Pull

Six

As was tradition, the West End heaved on Boxing Day with shoppers fighting their way through the sales with sharpened elbows and at six in the evening, the streets were still bustling with gleeful shoppers. Claire stood on the pavement, hunching her shoulders against the blistering cold. The Christmas streetlights shone overhead, stretching from lamppost to lamppost, adding to the magical air that London seemed to lend itself to every December.  

She looked up as a group of people approached and her heart leapt to her throat until she saw that Danny wasn't among them. Of course he wasn't, she was half an hour early. She was the one to ask him to meet but nerves had kicked in, so much so that her family kept asking what was wrong with her. She'd asked herself the same question, too. It hadn't been an issue when she'd met up with Paolo in Sydney, or Will in Dubai. Why should this be any different? Maybe it was because every time she thought of his picture, the one of him swan diving from a cliff edge and showing off his perfectly sculpted back, her body throbbed with an impatience she hadn't felt in a long time.  

'Claire?' 

She looked up at the sound of the deep voice and her stomach flipped. 'Danny?' 

He was even hotter in the flesh. His dark hair ruffled in the wind and his eyes were big, blue and smiling. His lips looked insanely kissable, and they were smiling too. She stopped gawping and leaned in for a kiss on the cheek as a greeting, grateful for the continental gesture that had become so commonplace in England.  

'You're early,' he said. 

'So are you.' Claire grinned.  

'Well that's because I wanted to be able to run away if you turned out to be a fifty-year old man called Herbert. What's your excuse?' 

Claire laughed, drinking in the soft lilt of his accent. 'Same. But for me you'd have been a fifty year old woman called Ursula.' 

'My gran was called Ursula,' he replied with a smile, 'though I wouldn't blame you for running away from her. I used to, all the time.' 

She snuck a peek at him as he looked up at the building in front of them, taking a quick but appreciative glance at his profile and the light coating of stubble across his jaw.  

'So, drink?' 

Claire nodded and he grinned back before pushing open the door in front of them. He'd suggested the venue and going by its nondescript exterior, she'd assumed it was a closed office rather than a bar. She hadn't seen anyone going in or coming out of it and a flicker of apprehension crossed her mind as she reminded herself that she didn't really know him. She'd thrown caution to the curb in allowing him to pick the location but when he stood back, holding the door for her to step through into a lobby, her nerves eased. The sleek space held four lifts and obviously expensive artwork hung on the walls. She looked at the man sitting behind the reception desk and he glanced up at them, nodding a greeting at Danny. With his sharp, black suit and discreet earpiece, it was clear he was some kind of security guard.  

'What is this place? I don't think I've been here before,' she asked as they stepped into one of the small lifts.  

'The Opal Bar.' He pressed the button for level twenty-two. 'It's only been open a couple of years.' 

His voice wrapped itself around her and the skin on the back of her neck tingled. The lift was small and being in the enclosed space with him was making her heart pound. It didn't help when he unbuttoned his coat. His plain, black sweater hinted at the firmness of his body underneath and his jeans hung in a way that made her want to reach over and take them straight off. 

'Oh, I forgot.' Claire reached into her bag and took out a small plastic tub. 'I've brought you a gift. Let's call it a Christmas present.' 

He grinned at the cupcake in the tub. 'Ah, cheers. I'd wondered how they'd come out.'