Lucy realized this was the logic of far too much wine and champagne, but it also made a great deal of sense.
‘Would you like to come up for a coffee?’ Lucy couldn’t believe she’d said it.
‘I’d love to.’
Kirk followed Lucy out of the car, said something to his driver and took Lucy’s hand. She felt like a giddy teenager on a first date as she led the way up the communal stairs. She wondered if Kirk even understood the concept of a shared entrance. A man with a penthouse at the Dorchester for six months of the year and a mansion in Los Angeles probably had little opportunity to contemplate such a notion.
And yet she didn’t feel self-conscious in the slightest. Maybe Kirk craved some normality in his fairy-tale life. She unlocked her door. As she stepped inside, Kirk pulled her round to face him. His warm lips were on hers, moving with her own. She felt his tongue on hers, soft at first, then searching, firmer. God, he was hot, she thought, brushing her fingers against his rock-hard stomach. Lucy took his hand and led him to her bedroom.
SHOCK OF THE MORNING TO YOU
‘Fuck me, you’re Kirk Kelner.’
It wasn’t what Max imagined her first five words might be that Friday morning. Of all the people she expected to see coming out of the bathroom, Kirk Kelner was not in the top ten. He didn’t even register in the top ten thousand.
But Kirk Kelner it was. Max hadn’t even been out last night, so she knew she wasn’t still drunk and imagining things.
She was staring at him, he was staring back. This was surreal.
There was a knock at the door. Max looked at it, then back at Kirk. Another knock came, more insistent this time.
‘Right, I’m going to get the door. Back in a minute… Kirk Kelner.’
Was his being in her flat anything to do with her meeting him (and subsequently turning him over) at the premiere of Man of Steel 4? Doubtful, given there wasn’t a flicker of recognition when he saw her, just a look of surprise. Had he stayed over with Lucy? Impossible! Man, this was weird, Max was thinking as she absent-mindedly opened the door.
‘Fuck. Mum.’
‘Lovely to see you too, Max,’ Marj replied, kissing her daughter on the cheek as she stepped inside the flat.
Marj had by-passed the intercom system. A passing neighbour must have let her in or left the street door open.
Max looked back towards the bathroom. Kirk had vanished. She watched as her mum put a small brown-leather suitcase beside the sofa and unbuttoned her red raincoat. As she smoothed down her choppy sandy-blonde hair, she addressed her younger daughter.
‘Honestly, Max, I’m as modern as you’ll get for a middle-aged mother, but I’d far rather you greeted me with a simple “Hello” than the F word…’
Marj’s words floated over Max. Whoever said life was stranger than fiction must have lived through a scene similar to the one unfolding here.
Gathering her thoughts as quickly as her overloaded brain would allow, Max bounded over to her mum, kissing her cheek and hugging her. Then she headed to the kitchen.
‘I’ll pop the kettle on,’ she shouted over her shoulder in as carefree a tone as she could. ‘Nice cup of tea to warm you up? You should have said you were coming. What a lovely surprise.’
‘Surprise? After that newspaper article yesterday?’
‘Oh… yeah.’
‘I would have come much sooner but I’m just back from Ireland with your dad. He took me for a treat for our wedding anniversary. Kept it a secret, bless him.’
Max was wincing as she popped her head out of the kitchen door. ‘Shit. Sorry, Mum, I forgot… again.’
‘Never mind that. I left my mobile phone at home – you know me and mobile phones, Max – and I had about twenty messages. Lucy sounded like she was about to burst into tears. Anyway, she didn’t answer her phone last night so I got a sleeper train down straight away. Do you know how expensive it is to fly from Dundee if you book at the last minute? And the train’s so relaxing. I always get a good night’s sleep – I think it’s the motion. And here I am.’
‘Yes, here you are.’
‘Max, what’s wrong?’
Shit. ‘What do you mean what’s wrong?’
Marj was standing beside Max now, her kind blue eyes twinkling as they looked into her daughter’s. ‘Max?’
