Twelve Days The Beginning - By Jade Reyner Page 0,42

recovered quickly, indicating a level of fitness that Elise could only admire. She was fairly certain that if she had just sprinted the length of the car park, she would be in a heap on the floor and requiring medical treatment - not about to hold a serious conversation with someone.

“Things in there got out of hand, I’m sorry.” He huffed out, “Shit, Elise, I can’t see straight when you’re around – you just turn me on too damn much and I can’t seem to keep any level of control.” He paused, his eyes searching her face as if for any sign of forgiveness.

“It’s not just that though,” he continued. “I really want to spend time with you – please. Let me apologise. Let me make it up to you. How about we go for a coffee? There’s a twenty-four hour place just around the corner.”

He grinned at her and held his hands up in surrender, “I promise to keep these completely to myself.”

Elise regarded him with cautious eyes, weighing up the smart thing to do. Clearly, that would be to get in her car and drive away, to put as much distance as she could between herself and this overwhelming man, forget he ever existed and try to carry on. Unfortunately he had somehow wormed his way into her brain without her even realising it and she found herself fascinated by him, drawn to him on some level she had never experienced before. The physical attraction between them was off the scale. Maybe she needed to hear him out and work out what was going on between them. Perhaps they could talk it through like grown adults and then go their separate ways. That way they could continue to work together without any awkwardness or difficulty. Surely that would be the best resolution?

Making her decision, she nodded her head in agreement and she watched as Vaughn visibly sighed in relief.

“Thank you.” he said and gently took her hand, leading her to his car parked a few spaces away. She was surprised that he had his car here; she would have thought he would have been enjoying the ‘ambience’ like at their work do but then again, he would have to pay for the drinks here; they had been free at work. Recognising that she was having unfounded and uncharitable thoughts she pushed them to one side. It was unfair to make that kind of judgement about him, she had driven too and that had had absolutely nothing to do with the price of the drinks. Just because Dale had a problem with alcohol, didn’t mean that everyone else did.

She got into his car in silence, trying to gather her wits and brave herself for the conversation that was to follow. Vaughn got into the driver’s seat and immediately the atmosphere in the vehicle became charged, the spark between them almost visible in the dark interior. He glanced across at her and she smiled nervously at him; it would be so easy to reach across, brush her hand over his thigh and then higher, trail her fingers over his face, pull his head down to hers, seal her lips over his in a searing kiss and taste him again. She shook her head to free herself from her thoughts and turned away, grateful for the darkness of the car which hid her blush. She didn’t need Vaughn to know that her thoughts were often less than honourable when he was around; it was bad enough that her body’s reaction was a dead giveaway without her face skywriting it, for all to see.

A short, silent drive later, they arrived at the coffee shop and Elise was relieved to see that the car park was virtually empty. Although it was unlikely that she would see anyone she knew this far out of town at this time of night, it would be just her luck to run into one of her neighbours. The fact that she didn’t recognise any of the few cars parked outside was both a relief and a blessing.

Vaughn led her inside and they found a secluded table at the back – there were only three other tables occupied - all by a rowdy bunch of oblivious University students - so their entrance went virtually unnoticed.

As they sat down, a waitress approached to take their order; a large latte for Vaughn and a mug of tea for her. Although she drank coffee at work, tea was her beverage of choice