Chapter 11
Having spent over an hour on the phone to Nancy, they had unilaterally decided that despite Luke’s radio silence since Saturday night, Eliza should just text him and invite him over for the evening.
He didn’t owe her anything, but if he was just her sex guy, she had every right to invite him over for a repeat performance.
It wasn’t like she had anything else on, and she was having withdrawal symptoms.
It had been days since she’d last caught a glimpse of him.
Playing this whole hard to get thing was cute, but after popping over to Marjorie’s on Wednesday to fill her quiet evening by gorging cake, she was ready for something a bit more exciting.
Eliza was wondering if he might be waiting for her to reach out to him.
As Nancy said, rebounds had their own rules, and maybe he thought she just wasn’t that into him.
So, she sent a message: ‘Hey, I’m sorry we got so rudely interrupted last time. Maybe we could finish the week with a glass of wine if you’re around this evening? Eliza x’
Perfect, thought Eliza, not too needy, easily leaving him room to say he was too busy.
Her heart was pounding in panic. This felt so unlike her – she couldn’t remember when she last chased a man – especially one she knew she probably had no future with.
So, she decided to jump in the shower and prepare herself for the night ahead, just in case he was available.
But just as she had stripped off her clothes, her phone pinged.
Wow, that was quick, she thought and then chastised herself – it could be anyone, her mother (nagging her about a recently single doctor in her local hospital), Agatha (asking her whether she had any ideas about how she was going to pay off that big bill coming in next month), Nancy (checking that she hadn’t lost her mind overanalysing adding an ‘x’ to the end of the text).
But it wasn’t any of them, it was Luke! She’d been right!
His message said, ‘That sounds great. See you at mine in an hour?’
Typing back right away, because why hold back, Eliza said ‘Perfect, looking forward to it.’
She liked the fact that he had responded straight away hadn’t made her wait. She felt a frisson of excitement that she had a potentially very fun evening ahead of her.
After her shower, Eliza slipped on some underwear.
They weren’t overtly sexy as she didn’t want Luke to think she was trying too hard to impress him, but they were definitely sexier than the white cotton ones she had been wearing on the memorable best multiple orgasm day of her life.
Then she slipped on an old checked shirt, which she left undone to expose a peek of her lacy bra, and her favourite jeans and trainers.
Understated, but cool. And a little bit sexy.
As she was walking out of the door, she stopped, ran back to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of wine, slipping it under her arm as she jumped in the car. She decided she quite liked the idea of getting drunk on Henry’s wine with Luke, before shagging his brains out.
As she stepped out of the car outside Luke’s cabin, she was struck by its beauty all over again.
She could see the work he had put into creating his dream home, building something that looked like it belonged by a lake on Vancouver Island, not in a rainy woodland in England.
But from what she could see, he really loved it here.
And he had made it home. There was smoke coming out of the chimney, the lights were on, and as she took in the full view of the place, she saw him standing at the door, arms crossed, leaning against the frame smiling at her.
‘Are you going to stay out here all evening?’ he asked her with a grin.
She felt her heart hitch. ‘I was just admiring the house you built actually,’ she said with a smile, reaching back into the car to grab the bottle of wine.
‘Welcome back,’ he said, holding the door open for her as she entered, ‘grab a seat by the fire and I’ll pour you a glass of wine.’
‘Thank you,’ she responded, aiming for casual, confident flirtation. ‘I actually brought us a bottle to try if you fancy it – an insanely beautiful Californian red I happened to have sitting around. No point in it going to waste when we could enjoy it together.’
‘Well, I couldn’t agree more – but are you sure you want to waste that on a heathen like me?’
‘Will it be wasted?’
‘Only in that I probably don’t have the same advanced palate for wine as an experienced city girl such as yourself –’ he took a step forward to take the bottle from her, his eyes alight with mirth – ‘but I have no doubt I’ll enjoy it.’
‘I have no doubt you will, too,’ she said, as she passed him the wine and their hands touched. She felt an electric current sear through her.
She couldn’t quite believe her luck. Luke stood there, all six-foot-something of tanned skin and perfect jawline, somehow interested in her.
