Ashton Hill Valentines

"I don't know that I'm as prepared to settle for just a taste as you are. Then again, I'm not ready for a relationship yet either," Lara made a face. "I guess I still have some stuff to work out, and Jackson Delaney might be a little too much Sweet Temptation for me." She laughed, making the reference back to Carly's speciality cake and chocolate business just as she had.

"What's going on in your head?" Carly rolled her eyes. "Don't you miss sex? Even bad sex now and then is better than no sex for a whole year."

"For you, maybe," Lara shook her head.

"Think of it like visiting a theme park. Sure, everyone wants to stay after going on the thrill ride, but we all have lives to get back to. It doesn't mean we won't visit it again, but we don't have to do the same ride every time we want a thrill," Carly tried another analogy on her celibate friend.

"There are lots of people who don't ride the rollercoasters and live perfectly happy lives," Lara said defensively. "Some risks are worth taking, but sometimes it's better to play it safe."

"There's no risk if you keep your eyes open and follow the safety procedures," Carly said easily. "Safety first," she grinned.

"With all the people in town for the festival, Katherine's given me extra shifts at the Pub. That means no time for dating, and also that I won't be able to make it back until Tuesday or Wednesday. If any big orders come through, let me know and I will come and help when I can," Lara decided to change the subject.

"Well, since you saw it happen, you can help me finish off and box up the last of these chocolates I had to make to replace the ones I lost last night," Carly said.

They worked on for almost two hours when Lara looked at her watch. She had been mostly silent letting Carly chatter away about Sweet Temptations and the recipe competition they had both entered. The whole time her mind was on their initial conversation and the temptation that was Jackson Delaney.

"I need to go, but this is almost done now, so you can have the time to look absolutely fabulous for your date with the Daredevil," Lara said into a prolonged silence.

"Thanks for all the help. I'd ask where you're rushing off to, but I don't want to be disappointed to find out you're just going home to get ready for work again," Carly gave her friend a sad look. "Think about what I said. Maybe Mr. Right is out there, but there is no reason not to explore a few Mr. Right-nows while you're waiting for the real thing."

"I'll think about it," Lara promised, and took off her apron, hanging it by the door and collecting her bag. "Have a great time tonight. Do all the things I wouldn't do," she grinned.

As she left the bakery, she told herself she was only going to meet Jack because she owed him. He was kind, giving up this morning to help her with her door and teach her some self-defence moves. That's all it was, kindness, and the only reason she was going to help him with shopping for a present for his sister.

*****

Lara saw Jack as she neared the fountain where they were supposed to meet. The sun shone in his hair, and though he'd changed his shirt, he was still in the well-fitting faded jeans which she had appreciated this morning. He did look like one of the good guys he portrayed, and once again she acknowledged that he worked the look really well. In the past, she had always been drawn to the scruffier bad-boy types like his brother, but maybe; just maybe, this was the change she was looking for.

Jack stood as she approached and smiled. He hadn't been sure she would come, and he felt a surge of relief run through him. He wanted to spend time with her, all his time, if he was honest, but after hearing part of her story this morning he didn't want to scare her away either. He smiled in a slow, soft way as she approached.

"Hey, glad you could make it," he said as they started walking together around the town circle. The circular road ran around the centre of town which was dominated by the town hall and its surrounding parkland. The road that ran in a concentric circle around it was full of stores and restaurants and speciality shops, and was where all the people of Ashton hill came to shop.

"Well, it was touch and go, I was helping out a friend with a project which ran late," she admitted. "So, what did you have in mind for your sister? Chocolates, or something sweet from the bakery?"

"No," he said after a moments consideration and a frown as he remembered why Annie was so mad at him.

"What about flowers? Most women love flowers," she suggested.

"It's likely she would shove them up my ass," he grimaced. "No thanks."

"Wait. What did you do, exactly, to make her that mad?" Lara stopped to look at him and raised one perfectly manicured eyebrow. She didn't know Annie personally, but from what did she know, she doubted Annie was the type to shove flowers at anyone, let alone up their ass. "You said she was mad at you, but you didn't say why."

"I don't lie," he said suddenly, taking off his sunglasses and staring back at her with that intense gaze of his.

