Forty Things to Do Before You're Forty (21 page)

‘I wrote to Mr Sinclair and asked if he was still taking me to the race,' Sophie announced proudly.

Annie gawped at her. ‘But how did you know where he –?'

‘I believe a certain Scottish lady had a hand in it.' Jake's diffident tone was replaced by one of anxiety as he gazed directly into her eyes. ‘Look, Annie, I know the way I left last time was … well, inexcusable. But I'd like to explain – if you'll let me.'

‘What's to explain,' snapped Annie, anger overtaking all other emotions at breakneck speed. Following the Lance debacle, she'd had enough of men to last her a lifetime. ‘What happened was a stupid mistake.'

‘Not on my part, it wasn't,' countered Jake. ‘The only mistake I made was running off like I did. Please. Give me a chance to explain. Properly.'

Annie blew out her breath in a huff and crossed her arms over her chest. ‘There's no point.'

‘Oh but there is,' he said, his firm tone causing Annie to snap up her head to him.

She examined his face. He looked totally gorgeous and completely exhausted. The lines fanning the corners of his eyes seemed more pronounced, there was a shadow of stubble over his chin and, for the first time, she noticed flecks of grey in the hair at his temples. And then, of course, there were those eyes, those startling navy-blue eyes gazing into hers, overflowing with something she couldn't quite identify, something that made every ounce of her resolve melt.

Just when she'd thought she couldn't feel any more confused, up popped Mrs Mackenzie.

‘Now, didn't you do well, dear,' she said, patting Annie's arm. ‘And I can see it's all a bit much for you to take in here, so why don't you and Mr Sinclair enjoy the rest of the afternoon and go out for a nice dinner this evening? I've already arranged to take young Sophie here back to my house.'

‘But I thought you were going to –'

‘Changed my plans. Some things are more important.' Her knowing wink caused Annie's already flushed cheeks to turn scarlet.

‘We're going to cut up all of Mrs Mackenzie's clothes and make a patchwork quilt,' Sophie informed her excitedly. ‘Can we cut up your green flowery blouse, Mrs M? I don't really like that one.'

Mrs Mackenzie shook her head in horror. ‘Heavens, no, child. That's one of my best. You'll have to leave me something to wear. Now, come along. We've a lot to sort out. And –' she turned her attention back to Annie, ‘as these quilts are
very
time consuming, you just give me a call when you'd like me to bring her back. I've nothing on tomorrow so she'll keep me out of mischief.'

Annie watched in something of a daze as Mrs Mackenzie led Sophie away. She couldn't believe all this plotting and planning had been going on and she'd been completely oblivious to it.

‘So,' said Jake softly. ‘Will you let me explain?'

Annie met his gaze

‘Please, Annie.'

His voice was so full of pleading that Annie found herself muttering. ‘Oh, all right then.'

He gave a weak smile, his relief almost palpable. ‘Should we go for a walk? Down by the river?'

It took a while before they completely left behind the sprawling crowd from the race and reached a bench on the riverbank. They both sat down, Jake leaning forward and resting his forearms on his thighs. He turned to look at her, and gave another fleeting smile. ‘Thanks for giving me the chance to do this. I know I don't deserve it. ‘

‘No,' said Annie, her anger simmering again. ‘You don't. You made me feel like a discarded old shoe. Exactly how Lance had made me feel all those years ago. I thought you were better than that but obviously I was wrong.'

Jake dropped his head. ‘I'm really sorry, Annie. You deserve better.'

‘Yes,' she agreed. ‘I do.'

‘What happened with Lance?'

Annie shrugged. ‘He turned up, bleating on about how much he'd changed, how much he wanted to get back together. But, to cut a long story short, he hadn't changed at all. I sent him packing.'

‘And Sophie?'

‘She was glad to see the back of him too.'

Jake nodded pensively. ‘Between the two of us, it's probably been enough to put you off men for life.'

‘It has.'

He turned to look at her again. ‘I don't regret what happened, Annie. I don't regretting kissing you. God knows, I'd wanted to kiss you for ages.' He gave a shaky smile. Annie's expression remained steely.

He turned back around and dropped his head again. ‘But I shouldn't have left like that. It was an immature knee-jerk reaction. The truth is … and I know it sounds totally pathetic … but I … I freaked. I realised I was … I realised I had feelings for you.'

