‘And he hadn’t woken tonight?’
‘No.’ Jake raked his hand through his hair in such a disarmingly boyish gesture. ‘It seems Patricia has it all in hand.’
She couldn’t pinpoint exactly why she sensed a slight undercurrent. She eyed him speculatively.
‘Surely, that’s a good thing?’
‘Of course it is.’ He bobbed his head as though the action could emphasise things even as his words failed to.
‘Then why do you look as though something about it bothers you?’ she pressed softly.
They were so close she could feel his breath on her cheek. Blowing over her eyelashes, and sizzling through her body.
An ache stole through her, settling in all the places it shouldn’t. Heating her from the inside out.
Jake opened his mouth to tell her she was wrong, she was sure of it, but then he simply closed it again. Closing his eyes for a moment, like he was working out whether to answer or not.
‘It doesn’t bother me,’ he denied eventually, his gaze snagging hers, and revealing all the things his lips were concealing.
Like the fact that his denial was a lie and there was nothing she could do about it. There was no way to help him. She didn’t even understand why she so desperately wanted to. Or why she so badly wanted those lips to drop down to meet hers.
It made her feel out of control, and she told herself that couldn’t be a good thing.
‘I... I think I ought to head home.’
‘During a welcome dinner?’ He stopped abruptly and she told herself that it was fanciful to believe he was disappointed.
‘The dinner is over,’ she pointed out. ‘I’ve done my duty. I’ve attended it and I’ve spoken to more people than I can remember tonight. I think I can safely sneak out without getting it in the neck from Isabella. Besides, I have a lecture to give soon. I can say I’m prepping for that.’
‘You haven’t prepared it?’ One eyebrow rose in a perfect arch, and Flávia had to clench her hand in a fist not to reach up and trace the curve. ‘I’d have thought you were the kind of person to have written it months ago, only needing to slip in new data as it emerged.’
Which was another way of saying he thought she was predictable, and nerdy. And though that was probably true, she suddenly, inexplicably, felt like doing something out of character. Something that would take this man, who seemed to think he had the measure of her, by surprise.
It made no sense, but Flávia didn’t care. She told herself it was the wine talking, or her sister’s well-intentioned advice, but deep down she knew neither were true.
And yet she found herself tilting her head back, meeting those piercing blue depths, and any last remaining voices in her head were silenced as she rolled up onto her toes and pressed her mouth to his.
Need punched through her in an instant—even before Jake angled his head and deepened the kiss. The slide of his tongue over hers making her blood tingle in her veins and a thrill zip around her body as his hands gripped her shoulders, pulling her in tighter.
She thought it would never end—she wished it could never end. Right up until the botanical gardens sprinkler system kicked into its nightly routine and showered them both. And even then, she didn’t notice immediately.
It was the kind of fine downpour that looked as though it couldn’t possibly even wet a leaf, but which ultimately soaked a person right through to the skin.
Flávia wasn’t sure who broke the kiss first, her or Jake. She only knew that it had been with great reluctance. And that his hands were still holding her shoulders, just as hers were pressed against his chest.
One of them had to speak, even if she had no idea what to say next.
‘So what now?’ She choked out a half-nervous, half-amused laugh.
Deus, but she could so easily lose herself in those electric-blue pools of his when he looked at her like that.
‘We are in a hotel,’ he managed thickly, at last.
Her heart practically launched itself at her ribs, hammering so loudly it was impossible to believe he couldn’t hear it. It was exciting. Thrilling. Her, the woman who hadn’t had a fling in her life, taking her sister up on the teasing dare to have a little fun.
And with Jake she felt naughty, and daring, and not at all like her usual buttoned-down self.
The sense of freedom was heady.