“Stop grinning,” she said.

  He wasn’t aware that he was.

  “I need you to fix the zip.”

  Now that he knew he was grinning, he grinned wider.

  “Come on, Jack,” she said. Her cheeks were almost as red as the broken dress. “Help me.”

  He’d planned to use the situation to his advantage. But when Davina looked up at him and batted her long thick eyelashes, he stilled. Vulnerable. She was vulnerable. And he didn’t like it one bit.

  “Fine,” he grumbled. “Turn around.”

  She bit her lip, but did as she was told. Jack surveyed the damage while Davina stared at him in the mirror.

  “Just make the zip go up or down,” she told him.

  “I’m not sure we can do either.” His voice sounded huskier than usual. “The zip has come away from the dress and it looks like it’s stuck in the lace of your bra.”

  “Pull it, see if it moves.”

  He swallowed hard. The changing room was shrinking. There was barely enough space for the two of them.

  “Come on, Jack,” she said tightly.

  She let go of the back of her dress. Both hands held up the front. The back gaped open revealing creamy satin skin from her neck to the curve of her behind. With tingling fingers, he tugged at the zip. The lace began to tear.

  “If I pull this, your bra is going to shred.”

  She blew her hair out of her face again. Jack had to wonder at the value of a haircut you couldn’t keep out of your eyes.

  “We don’t have a choice,” she said. Their eyes met in the mirror and someone turned up the heat in the shop. “Just get this rag off me.”

  His knees actually went weak at the thought. Slowly, he reached for the zip. But her skin distracted him. Instead of doing as he was told, he ran a hand between her shoulder blades down to the curve of her behind. Her eyes went wide in the mirror.

  “Jack?”

  He didn’t have time to talk to her, the skin and lace in front of him had his full attention. He traced his fingers back up to her shoulder, then swept her mane of hair to one side.

  “What are you doing?” Her voice was low and husky – it did strange things to his stomach.

  “Evening the score,” he said as he leaned towards her.

  His hand slid under her broken dress to snake around her body. His fingers splayed across her stomach. He pulled her tight against him. She sucked in a sharp breath just as his lips touched her shoulder. Something came over him and instead of kissing her gently as he had intended, he bit the muscle.

  “Oh my goodness.” She gasped as her eyes fluttered shut.

  He felt her go weak against him. He tightened his arm around her to hold her tight. Then he bit her again. A little groan escaped her. He smiled against her skin. He’d found a secret spot. He knew women had them. Places that drove them wild instantly. Slowly, he kissed his way down her back. Kneeling behind her, he put a hand on each hip as he ran his tongue up the dent of her spine. She began to shake, he felt the vibrations through his fingertips. Davina leaned forward to place her forehead on the cool mirror. Her eyes were closed, her lips were open and her cheeks were the colour of strawberry sorbet. Jack licked the small of her back. She shuddered. She was coming undone in his hands. It was mesmerising.

  He stood, running his hands up her sides, feeling those fabulous curves beneath his fingertips.

  “You still want this dress off, Davy?” he whispered in her ear.

  Her breathing was fast and shallow. Her eyes were still closed. She nodded. That was all he needed. With one sharp tug, the lace on her bra ripped, the zip pulled free and the dress fell away. Only her hands kept the dress, and the bra, in place.

  His hands traced down her back and round under her dress to hold her stomach. He pressed himself against her.

  “Let the dress go, Davy,” he said against her ear.

  She didn’t move. He could feel her heart pounding through her skin.

  “Let. It. Fall.”

  Her eyes fluttered open. She was thinking about it. He wanted to groan out loud. Any other woman would have told him to go to hell. Not Davina. For some reason that made his chest swell with pride. She bit her lip before opening her mouth to speak. But the voice came from outside the changing room.

  “Can I help you with anything in there?”

  He stilled. Davina’s eyes popped wide. She groaned – and not in a good way. Jack blinked as his surroundings came back into focus. He was in a freaking changing room. With a curtain between him and the world. Trying hard to get into the pants of the woman in his arms. The woman who was growing drugs in his basement.

