Not for a man. Not for a kiss with a strange doctor. Who wasn’t strange at all and was actually very sexy. But too distracting. She was here for her career. Just as he was. And she was a perfectionist, just like him. But he was a lot further down the track than she was. He was already hugely successful and she was just a fledgling wannabe. She had a lot of work to do.
So she let his hands go and stood up, even though her legs were wobbly, because there was something about him that made her feel off balance. ‘I...er...I think I’m going to call it a day now. No doubt Cameron will be buzzing me early in the morning. It’s a five a.m. call.’
‘Okay. Great idea.’ He stood too, and they both tried to get out of the booth at the same time and brushed against each other. His chest was hard and strong, his breath whispered over her neck, and for a few seconds she didn’t know what to do. If she moved forward she’d be in his arms. Which suddenly didn’t seem such a bad idea...except...it was.
He stepped back and gestured for her to go first. ‘Sorry. After you.’
‘Thanks.’ She winced in embarrassment as she stepped out of the trailer and down the steps, wrapped her arms around her chest and started to walk towards the car lot.
He was next to her all the way. No talking. No...anything. Just walking in a strange awkward silence while her heart thump-thump-thumped and she clenched her fists tight. And she knew that nothing happening was a good thing. A very good thing. But a small part of her still clung to the fizz that bubbled in her stomach and the jerky heartbeat that made her cough a little.
When she reached her car she stopped. ‘Okay, well, thanks again, Jake. I’ll see you...? Actually, I’m not sure when that’ll be because Cameron’s going on location in a couple of days so...’
‘I don’t suppose you’re hungry?’ He’d lost that perplexed look and was back to being completely in control again. If that banquette blunder had affected him at all he didn’t show it. Which made her feel as if she was going slightly mad. He gave her smile. ‘I need to eat and I guess you do too. I know a great Thai place that does amazing noodles. You want to eat?’
Yes! ‘No. I don’t think—I...er...’ Yes. Yes. Yes.
Absolutely not.
He shook his head quite vehemently. ‘I don’t mean...not a date or anything. I can’t do that.’
His words made her step back. ‘Why? Are you married or something?’ That would be a good thing. A very good thing. A very good out-of-bounds, hands-off and definitely-no-kissing kind of good thing.
But he kept on shaking his head. ‘No. God, me married? No way. Really, no. But I’m always open to making new friends and would like some company for dinner. I can apologise again for being an idiot earlier. You can tell me about your story. Then I can show you how to manipulate chopsticks for awake brain surgery research. And you can B-I-T-C-H about your boss in safety, because I’m absolutely bound by confidentiality, and if you told me anything you’d have to kill me or sue me.’
‘Oh...I wouldn’t do that. Kill you, I mean. Well, not immediately. And everyone needs a friend, right?’ And it was all in the name of research and nothing else, so why not? ‘That’s an offer I definitely can’t refuse. To be honest, I’m starving. Lead on.’
So she got into her car and followed the lights of his expensive-looking sedan. Followed him from the dark studio warehouses back to the bright lights of the city, then through a maze of back streets that she knew she would never find her way out of on her own. And for the first time in a long time she felt as if things were looking up. It would be good to have a new friend in this strange but wonderful place.
If only she could stop thinking about kissing him.
THE RESTAURANT WAS nothing like she’d imagined. It had basic melamine tables, white plastic chairs that she’d seen in her local two-dollar shop, and a fog of steam fragranced with seriously delicious smells of garlic and sesame oil and fish sauce.
Multicoloured paper lanterns hung from the ceiling, giving off a rosy red-orange glow, and squished in at each table were crowds of people Lola thought must be Thai nationals all chattering and laughing away in a language she didn’t understand. An oddly incongruous but perfectly quirky soundtrack of heavy rock pierced the air. Who’d have imagined a place like this? It was like being back in Bangkok.
‘Like it? This place is like a second home to me now,’ Jake said, as he squashed in next to her at a shared table. There was no room for embarrassment here, it was a case of either sitting close or closer. And she wasn’t sure if it was the cloying heat in the room or just being next to him, but she needed a cooling drink. Fast. He ran a finger down the pictures on the menu. ‘I recommend the Pad Thai or the house cashew chicken. Perfection. The best Thai food on the West Coast. Fancy a beer? Wine?’ He beckoned to a male server who came over, smiled and welcomed him like an old friend.
‘Mr Jake. Nice to see you again. Your usual?’
‘Hi, Panit, yes, please. And some...?’ He looked over at Lola.
Her mouth watering, she scoured the menu for her favourite. ‘Oh, yes. A beer, pork larb and a green papaya salad, please.’
Jake leaned back and looked at her, laughing. ‘There was me thinking I was going to wow you with unusual flavours and yet you know more about it than me.’
‘I travelled around Asia in my uni holidays...vacations. Vietnam, Laos and Thailand.’ It had taken her days to convince her parents to let her take time off. They’d had jobs lined up for her, but she didn’t do them. Her first strike for freedom. ‘It was brilliant. Madly busy but brilliant. And I learnt so much about the food. We even had cooking lessons over there. I came back ten pounds heavier.’ She patted her hips where the noodles and rice still clung in lumps and bumps. Her dad had gone mad about that too. You can never be too thin, he always said.
‘You look great to me.’ Jake’s eyes wandered to her hands, then slowly up her body until blood rushed to her cheeks just at the moment his gaze hit hers, and there it lingered for just long enough that she felt unsettled. There was something happening—and she knew it wasn’t the magical lighting or the steamy atmosphere, and it certainly wasn’t the beer because she hadn’t had any yet—but there was definitely something scary and weird happening inside her. And if it was just happening to her then she was going to feel like an idiot if it continued.
Jake took a slug of the beer that Panit brought over and broke the connection. ‘I’d love to travel more. I just haven’t gotten round to anywhere that far away.’
‘You’ve been focusing on work?’
‘You bet. My plan is to get to the top of my field and then take a little time to smell the roses... But, first, no rest for the wicked, right? You’ve got to push, push, push. I get the feeling you’ve got the same kind of drive.’ Confidence oozed from him, particularly in his smile. She wondered how it would be if this were a real date rather than a non-date. How it would feel to have those hands touch her... And suddenly she wanted them on her.
Was this chemistry real?
No. It couldn’t be. She shoved such fanciful ideas to the back of her mind. He’d made his intentions very clear and she was perfectly fine with that. She didn’t have time in her life for anything more intimate than this sort of dinner.
