Santa Baby (22 page)

‘To your monk-like cell?’ she asked.

‘To my four-storey house in Richmond overlooking the river.’

‘Only four storeys?’ Tiffany turned her nose up. ‘It must be so pokey. That’s much smaller than I’m used to.’

‘Nothing else will be, I guarantee,’ murmured Raul. Then he caught her eye and they both laughed again. She liked the fact that he didn’t take himself too seriously.

‘I hope you don’t use that line on other women,’ she said.

Raul sighed. ‘Sometimes I think they only care about the size of my bank balance and how much publicity they can get for themselves by being seen with me.’

‘Oh, poor misunderstood baby!’

‘You are teasing me too badly, Tiffany. Really, I can’t take any more unless you tell me you are going to come back with me?’

She pretended to consider the offer, then said, ‘Nope.’

A heartfelt sigh escaped him. ‘Well, at least come and dance with me.’ And he stood up and reached for her hand.

Tiffany was aware of people staring at them as they wove their way through the guests and on to the dance floor. Raul was such a big star – a hero to so many men because of his sporting prowess and a major heart throb
to
women because of his stunning looks. They passed Sean on one of his security patrols and his eyes met Tiffany’s fleetingly. She saw the look of disapproval he gave her when he noticed her holding Raul’s hand. What was his problem? Like he cared about what she did! He had made that perfectly plain. She tilted her chin defiantly and moved closer to Raul, sending out the message that, yes, she was with him. And when they hit the dance floor, she deliberately danced in a flirtatious way, looking only at Raul, focusing all her attention on him.

Angel had wanted music from the last three decades and Tiffany and Raul found themselves in the eighties as they strutted their stuff to Wham!, trying to outdo each other with the most outrageous moves. She had thought Raul would be so full of himself that he would never want to do anything silly, but he was throwing himself around, mouthing along with the words, not caring how ridiculous he looked. He scored points for that.

They danced energetically to Wham!’s ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’, Blondie’s ‘Heart of Glass’ and Human League’s ‘Don’t You Want Me?’
I think I do
, Tiffany thought as Raul moved closer to her. They had eyes only for each other, and were out of breath and hot, so when Raul suggested they go for a drink outside, she readily agreed.

He took two glasses of champagne from a passing waiter. Outside the marquee several guests were milling around smoking. Raul walked past them to a secluded bench with an arch of roses over it that seemed made for a romantic moment. The night had grown cooler and Tiffany shivered in her silk evening dress. Raul took off his jacket and slipped it over her shoulders, in a move she was certain he would have made many, many times before. But she appreciated
the
gesture. The jacket was warm from his body and yet again there was the thrill of getting close to him. An image of her night with Sean flashed into in her mind. He had lent her his leather jacket … but she tried to suppress the thought. She wasn’t going to let it spoil the fun she was having here and now.

‘Cheers!’ Raul held up his glass. ‘Here’s to getting to know each other better.’

She clinked her glass against his.

‘So, are you free for dinner on Monday night?’ he asked, treating her to another of his smouldering stares.

‘I’ll have to check my itinerary, I might be filming,’ Tiffany lied, knowing perfectly well that she was free.

‘You are making me work so hard, Tiffany,’ he groaned.

‘It’s good for you. No one should have everything their own way all the time.’ She paused. ‘Only some of it.’ And she leaned forward and lightly kissed him on the lips.

But if she thought she was going to get away with a playful kiss then she was mistaken. Raul took the champagne glass out of her hand and put it on the ground, then he drew her towards him and kissed her again. This time it was a passionate, I-want-you kiss that took her breath away.

Tiffany closed her eyes and for a fleeting second another image came into her head: of kissing Sean. She opened her eyes. Reality check. She was kissing Raul Garcia. What more could a girl want? And angry with herself for giving any head space to Sean, she kissed Raul back with a renewed intensity.

‘God, Tiffany, we could be so good together,’ he murmured when they broke off for air. He traced one finger around her lips. ‘What a beautiful mouth you have.’ He kissed her neck. ‘Beautiful everything
actually.’
And now his caresses became more searching. He slid a hand under her silk skirt, inching it along her thigh, all the while kissing her neck, her lips. Tiffany pressed her knees together – no way did she want him to think she was easy. But the delicate, teasing caresses were weakening her resolve and she allowed his hands to continue their exploration, to lightly caress her inner thighs and to move higher still … And just as she was thinking she really should stop him right now, before she got completely carried away, a torch was shone directly at them, dazzling her in its beam.

