‘So what do you suggest we do?’ Melissa took a large slug of her wine and looked from Sophie to Emily. ‘We can’t kidnap her again.’
‘Well… we could, actually.’ Emily raised her eyebrows. ‘We did it before.’
‘I know,’ Sophie butted in. ‘But we had more proof then. You had actually seen him in action, Em. This time she insists everything’s fine, so it’s just a hunch. Maybe she wants to focus on putting her family back together and doesn’t want to rock the boat by seeing us.’
‘But don’t you see how screwed up that sounds?’ Emily’s face darkened. ‘No normal relationship would suffer just because someone wanted to see their oldest friends. If he’s stopping her from seeing us, he’s right back to where he was before – controlling her… And God knows what else he’s doing.’
The three of them lapsed into a gloomy silence. Emily could feel a fountain of frustration bubbling up inside her. She had always felt mainly responsible for their intervention with Amy and even more so when Amy got back together with him. Had she been poking her nose into something that didn’t concern her? Had she got it wrong? At the time, she had been entirely convinced, but the months that had elapsed since had made everything blurry. She didn’t want to abandon Amy to her fate, yet part of her felt angry with her for putting herself in that situation again. Last time, Emily had been more than ready to take Nick on, but this time she wasn’t sure she had the stomach for the fight. ‘Well,’ she said, taking a sip of wine and shrugging her shoulders, ‘I guess we just wait until she contacts us.’
‘But that might be never!’ Melissa looked shocked. ‘What if she’s too embarrassed to admit she’s made a mistake and ask for help?’
‘You can go round there and check on her if you like?’ As soon as she said the words, Emily felt mean. Melissa had her own reasons for wanting to keep away from Nick. And the truth was Amy had probably never mentioned to Nick that she was still in contact with Melissa. He would naturally have assumed that they would have fallen out over Melissa’s dalliances with him.
‘You know I can’t do that. But I do think one of you should…?’
‘Last time I came face to face with him, he knocked me out. Funnily enough, I don’t fancy a repeat performance.’ Emily finished her glass of wine and stood up. ‘It looks like it’ll have to be you, Soph. Sorry, guys, I have to go.’
‘Where?’ Sophie looked at her watch, then narrowed her eyes at Emily. ‘I thought you said Jack was staying with your parents tonight.’
Emily grinned. ‘He is. See you.’ She walked out of the bar feeling as though she had just scored a tiny victory over Sophie, who was expert at extracting information. She didn’t want to tell anyone yet. It was too soon.
She couldn’t believe it when he got in touch through Friends Reunited. The general catching-up questions had quickly moved on to deeper conversations. He was working in London, had split from his wife and had apparently never stopped thinking about you and that amazing night we spent together. Well, she could certainly understand that because she had never stopped thinking about him or that night either.
He wanted to meet. Wondered how much she would have changed in the twelve years since they’d last seen each other. In his profile photo, he was side on to the camera, part of his face in shadow, but he still looked every bit as beautiful as she remembered. The thought of him caused her stomach to flip over. Yes, there had been plenty of other men over the years. But none had ever lasted beyond a brief affair and now she understood why. None had ever come close to him.
‘Emily?’ His voice hadn’t changed at all – it was still that mix of gravelly and melodic that she had always loved listening to. She smiled to herself before she looked up at him. He had aged well. Almost fifty, he looked at least a decade younger. His hair was still blond with tiny flecks of grey starting to show through, and his tanned skin was a little more weathered, but the blue eyes still glittered and the smile was as slow and sexy as ever.
As he leaned down to kiss her, the years rolled away and she was instantly transported back to that bedroom. ‘Hello, Anton.’
He sat down in the chair opposite, his eyes never leaving hers. ‘My God, I had forgotten how lovely you were.’
Emily smiled at the cheesiness of it all. With anyone else she would have laughed in his face and told him to practise his chatup lines. But out of Anton’s mouth, they were the only words she wanted to hear. It was what she had dreamed of for all these years. And now that he was here, she realized she had known all along that he would come back for her. She had expected it and she had been waiting for him.
As they left the bar together, there was no discussion about where they would go. They hailed a cab and held hands chastely as it sped through the streets back to her flat. As soon as the front door closed behind them, his mouth was on hers, pulling at her jacket, her dress, kissing her whole body as if he wanted to devour every part of her.
Emily steered him towards her bedroom, undressing him as she went, dropping his clothes in a trail behind them. All she could think about was fulfilling the desire that had been pent up inside her for all these years.
They fell onto the bed in a tangle of naked limbs, kissing each other hungrily. Emily lifted herself up and slid him inside her. As she rocked back and forward, he cupped her breasts and held her gaze with his, watching with liquid eyes as she gave a moan of pleasure. ‘I have waited so long for this,’ he gasped, rolling her over onto her back and thrusting into her in one fluid movement.
Emily arched her back towards him and her whole body exploded with an orgasm. Anton continued to thrust into her, kissing her neck and setting her alight again until he came with an almighty groan.
Lying down beside her, Anton picked up her hand and placed it flat against his chest. ‘Can you feel how hard my heart is beating?’ he grinned. ‘That was incredible.’
Emily sighed with happiness. This was truly her perfect moment with the man she loved. The man she had always loved. ‘It was. Just as I knew it would be.’
Anton nodded and traced his thumbnail over her flat, brown belly. ‘I can’t believe that you were still here. I was so sure you’d have been married with God knows how many kids by now…’
Emily stiffened. He wouldn’t know about Jack. She thought about her Friends Reunited profile and whether she had ever mentioned him. She didn’t think so. Her heart began to race and she rolled away from him. He looked at her in surprise. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing – just going to get us a drink.’ She left the bedroom and closed the door, her eyes immediately drawn towards Jack’s room. Luckily the door was shut. She headed for the kitchen and glanced around, looking for clues that might give away his existence. She gathered several pictures and clippings held by magnets to the front of the fridge and shoved them into a drawer.
She did the same in the sitting room, guilt causing her stomach to clench as she hurriedly stashed the many photos that depicted his journey from toddler to pre-teen into the chest that served as a coffee table.
Then she grabbed a bottle of wine from the fridge and two glasses, before returning to Anton in the bedroom. ‘I don’t think we’ve had quite enough yet…’ she said with what she hoped was a seductive smile.
Anton, who was sitting up naked, reached for her and pulled her on top of him, putting the bottle and glasses onto the floor with one deft movement. ‘I agree. And I’m not talking about the wine.’