By CLARE LONDON (31 page)

I took a deep breath. “So… how often do the flights go to Spain?”

“What?” He sounded startled.

“I’ll come to you as soon as I can. If you still want me.”

There was another sharp intake of breath. “Of course I do. But you said you could not travel—”

“Tell me where you are,” I said urgently. I was wondering where my toothbrush was and if Jack would lend me the money for the airfare. “Listen to me, okay? I’ll find some way to come to Spain. I’ll talk to the probation officer, I’ll… I don’t know, but I’ll find a way. And when I get there, I want to see you—no, it’s more than that. I want to be with you, whatever. Wherever.” I sucked in a last breath before I lost my nerve. “But the thing is, Seve—or whatever your name is now—I don’t want to wait for you to call again on the off chance. I want to see you now! The only way you’ll keep me away is to tell me you don’t want the same.”

The door to the living room was opening, and I cursed whoever was interrupting me. But it was Jack, holding a travel backpack out to me and pointing to his watch. “Cab arriving in ten,” he said in a stage-whisper. “To the station. There’s a train every twenty minutes to the airport!” He backed out quickly.

“Jack?” I gaped at his retreating back.

Seve’s voice spoke at my ear, laced with tentative amusement. “He told me I could ring you. I called him first—I didn’t know what else to do.”

“You called Jack?”

“Yes. I remembered his name from when he booked the club. I still had his number. I didn’t know how you’d be if I contacted you first, after all this time. I thought you wouldn’t want to hear from me, not when I had fucked up so badly. But I thought he might know how I’d be received. You said he was a good friend.”

Yeah, I thought wildly. The best! “Um… look, I know I said I’d get there somehow, but I can’t fly out right now.” I was silently screaming, wishing I had some way of transporting my molecules that’d bypass the probation check on Friday.

Seve made a tutting noise. “Of course you can’t. And you don’t have to. I am in England, at Gatwick Airport. I have just arrived from Spain. I can stay for a week this time, maybe longer after things settle further….”

I was already pulling my jacket off the back of the couch and shrugging into it. “I’m on my way.”

“Max, I must tell you, I only have a little money. I’m in a cheap hotel. It’s not like the flat.”

I smiled to myself. What an arrogant prick he really was. My arrogant prick. “You reckon you fucked up badly, right?”

He made a growling sound. “I try to understand you, Max—”

I interrupted quickly. I was sure he’d hear the happiness in my voice. “If I cared about furnishings, Seve, I’d fuck a cushion, okay? I have almost a week until I have to check in again, and I’m owed some holiday at the site. I’ll meet you anywhere. Hotel room, airport coffee shop, car, park bench….” Just meet me, I prayed. Then—sudden panic. “You want to spend that time with me?”

“Yes,” he whispered. “Yes… please.”

My heart shrieked its joy. Thank God they never gave a cock a voice. “We’ll talk about it then, okay?” My heart was hammering again, but this time it was with excitement. “I said I’ll meet you anywhere, Seve, and I meant it. We’ll work something out on the logistics.”

“Work something out,” he echoed. He didn’t say the “yes, please” again, but it was there in his tone. That’d do for me.

I could hear the cab beeping its horn outside the house and a squeal of excitement from Louis in the hallway. “Anywhere, you hear me? Just….”

“What?”

“Just make sure it’s somewhere out of the rain!”

I flipped the mobile closed even as I heard his low laugh.

I ran for the door.

About the Author

CLARE LONDON took her penname from the city where she lives, loves, and writes. A lone, brave female in a frenetic, testosterone-fueled family home, she juggles her writing with the weekly wash, waiting for the far distant day when she can afford to give up her day job as an accountant.

She’s written in many genres and across many settings, with novels and short stories published both online and in print. She says she likes variety in her writing while friends say she’s just fickle, but as long as both theories spawn good fiction, she’s happy. Most of her work features male/male romance and drama with a healthy serving of physical passion, as she enjoys both reading and writing about strong, sympathetic, and sexy characters.

Clare currently has several novels sulking at that tricky chapter three stage and plenty of other projects in mind… she just has to find out where she left them in that frenetic, testosterone-fueled family home.

Visit Clare’s website at http://www.clarelondon.co.uk and her blog at http://clarelondon.livejournal.com/.

Romance from CLARE LONDON

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Also from CLARE LONDON

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com

Table of Contents

Title page

Copyright

Romance from Clare London

Also from Clare London

Table of Contents

Title page

Copyright

Romance from Clare London

Also from Clare London