Ashton Hill Valentines

Lara went to step out of the shadows to cross the road and help when she heard Harry's low rough chuckle say, "Well, hello, gorgeous." She immediately retreated. She knew from working with Carly over the last few months that she had always had a thing for the Daredevil Delaney's, in particular, the fun outgoing Harry. She watched curiously as the two exchanged more than flirty lines and Harry realised what the chocolate he was holding in his hands resembled.

"You go, girl," Lara said in a whisper, grinning to herself as Carly's forwardness in all things sexy seemed more than a match for the flirtatious Harry. Grinning to herself, she imagined Harry had never met a girl quite like Carly. She felt like a Peeping Tom as she saw them kiss briefly and then Carly disappear back into the bakery, and she returned to work, having her night lightened considerably seeing the two of them meet and gel so quickly.

Lara was happy for the effervescent Carly. She knew Carly would never let a guy get the upper hand; she was too strong and confident. Everything Lara aspired to be. The rest of the night flew by, and, before she knew it, it was closing time. Steve hustled the patrons out while she went to get the cleaning supplies. She was doing the shutdown and clean up tonight, and she farewelled Steve and Dianne, the waitress, and locked the door behind them.

She walked over the bar's excuse for a jukebox and made her regular selection for close down. She hummed and swayed her hips as the slow beat of the old song started. She closed her eyes for a moment. God, she used to love this song, still did, but it was more than an anthem for her graduating class to her now. Now it was more of a personal anthem; a reminder of how much she had sacrificed and given up believing that she had such little value to the people who were supposed to love her most.

She'd been a princess, the pretty and popular girl throughout her school years. She'd been smart but had squandered opportunities to party and have fun, once she left school and this little town. Worst of all, she'd wasted seven years of her life with a man who neither loved nor respected her and used her until she had nothing left of value to him. If all those people who thought her a princess could see her now, she grimaced and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. Then she grabbed up the large wire tray to start cleaning the tables.

They could see her, she reminded herself. They could see her every day after she slinked back to Ashton Hill broke and alone after her rehab and desperate to get back on her feet. "Oh, how the mighty fall," she gave an embittered laugh. 'She was broke, not broken,' she reminded herself. She was smarter, determined to be stronger, and she still had her pride, though it didn't do much to keep a roof over her head. It did, however, make it possible for her to work here and face these people every day knowing they judged her for her circumstances. She'd kept them all at arm's length until she formed a bond with Carly over baking.

Her thoughts of Carly made her think of the interlude she witnessed earlier and made her smile. She was looking forward to seeing her tomorrow to find out the gossip. She'd worked for two months in the bakery. First helping Carly while her parents were away, and when they returned she helped on the front counter and occasionally with special orders for the holidays. They hadn't needed the extra help after the holidays, but as the festival drew closer and more people flooded the town, they called on her occasionally for some extra help. She'd been exhausted working two jobs, but it had helped a lot to lower her debts, and she was happy enough with the current arrangements because it gave her the freedom to do some study as well, and she had enrolled in a few college business classes online.

She hummed and swayed along until the end of the song as she wiped down tables. In that brief moment between one song ending and another beginning, in that brief moment of silence, she felt the hair on the back of her neck prickle, and she stood up slowly and rubbed her neck trying to ease the feeling. Something was... not quite right... not dangerous, but... she turned, almost completing a full circuit of the room with her eyes, and came face to face with Jack Delaney.

He sat in a booth and looked back at her with a small smile as if he had enjoyed her soft singing and slow dancing to the song. She took a step back, not because she was scared, but because of the intense gaze of his eyes above that smile that made her heart race and her head spin. Surprised and unable to put all her protective layers in place quickly enough, she felt the magnetic attraction to this man that she had been trying to fight all night pull at her very core.

