He bent to give her a kiss. Raspberries. She tasted of raspberries. ‘Let’s go and mingle,’ he said to her, guiding her away from her parents. She didn’t even glance in their direction. They’d moved on to speak to another TV personality with barely a few words to their daughter. And he could tell from the tension in her body and the sheen in her eyes that she hadn’t quite collected herself yet.
He glanced at his watch and scoped out the bar on the other side of the room. ‘How about a little cocktail before they announce the awards?’
She jerked to attention. ‘Is it that time already?’ She looked stunned, almost as if she’d forgotten why she was there. He loved that about her.
They made their way to the bar and Iain grabbed the cocktail menu. ‘What’s your favourite? Vodka? Rum? Whisky?’
She wrinkled her nose. ‘Whisky cocktail? Yuck.’ Her eyes ran down the menu. ‘I’ll have a raspberry daiquiri.’
He smiled. ‘I should have guessed. You taste of raspberries already.’
She smiled and ran her tongue along her lips. Boy, just that tiny action could drive him crazy. He gave their order at the bar and waited while the bartender mixed the frozen cocktails. Then they stood quietly for the next half-hour, his arm around her waist as they drank their cocktails.
Then the lights in the room dimmed and the compère appeared on the stage, giving a short presentation about the awards and past recipients. The PR award was one of the first to be announced. One by one the nominees appeared on screen, along with a presentation about their work. Then Lexi’s face appeared on the screen ahead of them.
She flinched. ‘Oh, no. I don’t like my face in high definition.’ She burrowed her face into his shoulder. ‘It shows all the blemishes.’
Iain took a deep breath. There it was again. The fact that Lexi didn’t see what he did. On the screen ahead of him he saw a beautiful fresh-faced woman. Long eyelashes around clear blue eyes, luscious pink lips and long blonde curls. She could out-supermodel her mother any day of the week.
He slipped his finger underneath her chin and tilted her head up towards his. ‘Trust me, Lexi, there are no blemishes.’ He kissed her again, tasting the raspberries still on her lips and pulling her closer to him.
Clapping broke out around them and they both broke apart.
‘Is it over?’ Lexi asked, her hands pressed against his chest. She started to clap, even though he knew neither of them had heard the announcement of the winner. A face flashed up on the screen of one of the male nominees who worked for a newly opened fashion chain. They watched as he walked up on stage in his sharp suit and gave his acceptance speech.
Iain squeezed Lexi around her waist, his fingers catching the chiffon material and silver sequins beneath his hands. ‘You were robbed,’ he whispered in her ear.
She shook her head firmly. ‘No, I wasn’t. He’s done a good job. He deserves it.’ She kept clapping until he left the stage. ‘I feel lucky to be nominated. I never thought I was going to win anyway, so I’m not disappointed.’
He could tell she meant it. Her generous spirit was still evident, showing grace in defeat. ‘Well, I’m disappointed for you. I thought you deserved to win.’
She stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. ‘Thank you, Iain. That’s the nicest thing anyone’s said to me all night.’ She squeezed his hand. ‘What do you say we get out of here?’
She had that gleam in her eyes. The ones that could send a sweep of sensation down to his toes, igniting all the parts of his body it needed to.
‘Let’s go now.’ Even he could recognise how husky his voice sounded. He only had one thing on his mind.
‘Give me five minutes to visit the ladies before we go.’ And before he could even answer she’d swept away and ducked into the nearest ladies room. All he could see was the flutter of her pale pink dress around her legs.
It was more than he needed.
CHAPTER TWELVE
LEXI STOOD IN front of the mirror and re-applied her rose-coloured lipstick. Her face was flushed. But it was excitement. Excitement over what would happen next with Iain.
He’d been fabulous with her tonight. Supporting her with her parents and keeping her close during the award announcements. But she wasn’t disappointed at all about not winning.
