This Man (This Man 1)

Author: Jodi Ellen Malpas

Oh, good Lord, STOP!

‘Be quick. ’ He slaps my bum lightly and stalks out, leaving me a wobbly mess and holding onto my cream dress for support. I shake myself back to life, shiver on a little gasp and finish getting myself ready.

Pulling out every handbag I own, I proceed to search for my pills, but they’re nowhere to be found. I find Kate in the kitchen making tea, still in just a t-shirt.

‘Have you seen my pills?’ I rummage through the junk drawer in the kitchen, housing everything from batteries and phone chargers to lipsticks and nail polish.

‘Aren’t they in your bag?’

‘No,’ I slam the drawer on a frown.

‘Have you checked all your bags?’ Kate asks, walking out of the kitchen with two mugs of tea.

‘Yes,’ I proceed to delve through every other drawer in the kitchen, even though I know they can’t possibly be in among the cutlery or utensils.

‘Problem?’

I look up, finding Jesse filling the doorway. ‘I can’t find my pills. ’ I try, in complete vain, searching through my bag again, but they’re definitely not there.

‘Find them later, come on. ’ He puts his hand out. ‘I like your dress. ’ he says softly, running his gaze up and down me as I walk towards him. Of course he does; he picked it.

He reaches under the hem to run his forefinger up the inside of my thigh, watching me as my lips clamp together and my hands fly up to his chest. He smirks dirtily and sweeps his finger under my knickers seam, brushing my sex softly. I sigh.

‘Wet. ’ he whispers, circling me slowly. I could weep with pleasure. ‘Later. ’ He withdraws his finger and licks it clean.

I scowl at him. ‘You have to stop doing that. ’

‘Never,’ He grins, yanking me out of the kitchen. ‘Say goodbye to your friend. ’

‘Bye!’ I shout. ‘She’s your friend too, isn’t she?’ I haven’t hit him with the little exchange he and Kate had in the bar last night. He looks at me, his frown line skipping across his forehead. ‘At the bar, whispering in her ear. ’ I add casually.

He opens the front door, ushering me out. ‘She gave me a dig for fucking off, and I apologised. I don’t offer apologies very often, so don’t push it. ’

I laugh. I don’t expect he does. But he did – for me. He still hasn’t explained where he disappeared to, though.

Chapter 21

We drive out of the city, towards the Surrey Hills. I catch a glimpse of him, every now and then, watching me instead of the road. Each time, he smiles and squeezes my knee, which has had his palm spread on it for most of the journey. I start thinking about how little I know about him. He’s intense, quite volatile, incredibly self-assured and extremely rich. Oh, and he’s wild in the sex department. But that’s all I know. I don’t even know how old he is.

‘How long have you owned The Manor?’ I ask.

He throws me a curious, arched eyebrow and turns down the music via the controls on his steering wheel. ‘Since I was twenty one,’

‘That young?’ I blurt, my tone clearly displaying my shock at his answer.

He smiles brightly at me. ‘I inherited The Manor from my Uncle Carmichael. ’

‘He died?’

His smile disappears. ‘Yes. ’

Okay, now I really want to know more. ‘How old are you, Jesse?’

‘Twenty seven. ’ he says, completely impassive.

I sigh. ‘Why won’t you tell me how old you are?’