

Thank you, Jonny, she thought.

‘I was worried you wouldn’t show up,’ he said as he
sat down. ‘I thought you’d decide I was coming on too strong and run in the opposite direction.’

‘I’m the one who invited you out, remember?’

A waitress appeared. ‘Do you fancy a glass of champagne?’ Jay asked Jane. ‘I feel that we’ve got a lot to celebrate.’

She nodded, and the waitress disappeared. ‘I don’t usually drink champagne,’ Jay said, with a short laugh. ‘Then again, I don’t normally wear suits, either. One of the few perks of the modelling job is that I get to keep some of the clothes, but I don’t get much call to dress up in my day-to-day life.’

‘I’m not really a dress person, either,’ Jane admitted.

‘I’m glad you wore it, though.’ His voice was quiet, intense, and Jane wanted to bite her lip and melt into a puddle. Instead, she remembered Jonny’s advice and twisted a strand of her hair loosely around her finger.

He noticed, and moistened his lips with his tongue. ‘Jane, that is really working,’ he said. He reached his hand out as if he were about to touch her, and then the waitress came back with their drinks.

They lifted their glasses, and touched the rims together. ‘Here’s to seeing you,’ Jay said.

‘You too.’ Jane took a sip of champagne, wondering if it would give her a bit more courage. ‘I never thought I’d be out on a date with a male model.’

‘Ah. Well, yes.’ Jay put down his glass, and leaned forward on the table. ‘I want to tell you about that. It’s strictly temporary.’

‘Really?’ She suppressed dismay that he wanted to discuss business. ‘Does this mean you wouldn’t be available for a follow-up Giovanni Franco campaign?’

He raised his hands. ‘I’m—it depends. I wouldn’t leave you in the lurch, Jane. But it’s not the campaign I’m talking about, it’s me. I want to be honest with you and tell you why I’m modelling in the first place. It’s not a career I would’ve ever chosen for myself.’

‘Okay,’ she said, wondering why he was talking about this, and leaning back in her chair with her glass of champagne.

‘Okay,’ he repeated after her. He took a deep breath and laid his hands on the table, gazing at them, and Jane was surprised that his expression was apprehensive, as if he were gearing himself up to say something difficult to her.

He raised his head and looked straight at her. ‘I loved my dad,’ he said.

Jay said the four words with such clarity and vehemence that Jane blinked. ‘All right,’ she said, slowly, wondering why Jay, a near stranger, was telling her this on their first date.

‘He was my hero,’ Jay continued. ‘I thought he was
everything a man should be. He seemed so honourable, so upright. He worked hard and he always had time to give me advice, and he adored my mother, I was sure he did. You could tell it by the way he looked at her, how he spoke to her. I thought he never wanted anything but to protect her.’

He met her eyes again, as if testing whether she understood what he was trying to say. Jane nodded, and, although she was still wondering why he was telling her this, his dark blue eyes were so full of sincerity and emotion that she couldn’t question him too much. This was important to Jay, and for some reason it was also important to him that he told her about it.

It was unusual, but it was a kind of trust.

‘I was devastated when he died. Not as much as my mother was. As she is.’

He lapsed into thought for a moment, and then shook his head and ran his hand through his short hair. ‘Anyway, she was in no state to go through his affairs, so I did it for her when I got back. And, Jane—’ he rumpled his hair again, looking at Jane with pain in his features ‘—he’d left nothing. Everything was gone. The business, the property, all of it was mortgaged up to the hilt, and he had debts and loans adding up to thousands and thousands of pounds.’

Jane put down her drink and stared at Jay.

He was being totally sincere. Every word he said told her how hurt he was. She could tell, not only from the content of what he was saying, but also from his expression, how he spoke, the timbre of his voice. This man wasn’t just worried about his parents’ financial situation; he felt betrayed, disillusioned, bitterly disappointed.

‘How did it happen?’ she asked.

‘A combination of things, though I’m not sure of all of it. Some of it was risky investment. Some of it was business losses that he borrowed more money to cover. A lot of it was gambling. Online poker, among other things. He must have been doing it in secret for years.’

She put her hand on his. ‘That’s awful. I’m so sorry.’

Jay nodded. ‘I haven’t told my mother. I couldn’t bear to destroy her image of him. And I know he didn’t mean to leave her in such debt; he’d had heart problems but his death was sudden. But I’ve had to do some scrambling to buy some time to repay the loans, and I need to do everything I possibly can to make money. I’ve done some extra consultancy work, and taken on some extra projects, and then when Thom started bugging me again to do some modelling for him, I said yes, even though it was something I never really wanted to do.’

‘So you’re modelling just to pay your father’s debts.’

‘Yes.’ He let out a long breath, and smiled at her. Not the million-watt model smile, but a dimmer, sadder one.
‘It feels good to tell you about it. Thom doesn’t know. Nobody knows. My mother thinks I’ve suddenly developed a love of having my photograph taken.’

She squeezed his hand. ‘I know what it’s like to keep a secret,’ she said. ‘It shouldn’t be hard, because all you have to do is keep your mouth shut and act normal. But it is.’

She thought about the past few days at work, seeing Gary, knowing what had happened between them, and pretending that everything was all right.

‘It feels better once you’ve told somebody,’ she said, remembering the relief she’d felt typing her problems to Jonny.

He turned his hand over so he was clasping hers. ‘It feels better now I’ve told
you
.’

Why me?
she was about to ask, and then she looked from their clasped hands to his face. There was warmth in his eyes, gentleness and earnestness in his mouth, and every line was familiar in that unexpected way.

This intimacy had been between them since they’d first seen each other, and although Jane couldn’t explain it, she couldn’t deny it, either.

Instead she bit her lip and nodded.

‘You’re so beautiful, Jane,’ Jay murmured, his dark blue eyes still looking into hers. The air around them thickened, time seemed to slow even though her pulse
sped up. He was so close, she was sharing every breath he took.

Jonny’s words swam into her mind. He’d described this moment. And then he’d described what could happen afterwards.

She could have her mouth on this man’s mouth, his hands on her, lifting her up so she could wrap her legs around his waist, pushing her clothing aside so he could enter her. Fast and hard and breathless.

The idea, the imagined feeling, throbbed inside her.

She didn’t know Jay. And she didn’t know if the way he made her feel was just part of his natural charm, a normal reaction of every female to his looks and his behaviour.

But she did know she wanted him. And he appeared to want her, too.