WTF! She pulled away from Raul and smoothed down her skirt, then held up her hand to shield her eyes as the owner of the torch continued to shine it at them. It was one of the security guards.

‘What are you doing, my friend?’ Raul demanded. ‘We are guests at the party, surely you can see that?’

‘Just doing my security rounds, sir,’ the guard said evenly. ‘Sorry to have disturbed you. I’ll leave you to it. But just to make you aware, there are CCTV cameras trained on the grounds.’

God, did that mean that someone had been watching them? The thought creeped Tiffany out completely, and it had certainly dampened her desire. It seemed to have the same effect on Raul because once the guard had left, he suggested they should return to the marquee.

Once inside, Tiffany nipped to the loo. She checked out her appearance in the mirror. She didn’t look bad. If anything, better than ever. The embrace and the cool air had brought a flush to her cheeks and a sparkle to her eyes. She strutted out of the bathroom, still with Raul’s black jacket draped around her shoulders, and ran slap bang into Sean.

‘I see you’re enjoying yourself, Tiffany,’ he commented quietly. He sounded in control as ever, but she wondered if there was a slight edge to his voice.

‘I am very much, thank you.’ The jacket slipped off one of her shoulders and she pulled it back on. ‘How’s your night going?’
Not as good as mine, I bet
, she felt like adding.

Sean ignored her question.

‘You do know about Raul Garcia’s reputation, don’t you? He’s a player, always with a different woman on the go. I didn’t think you were like that, Tiffany.’

For God’s sake! Now he sounded like her dad. ‘Yes, Sean, I know exactly the kind of man Raul is, but it’s cool with me. I know where I stand with him, which is more than I can say for some other men I’ve met recently.’ Oops! She didn’t mean to sound bitter. She’d wanted to come across like a woman who knew what she wanted; she tried again.

‘It’s just a bit of fun. You know what fun means, Agent Murphy? No, of course you don’t. Everything is serious, serious, serious with you.’ She seemed to be having some difficulty in getting her words out clearly. She pointed her finger at him and swayed slightly, and suddenly she realised that she was a little drunk. Hardly surprising after the number of glasses of champagne she’d had. That was the trouble with champagne, it slipped down treacherously easily.

Sean reached out to steady her. ‘I don’t want you to get hurt, that’s all.’

Instantly Tiffany felt defensive. ‘I’m not going to get hurt by Raul.’ She shook off Sean’s hand and glared at him. ‘Haven’t you got security rounds to make and more couples to spy on with your CCTV? Or maybe that’s how you get your fun.’ She probably shouldn’t have said that. Blame the champagne, blame Sean for winding her up –
again
.

He looked exasperated. ‘That wasn’t me, Tiffany.’ But she was already marching away, trying her hardest to walk straight.

The party wound to a close quite soon after that. Raul left after stealing another kiss and a promise that Tiffany would meet him on Monday night. As far as she was concerned she had nothing to lose. By 3 a.m. she was drinking tea and tucking into peanut butter on toast with Angel in the kitchen.

Both women had kicked off their heels and put hoodies over their evening dresses. Tiffany was sobering up now, and regretting her outburst to Sean.

‘You looked like you were getting on very well with Raul,’ Angel commented and grinned at her. ‘Aren’t you glad that I arranged for you to sit next to him? And Jez told me he’s asked you on a date.’

‘Yeah, but don’t worry, I’m not going to make a fool of myself. We’re just going to have dinner.’

‘And the rest,’ Angel muttered, arching an eyebrow. ‘That man is dangerously good-looking.’ She paused. ‘OMG! I sound like your mum!’

‘My step-mum maybe, I can’t imagine Tanya caring, can you? She’d be too busy calculating what he was worth.’

‘What are you two gossiping about?’ Cal walked in through the French windows, followed by Sean.

Tiffany lowered her eyes, feeling embarrassed about their earlier fall-out.

‘I was giving Tiffany some sisterly advice about Raul and, quite rightly, she was telling me that she was perfectly capable of looking after herself.’ Angel yawned and stretched, ‘Well, I’m off to bed. I’m an old lady now, I can’t take these late nights any more.’

‘Is it hard being twenty-nine again?’ Cal teased, putting his arms around his wife.

