If You Can't Stand the Heat... (Harlequin Kiss) (10 page)

‘I need to think about what to make for supper,’ Ellie said as she stood up, unfurling that long, slender body.

Her voice was saturated with exhaustion and he felt irritation jump up into his throat. ‘Ellie, I am
not
another one of your responsibilities!’ he snapped.

Ellie blinked at him. ‘You don’t want me to make supper?’

‘No. For a number of reasons. The first being that I bought supper—Chinese. My replacement bank cards arrived,’ he explained when she looked at him enquiringly. ‘Also, I really think you need to learn that the world will not stop turning if you stop for five minutes and relax. You never stop moving, and when you do you’re so exhausted that you can’t keep your eyes open.’

Ellie picked up a sarong and wound it around her hips. ‘Jack, please. I really don’t want to argue with you.’

Jack nodded. ‘Okay, I won’t argue. I’ll just tell you what to do. You’re going to change into something that doesn’t stop traffic and then we’re going for a walk. On the way we’ll stop and have a beer at one of the pubs on the beachfront. Then we’ll come home, eat Chinese, of which you will have a reasonable portion, and then you’re going to bed. Early.’

‘Jack, it’s hot. I don’t feel like a walk and I can’t take the time—’

‘Yeah, you can,’ Jack told her. ‘And I know you’re hot. You’re standing there in a couple of triangles cooking my blood pressure. So this should help both of us cool off.’

Jack scooped her up, ignored her squeal and stepped, still dressed, into the deep end of her gloriously cold, sparkling blue pool.

FIVE

‘It’s such a
stunning evening. Would you like to take the long route to the beachfront?’ Ellie asked him as they stepped onto the road outside her house. ‘It’s a ten-minute walk instead of a five-minute walk but I’ll show you a bit of the neighbourhood.’

‘Sure,’ Jack agreed, and they turned left instead of right.

He walked next to Ellie, his hands loose in the pockets of his shorts. The sea in front of them was pancake-flat and a patchwork quilt of greens and blues. It was make-your-soul-bump beautiful. The temperature had dropped and she was cool from the swim and the light, short sundress she was wearing.

She was really looking forward to an icy margarita and Jack’s stimulating, slightly acerbic company.

A little way away from the house Jack broke their comfortable silence. ‘By the way, I was contacted today by the Press Club. They’ve heard that I’m in town and have invited me to their annual dinner. I’d like you to go with me, but I know how busy you are. Any chance?’

Ellie’s heart hiccupped. A date! A real date!
Whoop!
She did an internal happy dance. ‘When is it?’

‘Tomorrow. Tomorrow
is
Friday, right? It’s black tie, I’m afraid.’

A date where she could seriously glam up? Double
whoop!

‘So, do you think you can leave work early for a change?’ Jack enquired. ‘It’s a hassle going to these functions on my own.’

In a strange city where he knew no one of course it would be. And the world wouldn’t stop turning if she left work a little earlier than normal. Besides, Merri would come in for an hour or two.

‘Sure. That sounds like fun.’

‘Great.’ Jack moved between her and a large dog that was walking along the verge of a house with its gates left open.

Ellie appreciated his innate protectiveness but she knew Islay. He was as friendly as he was old.

Jack cleared his throat. ‘Ellie, I was only supposed to spend one, maybe two nights in your house...’

‘And tonight will be your fourth night,’ Ellie replied quietly. ‘Do you want to leave?’

Jack shook his head. ‘Just the opposite, actually. Mitch, being Mitch, has put the word out to the network editors that I’m hurt and need some time off.’

Ellie flicked a glance at his hip. ‘You
are
hurt.’

‘Superficially.’ Compared to what he’d gone through, his stab wound was minimal. ‘Anyway, I’m off for a few weeks unless—’

She knew the drill. Journalists were only ‘off’ until the next story came along. ‘Unless some huge story breaks.’

Jack nodded his agreement. ‘So, I thought I’d stay in Cape Town for a bit longer.’

‘In my house?’ Ellie heard the squeak in her voice and winced. She sounded like a demented mouse.

‘Well, I could move into a hotel, but I spend enough time in hotels as it is and I’d rather pay you.’

Ellie stopped in her tracks and turned to look at him. ‘You’d pay to live with me?’

