our car. Good evening, Daniel.”
Daniel nodded, and Henry led Astrid to the valet stand where his car waited. She was eerily silent for someone he’d come to expect to be sassy and spunky. Was the cheeky girl he’d come to know just a façade, and was this introspective woman the real Astrid?
“Daniel was the reason you left your last job,” Henry said.
“It was attendance, like my record stated. I know that Daniel wouldn’t have given me a recommendation.”
“He didn’t.”
“Figures.”
“How long were the two of you involved?” Henry asked.
“Why do you think we were?”
Henry gave her a shrewd look. “Ex-lovers make everyone react differently than ex-bosses. So…how long were you two involved?”
“Too long,” Astrid said. “I…I’m not normally like that. I really thought that Daniel was a different man.”
Henry sensed that about Astrid. She was funny and outgoing, but he had noticed earlier in the evening that she kept a barrier between herself and others. He’d recognized that trait mainly because he always did the same.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Henry asked.
She shook her head and clenched her hands tightly on her lap. He knew that she was trying to control her reaction to seeing her ex-lover.
Henry said nothing, just kept driving. He didn’t know where Astrid lived, and he didn’t want to interrupt her in the middle of whatever she was going to say.
“I always thought…Well, that hardly matters. Where are we going now?” she asked.
“Home. But I’ll need your address.”
“You can drop me at the nearest Underground.”
“No, I can’t. They’ve stopped running at this hour.”
She glanced at her watch and then shook her head again. “You’re right. I live in Woking.”
He put her address into his Sat Nav system and then followed the directions of Mr. T’s voice. As he expected, Astrid laughed a little the first time the recorded voice told him to “turn around, fool.”
“I can’t believe you have that rude voice on your Sat Nav.”
“It’s Mr. T. That’s his persona—big tough guy.”
“I don’t get it. But then Americans are very different, aren’t they?”
“Some. They don’t get rugby, which makes no sense at all to me.”
She smiled again, and he felt good for having made her smile. “I guess they are just daft.”
“Must be. Do you follow rugby?” he asked.
“Some,” she said, blushing the slightest bit. He could only see the rise in color as he braked to a stop for the traffic light. “I used to when I was younger.”
“Which teams?”
“England, of course, in the 6 Nations.”
“Have you been to any games?” he asked.
“A few. I used to be really into going to the games at Madejski Stadium to watch the London Irish play.”
“Why’d you stop?” he asked. His old team was still a contender.
“My dad got too sick to go. And it was always something I did with him.”
“Your family must be very close,” he said.
“Why do you say that?” she asked.
“You had lunch with your sister, went to games with your dad.”
She shrugged. Something he noticed she did a lot when she was evading answering a question. “I suppose we are. What about you? Your mum is Tiffany Malone. That had to be exciting.”
“She’s still my mum,” he said. “We’re quite close, actually. She loves being a mum and smothers my brothers and I with her mothering.”
Astrid smiled again. “Are you a bit of a mummy’s lad?”
“What do you think?”
She tipped her head to the side as she studied him and, having lightened her mood, he felt as if he was seeing the return of Astrid. Not that tight-lipped stranger whom Daniel Martin had evoked.
“I think you are a man who knows very much what he wants and probably doesn’t look to anyone for approval.”
He nodded. “Damn straight. Now which place is yours?”
She pointed to a modern block of flats and he pulled into the parking lot. She reached for her door as he turned off the car. He got out and met her as she exited the car. It had started to drizzle on the drive, and the rain made her hair curl.
She stared up at him for a minute, chewing on her lower lip. “Thank you for the ride home. And for…well for being so nice about everything. You made seeing Daniel again bearable for me.”
“You’re welcome,” he said. He cupped her elbow and led her to the entrance of the building.
“Well, good night, then,” she said.
“Good night, Astrid,” he said. But instead of doing the smart thing and letting her enter her building, he touched the side of her face and lowered his head to kiss her.
* * *
Astrid leaned up into Henry’s kiss. He didn’t put his arm around her, but kept one hand on her face. His lips rubbed lightly over hers, and she stood on tiptoe to get closer to him. His lips were soft and provoked a slow burn.
The reaction of his mouth on hers sent tingles down her body and she opened her mouth on a sigh. She tasted the minty crispness of his breath before his tongue brushed over hers. Forgetting everything, she felt only his mouth on hers.
The hand on her face slid to the nape of her neck, and he held her firmly as he took complete control of their kiss.
She couldn’t think.
She didn’t want to. She’d watched Henry all day and night wondering what it would be like to be in his embrace, and now she knew. It was intense.
He smelled earthy and masculine. His cologne was expensive and crisp—she suspected it was customblended just for him. She closed her eyes to focus her senses in the experience.
He pulled back, and she opened her eyes to see him staring down at her. He said nothing but rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip and then stepped away from her.
“Good night, then,” he said.
She
