Luke’s arms immediately circled me from behind and I managed not to jump in panic.
‘Jesus, Nina,’ he said as we got into his rental. ‘You are going to kill me tonight, I just know it.’
‘Or the other way around,’ I corrected him.
‘I’ve booked at a gorgeous hotel in Marazion.’
Marazion? Good. No one knew me there.
‘Nina? Are you okay? You seem kind of scared.’
‘Who, me? I’m fine.’ If you didn’t count that I was about to pass out.
He leaned in and kissed me. It felt… deliciously naughty. And terribly exciting to get away from my rubber marigolds for once in my life.
27
Morning Glory
While the heat of the moment was one thing, the cold light of day was another.
Luke lay next to me, dead to the world, with his arm around my waist. I hadn’t removed my make-up last night, and my hair was a rat’s nest after all the acrobatics.
Luke was a considerate lover. Kind, respectful and fun. Not like the old Phil-anderer up in Truro. If the sex was anything to go by, we were definitely carburetting. And then I stifled a giggle of elation. After three years of celibacy, I was back in business!
But if he woke up and saw me like this… he’d run a mile. Not the right way to start a, ehm, relationship? Was that what this was: the beginning of a normal, mature relationship? Was I even ready for one, at this point of my life? I had to be, sooner or later, and judging by the way everything else was going, and that I was finally going places, maybe it was time to surrender to life as part of a couple after all.
So I slid out of bed as quietly as I could given how every muscle in my body was screaming at me Why don’t you do this more often? and tiptoed to the en suite where I showered and lathered my hair, all the while trying to make sense of what had just happened. How had it felt? Like someone else, as if another woman had inhabited my body and taken it on a very, very pleasant trip.
And I was now myself again, ready to take on the world. Months back, I would never have contemplated sleeping with anyone, but now I liked the idea of waking up to someone that I had slowly grown to like very much indeed. But how we were going to have a repeat in the future – assuming Luke wanted one – without the entire world knowing was another story.
I had no idea how things worked in Hollywood, but in my world, sleeping together was pretty much a deal-sealer. Did he really want to be a part of my life? And if so, how would it even work, with him in California and me in Cornwall? I wish I could talk to Em about it, but I somehow felt she wouldn’t understand. Nor would Jack, who had never really made an effort towards Luke aside from the day at Predannack Wollas. Knowing Jack, he obviously considered Luke a fake.
In fairness, any man compared to Jack would seem fake, because he was the epitome of the male protector. Anything dear to him was always safe: his dog Mac, his fellow villagers, Emma, Chanel, my children and me. I only hoped I wouldn’t have to choose one day between his friendship and Luke, because Jack was a huge part of my life. He was my friend; part of my insides.
I would never forget the day Jack took us into his home while our caravan slowly crackled away, leaving only a shell. The day Phil had left us was the day Jack had officially proclaimed himself our protector. I remembered silently crying myself to sleep as Ben and Chloe lay on either side of me in Jack’s enormous bed, while he slept in one of the guest rooms. I remembered him cooking us a feast of a breakfast the next morning, and telling me he would rebuild my house and make it liveable as best he could, but in the meantime, his home was ours.
It had been a great comfort to have him there for us at a time like that, and I would cherish his presence in my life forever, especially now that I needed support.
Continuing to lather up, I jumped and nearly fell over in the shower as, undetected, Luke had slipped into the shower and slid his arms around my waist. It was such an unfamiliar feeling, so intimate. I couldn’t remember the last time someone had touched me, as if I belonged to them.
‘Easy…’ he soothed into my ear as the water continued to pour down my hair. ‘You okay?’
I nodded, but I was shaking. ‘Aren’t you full of surprises?’
‘I have even more for you,’ he whispered as his lips found mine again as the water poured down on us.
*
As Luke was checking us out of the hotel, wearing shades like the superstar he was, I stood near the exit, watching the morning traffic go by, absolutely out of place in my best evening dress and high-heeled shoes and feeling for all the world like Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, i.e. half hungover and empty-headed, but impeccably dressed.
‘Are you sure you don’t want to have breakfast?’ Luke asked.
‘Uhm, I’d rather get back to the kids, if that’s okay.’
‘Sure,’ he said with a grin, kissing me on the lips in broad daylight. ‘But you’ve made me ravenous now.’
I smiled. ‘Let’s go home. I’ll cook you a huge breakfast. I hope Alice can stay a little longer.’
‘She’ll probably want the details if I know her,’ he said.
I smiled up at him. ‘I never kiss and tell.’
‘Good girl. Our business is our business. Ready to go?’
‘Ready,’ I said and, his arm still around me, we walked through the hotel doors and out into the morning sun.
And that was when I saw him. Jack, hands in his pockets, talking to a circle of people
