catch in her throat.
What was she doing here?
She had worked with predatory sharks in banking and through her family most of her life and was well used to their tactics of luring the little fish into a shallow pool where they could not possibly escape.
This time she was the one who had voluntarily decided to enter the shark’s territory with nothing more than her brain and her wit as protection. To do...what, exactly? Had she completely lost her mind?
Blinking away the butterflies of doubt and something close to alarm, Lottie watched as Rob broke his stare and strode over to the open-plan living space and shrugged off his dinner jacket, casually draping it on the back of a sofa.
The muscles underneath the fine fabric of his dinner shirt strained taut against the tug and flexed enough to make the hairs on her arms perk up.
And just like that the attraction she had felt towards him in the park sizzled and caught flame, making her inhale sharply and turn back to the patio.
By turning into the gentle breeze Lottie could feel the cool air calming the heat of her skin, and, reaching back, she lifted her long hair from her neck and let it fall onto her shoulders.
‘Have you always lived in London?’ Rob asked as he joined her at the metal railing, so close that their elbows touched for a second before he braced himself.
The heady muskiness of his aftershave blended with the coffee aromas and something on his skin that was so uniquely Rob to create a fragrance that was so addictive it should be banned. Lottie’s chest lifted and fell as she indulged in the pleasure before she managed to pull together a reply.
‘I spent some time in management school in America but apart from that, yes, I suppose I have.’ Her gaze scanned the lights laid out before her. ‘I love this city. I always have.’
‘Then that is something else we have in common.’
Lottie let go of the railing and half turned to face him. The light from the living room created a mosaic of shadows on his face, which added to the hard planes she knew were there.
London?
‘I thought that you couldn’t wait to get out of this city and your business was based in California? Your mother was telling me all about her wonderful studio home on the beach and...’
Understanding flooded in to replace disbelief and Lottie turned back to face the panorama in silence.
Now she was getting a clearer picture of this man. Remarkable award-winning chef moves to California to be close to his mother when she needs him. And in the process starts a new career in TV. Still a player. Still someone interested in what was in it for him...but...
‘She seems very happy there.’
‘She is. The exhibition is a hit and my mum is heading back to California as soon as it closes and the next lucky artist takes over. Which means that it is back to work for both of us. I probably won’t be back in London for a good few months.’
‘Wow. Do you have a home of your own to go back to?’
‘If you mean bricks and mortar and a welcome mat? Not exactly. I’ve claimed the penthouse in the Beresford Plaza and my mum has a loft packed with boxes of my old stuff. Is decaf okay for you?’
‘Perfect. Thank you.’
Rob strolled back into the kitchen, topped up his elaborate coffee maker with water, and added two large scoops of ground coffee from a canister, before pressing several buttons.
‘Well, I can see your barista skills are just fine, but do you still find time to cook, Rob? You must miss running your own kitchen.’
His hands stilled on the worktop. ‘Cooking as in chopping veg and making stock? Not for years.’ Then he grinned. ‘I have the fun of bringing new chefs into the hotels and seeing them learn and grow and do amazing things. Every one of them is so desperate to impress me they give us their all. Now that is magical.’
Lottie strolled back into the apartment as he spoke and every word seemed to penetrate her heart and touch something very deep inside her. This was the closest she had come to the real Rob Beresford. No pretence. Just Rob standing in a kitchen waiting for coffee to brew after a night at a function where he played a clever version of the persona he had created for the outside world to see.
And yet here she was. Alone with him. And suddenly that very idea became so heady with the rush that she deliberately stepped back one step so that she could look at him from the side.
Desperate to keep just out of the effective range of his devastating power of attraction that was sucking her closer and closer by the minute.
‘So you understood what I was trying to do tonight? Raise funds to make that dream possible?’
Rob swirled one hand into the air around his head. ‘Of course I understood. Lottie, the fairy godmother, wants to make sure that she has the support in place before she makes commitments that could change someone’s life. No false promises. That makes sense to me.’
‘Fairy godmother? I bet you say that to all the girls.’
Lottie gave a mini curtsey. This was a mistake.
Because at that precise moment Rob raised his arms to lift a tray from the shelf, and in the process his shirt rose high enough above the waistband of his low-rise smart trousers to reveal a couple of inches of toned, flat stomach.
Why was it that she had always been attracted to the athletic type?
Just when she thought that he could not be more gorgeous, he had to hit her with this. The irony of it all made her sigh out loud.
Bad head.
Bad heart.
Bad need for contact with his man.
Bad, full stop.
‘What? Was it something I said? Or have you found a new hobby down there?’
Lottie hesitated before replying, desperate to avoid the harsh truth, so she started gabbling instead of ogling.
‘I love my bakery so much it’s hard to imagine living in hotel rooms full time, no matter how splendid the view.’
Rob chuckled. ‘Don’t worry about it. I’m used to living out of a suitcase.’
For a moment she wanted to run into Rob’s arms, feel the strength of his body against hers, and tell him how attracted she was to him.
But she wouldn’t. Because he was leaving and she was staying, and that was a recipe for disaster in anyone’s cookbook.
No. She had to control herself, and fight this powerful attraction. She just had to. His life was in the fast lane of the cities she had left behind her.
Time to put the mask back on, drink her coffee, and swallow down her feelings. And get the hell out of there before she did something stupid. Like pounce on him.
Lottie watched in silence as Rob poured the coffee.