Truth was, she already felt as if she’d won because Iain had nominated her and brought her here tonight.
She took one final glance in the mirror. The dress he’d admired so much was nice. Much nicer than some of the dresses tonight that were ten times the price. It just went to show that pricier wasn’t always better.
She gave a little smile then walked back outside to meet Iain.
Her eyes swept the room. He was only a few feet away, talking to some man in a dark suit.
A voice breathed in her ear, ‘Well, what do we have here?’
Her stomach turned over, thankfully not all over her dress. A blast from the past. And one she certainly didn’t welcome.
She spun round in her sparkling shoes. ‘Jack, what an unpleasant surprise.’
Jack Parker was standing in front of her, his arm around a buxom blonde who looked as if she was being strangled by her bright blue dress. How on earth she’d managed to contain her oversized breasts in a dress two sizes too small was anybody’s guess. His tie was askew and his hair rumpled. What a surprise—Jack Parker was drunk.
He leaned forward and she got the whiff of alcohol on his breath. Any closer and he could anaesthetise her.
‘I saw you up on the screen. Close up doesn’t do you much good, does it?’
She took a deep breath. ‘I could say the same about you, Jack,’ she shot back.
He raised one eyebrow. What had she ever found attractive about this guy?
Her stomach was churning. He was saying out loud the thoughts that had sprung into her mind the second she’d seen her face on the screen. Jack Parker was still inside her head. Still circulating little horrible thoughts. It made her angry. It made her angry that she was still allowing him to influence her thoughts, and have a little bit of control over her life.
She ran her eyes up and down his rumpled suit. ‘Did you pick that one straight up out of the garden after I dumped it there?’
His eyes narrowed. He wasn’t used to Lexi standing up for herself. He wasn’t used to it at all. She’d always found a way to try and avoid any arguments with him. Had spent most of her time trying to
placate him. More fool her.
And for a time it had seemed his greatest pleasure was to make her cry. Well, not tonight.
Jack’s drunken girlfriend swayed and turned to him. ‘What’s she talking about, baby? I thought you dumped her?’
Her hand rested on his chest. There was something vaguely familiar about her. Lexi’s eyes dropped to her obviously over-implanted breasts. Of course, she was a glamour model. But her breasts stood out like sore thumbs. Lexi could tell just by looking that they were obviously too large for her slim frame. And her implants had been placed over her chest muscles instead of under, causing obvious ridge marks at the tops of breasts. Oh, dear. Even Lexi could tell this woman would need reconstructive surgery at some point. Had Jack made her do that?
She could feel the fire building in her belly. On any other day if she’d seen Jack Parker she would have ducked and hidden. She didn’t like conflict. She didn’t like attention being on herself. It didn’t matter that she’d picked up the courage to throw him out. Even one glance of Jack brought back the overwhelming surge of not being good enough. It brought back the seeds of doubt and the memories of his cruel words and actions.
She looked across the room. She wasn’t panicking—she was just looking for some reassurance. Iain was still in conversation with another man just a few feet away. He obviously hadn’t realised anything was wrong.
These last few weeks with Iain had given her some new-found confidence. She felt appreciated. She felt respected. She felt … loved?
Something she’d never felt before. Either with Jack or her parents. Her aunt was the only person who’d ever shown her love.
It was a startling realisation. It almost made her feel giddy.
Jack was wrinkling his nose at her, mumbling under his breath. She couldn’t stand him. She couldn’t stand to be in the same place as him. Even now he treated her with disdain. How dared he?
She straightened her shoulders, gave a smile to his girlfriend and extended her hand. ‘Pleasure to meet you. I’m Lexi Robbins. Jack’s never had any manners and that’s obviously not changed.’ As she took the action she was aware of Jack’s eyes on her bust. Even though she was perfectly happy with her figure, it could clearly never compete with his new girlfriend’s. And she’d never want to. She couldn’t imagine the health problems the woman was likely to have in the future.