“On what?” Her question was loaded with amusement and intrigue at the prospect of his reply.
“On whether you’re going to submit to it willingly or not. If you are then of course you have a choice, if not, then no, you don’t.”
“I didn’t realise I was going out with Mr Control Freak today.” She grinned before cutting her eyes and pouting.
“Baby, he is always here, listening and watching, ready to take charge. Now stop pouting and get in the car.” He threw his keys towards her and grinned as she caught them.
They had only travelled a couple of miles when she admitted, “This isn’t as bad as I thought. Apart from turning and remembering where everything is.”
“Told you you could do it, didn’t I?” He continued before she answered, “Where’s your phone? Let me listen to what you listen to.”
“It’s in my bag,” she replied. “Purse as you say over here.”
Once it was plugged into the stereo he began to flick through. “Your music makes me feel old. It sounds like Philip’s.”
She laughed. “Good, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the club tonight.”
He set her music to shuffle and sat back as she followed his directions.
“Are you really inclined to dance on tables?”
“Sometimes. I’m twenty-one and when I go out with my friends we drink and dance and have fun. It’s no more than that.” She hoped her words were reassuring.
“I don’t like to think of you putting on a show.”
“It’s not a show, Jim. Really it isn’t. It’s just dancing. I told you, there is only one place, one person I’m coming home to and that’s you. And I will be with Juan and Philip, who captures everything on his phone so you can see our night out.”
Following a muttered response, Jim spoke more clearly. “Just be careful. Don’t leave your drink unattended. Don’t accept drinks from anyone else. Don’t go anywhere on your own and don’t drink too much.”
“Okay,” she replied, somehow resisting the temptation to add a sarcasticDadat the end.
“I mean it.” His voice took on a gruff tone and sounded more like an overprotective father than before.
“Okay, I know.” She grinned despite his serious tone.
“So, why didn’t you tell me about coming to Broadway?” he asked curtly, swinging conversation to something else he’d been annoyed by the previous night.
“Because it’s only a possibility, a remote one and on the plane Parker asked if I’d been in anything he might have seen and it just came out.” She risked a small, cautious glance in his direction, knowing Howser was still a very sore subject for Jim.
“I don’t want you to talk to other people about stuff before me. It makes me feel uncomfortable when I find things out incidentally. More than that, it pisses me off.”
“I’m beginning to realise, sorry. We really don’t know each other at all, do we?” There was a sad realisation, if they’d had so many misunderstandings in their short time together how on earth would they manage on opposite sides of the Atlantic?
“Not before last Friday, no. Which is why I need to know everything. Why we need to talk, to each other.” He reached across and placed a hand on her knee and gently squeezed it. “Pull over, baby. I’ll drive from here.”
It was about another half an hour before the car turned into a long driveway and Tasha saw a sign:
Maybury’s Vineyard
“Your vineyard?”
“So it would seem. I told you I’d bring you here next time you were in L.A. I am a man of my word.” He chuckled, confusing Tasha until he continued. “So, you, me and Vegas will happen.”
She shook her head and as the next track started on the stereo and she attempted to stop it, but ended up turning the volume up as the wordsI think I wanna marry youblared out around them.
Jim laughed loudly as she eventually turned the volume down. “What’s it called? I like it.”
“It’s called Marry You by Bruno Mars,” she replied uncomfortably.