What was the use? Max could tell Marj anything – she always had. Far better to say Kirk Kelner was in the flat now than have her scream and possibly collapse with shock when he burst out of Lucy’s bedroom, which he could at any moment.
‘Mum, you might not believe this, but Kirk Kelner is here.’
‘What? Where?’
‘In Lucy’s room.’
Marj looked at Lucy’s door, as if its large wooden frame held the key to this mystery.
‘Kirk Kelner,’ Marj repeated to herself. ‘Kirk Kelner. Oh the one you wrote about, who was cheating on his wife? I still cut out all your stories, darling. There are folders of them in the loft. Has he come here for an interview? You must be doing well to get a big star like him to come to you. I thought you always did those things in hotels?’
Max didn’t know how to explain, because she had no clue what was happening.
But without coming up for air, Marj continued, ‘Well, anyway, darling, if you have to do an interview I shan’t get in the way. I should have told you I was coming. Lost my phone charger – aren’t I terrible? I’m going to pop out and get some papers, have a nice coffee at that lovely little place round the corner, and leave you to it. I’ll be back in an hour or so, OK?’
‘OK, Mum.’
‘Will Lucy be here?’
‘Erm, yes. I think she has the day off.’
‘Is she OK?’
‘I think so.’ By the looks of things, very OK, Max thought.
Max kissed her mother goodbye. Only Marj could suggest popping out for papers having just learned Kirk Kelner was yards away. Of course she wouldn’t have screamed had she seen him – she would have asked how he took his tea.
Max stood outside Lucy’s bedroom, wondering if she should knock. Could Kirk really be in there with her? Half or totally naked? Max’s heart pounded, though she hoped not as quickly as Lucy’s had if she’d actually shagged Kirk Kelner.
MARJ HAS NEWS
Marj fastened her raincoat against the chilly morning. Summer had gone so quickly, she thought as she made her way to the newsagent’s. She would read the papers over a latte then head back to the flat. Honestly, those girls. Lucy had sounded so worried on the phone, fearful no doubt about the article in the paper. Marj wasn’t in the least concerned what anyone thought of her or her family after reading it. If their judgement was to be clouded by such nonsense then they were not worth knowing in the first place.
What did concern her was that someone clearly had it in for Lucy and that would not do. Fergal had paced up and down the living room when she showed him the paper, cursing the press, the reporters and the world in general.
He had wanted to join her in London, to make sure the girls were OK but she had persuaded him to stay in Scotland to work on a big new contract he’d landed near home in Arbroath. Marj had something on her mind and had been meaning to visit her daughters soon anyway.
Marj looked at her Raymond Weil watch, a fiftieth-birthday present from her girls. It wasn’t even eight o’clock yet. It was so early, but her sleeper had arrived at 7 a.m. at King’s Cross. No wonder she’d surprised the girls.
‘What –?’
Marj stopped suddenly in front of a news stall. Was that…? It was. Lucy – on the front page of the Daily News.
Max’s paper.
Marj lifted a copy. ‘Hartley’s Ex Dates Kirk Kelner’ screamed the front page, above separate headshots of Lucy and the actor.
‘Hey, lady, you gonna pay for that?’
Marj wasn’t aware that she was walking off with the paper. ‘Sorry,’ she told the man absent-mindedly, and rummaged in her purse for coins.
Thumbing to the insi
de pages, Marj took in the words:
LUCY COPS OFF WITH KELNER
Just weeks after her split with Britain’s most eligible bachelor, the Earl of Balmyle, Lucy Summers has struck gold again, with Hollywood heart-throb Kirk Kelner.
We can reveal the ambitious blonde enjoyed a cosy date with Kelner, 39, who is worth an estimated £500 million.
A source said: ‘There was instant chemistry between Kirk and Lucy. Kirk has a reputation as a ladies’ man but he’s put that behind him – Lucy could be the one.’
Lucy recently split with Hartley, the Earl of Balmyle, amid rumours of a falling-out after she tipped off a photographer to follow them while holidaying in Scotland.
But the fashion writer seems to have landed on her feet again after cosying up with Kirk during a private party at trendy London club the Met Bar.
