Expecting Miracle Twins by Barbara Hannay Page A

he’d dated.
    Mattie, however, was looking distinctly concerned.
    ‘Don’t worry about Ange,’ he said.
    ‘Have you broken up with her?’
    ‘She wasn’t really a girlfriend.’
    Her mouth opened as if she was planning to say something, but then apparently changed her mind. As the lights changed and they took off again, she said, ‘So…what movie are you planning to see?’
    Grinning with relief, Jake bravely named a romantic chick flick that he knew was showing that week. He usually avoided them like the plague, but he was pretty damn sure it was the sort of film Mattie would love. Most girls did. And it was the least he owed her after this morning.
    To his surprise, she screwed up her nose. ‘I can’t believe you want to see a soppy film like that,’ she scoffed. ‘I prefer crime thrillers. Any chance of catching a good one?’
    He was sure she was just being Mattie, trying to do and say the right thing, but this time he wasn’t going to argue.
     
    Mattie sat in the popcorn-scented darkness, super-aware of Jake’s presence beside her. She tried to concentrate on the screen—it was one of those complicated spy films where you needed to stay focused at the beginning or you’d be hopelessly lost—but Jake’s proximity and the darkness were conspiring against her.
    She was almost bursting out of her skin with lust.
    Good grief. She felt as if she’d overdosed on hormones. How on earth was she supposed to sit still for almost two hours when Jake Devlin was so close?
    She was terrified of making a fool of herself, of burstingthe bubble of happiness that had seemed to enclose them today. She’d had such a wonderful time this morning with Jake and Roy. And lunch had been perfect, eating crunchy fish and chips, sprinkled with salt and lemon juice, straight from the paper it was wrapped in.
    Now, however, her lusty thoughts were making it impossible for her to relax and enjoy the movie. She kept stealing glimpses of Jake’s hunky profile, lit up by the glow of the screen. He was gorgeous. She was deeply, helplessly attracted to him.
    There, she’d admitted it. Whether it was sensible or not, it had happened, and her desire felt like a bushfire rapidly burning out of control.
    She allowed herself to wonder how it would feel to trace the line of Jake’s profile with her lips, to kiss his forehead and his dark brows, then his slightly beaky nose, his rough jaw and, finally, his yummy, sensuous mouth.
    Crikey, she was really getting carried away. She tried again to concentrate on the movie. Jake might expect her to talk about it later. He might be the kind of movie-goer who liked to analyse and dissect the plot.
    She’d told him that she hadn’t wanted to see a romance movie, which was totally untrue. She loved them, but she knew guys would rather have their teeth drilled than watch soppy movies. Now, however, an unexpected romance was unfolding on the screen and Mattie found herself drawn in.
    The spy had met a mysterious beauty, a brunette with a waiflike, vulnerable quality. Mattie decided she was almost certainly a double agent. It was obvious, wasn’t it? Why couldn’t the hero see that the woman wasn’t telling him the whole truth? He was obviously smitten. Fool.
    Half an hour later, Mattie had changed her mind aboutthe double agent. She was deeply absorbed in the film, desperate for the good guy to win and for the lovers to get together, when out of the blue the lovely heroine started her car and it exploded in a burst of garish flames and flying metal.
    Mattie screamed.
    Jake reached for her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. ‘It’s only a movie,’ he whispered, nuzzling her ear as he did so.
    ‘A-a-ah…’ It was the most articulate response she could manage. The on-screen heroine might have gone up in flames, but Mattie was on fire too. Her earlobe and the side of her neck were burning from the gentle brush of Jake’s lips. Their arms were linked now and she was ablaze from her elbow to