The Little Teashop in Tokyo by Julie Caplin Page 0,72

moment.

‘You do realise every person I take pictures of wants me to allow for some imagined defect. Even Ken wanted me to make sure he didn’t have a double chin in any of his shots.’

Puzzled, Gabe watched the convulsive swallow as her throat dipped. With a couple of mouse clicks he enlarged the image of her.

‘What’s wrong with this?’ The sun lit her glorious hair, her eyes were closed, those long limbs sprawled and elegant, and there was a faint smile on her face. A goddess guarding a secret, the keys of knowledge. In fact, ‘Goddess with a Secret’ is what he’d have called it.

She turned tortured eyes to him.

‘I look ridiculous and I think you’re being mean.’

‘What? How?’ Was she even seeing the same picture?

‘I’m enormous, clumsy, and stupid. Bloody dwarfing the sofa.’

‘No, you aren’t.’ What the hell was she talking about? She was taller than the average woman but she certainly wasn’t big. She looked perfectly proportioned to him.

‘Statuesque, Amazonian … I’ve heard it all.’

‘More of a Viking with that hair, I’d say,’ he drawled, not wanting to give himself away.

‘What?’ She rounded on him, her eyes flashing, reminding him of exactly that. ‘So you do think I’m big.’

‘No, I think you’re perfect. I think you’re absolutely gorgeous in that picture and I think you’ve got a hang up that really isn’t merited.’ Unnecessarily harsh, but he was worried he might say something he ought not to.

‘A hang up,’ she said scornfully. ‘Easy for you to say.’

Flummoxed, he didn’t know what to say next. The taut silence stretched out between them and he reached out a tentative hand to touch her shoulder. She didn’t move. The word ‘stoic’ came to mind when he examined her rigid profile.

‘I didn’t mean to upset you. I’ll delete it now, if it means that much. Watch.’ He picked the image up and put it into the recycling bin, noting that she was carefully scanning the rest of the thumbnails.

‘There, done.’

‘Thank you.’ Her voice was tight and her fingers were clenched in a fist on her thigh. ‘I suppose you think I’m silly.’

‘I don’t think you’re silly at all. I think it’s a shame that you can’t see what I see.’

‘You’re in the minority, there.’ There was bitterness in her voice. ‘Ironic.’

‘Why?’

‘It was always a thing at school. Fe-fi-fo-fum. Giant. It got worse after …’

He waited, seeing that she was battling her emotions.

‘After I kissed you.’

‘God, I’m sorry,’ he said, although he wasn’t even sure what he was apologising for.

‘It wasn’t your fault, was it? Evie saw us. Told everyone at school. And after that Fe-fi-fo-fum was a complete laughing stock. I left not long after.’

‘Oh my God, Fiona. I’m so—’

She wheeled round, a flush of anger in her cheeks. ‘Why are you apologising? I kissed you. You didn’t ask me to. You seemed horrified.’

The words sank in, along with an ocean of regret. At the sight of her pale, pinched face, he felt he owed her the truth.

‘I wasn’t horrified,’ he said slowly. ‘Well, I was, but only because I was your teacher and it was inappropriate. I was horrified at what I’d done.’

‘What you’d done?’ She screwed her face up in confusion.

‘Fi …’ He owed her the truth. ‘I flirted with you. All week. You were gorgeous. I was … girls were always interested. It was easy and you were … naïve. But I was your teacher, six years older. It was inappropriate and I shouldn’t have …’ Should he confess that he’d felt a connection? That even then her youthful enthusiasm had made him see things differently?

Almost absently she touched her lips. ‘You mean … I didn’t imagine it?’

He bit his lip and summoned up the courage to look her in the eye. ‘No. And if Evie hadn’t come around the corner, who knows where that kiss might have ended up?’

Her eyes widened as the words hit. ‘You … you mean you really did …’

‘I kissed you back.’

‘Oh.’ Her mouth parted and for a second he couldn’t take his eyes from her lips. He’d kissed a lot of women but he still remembered that kiss, not just because of the shock factor – it had come out of nowhere, an enthusiastic, if amateur, faceplant – but underneath it all there’d been the fizz of attraction. And now he wanted to kiss her again, to slant his lips over that wide mouth … and he couldn’t because she deserved so much better.

Chapter 17

Gabe’s surprising revelation had shocked Fiona to the core