It was exhilarating, exciting and terrifying all at once. It was also dangerous, Lara remembered. Deceptive. With Jack's boy next door charm and good looks, a girl could be fooled into believing she could play with fire and not get burned. She was smarter than that though, and this man hadn't reckoned on the new version of Lara Collingwood if he thought he could just saunter in here and make her all doe-eyed and gooey for him, like every other woman he encountered.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, proud of the strength of her voice and not hiding her new-found irritation. Why shouldn't she be irritated, it was late, she was tired, Jack wasn't supposed to be there, and she certainly wasn't supposed to be attracted to him. There wasn't supposed to be any heart racing or head spinning or butterflies in her stomach when she looked at him. The fact that she was irritated by her own physical reactions wasn't lost on her.

"Waiting for you," he said as if it was obvious. He had enjoyed watching Lara relax as she cleaned up, and he didn't want to stop watching her, ever.

"Didn't Steve tell you it was closing time?" she asked, hating that three simple little words delivered by this man could thrill her the way they did. "Was closing time," she made a show of checking her watch to distract him from the look she had given him at those words, "Twenty minutes ago!"

"He told me," Jack shrugged as if it had been nothing more than telling him it was dark outside.

"Yet you're still here," she said peevishly, now furious at herself for liking the fact that this man didn't waste words. He said what he needed to, no more, no less. Most men she knew didn't shut up, but, then, most of them were trying to impress her on some level. "He didn't ask you to leave? You didn't get the hint that you had to go?"

"I told him I was staying," he said after a moment. "He seemed okay with it," he said casually and purposely, leaving out the word 'eventually'. Steve had tried to make him leave, but Jack had been immovable in his explanation that he needed to talk to Lara alone and meant her no harm.

"Of course, he seemed okay with it. Look at you! You're a freaking' hero! He probably thought you'd disembowel him with a straw!" she reached for her temper, any sort of anger to use as a defence against that slow smile and deep voice of his.

"I'm not even sure that's possible," his lip quirked up to make his smile into a grin. "Maybe two straws and one of those cocktail umbrellas, they seem pretty pointy."

Lara groaned and rolled her eyes heavenward. Karma, or someone, had to have a perverse sense of humour. She'd finally got her life back on track, and they put this man in her path. He was gorgeous, a hero, and funny? What was she supposed to do now? Especially because she found that boyish grin adorable. Gathering the last tiny bit of willpower she could summon at that moment, she steadied herself to look him in the eye, made easier by the fact that he still sat in the booth.

"Well, Steve might have been okay with you staying, but I'm not, and before you get any ideas I have put the straws and cocktail umbrellas away. You and your buddies can come back to relive more of your high school glory days tomorrow, we open at three. But you can't stay here." She said in a no-nonsense tone.

"It wasn't," Jack came to his feet and walked towards her. He kept it slow and lazy, almost as if trying to gentle a skittish horse.

"It wasn't, what?" 'Did he fall and hit his head that he couldn't follow a simple conversation?' She thought.

"My glory days, high school," he said as if it was obvious. "It wasn't."

"Well, lucky you!" she said, finding her irritation again as he invaded her space. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a lot of work to do, and you are keeping me from getting it done."

"I'll help," he offered.

"I do not want nor need your help, thank you! What I want is for you to go!" Lara snapped, feeling very uncomfortable with him standing so close to her.

"It's late; it's not safe for you to be here alone. Does this happen often?" Jack asked, it was a stupid question, probably, but no woman should be working this late alone. "Look, I'll stay just to make sure you're safe, then walk you to your car." He tried to negotiate.

"I'm perfectly safe, I do this often enough, and we live in Ashton Hill, not some big dirty city," she sighed. "Look, I'm flattered, don't get me wrong, but we both know you don't want to wait just to see me safely to my car," Flattered and incredibly tempted, she admitted to herself. She stepped further away from him again. "So, let me put your mind at rest, I'm not interested hooking up with an old classmate during the Valentine Festival." It was a lie, and she knew it, she was becoming more interested by the moment, and she had to get this guy out of here. "Don't worry," she said in a sweet, indulgent voice and reached out to pat his hand. "I'm sure there will be plenty of women at the festival who would love a stroll down memory lane with you." That was the truth. She had no doubt that one look at either Jack or his brother could set hearts fluttering all over Ashton Hill during the next two weeks of Valentine's festival activities.