Marj was struggling to compute the fact that the story in front of her was about Lucy. Her Lucy? She was still reading the details when she arrived back at the flat.
MUM’S THE WORD
Max opened the door to her mother for the second time that morning.
‘Hi, Mum, that was quick.’
‘It was, darling, but as it happens I had a little surprise on the way to the café,’ Marj said, laying her coat and bag on the sofa.
‘You did?’
‘Look.’ Marj held up her copy of the paper.
‘Fucking hell.’
‘For goodness sake, Max, what’s with the swearing?’
‘Sorry, Mum. It’s Lucy; she’s on the front page.’
‘Yes, Max.’
‘Of my paper.’
‘You catch on quickly, Maxy.’ Marj’s tone was playful. ‘You didn’t know?’
‘God, absolutely not.’ Max took the paper from her mum and peered at the front page. The story had Jade Stone’s name on it. How the hell could she have known about last night? Max felt a rising fury. Her so-called colleague hadn’t had the decency to even ring Max to warn her that Lucy was front-page news. How the hell had Jade got this story?
When Marj had popped out, Kirk had jumped in the shower and Max had grabbed the opportunity to grill Lucy for every ounce of information. She had laughed because for once it was Lucy who was struggling to lift her head off the pillow; it was weighted down by the aftermath of the night before.
‘So this is how it feels,’ Lucy croaked, raising herself up on her elbows as Max came into her bedroom.
Max ran out of the room and was back in again within twenty seconds, carrying a large glass of water. Lucy took it from her and gratefully downed the liquid. The ridiculous concoction of drinks from the night before had combined to give her the most almighty headache. It felt like a wrestler was doing squats while balancing on her head.
‘So why the fuck is Kirk Kelner in our flat?’
Lucy pulled her duvet up to her chin. She looked as coy and giggly as a schoolgirl readying to replay the details of her first kiss.
She told Max in a hushed voice that she’d met Kirk at Sheekey’s and gone to a club with him and Amy.
It felt surreal at the time and it still did, she said. Kirk had sent over drinks and asked them to party with him. What were the chances? Amy had left and Lucy suggested Kirk came up to the flat.
Max clapped her hands in anticipation, willing Lucy to tell her every juicy detail. But a knock had come from the front door.
And now Marj was in the flat, armed with the newspaper. Max marched over to Lucy’s bedroom, followed by her mum.
Holding the paper in front of her sister, Max said: ‘Brace yourself, Luce. Somehow the story is out.’
‘Oh no.’ Lucy’s voice was faint as she took in the front page.
‘Hello, darling.’ Marj jumped out from behind Max and greeted Lucy, kissing her on the cheek.
‘Hi… Mum,’ Lucy said, staring at her mum but failing to make sense of the overload of information unravelling in her bedroom. She was on the front page. And Marj was here. She’d bought the paper. ‘Max said you were here.’
‘Just as well I am, darling. The past hour has made an episode of 24 look terribly dull.’
Lucy and Max laughed. What a bizarre situation for their mum to walk into.
‘Hey.’
Max, Lucy and Marj turned to the man who had entered the bedroom. With a fluffy white towel wrapped round his waist, his toned, tanned six-pack was on show, glistening with drops of water from the shower. He looked from Lucy to Max to Marj and seemed a little timid.
‘Hello, there. I’m Lucy and Max’s mum,’ Marj said, offering her hand to Kirk. In response he released his own hand from where it had been resting on the towel. As he reached forward, the towel fell to the ground.
Max and Lucy looked away, shielding their eyes with their hands, but not before Max had noted he was more medium-to-large in the underwear department than the ‘average’ Sheri had described. Marj remained facing Kirk and picked up the towel for him.
The normally unflappable movie star looked flummoxed as he hurriedly tied it round his waist.
Not sure if it was yet safe to look back at Kirk, Max caught Lucy’s eye. She looked stunned, almost baffled, as she tried to do the mental arithmetic: momentous hangover + Mum + front-page news + Kirk Kelner + his penis = utter bewilderment.
Marj turned round to her daughters then back to Kirk. As she turned once more to face Max and Lucy, she was shaking with laughter.
