by Fiona Harper
He stepped forward and looked into her eyes, tipped his head a little to the side, enquiring. Kelly blocked his image out momentarily with a slow blink, then began. ‘My husband left me and our two boys for a much younger—and much bendier—woman,’ she said and, Lord bless him, he didn’t laugh. He just kept looking at her with that strange un-Jasonlike softness in his eyes.
It didn’t work. The truth didn’t scare him away like it did other people, so her only option was to plough on, spell the ugly details out fully. ‘Right after I was diagnosed with cancer. Lymphoma. It took a load of chemo and a year and a half, but I beat it. So there you have it. Basically, there hasn’t been much in my life to find funny recently.’
She could feel her throat growing thick. Odd. She was used to batting these details out to anyone who came too close. Why should this time be any different? Why should the truth she’d waved proudly like a flag catch her out this time?
Jason pressed his lips gently to her forehead then held her close. He didn’t move. He didn’t say anything. Kelly just breathed in the scent of his aftershave from his jacket and hung on. And then she started to cry. Big, fat tears that made no sound but refused to stop flowing. How embarrassing.
But he didn’t shift uncomfortably after a minute or two. He didn’t stop holding or give those little non-verbal signals that Tim had used to give that meant he was finished hugging and was hoping she’d let him go. And Kelly didn’t want to let go of Jason.
That was also embarrassing. Because this was not the man to cling to. This was the man to have fun with, and fleeting fun at that. She sniffed and unpeeled herself from him. ‘Sorry.’
He shrugged, but that look was still in his eyes and he didn’t say anything trite or recite yet another platitude. Kelly was sick of platitudes. The warmth in his blue eyes quickly heated into mischievousness. ‘So you’ve been a little short on good times recently. That just means we’ve got a lot to pack into the next three days to make up for it.’
She nodded. ‘Okay.’ There was a bizarre kind of logic to his suggestion. Maybe this trip would help her chill out a little, take life as breezily as she used to. And if there was a man who could teach her to do just that, it was Jason Knight.
They wandered back into the ballroom. The DJ had put on a slower number and Kelly didn’t argue when he took her hand and spun her into his arms.
‘Let’s start right now,’ he whispered into her ear.
Kelly nodded, feeling the solid breadth of his shoulder beneath her head, feeling the sway of their bodies in perfect time. She was too tired to be contrary. Maybe it was the jet lag, or maybe it was just that she hadn’t realised how exhausted she was until she’d finally slowed down. It had taken a lot to fight that horrible disease. More than she’d ever let on. And even more to stay whole when Tim had deserted her.
Whole.
She was all better, so that was how she should feel now. But she didn’t.
She felt as if the divorce, the cancer, had taken something from her. If only she knew what it was so she could get it back. All she knew was that there was a tiny, nagging hole deep inside.
But she couldn’t think too much about that now, not with Jason’s warm shoulder under her cheek. Not with his hands resting softly at the back of her waist and her arms flung around his neck, fingers half buried in the ends of his hair.
This. This was what she needed.
To be held without being leant on. To have the space to stop being strong.
To be asked nothing.
And there wasn’t anyone more surprised than her that it was Jason giving it to her. Maybe there was magic in this room after all. Maybe they’d shed their protective armour at the coat check on the way in. Because all she knew was that she hadn’t felt this close to another soul in a long time. Not physically. Not emotionally. She felt connected to this man in a way she couldn’t verbalise, let alone understand. Why him? Why now? And why didn’t she care about the answers to either of those questions?
The song changed and the tempo slowed further. Kelly inhaled and then let out a long, shuddering sigh. Jason just pulled her closer. She could feel his breath on her neck, the rasp of his slight stubble on her temple. She didn’t have the energy to lift her head from his shoulder and look at him.
