Call Me Cupid: The Guy to Be Seen With / The First Crush Is the Deepest / Too Close for Comfort

‘I think it’s the first Tuesday of the month,’ he said.

She put the pot down again. ‘Well, call me in June, then.’

Daniel grinned at her attempt to dismiss him. He’d go, but only because it was part of a bigger plan. He couldn’t help letting her know that, though. He walked over to her, leaned in close and opened his mouth to whisper in her ear. She snapped the small green cane she was holding in half and every muscle in her body went taut.

So not indifferent.

‘Till June,’ he whispered, letting his breath warm the sensitive parts of the ear lobe, and he actually saw the moment she suppressed a shiver.

Two more dates and he’d have her eating out of his hand.

* * *

As May bled into June Chloe got more and more agitated. Stupid, stupid idea. What had she been thinking?

Well, obviously, she hadn’t.

She’d resorted to her old way of doing things, reacting on impulse rather than taking a measured decision. It was just that kind of behaviour that had got her into trouble with Daniel Bradford all those years ago, the sort of thing New Chloe didn’t do.

Thankfully, however stupid her plan was, however self-destructive, it actually looked as if it was working. There had been no more ‘raincoat’ incidents, and Daniel had reported a drop in interested female visitors. The plan had its downside too, though. After being so excited to get her dream job as Kew’s Head Orchid Keeper, Chloe now found her working days tense and stressful. She went home every evening with a headache.

It wasn’t that Daniel had repeated the kiss in the Palm House. He’d kept his distance, just as they planned. Physically. That didn’t mean he’d left her alone.

When they passed each other at work—which was often—he’d give her a smile he reserved just for her. Warm, intense...inviting. Just the sort of special smile lovers shared. It was messing with her head, big time. And he knew it.

Then, in early June, just as she’d suggested, Daniel’s phone call came. He wanted to come and pick her up at home, but she made an excuse about having to work late, so he came and collected her from her nursery at the allotted time instead.

They walked through the gardens together to the staff car park. Plenty of people noticed their exit. Chloe could almost hear the whispers as they passed, see the nods and winks behind their backs. It was almost a relief to slide into the passenger seat of his car and shut the world out again. Or it would have been, if the clunk of the door hadn’t created another little universe. A universe where the atmosphere became so hot the atoms danced and shimmered. A universe where she and Daniel were the only occupants. She faced forward and stared blindly at the windscreen. ‘Where are we going?’

He just put the car into gear and pulled away. ‘Somewhere lively,’ he said, and Chloe’s insides unclenched a little.

That was just what she needed. Somewhere busy, bustling with people. Somewhere she wouldn’t be left alone with him.

The car joined the rush-hour traffic through Kew and on into Chiswick. Chloe’s mood brightened further. There were some lovely restaurants here. She scanned the high street as they drove down it, wondering which one he’d picked.

Thai? French? Lebanese?

But when they turned into a side street he didn’t park, even though there were plenty of spaces. Instead he kept driving, turning this way and that until he stopped in a residential street. They were outside a smart brick house with a large bay window and a glossy black front door. He turned the engine off and got out, opened the door for her. Chloe stayed in her seat, clutching her handbag.

‘We’re here?’ she asked. ‘Where are we?’

Daniel did a little bow. ‘My house.’

She swallowed. ‘I thought you said we were going somewhere lively.’

Daniel just smiled. ‘You haven’t been inside yet.’

Run, something inside her shouted. Get out of the car and run.

It was probably her common sense making a last-ditch attempt to save her. She let it scream its frustration then sprint down the road without her.

He held out his hand and she took it, let him help her from the car. Then he ushered her up the garden path and she stood aside while he produced his keys from his pocket and opened the front door.

The minute he’d stepped into the hallway he was practically bowled over by two running bundles of energy. Chloe blinked. It took her a second to work out they were two small boys, one a slightly smaller version of the other, both with Daniel’s grey-green eyes.

He had...? They were...?

But then they both started shouting, ‘Uncle Dan! Uncle Dan!’ and the penny dropped. But the minute that puzzle had been solved another one elbowed its way in. This was where Daniel took girls on a date?

He turned and gave her a rueful smile, a small boy hanging off each arm, and led the way down the hall and into a kitchen-diner in the back of the house, with a lounge area under a conservatory at the far end. A tall, slender woman was stirring something on the hob. Same dark hair with a bit of a kink, same pale eyes. That had to be his sister.

