Beneath This Man(113)

'Of course,' Sarah agrees. 'I'll leave you to it. See you later, Ava.'

I swivel slightly and smile. 'Bye.'

She returns my smile, but after last night, there is no getting away from the fact that we dislike each other, so all of this pretending is pretty senseless. I swivel back to face the bar as soon as I can to recommence poking at my salad. I have no doubt she's playing all friendly and kindly for Jesse's benefit. Surely he must see her for what she is.

'Why are you not looking forward to this evening?' Jesse asks quietly as he continues with his lunch.

'I am.' I say without looking at him.

I hear him sigh heavily. 'Ava, stop twiddling your hair. You did it when Sarah asked you and you're doing it now.' He nudges my knee with his, prompting me to freeze mid-twiddle and drop my hair.

I put my fork down. 'I'm sorry if I can't get excited about attending a party where every time someone looks at me or speaks to me, I'll be thinking they might want to drag me upstairs and f*ck me.'

I jump as Jesse's knife and fork clatter against his plate. 'For f*ck sake!' He pushes his plate away aggressively, and out of my peripheral vision, I see him reach up and start rubbing his temples. 'Ava, watch your mouth.' he huffs tiredly. My jaw is grabbed and yanked to face him. His green eyes are brimming with anger. 'No one will be doing any such thing because they all know you're mine. Don't say things that make me crazy mad.'

I shrink a little under his stern tone. 'Sorry.' I sound grumpy, but it's the truth. They could be thinking anything, how would he know?

'Please try and show a bit more willingness.' He shifts his grip on my jaw and cups my cheek. 'I want you to enjoy yourself.'

His beseeching face makes me want to slap my loser arse all over the bar. He's spent God only knows how much money on a stunning gown and dresses for me and this is a special night for him. I'm such an ungrateful cow. I crawl across to straddle his lap. He, of course, doesn't give a shit that my legs are wrapped tightly around his waist and we are sat at the bar.

'Forgive me?' I bite his bottom lip cheekily and circle his nose with mine.

'You're adorable when you sulk.' he sighs.

'You're adorable all of the time.' I toss back at him and seal our lips together. 'Take me home.' I say into his mouth.

He moans. 'Deal. Up you get.' He stands with me, and I release my thighs iron grip of his hips.

'Oh no!' I exclaim.

'What?' He looks at me worriedly.

'I've got to get some whiskey for Clive.'

'Have you?' His brow furrows 'Why?'

'It's my peace offering. Can we stop somewhere on the way home?'

He rolls his eyes and takes my hand. 'Clive's earned well out of this and he didn't even fulfil his brief.' Jesse starts walking us out of The Manor. I throw a little wave at Mario and Pete, and they return the gesture.

'How much did you pay him?' I ask.

'Not enough for him to do the job properly.' He flicks an accusing eye at me, and I grin, encouraging Jesse's roguish one to appear. 'Don't look at me like that when I'm in no position to take you, Ava. Get in the car.'

I gasp at his shamelessness. 'What about my car?' I look over at my Mini.

'I'll get one of the staff to drop it off.' He dismisses my concern and guides me down onto the passenger seat.

I'm relieved when we finally get back to Lusso. It would seem that Clive has unusual and very expensive taste in whiskey. We finally found the specific Glenmorangie Clive requested in a specialist off license in Mayfair and there was almost a disagreement about who was paying for it. Jesse eventually backed down. He sulked like a schoolboy, but he backed down.

'Clive, Glenmorangie Port Wood Finish.' I hand him the bottle.

His eyes light up like Christmas as he takes the bottle and runs his palm over the label. 'I can't believe you found some. I thought you could only get it on-line.'

I look at him in disbelief and it's hard not to notice Jesse's incredulous look. We've trailed three supermarkets and two off licenses trying to find that damn bottle, and all along he knew how difficult it is to get hold of? I leave Clive caressing his bottle of whiskey and board the elevator with Jesse.

'You should have got the cheeky bastard a supermarket special.' he grumbles irritably as he punches in the code. I notice it still hasn't changed, but I'm not reminding him again.