Annie's heart began to pound. ‘What feelings?'

He turned back to her. ‘I love you, Annie. And I'd never expected to love anyone again. I was terrified of loving again. Because the last time I loved someone, I hurt them … '

Annie furrowed her brow.

‘Nina died because of me. The car accident. … it was all my fault. She died because I put my own selfish needs before anything else. I knew she hated driving but I didn't give that a second thought when ploughing on with my plans. It was like I effectively pushed her into the car. Forced her onto that road. The road where …'

As the words tumbled from Jake's mouth, the pain of his confession was written all over his handsome face. By the time he'd finished, tears streaked down Annie's cheek. She swiped them away, then reached across and slipped her hand between his.

Four hours later, standing in Annie's kitchen in his boxers, cracking eggs into a mixing bowl, Jake couldn't believe how happy he felt. He'd had no idea how Annie would react to his reappearance and his ‘confession'. He'd been terrified she would condemn him; banish him from her home with orders never to return. But she hadn't. She'd been wonderful. And her common-sense approach had helped him put things into perspective. He couldn't imagine ever being totally guilt-free but a significant weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He hoped it might ease still further with time, freeing up room for another emotion: his love for Annie.

He'd known from the moment she'd reached for his hand that she felt the same. After clearing the air by the river, they'd walked for a while, hand-in-hand, before heading back to the cottage. There, they'd sat at the kitchen table sharing a bottle of wine. Before Annie had accidentally knocked over Jake's glass. It had startled Pip. As if on springs, the dog had leaped from Jake's lap onto the table, knocking over Annie's glass, and sending a bowl of olives tumbling to the floor. Creased with laughter, they'd scrambled about under the table retrieving the olives. And then their hands had collided and the mood changed. Their lips followed suit, and then …

Jake couldn't resist a smile as he looked around the kitchen and spotted Annie's bra dangling off the food mixer and her knickers on top of the bananas in the fruit bowl. At some stage in the proceedings, she'd suggested they might find her bed slightly more comfortable. Not that Jake had been bothered. He'd been perfectly happy on the floor devouring every inch of her heavenly body.

He rummaged around in a kitchen drawer, pulled out a whisk and began whipping up the eggs. He was starving. Hot and steamy sex certainly gave you an appetite. And hot and steamy didn't go anywhere near describing what he and Annie had just shared. Just thinking about it made him hard again. He didn't know if he'd be able to stay away from her long enough to make the omelettes. Thank god the night was still young, because there was lots more he wanted to do to her. Lots, lots more. And it didn't include telling her about the book stuff and the film deal. There'd been enough talking for one day. He would tell her all about that tomorrow. In the meantime, the omelettes could wait. Thinking about Annie naked in bed, he realised he couldn't. He threw down the whisk and strode towards the stairs …

From a wonderful deep sleep Annie Richards drifted back into consciousness to find a muscular brown arm draped across her stomach, and the man to whom it belonged fast asleep beside her. Relishing the moment, she turned her head slightly so she could study his face. And what a face. Long dark lashes, sculpted cheekbones, a smooth straight nose, dark stubble covering his uncompromising jaw, and then that delicious mouth. The mouth that had kissed, licked, nibbled and teased every willing part of her last night. She'd forgotten just how good sex could be. Not that she'd ever had sex like that before. She'd never doubted that a man like Jake would be anything other than dynamite in bed, but just how explosive, she couldn't have begun to imagine. The memory of how many times he'd brought her to a shuddering orgasm caused her to blush and smile at precisely the moment Jake opened his eyes.

‘Good morning, Ms Richards. And what can I do for you today?'

The huskiness of his voice and the languid way he looked at her, caused some serious sizzling in the pit of Annie's stomach.

‘I was just wondering,' she slid her foot up his shin, ‘what you would like for breakfast.'

Jake's eyes grew a shade darker and one corner of his mouth lifted. ‘Funny you should mention breakfast. I was about to show you exactly what I'd like.'

Three hours later, her hair still damp from the shower, Annie skipped down the stairs and into the kitchen. Every part of her body ached but she felt absolutely wonderful. Jake had tumbled out of bed ten minutes earlier and driven into the village to pick up croissants for breakfast – even though it was almost midday.

