Page 39

“Apologies from Magdalen.” Despite being nearly midnight, it was a barman from the restaurant, standing there with another bottle of wine in his hand.

“We really don’t need this,” Gemma said. “Tell her thank you, but it’s unnecessary. You can take it back.”

“Do you know Magdalen?” the barman said. “There is no way I’m saying no to her. Just take it and take it home if you want to.”

Sensing that he wouldn’t take no for an answer, Gemma took the bottle, along with the two glasses, and placed it on the dressing table in the room.

“There is no way I need any more to drink,” she said.

“Me neither,” Kent replied. “Maybe we should do as he said and take it home. That way, we can enjoy it together on our next date.”

“Our next date.”

Gemma raised her eyebrows. Her pulse was speeding up again, but it was a different type of nervousness. An expectant one. Like at any moment, something magical could happen. At least she knew she hadn’t been imagining things. Kent was definitely feeling this same attraction that she was. Yet as he stepped towards her, the thought of the two bottles of wine and how he was her boss struck her head. This wasn’t the way something like this should happen. If something like this should happen at all. She edged back, lowering herself onto the bed.

“Can I ask you something?” Kent said.

She nodded. “Of course. You’ve already asked me a lot of questions tonight.”

It was true. Unlike the disastrous date with Angus, where he had spoken only about himself, Kent seemed keen to learn all he could about Gemma. Though there was something about how he looked at her that made her sense this was a little more serious than the conversations they’d had over dinner.

“What happened in your last relationship?” he said.

“My last relationship?”

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, it’s just… You’ve got these walls up. I know we didn’t start on a great footing, but I get the feeling that you don’t trust people easily ever, and I thought that might be the reason. But you don’t have to tell me anything. It’s none of my business.”

Gemma let out a long breath of air.

Talking about Robert wasn’t something she liked to do. Robert was in her past, as was the humiliation she had suffered because of him. And that was where she wanted him to stay, but for the first time in years, possibly ever, she felt the urge to tell Kent exactly what had happened.

“Can we get into bed first?” she said. “I think I’d rather be lying down when I talk about him.”

CHAPTER 55

Kent was the epitome of an absolute gentleman as Gemma got ready for bed. A vanity set in the bathroom meant she could clean her teeth before she stripped down to her underwear. Then, before coming out of the bathroom, she told Kent to avert his eyes as she slipped under the cover. He then stripped.

As wrong as she knew it was, Gemma couldn’t help but glance at his back as his shirt dropped to the ground. He was far more toned than she would’ve imagined and the light curves of muscles flowed gently over his shoulders. No, that definitely wasn’t the type of body she had expected, and when she found her mind wondering what his chest and stomach looked like, she quickly caught herself. This was not the place or time to ogle her boss.

They had made a barricade of pillows, which Kent ensured was securely in place as he slipped into the bed. The cool, crisp covers barely shifted as he took his place next to her, unlike Gemma’s pulse, which was getting steadily faster.

“So, do you want to tell me about the story of your ex now?” he said. “It’s okay if you’ve changed your mind, though. I probably shouldn’t be so nosy.”

The thought of discussing Robert was enough to quash any other feelings Gemma had been having.

“No, it’s fine. It really is. I mean, there’s not too much to tell. I met him when I moved to Maldon. He was a cab driver. That’s how I met him. He took me on one of my first journeys when I got here. He was one of those guys who could make you laugh without even trying, you know. We had some good times together.”

“So what happened?” Kent asked.

Gemma drew in a long breath. A lot. That was the quick answer, but she already knew that wasn’t what Kent wanted.

“Well, we were living together, although in his words, he barely ever saw me. It’s true, I spent a lot of time at the cafe. It was before Oscar lost his wife, your aunt I guess, but she was sick, so he wasn’t at the cafe that much and I was struggling to get good staff back then. Sophie wasn’t working for me, so there were a fair few weeks when I worked seven days straight and that was tough on the relationship. But I still thought he was the perfect boyfriend. He would treat me to lovely dinners out whenever we got a chance. He showered me with gifts, that kind of thing. And just upgraded his taxi to a big people carrier, so I thought everything was heading in the right direction. Well, it turned out he’d taken a load of credit cards out in my name. He’d done it all online. Of course, he’d got all my details, copies of my passport, everything he needed to pretend it was me. By the time I realised what was going on, there was over £30,000 of debt in my name.”

Even now, talking about the money aloud was enough to cause her entire body to clench. When she’d finally found out what he’d done, it was like the world was crumbling beneath her feet and it had taken a very long time to put it back together.

“Oh my God, what did you do? Did you go to the police?” Kent asked.

Gemma let out a sad chuckle as she stared at the ceiling. Of course, the knowledge of the debt in her name was horrifying, but the lies hurt so much more. He had broken her trust in a way she hadn’t known was possible.