‘Boys,’ she said, ‘try not to pull your uncle’s arms off.’ Then she looked up and smiled at Chloe. ‘Hi.’

‘Hi,’ Chloe said.

‘Welcome to the madhouse,’ she said. ‘I’m Kelly.’ She indicated each of the boys in turn with her wooden spoon. ‘That’s Cal... That’s Ben. Say hello to Uncle Dan’s friend, boys.’

But the boys were too busy wrestling their uncle to the ground. For two people so small, they really knew what they were doing, Chloe thought, as Daniel’s knees buckled and he was felled with a thud.

‘They’ll calm down in a minute,’ Kelly said. ‘They do that every night when he comes in.’ She sighed. ‘Their father took a hike a couple of years ago and the lack of male influence makes them a little full on when they get the chance to do some “boy bonding”.’

Chloe’s eyebrows rose. ‘Beating each other half to death is boy bonding?’

Kelly grinned as she added some chopped tomatoes to the pan. ‘You don’t have brothers, do you?’

Chloe shook her head. Just her. And her doting, but rather hard to impress parents. It took a lot to carry the weight of all that parental expectation on one pair of shoulders. She’d often wished she’d had a sibling or two to share the load. ‘Why can’t they just paint each other’s nails and snivel their way through a good film, like normal people do?’

Kelly laughed. ‘Wow, it’s good to have a bit of sanity around here. I thought I was in danger of drowning in all the testosterone. This house has been a bit lacking in female company since Georgia—’ She bit her lip. ‘Sorry.’

Chloe held up her hands. ‘No, it’s okay. Me and Daniel, we’re just...’

Friends sounded so lame. In cahoots too much like a cheesy thriller. She settled for the safest option.

‘...colleagues.’

Kelly scrubbed the pan with the wooden spoon. Chloe thought she could see a bit of burnt onion refusing to behave. ‘Yep,’ she said, giving the mixture a vigorous stir that made Chloe realise that Daniel wasn’t the only one in the family who liked to get physical, ‘and I’m just Gordon Ramsay.’

Chloe didn’t say much after that. From the past couple of months at work, she knew it was no good to convince her otherwise. And it was an easy enough assumption to make. Why would Daniel be bringing her home otherwise?

The ruckus from the lounge end of the room was getting rather loud. Kelly handed the saucepan to Chloe and went to intervene.

‘Boys!’ she yelled. ‘Pyjamas! Now!’

Instantly, the knot of testosterone on the floor disentangled itself. Then, one by one, they headed towards the stairs, pouts pushing their bottom lips forward. Daniel brought up the rear, copying their expression, which only made them giggle again. The whole scene would have descended back into chaos if Kelly hadn’t given her big brother a clip round the ear.

The boys bounced in the doorway. ‘We want Uncle Dan to read us a story,’ they yelled repeatedly.

Uncle Dan looked up at Chloe, who was still holding the saucepan, and gave her an apologetic look. ‘Do you mind?’

She shook her head. She’d been trying to keep her distance from him for weeks now. Why would she mind if he volunteered to do just that?

Kelly came and took the saucepan from her. Just as well Chloe had heard the thunder of little—and big—feet on the stairs, because Kelly’s verdict on her own cooking was not for children’s ears. ‘I always was crap at cooking,’ she explained. ‘Dan said I should just get some posh stuff to reheat from the supermarket, but I had to decide to go all cordon bleu, didn’t I?’ She tipped the contents of the saucepan into the bin and banged it back down on the hob. Chloe quickly leaned forward and turned the gas off before another catastrophe occurred.

Kelly rummaged in a drawer and produced a fan of takeaway leaflets. ‘Curry, curry, Chinese or curry,’ she said brightly.

Chloe looked at the other ingredients lined up on the counter. Bacon, garlic, chilli flakes... ‘Amatriciana sauce, right?’

Kelly nodded, looking at Chloe as if she were the bearer of ancient and hallowed wisdom.

‘It’d be a shame to waste all that lovely fresh pasta,’ Chloe said. ‘Have you got another onion and more tomatoes? I’m sure I could help...if you wouldn’t mind?’

