Off Limits

He releases me and I have to stifle a noise of impatience, watching as he saunters into the kitchen and pulls something from the freezer. It’s a bottle, but I don’t recognise it—nor the label. He shakes it, then opens the top. As he pours it into two glasses I realise that it has a thickened consistency, like a Frozen Coke.

I taste it tentatively, my eyes latched to his. ‘Cherry?’ I raise my brows, taking another sip.

‘It’s my new favourite flavour.’

My cheeks glow pink to rival the drink. ‘Mine, too.’

‘Good to see we’re both re-evaluating our opinions,’ he says with a wink. Then, almost as an afterthought, ‘How was your day?’

‘Busy.’ I don’t want to talk about work. We do enough of that. ‘I spoke to my grandma and sat on the Heath, though.’

He laughs. ‘Am I not giving you enough to do?’

I shoot him a look of dismissal. ‘It was a short break.’

‘I’m kidding.’ His eyes are thoughtful. ‘You never talk about your family.’

‘Yes, I do,’ I retort, perhaps too quickly. ‘Just not with you.’

‘I see. Why not?’

I’m pretty sure I’m scowling at him. ‘Well, for starters, because up until recently our relationship has never remotely veered away from the professional...’

‘That’s not true. You’ve seen me naked. You wake me up most days.’

‘Yes, I know.’ Thoughts of his body sprawled over his bed make my blood simmer. ‘You’re my boss...’

‘Then take it as a command.’

The thought of Jack commanding me is instantly memorable. My lungs are filled with thick, hot air.

‘A command? You’re my boss—not royalty.’

He shrugs. ‘Is there a difference? Tell me about your grandmother.’

I laugh. A soft sound of disbelief. ‘My grandmother? That’s really what you want to talk about right now?’

‘Why not?’

He sips his drink, his eyes locked

to mine. It’s a challenge! Just like always, he’s finding my boundaries and pushing at them with a persistence I find hard to ignore. And I do like to rise to his challenges.

‘Grandma is one of a kind,’ I say after the smallest of pauses. ‘Revolutionary. She worked until well into her seventies and has always been my biggest ally. She encourages me to push myself as hard as I can in everything I do.’

‘What did she do?’

‘For work? She was a nurse. Still is, actually.’ My lips twitch. ‘Just last month she saved a man in her nursing home after he had a heart attack. She threw off her cardigan and performed CPR until the staff got there.’

‘Sounds like you’re just as proud of her as she is of you.’

‘Mmm...’ I make a smooth noise of agreement, absent-mindedly running my fingers over the bones of my wrist.

His eyes catch the gesture and he steps around the bench towards me. Before I can guess what he’s planning he dribbles some cherry daiquiri from his glass onto the skin I’ve just rubbed, then brings his lips to it, sucking it and kissing me gently.

‘I’m sorry about this.’

Jack? Sorry? That’s a novelty.