Something in his eyes changed, and Lara wondered if she had pushed him too far. His hand circled her wrist before she could pull it away and he pulled her slowly closer. She knew if she put up any resistance at all he would undoubtedly let her go, he was pulling her slowly to give her that chance. She also knew that if she backed down now she would look weak, or, worse, he would see how much he truly had affected her tonight. She found she was disappointed when he stopped pulling and left a small gap between them rather than pulling her against his body.

"You shouldn't be here alone," he repeated his earlier statement. It took sheer willpower not to close the distance between them and feel Lara pressed up against him.

"You know what? I prefer to be alone," she said facing him down, her skin still tingling from his touch. Being alone was better than relying on someone who would only let her down in the end. She needed to be independent and self-sufficient. Strong and confident, like Carly. She needed to be anywhere but in this man's arms.

After several agonisingly long moments where he just looked at her with that intense gaze of his, he grunted, let her go and left the pub without another word. Lara blew out a long breath as she locked and bolted the door after him.

*****

Lara checked the small front carpark and street outside before turning off the bright ceiling lights bathing the pub in the soft glow of the night lights and stepped outside, turning to lock the door and make her way quickly home. It was late, later than she usually left, and she prepared for a brisk walk home.

"Where the hell is your car?" a deep husky voice demanded.

Lara whirled around, her hand already digging in her purse for capsicum spray. When she saw who it was, she considered using the stuff on him anyway. What the hell was Jackson Delaney still doing here when he left over an hour ago?

"What is wrong with you?" she shouted at him. "You can't just jump out at women in the middle of the night! Where did you even come from, you psycho?" she looked around and drew a breath, more than a little rattled, and when he didn't speak immediately she continued on with her tirade. "Don't tell me civilian life is so boring you decided to rappel down the side of the building just to scare the shit out of me, you asshole!"

"Your car, where is it?" he demanded, again his face set in a grim expression. He couldn't believe she would be walking home after working so late into the night. He sounded angry with her, and he was. He was angry with her for taking such a big risk.

"What. Is. Your. Problem?" Lara enunciated each word as she repeated the question. "I'm the one who just got scared to death here and deserves to be mad!"

"I waited to make sure you got to your car safely. A woman like you shouldn't be here alone at this hour," he looked around the small but empty carpark. "Where is it?"

Lara stared at him incredulously. Not because he was so demanding, but because she'd never had someone care enough to wait. To wait and make sure she got home safely. She felt a little flutter in her tummy as she stared at his rigid stance and the scowl on his face, and her anger dissipated to be replaced by a strange need to laugh. The whole situation was ridiculous. Who did he think he was, a chivalrous hero from an Austin book? Imagining him in tight pants and a long velvet jacket made the laughter finally spill out from her into the night air, turning his scowl into a frown of confusion.

"Your car?" he prompted again without the demanding tone.

"Probably in a scrap yard somewhere by now. It broke down on my way back here, and I couldn't afford to have it fixed, so I sold it as a Junker," she explained with a sigh.

"You don't have a car?" he asked uncomprehendingly.

"Nope," she shook her head, getting her laughter under control.

"You don't have a car," he repeated, making her wonder once again if he'd hit head sometime tonight and was suffering from the effects. "You walk home?" he asked in that same incredulous tone as if he was asking if she flew home like a fruit bat.

"Yes. How else would I get there?" she shrugged, not liking his tone again as he seemed to be struggling to speak.

"Are you stupid?" he asked, and what was left of that sweet little bubble of laughter she had felt from the fact that he cared enough to wait for her popped, and she straightened her posture, pulling her shoulders back and raising her chin.

"Stupid? Not even a little, but you must be!" she spat and turned, walking away from him. She knew she had made some stupid decisions and done some stupid things in the past, but she was not that girl anymore. Or, at least, she was trying not to be that stupid girl, and it hurt to wonder if he was right, because she had believed for just one moment that he might be different. The let down on realising he was just like every other guy she knew was crushing as she walked as fast as she could in the direction of her little flat.