"I never said you did!" she exclaimed defensively.

"You didn't have to. You think I made this up so I could spend more time with you, but that's not how I work. I don't lie," Jack repeated. "When I want to spend time with a woman I tell her, no games and no excuses!" He said adamantly.

"So, you want to spend time with me?" she asked, quietly taken aback by his words.

"You have no idea what I want," he let a small smile show, and there was a flash in his eyes that made the butterflies in her tummy come back to life.

"So, tell me," she said before she could think through her response properly.

"I want to get to know you. The real you," Jack stepped closer. "What you like and don't like, what's going on in that complicated head of yours, I want to know it all." His eyes flashed hot again, and he leaned down until his mouth was next to her ear and murmured in a low voice. "I want to kiss you again. I want to taste and touch you. I want to make you cum with my fingers, with my tongue and with my body. Then, when you're weak and satisfied, I want to do it all again."

'Oh my God!' Lara thought, and was glad she hadn't said it out loud. She felt plenty weak right at that moment, and with the way he talked and moved, his closeness to her, she had no doubt he could deliver on all of those things with great skill. She knew sex with this man would be explosive and mind-blowing, but then he would move on and go back to his real world and everyday job, and she would be left alone again.

"I'm not your ex," Jack said as if reading her mind. "It's not fair to judge me by the men who have hurt you, Lara."

"I'm trying to trust you," she whispered, forcing herself to meet his eyes. "You just seem too..." she couldn't find the right words to say out loud. "I'm trying, that must count for something," she sighed.

"It counts," he agreed, and put his hand lightly on the small of her back, guiding her to walk down the sidewalk a bit further. "This morning, at breakfast, I may have asked Annie if eating a large plate of eggs benedict piled with bacon was her best choice," he admitted sadly, realising it had been a dumb thing to say. "She'd been complaining about the amount of weight she had put on with this pregnancy," he tried to defend his words.

"Holy shit! You called a pregnant woman fat?" Lara gaped at him, having stopped walking again. She was stunned by the admission. "You are either the bravest man alive or the dumbest!"

"I never called her fat! The word fat never came out of my mouth," he said as if in pain, and reached up and rubbed his temple.

"You may as well have!" Lara accused.

"She's was upset and crying when I called her last time about the amount of weight she has put on, I was just trying to help," he groaned. "What was I supposed to do? No guy likes to hear his sister crying, and I can't very well punch her husband who got her in this condition."

"She just wanted you to listen, commiserate and maybe offer a few words of encouragement," Lara explained, wondering how this man didn't get this most basic thing about women.

"I get that now," he said sadly.

He looked so remorseful, Lara's heart melted a little more, and she felt the butterflies and heat in her body turn up a notch as she gazed at his hunched shoulders and obvious misery that he had upset his sister so badly. She didn't seem to be able to stop her attraction to Jack, no matter how hard she fought it, and she didn't seem to be able to stop what happened next.

"Come on," she reached out and took his hand in hers and stepped to the curb, checking for traffic before tugging him across the road. "I know the perfect gift."

To his surprise, she didn't let go of his hand once they'd crossed the street, and he wasn't about to mention it as he enjoyed the feel of her smaller hand wrapped around his. They walked down a block away from the circle and came to a spa. It wasn't a cheap gift, but if it earned him his sister's forgiveness it would be well worth it.

They left the spa side by side. No longer holding hands, much to Jack's disappointment, but where Lara was concerned, he would take what he could get.

"Where to now?" he asked. He wouldn't make excuses to see Lara, but if he happened upon a good one, he wouldn't turn it down.

"I need to go home and get ready for work," she sighed.

"I'll give you a lift," he offered, and put his hand on the small of her back, guiding her down the busy sidewalk. Once in the car he asked, "Do you think a few hours is long enough? She might need a whole day, she did threaten to kill me, after all."

"You sound afraid of her," Lara gave a small laugh.

"I'm terrified, she has a mean streak, trust me," he said.

"I thought she was a grade one teacher?" Lara frowned.

"She hides her mean streak well," he said seriously.

