‘Why do I get the feeling you’re going to take some weird twisted delight in this?’
‘Not at all, Marcus,’ she said softly. ‘It’s high time you realised everyone deserves a piece of happiness—including you.’
* * *
As the outer office lit up again Jennifer’s heart leapt. When she saw Colin striding towards her, takeaway bag in hand, her tummy did a weird dance of disappointment and pleasure.
Marcus had sent her food. He cared enough to make sure she ate.
She beckoned Colin in and he opened the door.
‘From Mr Wright,’ he said, walking in and depositing the bag on the desk before her.
‘You shouldn’t have gone to so much trouble,’ she said, but she opened the bag with glee, glancing inside. The smell of Chinese food wafted up to her and her tummy rumbled in excited protest. ‘It smells lovely.’
‘There’s a mixture—hopefully something you like.’ He shifted awkwardly on his feet. ‘I would have asked you first, but...’
‘But you knew I’d refuse?’
‘Something like that.’
She gave him a reassuring smile. ‘Well, it’s just what I need. Thank you.’
She expected him to turn and leave but he still stood there, doing that weird uncomfortable dance. ‘Is there something else?’
‘Aye, I’m to wait and give you a chance to eat,’ he said, moving to clasp his hands in front of him as he stilled. ‘Then I’m to take you home.’
She coloured. Really? A bloody chaperone?
But there was no use arguing. Not with Colin, at any rate.
And, hell, the truth was Marcus was right. She did need to eat, and she did need to go home.
It would just be easier to accept if she knew her unoccupied mind wouldn’t be filled with him.
* * *
It was late when he bade Zara goodnight. The evening had been good for him. In a way it had been good for her too. It had been like some weird closure for her to see him so wrapped up in someone.
And he truly was wrapped up—in deep, over his head. Whatever way he looked at it he was falling for her. Hell, he already had.
But what did he do with that? It was one thing to realise he was capable of love, to accept it was too late to shield himself. It was another to know what to do with it.
Right from the outset he’d never stood a chance. The moment she’d come into his life his world had changed. And so had he. She’d opened his eyes to how his life could be if he let go of his past.
But he was still scared. Scared of what would happen if he let those feelings take hold, risked it all to tell her and ask her to take a chance on him.
The question plagued him. What if he lost her?
The very idea winded him. Yes, he’d parked his past, but it had still moulded him, left ingrained in him the life lesson of love ripped away.
How did he unlearn that?
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!
Jennifer stared at her mobile news feed, her coffee and toast forgotten, her freshly showered hair dripping over the reports she’d brought home after her impromptu Chinese takeaway the previous night. She ignored them now, the news taking all her attention.