  “We’re fine,” Davina called. Her voice was strained. “Problem solved. Jack will be out in a second. Thanks for asking.”

  She closed her eyes. When she opened them, she stared straight at him in the mirror.

  “How about you let go of me so we can sort this out.”

  Jack sprang away from her. He took a step back. He ran a hand over his head. Look at him. Five minutes alone with her and he’d lost his mind. Her insanity was contagious. Davina was wriggling in front of him. After several contortions she held her shredded bra out towards him, while holding the dress in place to cover herself.

  “Go and get one of these,” she told him.

  Yeah, like that was going to happen. Jack folded his arms. If he kept his hands wedged in tight they wouldn’t reach for her.

  “The size is on it,” she was saying. “Hand it to a woman in the lingerie department and ask for one like it.”

  “Uh, uh.”

  He looked at the bra as though it was radioactive. There was no way he was touching it. It was one thing taking it off a woman in the heat of the moment, another to parade through a department store looking for its mate.

  Davina’s happy face was gone.

  “You broke it. I need another to get out of here. I can’t leave without a bra.”

  “Why not?”

  She seemed to be grinding her teeth.

  “Because I will bounce and jiggle all over the place.”

  He looked down at her.

  “I don’t see a problem.”

  “I do. Get me a new bra, Jack.”

  He swallowed hard and took the bra. He crumpled it up into a ball in his hand and hoped no one would notice he was carrying red lace. He pulled back the curtain.

  “And Jack,” Davina said.

  He heaved a sigh as he turned towards her.

  “Thanks for rescuing me,” she said. Her green eyes were wide with sincerity.

  Suddenly he didn’t care where they were or who was watching. He wanted to grab Davina and carry on where they’d left off.

  Before he could do something else he would regret, he let the curtain fall and marched in the direction of the lingerie department. He didn’t see any of the women in his path. His mind was full of Davina.

  Davina rested her cheek on the cool glass of the mirror. Holy cow. She’d seriously considered jumping the man in the changing room at Harvey Nichols. What was it about him that made her even crazier than usual? He touched her and little bubbles worked their way throughout her whole body. Effervescent. His touch was effervescent. Davina groaned. She had to get out of there. And fast. She’d never been blessed with a massive amount of self-control and she was pretty sure she’d just used up the last of her daily quota. There was no telling what she would do when Jack returned.

  There was only one thing for it. She would have to make a run for it. Bra or no bra. She poked her head out of the curtain to call the sales assistant.

  “My dress ripped,” she told her. “I’m going to wear these home. Can you cut off the tags?”

  The woman took the black jeans, autumn green cashmere sweater and matching green wrap coat from Davina.

  “Please bag this too,” she said as she handed her the shredded dress and red trench coat.

  “You know this isn’t in my job description, right?” the tiny blonde said.

  Davina blinked.

  “I’m sure being nice to paying customers is though, isn’t it?”

  The woman wandered off, muttering to herself. Davina stared at her reflection.

  “Repeat after me,” she told herself. “You will not let Jack distract you. You are making a movie. You need to focus on the plan. Remember the plan? Don’t let Jack get in the way. This is your chance at stardom. Probably the last you’ll get. FOCUS.” When she’d finished lecturing herself she felt a lot better.

  “Are you there?” called the sales assistant.

  Davina rolled her eyes. Where else would she be? She reached out for the clothes.

  “It’s all rung up at the sales desk when you’re ready,” the blonde said. “I’ll wait and walk you over there.”

  Like she was going to waltz out of the store wearing the clothes and not paying.

  A few minutes later she was dressed in her new clothes and clutching her designer paper bag full of the old ones. She figured she had more than enough time to get out of the store before Jack returned. He was probably still looking for the lingerie department. As Davina paid her bill she caught sight of his unruly hair almost a head above the rest of the shopping crowd. She ducked and grabbed an orange wool hat from the display beside her.

  “I’ll take this too,” she said.