"Trust me, after a few hours of being pampered she'll forget all about wanting to kill you," Lara reassured him, unable to hide her amusement.

"Maybe, but I'm still sleeping with one eye open while I'm here," he grumbled, but couldn't help his own smile caused by hearing her laugh.

"It must be nice coming home and having all of your family around," Lara commented.

"It is," he agreed. "It doesn't often happen that Harry and I manage to get leave at the same time, but with Mum being nominated for this year's Valentine's festival awards, we both made an effort. I think we both knew we would be marked for death by Annie if we didn't," he chuckled. "You said you weren't planning on staying in Ashton Hill. Will you move closer to your mother?" he asked, thinking about her being all alone here.

"I don't know. I was thinking maybe somewhere new where I can decide what to do next, who I want to be when I grow up," Lara gave a self-depreciating laugh.

"Is that why you are doing the online study?" he asked, and when she frowned at him, he added. "I saw the textbooks in your kitchen this morning."

"It's no big deal, just a few business courses," she said in a quiet voice, feeling a blush start to stain her cheeks.

"It's great that you're doing so much to go after what you want," he praised her.

"I don't know that it's what I want, but it's the best way to prove Gordon wrong," she sighed.

"Prove him wrong, how?" Jack frowned and glanced at her with that intense gaze of his that made her want to talk, if only to be heard.

"I told him that I wanted to do some study when my career didn't take off straight away. Gordon said that my brain wasn't my strongest asset and that me trying to get a better education was a waste of time and money," Lara said without emotion, although her insides felt like they were turning inside out.

"He was wrong," Jack said, gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white. Why would any guy say that to the woman they loved? He glanced at her, and she looked so wounded he said it again, enunciating each word in hard tones. "He. Was. Wrong."

"I stayed with him," she said in self-recrimination. "He thought so little of me, he lied and cheated and still I stayed, doing everything he wanted and needed her to do, trying to make it work." That was her problem, she was the stayer, while the men in her life always used her until she had no more to give, then walked away. She had no intention of telling him about the parties and the drugs Gordon fed her that kept her going for days on end.

"But you did leave. You're here in Ashton Hill living life the way you want to live it, without him," Jack said, trying to spin the conversation somehow. "You're strong, stronger than him, and you're smart, smart enough to learn from your mistakes. Now you just need to be strong enough to forgive yourself for those mistakes."

Gazing at Jack as they neared her apartment, it was easy to forget all the lessons she had learned. Yes, she was smart, and, yes, she was getting stronger, but she wasn't ready to forgive, because forgiving meant forgetting, and she couldn't forget the hard-earned lessons and fall back into old habits. Old habits that would have her falling into bed with this man if she wasn't careful. He made it too easy to believe in the possibilities. The possibility of getting her college degree, the possibility that he really was one of the good guys, the possibility that she really could climb out of the financial hole she had dug herself into with the rehab and then walking away from Gordon permanently. The possibility of falling in love again. She gasped at the final thought.

"Lara?" Jack asked, turning to look at her before pulling to a stop in front of her apartment.

"I don't know why I told you all of that. I'm sorry," Lara reached for the door handle.

"There's nothing to be sorry for. I'll wait and drive you to work, no sense walking all that way when I'm right here," he offered.

"No need to waste your afternoon, I can walk, like I always do," she tried to smile, but it didn't come off as a smile, and she knew it.

"Okay. But have dinner with me?" he asked, not wanting to pressure her about the lift to work. He wanted her to choose to be with him, not have to force her into spending time with him.

"Working, remember?" she tried a smile again, and this time managed to pull it off.

"Tomorrow? I'd like to see you again, Lara," he admitted, reaching out and brushing a stray strand of hair from her face.

"I have plans tomorrow," she said too quickly. Sure, they were only coffee and cake plans in the morning, but she hadn't technically lied. The problem was that she wanted to see him again too. Right at that moment she wanted to see a hell of a lot more of him, but he was dangerous, this was dangerous, she needed to be strong and stick to her plan for standing on her own two feet. She knew he wouldn't like it, and it would push him away, but she squared her shoulders and looked him in the eye. "I have plans tomorrow with Harry."

