sexy leather boots.
The voice in his ear reminded him he was still on the phone. To Amanda.
‘Yeah, I’m still listening.’ His gaze lifted to Julia’s stormy eyes and flat-line mouth.
And then he tuned out again, letting the bullshit float right over his head. As she moved to go, turned her shoulder to step past him, he acted without thinking.
‘Listen, Amanda. I’ll call you back,’ he said as his hand snapped out to grab Julia’s arm.
‘JJ.’ He could feel the deep freeze set in, even through her coat. But shestopped anyway, looked back over her shoulder with a kind of elegant disdain.
‘Yes?’ Her voice was colder than the wind that blew up from the bay.
And then he didn’t know what to do next. All that thinking about sex and her being naked had blown a hole in his anger. Hell, fighting with her hadn’t made him feel any better about the fact that she was back in town. And, despite his behaviour on her front doorstep the day before, anger wasn’t his default position anyway.
‘Look, Julia. This is a small part of the world. We’d better figure out a way to deal with this.’
‘This? There is no this.’
‘I mean running into each other,’ he said, and even he could hear the frustration in his voice.
Julia lifted her chin. ‘Well, it’s lucky for both of us that I don’t live in this small part of the world anymore, so you don’t have to worry that this will ever happen again.’
Ry could feel the tension flare in his jaw and a tightness emerge right on his breastbone. He knew that tone of hers, had heard it once before, aloof and arctic. Fifteen years ago. The day she’d broken his heart and walked out of his life.
He let go of her arm but took a step closer so he could look down right into her eyes. With his body language, arms crossed in front of his chest, his head angled down to look at her, he demanded her full attention. The closer he was, the higher she had to look up, and he got the killer view that had always driven him crazy. That mouth. Those plump, pink lips had always been full of sass and sweetness and were still so damn sexy he wanted to take her right there. Like he had on her doorstep the day before.
This shit had to stop. So he pulled back. For a long moment they stood there, playing out a game of emotional checkmate on the footpath of The Strand. Neither wanted to be the first to move, to give in, to surrender. It was stubborn at fifty centimetres.
Until Amanda’s grating voice drifted from behind the slowly opening door of Stella’s shop and Ry broke his gaze first.
‘He just hung up on me, Mum. I don’t know what’s going on.’
When Ry’s eyes shifted, for a mere half a second, at the sound of Amanda’s voice, Julia spun around. The sound of her boots beat a confident rhythm on the footpath as she walked away from him without another word.
‘There you are.’ Amanda’s possessive fingers gripped his shoulder and she rubbed her body close to his, like a cat. ‘Is everything all right?’
Ry watched Julia’s hair dance on her shoulders as she disappeared into the weekend crowd. No. Not all right. Everything’s fucked up totally, but thanks for asking.
‘Everything’s fine.’ He managed a smile at Amanda’s mother, Annie, who was watching them both with way too much interest. ‘But I’ve found you both now. How about that coffee?’
* * *
Julia was scrubbing the shower cubicle in her mother’s bathroom like a maniac, almost woozy from the amount of cleaning fluid she’d squirted around the cream-coloured tiles. She was proud of herself for finally making a start on the place. It needed an industrial-strength clean, given the house had been empty for twelve months. There were still a few dead spiders to collect from the raggedy webs in the corners of the living room ceiling and a scattering of tiny dead ants in the laundry, but she hadn’t got around to most of it yet. She’d been too busy filling in at the pub, catching up with Lizzie,
The voice in his ear reminded him he was still on the phone. To Amanda.
‘Yeah, I’m still listening.’ His gaze lifted to Julia’s stormy eyes and flat-line mouth.
And then he tuned out again, letting the bullshit float right over his head. As she moved to go, turned her shoulder to step past him, he acted without thinking.
‘Listen, Amanda. I’ll call you back,’ he said as his hand snapped out to grab Julia’s arm.
‘JJ.’ He could feel the deep freeze set in, even through her coat. But shestopped anyway, looked back over her shoulder with a kind of elegant disdain.
‘Yes?’ Her voice was colder than the wind that blew up from the bay.
And then he didn’t know what to do next. All that thinking about sex and her being naked had blown a hole in his anger. Hell, fighting with her hadn’t made him feel any better about the fact that she was back in town. And, despite his behaviour on her front doorstep the day before, anger wasn’t his default position anyway.
‘Look, Julia. This is a small part of the world. We’d better figure out a way to deal with this.’
‘This? There is no this.’
‘I mean running into each other,’ he said, and even he could hear the frustration in his voice.
Julia lifted her chin. ‘Well, it’s lucky for both of us that I don’t live in this small part of the world anymore, so you don’t have to worry that this will ever happen again.’
Ry could feel the tension flare in his jaw and a tightness emerge right on his breastbone. He knew that tone of hers, had heard it once before, aloof and arctic. Fifteen years ago. The day she’d broken his heart and walked out of his life.
He let go of her arm but took a step closer so he could look down right into her eyes. With his body language, arms crossed in front of his chest, his head angled down to look at her, he demanded her full attention. The closer he was, the higher she had to look up, and he got the killer view that had always driven him crazy. That mouth. Those plump, pink lips had always been full of sass and sweetness and were still so damn sexy he wanted to take her right there. Like he had on her doorstep the day before.
This shit had to stop. So he pulled back. For a long moment they stood there, playing out a game of emotional checkmate on the footpath of The Strand. Neither wanted to be the first to move, to give in, to surrender. It was stubborn at fifty centimetres.
Until Amanda’s grating voice drifted from behind the slowly opening door of Stella’s shop and Ry broke his gaze first.
‘He just hung up on me, Mum. I don’t know what’s going on.’
When Ry’s eyes shifted, for a mere half a second, at the sound of Amanda’s voice, Julia spun around. The sound of her boots beat a confident rhythm on the footpath as she walked away from him without another word.
‘There you are.’ Amanda’s possessive fingers gripped his shoulder and she rubbed her body close to his, like a cat. ‘Is everything all right?’
Ry watched Julia’s hair dance on her shoulders as she disappeared into the weekend crowd. No. Not all right. Everything’s fucked up totally, but thanks for asking.
‘Everything’s fine.’ He managed a smile at Amanda’s mother, Annie, who was watching them both with way too much interest. ‘But I’ve found you both now. How about that coffee?’
* * *
Julia was scrubbing the shower cubicle in her mother’s bathroom like a maniac, almost woozy from the amount of cleaning fluid she’d squirted around the cream-coloured tiles. She was proud of herself for finally making a start on the place. It needed an industrial-strength clean, given the house had been empty for twelve months. There were still a few dead spiders to collect from the raggedy webs in the corners of the living room ceiling and a scattering of tiny dead ants in the laundry, but she hadn’t got around to most of it yet. She’d been too busy filling in at the pub, catching up with Lizzie,
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