The Secret to Falling in Love Page 12

  ‘Are you cold?’ he asked, wrinkling his brow.

  ‘A little.’ This was despite the patio heater, and the fact my heart was pumping hot blood around my body at twice its usual speed.

  He reached down and pulled up a wicker hamper. From it he removed a folded cashmere blanket and placed it over the both of us. It was super soft and super warm. I was in heaven.

  ‘Thirsty?’ he asked, still holding the hamper lid open.

  ‘I wouldn’t say no to another.’ I smiled warmly.

  He took out a bottle of wine and two glasses and passed me a glass before pouring out the cool, pale yellow liquid. It took me a few more sips before I started to feel at ease again. Whilst I drank, Joseph took two plates from the hamper and served us each a piece of cheesecake topped with fresh strawberries. ‘Dessert, madame.’ He winked and passed me a fork.

  ‘Why thank you, kind sir.’ I smiled, pressing my fork through to the firm base. The cheesecake was delightful, complemented perfectly by the Sauvignon Blanc. As we ate our dessert in the cool, crisp evening air, we began to get to know each other a little more. We talked about school, university, rebellions, careers and what we each hoped for the future.

  I got the impression that Joseph had spent much of his time alone, working hard through university and missing many of the party nights. Once he graduated, he used a small loan from his father to acquire a failing coffee shop business, and after twelve months working hard at improving staffing, efficiency and customer service issues, sold it on for a handsome profit. He realised his passion wasn’t to run a business as such, but to improve failing businesses, and grew his own company from there.

  Joseph stacked the empty plates and put them back in the hamper. He topped up our glasses with the last of the wine and placed the bottle on the floor. Leaning back into the sofa, he placed an arm around my shoulders. Instinctively, I sunk into it, feeling more relaxed. I wasn’t sure if that was because I felt like I knew him a little bit more, or because I’d increased my alcohol intake by at least another couple of units. He turned his head to face me. ‘Melissa, I’ve had a wonderful evening with you.’

  ‘Me too,’ was all I could manage. The words were stuck in my throat as my heart skipped its natural rhythm, opting for something much more erratic.

  He lifted a hand to my chin, eyes still fixed on mine, and leaned in towards me, slowly, until his mouth was just centimetres from mine. ‘I hope we can do this again,’ he said, his voice a whisper.

  ‘Yes.’ I couldn’t say anything else; the words were still stuck, my eyes wide, transfixed by his stare.

  Without speaking another word, he leaned in the last few centimetres and placed a gentle, hot kiss on my lips. My heart felt like it was about to explode. If I didn’t respond, he would pull away, and I didn’t want that. I wanted this man. I returned the kiss, opening my mouth in harmony with his, accepting his tongue as it pushed into my mouth. I turned my body to meet his as the kiss grew more passionate, moving my hand up to grab a fistful of his hair.

  He wound an arm around my back and pulled me in tight so my soft body pressed against the firmness of his. He placed a warm hand on my thigh and slid it upwards, slowly hitching up my dress as he did. I felt him harden, and I ached for him. I took off his bow tie and unbuttoned his shirt to reveal a taut, tanned chest. Moving my hand down, I undid his trousers and slid my hand inside to grasp his hot erection.

  Joseph moved his arm to mine, stopping me, ‘Melissa, I’m not prepared for this,’ he whispered. ‘I mean, I am prepared, I’m just not equipped. No, that’s not right either. I’m equipped . . .’ He shook his head, speaking more loudly this time. ‘Melissa, I don’t have a condom,’ he finally managed.

  ‘Oh, okay, yes, I mean no, me neither. I hadn’t expected things to get so . . . heated.’ I broke away and pulled my dress back down. Joseph shuffled back up the sofa and began to rebutton his shirt.

  ‘Don’t get me wrong, I would have really liked to . . . you know. But I wouldn’t want to take advantage on our first date. I didn’t want to seem presumptuous, which is why I didn’t pick up any condoms. I just didn’t think that we . . .’

  ‘No, you’re completely right. This would have been too soon. I think we’ve drunk more than we’d realised.’ I checked my watch, suddenly feeling stone-cold sober. It was almost midnight. ‘Goodness me, is that the time? I must go.’

