She opened.
‘That’s good.’ He smiled as she chewed and swallowed. ‘Now we’re getting somewhere.’
Ashleigh wasn’t sure she wanted to know exactly what he meant. Besides, her stomach was still screaming out for food and he seemed perfectly happy to pass it to her, morsel by morsel. All she had to do was chew and swallow and avoid his probing gaze.
She opened her mouth on a forkful of easy-over egg and wickedly fattening bacon and closed her eyes.
Heaven.
CHAPTER TWELVE
ASHLEIGH woke the next morning to find Jake sitting fully dressed in one of the chairs near the bed, his dark gaze trained on her, his expression thoughtful.
‘Hi,’ he said, a small smile lifting the edges of his mouth.
‘Hi.’ She eased herself upright, securing the sheet around her naked breasts, wondering what was going on behind those unreadable eyes.
‘I’ve been doing some thinking while you were sleeping,’ he said after a little silence.
She gave him a wary look without responding.
He ran a hand through his hair and continued. ‘I realised during the night that from the very first day I met you in London I fast-tracked you into a physical relationship. I did it to you again recently.’ He held her gaze for a moment or two. ‘I want to prove to you that I’m serious about making our marriage work by being patient, a quality you’re not used to seeing in me.’ He drew in a breath and added, ‘In the next four weeks leading up to our wedding I promise not to kiss you, touch you or even look at you in a sexual way when we are alone.’ He paused as if waiting for her reaction to his announcement but when she remained silent he shifted his gaze and, getting to his feet, walked over to the window and looked down at the street below, his back turned towards her. ‘I want to get to know my son and start to build the sort of family structure I missed out on as a child.’
‘I see…’
He turned back to face her, his expression giving nothing away. ‘Four weeks isn’t all that long when you consider we’ll have the rest of our lives together, don’t you agree?’
Ashleigh wasn’t sure how to answer. She had spent four and a half miserable years missing him and now that he was back, four minutes without him touching her hurt like hell. How would she ever get through it?
‘If that’s what you want…’ Her eyes fell away from the intensity of his.
He eased himself away from the window sill where he’d been leaning and reached for the room service menu. ‘Let’s have breakfast and get going. I want to spend the day with Lachlan. He’s probably wondering where we both are.’
Ashleigh sat on the back step at Jake’s house and watched as Lachlan helped his father complete the tree-house they’d been building in the elm tree.
Almost four weeks had passed and Jake had stuck to his promise; not once had he touched her while they were alone.
She gave a twisted little smile.
With all the rush of wedding preparations they’d had precious little time by themselves and she couldn’t help wondering if he’d planned it that way to make it easier on himself. As for herself, she had ached for him relentlessly, her body tingling with awareness whenever his dark as night eyes rested on her.
Now, with a day to go before they were officially married, she could barely contain her nervous anticipation. Her legs felt weak and shaky whenever he smiled at her, the slightest brush of his hand against hers stirring her into a frenzy of clawing need.
‘What do you think, Ashleigh?’ Jake asked as he strode towards her with Lachlan’s small hand tucked in his. ‘Do you think it’ll do?’
She smiled at the pure joy on Lachlan’s grubby face as he gazed up at his father. Her son had blossomed in a matter of days as he’d soaked up the presence of Jake. He had clung to him during every waking hour as if frightened he might suddenly disappear. It had made Ashleigh’s heart swell to witness the sheer devotion on his little face and she knew that no matter what happened in her relationship with Jake in the future, Lachlan would always want to be in contact with his father and she would do nothing to come between them.
‘It looks wonderful,’ she said.
Jake helped her to her feet, his work-roughened palm sending a riot of sensations through her fingers to the centre of her being as his eyes meshed with hers.
‘This time tomorrow,’ he said on the tail-end of an expelled breath.
She didn’t trust herself to answer without betraying herself.
Jake’s eyes left hers to look at the house, his small sigh of approval speaking volumes. ‘It looks like a real home now, doesn’t it?’