Kelly looked as if she was going to prostrate herself at Chloe’s feet. She grabbed Chloe’s hand. ‘Please marry him,’ she said, and then she added, ‘As you can see, my tact is as well developed as my culinary skills. Blame it on having two thickheaded brothers. Blunt and direct was what was required round our house when we were growing up. Never quite learned how to switch it off.’

Chloe grinned at her. She couldn’t help liking Kelly. Her say-whatever-fell-into-her-head approach was rather refreshing. There must be something lovely about going through life like that, not having to worry about saying the wrong thing or accidentally showing a part of yourself you’d rather other people didn’t know about.

‘I take it there is wine somewhere in this kitchen?’ she asked.

‘Do you need it for the sauce?’

‘No,’ said Chloe, smiling. ‘I need it in a glass. Now where are those tomatoes?’

Kelly provided both wine and tomatoes. ‘Forget marrying Dan,’ she said as she watched Chloe sweat some finely diced onion. ‘Move in and adopt me.’

Chloe chuckled, and they continued to chat as she made headway in making the pasta sauce. Kelly was more a hindrance than a help, though, and Chloe quickly suggested she put her feet up, saying that looking after pre-schoolers must be very tiring.

She nodded in the direction of the ceiling as Kelly collected her wine glass and flopped on the sofa. ‘He’s great with the boys.’

‘He is that.’ Kelly looked up, a soft smile on her face. ‘He’ll make a really good dad some—’ She froze, scratched her nose and looked away. ‘Forget I said that.’

Inside Chloe was frowning, but on the outside she batted Kelly’s stray comment away and smiled cheerfully back, mentally searching for something to say that would dispel the odd, slightly sad atmosphere that had settled on the other woman.

‘Well, there is one thing I can guarantee,’ Chloe said jokingly as she added some garlic to the pan. ‘It’s that I won’t ever be marrying your brother.’

SIX

Daniel paused on the stairs as he heard Chloe’s voice and smiled.

No marrying him. Ever. That was practically a guarantee.

He bounced back into the kitchen to find Chloe standing at the stove and Kelly lounging on the sofa sipping Merlot. What was wrong with that picture?

‘I invited you for dinner,’ he told Chloe, ‘not the other way round.’

Chloe shrugged. ‘I like cooking, and your sister...’

‘Your sister burnt the crap out of the first attempt,’ Kelly said helpfully. ‘I’ve been banished to the sofa. She won’t even let me help.’

Daniel gave his sister a very brotherly kind of look. ‘And I can see it’s just eating you up inside.’

Kelly held up her wine glass and toasted him with it before downing the remainder in one gulp. He shook his head and turned his attention to his guest.

‘That smells amazing,’ he said. ‘You must be pretty good at this.’

She bowed her head and looked at the wooden spoon as she stirred the sauce. ‘I like picking up new skills, perfecting them.’

Daniel smiled to himself as he and Kelly laid the table. His plan was working. He could tell from the way Chloe hummed to herself as she put the finishing touches to the pasta sauce that she was starting to relax. Just what he wanted.

He didn’t want a date with starchy, let’s-pretend-we’re-being-discreet-at-work Chloe. He wanted a date with the Chloe who’d been within a hair’s breadth of ripping his T-shirt off on the balcony of the Palm House. There was a girl who knew how to have fun.

He’d been given the job of cooking the pasta and she started teasing him when she realised it was overcooked and sticking to the bottom of the pan.

‘Honestly,’ she said, snatching it from him. ‘The pair of you are as bad as each other. I don’t know how those two poor children haven’t starved to death.’

‘I have extensive skills with a can opener and advanced microwave training,’ he told her, quite seriously.

Kelly, who was now sitting at the table, glass of wine in hand, also piped up. ‘And I make a mean chicken nuggets and oven chips.’

Chloe just shook her head.

‘I’ll bet you know how to make fancy pastry and everything,’ Kelly said mournfully as they dished up.

Chloe tried to act nonchalant, but he could see just a hint of self-satisfaction in her reply. ‘I’ve done a cookery course or two,’ she said quietly.

His sister slumped on the table. ‘Ugh. I hate women like you,’ she said dramatically, but the delivery just made Chloe laugh.

Daniel decided he was a genius. Kelly was probably his best weapon this evening. Chloe liked her, despite the fact that, beside his immaculately dressed and perfectly contained date, his sister seemed a little too loud and uncensored. It was like putting an elegant pink orchid and a dandelion in the same pot together: it shouldn’t work. But the two women were getting on like a house on fire and he wasn’t going to do anything to upset that.

