Hong Kong Heat (25 page)
“Or something.” Kath shrugged her shoulders in an uneasy gesture. “Hey, I’m not supposed to tell you, and you can bet I’ll suffer for it when I own up to spilling the beans, but you’re part owner of the club.” Her eyes cleared and twinkled. It was obvious the punishment didn’t worry her unduly.
Jess shook her head to clear it. Her long red—no, not red—carroty hair spun around her face, and strands stuck to her cheek. She brushed them away impatiently. Had April Fool’s Day been transported to February? Instead of Valentine’s Day perhaps?
“Now come on, Kath, I might look like I’ve come up the Clyde on a Tourist Boat, and be sweet and naïve, don’t you dare laugh.” Kath was giggling. “That’s a lie. I own the property business with Jeff, yeah, but do you think I’d not know if I was a partner in something like that? I’ve never heard of it before now.”
“So you say, I know differently. But it’s not for me to say.”
A car horn blared outside. Jess shivered and wondered why it sounded ominous.
“C’mon that’s for us. Are you sure you won’t change?”
“Positive, in fact I might go and get a jumper.” Jess turned to the wardrobe only to be pulled back from it and almost frog-marched to the bedroom door.
“Oh no you don’t. You can take a coat to wear in the car.” Kath pushed her along the corridor, and picked a coat up from the hooks on the wall. She patted one of the hooks as if it was her favorite piece of furniture. “Mmm, just a good height these. You got your door key in case you need it?”
Jess halted abruptly and stared at her friend. “You are screwy. Of course I’ll need it, else I’ll not get back in without pinching Jeff’s. And what’s a good height for what?”
“Oh, er, nothing, come on or we’ll be late, and I’ll be the one who gets the punishment. Your brother is getting a lot too creative these days.” She put her hand in the small of Jess’ back. The soft touch made Jess tingle. It was a long while since they’d agreed enough was enough, but she could still appreciate the warmth and love it projected.
“It’s still there, isn’t it?” Kath said softly. “You know we could…”
Jess shook her head and took a step back. “No, not now, you’ve got Jeff, and well…” And well Jess didn’t know what to say.
And well, it would crucify me all over again?
The car horn sounded again. Jess shrugged. “Someone’s impatient. We’d better go, I guess.”
“You do know Jeff knows we had a thing going, don’t you, Jess? He’s fine with it. He knows I was bi, and if you gave me the nod, I would be again.” She shrugged. “My man has a capacity to understand more than I ever considered possible, and still love me and want me for who and what I am. He understands I’d never leave him, and that we both know he’d come first, but well…”
The smile on Kath’s face was half-hearted and didn’t chase the shadows from her eyes. Jess could have cried. It had been the right thing to do at the time. To break up and ensure neither of them had to give up their dreams. Now, on a long, cold, lonely night she wondered what if? Still, there was no going back.
“I know, but I can’t, Kath, I’m sorry.” She wished she could block out the memories of pain on Kath’s face all those years ago. “Let’s face it you’re my twin’s partner now, and whatever you say Jeff feels about us together, it would seem like incest or something. I’m fine, honestly.” Jess knew Jeff and Kath worried about her, it had been one of the reasons she had agreed to go out with Kath that evening. Although she
had
thought it was to a regular nightclub. With hindsight, Jess wondered what had made her think that. Neither of them had ever been keen on nightclubs when they were younger, and now in their early thirties there was even less reason to want to spend hours in the midst of sweaty loud twenty-somethings.
“Ah well, if you ever can, I’m here. Now let’s get a move on, before Jeff sends the cavalry to find us. Sure you won’t change? You’ll be positively over-dressed.”
“So someone’s gotta be. And there is no way I’m putting that on, so don’t ask again.”
Kath grimaced and shoved the so-called dress in her bag. Jess mistrusted the look on her companion’s face but chose not to query it. She had a feeling she might not like the answer. Instead she followed her out of the house, and locked the door behind them.
The cab wasn’t what she’d call a cab. It was a black limo with the rear windows dark. Standing by the door and holding it open was the most drop-dead hunk of a guy she’d seen in a long while. Her clit went into overdrive and sent messages pulsing through her body, and her juices out of her pussy to soak her knickers. If he was a chauffeur, his uniform was unusual to say the least. Indigo blue denims and a black silk shirt fit as if they had been sprayed onto him and there was a black leather jacket thrown carelessly on the seat next to him.
He stared at her with dark almost-black eyes, his face blank. All of a sudden, the arousal Jess had felt dried up faster than an oasis in the midst of a desert summer. She shook, not with arousal, but with worry. Something about him, and the way he watched her so closely, spelled trouble.
It seemed Kath had no such qualms as she waved to him as they approached the car. Jess had no chance to hang back because Kath held her as tight as a limpet clung to a rock.
“Thank you, Ma—David. This is Jessica.”
Jess had no time to wonder what her companion had been going to say before the man bowed and smiled.
“Jessica, welcome.”
She didn’t think so. His voice rumbled through her, and set off a minor earthquake in her clit. She didn’t welcome it. Cocoa, a good book and her yellow duck jammies had never seemed more of a good idea than then.
About the Author
A multi-published author of erotic romance, Raven lives in Scotland, along with her husband and their two cats—their children having flown the nest—surrounded by beautiful scenery, which inspires a lot of the settings in her books.
She is used to sharing her life with the occasional deer, red squirrel, and lost tourist, to say nothing of the scourge of Scotland—the midge. As once she is writing she is oblivious to everything else, her lovely long-suffering husband is learning to love the dust bunnies, work the Aga, and be on stand-by with a glass of wine.
Email:
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Raven loves to hear from readers. You can find her contact information, website and author biography at
http://www.totallybound.com
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Also by Raven McAllan
Totally Bound Publishing