‘Now that’s what I call funny,’ she gasped, barely able to get the words out. ‘Max, let’s make some tea. Leave Lucy and Kirk alone. Kirk, how do you take yours?’
‘Erm, just milk, thanks, Mrs…?’
‘You can call me Marj.’
‘OK, thanks, Marj.’
Marj walked quickly out of the door followed by Max. As she shut it behind her, Marj doubled over, clutching her stomach.
‘Stop it,’ Max told her mum as she fell to her knees. ‘It’s too funny. I’m going to wet my pants.’
KIRK’S CRAZY IN LOVE
Kirk Kelner felt a little dazed as he sat in the back of his car. After calling his driver, he had been picked up from Lucy’s a little after eight o’clock. He had missed his personal training session and massage but he didn’t care. The trees and old terraced houses with their balconies and bright flowerpots whizzed by as he thought about what had happened. Numb, that’s how he felt, but in a good way. It was as though his mind could only replay the night before. He didn’t want to think about anything else.
Wow. That had to be the first time a girl had refused to sleep with him. Kirk hadn’t been too pushy, he was pretty sure of that. But, well, he’d kind of expected that’s where things were heading when they fell into Lucy’s bed, kissing. God, she was hot. Those bright blue eyes and hair that smelled so good.
She’d been a great kisser too. He had felt her body through her shiny dress and hitched it up to her waist before pulling it over her head. God, those breasts; they were the most perfectly formed he had ever seen. Full, round and beautiful. She wasn’t too skinny; some girls’ angular frames reminded him of a boy’s – not a turn-on. Lucy had seemed a little embarrassed and this had somehow touched him. He was so used to girls racing to get their clothes off to sleep with him that Lucy’s uncertainty had taken him aback.
For years, Kirk had had his pick of girls, and not just the wannabes of the world like Sheri, who had sold her story. He’d had hot members of girl bands come on to him, offering a threesome with another member of the group. He’d had gorgeous young actresses, more famous for famous exes than any discernable talent, making all sorts of offers. They knew it would do their career no harm to be linked with a true Hollywood hitter. It was all so easy.
Inexplicably, he liked Lucy’s shyness. He had kissed her tenderly but she had pulled away.
‘I’m sorry,’ she had said softly, facing away from him. ‘I…’
Her voice had trailed off. Kirk placed his fingers under her chin and gently turned her face to his. ‘It’s OK, whatever it is. It’s OK.’
Lucy smiled at him. ‘It’s just that I… I’ve recently stopped seeing someone. Maybe it’s too soon.’
Kirk took Lucy in. His eyes were kind but full of regret. He smiled.
‘I understand,’ he told her. ‘Listen, Lucy, I really like you. There’s no need to rush anything. Hey, I’m the lucky one. I’m here in bed beside you, and I think you’re amazing.’
Lucy laughed.
‘Would you like me to leave?’
Lucy took his hand and smiled. ‘No. Please stay.’
Those words had made Kirk happier than he had felt after being given the green light to sleep with any girl.
‘Kirk?’
‘Uh-huh?’
‘I really like you too. It’s just…’
‘It’s OK, Lucy, I understand. Like I say, there’s no rush.’
‘And Kirk?’
‘Yes?’
‘Remind me in the morning never to tell anyone I had Kirk Kelner in my bed and refused to sleep with him.’
Kirk laughed. As Lucy put her head on his chest and moved her warm body to him, he inhaled deeply, taking in her scent.
Maybe the romantics were right, he thought now. Perhaps you really did know when the right one came along.
THE SECRETS OF JADE’S TRADE
Max had called Simon a little after ten o’clock. She had the day off after working last Sunday, but he would be at the desk.
‘Alright, mucker?’
‘Hi, Simon. Can you talk?’
‘Yep.’
‘You’ve seen today’s front page?’
‘Ah.’ Simon seemed to be collecting his thoughts. ‘Hold on a minute… Right, I’m in the corridor, no one about. Yes, I’ve seen it. You want to know how Jade got it?’
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