Chloe was like one of her orchids, he decided as they chatted over the simple dinner. Beautiful. Poised. Aloof. Just like the graceful flowers she tended, she was almost too perfect to be true.

After dinner he moved to phase two of the plan. Kelly loaded the dishwasher, batting Chloe’s efforts to help away and telling her she’d better leave it to the expert. Daniel made the coffee. Fresh not instant. One thing in the kitchen he could do really well. Then Kelly put her coat on and picked up her handbag.

Chloe’s easy demeanour slipped a little. ‘You’re going?’

Kelly nodded. ‘Big brother here promised he’d babysit tonight. He owes me.’ She gave Daniel a knowing look. ‘First night out with the girls in weeks,’ she said, then she blew them both a kiss and hurried out of the front door before anyone could stop her.

Daniel brought Chloe a coffee and sat down at the table with her. He glanced at the comfy sofa in the conservatory, with ample room for two. That would have been his preferred location, but he sensed he needed to tread carefully now his secret weapon was off to the wine bar to drink cocktails with her girlfriends.

‘For a long time Kelly wouldn’t go anywhere,’ he told Chloe. ‘Too tired. Too self-conscious about her hair. It was very patchy when it first grew back.’

A look of pain crossed Chloe’s features and she absent-mindedly fiddled with the end of a loose ringlet. ‘How awful for her. Girls need their hair.’

He nodded, understanding that now. Personally, he wouldn’t have cared if his hair was down to his knees or in a marine buzz cut, but the wallop Kelly had given him when he’d suggested, very practically, that she should just borrow his clippers and even it all out had let him know just how differently men and women saw this issue.

He and Chloe chatted about easy things. Safe things. Work. Plants. Mutual acquaintances. When she drained her cup, Daniel stood up and reached for the wine bottle. ‘Another glass?’

She looked at him thoughtfully, and then she said, ‘Just half. It was rather drinkable.’

He got fresh glasses from the cupboard as, thanks to Kelly’s post-dinner clearing frenzy, the previous ones were already sloshing around in the dishwasher. But instead of joining her at the table he walked over and placed her glass on the table beside the sofa and then sprawled at the other end.

Chloe looked at him for a second and then stood up and came to join him, sitting neatly and very upright in the opposite corner. ‘No funny business,’ she said, and sipped her wine. ‘You promised.’

He just smiled at her. ‘I don’t think I actually promised, but I did say that it would be up to you to make the first move.’

Chloe’s shoulders relaxed a little, but her expression remained pinched. ‘As nice as dinner was, I don’t see how hiding away in your house is going to help us.’

‘Ah,’ he said. ‘Well, it came about partly because I’d forgotten I’d told Kelly I’d babysit...’ He frowned. ‘In fact, sometimes I think she just pulls that one when she wants a night out, because I don’t remember the original request at all.’

Chloe chuckled, and he knew he was taking the right approach. ‘But then I realised it could help.’

Her eyebrows lifted.

‘Kelly works in the admin office,’ he told her.

‘Oh, I didn’t know that.’

‘News that you’ve been round for dinner will be all around Kew—and I mean the district, not just the gardens—by noon tomorrow.

‘The opening came up a couple of months ago. I saw the notice and suggested she apply. She needed something part-time—something that would fit around the boys and would help build confidence. And, as she told me quite pointedly, to stop her going insane after what seemed like months of being stuck indoors.’

Chloe had been clutching her wine glass against her chest and now she lowered it as she stared out of the windows at the darkening sky. ‘She’s very brave, isn’t she?’

Daniel stopped looking at Chloe, stopped gauging every action and reaction, and joined her in staring out of the window. ‘She says she’s had to be. Wasn’t her choice.’

He knew all about that. Knew all about surviving, not because he was strong and courageous, but because he was still alive and breathing, had found himself trudging onward with no choice about where to put his foot next. Sometimes survival wasn’t a choice but a sentence.

But he didn’t want to think about those dark days in his life. He wanted fun. He wanted to remember the joy in living.

A waft of Chloe’s floral perfume hit him, dragging him back into the present, filling his nostrils and making his pulse kick. He turned to look at her. This was what was important. Now. This night, this woman. What he wanted right now was Chloe Michaels.