And after dissecting his every word and gesture with Marjorie yesterday (between bites of her decadent chocolate cake), she still couldn’t find the red flag.
No ex-wife dramas, no concerning twitches, no collection of weird knives.
Just him, looking at her like that. He held her gaze until her cheeks burned, then turned to fetch the bottle opener.
The wine had cost Henry ￡100, a fact she’d discovered with a quick google.
A hundred pounds that would barely make a dent in the ￡20,000 debt currently gathering interest faster than she could comprehend.
She exhaled slowly through her nose, counting to four like that TikTok meditation coach had demonstrated.
Focus on the now, she told herself. Focus on the gorgeous man across the room, not the financial disaster waiting to try to steal away all your newfound happiness.
‘Of course, if you want to see the puppies before you grab a seat, they’re all just there waiting for some company.’ He nodded over to the back room as he pulled out glasses.
‘Well, who could resist that offer.’ Her heart turned over when she saw the little runt come running right to her, falling over her tiny little puppy paws in desperation, before collapsing at her feet.
‘Oh, you are a little cutie pie, aren’t you,’ she said, leaning down to gather the puppy up and bringing her to her cheek. ‘I’m quite besotted with you. Has Luke told you to suck up to me? Because it’s working.’
‘Me, tell her to suck up to you? Never! Do you want to bring her over to the fire for a bit? They all need handling as much as possible really – I’ll grab one, too.’
And with that he leant over and grabbed an impossibly fat little boy, who was obviously his favourite, while whispering into the ear of the one she was holding, ‘Good work, runty, she’s falling for it.’
As they settled down by the fire, her on the sofa and him sitting on the floor leaning against an armchair, her tiny little pup curled up in her arms and fell asleep.
‘So, you really think I should take a puppy, do you?’ asked Eliza, looking down at the tiny creature she was holding. ‘To be honest, the last thing I need right now is commitment.’
He fell silent for a long moment before he spoke. ‘I think you should tell me more about this wine that we’re drinking; it’s absolutely delicious. You’re going to ruin me, and I am never going to want to drink a bottle that costs a tenner again!’
She laughed. ‘With Jean Pierre around I doubt you’ve ever been forced to stoop to that, but sadly I can’t really tell you that much about it, only that this wine is from a very famous vineyard in California that creates a limited number of bottles each year.’
‘And should I ask how you have your hands on it, or is that a story for another day?’
‘Let’s just say, I felt it was the least the ex owed me. I took a few bottles. I only wish I’d taken more.’
‘So, I’m drinking your ex-boyfriend’s wine. Is this all part of one big revenge plot, and should I be worried?’ he asked, a playful glint in his eyes.
‘Yes, you should be! I’m going to recruit you as my accomplice to break into his London house to steal the rest of his collection!’
‘That sounds like one hell of an adventure – I have to say I’m pretty good with picking a lock.’ His smile was seven kinds of deadly, and she began to wonder why she’d mentioned Henry in the first place.
‘Thank you, I think, but no need, he is long gone. And honestly, more than anything, I just hate that I trusted him, and I shouldn’t have.’
‘Well, I’m sorry to have brought it up again. Let’s go back to the puppies. If you can’t trust a man, you can always trust a dog. Just look at her, all curled up in your arms, not a care in the world . . .’
Looking down, Eliza was filled with that same shimmer of contentment she’d felt on her way home from the wine tasting. The soft warmth of the puppy, the glow of the fire, and the most handsome man she’d ever seen offering her something – even if she wasn’t sure what that was.
‘You’re right, she’s amazing. I’m going to make a truly impulsive decision and say that I will have her. Together we’ll rule the world – and not let any men be mean to us again! And if I go travelling, she can simply come with me. We will be inseparable!’
‘Well, what about the men that are actually rather nice? There are some of us,’ he asked, as he got up, putting the puppy he was holding back in the room.
He leaned down over her, refilled her wine glass, and kissed her, not just a peck, but a lingering, soft, sexy kiss.
She thought she might melt into the sofa cushions if this continued.
‘Those men are different,’ she replied huskily. ‘We like those men, and she seems to like you, so at the moment it’s looking like you’re pretty safe.’