What exactly did he mean by that? What would be included in that deal? Not that she believed for one minute that he’d make her an offer that was below-board, but she just wanted to make sure... And really, how upset would she be if he suggested sleeping together? Since she was constantly thinking about sex with him...not very.

His grin suggested he knew exactly what she was thinking. ‘It’s a simple transaction, Ellie. Someone has to get paid to put my butt into a bed and I’d prefer it to be you and not some nameless, faceless corporation.’ Jack stepped forward and his thumb drifted over her chin. ‘A bed, food, coffee. No expectations, no pressure.’ Damn.

‘Oh.’ Ellie dropped her head and thought she was an idiot for feeling disappointed.
You don’t want to get involved, on any level, with any man—remember, Ellie?
Especially a man like Jack. Too good-looking, too successful, too much. Rough, tough, unemotional and—the big reason—never around.

But she wanted him. She really did.

Jack dropped his hand and Ellie was glad, because she didn’t know for how much longer she could stop herself reaching up and kissing him, tasting those firm lips, feeling the rasp of his stubble under her lips, her fingers. She watched him walk away and after two steps he turned and looked back at her.

He must have seen something on her face, because his steps lengthened and then his hands were on her hips, yanking her into him. His mouth finally touched hers sweetly, gently, before he allowed his passion to explode. His quick tongue slipped between her lips, scraped her teeth and tangled with her own in a long, deep kiss that had no end or beginning.

One hand held her head in place and the other explored her back, her hip, the curves of her bottom, the tops of her thighs. Ellie slid her hand up his back, under his loose T-shirt, and acquainted herself with his bare flesh, the muscles in his back, that strip of flesh above his shorts and the soft leather belt. He was heat and lust and passion in its purist, most concentrated form; causing her nipples and her thighs to press together to subdue the deep, insistent throbbing between them.

He kissed her some more.

Ellie wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he finally lifted his head and rested his forehead against hers. ‘I’m burning up, on fire from wanting you. That’s why I haven’t kissed you before this.’

‘Why did you kiss me now?’ Ellie whispered back, her hands gripping his sides.

‘Because you looked like you wanted me to—really wanted me to.’

She really had. And she wouldn’t object to more.

Jack stepped back, linked his hands behind his head. The muscles in his arms bulged. ‘I can’t take you to bed... I mean of course I
can
. I want to. Desperately. But it would be the worst idea in the world.’

It didn’t matter that she agreed with him. She wanted to know why he thought so. ‘Why?’

Jack’s mouth twisted. ‘I’m not good for you. I’m hard and cynical, frequently bitter. I have seen so many bad things. You’re arty and creative and...innocent. Untainted.’

‘No, I’m not.’ Ellie pursed her lips. He made her sound like a nun. ‘You’re not a bad man, Jack.’

‘But I’d be bad for
you
.’ Jack dropped his arms and stared out to sea. ‘I am not a noble man, Ellie, but I’m trying to do the right thing here. Help me out, okay?’

Ellie lifted her hands in puzzlement. ‘How am I supposed to do that?’

Jack glared at her. ‘Well, for starters you could stop looking at me as if you want to slurp me up through a straw. Sexy little dresses like that don’t help—and you’re
very
lucky that you kept possession of that thing you call a bikini this afternoon. Short shorts and tight tops are out too...’

‘Would you like me to walk around in a tent?’ Ellie asked sarcastically, but secretly she was enjoying the fact that she could turn him on so quickly. It was a power she’d never experienced before, a heady sensation knowing that this delicious man thought that she was equally tasty.

‘That might work,’ Jack replied.

Ellie pulled in a breath as he stepped forward and took her much smaller hand in his. His expression turned sober.

‘El, I like you, but I think you have enough going on in your life without the added pressure of an affair with me. I need to write your father’s life story and I don’t know how objective I’m going to be if I am sleeping with his daughter.’

Ellie kept her eyes on his and gestured him to continue. Everything he’d said so far had made sense, but she could still feel his lips on hers, his big hands on her skin. Taste him on her lips.

‘It’s been a long time since I just liked a woman, enjoyed her company. Can we keep this simple? Try to just be friends? That way, when I leave, there won’t be any...stupid feelings between us.’ Jack stared down at her fingers. ‘You know it’s the smart thing to do.’

Ellie sighed and wished she could be half as erudite as he was. Sure, words were the tools of his trade, but he made her feel as thick as a peanut butter sandwich when it came to expressing herself. Only two words came to mind, and neither were worthy of this conversation.

