Lingerie Wars (The Invertary books) (23 page)

"No one serious, then?"

She licked her bottom lip and he was distracted for the moment.

"There was a girl called Carla, for a while, but it fizzled out."

"What happened?"

Kirsty pushed a plate with crackers and dip towards him.

"Come on, Lake," she teased. "You're the one who didn't want to do small talk. I wasn't the one who brought up the topic of past romance. 'Fess up or call chicken."

He straightened in his stool. Chicken his hairy behind.

"Carla wanted to get married and have kids. I didn't."

Something shifted in Kirsty's manner.

"You're one of those guys, then," she said.

"Those guys?"

"Playboy, not interested in settling down."

Lake bristled. He sure as hell wasn't a playboy.

"I said I didn't want to get married and settle down
with Carla
. She was..." He cast around for the right term. "Flighty," he said eventually. The last straw for him had been when she'd taken up reading auras. He could get that kind of crap from his family. He didn't need it from his girlfriend too.

"But no," he told Kirsty. "I'm not against marriage. In general."

They stared at each other for a moment. Lake could have sworn that the temperature shot up in the kitchen. At last Kirsty blinked and turned away.

"How do you like your steak?" She reached for a pan.

"Medium rare," he said.

For some reason he was rewarded by a smile that lit up his world.

The fact Lake hated small talk actually made Kirsty feel more relaxed rather than less. She wanted to know about him. She was curious. He wasn't like anyone she'd ever met before. Plus it was a relief to talk. She'd been half expecting him to jump her as soon as she opened the door. She'd been thrilled, and terrified, at the thought. But now a new thought was creeping through her brain. What if he'd changed his mind about her? What if he didn't want her any more? What if the scars had put him off? Stupidly, that thought was growing louder by the minute, while the more sane thought of whether or not
she
wanted him was being drowned out.

They took their food to the little round dining table in the corner of her living room. It was nestled into a space by the window. Kirsty had spent ages setting the room up, making sure that the atmosphere was perfect. She wanted her home to be comfortable and welcoming, the lighting to hint at romance and the food to seduce. A little. Not a lot. She didn't want anything to give out the "slut" message. She also didn't want anything set in stone, just in case she changed her mind and sent him packing. She tried to stifle a sigh as she put her plate on the table. Unfortunately, Lake heard her. He grabbed her hand and pulled her to stand beside him. He hooked an arm around her waist and looked down at her.

"You have no idea why you invited me over, do you?" he said.

"I thought I did."

He ran his free hand over his chin.

"Okay," he said. "How about this? Nothing is going to happen between me and you unless you want it to. Why don't we eat and see where it goes after that?"

Kirsty's stomach lurched. It was the scars. He didn't want her any more. She turned her head and was about to pull away when he yanked her back.

"Just in case there is any confusion, I know where I want this evening to go. Straight through to the bedroom, with you naked on top of me."

She gasped as her cheeks burned. Lake's eyes darkened. And then something caught Kirsty's attention out of the corner of her eye.

She looked out of the window, and clear as day, under the streetlights, she could see her mother, Heather and Shona. They were dressed head to toe in black. They even had black makeup smeared on their faces. And it looked like they were trying to break into Lake's shop.

"Kirsty." Lake shook her lightly to get her attention. "What is it?"

Lake's head turned to the window to see what was holding Kirsty's attention. Kirsty panicked. She grabbed Lake's chin, turned his head back towards her and kissed him.

Lake was picking up mixed messages. One minute she was as scared as a cat in a box of dogs. The next she was kissing him like he was dinner and she was ravenous. He didn't stop it. No matter what the reason, it was always good to have Kirsty's lips on his. He pulled her hard against his chest. It wasn't close enough. And when she made that little sighing noise deep in her throat, he wanted to lift her up and march to the bedroom. His muscles actually hurt from the effort it took to stop them. He growled when she pulled away, pleased to see that she looked flushed and disorientated. His hand curved down her waist and over her hip as she reached behind him. It took him a minute to realise that she was shutting the curtains.

"That's better," she said before taking her seat at the table.

Lake didn't care whether the curtains were drawn or not; it wasn't like there was anyone to look in. His flat was directly opposite and it was empty. Rainne was with Alastair. Betty was watching TV with a cardboard cut-out of him in a tux—one he couldn't get back. He'd had to go buy another for the shop. And he was at Kirsty's trying to figure out what was going on in her head.

"So," she said with a lot more enthusiasm than the word deserved. "I've just realised that outside of Invertary and your plan for lingerie domination, I don't know anything about you. Tell me about your life."

She smiled a little too brightly as she cut her meat.

"My whole life?" he said.

"Only the interesting bits." There was a clang outside. Kirsty jumped. She smiled, more flustered than before. "Tell me about being in the war. Men like to talk about war. Right?"

He cocked an eyebrow at her. It was as though she'd read some manual somewhere on the likes and dislikes of all men and he was reaping the benefits.

"Men like steak. Men like war. Men like beer and football and women," he said. "How about we forget what 'men' like and concentrate on hanging out with each other?"

"Of course, of course." She forked some mashed potato.

She was far more distracted than he wanted her to be. Something was going on in her head and he couldn't figure out what it was. There was a loud curse from outside. Kirsty jumped to her feet.

"Music. I forgot music." She marched to the stereo.

Lake narrowed his eyes at her as music blasted into the room. She looked at him and chewed her bottom lip.

"Too loud?" She adjusted the volume.

