22. Jess
22
Jess
T he day flew by, but it was productive. My pitch was shaping up well. Although getting trapped in the basement last night wasn’t ideal, I was glad I went to do another site visit. It had really helped to visualise the layout and how the library could look once it was built.
I’d sent off my ideas to Cecil, who was going to pass it on to an architect so he could do some sketches for me to include in my presentation.
Even though the presentation was weeks away and I still had a lot to do, part of me wished I could just get it over with so I’d be away from Theo and temptation.
When we’d first met, I couldn’t stand him. And that hatred had only intensified when I’d discovered he was my competitor. But the more time we spent together, the harder it was becoming not to like him.
It was difficult last night after he read to me. But then this morning when he said he’d read to me again and that he thought my voice was incredible , you could’ve knocked me over with a feather .
I used to sing a lot in the school choir. It gave me an excuse to get out of the house, so maybe all those years of practice helped. There were much better singers than me, though, and although I liked belting out a tune in the shower or around my bedsit, I’d never been interested in pursuing it professionally. The idea of performing in front of anyone made me break out into a cold sweat.
Still, it was sweet of Theo to compliment me. He was… nice. A lot nicer than I thought. And that was annoying because it would be much easier if we weren’t getting on.
And in twenty minutes we’d arranged to do this rehearsal, which wasn’t exactly going to help me to fight how much I fancied him.
My phone pinged with an email notification. When I saw it was from Theo, I smiled and quickly clicked on the message.
From: [email protected]
Date: Wednesday 7th May, 18.08
Subject: Rehearsal
Dear Jessica,
Had to get rehearsal supplies, but I’m on my way.
See you soon,
T
As I read his message, I frowned. First up, he’d called me Jessica instead of Ms Johnson like he had before, and secondly, what the hell were ‘rehearsal supplies’?
I headed downstairs to the living room. Glenda was out this evening at bingo. Apparently they had it once a week at the community centre. I was relieved that Edwin hadn’t roped us into that too.
There were no other guests staying here until the weekend, apparently, which meant that me and Theo would have the place to ourselves. I wasn’t sure if that was such a good thing.
Then I reminded myself that just because I was attracted to Theo, it didn’t mean the feeling was mutual.
Theo was a businessman. He was way too professional to let feelings muddy the water or get in the way of him securing the site. I needed to take a leaf from his book.
And even if the whole deal thing wasn’t in the way, I was pretty sure I wasn’t his type. He probably only exclusively dated women who moved in his rich circles. That definitely wasn’t me.
Fifteen minutes later, just as I was heading downstairs, I heard the key go in the front door, then Theo walked through it carrying a large rectangular case.
‘Hi!’ I said a little too enthusiastically. ‘What’s that?’
‘Keyboard,’ he said. ‘For rehearsals.’
‘Oh.’ Made sense. I hadn’t even given any thought about what he was going to use.
Once he set up in the living room, he went back to his car and returned with shopping bags.
‘Thought I’d get some refreshments for tonight. ’
‘Oooh!’ I followed him into the living room, where he started unpacking items. ‘I thought you didn’t like salt and vinegar crisps?’
‘I don’t.’ He unpacked various bottles of wine. ‘Those are for you. And the apples. I didn’t know which type you liked, so I got a few different varieties.’
My heart fluttered. He might have said last night that he wasn’t sweet, but with all these kind gestures he’d been making, I was finding it hard to believe him.
‘Thanks. That’s really—’
‘If you say sweet, I’ll throw the crisps in the bin, just to prove a point.’
‘There’s nothing wrong with being sweet.’
‘Anyway,’ he sighed. ‘We should get cracking with this rehearsal. Any song ideas?’
‘Actually, I have. Did you ever watch Bridgerton ?’
‘Seriously?’ He raised his eyebrow. ‘Do I look like the target audience for Bridgerton ?’