"Shit!" Jack knew he'd said the wrong thing immediately after it left his mouth, and wished he could have taken the time he usually did with his words, but it was unfathomable to him that a woman like Lara could take such a big risk. He took off after her, matching her stride for stride, making her walk faster, which only irritated him and made him feel worse.

"What's in your purse?" he asked in a less demanding tone.

"Seriously?" she slowed to turn her head to look at him. "First you lurk outside my workplace like a stalker waiting to pounce, and now you want to mug me for what's in my purse? Your mother must be so proud," she said, acid dripping from her words.

"When I first approached you..." he tried to start again feeling the sting of her words.

"When you scared the shit out of me and very nearly gave me a heart attack," she corrected.

Jack grimaced. If she'd been more aware of her surroundings, she wouldn't have been so startled, but he wasn't about to point that out, he'd said enough dumb things for one night, he decided. He took a cleansing breath and tried again.

"When you first saw me, you went for something in your purse, what was it?" he asked in a calm, reasonable tone. "Because, as proud as my mother is of me, she would be very disappointed if I came come with a stab wound and bled all over her kitchen floor. Especially when she discovered I didn't get my apology out first." He tried to lighten the mood slightly.

"It's not a knife, it's capsicum spray," she said with a huge eye roll. She wasn't letting him off the hook that fast. "So, no blood, just tears, although that might help you seem sincere when making your apology." He would deserve it if she did spray him after all.

"I deserve that, but I don't say anything I don't mean," he assured her. It was the wrong thing again, and he knew it as she took off walking fast to get away from him, which only made him smile. He ran five kilometres every morning, it wasn't like she could ever outwalk him, especially in those heels. He could see his window of opportunity to get her to listen to him, to believe his apology closing in his face.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said you were stupid, I didn't think. I didn't mean it the way it must have sounded." He attempted to talk to her again.

Lara ignored him and kept walking. She felt stupid right then, for wanting to believe him, and she despaired that all the changes she was trying to make in her life would never happen. Jack was just another guy trying to get into her pants, she reminded herself, why else wait for her after work and follow her home.

"Lara," Jack reached out and touched her arm hoping to slow her walk. "I'm sorry," he said as sincerely as he could. When it had no effect, he skipped in front of her and ducked his head to look into her eyes. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "I know you're not stupid, honestly."

"How do you know I'm not stupid? You barely know me at all. Sure, we went to school together, but we didn't hang out with the same crowd. We weren't friends who knew each other well, were we?" Lara waited for his answer and struggled with her inner turmoil about this man as Jack stared at her with his intense gaze in silence.

Jack was rapidly trying to sort out his thoughts and find the right thing to say that didn't make him sound like a pathetic loser who had been hung up on her for the last decade. Even longer, if he confessed to the whole of the high school crush as well.

"So much for 'I don't say anything I don't mean'," Lara gave him what she hoped was a withering look and turned away feeling beyond disappointed. She stepped around him to keep walking home, her shoulders sagging as she left him behind.

He hated that she continued to do that, he wasn't used to people walking away from him. He cleared his throat and prepared to out himself, because she deserved the truth, no matter how much of a pain in the ass being honest and honourable was sometimes.

"Physics class!" he said loudly at her back, and drew a breath when she stopped abruptly and turned back to face him.

"What?" she looked at him with wide eyes.

"In senior, we were in the same homeroom and Physics class..." he left it hanging as he tried to jog her memory. The look on her face told him that she didn't remember, and his ego took another low blow, but he kept talking anyway now that he had started. "You were the smart one, arguing with the teacher over theories and hypothesis. You always got the highest grades on tests and papers."

"You remember that?" she asked, still rifling through her memory for him. Was she really so shallow at school that she didn't even remember him being in that class? She unconsciously took a step toward him, curious about why he had said that.

"I know you're not stupid," he said, unwilling to say anything else that he remembered. The fact was that, when it came to Lara Collingwood, he remembered everything. How she played with a strand of her hair when reading, twisting it around her finger and pulling it out into a loose curl. The way her husky laugh made everyone's heads turn, including his own, and how her face would light up when she got into a heated debate over a point with their teacher.