  She pulled on the hat, tucked the rest of her hair in the back of her new green coat and took her receipt from the saleswoman. With her head down, and holding her breath, she marched to the exit nearest the underground station. A little later she was in Victoria Station boarding the fast train to Brighton. She bought herself a coffee and a pain au chocolat. With a smile she boarded her train and relaxed into the seat. By her estimation she should beat Jack home by at least an hour, maybe more if he hit rush hour traffic. It almost made up for the fact she was wandering around without a bra. Almost.

  All the changing rooms looked the same and it took Jack a full half hour to realise he couldn’t find Davina because Davina was gone.

  “Do you want to purchase that, sir?” an older woman asked.

  He looked down at the torn red bra and three other bras he’d been told to take to her for her to try.

  “No. I don’t.”

  He gave them to the sales assistant, who looked bewildered. Pure fury propelled him through London’s city centre and back to his car. He’d been played. She’d taken him as far as she could from the house then dumped him the first chance she got. She wanted him gone. And he’d fallen for it, distracted by her shrink wrap dress and her Marilyn Monroe pout. Not anymore. He wasn’t thinking with Mr Big now, he was using his brain. And the sooner he got back to Millie’s old house, the better. Whatever she was up to, he planned to catch her in the act.

  The house was dark when he arrived at the end of the driveway. In the shadows he could see people chatting at the gate. Three kids and two scooters. Jack smiled mirthlessly. He’d been right. She’d been up to something.

  He pulled up beside them, got out of the car and wandered over. Two of the boys shared a moped. They climbed onto it, waved to the other and took off.

  “Hey,” he said to the remaining teen boy. “You been up at Davy’s house?”

  “Yeah.” He seemed suspicious. He reached for his helmet and Jack saw a container full of brownies balanced on the scooter seat.

  “She makes a helluva brownie, doesn’t she?”

  The boy’s eyes lit up.

  “Wicked,” he said.

  “Can I have one of yours?” Jack said. “I ran out and Davy isn’t making any more until tomorrow.”

  The boy took a step back.

  “I don’t think so,” he said.

  “I’ll pay you. Now that I’ve seen them, I really want one.”

  “Fine,” said the boy. “Ten pounds.”

  Jack baulked.

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Hey, it’s fine with me if you don’t want to pay. I’ll keep them for myself. Guess you didn’t like them that much.”

  Grumbling, Jack reached into his jeans for his wallet.

  “This is daylight robbery,” he said.

  The kid pointed to the sky.

  “No it isn’t.”

  “Give me the brownie, kid.”

  The teen made a big deal over picking the right one for him. Jack clenched his teeth.

  “What are you doing hanging around Davy’s house anyway?” he said.

  “We’re working for her. She’s going to be famous. Us too. And we get paid in brownies. Trust me, these are so much better than her peanut cookies.”

  The kid wasn’t making any sense. Jack tried to assess if he was stoned or not, but it was too dark to see his eyes clearly.

  “You should see her,” the boy said. “She’s amazing. I’ve only seen acting like it on TV.”

  Jack smiled grimly. She was acting all right. He was the audience of one.

  “Thanks for the brownie,” he said.

  “Anytime you run out, let me know.”

  Yeah, right. Jack wandered back to his car, pulled out his cell phone and dialled Andy as the moped sped past him.

  “I need the name of a good private lab,” he said when Andy answered. “I want to run some tests on something.”

  Jack sniffed the brownie. Mainly it smelled of chocolate, but that didn’t stop him from being optimistic. He had the feeling that the evidence he needed was literally in the palm of his hand.

  CHAPTER SIX

  9 DAYS TO MAKE A MOVIE...

  DAVINA WAS HIDING FROM Jack. She’d managed to spend all of Saturday working quietly in the house without saying a word to him. It’d been tense, but at least he hadn’t bothered her crew as they came and went, and they were able to get some more of the movie shot.

  Now it was Sunday morning and he was back weeding the garden. She could see him through the net curtains and that was close enough. After the debacle in the changing rooms she honestly couldn’t face him. What would she say? No. Hiding and denial were the best way forward. Now if she could only think of a way to get him away from her house too, that would be great.