‘You’re rich and posh, so I reckon it’d be right up your street. If it was real, they’d probably be your ancestors.’ I laughed and Theo rolled his eyes. ‘Okay, so because you’ve clearly been living under a rock, Bridgerton is a popular period drama, and in it, they’d play classical music versions of pop songs. So I was thinking maybe we could take a popular song that most of the residents will know—something fun—and give it a kind of classical twist with the piano to begin with and then switch it up halfway through.’
‘Okay. What song were you thinking of?’
‘How about Taylor Swift? She’s popular and has fun songs. I was thinking of ‘Shake It Off’. Do you know it? ’
‘I haven’t been living on the moon. Of course I know it!’ he laughed.
‘Do you think you’ll be able to learn it?’
‘Certain,’ Theo said.
‘Mr Arrogant’s back!’
‘It’s not arrogance, it’s confidence. There’s a difference.’
‘If you say so. Time to put your money where your mouth is.’
I pulled up the video on YouTube that I’d bookmarked and handed it to Theo.
Don’t ask me how, but he picked it up straight away, like I’d just asked him to play chopsticks. I was actually impressed.
A few hours and a couple of bottles of wine later, we were performing it like we’d been practising for days. Somehow it was so easy to work together.
I connected the YouTube video to the portable speaker Glenda had, and as the song blared in the room, I started dancing.
‘Come on!’ I dragged him up from his chair. ‘Dance!’
‘I’m not much of a dancer.’ He winced.
‘Doesn’t matter! We can do a silly freestyle dance like at the end of the video. Don’t overthink it. Just let yourself go. Have fun!’
For a couple of minutes, Theo stood there looking cool, his head tilted as he watched me making a fool of myself, but I didn’t care.
I pulled him towards me again and tried to wiggle his arms and make him shake his shoulders, but he resisted. So I lifted his arms up and started tickling him .
‘That’s a low blow.’ He started giggling. ‘Two can play at that game.’
As he started tickling me, I squealed and tried to run to the other side of the room, but he caught me, and as we both attempted to tickle each other, we crashed onto the sofa.
Theo landed on top of me and my breath hitched in my throat.
His face was now inches away from mine.
Suddenly we both went silent.
He brushed away a stray curl which had landed on my cheek.
‘You’re beautiful, Jessica,’ he whispered, his warm, sweet breath tickling my skin.
‘Th-thanks,’ I stuttered.
Our faces inched closer together.
I knew that kissing Theo wasn’t a good idea, but right now I didn’t care.
‘I shouldn’t want to kiss you,’ he said. ‘It’s a really, really bad idea. But yet…’
‘I know.’ I edged closer. ‘I want to too.’
Just as Theo leant forward to close the gap between us, the front door slammed.
We both flew off the sofa.
‘Sounds like you’re having a party in here!’ Glenda walked into the room. When she saw us standing awkwardly by the sofa, she narrowed her eyes. ‘Not interrupting anything, am I?’
‘No!’ I squeaked. ‘Nothing at all. We’re just practising. Rehearsing for the talent show.’
‘I see.’ She raised her eyebrow. ‘Well, I’ll leave you to your rehearsals. ’ Glenda left the room .
‘Something tells me she didn’t believe us.’ I sighed.
‘I should go.’ Theo headed towards the door.
‘Yeah. Probably best. See you tomorrow?’
‘More than likely. Sleep well.’
As Theo left, I wondered how I would get to sleep tonight.
The fact that we’d almost kissed wasn’t about to evaporate from my brain anytime soon, and my body was buzzing. Feeling his hard body on top of me had set my blood on fire.
Now I was all worked up and feeling hornier than a dog on heat.
I knew what I wanted to satisfy me. More of Theo. But that would be a mistake.
Especially so close to the presentation.
The sensible thing to do would be to avoid him. Resist temptation. And maybe, just maybe, if I still liked him after the pitch, we could maybe hook up then. Edwin would’ve made his decision and there’d be nothing to risk.
Yep. That was the smart decision. That was absolutely what I should do.
Which was why it didn’t make sense that although I knew doing anything with Theo would be a huge mistake, I wanted to do it anyway.