She swiped up the various pieces of clothing littering the kitchen, shoved them in the washing machine, then picked up the phone to call Mrs Mackenzie.

‘It's no problem, dear. We've had a lovely time and the quilt is coming along marvellously,' said Mrs M, in response to Annie's apology for not calling sooner. ‘Now, what about you two? Did you have a nice dinner?'

Despite being on the other end of the telephone, something in her tone made Annie blush.

‘We, er, did, thank you, Mrs Mackenzie,' she replied, casting her mind back to the omelettes she and Jake had shared in bed at lord only knew what time.

‘Did you go anywhere nice?'

Oh god. ‘We just … we just stayed local.'

‘Ah ha. I see. Well, that's nice, dear. You deserve a treat.'

Annie bit back a giggle. ‘Treat' was certainly one word to describe what Jake had done to her last night.

‘And are you doing anything today, the two of you?'

Possibly having sex in the garden, Annie almost said. Because, now she thought about it … ‘I'm, er, not sure. Jake should be ba- I mean Jake should be here in about ten minutes. I'll see what he wants to do then.' She had a fair idea of exactly what Jake would want to do and it might well involve sex in the garden.

‘That's nice. You two enjoy your afternoon and I'll bring Sophie back after tea.'

‘Thanks, Mrs Mackenzie. I really don't know what I'd do without you.'

‘Och. There's no need for any of that. I'm sure you'd cope just fine.'

As Annie set the phone back on the stand, she couldn't believe how lucky she was. She had a wonderful daughter, fabulous friends and now Jake, hopefully, would be part of her life too. She had no doubt that what they'd shared last night was much more than a one night stand, much more than mind-blowing sex. There had been a special connection between them, exactly as there had been that time in her shop. And it was a connection she couldn't wait to nurture.

She'd just flicked on the coffee machine when an orange face topped with a mane of overly-highlighted hair appeared around the door.

‘Only me,' announced Lydia, sashaying into the kitchen. ‘Just wanted to let you know I'm back.'

‘Wow,' gasped Annie, marvelling at how Lydia had managed to pour herself into the scrap of material masquerading as a tennis dress. ‘You most certainly are. How did it go with Dar–?'

‘And to introduce you to Eduardo.' The smile on Lydia's face would have given the national grid a run for its money.

Annie's gaze moved to the doorway where an extremely good-looking man loitered, wearing baggy white shorts and a T-shirt two sizes too small for him.

‘I got him in Spain,' Lydia informed her, in the same way one might say they'd got a nice pair of castanets.

‘Right.' Annie nodded, looking first at Lydia, then at Eduardo, then back at Lydia, noting that the Spaniard appeared at least ten years Lydia's junior. ‘Well,' she said at length, closing the gap between her and Eduardo and extending a hand to him. ‘Welcome to England, Eduardo.'

‘
Gracias
,' he said, shaking her hand firmly. ‘I very glad be here.'

‘Right. Lovely.'

‘Eduardo's a tennis coach and an ace with the racquet.' Lydia winked at the young man, before pulling out a chair and perching on it. ‘So, what's new here? Anything exciting happened while I've been away?'

Apart from me having sex with Jake Sinclair under the kitchen table? Annie wanted to ask. ‘Nothing I can think of,' she lied. ‘When did you get back?'

‘Last night. We had the most ghastly journey. Plane delayed and everything. Oh, and you'll never guess who we saw on television while we were stuck in that hideous airport lounge.' She raised two perfectly plucked eyebrows.

Annie stared at her blankly. She didn't have clue but she'd wager it would be some two-bit celebrity she hadn't even heard of.

‘Jake.'

Annie furrowed her brow. She couldn't possibly mean her Jake. It must be another footballer or something. ‘Jake? Jake who?'

Lydia rested her forearms on the table and leaned forward. The effect on her cleavage was staggering.

‘Jake Sinclair, of course. Only that's not his real name. He's actually called Jake O'Donnell and he used to be a fund manager, the most successful in Europe apparently. He had his own business and made squillions, then he sold it a few years ago and since then he's written three books – all bestsellers, and just signed a huge film deal.'