  “What time does everyone get here?” Marianne asked as she made a pot of tea.

  “Two.”

  She sounded as miserable and defeated as she felt. This movie-making thing had seemed like such a good idea at the time. Now, not so much.

  “Do you have enough brownies?” Marianne curled up in the old armchair under the window with a mug of tea.

  “I didn’t make any. I made cookies. I’m sick to my back teeth with brownies.”

  “The boys aren’t going to be pleased.”

  “That’s just tough.”

  Marianne squinted in her direction and said “mm”, as though it meant something. Davina was weary. Fed up juggling her life. Fed up sneaking around. Fed up trying to make it big. Surely there came a time when you had to admit that it wasn’t going to happen for you? Or worse, that you weren’t cut out for the dream in the first place? She shuddered. No one wanted to grow up to be mediocre.

  “You remember when we were kids and they told us that if we tried hard enough we could become anything?”

  “Yeah,” Marianne said with a smile. “An astronaut or prime minister. I wanted to be Indiana Jones.”

  “It was a lie, wasn’t it? Hard work doesn’t mean you get to be what you want. We shouldn’t tell our kids that sort of thing.”

  “Wow, you’re cheery today. So what should we tell our kids?”

  “To suck it up, get a job in a fast food restaurant and hopefully you can have fun on the weekends.”

  Marianne shook her head.

  “Dark, Davina, dark.”

  “I’m fed up,” Davina wailed, before letting her head thud on the table in front of her.

  “You didn’t look so fed up the other day when you were telling me how you’d tied the Terminator up. Maybe you should try it again?”

  Davina’s face burned red. She was sure it was luminous. Marianne saw it instantly.

  “You did something.” She sat forward on her edge of her chair. “Tell me. Details. What did you do this time?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Don’t make me hurt you, Davina.”

  “Drive me crazy asking, more like.”

  “So?”

  “Fine.” She swivelled in the chair to look at her friend. “On Friday, in London, we got physical in the changing room at Harvey Nichols.”

  “The ones with the curtains, or the ones with the doors?”

  “Curtains.”

  Marianne fanned herself.

  “What were you thinking?” Marianne said.

  “I wasn’t. I don’t. There’s something about him, Mar. He gets close to me and I’m like a Yellow Pages ad – my fingers want to do the walking.”

  “He is very...” She thought for a minute. “Manly,” she said at last.

  “And then some,” Davina agreed.

  “I don’t know what to say,” Marianne said. “Normally I’d tell you to go for it.”

  “Yeah, but I can’t. He may not be police but he’s close enough to get me into a lot of trouble.”

  She walked to the window where she could see Jack holding his ear while staring off into space. Odd. Must be listening to music. His broad shoulders flexed beneath an old blue sweatshirt. This one told her he’d been to Las Vegas. Her heart beat fast at the sight of him.

  “He isn’t one hundred percent moron,” she told Marianne. “Sometimes he can be really sweet.” She studied his profile. “Not often,” she said. “Sometimes.”

  She let out a heavy sigh.

  “In two weeks,” Davina said more firmly, “all the equipment I borrowed will be back where it belongs, I’ll have the house to myself again and Jack’s stupid inspection will be over and then things will be different.”

  “And then what?” Marianne said quietly.

  Davina turned to look at her best friend, and she grinned wickedly.

  “Then I’m going to strip him naked and eat ice cream off his stomach.” She looked back out towards Jack. “And when I’ve got him begging for mercy, I’m going to introduce myself to Mr Big.”

  Jack pulled the ear piece out as fast as he could and bent double. He felt like he’d been hit in the stomach. His mother always told him you shouldn’t eavesdrop, she said you never heard anything good about yourself. He wasn’t sure this quite fit into that category. He glanced towards the house. Now every time he saw her he’d think about the ice cream and Mr Big would jump to attention. This was not a good situation. He felt it too, the pull towards Davina. When he was around her nothing else seemed to matter. Even the fact she was trouble.