Free What the Lightning Sees: Part Two by Louise Bay

wanted to look good for Jake.
    “That’s stepping it up for work, much more like it.”
    “Only because I have this date afterward. Everything will be back to normal tomorrow.” I pulled the dress from my closet. It was still wrapped in the plastic cover from the dry cleaners.
    “You’re wearing your hair down?”
    “I’ll take it down for the date.” Of course I would, Jake liked it down.
    “Live a little,” Ash said as she sighed in exasperation.
    “I have to go. Love you.”
    “Love you, bye.” I canceled the call, threw the phone on my bed and ripped open the plastic.
    I zipped up the side of my black dress. It worked. Jake would like it.
     

     
    “Have you canceled Saturday with Romano?” Jake asked as he walked up to me in the office lobby. We were both early.
    “And hello to you, Jake.”
    “I mean it, Haven. You need to cancel.”
    “You know full well I can’t move Louis. I’m up against a deadline. I’m having to write this up on Sunday as it is.” I was pretty sure Louis was harmless, but Jake was so dead set against me going near him, it unnerved me. “But I won’t go anywhere without you. I promise. And he said I should bring a passport, so I guess you should too.”
    “He said what? Fucking hell, Haven, are you kidding me? Can’t I take you for your Saturday night date?”
    “Please calm down. What do you think he’s going to do? Sell me into slavery? And no, I can’t date you for this article. Unless you’ve been keeping things from me, you’re not a member of Glass Introductions and I don’t manipulate the facts. End of story. Please try to work with me on this?”
    “You are impossible,” he said, rolling his eyes.
    I swiped him across his abs. My hand hit granite. Our eyes met as I touched him and his face softened.
    “If he’s bought you a ticket somewhere, and not me, you aren’t going.”
    I was prepared for the ultimatum, and I was okay with it. I did trust him, and if he felt this strongly then I needed to listen to him. “You have yourself a deal.”
    “We have a deal?” Jake seemed surprised. “Okay then.”
    We headed outside and Jake flagged down a cab. I gave the driver the address of the restaurant where Mark said he’d meet me.
    “So who’s the chump tonight?” Jake asked.
    “We don’t say chump in the UK, you’ll have to translate.”
    “I don’t know, someone gullible, a general douche?”
    “And Mark is a chump because he’s agreed to go on a date with me?”
    “No. He’s a chump because it’s an entirely futile evening for him. You’re mine.”
    What? Had I heard him correctly? For once in my life, I was left with nothing to say. I had run out of snark. I didn’t want to contradict him. I wanted to turn over the possibility of belonging to him in my head and look at it from different angles. Could it be true? Would it be true?
    The rest of the journey continued in silence. I wanted to ask him what he’d meant, but every time I tried to form a sentence, it came out wrong. I stole glimpses of him a couple of times, studying the contours of his jaw, my gaze sliding over lips that could do things to me that I’d never known before him.
    Part of me would be his forever.
     

     
    Mark was good looking, tall and a little rough around the edges. I liked that about him instantly. He was clearly a bit awkward about having Jake taking shots of us. He asked several times about anonymity.
    “Okay, I’m going to leave you two to it,” Jake said as he packed away his camera. “I’ll see you Saturday,” he said as he turned to me. I searched his face for something that would help me believe I hadn’t made up what he’d said about being his in the cab but his eyes were blank, all business. He shook Mark’s hand and headed out.
    “Portraits are the normal start to a date for me,” Mark said, a bit dazed.
    I laughed. “Sorry about that. And honestly, we won’t identify you in the photographs. You have my promise.”
    “And you seem very