Melting Ms Frost (19 page)

‘The one?’ Her heart jumped in her chest at the ridiculous thought.

‘Yes. The one we were talking about the other day?’

Oh, right. She felt a little foolish. ‘Um, yes. That’s him.’

‘The one you were pretending not to like. I think you’re wrong about him. He likes you too, Bel. He likes you a lot.’

Like her mother was any reliable judge of character when it came to men. ‘Perhaps you should get the ice on that jaw, give it a rest.’

Aidan tamped down on the burning urge to smash his fist through something hard and thick and satisfying and made himself knock softly on the office door and wait until he heard Annabel call out. Pushing the door open, his gaze went straight to her, running over every inch as though reassuring himself that she was unharmed, although he knew that lowlife hadn’t laid a finger on her. It was a shame the same couldn’t be said of her mother, with a nasty bruising starting to darken her jawbone. He regretted having allowed that split second of violence to happen. But overriding his instincts to thump the lowlife in his obnoxious mouth had been a sense that Annabel needed to handle the situation herself. That’d teach him to try to hide his Neanderthal instincts beneath a civilised metrosexual veneer.

‘How are you doing, Mrs Frost?’ he asked, crouching down beside the frail-looking woman sitting at the desk. He couldn’t help but notice her colouring, her hair the colour of autumn leaves, her green eyes, everything fading gently with age. He could only imagine the full glory of the natural beauty her daughter was trying to hide.

‘Call me Ellen, please.’ Despite being shaken she primped and preened under the attention, flirting. ‘Has Tony gone?’

‘Yes. And there’s no sign of him. It doesn’t look like he’s coming back for now.’

‘No. Like most bullies he’s a coward,’ Annabel spat. ‘He won’t be back because he knows he’s got no way of winning.’

‘What was that all about? I only caught part of it, but he sounded determined to get something back from you?’

Annabel gave a mirthless laugh. ‘I don’t know what he thinks that could be. He has nothing to take. If anything he should be giving my mother back everything he’s taken from her.’

‘Still.’ He’d seen the look in the bastard’s eye, and it hadn’t been rational. ‘Is he likely to try again? If not here then what about at home? Is it safe for you there?’

‘I bought the place less than a year ago and he’s never been there,’ Annabel started to assure him, then looked questioningly at her mother. ‘Has he? Please tell me that you haven’t let Tony know where I live.’

Ellen shook her head. ‘No. You were so adamant when you took me in that he shouldn’t know that I was careful over the weeks to meet him away from there.’

Aidan almost couldn’t bring himself to get the next words out, so white-hot was his rage at even having to think about voicing the question, let alone contemplate the answer. ‘Has he a history of violence against you?’

‘No,’ Annabel said, and the rush of relief left his head spinning. ‘Never against me …’ She left the answer open-ended, casting a questioning look at her mother.

Ellen shook her head. ‘No. I’ve never seen him like that before. It must have been the drink.’

Aidan felt some of the tension ease from his shoulders. He turned to Annabel.

‘Why don’t you take your mother home then, we can manage here?’

Annabel shook her head. ‘I can’t leave. Tim’s not in today. I have to lock up.’

‘If you leave your keys I can do it. I’ve seen it enough times to know the routine. And with the family connections, it’s hardly likely I’ll rob the place.’

The fact that she agreed almost immediately gave him a good indication of how shaken she was by the whole experience, even though she held herself as ramrod-straight as ever.

‘I’ll go grab you a cab.’ Aidan made for the door. With that jerk out there somewhere he didn’t want them standing on the street. ‘Where are you needing to get to?’

‘Highgate,’ Annabel said.

It took no time to hail a black cab, and he made sure to scan the street thoroughly as he waited. He returned to the office to find the women ready to go.

‘The cab’s coming around to the back now.’ The rear alley wasn’t the most salubrious of locations, reserved almost exclusively for waste disposal, but he figured it was preferable to having to run the course of curious gazes through the kitchens and dining room.

‘There are my keys.’ Annabel, who was scribbling on a piece of paper, stopped to point her pen at the bunch of keys sitting on the desk. ‘And here’s the alarm code and my mobile number,’ she continued, handing the paper to him once she’d scribbled some more. ‘Ring me if there are
any
problems.’

