Jenna began to hurry along the street, keen to reach the safe and shaded sanctuary of the hotel before anyone pointed at her.
Once they were in the marble lobby, she turned to Jason and raised her eyebrows.
‘So you’re keen on the idea now?’ she said. ‘You’re happy to bring yourself to the world?’
‘Yeah, why not?’ he said laconically. ‘Seems a shame to deprive the world of me.’
‘What’s changed your mind? You were so . . . guarded before.’
‘I know you believed in me, but that gallery woman must know good stuff when she sees it. If she thinks I can cut the mustard, well.’
‘Yes.’ Jenna felt a hard stone of anxiety crumble at the base of her stomach. ‘Yes, she knows exactly what she’s talking about. And she feels the same way about you I do.’
Jason bent his lips to her ear at that.
‘Really?’ he murmured. ‘Exactly the same?’
‘Not that,’ she whispered fiercely. ‘Don’t be stupid.’
‘Stupid, am I? You don’t think your posh mate would go down on me in a sex shop then?’
‘Shut up!’
‘You’re pushing your luck, madam,’ he said, still pouring low, gravelly words into her ear. ‘Don’t forget what I’ve got in these bags.’ He held up the shiny carriers that could have come from Harvey Nichols or any expensive boutique.
The shop’s name was scrawled across in a stylish black font, surrounded by entwined hearts and roses.
‘Don’t go tipping it out all over the floor,’ she begged in an agonised whisper. ‘Come on. I’m going for the lift before you do something that makes tomorrow’s Daily Mail.’
They attracted plenty of attention as they strode across the shiny, sparkly floor to the lifts. Jason in a sharp suit was a feast for the eyes, and Jenna noticed how the female – and many of the male – guests checked him out as they passed. They almost ignored her, in fact, which she found amusing and also a little alarming.
She quelled a brattish urge to call ‘Don’t you know who I am?’, putting her energies into calling the elevator instead.
Once safely inside, and having jettisoned three other guests at lower floors than their own penthouse, Jaso
n held the bags out to Jenna.
‘So, Ms Myatt,’ he said. ‘Which one of these are you going to play with first?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well, all that back there in the shop was very nice for me. But you didn’t get no satisfaction, did you? I think we ought to sort you out. Fair’s fair.’
Jenna saw her cheeks flame red in the mirrored wall behind Jason.
‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘Everyone fancies you in that suit. Did you notice?’
‘Do they?’ he said, and she was touched by his lack of vanity. ‘I wasn’t looking. Too busy watching your arse.’
‘They were jealous of me.’
‘They’d have good cause, if they knew what you were about to get.’
The lift stopped and the doors slid open.
‘Come on, then,’ said Jason, with a filthy wink. ‘Chop chop.’ He patted her bottom, chivvying her out on to the top floor.
Once in the suite, Jason handed her the bags.