Just for the Rush. Jane Lark

to wait and see. But probably not. I wouldn’t get your hopes up. Nasty and a gentlemen… Nah.’ The sound at the end of the sentence implied… not a good fit.

      My heart raced through the steps of River Dance. How naughty and ungentlemanly/nasty would he be in bed? The idea blew shivers through me.

      The seat in his Jag felt like it hugged me. ‘I can’t believe we’re doing this. You do realise it’s nuts,’ I said as he dropped into the driver’s seat. ‘I have no idea how I’m going to work for you after this.’

      ‘With good memories,’ he said, as he started the engine.

      I pressed my head back into the leather. Yes. With memories. That was a good currency; I was only going to trade in making amazing memories from now on – memories that made me go, wow did I do that? Memories that made my heart pound years later. Even if I ended up lonely, with loads of cats, I’d have memories.

      Memories of Rick slipped through my head. But they weren’t anything to look back on in ten years’ time. They were like watching YouTube clips of cute kittens. There had been ‘ah’ moments. But never ‘wow, what was that?’ moments.

      Biffy Clyro played out from the speakers in the car, ‘Animal Style’. Jack turned the music down a little.

      ‘I feel like I’m back at school, playing truant,’ I said when he pulled away.

      He glanced over and smiled.

      ‘How long will it take to get there?’

      ‘It depends on the traffic: about four hours-ish, maybe five.’

      He drove into the high street. ‘I have to keep my eyes open, as I’m driving, but feel free to shut yours if you want to avoid the C lights.’

      I smiled, but it was twisted. He didn’t see my expression; he was watching the road. ‘You really are bitter. Is this offer of yours more to do with Sharon than me?’

      ‘Why? Would that make you ask me to turn around and drop you back home?’

      My heart danced another Irish jig. ‘No. I’m not here for a relationship, am I? January 2nd, this is over. And you didn’t offer me anything but sex, so why should I care if you’re trying to shut Sharon out. This isn’t anything to do with feelings. So whatever the reason, I don’t care.’

      ‘Who is bitter?’

      ‘You. I split with Rick because when he asked me to marry him I couldn’t imagine spending my life with him. And before you ask why, he’s dull. I’m not bitter; I’m just seeking some excitement.’

      He glanced at me, with an eyebrow-lift. ‘So your motive for fucking my brains out is to get the boring Rick out of your head. You’re right, I don’t mind if you make me your Rick-eraser. This isn’t about feelings. So that makes us even.’

      A laugh came out awkwardly, then I turned the conversation off me. ‘Do you take women up to this place a lot?’

      He glanced over again. ‘What, because I’m such a cheat?’

      ‘Jack, you flirt all the time. And you didn’t deny you’ve had affairs. And we aren’t blind at work, we see them flouncing into the office, and then you disappear—’

      ‘Flouncing into the office…’ He chuckled.

      ‘Have you ever done it with Emma?’ They were close, they’d been together for about six years. They’d become friends at uni and then built the business up from the ground together.

      He looked at me with a twisted expression. ‘No. She’s my best friend, and she’d be really annoyed with me if she knew I was stealing you away for a dirty, extended weekend. I can hear her voice. Jack, you idiot, what do you think you’re doing? Ivy is one of our best people.’

      ‘Am I one of your best people?’

      ‘Doesn’t Em tell you that? She tells me it. She’s been warning me off you ever since you started.’

      A surprised laugh was pulled from my throat. ‘Since I started…’

      ‘She’s seen me watching you.’

      ‘You watch me?’ I smiled, because I’d guessed he glanced at me at work, and it felt good to hear him admit it.

      ‘You watch me too.’

      ‘I do no—’ Him knowing that didn’t feel so nice.

      ‘Don’t you dare lie.’ He glanced over. ‘I’m not blind.’

      I poked my tongue out at him as the traffic slowed and he stopped. His hand came over and squeezed my knee, then let go and returned to the gear stick.

      ‘But I’ve only seen you looking, because I watch you. The best view is when you wear those black-and-white chequered trousers and lean on to someone’s desk to talk. Your bum looks amazing in those. But then your bum looks pretty amazing in anything. I told you, people who look like you should not be with people like Rick. I cannot imagine, for one minute, that he knew how to deal with you.’

      ‘Deal with me…’ I discarded the comment, because it made a tremor run up my spine. I couldn’t imagine how Jack was going to, deal with me. ‘You’re such a player. I bet you watch Susie in Nero’s, and every other woman’s bum.’

      ‘No. Only the bottoms of the girls I really like. You’re one of them.’

      A blush caught alight and flared into a hot flame under my skin.

      ‘See, Em doesn’t know what I know, that you fancy me too. I wouldn’t have made my suggestion to you tonight if I hadn’t known that.’

      ‘How could you know that?’

      ‘How could I know… ah, that’s nice, you admit it.’

      I pulled a face at him as he stopped at a red light behind a scarlet double-decker bus.

      We were driving along the Embankment, past Battersea, out of London. The dark, flowing water of the Thames was visible beside us, in places, reflecting the lights of the city.

      His hand reached out again and his long fingers ran up my thigh, over my worn, faded, skinny jeans. ‘I’ve known it from the moment we interviewed you. Your eyes looked at mine through the whole thing. You barely looked at Em, like you just couldn’t take your eyes off me. You always look at me like that when I’m in a room. I like it.’

      He made it sound cringe-worthy. ‘Have you fancied me since you interviewed me?’

      ‘You fancied me, remember. That’s a pretty good aphrodisiac to a man.’

      ‘And here was I thinking this invitation was a spur-of-the-moment thing, to get over a bad day.’

      ‘It is that. But also a good excuse to fulfil a few fantasies. Since you walked into the room for your interview, with those ridiculously long legs, I’ve been imagining some fun things.’

      ‘You’re far too sure of yourself, Jack.’

      ‘And you are far too unsure. I know you had no expectation this would happen.’

      We’d flirted at work for years, but this wasn’t flirting, it was honesty. ‘If you fancied me, why didn’t you make a move earlier?’

      ‘I told you, Em’s been warning me off. Plus you had Rick on the scene, and I never got the vibe that you’d be up for cheating.’

      ‘No, I wouldn’t have done anything when I was with Rick, or you were with Sharon.’

      ‘Well then, perfect timing. A whole holiday of naughty to get over our sexual buzz, which has been crackling around the office for two years.’

      ‘And then what?’

      ‘Don’t be a woman, Ivy. Be a predator. ‘After’ doesn’t matter. Don’t think about it.