At last the group parted, and there he was. A youth started clicking his fingers and pointing at Jay. ‘Aren’t you the bloke from the indigestion commercial?’
The last thing this moment needed was a burping soundtrack. ‘No,’ snapped Jay and Nora together. The youth shrugged and moved on.
Jay and Nora stared at each other. He was a little more dishevelled than he had been earlier, but he still looked cute. They met and smiled at the same time. ‘Hi,’ she said, unsure of what else to say. ‘I’m sorry about what I said about Anastasia. I was playing amateur detective and…’
Jay waved his palms in front of her. ‘You were right. She admitted it. Thought it was an excellent publicity stunt because it had created a buzz around the film. She didn’t seem bothered that it had scared the crap out of me for weeks.’
‘I knew you were scared!’ She jabbed a finger at him.
‘Obviously I was crapping myself. I didn’t want to end up as corned beef!’
They stood there with people shuffling past them, lost in a moment only they understood. All this time she’d been ignoring the obvious thing that was right in front of her. Her heart was thumping at the thought of him loving her. ‘I liked what you said.’
‘About corned beef?’
She shook her head.
‘I mean it, Nora. I’ve known it from the start. You make my heart do this thing…’
‘Flutter?’ she suggested.
‘More of a zing. Zing sounds better. Life is better with you in it. You’re my very favourite person. I love you.’
‘But what about Tasha?’ Nora held her breath.
‘I told her I was sorry but my heart wanted someone else.’
‘Was she very upset?’ asked Nora.
‘She was on the phone to a magazine about doing an exclusive break-up interview as I left. So I think she’ll be fine.’
Nora couldn’t remember being this happy. And although she knew she risked getting hurt, she had a sneaking suspicion that the odds of Jay hurting her were incredibly low.
There was a pause. ‘What do we do now?’ she asked.
‘Kiss her!’ shouted the tattooed man, and there was a murmur of agreement from the slow-moving crowd.
Jay shrugged. ‘Shall we? I mean, we don’t have…’
Nora grabbed his face and kissed him. An instant energy surged through her. Endorphins flooded her blood-stream. She couldn’t wait to rip his clothes off. It was actually nice that he was not much taller than her, no more craning her neck. Reluctantly they pulled apart. ‘I love you too. It just took me a bit longer to work it out. You’re the one.’
‘Despite not being an alpha male?’
‘That’s the best bit,’ she said, kissing him again. She didn’t need someone to be dominant or assertive. Whatshe wanted was someone who supported her, made her feel loved and safe, and with Jay she had that in spades. He was also hot as hell.
Jay pulled away and she instantly missed him. He held up a finger as if just realizing something important. ‘By my calculations, using the 37 per cent rule, you are my best option.’
This made Nora so happy. ‘Then we can’t argue with the numbers.’
‘Plus you’re gorgeous,’ he said.
‘I know that’s not true because the caught-in-the-rain look is never attractive.’
‘Actually, I think you look great.’ Gently he pushed a stray piece of damp hair off her face, sending a wave of sensations across her skin. ‘Although I kinda meant you’re gorgeous on the inside,’ he said with a grin and she whacked him in the ribs. He barely reacted.
‘Ooh, muscles.’
‘I’ve been working out,’ he said.