The night seemed to stretch on. She didn’t know how long they stayed like that. Maybe hours. Maybe only minutes. But, as she stopped fighting the world and just started to be, she felt some of her strength returning. Not the kind of strength she’d been existing on for the last few years. Not the make-yourself-do-it strength that was more an act of willpower than anything else. No, suddenly she felt lighter. Stronger. She felt like that winged horse on the ceiling, as if she could jump off the terrace wall and fly. No flapping. No effort. Just the blissful stillness of air beneath her wings and the certainty the warm breeze would take her where she wanted to go. All she had to do was believe and keep her arms outstretched.
If anyone knew that life was too short, it should be her. So why had she been running from it, shutting it out? Why wouldn’t she look into the future and hope?
Because it was there. The shadow. The threat.
The return of what she feared.
But it might never come. She could stay cancer free the rest of her life. Or she could be hit by a yellow cab tomorrow.
So maybe it was time to remember how to have fun. Maybe it was time to remember how to live.
She slid her hands from behind Jason’s neck to his chest. His heart was thudding beneath her palm and the longer her fingers rested there, the faster it beat. She stayed like that for a moment, feeling the warmth of his body against her hand, gathering courage, and then she tilted her face up to look at him.
Somewhere along the way their feet had stopped moving, although she wasn’t exactly sure when. He looked back at her. No quick remarks, no flirty comments. She almost wanted him to, because that would make it easier. That would make this a game they were playing, and she feared the stakes might be higher than that. But in the end she didn’t care either way. She was going to grab life with both hands again, starting with the delicious man she already had in her clutches. For once she wasn’t going to weigh every action up against the thundercloud looming in her future.
She let her lids drift shut, closed the distance between them and found his lips with her own. Jason stayed still. Not frozen, just waiting. Waiting to see if she wanted to change her mind. She didn’t.
He tasted so good. Every bit as wonderful as she remembered. Of strength and masculinity with a little bit of danger thrown in for good measure. As she continued to explore his mouth, Jason’s hands came up to gently hold her face. Slowly, he joined in with her, till she didn’t know who was leading and who was following. It really didn’t matter.
Who knew how long they’d have stayed like that, or how far they’d have gone if someone hadn’t bumped into Kelly. Her eyes flew open as Jason dragged his lips from hers. For a fraction of a second they stared at each other. Kelly wasn’t quite sure exactly what they were saying in tandem. Was it What the hell was that? or was it You too? Perhaps it was both. Because that hadn’t just been a kiss. What they’d shared outside the Tube station had been a kiss. This … this had been more. Everything.
And, for some reason, she wasn’t as terrified as she should have been at that thought. Her head was telling her it was a very, very bad idea, but deep down inside she couldn’t get worked up about it. Her gut told her this was the real him, and her gut was happy with what it saw.
She twisted round to see who had backed into her and found herself staring at Dale McGrath. Jason’s hand tightened on her arm.
‘Sorry!’ she and Dale both said at the same time.
He smiled back at her. ‘I reckon that was my fault, seeing as you weren’t moving and I wasn’t looking where I was headed.’
Kelly gave him a wry look. ‘Not sure I was either.’
Dale just grinned back at her, the glow of good humour in his eyes.
‘Great party!’ she said. ‘Thanks so much for inviting us.’
He nodded, but he gave her a questioning look. Before either she or Dale could say anything, Jason thrust out his hand and shook the other man’s hand firmly. ‘Jason Knight of Aspire Sports,’ he said. ‘I spoke to your team about our new Mercury running shoes a couple of months ago.’
Dale nodded and where his smile was fading, a frown was beginning to form. Kelly glanced at Jason. Why was McGrath looking at him like that? As if he didn’t quite know what to make of Jason. As if he was surprised he was here.
Oh, crap.
Suddenly all the little things that hadn’t quite added up all evening made sense.
She wriggled out of Jason’s grip and turned to face him, glaring.
‘You crashed this party?’ she asked him in a shrill voice. ‘You made me crash along with you? What kind of crazy game are you playing?’
CHAPTER TEN
JASON SWUNG ROUND to stare at Kelly. Couldn’t she just play along?
Dale McGrath cleared his throat. ‘I think I’d like to know the answer to that question. I don’t recall seeing your name on my guest list.’
