Read Online Now Is Our Time by Jo Kessel - Free Book Online Page B

address onto had heated his pocket all day. Should he write? What should he write? What if she rejected him? The fact that this might really be his last shot made the normally cool, collected Jonah Kennedy angst a little. He’d sat at the keyboard for ages, working out what to say, writing a line then deleting it, worried he’d come across  as either too flip or too desperate. He knew deep down why Claire had really left all those years ago and she’d be wrong if she believed he never thought about it. He often wondered, if he could do it all again, would he have done it differently? Being honest, he wasn’t sure. He thought they’d done what they both believed was right at the time. Whatever, there was no point tormenting himself over it. The past was the past. That couldn’t be changed. What made more sense was to concentrate on the future.
     
    It had taken more than twenty-four hours for her to reply. Twenty-four hours of unadulterated agony. After he’d read her reply, he really had punched the air, in relief. They’d lost thirteen years and he’d not wanted to squander a second longer.
     
    Their evening at Nobu already felt like aeons ago, but it was only yesterday. It was only yesterday that it felt as if his world had changed. Their kiss yesterday had, perhaps, been the most important of his life. It was a kiss full of hope, full of promise, full of possibility. It was a kiss that made him giddy. It had taken all his self-restraint to not invite Claire back to his room right there and then. He’d yearned for more, much more, and hadn’t wanted to let her go. But more importantly, he’d not wanted to scare her off. Whilst in his head it was all perfectly clear - they belonged together and he was going to do everything in his power to make that happen - he’d sensed wariness in her. He feared she might not yet be ready. Better to play it safe than to rush her into something she might regret. So he’d let her decide when and where they should next meet and now here they were. She’d shown him her bedroom first, in which there’d been a divine imperial-sized sleigh bed, but they’d decided on the spare room instead, just in case Miriam should go looking for her mother in the middle of the night. In a way Jonah was pleased. True, the bed was small, more an oversized single than a double, but he didn’t want space. No, he wanted to keep spooning Claire up close and to never let her go. 
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    The next morning Jonah thought he must still be dreaming. He was woken by sunlight streaming under the curtains as well as the apparition of Claire standing at the foot of the bed, watching him, wearing nothing but the skimpiest pair of baby pink cotton shorts and a matching tight-fitting vest. No bra underneath. He stared appreciatively at her beautiful breasts. Yes, they might be smaller than before, but they were still gorgeously voluptuous, urging to be touched. Why she’d been embarrassed about them he had no idea. Perhaps it had had something to do with her ex-husband Anthony. Jonah hadn’t liked Anthony. He was used to sizing up his opponents, trying to spot their Achilles heals. There was something about Anthony he didn’t quite trust. Perhaps the simple truth was that there would never be any room in his heart for the person whom he would always consider had stolen Claire from him. Claire. Firecracker Claire stood before him like a tantalising angel. In one hand she was holding on the flat of her palm the biggest mug he’d ever seen, hot steam curling from it up towards the ceiling. In the other hand she was clutching some black material.
     
    “Good morning,” she smiled shyly.
     
    Jonah shielded his eyes from the glare of the sun as he watched Claire close the door behind her and sashay towards the tousled empty sheet next to him. She placed the mug carefully down on the wooden bedside table before planting her