Lake still thought it was too loud, but he didn't say anything. He was also beginning to think that Kirsty might be on the edge of a nervous breakdown.

"You were saying?" she said brightly.

Lake stared at her for a moment. Her cheeks were flushed and she had the same kind of panicked look that animals get in front of an approaching car.

"I was saying that you need to relax. This is only dinner."

"Yes." Her eyes went to the plate as though she'd forgotten it was there.

She stood up quickly.

"I need to get something, I mean do something, in the bedroom. I'll be right back."

And then she was gone.

Lake stared after her in astonishment. He honestly didn't know what to think. So he flicked off the stereo and returned to his food, where he polished off the meat. A few seconds later he heard mumbling in the other room. He let his head drop with a sigh. Now she was talking to herself. With resignation, he went to find out what kind of crazy mess he'd gotten himself into this time.

"What the heck are you doing?" Kirsty hissed into her mobile phone as she looked out of her bedroom window.

Her mother stood in the middle of the street looking up at Kirsty as she talked back.

"We're trying to break into the shop like you told us to," said her mum.

"At the back of the building," Kirsty said in exasperation. "You're supposed to be at the back. No one breaks into a shop on the high street. There are people. And lights. This is insane."

"Don't you call me insane, young lady," her mother said in that tone mothers were gifted during childbirth. "You forget that we're doing this for you."

"Fine. I'm sorry." Kirsty pinched the bridge of her nose. "You need to break in at the back of the shop."

"We tried, but it was too dark and we forgot to bring a torch."

Kirsty wanted to bang her head against the wall.

"What the heck is Shona doing?" she said.

"She's picking the lock with some bobby pins. She saw it on
CSI
."

Kirsty didn't say anything.

"It's taking a wee while. It's harder than it looks on TV."

"Look," Kirsty said. "Lake is sitting beside the living room window. You guys need to keep it down. Every time there's a noise he looks at the curtains. He's going to see you."

"Well, distract him," said her mother. "For goodness' sake, Kirsty, use your womanly wiles."

"I did not just hear that coming from your mouth," Kirsty said.

"What? Do you think I'm too old to know about womanly wiles? I'm fifty-six, Kirsty, I'm not dead. Get in there and be distracting."

She pointed her phone at Kirsty to make her point. Then she dropped it. Kirsty watched her fumble for the phone, then try to figure out how to dial Kirsty back. Meanwhile, behind her, Shona was trying to pick a lock with hairpins and Heather was sitting on the edge of the pavement eating a chocolate bar. Kirsty dialled her mother back.

"Just smash the window," she said.

Her mother looked horrified.

"I can't smash a piece of glass that big," her mother said. "That's wrong. Plus you were complaining about little noises. That would be a big noise. You'll have to do a
lot
of distracting to make sure he didn't hear that."

"Smash the little window. The one on the door," Kirsty said. She was beginning to believe that she got her intellect from her father.

"Oh," her mum said.

She turned and said something to Shona. The three women looked at the door. Shona shrugged and Heather nodded.

"Okay," her mother said, "we can do that, but we're worried about an alarm. Does Lake have the shop alarmed?"

"How the heck should I know?"

"Kirsty Campbell, if I hear that tone again we're all going home."

"Fine. I'll find out."

"Lake," she shouted as she covered the mouthpiece on her phone. "Just curious, but does your shop have an alarm system?"

"Subtle," she heard her mum say. "Very subtle."

Lake was about ten seconds away from rolling on the floor with laughter. When he'd sauntered up the hall to hear what crazy pep talk Kirsty was giving herself, he really hadn't expected this. He'd peered around the door, saw her at the window and on the phone, listened for a minute with a grin on his face, then went to look out of the living room window. This was priceless. The Three Stooges were breaking into his shop. He hadn't seen anything this hilarious since—well, ever. Kirsty's dinner was getting cold, so he reached for her plate and ate her steak while he watched the show.

"Lake," Kirsty shouted from the bedroom. "Just curious, but does your shop have an alarm system?"

He choked on a bit of steak. He thumped himself on the chest while tears streamed down his face, he was laughing so hard.

"No," he shouted in a strangled voice. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason," was the reply.

He wiped his face and grinned widely. One thing was for sure: Kirsty was not cut out for subterfuge. He watched as her mum talked some more on the phone while staring up at Kirsty. He could see where Kirsty got her skills. Lake poured himself a glass of wine and settled back. He knew he should intervene and stop the women from breaking into his place, but he honestly couldn't. He really wanted to see what would happen next.

"Are you coming to eat your dinner?" he called. "Or should I come join you in the bedroom?"

"No!" Kirsty squealed. "I mean, I'll be there in a second."

He saw her mother point to Kirsty's living room as she obviously ordered her daughter to get back in and deal with her guest. A few seconds later, Kirsty appeared. Lake wiped his face of all emotion, tried not to think about how funny this was and smiled at Kirsty.

"What were you doing in there, anyway?"

Panic flashed in her eyes. She hadn't even prepared a story to excuse her disappearance.

"Folding laundry," she said at last. "I can't get it out of my head if it sits there, and I want to concentrate on you."

She sat down elegantly at the table.

"You ate my steak," she said incredulously.

"I thought it was going to waste. Cold steak isn't as good. Plus, men like steak. Right?"

She scowled at him. It was cute. She put her phone on the table beside her and played around with her mashed potato and green beans. Lake waited her out. He definitely wasn't going to make things easy for her.

The phone buzzed.

"Excuse me," she said. "This could be important."