Jason shot Kelly a warning look before turning to face their reluctant host. ‘Not strictly …’ he began.
McGrath’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Either your name’s there or it isn’t.’
Okay. He could turn this around. Jason had talked himself out of tighter spots in the past.
‘It isn’t,’ he said apologetically, hoping the truth would win him a few points. ‘But we’re staying at the hotel and I took a shot. I know I have a product that you could be excited about, and I was hoping we could set up a meeting to talk about it.’
McGrath looked him up and down. ‘You’re Brad Knight’s brother, aren’t you?’
Jason nodded, for once hoping his brother’s golden-boy shadow might cast a positive light on him as well. ‘Yes, I am.’
‘I met him a few times …’ McGrath said. ‘Solid guy.’
Jason nodded again. That was Brad: solid, steady, worthwhile … all the things Jason wasn’t. But this man didn’t need to know that. Their host thought for a moment. ‘You’ve got thirty seconds.’
‘Now?’ While Jason normally did some of his best thinking on the fly, kissing Kelly had somehow wiped the ability to schmooze and charm away, as if the truth was a virus and she’d now infected him with it too. He was scared of what might come out of his mouth.
McGrath shrugged and narrowed his eyes. ‘Take it or leave it.’
Jason knew that face. This guy wasn’t joking. He wasn’t looking for an angle or making Jason sweat to pay him back for adding himself to the guest list. He knew if he tried to negotiate another meeting that McGrath wouldn’t even politely return his calls this time around.
The adrenalin started to surge through his veins. Just like before a race. Jason let it buoy him up, welcomed it in and let it give him his edge. And then he was off and talking, just as if a starter had fired a pistol.
‘The Mercury running shoe is a cutting-edge innovation in the field of sports technology,’ he said. All that going over facts and figures with Kelly had really helped because, all of a sudden, it was as if he was speaking that brochure aloud. He was schmoozing with actual substance. Cool. ‘Obviously, I can’t share the exact science of it with you unless you come on board …’ He paused to give McGrath his most winning smile.
The other man just folded his arms and shifted his weight back onto his heels.
‘But we believe the revolutionary sole and inner design can help shave time off—ow!’
He turned and scowled at Kelly. She’d just elbowed him in the ribs. Why?
He turned his attention back to McGrath. ‘Can help shave time off the—’
She’d done it again!
‘Jason!’ She looked at him with desperate, pleading eyes, then looked pointedly at their host, who was losing interest fast.
‘What?’ he said, not as far under his breath as he’d have liked.
‘What are you doing?’ she mouthed back.
Pitching his product, that was what. And he’d been doing a pretty good job until his rogue PA had butted in.
‘Your girlfriend’s right,’ McGrath said. ‘I’ve heard a thousand sales pitches just like that. You think you’re the first man with a “cutting edge” idea to crash one of my parties and try to sell it to me?’
Jason swallowed. He’d been hoping he was.
‘I’m not interested in BS,’ he said dismissively, then turned to walk away.
Kelly leapt forward and placed a hand softly on McGrath’s arm. Jason scowled at her. There was no way he was going to beg McGrath. If the man was dumb enough to pass him over without listening, then it would be his loss!
‘It’s not BS,’ she said fiercely. ‘Mercury really is unique. Jason knows his stuff. He’s unconventional, sure, but that means he’s got the goods when it comes to knowing how to create something different, something no one else has done before.’
Jason was trying hard to hang on to his anger with Kelly. She’d managed to stamp all over his one opportunity to sell this idea to McGrath, but he couldn’t ignore the warm feeling spreading inside at her words. He might do ‘BS’, but Kelly didn’t. She meant every word of what she’d just said.
McGrath seemed to like it too. The lines on his forehead relaxed and he gave Kelly an enquiring look. ‘Unconventional, huh?’
‘Yes.’ Jason straightened his spine and looked McGrath in the eye.
