She raised her hand to his face to stop his mouth from closing over hers and from nowhere surprised herself by saying, “No, not Natasha Winters, but Natasha Maybury, she really could be.”
“What?” asked Jim staring down at her, his eyes dark and full of anticipation.
“I mean I will change my name after we get married,” she clarified and smiled as a huge grin spread across his face.
“Just as I said you would,” he said smugly before kissing her hard.
Chapter 35
Slamming her knife and fork down on her plate Tasha stared across at Jim. “She said what?”
He put his own cutlery down and reached across to take Tasha’s hand in his, “She said Gerry had spent the night with you in London and that guy she hired spoke to your dad.”
Tasha pulled her hand away and stared across the table in disbelief.
“What the fuck is it with her?” she asked and then answered for herself. “She is in love with you and will stop at nothing to get rid of me and snare you for herself, that’s what her fucking problem is.” Tasha was annoyed with Mickie for being such a bitch and also with Jim for meeting with her knowing this.
“But I’m in love with you,” he said calmly.
Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes momentarily, Tasha regained her former calmness and with a quietened voice spoke again, “Tell me what she said, properly, please.”
Jim nodded and smiled at her as he retook her hand for a second, stroking the back of it with his thumb before releasing her and sitting back in his seat. “She said the guy she’d hired had been to see your parents and they’d inferred you were not as sweet and innocent as the world thought, but refused to be drawn on details, even with the offer of money and cited legal reasons for their inability to divulge information. Mickie assumed you’d threatened them with legal action and I allowed her to continue in that belief rather than reveal that it was on my say so and on my bank roll that she’d been unable to get any dirt from them.”
“And Gerry?” She nervously remembered the kiss at the door when he’d left her at the flat after their day together at the theme park.
“Ah, Gerry. She had photographic evidence for that one.” Jim arched a brow, looking slightly irked. “But I have seen the photo of you all on that water ride so that came as no surprise, although there were a couple of, erm,more sensitiveshots of the two of you holding each other and sitting together at the theme park.”
“What? She had me followed? What the fuck will it take for her to piss off and leave us alone?” she asked feeling agitated by Mickie and Jim still.
“Tasha, please stop swearing. I saw the photos and was seriously pissed off, but then I knew you were having that day out together and the kids were there too and I knew that if you planned on cheating on me with anyone it wouldn’t be in front of the kids, so I soon came down from that. Now, when she said Gerry had spent the night with you at your apartment, our apartment I knew that was her clutching at straws and even the photos of him leaving at a very unsociable hour didn’t dissuade me from that opinion. You weren’t wrapped around him, locking lips while bidding him a fond farewell so I didn’t see anything untoward.”
Tasha looked down at her plate guiltily and hoped Jim had missed the expression that briefly passed across her face before she reminded herself that the kiss was absolutely nothing.
“What?” asked Jim seriously.
“Nothing,” replied Tasha looking back at Jim now.
“Come on, Tasha. I know when you’re attempting to lie or hide things from me, so tell me.” He crossed his arms tightly across his chest looking the picture of the immovable object she knew he now was.
“I didn’t wrap myself around Gerry, but before he left we did talk about how things had been between us and how they’d ended, how they could have been. We both knew we were really saying goodbye to what we’d had. We kissed,” she admitted and risked a glance across at Jim whose face was impassive. “I swear to you it was a kiss. One kiss. No tongues. No passion. Nothing. There was nothing like that there. It was one kiss on the lips goodbye.” Her voice was hushed. Again she risked looking up at him.
“You kissed him after discussing the two of you in our apartment while my daughter slept in her bed there?” he asked as if clarifying a point he hadn’t quite understood.
“Yes, but it was innocent, it was goodbye and I had no need to tell you any of this, but I have because I have nothing to hide,” she said calmly and innocently.
“I can’t tell you I’m not pissed about this because I am.” He ran a hand through his hair and appeared to be tugging the strands between his fingers. “I’ve had a few goodbyes, I kind of get that.” He rubbed his hands over his face. “But you should have told me when you came back, not now, weeks later and on the back of someone else’s revelations because apart from anything else that throws into doubt your argument that you didn’t need to tell me,” he said firmly.
“Maybe I would have if you’d turned up at the airport instead of choosing Mickie ahead of me,” she pouted and hoped against all hopes that he would now confess to having seen Mickie earlier in the day.
“Don’t try and deflect blame towards me for this one, honey, or I am likely to fight back, baby,” he warned making her take a deep breath before preparing to confront him. “Look Tasha, I am really, really trying hard here not to completely lose it. I love you and I want to be with you and only you, but these revelations piss me off, even when I believe their innocence. Maybe that makes it worse because there was no reason for you to keep it from me if it’s truly innocent. However, I do believe you and trust your fidelity and we are less than two weeks from being married, less than two weeks away from you being Mrs Maybury.” He raised both eyebrows at her. “But be in no doubt, Tasha, whilst I believe nothing more happened your claim that it was just a kiss might sit comfortably with you—”
“It was just a kiss,” Tasha protested.
“No it wasn’t. It was so much more for me. Nobody should be on the receiving end of your kisses, nobody except me, making that kiss cheating. Meaning you cheated.”
“No, it wasn’t, I swear,” Tasha cried, tears ready to break through her desperation that one kiss wouldn’t spoil everything they had. That he believed her, really believed her because she wouldn’t cheat, never.
Jim’s expression was flat now. He looked at her and seemed to be about to speak, but with his mouth open no words left his lips on the several occasions he appeared to be preparing to say something but when he did she was startled by the words he used. “No more secrets?”