  ‘Melissa, you don’t have to go. It’s been nice just sitting here, don’t you think?’

  ‘No. I mean, yes it has, but no, I can’t stay. I have to work tomorrow, and it’s late. Please can you call me a cab?’

  ‘I still have my driver downstairs. He’ll take you back.’

  Chapter Thirteen

  As I walked into the office building on Monday morning, I was greeted by a smirking Dee. She was standing by the entrance stubbing out her morning cigarette. ‘Good morning, Mel,’ she said in an uncharacteristically cheery tone.

  ‘Morning, Dee,’ I replied suspiciously.

  ‘Good weekend?’ she asked, still smiling.

  ‘Yes, thank you.’ My left eyebrow rose of its own accord.

  ‘Good night last night?’ Her last question stopped me in my tracks.

  ‘Yes, thank you.’ I cursed my knee-jerk politeness. ‘Hold on, how do you know I did anything Sunday?’ I asked, realising that a) Dee was never this interested in my weekend and b) nobody at work knew anything about me going out last night.

  ‘Oh, I didn’t.’ She waved her hand dismissively. ‘Pop in and see me after lunch, please. I want an update on your follow-up article.’ With that she turned on her heels and headed in towards her office, leaving me with an annoying tightness in my chest.

  ***

  ‘What makes you flavour of the month? Not still riding the glory train of your article, are you?’ Simon appeared from the kitchen to my right.

  ‘What do you mean?’ I asked, rubbing my chin in agitation.

  ‘I saw the witch make polite conversation and smile at you earlier.’ He narrowed his eyes at me.

  ‘Oh, that. I’ve no idea what’s got into her, but at least she’s not yelling at me.’ I rubbed my chin again; I couldn’t seem to relax.

  ‘So did you have a good weekend?’ He was obviously after the same information as Dee, but for a different reason. Not that I was sure of Dee’s reason just yet; Simon just loved gossip.

  ‘I did, thank you. Did you?’ I answered, purposely not giving anything away – I wanted it to be less of a big deal when I did tell him.

  ‘Yes I did. Football, pub then meal with Louise. What did you do?’

  ‘Dad’s sixtieth, sat in a coffee shop, oh, and I went on a date.’ I tried to sound casual.

  ‘A date?’ Simon sounded surprised. Me dating wasn’t exactly unheard of, but it was unusual for me to find a date without the help of a website, so he could be forgiven for his startled tone.

  ‘Yes, a date. I met him in a coffee shop. His name is Joseph and he’s quite a gentleman. He whisked me away in a limo and took me to his duplex penthouse where he had a three-course dinner and champagne awaiting me.’ I smiled in reminiscence of the good bits.

  ‘Sounds dodgy to me. I bet he only wanted one thing,’ was Simon’s typical male perspective. I decided in this instance that a male perspective might actually be quite useful, so filled him in on the night, including the embarrassingly prompt end to our passionate embrace. Simon was silent for a moment. He didn’t come back with a witty or sarcastic response. Instead his face darkened. ‘Mel, is he really good-looking?’

  I was surprised by the question but intrigued enough to answer, ‘Yes. Like a god.’

  ‘And he’s got a great body?’

  ‘Yes.’ I began to wonder if Simon wanted a date with Joseph.

  ‘He’s smart?’

  ‘Yes, jeez Simon, do you want to go out with him?’

  ‘And you said he’s loaded?’ he continued, ignoring my childish quip.


  ‘It appeared that way.’

  ‘And he had you gagging for it?’

  ‘I wouldn’t put it so crudely, but for the purpose of satisfying my curiosity and finding out what you’re getting at here, yes.’

  ‘But he didn’t have a condom?’

  ‘No, but in fairness, neither did I.’

  Once again he ignored me. ‘And you were in his apartment, where he lives?’

  ‘Yes. One of his residences, I might add,’ I replied, becoming mildly frustrated.

  ‘You don’t get it, Mel. Single men have condoms, especially good-looking, loaded ones. It doesn’t matter if they have a date or not, and the simple reason is this: you buy a packet when you think you might need some, and then you buy more before you’re down to your last one. You don’t want to be left hanging, pardon the pun, if one tears. Even if you don’t think you’re going to get that lucky and don’t take any out, you would still have them at home, right? Which is where you were?’

