Beneath This Man (This Man 2)

‘It’s my peace offering. Can we stop somewhere on the way home?’

He rolls his eyes and takes my hand. ‘Clive’s earned well out of this and he didn’t even fulfil his brief.’ Jesse starts walking us out of The Manor. I throw a little wave at Mario and Pete, and they return the gesture.

‘How much did you pay him?’ I ask.

‘Not enough for him to do the job properly.’ He flicks an accusing eye at me, and I grin, encouraging Jesse’s roguish one to appear. ‘Don’t look at me like that when I’m in no position to take you, Ava. Get in the car.’

I gasp at his shamelessness. ‘What about my car?’ I look over at my Mini.

‘I’ll get one of the staff to drop it off.’ He dismisses my concern and guides me down onto the passenger seat.

I’m relieved when we finally get back to Lusso. It would seem that Clive has unusual and very expensive taste in whiskey. We finally found the specific Glenmorangie Clive requested in a specialist off license in Mayfair and there was almost a disagreement about who was paying for it. Jesse eventually backed down. He sulked like a schoolboy, but he backed down.

‘Clive, Glenmorangie Port Wood Finish.’ I hand him the bottle.

His eyes light up like Christmas as he takes the bottle and runs his palm over the label. ‘I can’t believe you found some. I thought you could only get it on-line.’

I look at him in disbelief and it’s hard not to notice Jesse’s incredulous look. We’ve trailed three supermarkets and two off licenses trying to find that damn bottle, and all along he knew how difficult it is to get hold of? I leave Clive caressing his bottle of whiskey and board the elevator with Jesse.

‘You should have got the cheeky bastard a supermarket special.’ he grumbles irritably as he punches in the code. I notice it still hasn’t changed, but I’m not reminding him again.

‘Will Cathy be here still?’ I ask. I hope not. I want to crawl inside Jesse and stay put for a while, but after our unexpected trip around London in search of the elusive whiskey, we haven’t got as much time as I would have hoped. I know that is the cause of Jesse’s downturn in mood.

‘No, I told her to get off as soon as she’s done.’ he answers shortly. He’s really grumpy.

We enter the foyer to the penthouse and Jesse balances my bags as he negotiates the key in the lock. He opens the door and I follow him in before taking the bags from him.

‘What are you doing?’ he asks on a furrowed brow.

‘I’m taking these upstairs to the spare room. You can’t see my dress.’ I make my way to the stairs.

‘Put them in our room.’ he shouts after me.

Our room? ‘No can do.’ I call, disappearing into my favourite spare bedroom.

I immediately unpack my dress from the suit bag and hang it on the back of the door. I sigh and stand back to get the full view. He’s either going to come on the spot or disintegrate on the spot.

I set about unpacking my corset, shoes and bag and leave the other dresses until later. I hear a small knock at the door. ‘Don’t come in!’ I blurt and run to the door, opening it slightly. I find a smirking Jesse with his hands shoved in his pockets.

‘Are we getting married?’ he asks.

‘I want it to be a surprise.’ I wave him away. ‘I need to paint my nails. Go.’ He wanted willing, so he better not complain.

He holds his hands up. ‘Fine, I’ll wait for you in the bath. Don’t be long, I’ve already lost an hour searching for f**king whiskey.’ he grumbles, walking off across the landing.

I shut the door and retrieve my make-up bag from my handbag, finding the post that Clive handed me this morning. I put it on the chest near the door before settling on the bed to prep and preen.

I walk into the bathroom to find Jesse submerged in bubbly water with a disgusted look on his face. I pull my dress over my head and remove my bra and knickers, his expression changing from affronted to approving as I climb in the bath.

‘Where have you been?’

‘I was waiting for my nails to dry.’ I settle between his legs and lay back against his firm chest.

He hums happily and tangles our legs together, wrapping his arms around me and sinking his nose into my hair. ‘That’s two hours I’ve lost with you that I’m not going to get back.’ he mutters sullenly. ‘No more painting nails and hunting down scarce whiskey.’

‘Okay.’ I agree. I know where I would rather be. ‘Oh, I forgot. Clive gave me some post for you this morning. I shoved it in my bag and forgot about it. Sorry.’

‘No problem.’ He dismisses my concern. ‘I love, love, love you wet and sliding all over me.’ He palms my boobs and bites my neck. ‘Tomorrow, we stay in bed all day long.’

I smile to myself, silently wishing we could do exactly that right now, but then I feel his heart beating against my back and it has me thinking about his beating heart comment. ‘What was the first thing you thought when you saw me?’ I ask.

He’s silent for a few moments. ‘Mine.’ he growls and bites my ear.

I squirm above him laughing. ‘You didn’t!’

‘I f**king did, and now you are.’ He turns my face to his and kisses me gently. ‘I love you.’

‘I know you do. Did it ever occur to you to ask me to dinner instead of stalking me, asking inappropriate questions and cornering me in one of your torture chambers?’

He glances away thoughtfully. ‘No, it didn’t. I wasn’t thinking straight. You made me crazy confused.’ He shakes his head.