"When?" he demanded, his fists tightening on the steering wheel.

"Tomor..." she tried.

"No! When did he ask you out?" he turned to look at her, his eyes hard and narrowed. "Or did you ask him?" Harry always had women throwing themselves at him for his devilish looks and charm. It should have come as no surprise to Jack, particularly in light of the challenge, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

"He asked me," she said indignantly "He came over this morning before you did," she admitted.

"He came over today," he paused as she nodded once, "and asked you out?" she nodded again. "And you said yes," he stared at her, "After you kissed me? After the way we kissed each other last night?"

"Yes," she said, and saw him turn away from her, just like she knew he would. This was what she wanted, what she needed, she told herself. She needed him to back off, to give her some space. She needed some time to get her head on straight, but she hadn't meant to hurt him, and as she looked at his profile she realised she had done just that. "Jack, I..." she didn't know what to say.

"You better go and get ready for work, you don't want to be late," he said in a cool, unemotional tone without looking at her.

Lara knew it was a dismissal, and acknowledged that she deserved it. Once again, she'd gotten herself into a mess because she didn't think and let emotions get in the way. Why did she have to bring up Gordon and what happened? Why did he have to be so easy to talk to?

"Goodbye, Jack," she said softly and closed the door. She walked up to her apartment feeling him watch her as she went. It wasn't until she was safely inside her apartment that she let her head hang and her shoulders droop. She'd wanted to push him away. Mission accomplished.

*****

Chapter 5

Lara had been disappointed not to see Jack that night at work or when she left at closing time. She felt like she needed to apologise for hurting him. She spent the walk home and a restless night arguing with herself that it was better this way, that she had done the right thing. He made her believe that all men weren't assholes who looked at her as some kind of trophy to be trotted out and displayed or used when the occasion arose. He made her believe she was smart and held more value than her looks. She knew she sounded vain, but she never said out loud that she knew her looks had got her things other girls only dreamed of as a teenager, or that she had managed to have her short-lived career as a catwalk model just because she was considered beautiful.

Jack looked at her like she was beautiful, but he also seemed to be interested in who she was, and she wasn't used to that. He'd said as much, and it didn't seem like a line when he'd said it. Her thoughts continued to whirl all the next day, and she'd remained mostly silent and aloof during her coffee with Harry. Harry wasn't the brother she had wanted to be sharing coffee with, she realised, and she felt like he had places he'd rather be as well, like with Carly, she imagined. She hoped their date for drinks had gone well, but she didn't ask, they didn't have that sort of connection. She would have to catch up with Carly sooner rather than later to find out the gossip about that. He'd mention Jack a few times, and although her interest was piqued, she steered away from the subject of him in case she said the wrong thing to this brother as well.

Knowing he was interested in Carly made the coffee date more bearable. They were just old high school acquaintances getting reacquainted. It wasn't like they had been friends at school or had hung with the same crowd, so she wasn't sure, in light of that and knowing about Carly, why Harry had shown up at her place and asked her out for coffee, or why Jack had seemed so jealous and angry about the fact. The thought niggled at her. 'Were the brothers that competitive?' she wondered, and then thought about Carly, 'Surely not.' She doubted Jack even knew Carly existed, except as his friend's little sister.

That night at work she looked for Jack in the bar, and every time the door opened she turned toward it hopefully, but he never arrived. There was no coming back from the mess she had made of things, she realised. As the night wore on, and after sending all the late-night customers home, she farewelled Steve; who was doing the closedown tonight, and stepped out into the carpark. Her breath caught and she blinked her eyes, unable to believe what she saw. Jack Delaney stood leaning against his car watching the entrance to Kelly's.

"You finished early," he said in a hesitant tone.

"Steve's doing the closedown tonight," she said, still unsure of whether he was really there to see her or if she had missed someone inside that he might be waiting for. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"You know what I'm doing here," he said in a straightforward, honest way. He'd been unable to stay away, despite the scene yesterday. He wanted this woman in the worst way. Sex, sure, but not just the sex, he wanted all of her, he needed her to give in to whatever this was between them, wanted her to surrender and to choose him. Not because of the challenge, but because of the way she made him feel when he was with her.