Breaking Point (Drew Ashley 1) (16 page)

My antennae pricked up. Great. Jazz liked Harvey. That shouldn't bother me, but it did. Seriously did.

"And I'm sure you will be the belle of the ball," Harvey told her.

I rolled my eyes. Jazz and Harvey's mutual appreciation of one another was starting to grate on my nerves.

Jazz noticed me rolling my eyes. "Maybe you can call Dillan," she joked. "We can double date."

"Who's Dillan?" Harvey asked.

"Some guy her mum's trying to set her up with," Jazz told him. She grinned at me. "Give Dillan a chance. I'm sure he must be nice if he's her boss' son."

"The last person my mum tried to set me up with had two kids," I told Jazz.

"Really?" she asked. "When was that?"

"Years ago. I was only like twenty. Me and Travis had a fight so she tried to find me someone else."

"So, his crime was that he had kids?" Harvey asked. "What would you call a man whose sole reason for not dating a woman was because she had kids?"

"It wasn't my sole reason," I replied. "Like I said, I had a boyfriend. Also, I was young and he was like in his thirties."

Harvey knew he'd lost, but he still grunted and muttered, "Women!" under his breath.I was about to ask, "What about women?" when Jazz cut in.

"Harvey?" she said, shaking her head. "You really don't want to go there with Drew. Steer clear of gender issues."

Harvey frowned. "Gender issues?"

"Yeah. She thinks she's a suffragette."

Well, that set me off. For the next three hours, while we dined, Harvey and I argued back and forth about 'gender issues' as Jazz put it. As we made our way back to the airport at four o' clock, Jazz looked like she was going to lose it.

***

I clambered into Harvey's BMW on Thursday morning, anticipating another day of bickering. I'd have to try my best not to let Harvey aggravate me, or pull me any farther under his spell. All I had to do was survive these last two days and I'd be home free.

I pulled the door of his car shut. "Wow. Getting into this thing is like climbing a mountain."

"That's because you're small. For me it's fine."

I swallowed the retort that was on the tip of my tongue. It was my own fault. I should have said hello first, not complain about how high his car was. At last night's match, far from acting like a new couple in love, Harvey and I had squabbled like rival siblings.

"Where to?" Harvey asked.

"Today is all about introducing you to British food," I told him, forcing some brightness into my tone. "So forget about cornbread and prepare your taste buds for something new."

Harvey didn't smile. I removed my schedule from my bag, deciding that was my last attempt at humour today. "We're going for brunch at the Regency Café. Then we're going for dinner. The starter will be at one restaurant, the main course at another, then for dessert, we're doing a chocolate tasting tour."

"So, we're hitting three restaurants today?"

"Yeah, and then having a chocolate tour. How does that sound?"

"Sounds good."

"You're having traditional English dishes only. I'll be ordering for you."

"Are we taking the Tube?"

"No, you're driving."

"We should get a taxi," Harvey said. "I'm tired of having to concentrate on driving on the wrong side of the road."

"Whatever you want."

He dialled a cab and we waited in his car.

Jazz was inside my house. I'd tried to get her to come with us but she'd declined. I studied the dashboard of Harvey's car, while silence filled the space between us. Harvey's car must be pretty confusing to drive. I glanced at him. He was looking straight ahead out the windscreen. After a while, I couldn't stand the silence any longer.

Just when I was going to get out of the car and wait outside, Harvey spoke. "We're in the papers."

"I know." I saw some stuff online when I was signing in to my email that morning.

"They said all sorts of terrible things about you. How do you cope with that kind of thing?"

"By not reading it."

Travis must have seen the papers too, because he called me all morning. Harvey's eyes narrowed whenever my phone rang. I didn't know what his problem was.

That afternoon as we had bangers and mash at The Cube, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned, and looked up into Kale's cobalt eyes. I was shocked. "Kale! What are you doing here?"

The Cube was one of the classier places in the city. Not a place that I thought Kale even knew existed.

"I came out with a friend." He waved at a table across the room where an older black man was seated, looking over at us.

Kale looked at Harvey, and I realised how bad this must look. "Uh, I'm not sure if you know each other," I said.

"Not formally," Harvey said, rising and extending a hand to Kale. "Harvey Lawrence."

Kale shook his hand. "Kale Marshall. Good debate the other day."

"Thank you."

Harvey was a good few inches taller than Kale. They were both insanely attractive men, but Harvey's raw masculinity made Kale seem like a little boy.

Kale placed a hand on my shoulder. "Nice to see you, Drew."

"You too," I replied, guilt stabbing my heart. I frowned as I reached for my drink and took a sip. I refused to feel guilty. I wasn't doing anything wrong.

A few minutes later, my phone beeped. It was Kale:
'Anything I should know about you and him?'

'No, he just wanted to do some sightseeing so I agreed to be his tour guide.'
I replied.

When he walked past again a few minutes later on his way to the cash register, he sent me a wink and I knew that everything was okay.

***

When I got home at seven, Jazz and my mum told me that Travis had stopped by. I couldn't believe it. "What time?" I asked.

"About twenty minutes ago," Jazz said.

It was a good thing I'd been out. I dumped my goody bag from the chocolate tasting tour on the table. My mum and Jazz dived for it at the same time and emptied it out.

"How was it?" Jazz asked.

"The chocolate tasting was really good. You two would love it. We went to all these different chocolate houses, and watched people making chocolate. We were allowed to sample everything, too."

"You smell divine," my mum said. "Someone needs to bottle that up and sell it as a fragrance."

"I'll put the kettle on," Jazz said. "There's nothing better than chocolate with hot chocolate."