He offered his arm to Ellen Frost who was still a little unsteady from a combination of shock and alcohol. Escorting her outside, he opened the rear door of the black cab and handed her in while, beside him, Annabel recited her address to the driver through the front window.

When she turned Aidan was close beside her, but instead of scurrying straight through the open door, she lingered, looking up at him in a way that had his heart racing with primal instinct all over again. But the only thing he felt like smashing now were his lips against hers.

‘Thank you,’ she said with soft sincerity.

‘Don’t mention it,’ he told through a suddenly dry mouth. ‘Take care, Annabel. Call the police if you have to.’

‘I will. But I think he’s done his worst.’

‘Don’t take any chances.’

He closed the door and stood watching until the cab slowed at the end of the alleyway and turned, disappearing from view. The surge of protectiveness that slammed through him caught him unawares, leaving him fighting the urge to pound down the alleyway after it, keep Annabel Frost in sight. Keep her safe.

As unpleasant as Tony Maplin’s scene at Cluny’s had been, Annabel had to acknowledge that at least some good had come of it. Her mother was now sworn off the man for life. Having tearfully admitted during a heated discussion that she’d been meeting him in secret and giving him money – Annabel’s money – she’d finally seen him for what he was. Tony’s goal today might have been to humiliate Annabel in public as retribution for some imagined slight, but he’d ended up disgracing himself into the bargain.

Exhausted after such an emotionally trying day, Annabel was already tucked up on the sofa for the night when her phone buzzed at around eleven indicating a message had come in. It was from Aidan to tell her that everything was all right. Cluny’s was locked up tight for the night with no problems, and as he didn’t have access to the safe, he’d stashed what cash there was down in the cellar and taken the spare key home. He’d finished the text with, ‘Hope all is OK at your end.’

It was nice of him to have taken the time to put her mind at ease. Considerate. Like the consideration he’d shown in backing her up today, respecting her authority rather than charging in all macho as though she was incapable of looking after herself. The same consideration he’d shown in the hotel room at The Hyde when she’d let things go too far. He’d respected her need to call a halt, had let her stay and sort herself out. And boy, at the time she hadn’t realised what a favour he’d done her until she’d looked in the mirror after he’d gone and seen the state of herself – all flush-skinned and wild-eyed. She’d never had a man leave her so untouched yet looking so wanton before.

She felt herself start to blush at the thought of the things she’d let him drive her to do. While she’d never considered herself a prude, her sexual encounters had always been pretty swift and safe – efficient, functional ways to scratch a physical itch. She’d never experienced anything like the slow erotic build Aidan Flynn was subjecting her to. Between that and the considerate gestures, it was getting harder and harder to remember why she should stay away from him. Surely today’s events were a timely reminder of what happened when you fell for the surface charm and ignored the dangerous man beneath.

But hadn’t those events shown that, despite the charm, Aidan was nothing like the Tony Maplins of this world? Demonstrated that he was as protective as he was possessive, as respectful as he was relentless? In the time she’d known him, in the extreme situations he’d put her in, she’d never felt afraid. Even when she’d been at her most exposed and vulnerable.

Could she do as he wanted and give him her trust? Risk getting close enough to take some of that pleasure he offered? She felt her chest tighten, found it harder to catch her breath. But strangely the feeling wasn’t caused by fear, it felt more like … excitement.

She should text him back, show him the same courtesy. But she couldn’t. Not just now. As a gesture it would feel too familiar, too much like an invitation to more. And she needed to work out whether she could handle that. She’d deal with it in the morning when she felt more settled, more like her old self.

If her feelings hadn’t gone back to normal by then, she’d know she was in trouble.

Annabel was in trouble.

All Monday morning she tried to ignore the warm glow in her chest every time she thought of Aidan Flynn. Which was too frequently. She tried texting him too – also frequently – but couldn’t seem to find the combination of words to strike just the tone she was looking for. Friendly yet professional. Appreciative yet authoritative. Approachable yet cool.