‘Probably not as hard as being thirty-nine,’ she bantered back.

‘Right, that’s it!’ Cal replied, and in one fluid movement he picked Angel up from the chair. ‘I might
be
old, but there’s plenty of life in me yet.’

‘So I can see,’ she said, curling her arms round his neck as she looked adoringly into his eyes. And after saying goodnight, Cal whisked his wife upstairs in his arms. Sometimes, Tiffany thought, they could be annoyingly perfect with their PDAs, but you had to love them.

She managed to look over at Sean. The rational part of her wanted to offer him a cup of tea, be civilised, make up for her outburst, while her emotions said,
Get the hell out of there!
But she was just about to put the kettle on when Sean said, ‘Goodnight, Tiffany. You’d better have a glass of water and some Paracetamol before you go to bed, the amount you’ve had tonight.’

Sean wasn’t annoyingly perfect, he was just annoying! Tiffany leaped out of her chair. ‘I’m
not
drunk! Just because I flirted with a man does not make me drunk! Any woman would want to flirt with Raul Garcia. And d’you know what? It felt good.
He
made me feel good. Which was a change from some men making me feel like total shit!’ There she went again, giving too much away. Stop it!

And before Sean could come out with another of his annoying replies, she grabbed her mug of tea and marched upstairs to bed.

JEZ WAS EVEN
more excited about Tiffany’s dinner date with Raul than she was, when she told him about it on Monday morning.

‘OMG! I bet he is going to take you somewhere utterly divine. It’s the start of a whirlwind romance, I can just feel it!’ He paused for breath, while Tiffany exchanged eye rolls with Angel.

‘He was totally taken with you,’ Jez started up again. ‘You obviously intrigued him because you’re not one of the super-rich socialites he usually hangs out with. You’re not some thick rich girl who knows nothing about real life.’

‘Are you trying to say that I’m common, Jez?’ Tiffany teased.

‘Not at all! You’re a passionate, independent woman!’

Any minute now Jez would channel Beyoncé and burst into song …

‘Have you been doing your homework on Raul? I Googled him and Formula One. I had no idea drivers had to be such amazing athletes, but I’m telling you, if you do get up close and personal, you are in for a treat – they have to work out all the time. They have to be incredibly strong. Apparently driving in a race needs
the
same endurance as running a marathon … who knew? I thought they just got in the car and turned the ignition, but it seems their bodies are as finely tuned as their motors!’

There was a small cough from Angel, and she looked at her watch.

‘Jez, I’m on air in twenty minutes. D’you think you could possibly talk and work at the same time? I’m sure Eden Haywood doesn’t get this treatment from you.’ She named a wildly successful British pop star who was another of Jez’s clients.

‘Eden is touring in Europe so I haven’t seen her for the last four months,’ Jez said huffily. ‘And I’m a consummate professional.
Of course
I can talk and work at the same time, I thrive under pressure.’ He reached for the straighteners and began expertly running them through Angel’s hair. But Angel had only been teasing him and Jez couldn’t stay silent for long.

After less than five minutes he couldn’t stop himself from coming out with another comment. ‘So where do you stand on sex on a first date?’

Angel and Tiffany burst out laughing. ‘Against the wall?’ Tiffany teased. ‘Isn’t it really hard to balance otherwise?’

‘Hah! You didn’t answer my question and I’m a hairdresser! I have a right to know these things, it’s written in my contract. And my advice would be not to give it up for Mr Garcia on the first date. Nothing like a bit of deferred gratification to keep a man on his toes. He’ll want you all the more if you make him wait.’

‘Is that what happened with you and Rufus then?’ Tiffany asked.

‘Get real! We had one drink and then it was straight back to mine and straight to bed where we—’

Angel cut across him. ‘OK, thanks, Jez. We get the picture.’

‘All night long,’ he got in. ‘So come on, Tiff. To shag or not to shag … that is the question.’

Tiffany had quickly learned that with Jez there was pretty much no subject he considered off limits. ‘I’ll have to see how the evening goes,’ she said coyly, knowing that he would be infuriated by her not coming out with a straight answer. But the truth was, she really didn’t know. She had never slept with a man on a first date before; she’d always wanted to wait a while, to get to know them better. Then again, she had never gone out with a drop dead gorgeous Formula One racing driver before. Perhaps different rules would apply …