Modern Romance May 2016 Books 5-8. Дженнифер Хейворд
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Did he want it to end sooner rather than later?
They ate in a companionable silence but Kat got the feeling he was mulling over something. Every time she glanced at him he was frowning. It would relax whenever he caught her looking at him, and his smile would quickly replace it, but it only lifted half of his mouth.
Was his foot annoying him? Slowing him down at work? Her guilt over injuring him came back with a vengeance. Everything had changed between them once she had run over his foot. The dynamic of their relationship had changed. They had gone from enemies—at least on her part, that was—to lovers. Intimate partners in a fling-relationship that had a scarily loose time frame. It never used to bother her when she’d had temporary relationships in the past. It was just how things were. She had never felt a pressing ache in her chest at the thought of it ending. She had never envisaged a future together where she could have it all: the career, the loving and supportive husband, the kids, the house and the pets.
But now, after just one night sleeping in Flynn’s bed, she realised how much she wanted to repeat it. To spend not just one night but many nights, all the nights that were allotted to her on this earth.
But what did he want? He had made it clear he wasn’t going to settle down. Even Elisabetta, who knew him well, had said the same.
‘I bought you something today,’ Flynn said into the silence.
Kat looked up in surprise. ‘What? Why?’
He leaned back in his chair to reach for a small package on the sideboard she hadn’t even noticed was there when she’d come in to set the table. He handed the package to her with an unreadable look. ‘Actually, it’s from Cricket,’ he said. ‘For taking him for all those walks.’
Kat unpeeled the satin ribbon and the paper to find a jewellery box from a well-known jeweller inside. Her heart flip-flopped. Jewellery? What sort of jewellery? She tentatively opened the box and found a beautiful tortured pearl on a delicately crafted white-gold chain. The pearl was irregular in shape but she knew from reading about them somewhere that each one was completely unique. Was he telling her something by this lovely gift? That he saw her as unique and special? She looked across at him. ‘I don’t know what to say...it’s beautiful. But you shouldn’t have bothered.’
‘Cricket insisted,’ Flynn said. ‘Anyway, it’s just a trinket.’
A trinket? Kat looked back at the gorgeous pearl. This was no throwaway trinket. This would have cost a packet. She had never been given jewellery as a gift before. In fact, as far as gifts went, she had received very few over the course of her twenty-three years. Her mother had never had enough spare cash for presents, and certainly none of Kat’s past boyfriends had ever gifted her with anything—not so much as a bunch of flowers.
Kat leaned down to where Cricket was sitting at her feet waiting in hopeful enthusiasm for a titbit to be offered his way. ‘Thank you, Cricket,’ she said, ruffling his funny ears. ‘You’ve made me feel very special. I’ll treasure this for always.’
Cricket yapped as if he understood every word she said and then did one of his crazy little twirls.
‘Mad dog,’ Flynn said with a relaxed smile.
Kat met his gaze across the table again. ‘I think he’s the nicest dog I’ve ever met.’
Are you talking about the dog or him?
The dog... Okay, both.
Sucker.
Kat lifted the pearl and its chain out of the box and trailed it across her palm. ‘Does Cricket buy all your lovers gifts?’
‘You’re the first because I’ve only had him since Christmas.’
She put the pearl back in its box and gently closed the lid. She was the first but wouldn’t be the last. Why should that make her feel empty inside? As if a giant hole had been gouged in her stomach? ‘What happened with your family that you ended up with Cricket?’
He picked up his wine glass and looked at the contents for a moment. ‘There was a scene. There usually is at Christmas and birthdays—any occasion, really.’
‘What happened?’
He took a slow breath in and released it in a whoosh. ‘I didn’t like the way my parents were treating Cricket. He’s not the sort of dog you can lock outside, especially as they’d had him in the house since he was a puppy. We got into an argument and things escalated. My father’s solution was to have Cricket euthanised.’
‘Oh, no!’
‘Oh, yes.’ His look was grim. ‘I left with Cricket and drove back here and had a perfectly lovely evening with the Carstairses and their kids. It was the best and worst Christmas, if you know what I mean.’
‘I do,’ Kat said. ‘But how lovely that you’ve got him now. He adores you. It’s like he’s always been yours.’
That smile that made her insides melt was back. ‘I haven’t quite figured out the logistics of what to do with him when I go away on holidays or business,’ he said. ‘He doesn’t strike me as the boarding kennel type.’
Kat reached down to scratch Cricket underneath his chin. ‘Is your daddy calling you fussy, my sweet? You’re not a fusspot, are you? You just love the comfort of home and I don’t blame you one little bit.’
When she looked up again she caught Flynn looking at her with that odd look on his darkly handsome features. ‘What’s wrong?’ she said. ‘Why do you keep looking at me like that?’
His expression became blank. Unreadable. The stage curtains not only pulled across but the lights turned out as well. ‘How am I looking at you?’
‘I don’t know...as if you’re uncertain about something...about me.’
He reached for the wine bottle to refresh their glasses. ‘It’s just work stuff playing on my mind. Big cases, big egos, big bucks involved.’
‘I guess it’s another good reason to avoid marriage,’ Kat said. ‘You see the other side of it—the dirty and bitter side. No wonder it puts you off.’
He put the wine bottle back in the silver cooler. ‘Not all marriages end up in the divorce court. Some couples manage to last the distance, but you can never know if you and your partner are going to be the success story or the soul-destroying showdown.’
‘True,’ Kat said. ‘But do you think it’s more about good luck than good management?’
‘A bit of both, probably,’ he said. ‘When I look at your brothers and sister and their partners, I can’t imagine any of them ever wanting a divorce. But life can throw up some curve balls. Relationships can get knocked off course by all sorts of things. Bad health, financial stress, kids or the lack thereof, interfering relatives... The list is endless.’
‘I guess communication is the key,’ Kat said. ‘Being able to talk about stuff—really talk, I mean. Not locking stuff away only for it to blow out in an argument when it’s too late to fix it.’
He gave a wry smile. ‘Listen to us. The experts on the institution both of us are actively avoiding.’
Kat smiled back but for some reason it felt false. ‘Yeah, well, I didn’t rule it out entirely. Just not right now.’
A long silence passed.
All Kat could hear was the ticking of the mantle clock in the sitting room next door.
‘It’s tough finding a partner once you’re famous,’ Flynn finally said. ‘You can never know if people want you for you or for the social esteem it gives them to be associated with you. Both your brothers have struggled with that.’
‘Has Miranda experienced it too?’
‘She lost her boyfriend Mark when they were teenagers,’ he said. ‘Cancer. She hadn’t dated since. She martyred herself until Leandro whisked her away