  ‘Okay, I take your point. It’s weird he didn’t have a condom, but again, neither did I.’

  ‘But it was a first date. You didn’t expect anything; you didn’t anticipate going to his apartment. If you were at your apartment would you have had any?’

  ‘Well, yes, of course.’

  ‘I rest my case.’

  ‘Okay, so I agree, it is suspicious that he didn’t have a condom. What does that mean then, manguru?’

  ‘I don’t know. I would have shagged the living daylights out of you if we’d have got that far.’

  ‘Helpful, Simon. Thank you.’ I grimaced.

  ‘You’re welcome.’ He grinned. ‘My theory is either he’s secretly gay and needed to date a woman for his cover . . .’

  ‘He had a big hard-on for me, that I do know. Would that happen to a gay bloke?’ I hissed, lowering my voice.

  ‘Er, dunno, not my area of expertise. Probably not. Anyway, my other theory is that the date was about something else entirely.’

  ‘What would be the point in a fake date?’ I was beginning to doubt how well informed Simon was on the dating front. He had been with Lou for years, and I wouldn’t exactly call any of his friends gentlemen, at least not the lecherous beasts I’d met.

  ‘I don’t know, it all just seems suspicious. He pulled out all the stops, played all the dating ace cards, and for what? A cuddle under the stars? Us guys go to lengths like that for one reason and one reason only – to shag women. Why do you think I took Lou out on Saturday night?’ He winked.

  ‘I wish the rest of the male dating pool knew about the ace cards.’

  ‘With Tinder and the like, do they have to?’ He grinned again. I twisted my mouth, unable to think of anything witty to say. There was no reasoning with Simon on such matters.

  ***

  At lunchtime I headed for the door – after a stuffy morning in the office sandwiched between Dee’s unusual cheerfulness and Simon’s theories, I just needed some fresh air. As I stepped outside I almost collided with a short brunette.

  ‘Mel! Oh good, you’re here.’

  ‘Gemma, jeez, what a surprise. Where’ve you been?’

  ‘God, it’s a long story. I’m so glad I caught you – though it is one o’clock, or lunch o’clock to you, and I am here on purpose, so I’ve no real reason to be surprised.’ She forced a small laugh.

  ‘Yep, you know me. What did you want to catch me for?’ I asked, feeling a bit concerned. I’d not heard a peep from her since her brief visit on Saturday, and now she’d turned up at my work to tell me something – it was very unlike the Gemma I knew and loved.

  ‘Mel, I need to talk to you about something.’ She shifted about uneasily.

  ‘Of course, Gem. What is it?’

  ‘Can we grab a coffee or something?’

  ‘Sure, there’s a place around the corner.’ It sounded serious. She’d been acting distant lately, but I couldn’t even guess at what was going on. The last time she was her normal self was when she set me up on Tinder. I was positive that I hadn’t done or said anything wrong that day, or on the brief times we’d met up since, so I was at a complete loss as to what this was about.

  When we entered the coffee shop, Gemma ordered some coffees and a panini for me as I grabbed a small round table in the corner. As she came over and sat down, I pulled out my purse to give her some money to cover my lunch, and Joseph’s black business card fell out.

  ‘That looks posh. Where’s that for?’ She reached over and picked it up. ‘It feels expensive,’ she said, placing it back down.

  ‘That is a very long story that I am desperate to share with you, but we’re here to talk about you.’ I stuffed the card back into my purse so that Gemma could have my full attention.

  Her face relaxed and her tone softened. ‘You know, I just really wanted to see you, and I was nearby at your usual lunchtime so thought we should catch up. I’m dying to know about that black card.’ She widened her smile and her eyes to match, but I wasn’t buying her sudden U-turn. I knew if I pushed her she’d shut down, so I decided to go with it. Whatever it was she wanted to tell me would wait; I supposed she just wasn’t ready.

  I filled her in, from the first meeting at the coffee shop right through to the gory details of the date. I finished by telling her what Simon said so she had a male perspective to consider. She listened intently. Gemma considered herself a relationship expert and liked to have all the facts before she offered any advice.

