‘What happened?’
‘As I said, they were arguing. And they were drunk. My mother had accidentally smashed a wine glass and was pointing at my father with it. They were never violent with each other in an overtly abusive way, it was just chaotic. He was shouting at her. But I was afraid she’d actually cut him and so I put myself in the middle, and she lost her balance, or something, and my face got in the way.’
Jess’s eyes darkened with emotion. She shook her head. ‘I’m so sorry...that must have been so traumatic.’
Brodie was surprised at the surge of a desire to go to Jess and have her touch him. He curled his hands into fists. ‘There was a lot of blood. My sister, Skye, saw it all too. She has a phobia about blood to this day because of it. And my mother...Obviously it’s a reminder of something she’d prefer to forget, so I don’t see much of her.’
‘Did the police get involved?’
Brodie shook his head. ‘I told them at the hospital that I was messing and that it was my fault.’
‘You covered for them.’
He nodded. ‘My mother tried to make me go to a plastic surgeon to get it covered up.’
‘But you weren’t interested?’
Brodie shook his head. ‘It’s cosmetic. If it makes people uncomfortable, that’s their problem. Also it serves to remind me of what I don’t want in my life.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Emotional drama. Chaos.’ He made a face. ‘I’m sorry, it’s not a very sexy story.’
Jess shook her head. ‘I wasn’t looking for a sexy story. I’m sorry you had to experience that. It must have been terrifying to see them go at each other like that.’
It had been. His insides had liquefied watching them fight. It had been terrifying to think that there hadn’t been anyone in control of the situation. That’s why he’d stepped in. He’d been aware of Skye and he’d been the one who’d had to stop it. He’d grown up overnight.
Jess looked at him as if she was considering something. ‘The event the other night – you weren’t just there for show, were you?’
Brodie felt self-conscious. ‘No, I’m on the board of a charity that raises money for kids at risk.’
Jess absorbed this. She opened her mouth to speak, but then a fluorescent overhead light came on and they both blinked as a voice said, ‘Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you there.’ A young woman in jeans and a shirt was pulling on an apron. ‘I’m on the early shift to make breakfast pastries.’
Jess jumped off her stool. ‘I’m so sorry, we were hungry – we’ll clean up and get out of your way.’
The woman couldn’t hide a little smirk. ‘Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it.’
Brodie could feel Jess’s embarrassment as he took her hand and led her back out of the kitchen. He forced a smile at the woman as they passed her. He knew it wasn’t a big deal to be caught like this, but the sense of exposure prickled over his skin.
Once again he was being spontaneous in a way that he’d never usually allow. He hadn’t even been like this with the actress, the woman he’d fancied himself half in love with for about five minutes. That lapse in judgement had made him pull up the walls even higher.
Spontaneity had always been a little too close to disorder and potential chaos for his liking, and yet from the moment he’d met Jess he’d had this urge to break free.
They were back at the room now and he closed the door behind them. Jess looked up at him and the tangled knots in Brodie’s brain melted. There was nothing to see here except her.It’s just sex, man, stop freaking out.
Tomorrow this moment of lust-induced insanity would be gone and they’d go back to London and get on with their extremely different lives.
Chapter 29
Jess
My face was still burning when we got back to the room. In a way I didn’t mind the distraction from thinking about what Brodie had shared with me.
I looked up at Brodie. ‘Do you think she knew what we’d been up to?’
‘I don’t doubt it.’
He took my hand and pulled me back to the bed with its severely mussed-up sheets. The scent of sex lingered in the air and it made my insides clench with need.