‘Yeah, okay,’ she muttered.

Jack smiled and ran his thumb over her knuckles before dropping her hand. ‘So, will you go to the camping store for a tent or shall I?’

‘Make sure it’s a pink one.’ Ellie looked around and her expression softened. ‘Oh, we’re here!’

‘Where?’ Jack asked as she grabbed the edge of his shirt and tugged him across the road.

Ellie walked up to some wrought-iron gates and wrapped her fingers around the bars, looking at the dilapidated double-storey building.

Jack tugged on the chain that held the gates together. ‘What
is
this place?’

‘It was a library at the turn of the century, then it was turned into a house, but it’s been empty a couple of years. I’ve heard a rumour that old Mrs Hutchinson is finally considering selling it. Restored, this building would be utter perfection. Two storeys of whimsy, with balconies and bay windows galore. Its irregular shape reminds me of a blowsy matron in a voluminous skirt and a peculiar hat. Romantic, eccentric and very over the top.’

Jack immediately picked up where she was going with this. ‘You’re thinking of this place for the bakery?’

‘It’s just around the corner from the present location, with ample parking space. I took a box of cupcakes to the Town Planning office and...well, bribed them into letting me take a look at the building plans. There is a lot of space, but not too much...enough to hold the bakery, the delicatessen and a proper breakfast and lunch restaurant.’

Jack put his hands on his hips. ‘It’s difficult to comment without seeing the place. Let’s go in.’

Ellie pointed at the sign on the fence. ‘“No Trespassers”.’

‘If I obeyed those signs I’d never get a story,’ Jack said, and pulled at a rusty iron post on the fence. It moved, and he gestured Ellie through the gap he’d created. ‘You’re slim enough to climb through here.’

‘And you?’

Jack grabbed the top of the fence with his hands, yanked himself up and held his body weight while he swung his legs onto the railing. Within seconds he was on the other side and his breathing hadn’t changed.

Ellie shook her head as she slipped through the fence. ‘If you’ve split open your cut you’re going to the emergency room,’ she told him.

‘Yes, Mum.’ Jack grinned and led her up to the huge front door. He pursed his lips at the lock. ‘No breaking in through
this
door.’

‘We’re not breaking in through any door!’ Ellie stated as he pulled her away from the front door and around the house. ‘Seriously, Jack, that’s a crime!’

Jack peered through a window. ‘Relax, there’s nothing to steal, so if we get caught we can plead curiosity. I’m good at talking my way out of trouble.’

‘Jack!’

Jack stopped at a side door. ‘Good. Yale lock. Pass me a hairpin, El.’

‘You are not going to... Hey!’ Ellie slapped her hand against her head where Jack had yanked the pin from her hair. ‘That hurt!’

‘Sorry.’ Jack opened the pin, inserted it into the lock and jiggled the handle. Within a minute the door swung open to his touch. ‘Bingo.’

‘I cannot believe that you picked that lock! Who taught you that?’

‘You really don’t want to know.’

Ellie looked curious. ‘No, tell me. Who?’

‘Your father, actually.’

Ellie rolled her eyes and Jack just grinned as he placed a hand on her lower back and pushed her inside.

‘I
so
didn’t need to know that!’ she muttered.

‘Relax.’ Jack placed his hands on his hips and looked into the room to his right. ‘Kitchen through here—an enormous one, but it needs to be gutted. God, Ellie, the ceiling is falling down!’

‘I never said it didn’t need work. Look at these floors, Jack. Solid yellow-wood.’

Jack looked at the patch of direct sunlight on the warped wood and at the hundreds of holes in it. ‘White ants, Ellie, white ants. I bet the house is infested with them.’

‘Are you always this pessimistic?’ Ellie asked as she opened doors on either side of the passage.

‘I just think you should slow down to a gallop. I can see the look in your eye. If you could you’d slap the deposit down,’ Jack said. He picked at a piece of wallpaper and a strip came off in his hand. ‘Before you even consider doing that I suggest you get an architect to look at the place, and a civil engineer to check that it’s not going to fall down.’

It was sensible, unemotional advice—but sensible was for later. Right now she wanted to feel, sense, imagine.

Jack ducked his head into another room and Ellie heard what she swore was a screech. ‘Did you squeal?’ she called.