He caught her gaze, leaned in closer...

But she wasn’t going to let him off the hook that easily. ‘I haven’t got any brothers or sisters,’ she said, just the faintest twinge of envy in her voice.

Her parents must have thought they’d won the lottery, then, Daniel thought as he let his eyes rove over her once again. She was beautiful, confident, clever. She’d been their only chance and they’d lucked out. While other people...

Sometimes their only chance was wiped out before it had hardly begun.

He looked away and downed a huge mouthful of wine.

No. He’d shut that door. Done his grieving. He really wasn’t going to think about it tonight. That would really be a buzz kill. He needed to get control of himself, of his thoughts.

But Chloe made it very difficult. He’d start on the track of conversation that seemed totally innocent, trying to get her to let down those polished walls a little more, and somehow he’d end up telling her things he didn’t normally reveal to anybody—like the fact he had a touch of dyslexia, leading to stories about ridiculous errors with Latin plant names during his student days, something that only another horticulturist would truly appreciate. Or how he’d once accidentally leaned against a macaw palm during an expedition and had been picking its thorny black spines out of his backside for a week.

Talking to her was easy. As it had been with Georgia.

A chill rippled through him.

No. Chloe was nothing like his ex. He needed to remember that. This one was smart and savvy and she knew the game. Georgia...hadn’t. But then he hadn’t been playing games with Georgia. As cruel as it sounded, he’d just been passing time. And so had Georgia, she’d just tried to tell herself there was more to it.

But what was he doing thinking about his almost fiancée? He was losing focus. He’d invited Chloe here tonight with one thing in mind: to move forwards in his plan, and while she was relaxed and smiling he should press on.

He put his wine glass down and went to fetch the bottle from the kitchen counter. He filled his glass first then reclaimed his spot on the sofa, a little closer to Chloe this time, and he leaned across to top her up. She trailed off, losing the thread of what she was talking about, and her eyes widened as the wine filled her glass.

He placed the empty bottle on the table behind her head, but didn’t move back. Their faces were only a couple of inches apart now. Unconsciously, she moistened her lips with her tongue, still staring at him.

He let go of the bottle and placed his hand on her shoulder, curling his fingers round her nape. She shivered slightly as his thumb brushed her neck and her gaze dropped to his lips. His core temperature rose.

He slid the glass from her fingers and put it next to the empty bottle. She let him.

He didn’t lean in and close the distance, though. Even though the air seemed to shimmer and thud between them. He’d told her the next move would be hers and he was going to stand by his word.

Okay, he hadn’t left it completely up to her. He’d made a hundred little moves to manoeuvre her to this point, but the final leap would be all hers. There’d be no backing out then. No more running away and pretending she wasn’t interested.

He heard, and felt, the shaky in-breath that parted her lips, watched her eyelids start to slide closed. He closed his eyes too, not wanting to distract himself in the sweet surrender he knew was coming...

There was a crash from the other side of the room, followed by a rhythmic thudding.

‘Uncle Daniel!’

He opened his eyes to find Cal standing almost as close to him as he was to Chloe, looking between the two of them with open curiosity.

Chloe pressed herself backwards into the corner of the sofa and looked away.

‘There’s a crocodile under my bed,’ Cal said, quite matter-of-factly. ‘He wants to eat my toes.’

‘Cal...’ Daniel warned, his voice a little sharper than he’d intended it to be.

‘He says he’s going to gobble me up, bit by bit.’ Cal blinked, the picture of childish innocence. Had Kelly put him up to this?

Daniel was still so close to Chloe that he could feel her chest shaking as she tried to suppress a laugh.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t finding this the least bit funny. He’d had his own plans for this evening. Maybe of a similar pattern—starting with the toes, and working his way up, bit by bit...

Just that thought alone made him ache.

Reluctantly, he got up off the sofa and took Cal back upstairs. A complete search—involving torches—was made of the under bed area, and it was only when Daniel had tucked the duvet in round his nephew and read him yet another story that Cal consented to lie down and close his eyes.

When he got back downstairs Chloe wasn’t on the sofa where he’d left her, but in the hallway, putting on her coat.

‘Thanks for a lovely evening,’ she said. The dazzling smile she wore informed him that whatever barriers he’d managed to coax down in the last half-hour had sprung up again while he’d been hunting for Cal’s crocodile.