"None for me," I said, sinking into a chair at the table. "I'll burst if I eat one more thing today."

My mum spooned brown sugar into her 'best mum in the world cup,' and my mind drifted to our first stop during the chocolate tour, Maison du Chocolat. A chocolatier had been melting some brown sugar, and Harvey had stood beside me, his skin the exact same shade as the melted sugar that smelled so delightful. I'd wondered if he tasted as good as I knew the sugar did.

"God forgive you for whatever thought has put that devious look on your face," Jazz said, tossing a kitchen towel at me.

I snapped back to attention, feeling my cheeks heat up with embarrassment.

"I bet you were thinking about Harvey," Jazz teased.

"Is that the man who drives the BMW I saw parked outside when I got home?" my mum asked. "I wouldn't mind a piece of someone who drives a car like that myself!"

Thankfully, Jazz didn't laugh. I'd told her that her laughter only encouraged my mum.

***

"Today's the last day," I sang, when Harvey picked me up on Friday. "What a long week it's been!"

"It's gone quite quickly for me," Harvey replied. "I suppose time flies when you're enjoying yourself." He pinned me with a stare. "And it drags when you're not?"

"I have been enjoying myself," I said, climbing into his car. "It's just that it's been so packed. I get home completely knackered each night."

"Where are we going?" Harvey asked, glancing briefly at my hair, which Jazz had straightened for me, and flicked out at the ends.

I had a strange sense of satisfaction that he'd noticed it. "London Zoo," I said, handing over the Google map I'd printed.

Harvey entered the address into his Sat Nav, and started driving. We'd become experts at spending time together, but not talking much. Yesterday, we hardly spoke a paragraph to one another.

London Zoo was busy. It was like every school in the south had planned a day trip there today. Harvey didn't seem to mind. He swaggered around in his loose muscle vest and jeans, attracting stares and giggles from women, young and old alike.

"Anything planned for this afternoon?" Harvey asked when we stopped at one of the cafés for lunch.

"No." I lifted my hair from my neck, and savoured the cool breeze that floated in from the window beside us.

Harvey was staring. I stared back pointedly, so that he'd look away. He smiled. "Why do girls get all dolled up, then get annoyed when guys notice?"

I released my hair, and downed half my iced lemonade.

"Do you want me to open the window wider?" Harvey asked.

"Would you?" I asked. "That'd be nice."

We shared a silent meal after that. Harvey's golden skin had bronzed in the sun. It looked beautiful. As a result, I tried to keep my eyes anywhere but on him.

"The Parks would be beautiful today," Harvey commented as we walked back to his car after our light lunch.

"It would. Maybe we should go there for the afternoon?"

Harvey lifted his brows. "I thought you couldn't wait to get away? I wouldn't want to make this week any longer for you."

"I told you I
have
enjoyed myself this week." Besides, today was too beautiful to spend indoors.

It took two hours to get to Oxford, but the drive was scenic. Harvey slipped in some chill out music and I was so relaxed I almost fell asleep.

There was a little more breeze in Lye Valley than there'd been in London. I raced toward the little brook, waving my hands in the air like Phoebe from
Friends
. Harvey followed at his own pace.

"I'll go and get us cold drinks," he said when he caught up.

"Okay." I sat on the grass and kicked off my flip flops, wishing I had my sketch pad.

My mind drifted to Kale as I waited for Harvey to return. Being with Harvey all week had changed my mind about Kale. Maybe I'd known subconsciously that it would, which was why I'd been reluctant to take him sightseeing. Kale's boyish charm was sweet, but Harvey was all solid man. I lay back on the grass and closed my eyes, grinning at my thoughts, although it really wasn't funny at all. I'd run as far as I could from Harvey if I had any sense.

"You have the prettiest smile."

I opened my eyes and sat up. Harvey was back. He handed me a bottle of water, then dropped to the floor beside me. He produced two blue ice-pops from his pocket.

"Thanks," I said, when he offered me one.

We both watched the brook trickle by while we licked our ice-pops. They were sweet, tangy, and refreshing.

When we finished, Harvey stood up. "I'm about to melt," he announced. "Let's move into some shade."

Harvey reached for my bag as I stood. I grabbed it quickly.

"I was just going to hold it for you," he said.

"I can hold it myself."

"Shoot me for my chivalry."

We sat in the cooling shade of a tree. I held my breath when Harvey removed his vest. He started wiping his arms and chest with it. "It's just my luck that the first girl I meet in England is a feminist."

I passed him my sun cream before he started burning up and shut my eyes as if I was closing them against the sun. Really, I was closing them against the view of Harvey's sculpted physique. Sheesh!

"I'm not a feminist," I replied. "I just believe in gender equality and the advancement of women in our society, and the world at large. I'm vehemently anti-sexism."

I felt something cold on my right arm. I snapped my eyes open. Harvey had squeezed some sun cream onto my arm. I immediately rubbed it in myself, before Harvey thought I wanted his hands on me. He squeezed some onto my left arm and I rubbed that in, too.

"Want me to do your back?" he asked.

"No, my back is fine, thanks."

"Is that part of your female chauvinism? Not allowing a man to help you with anything at all?"

"Look," I told him. "I'm not one of those women who want to be independent and say they don't need a man. I like men. It's chauvinism I don't like."

"How does your religion fit in with that?" Harvey was rubbing sun cream into his solid chest. "The Bible's full of chauvinism."

I closed my eyes again. "I've read how Jesus related with women and I'm satisfied that God doesn't view women as second class. It's backward people that do."

"So you like men, huh?"