It was easier by far to let herself be distracted by her mother’s insistence that they put up a Christmas tree – something Annabel never usually bothered with. From mid-December, Cluny’s opened every day to meet customer demand, and although she worked the shift rota to allow staff either Christmas Day or New Year’s Eve off, she always worked both herself. She’d never seen the point in putting in the effort for something she’d rarely be home to enjoy.

As it was, she had to leave it to her mother to finish hanging the new box of decorations on the small tree they’d bought from the nearby florist shop while she headed off to work.

When she arrived and came face to face with a quietly concerned Aidan, who’d arrived early to open up, she realised just how deep in trouble she was.

‘How’s Ellen doing?’ he asked, sliding the set of keys she had given him yesterday across the bar to her.

‘She’s fine. A bit of a stiff neck from the fall.’

‘And you? Everything all right? No sign of any further problems?’

‘No. The only way Tony has of getting in touch is via Mum’s mobile, and I took the SIM card out of that, just to be sure. But I don’t think he’ll try to bother her, or me again. He was being a drunken idiot yesterday, he’ll know he went too far.’

The usual clear brilliance of Aidan’s grey eyes seemed as clouded as the overcast skies outside as he regarded her with concern. ‘I’d take extra care anyway. And you have my number now. Ring me any time you need to.’

That sent a disturbingly warm and fuzzy feeling through her. ‘I can manage,’ she muttered to cover her reaction.

A glint of exasperation flashed in his eyes but he gave a wry half-smile and kept his tone level. ‘I’m not suggesting you can’t, Superwoman. But everyone needs a bit of back-up from time to time. Just know I’m there if you want me.’

If she wanted him? Well now, wasn’t that the million dollar question? From a physical standpoint her body screamed yes! It had been more than a year since she’d been with a man, and never with one quite like Aidan Flynn. He stood there looking at her steadily, the ever-present spark of provocation and powerful attraction crackling in the air between them. Did she have the strength to keep trying to fight the temptation of him? Or was she going to save her sanity and take a taste of what he was offering, get it out of her system? She knew what the answer was – could feel her resolve faltering, her resistance melting away. She was going to do it. Despite all her rules and her carefully constructed defences, she was going to go against common sense and her better judgement. But she was going to do it on her terms. Take the lead, call the shots, retain control. After all, it wasn’t really surrendering as long as she stayed on top, was it?

‘That’s very generous,’ she said, keeping her tone super casual, lest she come across as too keen. ‘Maybe I can buy you a drink some time to thank you for your help yesterday as well.’

She suspected from the way he looked at her that he knew exactly what had been running through her mind. The smile that spread across his handsome face a moment later confirmed it, set a swarm of butterflies fluttering around her belly.

‘I think that deserves dinner at least, Ms Frost, don’t you?’

Pushy as ever. Trying to take more than she wanted to give. And in a funny way, that familiar, infuriating arrogance made her feel more confident. She knew where she stood with that, found it much easier to deal with than all the unsettling emotional touchy-feely. She snorted under her breath. ‘We’ll see.’

The following day, after dinner service, Annabel stepped out onto the street, glad to find that the rain and sleet which had been falling incessantly since she’d woken up that morning had finally stopped. The cold night air held a fresh-washed scent, the festive lights of the street reflected in the slick black surface of wet tarmac. As she turned back to lock the door, her attention brushed past a motorcyclist waiting on the other side of the road. She stopped in surprise and did a double-take when she realised it was Aidan, dressed head to toe in black leathers and looking very slick himself as he leant back against a huge bike, which was also black, relieved by shiny bits of chrome. From this angle, the flashing pink neon sign above the entrance to the adult club opposite was pointing its arrow and the words ‘HOT SEX’ right at the top of his head.

Oh, yes. He was that all right. Was he aware that he’d positioned himself so perfectly as to advertise the fact? Following her line of vision, he turned and looked at the sign, then back to her with a quirked eyebrow and an arch smile that only added to the devastating effect.

Annabel couldn’t stop staring, couldn’t help but follow the line of those long, leather-clad legs all the way down to where he had one booted ankle crossed over the other. Seriously, that was what she’d been trying to resist? No wonder she’d been faltering so badly.