  ‘Maybe he’s just a really sweet guy who didn’t want to rush anything and risk spoiling the relationship?’ Gemma was obviously trying to sell me the easy-to-hear option first. Simon would have dismissed that as total crap.

  ‘I don’t think it was that. Simon was right about the date being set up to lead to sex. The romantic limo ride, the tux, the candles, the meal, the fairy lights outside, the soft warm blanket – that kiss.’ Without realising, I flung my arms around myself, engrossed in the blissful memory of last night.

  ‘You look like you’ve got it bad, hon.’ She reached over and rubbed my arm in sympathy.

  ‘It was a perfect evening; it just ended so abruptly. It isn’t even like he said he wanted us to take things slowly or anything like that. It was that he wasn’t “prepared”.’

  ‘Maybe he gets self-conscious?’ she offered pathetically.

  ‘Sorry, but he is one of the finest specimens I’ve ever seen. He had no problem with me opening his shirt or putting my hand down—’

  ‘Okay, okay, I get it. Maybe he really didn’t have protection.’

  ‘He had fillet steak, he had an abundance of wine and champagne, and his bed looked like the people from John Lewis had been in to make it up. Would he really have forgotten protection?’

  ‘It happens.’ She shrugged. ‘Are you seeing him again?’

  ‘I didn’t make any plans to. I was pretty embarrassed. I asked for a cab, and he said his driver would take me home. He offered to escort me but I said no – I just wanted to get out of there, to be honest. I suppose I’ll have to wait and see. I just don’t want to be made a fool of.’ I looked down at my barely touched panini, picking at the bits of rocket poking out from the sides.

  ‘You’re no fool, Mel.’

  ‘Thanks, Gem. Anyway, I’ve got another ten minutes before I’m back in captivity if you want to tell me what was on your mind.’

  She hesitated, biting down on her bottom lip. ‘It’s nothing really. I was just going to tell you that . . . that I haven’t been around much because, well, because I’ve met someone too.’ She looked nervous. I couldn’t understand why. We’d always talked about this stuff.

  ‘That’s great, Gem . . . isn’t it?’ I asked cautiously.

  ‘Yes, yes.’ She allowed herself a smile. ‘It’s been amazing. I’ve never felt this happy, especially in a relationship this new . . .’

  ‘What is the “but” I’m sensing?’

  ‘The person that I’m seeing was married. Actually
, is still married.’

  ‘Oh, Gem, I’m sorry. You must have been devastated when he told you.’

  She paused for a moment before continuing. ‘I was, but I’ve been assured that the marriage was over long before I came along because they’d fallen apart – their feelings for each other had changed. It’s just been an awkward and messy situation, but hopefully when the divorce is finalised we can start our lives together.’

  ‘At least you’re not a homewrecker!’ I reasoned. ‘You should have come to me about this straight away, instead of bottling it all up and avoiding me.’

  ‘I wasn’t avoiding you, Mel. I was in a new relationship. We were getting to know one another and needed some time.’

  ‘I’ll let you off. But I want to meet this lucky guy and give him the third degree!’ I took a bite of my panini and downed the rest of my coffee.

  ‘You will,’ she replied quietly, her gaze dropping to the floor. I sensed there was something more that she wasn’t telling me, but she wasn’t forthcoming and I did need to head back to work. I made a mental note to go round to see her soon. I needed to make sure she was okay.

  ‘I’d better. Anyway, I have to dash back to work before Dee sacks me.’ I stood up and walked around to Gemma. ‘Hope you’re feeling better for sharing your news. Give me some dates to meet this new fella of yours.’ I leaned over and planted a kiss on her cheek before heading back to the office.

  Luckily I made it back on time and decided that whilst I was on a high from clearing the air with Gemma, I’d go and see Dee, to get whatever conversation she had planned for me over and done with.

  ‘Did you have a nice weekend, Mel?’ Dee asked as soon as I entered her office.

  ‘I did, thank you,’ I replied cautiously. That was the second time she’d asked that question, and she was not one for small talk. Dee did everything on purpose.

  ‘Did anything exciting happen? Anything that may enhance your article?’ She glared at me from across the desk.

  I didn’t want to share the intimate details of my private life but felt I should give her something. ‘I went on a date with someone. Someone I met face to face, someone I may not have spoken to if I’d been distracted by my phone.’