No one had ever dared call him run-of-the-mill. Reckless and crazy, maybe. But that kind of thinking was what had helped him come up with Mercury in the first place. He’d made the leaps that no one else had thought could be made.
McGrath chuckled. ‘I’d say unconventional is about right. Most people try to butter me up before they try to sell me their products. They take me out for fancy lunches, buy me stuff, flatter my wife …’
McGrath’s wife was a supermodel and hot as they came, but Jason didn’t think that mentioning that now would help him any.
‘How long you been here?’ McGrath asked, looking around at the party in full swing.
Jason opened his mouth to say Only a little while … but Kelly got in first.
‘An hour or two.’
McGrath nodded and a slow smile spread across his face. ‘You want me to say nice things about your running shoes, but you’ve crashed my party, danced to my music, eaten my food and drunk my champagne?’
‘Pretty much,’ Kelly said. Now it was her turn to get an elbow in the ribs.
McGrath just laughed. ‘And, from what I saw just now, you two weren’t exactly discussing running shoes on the dance floor … .’
Kelly flushed bright red.
Jason decided that he’d rather McGrath had continued with his earlier approach—look gruff then throw them out—as he didn’t much care for the way the man was playing with them. He could see a couple of security guys near the exit keeping a close eye on them.
‘You Brits have a word for it …’ McGrath continued, winking at Kelly.
‘I think the word you’re looking for is snogging,’ he heard Kelly say beside him, grinning back at McGrath.
If Jason could have dreamt this meeting up in a nightmare it would have been less painful. ‘Are you trying to finish me off?’
McGrath slapped him on the shoulder. ‘Don’t mind her. At least she tells it straight. None of this sidestepping and tap-dancing. Can’t stand that.’ His expression grew more serious. ‘I don’t want slick presentations and marketing speak when I consider endorsing a product, Mr Knight. My team can deal with those details. There’s only one thing I want to know about—its heart.’
‘Heart?’ Jason repeated, frowning a little.
‘Yup. And that starts and ends with the man or woman behind it.’ He nodded at Kelly. ‘She’s got it. I just don’t know if you have.’
Join the queue, Jason thought, but he pasted on his best look of ea
rnest determination. ‘Let me try again.’
McGrath grimaced. ‘I don’t give that many people a full minute.’
‘Oh, go on!’ Kelly said. ‘Otherwise I’ll have to snog him again.’
His grim look crumpled into a smile and he turned back to Jason. ‘You up for it? But you start with the BS and I’ll kick you out.’
This was it. His chance. The one he thought he’d flushed down the toilet five minutes ago. The one he’d been building towards for two years. And he wasn’t even allowed to speak his native language. Great.
Jason looked at Kelly, at the close-lipped smile, the bubbling enthusiasm behind her eyes, the way she bobbed in her shoes to keep from letting it all out. How did she do that? How did she bounce back from all she’d been through and literally shine?
He thought of how she’d opened up to him out on the terrace, how she’d told the truth, even though she’d had to dig deep into herself, even though it had cost her so much. He turned to Dale McGrath and opened his mouth.
‘I know,’ he said. ‘I know what it’s like to pray in that stillness at the beginning of a race. I know how that starter’s pistol sets off a chain reaction you can’t control—adrenalin slamming through your system so hard it’s all you can do to ride the wave and harness it. I know what it’s like to want to win, to reach the finish line first so you can turn around in defiance and shout, “I am somebody, and don’t you dare forget it!” And that’s why I made Mercury shoes, McGrath, for people like you and me who want to make the world sit up and take notice. People who want to win.’
Although the music was still throbbing and people were still dancing all around them, the world seemed to put its brakes on. Around them the room slowed and the noise vanished. All Jason could hear was the beating of his own heart. All he could see was the sceptical look on Dale McGrath’s face.
He couldn’t quite believe he’d said all that. He looked over at Kelly and her face was aglow with excitement and pride and something else he didn’t want to label. She stepped in and kissed his cheek softly.
That was when the world started spinning. That was when the bass beat rumbled through his ribcage once again.